One T shirt, Three MC's and One DJ

With classic joints like Paul Revere and Sabotage and albums like Ill Communication and Paul's Boutique, The Beastie Boys are in our hall of fame of seminal Hip Hop bands.

Their classic 1986 debut album, Licensed to Ill, the first rap album to top the Billboard charts has reached diamnond status, selling 10 million copies. They have been one of the longest running Hip Hop bands and one of four to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



Regardless of the stats, in my opinion, their unchanged style of delivery with something that was ahead of time, made them unique, especially in todays Hip Hop. And they made some of my favourite instrumentals!

Sadly, the band is no more, due to the untimely death of Adam Yauch, aka MCA on 4th May, 2012. Featuring Ad Rock, MCA, Mike D and DJ Mix Master Mike, who joined the group on their 5th album, Hello Nasty and the title is from one of the tracks from that album.

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Two MC's and One DJ
album: tba
track 46
Produced by uchigothic for uchi productions

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The Delegates Of Rhyme - Look At What They do f. Greg Blackman

The Delegates Of Rhyme return with their new single “Look At What They Do". The Bristol and Brixton based team of producer Vice and lyricist Donnie Numeric since 2011, with their release of the mixture version of “Spark” have been busy in the lab, developing a sound that involves a different approach. Basing a number of tracks on live instrumentation, and developing it into original, interesting Hip Hop, the duo have finally completed their highly anticipated album “Assemblage”, which is due for release later this year.
Based on their previous tracks and their most recent work, I'm really looking forward to it.
> Read more, download the track and remixes >

The Delegates Of Rhyme - Look At What They do f. Greg Blackman

The Delegates Of Rhyme - Look At What They do f. Greg Blackman

“Love and Hate” T shirt Remix – A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in the beginning of the 3rd uchi album, there was a T shirt design called Love and Hate. The designer loved this design and it was his favourite for a long, long time. He loved it so much, he made a limited edition art print, much bigger and more elaborate than the original T shirt design. The T shirt was very popular and the print was received well by all who witnessed it.  Over time, all but one of the prints sold out, but the T shirt was still very popular.

Screen printing the uchi sunset T shirt

Screen printing the uchi sunset T shirt

T shirt printing two colours with fine tonal dots and thin lines to register is not easy. There are many elements to get right before you get to print. Once you've found a patient and willing and skilful screen printer there are as many pitfalls and considerations to be taken into account. Read more about printing the uchi sunset T shirt…

uchi Golden Section T shirt

The latest uchi joint combines the Golden Section and Piet Mondrian's cubist style. A brief explanation of the thinking behind the new T shirt and screen print...

You can read the full blog here...

uchi's Track No 42 – Golden Section

Golden Section screen print, uchi, 2015

Mens T shirt - Golden section - White

Womens T shirt - Golden section - White

Typographic Periodic Table

Keeping up a stash of funk at Screen One Printers, Bristol

First colour: sky blue

Laying down the dark blue...

uchigothic's Summer Time T shirts

Summer Time by Uchigothic

With remarks such as "not being allowed to shine" and "holding back creativity", Uchigothic, uchi's alter ego has begun a solo project.  This new EP will contain some new work and some previously unseen work, as well as collaborations with the other uchi member, Enjil The Mathematician.

Uchigothic was unavailable to comment, but Enjil told us:

"I think this is great and has been a long time coming. For a while, there's been some creative differences. I admit, he's never been allowed total freedom because his style is very dark and sometimes controversial. Infact, we all have our own style. It's exciting. Now we can go and do things that perhaps wouldn't fit with the uchi brand. That said, no one can deny the contribution Uchigothic has made. uchi would be a lot different without him".

Uchigothic's work for uchi has been unashamedly Hip Hop in nature, with his raw style of using classic lyrics and anti establishment tones. At least, that's what he brought to the uchi label. Based on the two designs we observed being screen printed yesterday, this lone pursuit has a more mainstream feel to it than what we'd expect, even from uchi. We eagerly await more...

Plan B: 'ill Manors' interview!

Plan B - ill Manors Project!

