November was very demanding at work so I didn’t pay enough attention to the magazine. But, there’s progress.
The J Guide
I remember F.Merry saying “there’s so much going on in the world right now, I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the next two months”. Two months have passed since this random statement and we haven’t been able to work as efficiently as we planned.
The past few weeks have been emotionally draining for everyone and every time I feel like I’m getting closer to a clear headspace something somewhere just ruins my mood. Despite everything going on, progress so far:
The J Guide
Vanny, F.Merry and I are visualizing the storyboard for the Instagram page. Since there’s no one-way to rolling we’re creating a guide that breaks down the steps to rolling a joint. …
My first project at Wuruwuru is coming to life.
The first idea F.Merry shared with me when I became an intern was learning Nigerian Album Art. It’s such a random thing to explore but once we started desk research, it became a monster.
We’ve gone from exploring the trends in graphics go thinking about Nigerian pop culture in general and how that has influenced Nigerian music over the years.
The thing about exploring ideas like this is that the excitement of all the possible results distracts from the work, so we’re compartmentalizing this project. With Wale Olowokorende’s help, we’re going to tell you about Nigerian Album Art because why not?
PS: We’re collecting album art and we have about 290 images so far. It looks really nice, see for yourself: https://airtable.com/shrwU5NWobT8feUw5
I’ve been talking about Wuruwuru and doing “research” for many months now but we haven’t actually finished anything. No article, no dataset, no album, no brochure, no video. Nothing. Just audio. 😭
Anyway, we hope to start publishing in November. Tomiwa will complete the J Guide with Vanny and Eseosa’s writing an essay about album covers.
The J Guide
We need 90gsm kraft paper for the physical brochure and OD hasn’t been able to source this yet. Her printer uses an HP Indigo so there’s a compatibility constraint too. We’re going to exhaust all options to find the paper locally, but if not we’ll have to ship some. …
Vanny sent in the first sketches. Also, Jubril suggested a better name: The J Guide.
September 7
The CAC website cac.gov.ng/business-names does a decent breakdown of the business registration process but here’s a slightly better one:
- Check for availability of the Business Name: publicsearch.cac.gov.ng/ComSearch
- Create an account on services.cac.gov.ng
- Create a new “Name Registration” and wait for approval
- When approved, download and complete pre-registration form
- Prepare signed and scanned copies of your pre-registration documents and notarise them
- Pay filing fee to CAC and submit documents
- Create a new “Company Registration”
- Upload the scanned documents for processing
- Wait for your registration documents
We set out to register “Wuruwuru Labs” and given the negative meanings of the word it was interesting to see if the name would be approved. The 2004 Company and Allied Acts says the CAC can decline if the name is undesirable, offensive or misleading, although this act has been repealed and replaced with a 2020 version that’s way more chill. …
Tomiwa and I have designed a sample brochure. We might change it later when we start the comic but we’re going ahead to do test prints.
Next step is to find paper. I’m thinking of making an effect for the type (not sure yet) and also considering perforation.
Random: I just learnt about Facebook’s Analog Research Lab and I can’t help but imagine what life would be like if I had this kind of space and support.
I’m also considering making a small zine before the full format magazine. Zines are lighter to read and easier to distribute (think Awake). They’re also more affordable. I can imagine pricing them at like NGN 200 (or whatever pays for the cost of production). …
It is October 1st, and I am up early buzzing with energy. I rushed out of the house to beat the morning traffic and surprisingly, it was a smooth drive to my meeting location which helped calm my nerves.
I haven’t had the opportunity to work with a group of talented minds, and I am grateful for this new exposure. This is the biggest project I have ever worked on, and I am looking forward to the challenges and possibilities this will bring.
At the meeting, F.Merry gives Eseosa Belo-Osagie and me another run through what our assignment is all about and promises it will be a lot of fun. The best part of my first day was setting up my email address designgod@wuruwuru.com. No, it wasn’t an attempt to get cocky or make any self-affirming statements, but a moment of freedom and expression without any limits or rules. …
I have a day job I still intend to keep for a long time, so my plan is to work on Wuruwuru weekends and direct Eseosa/Tomiwa during the week (at least until that 3-month sabbatical).
After many hours (whew), I’m finally done with the initial company setup: documentation, project management, brand and website.
Here’s what that looks like.
We’re using Basecamp to organise projects, tasks, files and to dump ideas for conversation. Basecamp is the best task management tool for small teams because it’s so intuitively organised. Like, they really thought about the thing.
We can keep using Basecamp for free if we stay under 3 projects and delete the ones we’re not working on. …
I’m reading Understanding Comics to help with directing the illustrations for Bros J’s Guide.
“Comics” is an amazing art form, a medium of juxtaposed sequential images intended to convey meaning to the reader. They tend to be very immersive because they require a lot of participation. With comics, you have to complete the story between the panels with your imagination. He calls this closure.
When you kill a man between panels, he dies a thousand deaths
I’m halfway through and the most exciting thing I’ve learned so far is how to think about transitions. Looking forward to the second half.
