SPECTACLE: Second Chance!

If you missed the recent sold-out event at the NY Public Library, you've got a second chance to hear David Rockwell talk about his new book SPECTACLE—and this time, collaborator Bruce Mau will be there too. A panel discussion with Rockwell and Mau will take place tomorrow, November 1st, at Baruch Performing Arts Center. The event is presented by the Architectural League and is $10 for non-members. The book explores "the phenomenon and history of public performance and spectacular man-made events around the world." [Thanks to Adina for the link]

Happy Halloween from GDBar!

Some Halloween themed links in celebration of this wonderfully warped holiday. First, Black & Orange, a creative Halloween contest and collaborative gallery helmed by Penelope Dullaghan of Illustration Friday. Second, what would a dark day be without a little Edward Gorey? And third, Marian Bantjes over at Speak Up muses on Halloween symbolism.

Steven Heller Online

Steven Heller has a great new website. But it has to be said... the new reality is that even major talented rock star designers (or elite design sites, ahem, Design Observer) need to have decent code behind their lovely site designs if they want to be taken seriously by the web design community. [via Veer, where the commenters attack his code immediately]

Design a Godless Logo

Now here is a real challenge just waiting to be embraced by the right designer: science blog Pharyngula has highlighted a logo contest to design a symbol for athiests, agnostics and other freethinking non-faithful types. Pharyngula blogmeister PZ says that the cross gives a visual "approximation of the predilections of the owner. Why can't we have something like that?" Some of the ideas that have been proposed so far are featured above. This is an exciting challenge just waiting for some real conceptual muscle—any takers?

Six Word Stories

People all over the internet have recently gone crazy over the Six Word Story, attributed to Hemingway (who called the six words above his best work). Wired enlisted a flock of writers (William Shatner??) and five graphic designers to come up with their own take on the six word story.

Flickr Related Tag Browser

The Flickr Related Tag Browser from Airtight Interactive presents search results in a way that is visually interesting, informative and productive all at the same time. [via Three Minds @ Organic]

Ecotopia

On now at ICP: Ecotopia, the second ICP triennial of photography and video. The exhibition presents the way artists view a natural world fraught with natural disasters and environmental issues, and much of it is available online. [via the Village Voice]

Berthold's Grotesk Akzident

Something fun for Friday: the short film Berthold's Grotesk Akzident manages to present complete printer-based disaster in just over a minute—especially perfect is the moment Berthold realizes his print job has gone awry and simultaneously wilts and tenses (we've all been there). Created by David Carr and Robin Garms of Publicis Dialog in London, the short is part of the HP DesignJet Z2100/Z3100 campaign.

Illustration Today Symposium

On Saturday, November 11, illustrators will come together in a day-long symposium called Illustration Today to discuss how the industry is being reinvented and rapidly expanding to include new opportunities (see, illustration is NOT dead!). The symposium will take place at Parsons and will feature a number of internationally acclaimed illustrators including Maira Kalman, Kim Deitch and Gene Deitch, Peter De Sève, George Hardie and Peter Sis. The event is FREE to all New School students/alums and just $10 for the general public—tickets/reservations are required. [Thanks to Eva for the link]

Type Selector

Recently spotted while wandering the design section of Barnes & Noble: the new Type Selector. It mimics the format of the Pantone color guide and contains over 1,000 typefaces grouped by serif, sans serif, slab serif, script, black letter and display.

About the About Me

A recent 37signals article quoted Tufte's Beautiful Evidence (previously mentioned here) and supported his suggestion that packing large amounts of essential info onto a single, printable page for clients is a great idea for business: "With that one sheet of paper, they will have as much information as 15 computer screenfuls or 300 PowerPoint slides."

This idea is also worth considering on a personal design level—if you had to boil your self-presentation tactics down to a single pdf page, what would you feature? The traditional leave-behind, which serves something of the same purpose, enters the game after you've landed the interview... what about creating a one-page self-presentation brochure for clients and employers to access before the interviews begin? You've presented yourself even if they lack the patience to browse your portfolio (which they very often do). Such a document also potentially demonstrates that you can be creatively concise, that you know your strengths well enough to sum them up, and that you appreciate other people's time (which, in turn, might buy you more of it).

