What a week!
When I flicked the switch and made this site live a week ago, I really had no idea what was about to happen. My greatest fear was that no-one would care. My second greatest fear was that people would take notice but wonder what planet I was on (spending several months recreating an old poster?!). So I am relieved and hugely humbled by what actually happened.
The overwhelmingly positive response to this project has really blown me away. Apologies for the logo collage above, but to have these people/sites leading the way in talking about it in such glowing terms has spread the word far and wide. On day one, I sat for a dumbfounded moment watching the live website stats like they were television, seeing the world light up before me. It's been beyond all expectations - so thank you to everyone who has said nice things.
The short film that Nick and Joe created to tell the story of my little adventure has had its own success too. Quite apart from its many embeds, Vimeo selected it for their homepage on Wednesday last week and up until today it has had about 75k views and a ton of praise. Big congratulations to them.
I'm trying hard to stay on top of all the emails I'm receiving. If it's just a quick question I'll get right back to you (if I'm awake), but please bear with me if you are after more detailed information. I'll reply to everyone but some responses may take longer than others. It's been a lot of fun hearing from people though, so do get in touch.
Finally, I'm happy to say that we have already made a few shipments of prints. It took us almost as long to figure out the ridiculously complex overseas shipping regulations as it did to make the poster, but we're on top of it and so prints will indeed be shipped within two working days. The first people to receive them have told us that the print is even better in real life than the photos we have posted on the site.
Here are some of my favourite articles from this first week:
John Lennon's poster - Kottke.org. Jason Kottke likes to keep things brief – that's part of the reason his blog has such a huge following, but big thanks to him for being the first person to mention this project.
Replicating John Lennon's "Mr. Kite" poster – Boing Boing
The Antique Circus Poster That Inspired John Lennon to Write ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’ – Laughing Squid
Re-creating The Poster That Inspired A Beatles Classic - Fast Company, Co.Design
Mr Kite, Mr Lennon and Mr Letterpress - Computer Arts
Lennon's Poster - Printeresting
John Lennon’s Famous Victorian Era ‘Mr. Kite’ Poster Perfectly Re-Created - Dangerous Minds
ビートルズ「…Benefit of Mr. Kite!」の元ネタポスターを19世紀の印刷技術で精巧に複製＆限定販売 - Tana250.com. Ok, I only included this one because I loved the fact that it was in Japanese. I translated it with Google and fortunately it also says nice things. Google's translation of this title reads: "Limited sales and replicate elaborate printing technology of the 19th century under the Beatles story poster "... Benefit of Mr. Kite!""
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