Journal

It’s important to set the record straight. Normally when people talk about the early UK scene the same few things get mentioned. The real underground never gets talked about."

Clair and I, along with our pal Fiona, just went to see Banksy’s Cut and run exhibition at the GOMA in Glasgow. I loved it!

Banksy describes it as follows:

I’ve kept these stencils hidden away for years, mindful they could be used as evidence in a charge of criminal damage. But that moment seems to have passed, so now I’m exhibiting them in a gallery as works of art. I’m not sure which is the greater crime.

He mentions that one of the main reasons he chose Glasgow’s GOMA is because the ever-present cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington statue outside is his favourite work of art in the UK.

…the statue out the front has had a cone on its head continuously for the past 40 odd years. Despite the best efforts of the council and the police, every time one is removed another takes its place."

I really enjoyed the way the exhibition was arranged and presented with the various use of corridors, rooms, concourses and other objects such as elevators and phone booths.

I liked Banky self-effacing introduction saying that really he was cheating and gets (steals) all his inspiration from others, or real artists.

I loved where he talked about the light-switch moment about not needing to add a background but rather to make the real-life location the background, and how that then fires the imagination with the challenge “How much of the environment can you integrate into the piece?”. How much space could there be between the girl and the balloon?

Lastly, the final area is a treat. It simulates Banksy’s bedroom growing up and the music, art and films which influenced him. There’s a great description of how the graffitied sign in Jaws – where a sign presenting Amity Island as a paradise is doctored with a shark fin and “Help!” speech bubble – was an early example of art that really spoke to him. In this graffiti he saw a wonderful combination of satire, powerless people finding a way to make their voice heard, humour, art and rebellion.

Here are my quick links and tips for creating a markdown-file-based blog post using only github.com and no CMS. I’ve put these on this site so that they’re on the web therefore I can access them wherever I am.

Why do I create posts this way? Because I’ve tried forestry.io (now Tina) and Netlify CMS and I no longer have the time or inclination to maintain their dependencies, load their JavaScript or make ongoing updates as they evolve. I’ve also found them a little flaky. So instead let’s see how this lo-fi approach works.

This post is mainly for my own reference but who knows, maybe it’ll be useful to someone else too.

In this tutorial video Seth Pech shares what he’s learned about that most foundational (and important) of table-tennis shots – the block.

Nice video here from Tom Lodziak in which coach Emma Harradine demonstrates a forehand loop (against backspin) that just looks so spinny, safe and reliable.

I’ve always liked the idea of this shot – the archetypal third ball in the rally – being like a well-oiled machine, but have never quite nailed it. So I’m gonna study this!

Matthias feels that the recent slew of additions to CSS have completely changed the game.

this time, something feels different… the changes coming to CSS are so fundamental on so many levels that it almost feels like a singularity. There is now the CSS before and the CSS after the early 2020s.

Want to emulate and confidently design a layout that leverages the potential of CSS Grid in any of the major design tools like Figma, Adobe XD, or Sketch? Not possible. Want to define a color in one of the wide gamut color spaces like OKLCH, which result in more vibrant and natural colors on modern screens, maybe by using a color picker? Not possible. You want to simulate fluid typography that dynamically scales font sizes based on the viewport or container size and also define minimum and maximum values like you can do it in CSS with clamp()? Not possible. Or how about defining a fallback font in case your web font doesn’t load? Good luck using any screen design tool on the market. Not only are all of those things – very clearly – important design decisions, but they are also easily possible with just a few lines of CSS. In this new era of CSS, the design tools are now the limiting factor.

A tasty and healthy asian-style recipe from Gousto, which I enjoyed cooking and eating and would like to make again.

This interesting website from the GDS accessibility team sets out seven personas, each with different access needs.

You can use these profiles to experience the web from the perspective of the personas and gain more understanding of accessibility issues.

Henny Swan, director at Tetralogical, with some great advice for those whom accessibility responsibility often falls to.

This Design System reference website sports a smart architecture with some interesting sections.