Graphic Design Festival Scotland is a five day festival featuring workshops, competitions, talks, exhibitions and more running from 22-26 October. Based at The Whisky Bond, the inaugural festival seeks to provide a place for graphic design to become accessible to the public while creating a space for networking between designers, students and others working in the industry.

From 22 – 23 October, eight design studios will act as mentors while a group of participants work on a creative brief for the chance to win a placement with their mentor and the GDFS Best up-and-coming 2014 award.

There will be several one and two day workshops around creative processes, conceptual thinking, visual communication and professional practice with various design powerhouses including: 44 Flavours, STV Creative, Risotto, Recoat, Alexander Lis (Designbüro Frankfurt), OK-RM, Eike Konig-Hort and Freddy Taylor (Kesselskramer Outlet).

On 25 October, hear a series of 15 minute talks from designers and creatives throughout the evening while enjoying the musical stylings of So Weit So Gut, Tropical, Handpicked and The Dissolving Dancefloor. Catch curated music and live DJ sets at the Whisky Bond throughout the festival.

Finally don’t miss the International Poster Exhibition at 21 Stockwell Street from 25-27 October.

Watch this video for a full run-down of events:

Graphic Design Festival Scotland runs from 22-26 October. Find more information about the GDFS here.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more events in our weekly bulletin here.

“Rudimentary Perfection 3” by Nawer

All of Nawer’s works were great and especially his mural installation but my favorite piece was Rudimentary Perfection 3. Nawer’s use of some very important geometric compositions mixed with very well placed linear aspects punctuated a beautiful painting. 

“Masters of Distraction” by Mr Jago

Anything Jago I’m a fan of and being able to take in one of his paintings in person was worth the trip alone. He is a true master of Colour and Paint. Jago’s work is weighted luminescence.

“Circulatory System No. 4” by Augustine Kofie

Kofie’s precision, weathered angles and sweeping, calculated curves make him a modern Master.

“Sunset” by Sheone

Fleeting movement captured in a field of yellow. Sheone is always able to capture so much with minimal movements.

“O’s Sweet Pearls” by Jaybo Monk.

Jaybo surprised me with the palette he used for this piece, a nice change of pace and with the use of black and white figures the it really worked. Jaybo’s work is pure and honest. His work is calculated only on the moment and brought forward to be destroyed.

This Sunday we are meeting at the gallery at 2pm to visit all of the mural sites around Glasgow by bike and then coming back at 4pm to watch the film created all about the project. Please join us for some or all of the activities. Read more here.

Exit Strategy by Estum

A classic piece of abstract monochromatic letterform from one of scotland’s most dynamic graffiti artists. I love the way it comes to life and crawls around the wall leaving its raw texture and colour visible.
Scuff by Fraser Gray

I love this painting of the artist Scuff. It’s a wonderful portrait of a really charismatic artist: it captures Scuff’s robust personality. It’s vividly rendered with delicate use of colour and shows how skilled an artist Fraser is.

Telly fish by Inflatablemonster

A simple but effective piece of sculpture that has an awkward feel to it. I’d love to have one floating around my studio!

Lego by iede reckman

This work has a really interesting architectural form and with the instantly recognisable colours, makes me want to get out my lego and build.

The Storr by _NVA_

This was a fantastic piece of environmental art that i was lucky to see. We were guided up the mountain at midnight, and along the way visual and aural stories unfolded. I loved the sympathetic balance of light installation, music and performance art in a really environmentally delicate location. I have always liked the work of NVA – Test Department were an influence on me from a young age – so to see this piece was a real privilege.

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See more of our Top 5 selections here.

Phosphorus by Erlend Tait. Work is for sale at http://recoat.bigcartel.com/

Central Station set up it’s own commissioning strand to grant monthly awards to innovative and risky projects proposed by our members.

Research during the development of the site revealed that what artists, filmmakers and designers wanted most was not promotion, advice or access to facilities but cold hard cash.

In response we launched the Member Fund, £10K that was used to award small sums of cash each month to projects that wouldn’t be supported via traditional routes. No laborious application process, we just asked for applicants to tell us what they wanted to do and how much they wanted.

The Member Fund was judged by our panel of Creative Heads, independent practitioners that included designers, curators, filmmakers and artists.

Although the fund no longer exists, it isn’t impossible that it might just come back one day.

