I saw this package design on Lovely Package, and it is just that. It looks like a bag of cement that I want to hang on my wall. Just got inspired all around, even if I can’t tell you what it is. That’s not a good thing overall, but I have a feeling that it’s because of a language barrier as the weight is in kilos. Columbian drug cartels stepping up their design game? Maybe.
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Holy Shit! Richard Baird brings some awesomeness to the world wide inter-web. The Designers Survival Guide is filled with tweet sized posts about our industry by seasoned professionals. I wish I had this back in college, I would have thought twice about those tuition costs. Everything you need is in here, well to get your head in the right place in this rat race of graphic arts.
WU-TANG! Protect ya neck! A big project comes out of VISUAL ID (my employer / daily providers). WESC released a headphone collaboration with RZA and Visual ID was asked to help design the new line. This project was hush hush for a while and I’m proud to say I was a minor part of the process. Mostly over the shoulder opinions and positive support, but I got to see these head wraps develop up close and personal. From sketch pad to final touches. Most of the mouse clicks and decisions were made a few feet from my desk. And it’s amazing to see the time and detail that has to be put in to create an actual headphone. Never mind the budgets and production dimensions you have to work within. Truly a grueling process when you actually focus on usability and develop new functions.
Had a big chance and was asked to design some logos for the RZA headphone, and man I’m still a bit sore from the let down. Just one of those things that you pray to work on and solve, I mean it’s RZA. In the end the cards didn’t fall in my favor, which I can easily accept. I’m just glad to be a part of the process in someway. Had a good rip at the packaging, and I can’t wait to see how it all fits together when it hits stores. Diecuts!
I love the softness and simplicity of the new headphones shape. Yeah I’m bias, but I look at them and see some comfort after 2-3 hours of use. A long airplane ride without the ear burn, what is that by the way? Just aches on the edge of your ear if you have a big round head like myself. Anyways, just glad I can use a pair next time I’m crossing the Atlantic, but who knows, maybe I’ll blow my eardrums.
Awesome work Oscar Lindblom, Niclas Svensson, Matte Wiberg, and Rasmus Rantil. Tight deadlines and all.
MORE ON THE PROJECT:
The RZA speaks on the how it all came together.
Back to work. I missed it, I did. My chair, my white desk and my mouse. Sad I know, but as an American, I’m not used to 5 weeks of mandatory vacation. Just boggles my mind to think of that amount of time, and the money I could spend within it. Good thing the wallet doesn’t have a wallet or I’d be toast.
On the way home to Stockholm, my mom joined Lina and I up in Amsterdam, which was a real highlight for me. Good to see family, healthy really. That Atlantic is fucking big, and sometimes I can feel it’s grand-ness when it comes to friends and family.
Anyways, a big thanks to Cari Vander Yacht for letting us crash for a few nights. Your Pico De Gallo was unheard of fucking awesomely good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Bird and I had a blast.
Above is an image I illustrated of my mom a few years back. She’s not a smurf, just chose a tonal route in some blues and greens. She is tiny though, gets smaller every time I see her. Love you Mom, come back soon and we can head back to Gilda’s for coffee.
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DON’T LOSE YOUR SOUL – Adrian Shaughnessy answers some good questions on everything graphic design in his updated version of How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. The book has a good stand on how to maintain the important beliefs you fight for in your design career, even if those things differ for separate folks. He’s got experience, and I always think thats worth a listen. I’m 75% through it now, and I recommend the book for any Professional through first year design student. Hell, even people around the business edges of design should take a read. I like his approach, I definitely learned (or re-learned) a few things.
More soon, lots of stuff to post, but I’m gonna spread it a bit.
Got my hair chopped today. Now you may be asking yourself why the hell I would write about such a subject, and well the reason is, it’s a humankind unifier, all of us got a bit somewhere. Some more than others and in different areas around the human body, mine just happens to grow real fast on the top of my big head. That shit grows fast, so fast in fact I don’t even really use a steady cutting facility to take care of it (I would end up spending hundreds annually), I just let it get long until I start getting “hey lady” enough that I question my life direction and shave it all off with my sheers. Like a Chia Pet in a constant growth cycle.
