Wednesday, May 31, 2006

BRAVIA Colour Ad

Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig has created a wonderful commercial for the Sony BRAVIA television—250,000 multi-colored superballs invade San Francisco to the hipster strumming of José Gonzáles. I recommend watching the extended version.

UPDATE: Just for fun, a parody of the Bravia ad by the UK beverage Tango. Surprisingly, a fruit stampede is just as beautiful...

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Design & Management

Though the Design Management Institute (a nonprofit that "seeks to heighten awareness of design as an essential part of business strategy") has been around since 1975, Design Management as a field is relatively new. A recent article in How Magazine spotlights this developing area of business and highlights several exciting new MBA programs at places like Pratt and Stanford. "With the current focus on design and innovation, the need for designers to have a voice in the business world is more important than ever," writes article author Kristin Leu. If you're an analytical creative with an interest in business, your niche opportunity may be arriving!

Nicktoons Network Animation Festival

2006 marks the third year for the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, a "multiplatform festival that exists both online and on-air" and presents "the world’s best animation in the ten minute and under format." While it's a bit late to enter for this year (the deadline is this Thursday, June 1st), the 2004 and 2005 entries are online and well worth a look for a bit of creative inspiration.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Websites as Graphs

Websites as graphs takes your website url and turns it into a branching info graphic. People are even uploading their results to Flickr. At left, a section of this very website (click on the image for the entire graph).

One Thousand Number Paintings

These days there is a fine line between brilliance and scamfoolery. In a project described as "an experiment of art and mathematics on the web", a young artist in Switzerland is selling 1000 paintings of 1000 numbers. Just numbers. You buy the number at a value determined by this equation: (value = 1000 - number). Someone online commented that "It's genius. He makes money while showing that some people will buy anything if someone else says it's interesting, illustrating the simple and sad way advertising basically works." Meawhile, I want to know why he chose that particular typeface...

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Condé Nast Art Archives

Condé Nast has a wide selection of classic magazine cover art, photography and illustration available, perfect for research into trends and styles of decades long passed and well worth a look—some of those old Vogue covers are just plain weird. Pictured: Vogue cover by Miguel Covarrubias, July 1, 1937

Friday, May 26, 2006

Antonia Pesenti

"Graphic illustrator" Antonia Pesenti combines traditional pen and ink illustration with digital techniques. Sift through the many drawings of shops and markets and check out her maps and info graphics—her illustrative take on these feels surprisingly fresh in today's realm of clean-cut graphic symbology. Pesenti's work should give some hope to other illustrators, who are constantly passed over for default photography and clip art when it comes to image spots in magazine and ads. Many of Pesenti's pieces also demonstrate how designers can incorporate illustration into their work (or at least consider it as an option, which we don't do often enough). [via Drawn!]

Designer of the Year: Jamie Hewlett

The London Design Museum has awarded their Designer of the Year award to Jamie Hewlett, comic book artist and co-creator of the animated virtual group Gorillaz. Based in West London, Hewlett operates the design firm Zombie Flesh Eaters. As an exercise in creative identity development, the ever-evolving Gorillaz project is fascinating—even if you're not a fan of the music (which I am), the concept is an interesting one. This takes things so far beyond good old logo design that it's almost painful to think of how much fun we could have had with identity projects like this in art school... and what an opportunity for an illustrator! Check out the Design Museum site for more info about the contest, Hewlett and the other nominees.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Stationery Show

Once again, I unintentionally missed the annual National Stationery Show. Luckily, trusty design*sponge has two days of great show coverage, complete with photos and links to artists:
Day 1 and Day 2 (and an oops).