Think of it as a step between your resume and your portfolio... something of a print-version About page for you and your work. As discussed in a recent article from A List Apart, a good About page differentiates you from the herd and provides essential facts (something of your personality, a summary of your experience that's more interesting than your dry resume), context for additional information (the rest of your portfolio), and a reason for readers to do whatever it is you want them to do (hire you). As an accompaniment to your larger presentation, either online or off, the single page of self-presentation could be just as valuable on an individual design level as it is as a larger business idea.

Pekar & Moore: The Best American Comics

The newly released Best American Comics anthology includes a diverse collection of comics from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics and the web. The latest installment of the Best American series, the new annual is edited by American Splendor's Harvey Pekar and Punk Planet's Anne E. Moore. Pekar and Moore will be presenting and signing the book tonight at the Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg and tomorrow at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Soho. [via Flavorpill]

PRINT: A+C=D Call for Entries

PRINT magazine's International Business Review has a new name and a wider scope. Now called A + C = D (Art and Commerce Design Review), the competition showcases the best work in contemporary business graphics and has been expanded to include motion graphics and interactive interfaces. Full details available via the downloadable entry form [pdf]. Deadline for entry is November 1, 2006 has been extended to December 1st, 2006.

Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface

Not a new item, by any means, but something of an odd classic: Cheshire Dave's Cooper Black: Behind the Typeface. We children of the 70s and early 80s seem to have a built-in soft spot for Cooper Black, designed originally in 1922 but which resurged in popularity just in time to be plastered all over our books and music, t-shirts and sports uniforms, candy wrappers and cartoons. The typeface today is basically a laughingstock, and even designers who secretly love it can't really use it—unlike hipper Helvetica, the burnout factor and unintentional timestamp prevent its re-emergence. The video gives fans more reason to appreciate Cooper Black, while simultaneously providing haters with plenty of fuel. Something for everyone.

Design the 13 Tzameti DVD Cover

Palm Pictures is having a DVD cover design contest for the film 13 Tzameti, which will be released in the US on February 13, 2007. The film, described as a stylish and sinister existential thriller, took major awards at both Venice and Sundance. The Palm site has everything you need to enter, including detailed tech specs, entry requirements, downloadable design assets and the movie synopsis and trailer. The 13 top entries will be featured in a gallery on the DVD, and the final winning design will be the actual DVD cover. The prize is $313.13, not to mention a cool high-visibility conversation piece for your resume (seen in stores, ads, reviews, etc.). Deadline for entry is November 13, 2006. [Thanks to Erik for the link]

UPDATE 11/29: Winners have been announced. More info here.

Letterpress with edge.. or without

Just because you have something unpleasant to say in writing doesn't mean it can't look good. The Bittersweet line from Paper Stories includes snarky comments like "Suck it" and "Thanks for nothing" on lovely letterpressed notecards. Of course, if you'd like to be a bit less formally confrontational, the letterpressed matchbook notes from Elum Designs come with cheerful sticker seals that say things like "Hey friend" and "Just thinking about you." [via design*sponge]

Pssst: if you enter the code luckymag when purchasing from Elum online, you get 25% off your order. Not sure how long this offer will last, but it was spotted in the November issue of Lucky, so there should time enough to snag a few boxes of nice cards to use as easy gifts during the inevitable madness of the looming holiday season.

Transit: Design Road Trip

Carson Sloan and Luke Watkins graduated from the University of Delaware and decided they needed one last class before transitioning into the professional world: a cross-country design road trip. "The classroom is three thousand miles of open road and the professor is anyone with an open door willing to give an hour of his or her time to talk design." From Asterik in Seattle to Zink Design in Baltimore, they've covered an impressive amount of ground so far and hit some big names like Pentagram, Ellen Lupton and House Industries. They're keeping a blog and list of visited studios on their site. [via DO]

BlueSky Studios Challenge

The people at BlueSky Studios keep the creativity of their employees sparked by offering a weekly illustration challenge that is open to anyone on staff. People offer up their drawn takes on a specified topic—so far they've covered things like movie monsters, dinosaurs, animal hybrids, and 80s cartoons. While only BlueSky staff can contribute, you could participate at home or implement a similar challenge at your own workplace—what a great way to have some fun and play with styles (like the noir Inspector Gadget, above bottom right). [via Drawn!]

