Etsy store - Le Hatchery

A couple of months ago, I designed a logo for Le Hatchery, a wonderful etsy store that specialises in handmade, sustainable fashion. I worked with Leona for several months during which we went through a whole bunch of designs. Here are some of them (apologies for the dodgy compression, working with MS Paint here!!):











And the final logo, and business card (below)





Click here for the Le Hatchery Website

Small World Munich - Website

The final task was making the website for Small World. My client wanted it to look clean and cute, so I chose to use the same sky blue for the site as in the logo, keeping the site very minimalist and easy to navigate. I don't think the site will win any design awards, but I think the composition and white space is quite appealing, and at the end of the day not every site needs to be styled within an inch of its life! My client also chose to incorporate a German language option in the site, which may I add was not translated by myself :P

Small World Munich - Business Card

After selecting a logo, our next focus was on the business card. I had a good idea of what my client was looking for by now, having talked extensively about the feel of the company and its image. I produced two alternatives:



My client was pretty pleased with both, but opted for the second one. I tweaked it just a little:

SmallWorld Munich - logo, site & business card

Time for a long awaited update! I have been working on Small World Munich, an newly opened English teaching centre in Germany. The job involved designing the corporate logo, business card and website. My client wished to express the idea of a fun, relaxed and professional learning environment. He also wanted a simple, clean and friendly corporate ID.

First off, we started work on the logo. My client already had a strong idea of what he wanted in his logo, a cartoonish globe with a figure reading on top of it - a concept which I was wary of at first, and tried to offer alternate solutions:




My client originally selected the composition in the third set of logos, but after some discussion, we mutually agreed that this composition was too centrally aligned and therefore lacked balance. Instead, I convinced my client to opt for the following solution:



I'm pretty happy with this decision - while I was working on the logos I initially felt convinced that the cartoony approach was not the best one to take, but now looking at the options, I feel the first set of logos were too serious and didn't convey any fun element at all. I am pretty pleased with the balance and colours (My client wanted bright blue and green) and the logo gave me a good base to work on the website having established an image for the company.

Siena Restaurant website

So I've been pretty inactive here for a while. But that's not to say I've been completely inactive in general. I have decided to learn Flash, and as my first project have made a website for Siena Restaurant in Uddingston. It's fairly simple, but it was good learning a little actionscript and getting to grips with the basics. Most importantly, it was fun and surely can only get better from here on out!!!

Fedora, Data Portability, and an idea that's been done to death?

Well I guess it's not THAT original... :/

Dexter Productions logo: dp in colour!

Having fun with this one, always good to run with an idea :)

Dexter Productions logo: dp continued...

Mmmmm curves

Dexter Productions logo: dp

Playing with the dp idea for Dexter Productions. Quite like the simplicity and balance.

Dexter Productions logo: We sell pillows?

Killing the star, but the fancyfont is too... fancy?

Dexter Productions logo: Fontastic

The simple logo is starting to bother me, font-wise. Tried a few different combinations, but am now sick of looking at the letter D.

Dexter Productions logo: A splash of colour

Just playing with some colour, because it's fun.

Dexter Productions logo: Let's keep it simple

Right, so having abandoned the graffiti idea, I have moved onto a more simple, classic approach. The theatre mask idea still seems rather obvious, but it's a start.

Dexter Productions logo: Graffiti

So I have been thrown a (very brief) design brief: to design a logo for a theatre company, Dexter Productions. Apart from the image of masks and the suggestion of a preference for graffiti art, there is very little direction to move in... but I moved anyway, for the hell of it, until we can have some proper discussions about the aims of the company.

This project however has been seriously frustrating me, since I knew very little about graffiti art (and rather despise vandalism), however, prejudices aside, I did some extensive research and then fancied my hand at some imitatio. Sadly, I think it went rather wrong, and I am guessing this would be offensive to any self respecting graffiti artist. That really was not my intention! Humblest apologies. Also, on a side note, I feel a graffiti logo is a bit naff? Or rather my interpretation of graffiti?

So who exactly can be convicted of rape?

Recent news coverage, namely this article, has seriously pissed me off. Apparently, skinny jeans are the new chastity belt. According to a court ruling in Australia, any woman wearing them cannot possibly be raped, as they are impossible to remove unaided by the wearer. The government should distribute them to all women and the world will be a safer place. No, really.