Printmaking at MOMA

Currently on at MOMA, Since 2000: Printmaking Now, a showcase of contemporary printmaking. Artists are reinventing the printmaking medium, incorporating all sorts of new digital techniques, revamping traditional methods and printing on/with alternative materials and tools. In addition to the new wave of renegade unknowns, famous artists known for work in other genres are also experimenting with printmaking—efforts by John Currin and Matthew Barney are included in the exhibition. This is the first MOMA exhibition to be composed entirely of works created/acquired in the 21st century!
On now through September 18th at MOMA

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Ode to 8 1/2 x 11

Over at Design Observer, Michael Bierut rethinks his formerly elitist attitude towards letter sized paper and spotlights Yale's 2006 MFA GD Thesis Show, where design students have covered their exhibition space with images of their work tiled on good ole 8 1/2 x 11.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Absolute Zero Degrees Wallpaper

Let there be more typography in interior design! Who says this lovely wallpaper from Absolute Zero Degrees is just for kids? [via design*sponge]

History of Architecture & Ornament

More great patterns and decorative designs from ever-reliable BibliOdyssey—scans from History of Architecture and Ornament (1909) are now available online.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Ambigrams, DaVinci

Ambigrams seem to be popping up everywhere lately. You know, ambigrams—words that spell one thing one way and another in a different direction. They've been showing up on t-shirts, on Boing Boing, and in discussions of the new DaVinci code movie. John Langdon's title sequence isn't being used in the film, but it's quite interesting to read about (FontShop has a bit of info about the actual titles, which were done with the Penumbra typeface). Meanwhile, if you feel you don't know enough about ambigrams, trusty Wikipedia has a nice explanation, complete with a list of ambigrams that have been used in logo design. Once again, something that could have made typography class a bit more interesting, but never mentioned in art school.
pictured: one of John Langdon's many ambigrams

Akira Kobayashi

Tokyo's Ping Mag interviews type designer Akira Kobayashi. A surprisingly fascinating mix of commentary on cultural differences in typography, weighing the influence of calligraphy, and an overall look at how type designers work.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Apple Store Opening on 5th Ave

As if you hadn't heard, the new Apple Cube Store opens today at 6pm. Fight the crowd at the opening and you have a decent chance at snagging a t-shirt. Opening for the fifth anniversary of Apple's retail efforts, the Cube is located on 5th Ave between 58th and 59th. In general, we here at GDBar salute the spread of Mac products (not to mention the 24 hour availability!)... but shame, shame, shame on Apple for ever letting the phrase "think inside the box" creep into their marketing efforts. Sigh. Meanwhile, Gothamist has a nice rundown of the buildup, including Flickr streams.

Period Russian Graphics

Peter Gabor has a great online showing of Russian graphics from the 1920s. Worth a look.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Type Directors Club 26th Annual

Isaac Gertman reviews the Type Directors Club 26th annual on Speak Up. His verdict: "A smorgasbord of New York ethnicities does not a worldwide cross-section of typography make." An interesting look at the apparent lack of global vision within the New York type scene.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Custom-Printed Toilet Paper


Come on, it's an opportunity crying out to be taken advantage of. Think of the branding possibilities (well... er...), or simply the blank canvas for patterns—textile TP. The next big thing?

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Graphic Designers on the Apprentice

A couple of weeks ago there were graphic designers featured on TV's The Apprentice. Nick Fruhling's blog details how things went down as the GDs went head to head. What I love most about this is the mp3 file of Donald Trump uttering the words "graphic designer" and the ultimate conclusion that great equipment leads to triumph. [via Kottke]

Wearable Print Ads

Another interesting ad idea—try-it-on print ads. Perforations allow you to "try on" small items like watches, rings, and necklaces. Now what I want to see next is teenagers in Japan wearing the ads rather than the jewelry itself...
[via Cool Hunter]

Creative Department Douchebag

I think we all know people like this. Even the freelancers. Pete Johnson's Creative Department Douchebag comic sequence (appropriately profane, though I doubt any of our readers have much of a clean language issue).

Monday, May 15, 2006

24's Digital Type

What's wrong with this picture? Andrew Hearst at Panopticist takes an interesting look at the kerned and serifed digital type (yeah, you heard that right) that's used on the series 24. He's even got a little video. Type nerd power!

Tyger


"A hint of wonder along with the fear of progress..." Guilherme Marcondes starts with William Blake's poem The Tyger and blends animation, photography and puppetry into an amazing short film set in the "urban jungle" of São Paulo. Watch it!

Friday, May 12, 2006

Plastic Surgery Ad

Try on a new nose with your morning coffee—even if you're not into plastic surgery, you have to admit this is clever (and think of the possibilities!). Ad agency DDB Canada created the campaign for a Toronto plastic surgery company. [via Cool Hunter]

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Illustration Friday


Illustration Friday is a themed weekly illustration challenge. If you're an illustrator, this could be a good visibility boost. If you're a designer who farms out the artwork, a site like this seems a prime place to troll for talent (don't forget good old Drawn! too).