The Sound of Color

In an article for Cabinet, multimedia conceptual artist James Peel muses on the concept of color-music, charting the history of color experiments as a musical language, including the alien communication in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. [via Coudal Partners]

Cut and Paste NYC 2006

Saturday, October 21st is Cut and Paste NYC 2006, a live event in which eight contestants will go head to head in an elimination tournament where they will have 15 minutes to produce a design that best exemplifies a theme, with the materials and tools provided. Last year's competition was a big hit—this year the contest went national and has grown, so the probability of an even bigger hit is high.

Celebrating SPECTACLE

David Rockwell, in collaboration with Bruce Mau, has written a new book called SPECTACLE, "the first exploration of the phenomenon and history of public performance and spectacular man-made events around the world." Tonight at the New York Public Library, Rockwell will be joined by Julie Taymor and Simon Doonen for a discussion of the idea of spectacle, shared experience and designed environments in our contemporary world. Tickets required. [via Daily Candy]

UPDATE: The event was SOLD OUT... sigh. Did anyone make it?

Pantone Spring 2007 Color Report

Pantone's Spring 2007 Color Report is out, brimming with fresh neutrals and springtime hues. A slightly quieter take on current color favorites—it will be interesting to see how these colors continue to play out online, in fashion and in technology trends. [via HOW]

Opinion: Illustration is not dead

Adrian Shaughnessy has written a glum article for Design Observer called Graphic Design vs. Illustration, an article that is surprisingly uncharitable towards illustration (especially coming from the editor of Varoom—The Journal of Illustration and Made Images). Thankfully he is getting nothing but intelligent and extremely well-deserved objection in the comments. Shaughnessy's attitude is really a shame—there are many exciting things happening in the world of illustration today. The web has enabled artists to increase their visibility, while sites like Drawn! and the iSpot have created new networks and resources for illustrators, designers and clients alike. I think perhaps the most important thing to consider about Shaughnessy's article and its response is that the illustration industry and the people operating within it are rapidly evolving. If you are still thinking about illustration as was, then yes, perhaps it is valid to say that the industry is in sorry shape. But if you consider the reinvented world of contemporary illustration, where it is used as one of many design options and is just as valid a choice as photography and text, then that argument collapses. I don't agree with Shaughnessy's assessment that graphic design has overtaken illustration—these things ideally work together, not competitively. Illustration is not without power to communicate, or irrelevant in a photo-dominated market, and it is ludicrous to lament the death of illustration as the only option. Of course there is no real competing with photography, but we are beyond that. Resourceful art directors have not forgotten illustration, but it is one of many tools.

As long as traditional illustrators are willing to evolve, there are plenty of resources out for them to use to sell themselves. Has this change come swiftly? Yes, technology and the increasing ability of trained graphic designers to create their own images has happened very quickly—many of my illustrator friends who graduated college ten years ago are feeling whiplash and struggling to keep up. Do you need to have an online presence? Absolutely, and many traditional illustrators find this intimidating, especially in a world where most of the successful artists have hot shot flash sites. The everyday illustrator can feel left behind, but what I consistently recommend are products like WireMedia's Talentcase (which, I admit, I helped them develop), designed specifically for artists who need to get a flexible, presentable site up without having to learn code or invest a small fortune to do so. Do you need to network? Yes. It is no longer possible to thrive sitting all alone at your drawing table, your agent's phone number your only link to the outside world. Will you have to work a little harder? Yes. You must seek out niche markets, new ideas, new ways to see and have other people see and apply your work. I'm not saying that the world of professional illustration is easy, just that there is still an active industry out there to be an active part of.

Shaughnessy's article seems completely unaware of any new hope and optimism within the world of illustration. Again, what a shame. If you read the article, please temper his words with those of the commenters.