Stupidity aside (I'm sure anybody can see that a 6.5st woman can easily slide out of a pair of skinny jeans), this case throws another hurdle at rape conviction, with UK conviction rates standing at a horribly pitiful 6%. It also places the onus directly on the victim, as her clothes are subject to scrutiny in a way that the accused's clothing is not. I wonder, what exactly is the ideal outfit for a woman to wear in order to convince your jury that you were in fact raped? I know from past trials that short skirts and thongs (scandalous!) mean you are 'asking for it,' and you'd better scrub up your sexual history since that will be subject to some lengthy scrutiny. Not to mention your internet history. Because if you have shown any form of promiscuity, sexual desire, or just stayed silent, you probably consented to sex with just about anyone.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture? Why is it that victims of rape must go through such an ordeal in order to convince a jury that they have been raped? I am sure many people will look at the above example and feel that the woman in question was not in fact raped, since she openly discussed a group sex fantasy with some strangers online. But what the jury misses in this case, and in all of these cases is this: REGARDLESS of what a woman wears, fantasises about, says (or doesn't say), if she does not consent, it is rape. The woman even explicitly states that she only wanted to have sex with one of the men, but was then raped by the others. How dare the woman discuss her fantasies while also claiming autonomy over her own body? I suppose if I were to fantasise about group sex - even rough group sex - it would be acceptable for my boyfriend to invite his friends over to rape me? And it wouldn't be rape, either, because my sexual liberty means I am open to all sexual encounters and have no say over the boundaries of my own body.

When is this victim blaming system going to be abolished, with the focus placed directly on the rapist in each case? It seems so obvious, but in reality this is not what happens. There is all this chat about the 'grey area' where we can't tell if a woman wants to have sex or not. You know, if the area really is that grey, chances are the person in question is not ready or simply does not want to have sex. Do not pressurise, drug or ply this person with drinks. Do not mistake silence for consent. As others on the blogosphere have already pointed out: only "yes" means yes. It really is that fucking simple.

Been a while...

Okay, so I didn't keep you all updated on my life in Korea. Like, at all. So here goes again for a new season of antiupdates... starting with an old post from my last blog (gotta get the juices flowing!!). A piece I call Evelyn Marie Goodman.



The following is the background text to prevent eyestrain:

Her skin is even softer than I ever imagined. Creamy, milky powdery, translucent flesh. I've licked her crevices. I will explore her entirety with my tongue. She doesn't know she's here yet. I know she'll be But when she does I'll get her she'll want to fuck me. I'm gonna tease her just like she's been teasing me. She's awake now and she's pretending she doesn't know who I am, that fucking whore. Stop playing games with me, I'm very fucking fragile. She seems to have forgotten all the times in the elevator. She knows me, that lying cow. I've seen her smiling, licking those fat dirty lips. The slut is crying now like a pathetic child. Grow up. It's not like you haven't done it before. Just caught the bitch trying to break her own wrists. Fucking pschotic psychotic cow. I broke one for her to teach her a lesson. We just made love again, and she screamed like a dirty slut. Her mou lips say no but her body says yes you cunt fuck me harder. Her pussy got so wet she was juicing all over my cock. She's such a so up for it. All the time. Next time I'm going to assfuck her. She screams like there's no tomorrow. She's not looking after herself. Doesn't brush her hair and only puts on makeup when I tell remind her. If she goes on like this I might think twice about fucking her. But I can't help it sometimes when those emerald eyes beg me, tease my prick. I told her to shape up or I'll get rid of her. She's getting worse every day. Now when I screw her she just lies there like a dead fucking weight. I slapped her and told her to get it together, but she's not talking to me today. Even when I fisted her she didn't move. I've had enough of that moody bitch. She's still giving me the silent treatment and now I can't even get it up for her. Fuck! That whore. She's all wasting away and looks like her dead mother. It's all her fucking fault - she won't eat and refuses hasn't worn makeup for days. I told her I'd rather fuck her mum and that must have worried her because she started crying. I let her suck me off because I felt sorry for her. She's getting tiresome now. Not sure what to do with her. She's been on the news but they don't know where she is. Need to think of a way to get rid of her. She screamed louder than ever and now her the sheets are stained. I think I'll burn them tomorrow. She had it coming, miserable bitch. I told her she was better off dead and she fucking made me do it. I'm thinking about putting the video on uTube. All the meat is off the bone now. Took forever. Gonna boil the bones to make some stock. Put most of it in the freezer as I don't think I can eat it all that quickly. Have kept a thigh out for dinner. I'm going to make one of Delia's recipes. Ingredients: 675g (1½lb) Meat, 397g (14oz) tin Chopped Tomatoes, 300ml (½ pint) Red Wine Or Stock, 160g (6oz) Button Mushrooms, 2 Onions, 2 Carrots, 1 Clove Garlic, 2 tbsp Fresh Herbs,1 tbsp Tomato Puree,1 tbsp Oil, Salt & Black Pepper. To cook: 1. Cut the meat into cubes. 2. Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole dish. 3. Add the meat and cook until browned. Remove from the casserole dish. 4. Add the chopped onions, chopped carrots and crushed garlic cook until softened. 5. Return the meat, add the tomatoes, wine or stock, herbs, tomato puree and seasoning. 6. Bring to the boil. 7. Pre-heat oven to 190°C; 375°F 5. Cover and cook for 1½ hours. 8. Add the mushrooms, cover and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Seven Eleven

In the morning I go to the convenience store. I have been going to the same store for almost a year. The man behind the counter wears a chequered shirt and a blue apron. He speaks no English and I speak no Korean. He has silver glasses which match his silvery hair. When we first met he was as any other shop assistant. Now, he smiles when I enter, and when I lay my usual purchases on the counter, he doesn't bother telling me the price. Instead, he gives me a knowing look - our silently shared secret.