Menu Archive Online

An extensive archive of menus dating from 1856 to 1908 is available online from the New York Public Library. A type nerd's dream!

Club-21 Typographic Screensaver

Created by Chaotic Creative Design and type designer Julian Morey, the Club-21 screensaver blasts three words at random across your screen using the "retro-futuristic modern" Pacific typeface. I downloaded it yesterday and am still enjoying the jolt I get when I look over at my computer and see thought-sparking combos like "Obscene 1940s Avalanche" and "Antarctic Immaculate Corvette". Available as a free download from FontShop.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Adidas Adicolor Short Films


Bizarre celebrations of individual colors by some of the coolest artists working in photography and video today, the Adicolor "Podcasts" (sorry, but I still think of a podcast as being listening-based, not visual—those would be video podcasts or videocasts) are now finally all released: WHITE, RED, BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, PINK, and BLACK

See the previous post for general info about the Adicolor contest. For a much more detailed rundown of the Adicolor phenomenon in the media and press, check out Coolhunting's Adicolor posts.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Designers: Learn to Write!

Derek Powazek has a good article on A List Apart about why designers should pay more attention to the text being used in accompaniment with their visuals. He's talking to web designers, but his message is relevant to all—as a designer/writer myself, I'm always surprised that many designers don't take more of an interest in what is being said by the text they have so lovingly framed (online, in print, wherever). Sure, sometimes this is out of your control, but often it's a missed opportunity to further design communication.

Magnum in Motion: Art Photography Podcasts

Henri Cartier-Bresson's Magnum in Motion photography cooperative has launched video podcasts of its catalogue. Don't miss these incredible mini-collections of powerful images. [via Cool Hunter]

Monday, May 08, 2006

Grating Cards

Now, of all the greeting card/poster assignments we did in art school, why couldn't we had one—just one—that allowed us to have as much fun as the guys at Grating Cards are having?? My one quibble with the otherwise excellent line of cards that express harsh sentiments (oh come on, you've had these thoughts too, and Hallmark certainly doesn't outfit you with a stampable way of saying them) is that there is too much script going on—I wish they'd mixed that up a bit. A six pack of cards is $20.

Eames Lounge Chair Exhibit

Eames fanatics, there is an exhibit devoted entirely to their iconic lounge chair coming up at the Museum of Arts & Design on 53rd street (starts May 18th). Perhaps you'll meet someone there who has one of these.

Origami Beer Labels

Now that's an interesting idea... like a little puzzle challenge of packaging and graphic design. Origami beer labels.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

3x3 Magazine on Drawn!


Congrats to 3x3, the Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, for being featured on the Drawn! illustration blog yesterday. Founded by Charles Hively (one of the few Parsons instructors who makes a serious impact), it is the only magazine in the U.S. focused entirely on contemporary illustration and is a bold, uniquely designed publication that presents something new and interesting (including a different masthead) with every issue. The articles, written by artists about other artists, skip the small talk and get right to the heart of what it means to work, struggle, triumph and function as an illustrator today. Worth checking out, either via Drawn! (includes a link to Hively's AIGA interview with Steven Heller) or by visiting the 3x3 official site.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Free Comic Book Day tomorrow

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow, Saturday May 6th. I admit, I am not terribly into comics (scarred perhaps by my high school prom date, who just wanted to go home and read his new Chainsaw Vigilante), but I do reference them for illustration and animation studies. Besides, any excuse to go to Forbidden Planet... [via Drawn!]

Motomichi Nakamura

Check out the animation and painting of Brooklyn digital artist Motomichi Nakamura, who turns his fears and nightmares into politically infused character designs for print and media advertisements.