Kapitza: Creatures

Available for free download, Kapitza's Creatures font is full of fun animal silhouettes. Other fonts are available to purchase, including East End (Londoners), Blossomy (botanicals) and the recently featured Snow. [via swissmiss]

The History of A to Z

Upper & Lower Case Magazine has an online history of letters, numbers and punctuation, covering everything from G's official debut in 312 BC to the proposed nterrobang to the snake dragon that ultimately gave birth to F, U, V, W, and Y. [via Coudal Partners]

BRAVIA Colour Ad: Paint

BRAVIA's latest TV ad has finally launched—after their original bouncing ball ad made such a splash earlier this year, the world has been waiting to see just what they'll do next. With director Jonathan Glazer in tow, they've created a Bruckheimer-worthy world of paint explosions—with actual paint! [thanks to *g for the link]

P.S. The Jonathan Glazer (Vol 5.) Directors Label DVD is on sale on the Palm Pictures site. This is a great series—my favorite is Mark Romanek (Vol 4.), which was featured here back in January.

Chelsea: NYC's largest contemporary art museum?

If you're interested in contemporary art, Jerry Saltz of the Village Voice points out that you may have a hard time finding it in the museums of New York. "Among Manhattan's big-four museums, only the Met has galleries devoted to the permanent display of the art of the last 20 years. Visitors to MOMA, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim will only see whatever rotating contemporary shows happen to be up. Works of contemporary art cannot be studied over time." Saltz goes on to suggest that, with over 300 galleries, "Chelsea is ipso facto the largest museum of contemporary art that we have." [via Artkrush]

Maps of War, The American Look

Coolhunting showcased two odd and interesting items today. First, the Maps of War. It's an incredibly simple yet effective little flash info graphic movie that illustrates 5,000 years of Middle East political history—the sprawling rule of the Romans, the Mongols, the Europeans really hits home when presented in this fashion. Sadly, I learned more in the few minutes watching this then I did in most history classes.

The second item is a short film put out by Chevrolet in 1958 called The American Look, a weird little timewarp of a tribute to "the men and women who design" in the architecture, interior, technology, packaging and product design industries. The usual icons of the era are represented, but along with the Herman Miller and Mies van der Rohe you get beauty shots of things like the outdoor grill, the can opener, the pencil sharpener, the lawn sprinkler, the typewriter, the baseball glove... even the doorknob. Things most of us take completely for granted. Indeed, that's what makes this little film almost creepy—the Disney chorus of angels is singing as consumers worship at the altar of your mother's hideous Tupperware (will we one day look back on, say, our Apple products in this way?). Though bogged down by the conventions of its era (Americana overkill, very few women in a film that is specifically supposed to be a tribute to both sexes, etc.), there are a few surprises (a glass boat, an optical illusion of a giant dog), and the real reason to watch is for the general attitude that a designer's creativity is also "courage to dream"—imagine girding yourself for the workday with the idea that you will be summoning all the powers of your good taste and imagination to face an exhausting elite obstacle course of aesthetic challenge. My favorite moment: "the stylists work in rooms that are constantly locked." It's a bizarre trip down memory lane... The narrator delivers lines like "Walls of Glass!" and "Changes and Revisions!" in tones of thrilling innovation. The Art Director calmly smokes his pipe. And finally, as the music swells again, comes the grand finish: "Thanks to the men and women... WHO... DESIGN!!"

Coolhunting links:
Maps of War
The American Look

Art School Confidential: Mini-Review

Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential crept onto DVD shelves last week. Having heard impossibly mixed reviews, I went in with relatively low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed this presentation of the art school environment... it came pretty close to my own experience. Granted, I was at art school for graphic design, not painting, and we hardly had the specific "types" that they present (as designers, we have our own types), but the general atmosphere full of inane critiques from classmates, burned out instructors, bad art and BS was right on. One quick-as-lightening moment matter-of-factly handles the should-have-known better pinch of small betrayal that occurs when a trusted teacher casually turns on your work—at some point that has happened to everyone I know, from architect to illustrator and everyone in between.

Sure, the whole thing derails near the end when the Strathmore Strangler plot kicks in, but it was pretty clear about halfway through that there was no way to end a tale of an ordinary art school experience without some sort of departure from reality. Graduating from art school was incredibly anti-climactic—we were all dumped out into the world, half-trained, confused about what makes good design, and confronted with grim job statistics. While the line "only one out of one hundred of you will ever make a living as an artist" is perhaps more relevant to fine artists, there is plenty of hard luck in design as well, and a certain percentage of every class eventually abandons the industry. Presenting a realistic end would have sucked all the fun right out of the film, so they go a little wild. Understandable. At any rate, if you've ever gone to art school, the film is worth a rent.

