Stephen Embleton

While at blue.Kryptonite, I played around a lot with design, illustration and HTML. Iconopolis was an experiment in the world of the then isometric-style desktop "icons", set in a three-tiered world. Though no longer supported by modern browsers, it featured animated gifs and java layers animating elements across the screen. These included the right hand rocket lifting off, randomly fling diagonally down and back again, and landing. The bus leaving one bus stop and stopping at the next, then running back. The SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) billboard-sized TV screen test pattern fuzzing. The wooden crate icons top left, growing and shrinking vertically. The pale vertical tunnel, being a teleportation device taking people between lower levels. The public park fountain sprinkling. And there were clouds that moved right to left across the top. Two buildings featured are buildings from Durban, South Africa, at the time – SABC and the Lion Match Company.  It was abs...

The Escapist (from *The Escapist) Apologies to William Blake 2000 Writer! Writer! Write tonight On the paper bright and white. What new world in your minds eye Could frame thy tearful butterfly? In your misty dreams & lies What anger did you vent your cries? With what will did he desire? With what hand did burn the fire? How much bolder can we start Than to show a man his heart? But when his heart did feel the heat, Did he not begin retreat? What the go-between must claim? That your soul be damned to endless pain. What the curse? What bad task Did you use in evil to bask? When our hero dried his tear He found your hell and drew his spear. Did he smile your work to be? “Why did you who made my world forsake me?” *The Escapist is an unpublished graphic short story of mine, in which a character within the story realises they are a creation of a writer, who has dreamed up their world and their fraught life. 

  FLYBOY – The South African Superhero Designed by Stephen Embleton in 1999. Flyboy Badge (regular) Flyboy Bullet (extruded/3D) Take the memory of something and try to redraw or recreate it. Guaranteed it’s slightly different to the original experience but it’s now your interpretation of it. Now it’s got some of your other perceptions, some of your other memories, and some of your misconceptions about it combined to give you something unique in your world. A superhero has a specific look, try and redraw him/her & you end up with a new superhero. If you were me he/she’d have some South African characteristics – e.g.: a bruh-cut, khaki tights to blend into the veld, a multi-coloured cape to represent all the official race-groups, a hip-translator to communicate with every citizen, and a red-bull flask on his/her back – hey, he/she needs wings. And the most important characteristic would be his/her badge on his/her chest. He/she’d be too busy getting air-jacked to get a designer t...

Stephen Embleton: Designer in 1999 of Biltong, a hip quirky handwriting font. Fontified by Brode Vosloo at Sacred Nipple. Take a detour through any one-horse-town and you’ll find them on the side of the road advertising the best fast food in South Africa. Biltong – don’t ask what it means, you just know what it is. Buck, cow or ostrich meat hung on a hook, salted for taste, and dried out in the veld air for your convenience. Designed by Stephen Embleton of Blue Kryptonite fame, Biltong uniquely captures the freedom and looseness of authentic African signage. The creativity and flamboyance of the aApeople has been successfully harnessed and meticulously compiled to make you a font fit for your unashamed assault. About Sacred Nipple Type Foundry: Founded in 1996, Sacred Nipple Type Foundry was a South African foundry located in KwaZulu-Natal. The main designers were Brode Vosloo, Lyall Coburn, Stephen Embleton and Scott Dukes. View the Font PDF spread. Download the font here.

Version 2 of the Armadillo Interactive website. Using html/java layers and animations.

Created for the Matchmaker.co.za revamp in October 1998, this brand redesign took on a romanticised Indian theme, incorporating a fantastical world based on Indian designs, landscapes and architecture as well as the local Durban culture. Using a landscape format for the key sections of the site, Stephen illustrated the home/landing page and created some iconic design motifs.

  RED EYE @RT – 2 July 1998 Organised by former director of the Durban Art Gallery, Carol Brown and writer, Suzy Bell, Stephen presented/played/displayed 3 Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash interactive pieces at the Durban Art Gallery's third RED EYE @RT event: (Not) A Target Market Purchased Experiences (Candy) Once We Were Children... (Daisy, Daisy) 1. (Not) A Target Market 2. Purchased Experiences (Candy) 3. Once We Were Children... (Daisy, Daisy)

 Sanlam Personal Web Site Awards Category Winner – Philosophy (Graphic Design) In 1997/1998 I entered my personal design website into the Sanlam Personal Web Site Awards and managed to win in the category of "Philosophy". The site was my personal website which I used to learn html as well as experiment with the world of the internet. I was supported by my colleagues at Armadillo Interactive and asked for their engineering help when needed. But overall, it was a space to experiment and let loose. I was flown up on the Saturday for the receiving of prizes and my first ever live web broadcast interview. The cameraman was dropping his hand in a "slow down" gesture because I was firing at a mile a minute because I was so nervous. I flew into Joburg (no luggage) in the morning, was taken to the two/three story building in Yeoville. And by the late afternoon I was back in Durban. Best experience! "The only site that pushes the medium itself." Salam .net Personal ...