WANTED: Slab Serif Typeface for Over Use

WANTED

Slab Serif Typeface for Over Use

Also known as Egyptian, Square Serif, Mechanical or Mécanes

I seem to be noticing a lot more Slab Serif typefaces in use these days, particularly in advertising, both in print and on the web, including this article. Their use is widespread on sale signs, promotions, company straplines and display headings. Not surprising, they were created as "Display Fonts" with their clean, bold lines and squared serifs. Being robust they are intended to draw attention to themselves. If you want your message to stand out on a page, it certainly will.

The advancement in mechanical printing and the need for large scale advertising saw the first Slab Serifs (or Egyptians) appearing way back in the early 1800s as well as the even heavier Fat Face fonts.

These are a few of my favourite things

Maybe I'm noticing them more because I've used them on a recent project and now, while working on a new brand which requires a bold and confident look, a Slab Serif fits the brief. There's certainly plenty to choose from and it is easy to spot one of the hundreds of Slab Serifs, old and new, in use everywhere.

My personal choice has always been Rockwell. Designed in 1934, it's been around for a while and there are many older and newer, more contemporay popular Egyptians: From older typefaces like Clarendon (1845), ITC American Typewriter (1974), and more recently, the specially commisioned Guardian typeface (2005) and the extensive Soho with 40 faces! Just a few more of my favourite classic Egyptians.

Substance over style

I was taught that type should not be 'noticed', but 'read' and that the choice of type and typography should simply reflect and enhance the tone of what is being said.

Does a message lose its impact if the style of type is over used? Or am I just constantly bombarded with messages trying to get my attention? Possibly, most of the time this is true, so I guess the typeface has done its job and I'm probably numb to the actual words.

The choice is yours

However, there are of course many other Display fonts other than Slab Serifs that grab your attention by saying "Read This" and "Sale That". Once again though, it seems that I only notice the Slab Serifs. Am I just in a "Slab Serif mode" or are they in fashion at them moment? Many people use the wrong typeface for the wrong reason and say things such as, "I've seen this cool font on a poster, let's use that!" even if it's not fit for the purpose. I may be worried that if I use Rockwell or a similar font again some people will think I'm following a trend or just lazy - even if it works, and it will. Or maybe I'm just a type geek.

Typeset in Arvos by Anton Koovit

Images in order of appearance:
Guardian: Guardian.co.uk poster
Normande and Bodoni Ultra Bold Fat Face typeface
ITC American Typewriter, New York logo
Clarendon: Fontface
Soho: GQ Magazine Cover
Rockwell: Achievement First Endeavor Middle School, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Rockwell: Poster

Stage Two of New T Shirt Store is Over Here

Brand new specialist T shirt store is Over Here

Painting nearly done.

First batch of fitting acquired.

St Nicholas Market, Bristol

Opens 31st March 2012

New Specialist T Shirt Store is Over Here

Brand New Bristol T Shirt Store is Over Here.

Stage One completed!

Walls fitted.

Next: Underpaint the walls and get some cabinets...

Wall colour: Film Noir

There it is!

Developing the new uchi streetwear online store: Day 3

So many glitches...
Migrating the website from one hosting package to another didn't go as smoothly as I wanted. Drupal 7 isn't the easist CMS to configure. The novice will quickly learn alot as much of the back end stuff isn't easy to find and depending on your host you may need more PHP skills than the developers would have you believe. When problems occur things can get a bit crazy. A basic knowledge of PHP and some understanding of your server configuration may be vital. The Drupal developers could do well to spend some time as Users for a while and not assume everyone breathes and eats Code.
There is plenty of help. There is a large community of forums and discussions and documentation out there and I have found many of my problems are not unique. However, implementing the solutions to some of the problems is almost as much headache as finding what the problem was in the first place.
At the moment having upgraded to the latest Drupal 7.8 version I'm seriously considering downgrading as the amount of errors I get is too much.
Blank pages, Fatal memory errors and critical system bugs....

Developing the new uchi streetwear online store: Day 2

Using Drupal as the content management system is much more complicated than Wordpress or Joomla. However, already I can see the benefits in the long term for what is possible. It may take longer to understand but the rewards are worth it. Doing what Drupal is capable of in Joomla for instance would certainly involve a lot more third-party applications and custom coding. It's worth using Drupal just for the knowledge it will leave you with!

