Communication Design School of Design
Charlie Seaton Macleod-Adams
My Practice is inspired by a mixture of things be it history, storytelling, subculture or individuality. I often produce work that appears playful and humorous but still respects what informs it, there is a fine line between being sincere and making a mockery and I always aim not to cross that boundary.
My work brings forgotten histories to the forefront, intertwining past narratives with the contemporary, a poignant reminder of the enduring impact of the past on the present.
A further aspect of my work is to explore mental health through looking at individuals and allowing them to share their personalities with acceptance and without judgement, with an aim to show how freeing it is to be yourself and to embrace your individuality.
A Different Ball Game
This project consists of objects I have produced to convey the mob footballing rivalry of the towns Coldstream and Wark. Inspired by the historic accounts of these towns playing each other, every new years day in order to take ownership of land known locally as ‘The Ba’ Green’, in turn changing the shape of the Anglo-Scots border for the rest of the year. To cut a long stong short the Ba’ green story originates on the river Tweed which flows between the Scottish and English border. It is believed medieval villages of Coldstream and Wark would compete against each other in a game of mob football. The Victor’s of the game would then claim a piece of land between the villages on the banks of the Tweed, this would later become known locally as ‘The Ba’ Green’. The story goes that this tradition lasted until the village of Wark (the English) abandoned the game due to Coldstream (the Scottish village) rising in population, therefore rising in players and becoming increasingly more dominant in the many years of playing the game. The Ba Green land was then widely accepted to be in the possession of Coldstream and furthermore a part of Scotland. Borders of Britain were then set in stone and the anomaly remained to baffle anyone who happened upon the lonely little piece of Scotland across the river Tweed. My aim was to revive this concept in the form of a football ultra’s/casual’s rivalry with the help of my manufactured objects. You can always spot a football ultra, they have a very recognisable look, you’ll never see them in their clubs kit but you can catch them in their Stone Island gear, C.P.Company jackets, Fred Perry, Adidas gazelles, hamburgs and sambas as well as the odd Burberry number for your more esteemed ultra. Just as you can tell an ultra from a mile away, you can also tell where they’ve been thanks to their handy tradition of placing bold symbolic stickers in cities all over the world. It’s a way of them saying we came, we saw, we conquered or their way of defacing a city if they’ve been beaten. Just marking territory. The pieces I have produced are as follows:
– a contemporary British tourist roadsign
– ultra rivalry stickers of both towns
– football casual inspired clothing
Brutus Relicta
Brutus Relicta is a result of my fascination with the abandoned brutalist ruin that is St Peter’s seminary in Cardross. I wanted to test myself and create a typeface or set of letterforms that conveyed the brutalist nature of the building but also reflected against the gothic influence of the Roman Catholic Church as it currently owns the property.
I know that Blackletter is traditionally used in more protestant Scripts when it comes to religion and that it had nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church but that is exactly why I’ve chosen it. I’m not a religious person, nor do I claim to symphathise with one side more than the other my stance is purely on behalf of the seminary as a building. hence why I’m going against the scripting practice of the Cathloic church by making it the opposite.
I’m happy with the result of my work, it takes the architecture from the seminary and brings it to a contemporary gothic. I’m happy that from afar it looks like a blackletter typeface but upon closer inspection there are contemporary elements within the typefaces anatomy.The blackletter influences links to religion, even though it may be predominantly protestant, I have mentioned that it is to intended to show defiance to the way in which the Roman Catholic Church has let the seminary go into disrepair and ruin.
Listening To Reason
Listening To Reason is a compilation of clips that celebrate musical individuality and freedom in personality through sharing strangers guilty pleasure songs/artists.
This project has strong roots with mental health, the aim of allowing people to open up about their guilty pleasure through songs without a follow up of judgement from me, the interviewer. The long term plan is to turn this concept into a social media series to spread this message of taking pride in your inner self to the forefront. With this in mind the video is formatted to be screened on a mobile device via social media apps such as Youtube, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The idea behind the concept is to have people share their musical guilty pleasures in order to overcome a sense of guilt or embarrassment for their choice. I see it as being mentally beneficial and therefore accepting yourself in front of others will encourage them to do the same. As an individual who has struggled with mental health and put on a facade in order to not affect others I am passionate about giving people the platform to lift the veil on personalities and see the real person within. Therefore this project is more of a statement piece for acceptance.