Anyways, a great girl we know here in town gave me a steal of a deal birthday gift / free chop. I took her up months later and came through today and I’m glad I did. If you have ever had long hair and cut it, it feels like you neck just inhaled a large breath of fresh air and it can relax again. Thanks a ton Åsa, see you in a few weeks.
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On to more important stuff…
Got a great laugh out of this one, not sure who brought this studio to life, but the cease and desist stuff on the blog is funny. Maybe a few students for a project, or a total against the industry grain type of job application? Who knows but there office space is looking tight, must be hooked up through Apple to get thin display monitors like that, looking like a few MM from here.
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Nice weather = Less computer time = Less blog posts
Zum Yum! A small identity project I did last year, and now it’s officially up and running, out there in the big world. Had to go few rounds on this one and I produced some stuff cool stuff. Fun stuff. The kind of stuff that shouldn’t live the rest of it’s days on a storage drive. I pull the pants all the way down on this one, but here were a few others than came to fruition:
Lately I’ve been trying to mock up elements that accompany logos or logotypes. It’s a little dangerous because a client can easily take that as more work for the same money, but so far the results have been a steady approval of thumbs up. I just like to flush out a logo as more of a brand, maybe for selfish reasons, but I think it helps when people see the possibilities beyond a mark. This could open a whole new can of worms or totally fuck your creative process, but I think the clients appreciate it, and I know I do, guess thats all that matters.
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Back from London, what a wild place. Chaotic as ever, old as… well London. Did some tourist stuff, visited Thea and Emil at LBI for Friday beers, did some 1722 Pubbin, saw Doug Stanhope. Felt like 8 days packed into 4.
A big thanks to Steve Jones for putting us up and taking us out. Your always welcome up north Steve.
Went to the doctor last week, got examined and prodded. Interpret that how you will. Not a big fan of the sick house as important as they are to our everyday well being. In respect of the developement of healing technology during the past century and the people keeping us healthy, I made some icons above. I went through all those icon actions, including the needle. I hate needles. But I was a bit at ease at the same time as it was by far the best sick house visit I have ever had. Around 15 to 20 bucks, no health care provider needed, informed well received doctor got the orders and checked up and then the needle. Bam, out the door.
Now say what you will about a more socialistic society setup (Sweden), but heath care is just a basic need. Why can’t we figure out health care in the big US of A? Maybe I’m too simple to realize the immensity of the whole situation. But I can tell you it’s amazing to know that if you don’t have insurance and you wreck your bike and break a knee that your not gonna be in the hole 5 grand. Number 1 reason for bankruptcy in the US is medically related injury or illness. Anyone that has been without insurance has had that “walking on eggshell” feeling before, it’s nerve-racking! No way to live, in fear.
Just a bummer for such a large population of people. Wish we could see a solution in sight.
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Some great portrait illustrations by Alexey Kurbatov on behance network.
Check this one / Big Lebowski > John Goodman
I missed it. National Corndog Day was March 19th. Missed the whole boat, even had it marked on the calendar. Back in 2009 when I was at Generation Creative, we did a revamp on the branding for NCD. Above are some that made the cut, others that got the axe and a final solution that stands today. Hungry.
Not sure who invented this national holiday, but it seems to be gaining momentum. People like their hotdoggers, wrapped or not.
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Evade Designs LLC. is officially registered back in the good state of Vermont. Big Steve (my dad) handled some business for me stateside and got things squared away. Thanks Pops! More on this later this summer, small wheels are in motion.
Stumbled across this image on a Rock N Roll search. It’s the image from an MC5 gig poster. I’m not sure who Grimshaw is, but I love what he (or she) is doing, or did as MC5 is from the mid 60′s. So good. I’m really into anatomical form and shape through a more abstract view. Sincerely. Ever since that life drawing course in college, I have had a deep respect.
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Going to see Leonard Kaage play to tonight at a local cafe. I’m into his tunes, he has some Buckley and Ryan Adams feel in his vocals, which I’m into. Plus Leonard is a super nice guy. End plug.