More Musings on Copyright Law

Sparked by the upcoming deal between the mostly-public Smithsonian and corporate Showtime, Dmitri Siegel has a very interesting article on Design Observer that touches on copyright issues, intellectual property and the public doman, and a brief history of sampling in hip-hop, all wrapped up into one (trivia: Public Enemy's Chuck D has a degree in graphic design!). "It is disconcerting to realize that creative pursuits like music, filmmaking and graphic design are shaped to some degree by unromantic things like copyright law." Be sure to read the comments for some extra resource listings.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

NO!SPEC

NO!Spec is an organization with a mission to educate the public about speculative, or 'spec' work. Most of us have had to do spec work at some point, and it's usually less than rewarding. However, refusing to participate in an accepted industry practice doesn't seem like a productive way to protest—won't the client just go to someone else who will provide creative work for free? Though the seeds of revolution seem to have been planted... it will be interested to see how this takes shape. [via Drawn!]

Martin Solomon Memorial Tonight

Just a reminder that the memorial for Martin Solomon will be taking place this evening. For more info, see the previous post.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Typecast Documentary Showing in New York

Typecast, Kathryn Cho's documentary about Swiss typography, has just been awarded the LA Grand Jury prize for Best Documentary Short by the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. The New York premiere of this much buzzed about film is this Saturday. Learn more about the film, watch the trailer, and purchase tickets via MediaBistro.
Saturday, May 6 at 8pm
Village East Cinemas Screen 7
181 2nd Avenue, at 12th Street

Software Alternatives to Adobe

Ever supportive of the starving artist, the Drawn blog features a list of software alternatives to expensive Adobe programs. Be sure to read the comments for further info.

BOA gives Free Museum Access in May

May is National Museum Month, and if you are a Bank of America cardholder you will be able to get into 19 New York museums (over 50 throughout the Northeast!) absolutely free. Trusty Gothamist has more info.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Opinion: Design Snobbery

I happened upon graphpaper.com's article about public sector design at the same time I ran across Winterhouse's 20/20 presentation on graphic design, which inevitably led to the issue of design snobbery.

Watch the 20/20 video (may take a second to load)—it is flat out condescending (and this from the people who run Design Observer, currently the most respected design blog around, despite the legibility challenges on their website). A prime example of the elitist art-school practice of telling people what is bad, but not WHY, and generally insulting their aesthetic or intelligence.

The public sector article, meanwhile, makes some very valid points about why a semi-ridiculous brochure for NYC's recycling program is actually succeeding. The best part is the spot-on projected "design-world hipster version" of the poster, which currently features cartoon characters of compost and recyclables: "You’d have a neat, grid-based layout with obscure cryptic icons for each type of recyclable: A little apple core icon for the composting, a little mouse or mobile phone icon for recycling electronics, a little shirt for the clothing program. It would look really slick, but would it work?"

As we all know, there is a gap between design that is lauded, studied, featured in magazines and the design that we live with on an everyday basis and are sometimes forced to create for our clients. What I'm becoming frustrated with is the persistent attitude that all of the everyday stuff is inherently bad. This attitude does nothing to increase productivity and problem solving, not to mention it demeans both the designer and the audience. Don't get me wrong—a little discrimination with substance can be a motivating force for designers to do better and aspire higher. But I'm finding that fewer and fewer designers are able to back their elitism with discussion, and snobbery without substance has become rampant. This results in many designers grasping and stabbing at what they think is a correct aesthetic and making design decisions without much thought. And so the snob gap widens...

If you are going to be a design snob, be able to back your opinions with discourse. If you are going to blast a typeface, a trend, a movement as baaad, be able to coherently explain why you are doing so. If you're going to worship at the altar of a particular designer, do your research and be able to tell people why their work is important and what you've learned from them. Discriminate where it counts, where it will make a difference. But also accept that there is everyday work to be done that it isn't automatically awful just because it won't win awards or be featured in magazines. Don't fall into the snob gap and become so focused on what is "great" that you are unable to function on an everyday level—aim to bring some of the principles of that greatness to the mundane. And while I'm not necessarily advocating the widespread use of cartoon compost heaps, recognize that communication is often much more complicated than acceptable typefaces and sleek presentation.

There will always be design snobbery. But if we all start using our heads a bit more, that elitism could become much more productive. Here's to better, wiser snobs.

Monday, May 01, 2006

FontShop May Calendar

The latest in FontShop's monthly calendar is available. Each month features a different typeface and is free to download in various sizes. May's spotlight is Julia Script, designed by David Harris in 1983. Happy May!