Original interview by Nicholas Turner available here

Today I am speaking with Saratan. A Death Thrash Metal Trio from Krakow, Poland. Okay, first question, and I am sure plenty of others have asked it before. Where did the name of the band come from? Was it just a cool name in that it is Arabic for cancer, or was there a reason that particular name was picked?

Jarek: I was studying Persian language, and our former guitarist Staszek, Arabic language. Staszek is no longer with us, because he passed away many years ago. We were sure that this band name sounds cool, it’s not taken, and it’s similar to the word “Satan”. Moreover we were interested in Middle-East culture so it was clear to us that we want to include come ethnic influences in our music!

After listening to your current album, I feel that you have a sound a little like early Sepultura. What, were and are, your musical influences?

Michał: Every member of Saratan has a very different taste in music. It is very difficult to say, we love Death Thrash Metal and all the bands that play this music. Everyone should speak for himself about music influences. Mine past big influences were bands like Origin, Nile, Behemoth or Keep of Kalessin, now I prefer simple music like 80′s pop-rock stuff. Simply, every kind of music is an influence to me, and that’s the best in making music, you don’t limit your style to one specific genre.

Jarek: Many years ago, when I was forming the band I was influenced by thrash and death metal. Through all these years I had discovered many great music genres and bands. It is a natural progress. Right now my favorite groups are: Celtic Frost, Emmure, Anaal Nathrakh, Motley Crue, but it’s always nice to return to all this great tharsh band like Annihilator, that I was listening all the time, when I was teenager.

Due to the rather homogenous sound of Metal across the globe, do you have to bring something extra to your music? I like the acoustic guitars that you have used on the Taj-e Sahra track, I feel it helps make you stand out a lot more than the bands who just seem to rely on offensive language or just playing faster and louder to be different from everyone else.

Michal: It’s obvious if you want to be recognizable you have to do something extra in your music. Some bands put emphasis on lyrics, some on speed, some on image – we decided to give our music more ethnic/natural/organic style. Of course there are plenty bands which do it, like Nile or Orphaned Land, but we do it in our way and in our style.

Jarek: When we were choosing the band name, we were sure that we want to mix Metal with ethinc sounds. On our first record, demo cd, Infected with Life, we had made ethnic instrumental song, later too. But now we could make one step closer to the music genre we wanted to be part of. There were many reasons, and we couldn’t record ethnic or classic instruments in that amount. Now we have more opportunities, we are better musicians and composers, and we want to make something new and fresh!

Do you feel your local Metal scene is strong, or is there a lack of good venues that support Metal? Europe as a whole seems to have a much served live scene than the USA or far flung places like Australia.

Michal: We have recently played some shows around southern Poland and I have to say that there were clubs which gave us a real satisfaction from playing. People enjoyed our show and club staff was really kind to us. I don’t know how shows look like abroad, so I don’t have comparison.

Jarek: Europe is supporting Metal, and in my opinion it’s the strongest Metal market, especially Germany. The situation of Metal in Poland is not so bad at all, and I have a feeling that our local Polish – scene is one of the strongest in the World. Look at all the Death Metal bands, Polish Death Metal became a mark of quality.

Do you have a tour planned to support your latest album Martya Xwar that you released November last year?

Michal: Almost answered this in previous question hehe. Yep, already had one – it was Frozen Plague Tour (split in two parts) with Thy Disease. It ended on 9th March, we played together some really good shows. I think people know Saratan (and our latest album) much better now. It was even surprising when we heard from people that they came to show only to see us live.

Jarek: We are working on that. We will play many gigs in Poland, and we are planning to tour abroad. We are counting on our booking agency Dragon Productions!

Is there a plan for further videos to the one you did to promote the album launch last year?

Michal: Yeeees, in the end of march we will shoot another video. Follow us on Facebook.