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Normally I wouldn’t give two hoots who won the Tampa Pro contest, but this year one of my all time favorite professional skateboarders took the title. Dennis is a skateboarders skateboarder, and watching the clip above just proves how much push the guy has. Inspirational that push. Glad the warmer weather is coming, maybe I’ll get a new scar this year. Most likely by full contact with a pebble or small stone.
Some hand sketched refreshco by Brent Couchman. Good stuff.
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Also some mad typographic and illustrative skills that I caught yesterday in a book at a local museum.
Keep your day job.
Green Good Food! Straight forward as it comes name-wise. The idea was great, cheap affordable food options on college campuses. The logo never made it to reality, but it was a fun project when I first started at Visual ID.
It’s a strange time when your starting a new position. Trying to prove your process while finding out the nuts and bolts of the new surroundings. A bit more tense than after your first 6 months for sure. But that time is also prime for pushing out quality work as your demand to produce is high. I think the idea above was one of the better produced during that period. The archives almost swallowed it up.
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BALANCE:
A great breakdown on TED from Nigel Marsh who has studied the balance of work and family in our current society. Some good points to write down. “Never put your well being on the line for a corporation”, can’t be said better. With my move last year I have seen a drastic shift in how different cultures approach the work aspects of their lives. In an industry thats known for chewing you up and spitting you out it’s good to take a step back and evaluate what your goals are, because it’s so easy to unknowingly put the blinders on in this rat race. At the end of the day, what really matters? This is getting a bit deep, meaning of life and all that, so I’ll stop before the snowball starts rolling.
Andy Gilmore is a graphic breath of fresh air at 9pm on a Tuesday evening. I hope he’s stacking clients, I think he deserves it. Just my opinion.
Hope this one comes to fruition > Gilmore Airplane
Never seen anything like that on the runway. Big vectors, bigger colors mixed with some jet engines. Although do you think a graphic such as this could make some passengers wary? People thinking, “What the heck is going on at Virgin headquarters?”. I see a brand trying to set apart, but for maybe for a simple guy from the west coast who doesn’t have similar brand knowledge and has only flown Southwest airlines, maybe it might have a different impact? Hard to say? Well, it’s not the important part of the plane anyway.
But this topic sparks some personal airline brand issues. Have you ever flown an particular airline where you have felt a bit tense or uneasy and said to yourself, shit, I’m flying the another airline next time? All experience and customer service aside, I prefer certain airlines on my feeling of safety. Which, in reality is kinda ridiculous, as there are many regulations and standards to fly commercially from a business standpoint. Jeez, can you imagine the legal end and paper work owning an airline, forget it. I can just wrap my head around doing my own taxes and starting a basic LLC company.
Long story short, I think JetBlue is safer than Delta. Why? I like the color blue or the planes are newer? Hmm. I know what it is. It’s the time they stuffed me into a propeller plane from NYC to Vermont with decals peeling off the rickety thing, one of the scariest up and downs I’ve ever had.
Lina and myself are taking a train up to åre for a board on snow trip. A solid week of sore and sauna are in the works. In that order. Expecting some spring conditions but I’m dressing for wind and ice. Who knows what these swedish folks are used to for conditions. Curious to find out.
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Beckmans College of Design hosted a party last night, and the turn out was huge. Cheap beers, dance party, coat check, the whole nine yards. I find it fascinating that schools host parties for the students, a real party, not a gathering or an uncomfortable bored to death school event. A PARTY. Never seen that before. 3 big things I found out about Beckmans, one, it’s best graphic program out in Sweden, two, it takes on under 20 students a year for the design program, and three, it’s one hundred percent free. That last one makes me cringe. School loans are evil.
I don’t condone “pitch” sites, and for those of you who who aren’t familiar with the concept of what they are, it’s a site that takes pitches from anyone and everyone and submits them to a paying client for that client to choose one pitch, and that winning pitch gets paid. The rest, well, you get it. It’s a smart move for some companies who want a ton of ideas or concepts for a cheap price. Of course there are a ton of students and freelancers that submit, but there are also some talented people in the mix on a site called MyPitch. Pitch sites like these have pros and cons. The reasons you shouldn’t condone them is because, well, it takes the jobs away from talented well paid designers that deserve that tier of payment for their services. The real kicker is when you see design agencies using the site to get ideas. Shit man, thats just embarrassing and shameful in my eyes, but at the same I see the smarts behind paying two grand for 50 ideas (even if some are complete shit) instead of paying the same amount of money for 2 or 3 ideas from an individual. Hell, I’m torn, because at the same time it’s also a great opportunity for some students to put a real brief in their hands and see what they can do with it. The design world is changing, always.
