MonkeyPirate logo
This was probably the first real thing I ever did in Fireworks.
The client had a variation of TiddlyWiki that he had called "MonkeyPirateTiddlyWiki" (inspired by a t-shirt, I think). So the obvious logo was a monkey with a pirate eye patch.
Meet "Tiddles the TagglyTagging Monkey Pirate":
Tiddles was named by his new owner (TagglyTagging is a thing you do in TiddlyWiki, and the main focus of the MonkeyPirate adaptation).
Interesting things about Tiddles:
- Tiddles is coloured with colours from the default TiddlyWiki colour scheme at the time (except for the gold earring). This seemed like a good idea until the client decided to ship his MonkeyPirate version with a blue-green colour scheme. Soon after, the standard distribution of TiddlyWiki also changed to a blue colour scheme.
Things like that happen to me all the time. - Tiddles ears line up horizontally.. because nothing says innovation and edginess like a logo that's dead level.
- I had no idea how to draw a curved line in Fireworks (and still don't), so to make Tiddle's mouth, I had to draw a straight line, and use the circular "pushing" tool to push down the middle. I've got mad skillz, don't I.
- I was quite proud of the way the dots on his bandanna are elliptical, and sort of aligned with the direction of the scrunching of the cloth. Cool huh.
3 comments:
He's still working last I checked... Yep, there he is right on the home page.
Overview Here, the monkey, man's predecessor - now culturally identified as "cheeky" and "fun" (capitalised on by the Paul Frank fashion brand) - is now re-contextualized as a benevolent thief. The reference to the sea, may be a reference to Sea Monkey an open source software project, or even to a story of a monkey be hung after a ship wreck in Harlepool, England. The primate was washed up on a beach and mistaken for a French spy.
Interpetation
The logo may also be seen as a progression from the 'lab monkey as representation of man' as exemplified in 'Sugar Ape magazine 'in cult TV series Nathan Barley authored by Chris Morris. The monkey as icon as slave to the economy has been replaced by one as a pirate, a liberated slave?
Analysis Conceptually the logo surfs the crest of the zeitgeist. If the artist want to merge media and message, he or she might want to consider the means of production: i.e the relationship the software used to produce the work has bearing on the context the logo appears and the irony which my deliberately, mischievously, or unintentionally woven into its meaning. Otherwise the irony of the tools used is left hanging resulting in post modern irony, a deliciously pompous and mischievous strategy. Either way, it is a winner.
Summary
I hope that this has been constructive and is taken in the spirit it is intended: from one 'lab monkey as repressed human' avatar created by an artist, the king, the one and only m0nks back after being away.
Peace and respect to Ian Brown, king monkey.
m0nks, your analysis is astute and the elegance of your prose fills my soul with joy. I can only aspire to your mecurial/magesterial style.
I will feature more graphic "design" here soon, and I hope you can find time to grace us with your insight.
Thank you from the depths of my soul!
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