Art School Confidential: Official Site

Monocolor Interiors

It's not just consumer products that are aligning with one color of choice—seems the latest hot trend in the world of interiors involves spaces with a single color theme. Cool Hunter showcases several of these mono-colored environments, including an orange dentist's office in Berlin and a glowing green restaurant in Milan.

Hyphens, En-Dashes, and Em-Dashes

C'mon, nobody uses these correctly 100% of the time, admit it. Using clear and legible Avenir Next, Linotype's Type Director Akira Kobayashi clarifies when to use hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes.

Product (RED)

Bono's (RED) brand has arrived in full force, with Apple, GAP, Emporio Armani, Motorola, Converse and American Express each unfurling their various campaigns. Branding a single color is always a slightly problematic challenge—with a color that is as aggressive and rich in culturally specific meanings, I'm curious how (RED) will fare as a global brand and business model. After all, red is good luck in China, mourning in South Africa, conservatism to many in the US... the color of love but also of violence, of power but also of danger, of politics and debt and conflict. People respond physically to red—it has been shown to raise blood pressure... This is not a neutral color, but then this is by no means a neutral effort.

As a brand, (RED) is doing two unusual things: 1) involving multiple companies, each with their own distinct identity, in employing the same dictated brand and 2) implementing this as a for-profit, longterm business effort rather than a straightforward charity (each company has made a five year commitment). But then, rules are being broken all over the place—Bono, as guest editor of the Independent, has already turned the British press on its head (what major American publication would allow its cover, design and content to be so thoroughly hijacked?). If this whole thing works (which it seems like it's going to), its likely a campaign that future advertising and design students will study. I'm finding it interesting to watch.

More info:
(RED) official site
BrandWeek article: Will Bono's Red Make Charity Cool?
BBC article: Independent goes Red as Bono edits
(RED) on MySpace (the nicest MySpace page I've ever seen!)

Test Your Logo Know

Mental Floss magazine takes ten recognizable logos and alters the colors on some of them—can you spot the ones that have been tampered with? [via Good]

National Design Week Arrives

Remember, National Design Week starts on Sunday. Free Admission to the Cooper-Hewitt, parties, awards, and education resources in cities around the country!

STEP Inside Design: Extended Deadline

The call for entries deadline for STEP's Spring 2007 Design 100 annual has been extended to October 16, 2006. Winners are selected by a jury of five leading designers from agencies around the country—this year's list includes Modern Dog and Pentagram.

Internet Movie Poster Awards

If you've been wondering who designs all those movie posters, the Internet Movie Poster Awards site can tell you. Agencies are listed alphabetically (and aha—now we all know who's responsible for the creepy Running With Scissors poster!!!). [via Speak Up]

Selling Design

The AIGA's Khoi Vinh interviews Jeffrey Zeldman about his upcoming Small Talks appearance (previously mentioned here). The event is sold out, but you can chew on some of what Zeldman has to say about "Selling Design" in the interview, which contains some value insights relevant to designers both on and offline (or, as Vinh more eloquently puts it: "applicable across the spectrum of graphic design").

A visit to Pixar

At first glance something for the groupies only (ever wondered what people at Pixar eat for lunch?), OogieBoogie's day at the Pixar studios also reveals this company practice: "Whenever they get an idea for a story and there is something that they aren't sure they know how to do yet, instead of putting 250+ people on a project and spending millions on something that they are unsure of, they will put 30 people on it and have them to create a short to see if it can be done." In an ideal environment, where time and budget allowed designers to apply that philosophy to client projects (at whatever your company size, corporate giant to solo freelancer)... well, what an interesting world it would be. Here's to productive creative experimentation on the company dime... may we all someday enjoy this privilege. [via kottke]

Draw me a cold Bud Select

Starving illustrators, take heart. Budweiser is the latest big name (United Airlines, The Gap, etc.) to embrace high-profile drawn ads, meaning that somewhere another art director is considering using illustration over photography... meaning that somewhere there is (or will be) more work. You may be asked to do something just a little bit ridiculous like "interpret Budweiser Select through original artwork", but hey, it's a paycheck. [via Flavorpill]