Anyways, with that said I entered one of these little competitions (brand above). Try to put myself to the test, make sure I was still on the pulse of things, a test of will, whatever you call it. Did I over-think it? Most definitely. Did I see some logos just typed in a dafont.com typeface and pitched? Yes. Will I ever try to enter one of these competitions again? Maybe, if spare time allows. I like creating with a goal, but approaching that goal through my eyes and my eyes only. No over the shoulder “that type could go vertical” type requests (the worst), just me and a direct line between A and Z. This pitch took me 3 nights and a solid day, but I’m happy with the outcome, so it works for me.
Packing those logos in tight. Amazing inspiration all packed into one image. Click on the image to dive in a bit more. I can just stare at layouts like this for minutes, dazed, bewildered, amazed and happy all at the same time. Then I think about every person who had a hand in each individual logo, mind blowing material at that point and a big time sponge. Seriously though, so good, black and white.
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NEW ON THE JUKEBOX / CONSTANT ROTATION > Blue Sky Black Death from Seattle. Great name and even greater tunes for work. Not overly distracting yet upbeat enough to keep the mouse clicks snapping. As a music mood person I tend to have music genres in rotation like the seasons, but I have been in this shoe-gazing / electronic funk for almost a year, and I keep finding more and more great stuff to fuel the fire. I put a BSBD song on the music player, check them out.
It’s always fun to hear what people listen too when they work. Heard everything from techno, strictly Lil Wayne, the local radio station playing the top 100, all the way to some backyard bluegrass. If it works for you than more power to you. My babe Lina Bird gets down to THIS and we love her for it! Damn, what a song. Makes me want to have a beer on the beach in the 1960′s.
I’m curious about what you (yes you) listen to while working. And if you don’t work, enjoy it as long as humanly possible.
Damn! You want to get your heart ripped out as a graphic designer? Well here’s a VIDEO of the updated Portland Timbers soccer team logo getting it’s first response from their loyal fans. “You fucked up” is being chanted towards the end (about 2:40) as the newly branded flag waves in the air. Some people just don’t like change, and from what I’m hearing on this clip, I would say a majority of the fans feel pretty strongly towards the update.
From a personal standpoint, the update looks great. Maybe a few things to simplify but hell, anyone can pick anything apart, but hate? Thats a strong emotion on any front. I just know that I would be gutted to hear those chants having poured blood, sweat and tears into a new branding system. Besides all the branding, Timbers games are top notch fun. Lots and lots of beers with a mixture of riled up fans, wishing I had purchased more tickets when I was living in PDX. Rowdy bunch that Timbers Army.
Under Consideration’s Brand New has a breakdown showing a bit more into the old identity versus the new, check it out HERE!
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PORTLANDIA is a new TV series based on… you guessed it, Portland Oregon. After seeing the first episode, I was quite impressed, had me laughing a few times. Big stereotypical play up’s can only last so long though, but some of these Portland characters are pretty spot on. Definitely check out the link, it’s free on Hulu.
MORE ABOUT: The 6-part IFC Original short-based comedy series PORTLANDIA, created, written by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (vocalist/guitarist, WILD FLAG, Sleater-Kinney), premieres on IFC Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM ET/PT. Each episode’s character-based shorts draw viewers into “Portlandia,” the creators’ dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon.
Recently I have been working up an identity concept / pitch for a Spanish pizza company. Had a blast doing the whole pitch, start to finish. Pizza man, nothing like it, thinking about buying one for dinner tonight. You ever wonder how many pizzas sell globally every night? I can’t even imagine. It’s also strange the pure range in pizza restaurants these days. You have your over priced brick ovened $30 pizza all the way down to you 2 for 1 at Little Caesars cardboard pizza. Quite a range in the market, for a fairly simple recipe by make and shape that is. I’m not saying a traditional Italian pizza recipe is simple by any means, but the key elements are minimal. Oh, and all that “put a new spin on the pizza” shit marketing schemes they come out with these days just got to resort back to the basics, because their pizza is usually shit. Not pointing any fingers at chain restaurants but I’m looking that way. Seriously can’t name one quality restaurant chain other than In – N – Out Burger, and thats just based off their 3 meal menu and it’s difficulty to access from my part of the globe.
