A #POP28 design star in the making

I wish I could take credit for 'discovering' Andy, but the fact of the matter is his lovely retro designs were getting him noticed before I came to ask him if he'd like to design the covers for the relaunched citycycling last year. He's got an eye for things, and while most of what I see is cycling-inspired he's visualised things like 'a storm in a teacup' in fun and quirky ways that should really be getting sold in shops.

Although he's modest about it all, and offers his services for free, and even for what he wants to sell has got hold of a giclee printer (which I'm due him half the cash on) so he can print and package up his stuff himself in a 'personal touch' kinda way (I'm tagging along with printing/selling some photography at some point).

So when, in the early Pedal on Parliament days, there was a general 'do we know anyone who can design a poster' query, I landed him in it. Which is perhaps my greatest contribution to the ride, given my poetry is somewhat hit-or-miss and attending the raft of daily emails while at work is nigh on impossible (though that has the knock-on that this last week I've tried to do more and wound up on 4-5 hours sleep a night - which in fairness I can do for a few weeks, but I'll be crashing out on Saturday night).

Anyway, Andy. He does these fab cyclist designs, and perhaps the overall favourite for the event is the Pedalling Panda (though I particularly like his Graeme Obree as well). The designs have given Pedal on Scotland its own identity. So much so that... Well... It has been replicated, with the London BigRide which is happening on the same day asking him to give their campaign some design kudos, and another campaign in Canada looking for the same thing.

This kid is gonna be a star long before I am. Bastard.

You can see more of Andy's cyclists at citycycling (cheap plug for my own site? Er... Yeah, of course) or on the Magnificent Octopus space on Tumblr for anything and everything. He even designed my avatar for Twitter.

Seriously. I hate him. He's also younger than me, faster than me, fitter than me... I tried to get a driver to bump him off, but he was saved by the power of his stripy socks. So while I may be bellowing at people with a megaphone on Saturday giving them guidance on the ride before we begin, and guarding the rear of the maelstrom as it winds its way down to the Parliament (being my second biggest involvement after getting Andy involved, while others have put in stonking amounts of work and will be namechecked on Saturday), Andy has left a mark.

But here's hoping we ALL do on Saturday. Get on your bike, make a difference, say you care, you are not a number (unless your name is Juan, obviously).

p.s. yes, all of the posters are blue. I've printed so many that my blue ink gave up the ghost. So I went all revolutionary (as pointed out by Instography) and opted for Comrade Red.