Design Against Fur Contest

Attention student members of GDBar:
My firm has as their client the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who run an international anti-fur poster design contest every year. The grand prize is $5000 and there are several smaller $1000 prizes—not too shabby, and any serious art student has a more-than-decent chance of winning. For more information, visit the HSUS's anti-fur site www.infurmation.com.

Mark Romanek

Palm has recently released the Mark Romanek Director's Label DVD. Romanek is famous for his high-profile work in music video, and there are some heavy hits on the disc. In 2002 Romanek made the leap to feature film, writing and directing the movie One Hour Photo. Both the Palm DVD and One Hour Photo are worth watching from a design perspective—Romanek makes some very interesting choices, and establishes himself as a skilled manipulator of light and color.

On the Palm DVD, the best example of use of a color palette can be found in a Red Hot Chili Peppers video. The band animates the sculptures of artist Erwin Wurm (Romanek's idea), and color detail is obsessively meticulous—everything from shoelaces to lights to the color of a marker, a bucket, a guitar all stay carefully within the palette. One Hour Photo is a feature-length exercise in color—while the story is a bit off-putting (Robin Williams... so creepy), the film is immaculately made from an artistic standpoint. From the Sav-Mart to the Yorkin home and wardrobe, everything is within a strict palette... even Robin Williams' eyes are the right shade of blue. Conceptually, the action onscreen is often framed (by furniture, streets, walls), as though we are watching things through a viewfinder. Romanek's work is some of the most creatively deliberate stuff I've seen in a while.

Mark Romanek official site

Chip Kidd at Cooper Union

Chip Kidd: Book One: Exhibition
Through Saturday, February 4, 2006
Weekdays, 11-7, Saturdays 12-5
Closed Sundays

Chip Kidd's book covers will be on display at the Cooper Union through February 4th. Kidd will also be giving a free lecture on Thursday, January 26th, which is bound to be interesting. More info is available from the Village Voice and from the Cooper Union site.

London Calling

Members of the GDBar Team are headed to London to absorb some international design sensibility. We'll be back next week, hopefully with stories to tell. From what we hear, the London design world is abuzz with ideas for the 2012 Olympics—this ramble on determining the color of the city makes for an interesting conceptual exercise.
There is certainly alot going on here in NYC, and we have many items to add to the site to get 2006 off to a great start—but more on that after we soak up some British!! Cheers!