Trendwatching: YOUniversal Branding

I am one of those designers that think it is incredibly beneficial to tap into the energy of the shifting currents of pop culture, the media, technology, fashion, etc. As such, I always find sites like trendwatching.com very interesting. This month's trend report deals with YOUniversal Branding, the concept of subtly utilizing brands and gaining recognition within virtual worlds (video games, social networking sites, etc.). While the report is not for everyone, the larger idea should be—these days, anything you create is likely to end up online in some form. Clients already know that online opportunities abound, and designers need to have at least some awareness of those as well. Also, at this point, an online presence is expected and encouraged (good luck applying for a job without a portfolio site), and artists and designers are promoting themselves and their products in virtual environments like MySpace, SecondLife, 5oup... even the AIGA's portfolio gallery is an online environment. Becoming more savvy at presenting work in a virtual world is only to your benefit. So while reading about how Starbucks has implanted their logo in the background of a driving game may not immediately seem relevant to your daily CMYK existence, think again—all things are connected.

The Dying Newspaper and the Media of Tomorrow

Slate comments on the current state of the printed media. I must admit, I read the NYTimes online—haven't picked up an actual paper in years. Though the article is specifically about newspapers, the decline of printed matter (not to mention the steady increase of technology that strives towards "paperlessness") is a relevant larger issue for designers—as a group we will need to adapt, increase our tech literacy, mourn for print and move on. New publishing frontiers await. Pretty exciting!

Philly Ad Campaign

Created by students at Adhouse Advertising School, this campaign of "edgy ads" was developed to try and make Philadelphia more attractive to New Yorkers. Like Gothamist, I prefer NYC to Philly, but this ad did make me laugh. Gridskipper also gets in on things, as does the Philadelphia Daily News. Note the play on Robert Indiana's LOVE icon, now warped into MOVE.

MySpace kerning (or lack thereof)

Random observation: MySpace seems to be everywhere these days. Bands have pages, friends have pages, friends with products have pages... you get the point. So I'm surprised to notice how bad the kerning in their logo is!! myspac e... Unless that's a really poor attempt at a design joke...

DO on DIY

Design Observer's Dmitri Siegel muses on the current state of Do It Yourself culture and its impact on graphic design. "The more that our economy runs on people doing it themselves, the more people will demand opportunities to do so, and the more graphic designers will have to adapt their methods..."

THINGS-ARE-HEATING-UPDATE: Adrian at the Be A Design blog rebuts Dmitri Siegel's DO posting with one of his own, in which he states: "The outlook for designers shouldn’t be one of fear and opposition. We should embrace the new world and the opportunities it provides...."

Keane/Sanna Annukka

I've been enjoying the new Keane album all week and had to get to the bottom of the wonderful CD art (which reminds of a more charming and colorful version of the art in all the mythology books I was force-fed as a child). The illustration is by Anglo-Finnish illustrator Sanna Annukka, who worked with design agency Big Active. The typeface was custom designed for the band (Cochin was used nicely on their last CD).

Purple is the new blue and red...

New this week from Threadless TypeTees (mentioned previously here), Purple is the new blue and red, which uses the typeface Gopal from T26. A great opportunity to be a color nerd AND poke some good-natured fun at trendsters!

Papa John's Pizza Ads

Nice trick: Papa John's recently won gold at the Cannes International advertising awards for their clever peephole ad. [via Cool Hunter]

Röyksopp Remind Me Video

YouTube continues to make wonderful things available for widespread viewing: Röyksopp's amazing Remind Me video is up! I truly love this animated info graphic extravaganza—when it first appeared in 2001, I ran right out and bought the Melody AM double-disc set especially for this video. Check it out! [via kottke]

New York Street Photography Show

The New York Street Photography show runs through tomorrow (Saturday) at the New York Public Library. [via Gridskipper]

Andrew Brandou

Everyone's Happier Now That You're Gone, a solo exhibition by artist Andrew Brandou, opens tomorrow at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Brandou is a former illustrator for the Simpsons, Spongebob, Rugrats, and Duckman. His work has been in various magazines, including the New Yorker and Nickelodeon, and he's also done music industry work for Tori Amos, among others. The new show is "a modern and hallucinogenic take on the Manson Family murders. Both disturbing and hauntingly beautiful, the pieces combine elements of Japanese kemono and hakue, Golden Books characters, and Andrew's own unique take on death." He also incorporates Californian architectural references. I'm intrigued. June 24th through July 22nd at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 W. 20th Street (at 10th Ave).

Castle Online Magazine

Castle Magazine describes itself as: "a pdf online mag with monthly issues. It consists of the work of free Illustrators, Artists or other creative nerds. Every issue comes for free and is full of weird and high quality arty stuff." What more is there to say, really?

Cooper-Hewitt Online Store/Summer Sessions

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum has, at last, opened an online shop. Great for design-oriented gifts, accessories, books, office supplies and more, this is definitely a site for you resource list.
[via design*sponge]

And while we're on the subject of the Cooper-Hewitt, be sure to check out their Summer Sessions: DJs and dancing every Friday night at the museum starting this week and running through September 8th.