Today, using the E-commerce module, created the basics of an online store, added some catagories, products classes. Then deleted them all and uninstalled the ecommerce module!

Next. To begin again using Ubercart!

Will be adding links from the current uchi website to here so the site development can be followed... If anyone's interested.

Developing the new uchi streetwear online store: Day 1

Seems a bit daunting considering we've managed to create websites using just pure code. Now it's a full content management system: full urban streetwear store ecommerce web expereince, product reviews, articles and blog.

Developing a new streetwear online store is going to take longer than we would have liked. Two months to get it to a decent stage isn't that unreasonable. The challenge is certainly worth it, despite having little spare time to do all the other things.

Still, once the basics are done, populating it with the full uchi product range should be just a matter of man hours. Maybe not. Inbetween there's the fourth album to complete, most of the concepts and artwork is already underway, just not enough hours in the day..

New uchi online store in development

Follow the development of the brand new uchi store currently being developed. After so many customers have expressed how much they liked our products we thought it was time to do our brand the justice it deserves. We hope to give you an improved experience with this new site.

A lot of people have told us that it's the stories and the deeper levels of thought behind our designs which make us stand out from other urban brands. So, this is what we'll be concentrating on, the journeys that we all make and the expereinces we all share. These are the things that ultimately govern all our expressions.

Urban Clothing Brand teams with Digital Visitor to embrace social media

Urban hip hop clothing brand uchi will shortly be integrating reviews and discussion functionality on their website www.uchi.co.uk using Visitor Review, the innovative social media solution, created by Digital Visitor.

Visitor Review has a series of plug-ins which will seamlessly integrate into uchi’s website, enabling their online visitors to upload reviews and ratings, and start or join in discussions directly on their website.

Research shows that online customer reviews increase conversions by as much as 20% so any content gathered will also be displayed throughout the website to encourage potential customers to purchase their unique clothing.

The platform will also provide uchi with the opportunity to discover more about their customers and their interests, while also providing the functionality to allow them to engage with the brand and submit feedback.

Michael Langley, Owner at uchi clothing commented:

"For a while we have been looking at ways in which we could user reviews and feedback on our website whilst maximising the potential of other social media channels. The fact that Digital Visitor’s solution enables us to gather reviews and comments directly against our products and then automatically share them with other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter is a perfect fit!"

Since 2003, uchi clothing has been producing intelligent hand printed designs on quality men’s and women’s urban tee shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies.

Having taken its name from the Japanese word for “home” and “family”, the uchi brand is inspired by the hip hop philosophies of peace, unity, love and having fun, as well as Japanese culture and positive meanings.

“We are looking forward to providing this functionality on our website. Every piece of uchi clothing is as unique as our customers. By gathering their valuable feedback and creating discussion about what we are passionate about, we really hope to build a strong, loyal community” added Langley.

George Shipley, Account Manager at Digital Visitor adds:

“uchi is a unique brand that I have been keen to work with. Their original designs are like no other and I believe that the review and discussions functionality on their site will certainly enhance their website and brand”.

He continued: "Our solution has been proven to increase conversions on our clients website whilst at the same time driving more traffic through the social media connections."

To find out more about Digital Visitor and Visitor Review, contact us today...

To find out more about uchi clothing, visit www.uchi.co.uk

Tanzania, volcanic atmosphere and Street Sounds Electro album covers

Volcanic ash has delayed our printer's return from holiday! I apologise because this means that those of you who have been waiting on garments won't get them this week. I will contact each of you when your items are ready to be shipped out.

This gives me an opportunity to show you the latest uchi T-shirt design before it goes to print. It's a Japanese version of the iconic album cover for Street Sounds Electro Volume 1 and will be printed in five colours. Initially I intended to have the first four covers on one T-shirt using the classic uchi 4 panel layout. This would make the text too small and we paid particular attention to the transliteration for accuracy and style (thanks Emi!). Look out for Volumes 2, 3, and 4 on T shirts and prints.