All these factors / ramblings made for an interesting logo / brand process, I’ll show more later this month.
Hungry all over right now.
Holy Froosh! Do you like fruit and simple as it comes ingredients and design? I’m sold in colors alone. I have drank one of these smoothies almost everyday since a couple of weeks back, and I can’t get over how ridiculously good, healthy and simple it is. On the back of their labels there is a list of all the fruit they crush into these fruit smoothies > 1 banana, 1 apple, etc. No bullshit, no bad stuff, zilch, zero, nada. I always wonder why products like this haven’t been on shelves for years? Maybe it’s hard to preserve? Maybe the money isn’t right for the producer?
I got so inspired by this little bottled beverage I wrote the company to express my gratitude. and that same damn day the owner of the company wrote me back! Wanted to thank me for the positive email and told me thanks for the kind words. So great to know that it wasn’t owned by Coca Cola or some shit, just a lady making healthy smoothies for the world to enjoy.
Pearlfisher is responsible for the package design and they have a few heavy hitting designs within the beverage industry out there in the world. Good go on the glass bottle as well, plastic is just scary these days. With the amount of fuel it takes to create PET and the fact that it isn’t biodegradable which creates trash islands in the pacific ocean between us and Japan, shit. Alright, enough! Another post, another day.
Today, fruit on the mind.
Unless you have been under a rock for the past three years you have probably seen the image above at some time or another. Shepard Fairy created the design back in 2008 for the presidential race, and I’m sure Shepard had no idea the popularity and legal action it was going to bring his way. Watch this clip if your not familiar with this story before reading on.
Today Shepard’s lawsuit from the Associated Press was dropped, and I’m happy things swung his way. I picture Shepard back in 2008, on his computer, just google image searching Obama photos. He probably chose on angle and clarity, who knows, all I do know is that he used the Associated Press image to create a piece of art. It has similar features and blah blah, copyright infringement? Hmm, hard to say from a legal standpoint, but that’s what makes this case so interesting, this could shape copyright lawsuits to come for many artists and lawyers alike. One thing is for sure, Shepard knows his way around adobe illustrator and I can tell you now, creating what you see above is not a drop in the bucket, probably one of the farther things from it. With that being said, is it illegal for an artist to paint a picture they see in the newspaper? The answer we got is > If it sells 230,000 t-shirts for 20 bucks a pop then it sure as shit is to the Associated Press. It’s also amazing how many rip offs of this Obama design I have seen, hundreds.
Shepard has always been and always will be a big inspiration, even if he has lost some his luster to others, he’s still writing good checks on the art front. Check out his new Animal Farm / George Orwell book cover, check cashed.
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And on the opposite side of politics and lawsuits:
Get ready to be blow away when the term “living off the land” gets explained real quick. In 1980, Jimmy Carter established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan Interior, cutting off 19 million acres of prime boreal wilderness from the mitts of fur trappers, oil tycoons, and would-be lodge owners alike. Only six families of white settlers were grandfathered in and allowed to keep cabins in the refuge—of them, only one still stays there year-round living off the land. His name is Heimo Korth, and he is basically the Omega Man of America’s Final Frontier. A must see film, and it’s free.
Animal lovers and queasy vegetarians view at your own risk.
TIMBA SMITS is a London based designer from Melbourne. I came along some of his winners through an inspiration search earlier today. Great to see people design what they like, and Timba likes his vintage. Good for us, good for him, a win win.
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More soon, getting it from all angles on the work front.
The past few days have been flooded with skateboard links, art and culture through some research I’ve been up to lately, here a some winners I bumped into along the way.
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JARROD SCOTT BRYAN (graphic above) was my roommate in college for a few years when we first started art school in San Francisco back in 2003. 2 guys, one small Vermonter and a large Texan, living in a cramped studio apartment. New experiences around every corner, parties, classic skate spots, city living, good people and graphic design. Such an amazing time and experience.
