The iconic black and white image, more specifically the black and white checkers along with figures such as ‘Walt Jabsco’ and ‘Beat Girl’ were used in many aspects of the Ska scene. These designs were predominantly the ideas of Jerry Dammers from The Specials, Horace Panter and John Sims (Teflon) helped Dammers in the visual creation of his ideas as outlined within a Price of Fashion (2014) blog. This blog is a secondary source of information, this means that the source could be incorrect or unreliable in information, to ensure I am delivering correct information I have compared this secondary source with a primary source, an interview with John Sims conducted by Marco on the Bass (2009). Within this source, John Sims states “Walt Jabsco logo was the 2-Tone concept by Jerry and The Specials”, this suggests that the initial source I used was correct within its information.
Jerry Dammers and John Teflon helped to pioneer and create made many different products with the 2-Tone theme, within Marco on the Bass (2009) interview it states:
“Working directly with Jerry Dammers, they were responsible for a huge amount of 2-Tone graphics including the album covers for The Selecter, Dance Craze and The Specials ‘Ghost Town 12″‘[sic]. As well as record sleeves, they produced hundreds of promotional items: posters, ads, T-shirts, badges etc.”.
The designs below are all examples of the work between the 2-Tone pioneers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the use of black and white was one of the predominant features used within artwork and merchandise, John Sims stated within the Marc on the Bass (2009) interview that:
“The bands were about anti racism, politics, social issues and being bands of blacks and whites it harmonised everything.”
As the reasoning behind the very specific theme across the Ska and 2-Tone scene.
The repetitive use of figures, often dancing, such as the Walt Jabsco figure will heavily influence my own promotional material due to its iconic attachment to the genre.
Although I do not have the design skills of Dammers or Sims, I will be using copyright free images and designs inspired by the research I have conducted.
Reference Bibliography
Bbc.co.uk. (2014). BBC – Music Features – 40 years of British Ska, part two. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/features/2004/11/ska_anniversary_2.shtml [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].
Bass, M. (2009). Exclusive: Interview with John ‘Teflon’ Sims – Artist Who Helped Create The 2-Tone Look Launches ‘This Art 2-Tone’ Exhibition. [online] Marcoonthebass.blogspot.com. Available at: http://marcoonthebass.blogspot.com/2009/11/exclusive-interview-with-john-teflon.html [Accessed 4 Apr. 2019].
Priceoffashion.wordpress.com. (2014). Walt Jabsco | Price Of Fashion. [online] Available at: https://priceoffashion.wordpress.com/tag/walt-jabsco/ [Accessed 4 Apr. 2019].
2toneposters (2009). About Teflon | classic 2-tone graphics. [online] Available at: http://www.2toneposters.co.uk/about-teflon [Accessed 4 Apr. 2019].
Alice's FMP 