Jarek: It will be ready in April 2013. It will be so different than Ba’al Zevuv!! Check our pages to be sure to not miss it! The only thing I can say for now, it will be video for the fastest song form our new album!!

Since Saratan has been around for close to a decade, do you have a memorable show you have played? Even just one that sticks in your mind as being a bit special over and above others.

Michal: As a quite fresh member I think, the most memorable was Covan Wake the Fuck Up, on 21st January 2013 – with Decapitated, Virgin Snatch, Thy Disease, Sceptic, Totem and Serpentia. We had opportunity to meet all this great guys in one place and what’s the most important – in good cause to support Covan.

Jarek: We had played many good shows, for example our first gig in Germany, or the gigs in big venues in our hometown – Cracow.

Thank you for taking the time to speak to Wolfhound Metal Radio & Magazine.

Michal: Thanks for an interview, it was pleasure for us to share some words with You.

Jarek: Thanks a lot! Check out our new cd Martya Xwar and wait for our new video!!

Original article: Jarek and Michal (Saratan) interviewed for Wolfhound Metal Radio & Magazine

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

It will mean an increase in appearance of the store within the zazzle website search results, leading to hopefully even more sales!

Check out the store via the store tab above, or visit the BittenByDesign Store on Zazzle

As always, if you have any feedback, photos of your purchased products or requests for a particular design you would like to see, let me know via the contact form on the contact us page.
 
 

Original article: The Bitten By Design Zazzle store is now a ProSeller Store!

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

Original article: Free book on graphic design / Graphic Design: A Journey by Nicholas Turner

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

Previously, my friends and I had a running challenge, one which involved secretly swapping dust covers on each others books and DVDs. Adding really inappropriate covers to the books with photoshopped artwork was always fun.

I have mentioned in the past the various crazy covers that we did, this cover is a sample of the many that we did. Not only a great way to improve the photoshop skills, but also a fun challenge to see how long it would take for the other person to spot them.

I plan on trying to dig a few more up to feature as iPhone wallpapers for everyone to download. If you have a request, let me know and I can add it to the list of wallpapers when I start resizing them for the mobile screens. I am also planning on adding a few printable PDFs so everyone can do their own dust cover ninja missions on their friends libraries.

Original article: Stop mouth breathing for dummies – Book Cover Design

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

As seen in desktop magazine here

What would the Garfield comic be like without Garfield in it?

Would it be funnier than it was before? I think so, and if you think it might be an insight into a paranoid and delusional Jon, take a look for yourself at Garfield Minus Garfield.

Images copyright www.garfieldminusgarfield.net

Original article: Garfield minus Garfield

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

As seen in desktop magazine here

These days you can find somewhere to get sushi in most shopping centres. The exposure to Japanese food and culture has never been greater than it is now. With the sheer volume of quality animation that has been done, you will no doubt have watched and enjoyed Japanese animation (possibly not even knowing it), and had at least a little bit of exposure to their movies (Akira Kurosawa’s films are all timeless and worth watching, not forgetting Godzilla…) as designers we embrace their different viewpoint on packaging and design and their culture that embraces the illustrated work so whole heartedly.

So hearing about Telstra’s ‘Tokyo Challenge’, I jumped at the chance to get a sneak peak whilst having some sushi and sake in Surry Hills at Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge. You can find out more about the Tokyo Challenge via sushiplane.com.au

You will also no doubt spot the Telstra Sushi Plane ads on TV and see the full episodes via the website.

Upon arrival we were greeted with cocktails and various small morsels of sushi. The talent, creatives and Telstra were all in attendance and were quite willing to chat with the media in attendance to cover the event.

The atmosphere of the place was like any good bar, with lighting subtle enough so you could see but cover all manner of flaws. Good background music played until the main event of the night. Once the necessary speeches were covered, on came the first three of the commercials, and the first episode to be available on the website.