SF: Populated by Designers

For the many, many, oh-so-many of you who have been mumbling about moving to California lately, just FYI—according to the AIGA SF, "San Francisco is home to the greatest number of designers per capita in the United States"... Creative paradise or survival-of-the-fittest competitive professional pool? You decide.

Taschen: Advertising Now: Print

New from Taschen: Advertising Now: Print, "The art of selling: today's most effective and original ads." A study of great contemporary ads from agencies all over the world—what makes them work, what they have to say, what was involved as far as concept and process. Includes essays from some of the top ad minds. Check out the Taschen site for more info.

Moji Animations

Attention animators: character design site Mojizu (featured previously) is now accepting Flash animation submissions. Should be interesting...

50 Best Magazines

The Chicago Tribune has published their list of the 50 Best Magazines. How is that related to design? Because design is about communication, and these publications are what people are reading, what is ranking, what is getting seen, advertised in, remembered, etc. In some cases, the design is great—in others, not so much. And it is interesting to note that the only mag even remotely related to design in the top 10 is Dwell (interiors). Just a reminder that good design is about more than the visual—an "elite" designer might turn up his or her nose at the look of Consumer Reports or Cottage Living, but clearly something is working (solid content is there, of course, but I refuse to believe that people will struggle to read—legibility has to be clear, presentation is important, etc.) and communication is successful.

New Tufte: Beautiful Evidence

Edward Tufte has published a new book called Beautiful Evidence. Expect the incomparable Tufte blend of incredible production quality, common sense and amazing graphics as he discusses "evidence presentations", which "delight both by the wonder of the spectacle and the accuracy of expression." [via kottke]

Images as Type

Ironic Sans has an interesting look at logos that replace text with images. Be sure to read the comments—Lubalin is credited with pioneering this effect, and one post underlines just how differently we all think. [via Design Observer]

AIGA: The Graphic Imperative

The Graphic Imperative, the AIGA's new exhibition, starts today and runs through August 18, 2006 at 164 Fifth Avenue. "A select retrospective of forty years of international sociopolitical posters, the 121 posters on display endeavor to show the social, political and aesthetic concerns of many cultures."

Geoff McFetridge in Patagonia

Spotted in the new Patagonia catalog: a range of t-shirts illustrated by Geoff McFetridge. McFetridge is, of course, no stranger to t-shirt design, having created the iconic "I'm Rocking On Your Dime" tee as well as designs for Milk Fed, x-girl, Stussy and Xlarge. T-shirts are the tip of the McFetridge iceberg—he does a bit of everything, and its all well worth a look (anytime he puts sharks on anything I go crazy, I admit it). Get your Patagonia/McFetridge tees while they last—some of the best ones are already gone (sigh).

Kate's Paperie Launches Home Collection

Always wanted to live in Kate's Paperie? Apparently now you have that chance—they've launched a home furnishings collection. [via IF!]

How Magazine Salary Survey

Every 2 years, How Magazine polls designers and publishes their intruiging salary guide. Take the salary survey now and you'll receive a free pdf of the guide when it comes out this Fall.

iStockPhoto

Though iStockPhoto been around since 2000 and is the leading "micropayment" stock photo site, they seem to be getting some renewed buzz lately. Acquired by Getty Images in February, iStockPhoto sells royalty-free images for as little as $1 and offers photographers the opportunity to submit photos for stock usage (debates on the merits of that practice rage here and here). Worth a spot on your resource list, if it isn't already there.

Threadless: TypeTees

An interesting (if not ingenious) partnership: t-shirt gurus Threadless* have created a line of TypeTees, which feature and showcase fonts created by foundry T.26.

Design Observer Redesigned

Design Observer gets a much needed makeover!
UPDATE: Speak Up! reviews the change.

Fontlover

Fontlover is a great resource for type solutions and font news (like the refreshing announcement that with the next version of Windows will come new typefaces—no more default Times Roman!). A great site to keep an eye on.

Monday Morning Art Fun

Neverending potential for fun distraction: First, the Wurst Gallery, where artists transform thrift-store artwork. Second, A Collage A Day sells a daily collage (brilliant—we should all be fueling and funding our creative process like this). Third, technology brings us the Jackson Pollack Generator (just move that mouse, click to change colors). [via Hyperlink]

Weekend Guide

Various things going on this weekend:

• MoCCA Art Festival (comics and illustration—keep an eye out for the Drawn! folks as well as favorites like Andrew Bell!)


• Iron Artist at PS 1 (an artistic competition á la the Food Network's Iron Chef)


• Walk on White Street (art, dance, theatre street fair in lower Manhattan)


• Apple protests (if you feel so wronged—GDBar has been brainwashed by loves Apple, but we're trying to stay neutral as far as reportage.)