JARROD is just an awesome guy, great designer, and one of the best people persons I have ever met. He had me rolling on more than a few occasions and is just on another page when it came to certain things artistically. Glad he is doing well and I can write this post today, he is a big inspiration to me. Check out some of his work at Full Color Canvas Dot Com y’all.
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INSIDE THE WORLD OF BOARD GRAPHICS – A book that dives into skate, snow, and surf board art and design. A few names we know personally in their, and others we don’t but have a deep respect for. Coming fall of 2011. Excited for this one.
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ISO50 POSTS some old board graphics with some links to some great books. Wow, look at the Powell graphics in there, so good.
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Dave Abair is a skateboarder from Vermont, and this is his video part in the SHUFFL video. Great song, even better well rounded skating. Love to see those good steep hill roll-outs. Makes you want to grab your board and go.
MASH CREATIVE presents a collection they call > STATE OF THE OBVIOUS
Black and White, straight forward as it comes with the product naming. Clever alternative from the day to day branding were smacked with everyday, I’m sure it’s already popping off shelves this holiday season, good on you Mash Creative. Another similar project that popped up recently is Good Fucking Design Advice. These are the projects you LIKE on Facebook, throws a little design humor in with your Facebook News Feed, which can be a shinning star in a big dark sky, it’s usually right in between what type of soda someone had for lunch and a mobile upload of someone being drunk.
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Saint Lucia Day today in Sweden, and besides my wikipedia reading, I’m not very informed on the celebration. Two things I do know are that people sing with candles on their heads and Saint Lucy had her eyes torn out. Yikes.
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Do It Yourself logo design / branding. Good money saving idea or blasphemy? You decide.
Click HERE and see for yourself.
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This is slow ass blog post season so bare with me, actually, get off your computer and go to a party or enjoy some non-digital company. Happy holidays!
Mint provides an awesome INFO GRAPHIC (click link to see larger) on how Americans feel about the recession. Not sure how accurate, but someone did their homework. Just imagine all this data being text, wouldn’t even look twice. Great way to promote their services in my eyes.
Mint = “The best free way to manage your money online”, as it says on the homepage. If they provide a service as well as they put together an INFO GRAPHIC, I’m convinced it’s not completely worthless. Think I may give it a go, seems to be quite an upgrade from my current system. Never thought FFFFound would be leading me to budget solutions, but every road leads somewhere I guess.
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VISUAL ID is HIRING > Click for details.
Were looking for a Freelance Originaler, which is Swedish term for Production Designer, finalizer, link and color checker, the last wall of defense type of design guru. If you know someone who you can stand for up to 40 hours per week that possesses some of these talents, shoot me an mail. Licorice loving Swedes are preferred.
FOALS has been on my play-list ever since hearing them last year on some PDX internet radio station. Foals is a five piece band from Oxford, England with only 2 album releases and a whole lot of notoriety. Were going down to Gothenburg for a long weekend and we picked up some tickets to see Foals play live. I’ve got my fingers crossed they play some tracks off the 2008 album Antidotes (above).
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NEW WORK: Visual ID posts an identity project that I created and brought to life. It’s interesting to see in this design business how a logo or identity project goes from point A to Z and how your design model and approach fit that identity case. It’s almost like snowflakes, every project, client and approach is different. Some battles are bigger than others.
Check out the Visual ID post here > SVENSKA BILSPORTFÖRBUNDET
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JASON LEVINS updates with a new image gallery and an online store. Jason is a Vermonter who lives in Portland Oregon, Jason is also a great dude to take a road trip with, among many other good qualities. Check out some of his photography and design at his internet outlet > STATIC ON THE BRAIN
Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys! Lot’s of things to be thankful for, even if it doesn’t always seem that that way in our chaotic lives.
A BIG THANKS TO: Family & friends, risk takers, and merry makers around the world.