Jason Santa Maria: Critiqued

Imagine discovering that a college design class had critiqued your personal website as an assignment—designer Jason Santa Maria found that students at Michigan State had done exactly that. Instead of taking it personally or lashing back at the unsuspecting fledglings, Santa Maria acknowledges their comments with perspective and a sense of humor, turning the entire experience into a post about the maturation of designers, critique vs. criticism, and different design perspectives and realities. This should resonate with art school survivors (many of us), anyone who has ever compromised artistic vision for a client (all of us), and anyone who has ever procrastinated a bit with their personal website (I know I have). Also, what an interesting cautionary tale—you may have more viewers than you realize. Think about it... how would you respond to an unsolicited and, in some cases, relatively harsh critique of your work?

BBC One: New Identity

BBC One has shiny new ads and a new custom-designed typeface. CR Blog has a full rundown of this interesting identity exercise (hippos?), complete with video of all the new TV spots and some coverage of the bashing the BBC took in the UK press). [via Coudal Partners]

Web 2.0 Color Palette

Throw out your personal feelings about the label "Web 2.0" and bask in the silly color glory that is Miles Burke's Web 2.0 color palette, available for free download as either a Photoshop file or a jpg. In February, Burke took primary or logo colors from some of the "big names in 2.0 land" and created a palette of over 70 colors, including Technorati Green, Blogger Orange, Flickr Pink, and Basecamp Blue. [via swissmiss]

Nike Italy Ads

I Believe In Adv features the great new Nike ads featuring Italian footballers done in vintage graphic style by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. Hunt for the swoosh. [via Computerlove]

Crazy Egg

A free account at Crazy Egg allows you to monitor your website and see where people are clicking. You can view results as buttons beside the links, as a simple list, or via heatmap overlay (cool!). Useful for personal sites to see what people are responding to, but also potentially a great tool for improving layout and design of client sites.

Rotovision Books: Communicating with Pattern

Cool Hunting features a new series from design publishing house Rotovision called Communication with Pattern. The first titles are Circles & Dots ("The world is rounder than you think!") and Stripes ("Whoever said the world was round?"). Next up: titles on squares, checks and grids.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

I recently had the pleasure of watching The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Lotte Reiniger's 1926 animated masterpiece of paper-cut silhouettes. If you're interested in animation, I cannot recommend this enough—Reiniger's simple silhouettes are often more engaging than many of today's animated offerings, and elements that are relatively basic (music, use of negative space, movement, characterization) combine into an amazingly effective whole—an excellent lesson in storytelling. Available to rent or buy online.

Sticks + Stones

The Sticks + Stones project is an exploration of labeling and stereotyping in graphic design. Design students collaborated to examine the "judgments that we all make as citizens and designers." Interesting project. Makes me wish we'd discussed things like this in art school, where stereotypes and judgements were often the defaults for good design communication. Hmm...

Zeldman, Book Covers at the AIGA

Coming up Tuesday, October 17th as part of the Small Talks series, the AIGA presents web guru Jeffrey Zeldman. If you spend any time working on the web at all, you likely already know of Zeldman's work. If you've never heard of him or of Web Standards, get thee to the AIGA for this event! You're guaranteed to learn something valuable to your future as a designer, online or otherwise. If you can't make the Zeldman lecture but still want to get your AIGA on, the 50 Books/50 Covers is now open to the public (through November 22nd).

Vibrant Design

A joint venture of Condé Nast and Infiniti, the Vibrant Design site spotlights six designers who "infuse vibrancy into everything they create." The designers are from different industries and (inevitably?) include Karim Rashid. [via Make Ready]

Adverlicio.us Online Ad Archive

Adverlicio.us is an online advertising archive—a great reference resource! "Some of the ads are great, some are terrible," admits site founder James Gardner, "but all offer something for designers, marketers, ad agencies, etc." The site has bonus features like a job board and a search-by-industry function, and users can rate ads—current high ranking favorites include Red Creek's Spot Maker (DIY animation—brilliant) and the ads for Little Miss Sunshine. [via Designers Who Blog]

Design*Sponge Shop

Design*sponge has opened an online shop. An extension of the popular home and product design blog, the shop features six unique, limited-edition designs per month. Everything is priced at $100 or less and, wonderfully, 100% of the profits go directly to the designers themselves.