This morning I walked into the store. A man greeted me in a generic voice. I bought generic things. Then I left.

The ‘AMAZING’ telectroscope

Hello and welcome to the re-launch of jenniferyong.com!! After procrastinating for some time in the land of the morning calm, I have finally reached a decision. My blog will no longer be kept private amongst the (very) few who actually bother to read it, but shall be re-launched as the cyberfeminist space of my dreams.

And it just so happens I couldn’t have chosen a better time. For at this moment, hordes of people gather to witness the ‘amazing’ telectroscope in action.

If you haven’t already seen or read about it, the telectroscope is a marvellous piece of technology which, through the use of a lengthy tunnel, connects London to New York. People standing in London’s South Bank can literally see their Atlantic neighbours some 3471 miles away in Brooklyn Bridge. And if that’s not cool enough, the artist and inventor, Paul St George, has designed the scope – or at least the visible parts – to perfection. At each end, a monstrous tunnel bursts through the ground, polished and brassy, an H G Wells wet dream.

Sounds awesome? Well, I suppose it is. But the real question is why. Why are people so blown away by a piece of technology (really an art installation) that is a primitive version of something we are already familiar with? After all, the telectroscope is really just an enormous, silent webcam. But this is precisely my point. Webcams are familiar – they are everyday devices that no longer impress us. Digital communication is normalised; not even an extension of our culture, but intrinsic to our culture. In short, we are witnessing both the normalisation of technology as well as the technolization of culture.

The reason for this phenomenon can perhaps in some ways be attributed to the invisibility of modern technology. When we use a webcam, the binary technology it utilizes is generally too complex for its users to comprehend, and so through some unfathomable magic, my image appears on my screen, and on the screen of my dear distant mother. We are connected in a virtual experience that poses as a real one. This is what cyborg theorists call ‘disembodiment’, and to some, this is the new human experience. We are defined by our minds and not by our bodies. Indeed, the body is seen as a hindrance, particularly to any theorists concerned with race and/or gender. It is also arguably more useful to consider ourselves not as matter but as information, for if nothing else it liberates us from our mortality – a fairly desirable pursuit.

Yet in an era which appears to privilege information over materiality, I would argue that disembodiment is not really favoured at all, and regardless of whether or not we realise it, biological embodiment is the only condition of being human. So let’s go back to the telectroscope.

The banner on the telectrosope blog reads ‘Do you believe in the telectroscope?’ and I think this is very telling. For in order for us to be amused by the device, we must first believe that Paul St George actually did connect New York to London through non-digital means. If we believe otherwise, we feel utterly cheated and underwhelmed. As mentioned above, I believe this is partly due to the normalisation of technology, but I think there is another, more obvious reason as well. I believe that we are so impressed by this primitive device precisely because it does away with the virtual, and in doing so, it brings back something highly cherished: really real embodied bodies.

The third layer of complexity

I guess when it comes down to it, its kinda obvious that we would prefer the real over the virtual, right? Well, the time has come to get to grips with reality, or rather our slippery notion of what constitutes reality. You see, despite what Paul St George would have us believe, the telectroscope really is just two webcams on either side of the Atlantic. Far from being primitive technology, the telectroscope boasts 2 high-definition webcams, giving users the impression that mirrors are in use, but the image is no different from the one my mother sees on her monitor at home: my image transferred into binary code and reconstructed on a screen.

So what does this mean? Haven’t we just gone full circle, and are back to the point about the normalisation of technology? Well, kind of. Except that this time, the telectroscope has proven that as well as being the norm in culture, we are unable to distinguish between the real and the virtual. We have entered an age where the virtual is real, and vice versa. And when virtuality and reality become blurred, then pretty much everything else follows.

This is precisely the driving force behind cyborg theory – the blurring of boundaries. For when boundaries are blurred, the binary oppositions which define our culture (real/virtual, man/machine, body/mind, male/female) are thrown into question, and the only logical step is to redefine these terms, and to reshape reality.

The virtual may be liberating, but that liberation should be used as a starting point that seeps into reality as well. As mentioned above, embodiment is the only condition of being human, but what can disembodiment teach us about being human? For one, it throws gender out the window (on the internet, can you really tell if you are engaging with a male or a female?), and if gender can be confused through disembodiment, then doesn’t that prove its nonattachment to our minds? Our reality is a social construct that is not synonymous with our humanity, and only by deconstructing these norms can we ever truly be free.