Image taken from www.sushiplane.com.au

The sneak preview was surprising in that DDB were given so much trust by Telstra to bring the sushiplane campaign together. It really does hit the target market, with a campaign that is interesting, engaging and bound to be talked about. True it is about selling a product, but with the big personalities involved, you can just see this as a launching point for some of these people into the TV realm.

As an aside, the little video message to the people involved by Rome Kanda was worth attending the event alone. He is a famous Japanese TV host and truly out there. Hilarious and odd at the same time, but Japanese game show hosts are far from being shy.

An interesting night was had by all, and it looked like everyone enjoyed themselves (and well into the night I am guessing), I for one, am going to keep an eye out to see what else happens with the Tokyo Challenge.

Previously we have seen the lead up to this with some of the contestants selected via the Japanese Dodgewall here in Sydney, covered by Desktop back in June.

Original article: The sushiplane campaign launch event

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

IBS is not a diagnosis of anything, in fact it is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning they test for everything else and when they can’t find what is wrong with you, you get the IBS diagnosis. Each person suffers differently, for me, I have uncomfortable stomach bloating from certain foods as well as the usual needing to go to the toilet urgently and repeatedly at all the most inopportune times. Anxiety and stress can bring on the effects just as easily as eating two kilos of habanero chillies can. Would you be anxious about being on a train for over an hour and a half if you had IBS? Yes, and that worrying about it can actually make it worse, reinforcing in your mind that you can’t do it.

Would you believe distracting yourself can take your mind off the problem but show you that thinking about the problem is one of the contributing factors to it as well! For instance, after the Christmas holidays, going back to work was hard enough add in the stress of the long commute and it became a problem that seemed impossible to beat. It was simply knowing that it wasn’t a problem BEFORE the holidays and that each trip just needed me to get that little bit further. The best idea was to distract myself, so I was working on the laptop on the train as well as writing articles and blog posts (this one in fact). This simple distraction method meant that I wasn’t worrying about what station I was at or trying to figure out the nearest toilet to my current location (the old find-a-loo app was pretty handy let me tell you).

The distraction method can help with pain, when your mind has focus on something else, it can blot out extra things like discomfort or pain.

If you have any tips for IBS yourself, please share them!

Original article: IBS and the long commute – Irritable Bowel Syndrome

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

But more about AGDA, as someone who has been a member of twenty odd years, it is always good to meet up with enthusiastic designers who want to be part of something more than just their day to day job.

I seem to find myself talking to people who are either icons of the design community or happen to be fixtures of design in general in this country. I guess after being in the industry for so long, people recognise my face and although half the time can’t put a name to it still recognise me as a fellow designer. (Or perhaps just a fellow drinker)

There was talk of pitches, slagging off the slackers who didn’t make the night, even to the ever constant talk of free pitching over paid pitching. I won’t go into detail but for most designers the idea that they could do a fortnights hard work and see nothing for it (even to the point of having their ideas used and recycled into a creative brief for a different designer) just seems ludicrous. You don’t tell your plumber to fix one of your drains and if you like how he does it, you will hire him to do the rest. Maybe there is a method or system that can be put in place to help shake things up, but until we find a way to get all the designers on board, it will be fraught with problems.

Well, if you we’re there I hope you enjoyed yourself, if you weren’t well you missed out BIG time! Look for me in the photos on the AGDA NSW site of the night, you may even spot me with beer in hand.

Oh and many thanks to whomever packed my goody bag from the night, there was lots of stuff to look through on my long train ride home. I am looking forward to seeing the events for 2013!

Original article: AGDA Christmas drinks. 19th December

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

World dictator day – Wallpaper. The text says “had I not been subjected to the darkness, I could not have seen the light” (Taken with Instagram)

Instagram filter used: Walden

Original article: World dictator day + December 17th +

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.

World dictator day – event tee. (Taken with Instagram)

Instagram filter used: None

Pick up a copy of the tee from our store here!

Original article: World dictator day + December 17th + event tee.

©2013 Bitten By Design. All Rights Reserved.