Eames Powers of Ten Film

"Powers of Ten", the classic film by Charles & Ray Eames, is now online and available to view (or purchase, of course, if you want the DVD). "The richness of our own neighborhood is the exception..." [via kottke]

Antonioni at BAM

BAM's retrospective of the films of modernist artist Michelangelo Antonioni runs through the end of the month and comes highly recommended by critics around town. Antonioni "remains enormously influential, yet impossible to imitate... central to all his work is a need to see, to understand, and to interpret the world around him." Check the BAM site for the screening schedule. The Village Voice also has more info.

Arkhênum Society

The ever-splendid BibliOdyssey features the Arkênum Society, who digitize rare historic prints including the showcased Milanese illuminated manuscript from 1430 that has such wonderful illustrated animal and botanical borders. I find these very interesting from a current design perspective—we don't pay enough attention to what has come before, and manuscripts like these offer some intruiging grid layouts and opportunities for illustration that could easily feel fresh if applied to modern design. Don't miss the original post with links to the parent site (the animals are the tip of the iceburg).

Varoom: New Illustration Magazine

The UK-based Association of Illustrators has launched a new Illustration magazine called Varoom. Labelling itself "the journal of illustration and made images", Varoom aims to "celebrate and comment on the illustrated image in today’s vibrant visual culture."

UPDATE: November 06: Varoom is now online at its own site: www.varoom-mag.com

Design Observer Party

Mark your calendars—Tuesday is the Design Observer Party, during which some of the local names in GD will get together in celebration of DO's 10,000,000th post. The party is at the Delancy Bar & Nightclub on the LES—more info is available here. Note: RSVP requested!

St. Pauli Girl Lets Her Hair Down

Speak up features the latest in their always intriguing Recent Rebrandings series. This time around, Bazooka gets bubblier, Sprite goes slightly sinister (citrus weaponry? or worse, claws?) and the St. Pauli Girl lets loose.

MoMA's Red Studio

MoMA has created Red Studio, a subsite of the museum developed in collaboration with high school students. Red Studio explores "issues and questions raised by teens about modern art, today's working artists, and what goes on behind the scenes at a museum." The site has some great info/activities for adults as well as teens, including a rundown of influential animated characters and a series of interactive builders ranging from collage to architecture and landscape planning.

Science Editoral Cartoon Contest

The Union of Concerned Scientists is hosting Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. Entries should be "a creative take on the issue of political interference in science" and are due by July 31st.

Amazing: Platinum, FMD

I can't begin to do these photoillustrations justice with a tiny featured picture—check out the advertising portfolio of Platinum, FMD. Pretty incredible what can be done with a computer these days, isn't it? [via Drawn! (linked especially so you don't miss the octopus!)]

Between the Lines at El Museo Del Barrio

Currently on at El Museo Del Barrio: Between the Lines: Text as Image. An Homage to Lorenzo Homar and the Reverend Pedro Pietri. Both master printmaker Homar and poet Pietri used language within their visual arts. Through September 10th, 2006.

Flash all over the place!

If you're in need of some Flash inspiration, look no further than Flash Forward (the Seattle winners section alone has kept me occupied for hours). Another valuable Flash resource is the recently redesigned Cold Hard Flash [via Drawn!].

Second, a brilliant little movie by Alan Becker called Animator vs. Animation pits Artist against Flash. We've all had moments of Flash frustration, and this is a nice revenge fantasy.

Spec Work & Innovation

Michael Bierut has a very interesting article on Design Observer about working on spec and the new magazine INside Innovation, which promises "a deep, deep dive into the innovation/design/creativity space."

New Emigre Website

Emigre has redesigned their website. Jason Kottke weighs in with a justifiably harsh review from a web design perspective (WHY are we all still accepting shoddy web design from terrific print designers?). Web design twitchiness aside, all those great Emigre resources (fonts, essays, catalogs) are still nicely accessible. [via kottke]

Brooklyn ArtWalk06

Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk06 is this weekend—a great opportunity to see open studios of both established and emerging artists. Visit atlanticavenueartwalk.com for more info.

Top Ten Stock Photography Cliches

Forty Media gives an apt rundown of the Top Ten Stock Photography Cliches. Anyone who has worked in direct mail and dealt with large libraries of stock can tell you that if this isn't true, it feels true.
Pictured: "Telecommuting from the Edge"

FontShop June Calendar

FontShop's June calendar is available for free download and features the Relay typeface by Font Bureau.

Milestone A-Ha Video on YouTube

Sneer if you must, but the animated video for A-Ha's 80s smash Take On Me was a big influence on me. Thanks to Milinkito's amazing list of 80s videos, I found it online at YouTube and can now watch penciled-in Morten Harket at my leisure. Seriously, the animation has held up well—this is still a great video and is a real milestone as far as the history of animation in music video.

Speak Up: Slime is the Word It for June

Speak Up design blog runs a sort of inspiration free-for-all each month called Word It. You graphically design/illustrate the word of the month—the June word is SLIME. Check out past months—the results are wildly mixed and usually pretty interesting. SLIME...