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Take a look at some of the projects we supported and read what they had to say…

Announcement blogs by Censta:
Member Fund: Who gets £1,500?
£1,500 round two
Member Fund 03: Who won by who?
The next Member Fund award
Member Fund winners 5&6

Member Fund projects:
Fools Gold [Recoat]
AGK [Yuck n' Yum]
Brand Vs. Ethos’ Workshop – 200810 [SASA]
Pop-Up Cinema Matinee [SASA]
Pop-Up Cinema Matinee 200810 [SASA
A BIG Poster Club thank you to Central Station! [Poster Club]
I was a child Futurist [ptarmigan]
Boswell in Space…! [Boswell in Space]
Boswell in Space goes to Sheffield [Boswell in Space]
An Unco Site! [Confraternity of the Neoflagalents]
Chez Gallip [Bobby Niven]
Magic Towards Your Face [Henry Coombes]
Norman Hogg: Neomedievalism, From Empire to Kookdom in Three Easy Steps! [Confraternity of the Neoflagalents]

And here are some additional bits to browse:
Q&A: Boswell in Space
Q&A Bobby Niven

What have we missed? Let us know and join in our focus on Berlin taking place during October.

1. Tender Parodies by pulledup
A 3 day event planned for 2011 including workshops, screenings and performances in a disused theatre in Weissensee, Berlin.

2. Papergirl Berlin by Papergirl
Art distributed by bicycle in cities across the world.

3. Berlin Monument 1 by Buwert

4. Berliner Dom by JENowell

5. Berlin Paint by Recoat

As part of Recoat Gallery’s Fool’s Gold Tour (supported through our Member Fund), grafitti artists Inkie and Insa hit Berlin and made a sprawling spontaneous artwork.

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See more of our Top 5 selections here.

1. Fluro Stag-Susie Wright by Recoat

2. Tug by hateful snippets

3. Deer Lady by MagdaBoreysza

4. stag by daisycarver

5. two of hearts by Thereza Rowe

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See more of our Top 5 selections here.

1. Sepe by Recoat

2. Luring Law – Acrylic On Canvas by Conzo

3. 0.08 Derm by :Derm:

4. Unamed. Lyken Love. 2010 by Lyken Love

5. blockhead by pussydomesticus

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See more of our Top 5 selections here.

Inkie and Insa created this mural together for the Hat Trick exhibition at Recoat Gallery for their third birthday. they are amazing!

Big Thankyou to Mateusz Sleczka at Pigeon Promotions and Alex Martin Photography at the We Can Never Stop Blog for all the beautiful photos!

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Hat Trick at Recoat

To celebrate our 3rd birthday, the first 20 visitors to Hat Trick, our newest exhibition that opens this Friday will win a limited edition hand screen printed artwork, plus Insa will reveal some hot new Insa wheels, custom Insa and Inkie Sneaks will be on show and we’ll unveil the mural painted by international artists, 1010, Veuch, Insa and Inkie. Plus we’ll be screening Foundlight’s latest offering, the documentary of the Fool’s Gold Tour we did last month. Be there 7-10pm for all the party fun!

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3rd Birthday Party at Recoat

We just got back from the Fool’s Gold Tour where we travelled across Europe with Inkie and Insa to hang an exhibition in Warsaw. Now that it is our 3rd Birthday at Recoat we are holding a celebratory exhibition called Hat Trick at the gallery where all of the art is from artists living in the countries we visited- England, Brussels, Germany and Poland. Artists exhibiting include Inkie, Insa, Pener, 1010, Veuch, Chazme, Sepe, Karol Grygoruk, Jaybo Monk and Swanksi. We will also be screening the documentary made on the trip, a brand new mural will be unveiled in teh archway created by participating artists and there will be a print giveaway for the first 20 arrivals! Launch is the 30th of July 2010, 7-10pm. Hope to see you there. The show then runs till the 29th of August.

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Leaving Warsaw!

Wow, what a week! What a blast we’ve had on our tour across Europe! We painted in London, Brussels and Berlin, travelled for 35 hours, over 2422km! We hung the `Fool’s Gold Exhibition at Dr Sneaker on Thursday and Friday and then opened that night. It was really busy, had such a great reaction, we’re all really delighted. I’ll get all the photos up tonight. But you can see photos of the trip so far on our Recoat Profile page. We’ll be loading up photos of the final pieces and the films from all the paintings over the coming weeks once we can edit them all. Thanks to everyone for all the support and good vibes along the way! Now just a crazy long drive back to Glasgow!!

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3rd Mixtape! Supra1

Our Last and final Mixtape from Fool’s Gold! This time from the mighty Supra1. Enjoy here.

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London Painting!

We hit our first destination on the Fool’s Gold Tour today. Sadly Inkie was absent due to illness but Insa managed to big paintings. We’ll be loading up more photos and movies over the next few days when we have more time. Up at 3am for channel crossing tomorrow! www.foolsgoldtour.com

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Fool’s Gold Brussels Animation

Just loaded up your first chance to see what Insa and Inkie created in Brussels on the Fool’s Gold Tour. Moving Image month you say? Kablamo! The boys painted this in layers to create this GIf. My understanding is limited but a Gif is more than an animation, it’s a series of layers that only web pages can recognise and will play perpetually for ever more.