It’s been snowing a good amount here in Stockholm, forcing the holiday season upon us pretty hard. And getting all festive I tried to show swedish Lina Bird a proper Thanksgiving dinner (which she pretty much cooked), and were not dead today, so I did well. It’s hard to come by the basic ingredients for a Thanksgiving dinner in Europe, and I had to work, but I scored when I found this little slice of home called The English Shop. Well it’s English, not American, but hell, the goods they sold were close to what I grew up around, nice to read a little English on your food labels every once and a while. Another thing to be thankful for, English food labels.
I hope all is swell and your happily full on food.
-Steve
VISUAL ID UPDATES with a project that has been on my plate for the last 6 months.
MARGINALEN BANK
The mission > to pull design strings and mouse clicks for Johan Ronnestam, who had been asked to direct the re-brand merger of four different bank branches, one being Citibank (great logo by Paula Scher). I rolled my sleeves up really high, and jumped headfirst into a big big world of bank branding, credit cards (printing money), forms & applications, all the way to environmental design within the locations. You name it, it was or still is on the plate. It’s actually still an ongoing project, but the merger and everything legal came out a few weeks ago and I wanted to share. More soon…
Check Johan Ronnestam’s blog or Visual ID for more details.
MAKE BELIEVE STUDIO says it right in their logo above. Plus their website navigation is pure sweet, some great textures going on in some of their logo work also. Right time and place.
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The calm before the storm happened last week, which means currently I’m in design lock-down for the rest of 2010. Mash in a bunch of work with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and some non-working weekends and it never feels like there are enough seconds in a minute.
Happy Holidays.
NEUTURA make typefaces, great typefaces that is. Their website alone is fantastic and purely simple. Check them out and support those typographers.
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SKATEISTAN – Breaking cultural barriers with skateboards. A new short film documentary about the skate school in Afghanistan. Watch the short film HERE. Watching this just gave me a fresh breath of hope for many reasons. A small light in darker times.
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THE COVE – Probably one of the most entertaining documentary films I have ever seen. Air breathing mammals, political cover-ups, spying, contaminated food, night vision cams, and a bunch of people getting mad and active. Don’t kill dolphins shitheads! It got me a bit angry too, just doesn’t make sense any way you look at it. Watch the trailer HERE.
Some asshole starts ANTI-DOLPHIN.ORG and talks about how dolphins control the earth. With all the pressing issues in our world, someones got to take the blame, I guess. “It was flipper” is a few steps past dumb shit for me though. Really?
My jaw dropped when I saw this 2010 Calendar by Lene Mirdal. Loving the colors and the visual way of showing a single year as a circle. Either way the 2011 prints are for sale and you can bet you last penny that I am framing one of these for the apartment, even if it is $200. Fair trade. Think of the hours spent by the designer and then put yourself at the drawing board on how you would approach a design similar to this. Lot’s of information. Put it on the Christmas list.
A BIT MORE FROM TAYRC:
Another way of visualizing time with a circular overview of:
Year, months, weeks, days, hours, summertime with longer days, wintertime with shorter days and seasons by color.
The All Year Round Calendar is a 70×70 cm graphic design calendar in high quality print on matte paper. To note special dates, as a planner or simply as a graphic design poster that visualizes the year with a circular and colorful overview.
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A FANTASTIC DOCUMENTARY: WINNEBAGO MAN
A viral video from the late 80′s that created a hesitant present day celebrity. A truly hilarious documentary that equals it’s laughs in emotional triumphs. Prepare for some heavy cursing, North California wilderness, RV Sales, and a fantastic story.
To put it in perspective, this viral video was before the times of Youtube. VHS copies were made and distributed making this a hit clip even before internet was a common tool for material similar to this.
A must see.
It’s creeping up on us, the Holiday Season. Above are illustrations of the “Wish List” by the creative power couple Nathan Strandberg and Katie Kirk. Both Nathan and Katie run a design boutique in Minneapolis Minnesota called Eight Hour Day. I’m into the name, but when I check out their work section it looks more like a 16 hour day kinda place. Lot’s of great illustrative works, design, all followed up by a great site. Thanks for showing Lina.
CREATIVE COUPLES – The Strange Attractor site interviews artistic relationships from all over. Although, the interviews were weekly, they have slowed a bit, but still very interesting.
Hat’s off to couples who can work together and leave their work at the door! It’s a skill in it’s own right.
Take care.