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2nd Fool’s Gold Mixtape Out!

Inkie X Insa X Dr Sneaker X Pigeon Promotions X Recoat
This summer we’re going on tour, kindly sponsored by Central Station, taking Insa and Inkie to Warsaw for an exhibition on the 11th June. At the after party we have top DJs playing and we’ve asked each of them to make a mixtape so you hear what to expect! Second one is out from hiphopper, Rad.One. Pigeon just loaded it up here, listen and enjoy!

Rad.one is a Poland born Dj who currently lives in Edinburgh. His music style boldly could be compared to A-Trak’s style. His sets are an explosive mix of hip-hop, electro and dub step. Rad.one is not only a dj, he is  also designer and artist. From the beginning of the 90’s he has been heavily involved in the Polish graffiti scene and was one of the Co-organisers of the first hip-hop gigs in Warmia in 2002. Having grown up in Poland, he moved to New York for a time to develop as a DJ and artist before moving to Edinburgh recently where he continues to craft his style.

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Fools Gold Website and Facebook

Okay we’re LIVE! We can reveal that the artists we are working with our Graffiti legend, Inkie and Graffiti Fetishist, Insa. Fool’s Gold is online, our website is here and you can “Like” us on Facebook here. We’ll be keeping you updated as the project unfolds.

Inkie X Insa X Dr Sneaker X Pigeon Promotions X Recoat

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DJ Kokoro Mixtape Out!

Inkie X Insa X Dr Sneaker X Pigeon Promotions X Recoat
This summer we’re going on tour, kindly sponsored by Central Station, taking Insa and Inkie to Warsaw for an exhibition on the 11th June. At the after party we have top DJs playing and we’ve asked each of them to make a mixtape so you hear what to expect! First one is out from dub step master, DJ Kokoro (Neo Tokyo Bass). Pigeon just loaded it up here, listen and enjoy!

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13.05.10
Fools Gold

We have a very exciting project coming up in the summer. Still a bit hush hush. But we’re working with Pigeon Promotions and Dr Sneaker and the Central Station Member Fund has been kindly awarded to us to help make it happen, so we’ll be keeping this blog updated with developments as things unfold. All very exciting!

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Fools Gold was one of the projects awarded cash from the Central Station Members Fund.

20/4 Radius in Motion

I started the day with a visit to Recoat A solo exhibition:  Matt Mignanelli travelled from New York to paint an installation within the space and hung a collection of new paintings. You can only see the mural for the endurance of the exhibition, apparently Recoat turn their head and look away as they paint over their mural wall every time they prepare for another show. So it exists now done by Mignanelli himself.

323 North Woodside Road, G20 6ND

Recoat Gallery presents “Alphanauts” a duo exhibition from Scottish Graffiti Artists, Rekor and Lyken at LA Bartenders new venue, 44 Houston Street

Exhibition Viewing: Thursday 22nd April 6-10pm

Auction of Artwork: Thursday 22^nd April 8.30pm

I then went over to

Entry/Exit an intervention in North Kelvin Meadow by Graham Lister. I like this piece for several reasons, this work is a

part of the artists’ community, it’s a part of a larger dialogue amongst the community that surrounds this open space; it has a history within the community and the work itself talks about the landscape and perspective, physically and conceptually. There’s a really nice story on video that I’ve posted as I was speaking to Graham about the vulnerability of the work to vandals.  I’m so pleased it has a happy ending. Take a picnic!

I was not supposed to cycle because I have a bad knee that doesn’t like it when I ride a bike, but I couldn’t resist temptation, there was a white bike outside Kelvingrove art Galleries and I used it to do my route across town and back. I left it where I found it and my knee complained. So I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring one of Radius’s on line exhibitions.

Stramash There are four audio works that are based around historical characters that have been re-invented through found text, creative writing and the voice. I think three of the characters are well known enough not to give you a background but one of them I didn’t know, and the audio work didn’t make sense until I knew this….

TAKI 183 is one of the most influential graffiti writers. His “tag” was short for Demetaki, a Greek alternative for his birth-name Demetrius, and the number 183 came from his address on 183rd Street in Washington Heights.[1] He worked as a foot messenger in New York City and would write his nickname around the New York streets that he frequented during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Knowing this made it much more enjoyable and made the audio piece come alive for me.

I love the diversity and the flexibility that the Internet can bring to Radius. I hope to be off to that temporary bar across from Stereo tonight, I’ll fill you in on the name when I know what it is.