Sunday, May 31, 2009

Vintage Illustration

http://www.flickr.com/photos/telstar/sets/72157612578261696/

Power of Story

I see a lot of kids movies as a parent and 80% of them are pretty much a C+ with the other 20% having something fun but nowhere near as powerful as a good non-kid genre title. Today I saw UP with my kids and this is by far the best kid animated movie and story I've ever seen and it is bar-none a powerful story animated or not.

Cool Creative Idea

"For the launch of a new Umbro store in Manchester I worked alongside some of the lovely folk of Love to produce this massive wall mural linking everything to do with Manchester, Football and Tailoring. We started at 2 in the afternoon and finally gave up at 4am."

Medium = Message


Really creative bus stops around the world

Technology Evolved : Saturn

Motion Art by William Campbell

Nascar Pressure from William Campbell on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

!

The Lemon Tree from William Campbell on Vimeo.

Spec No!

from unbeige
"In a world of crunched corporate budgets and proliferating online open calls, AIGA this week affirmed its longstanding policy against speculative work—work done prior to engagement with a client and in anticipation of being paid if selected. After reviewing the policy in the context of the changing marketplace, the AIGA board of directors maintains that spec work "can compromise the benefits of effective design for both clients and designers—and that a designer fully engaged in a client's business challenges is necessary to an effective solution." The professional association for design says that it recognizes that the decision to engage in spec work is up to individual designers. At the same time, AIGA is committed to making designers aware of the associated risks. "By providing educational information on what it means to do work without the promise of compensation, and the resulting risks for both the client and the designer, we hope to empower every designer to make an informed and intelligent decision on an individual basis," said AIGA executive director Richard Grefé in a statement issued this week. Read on for AIGA's full, updated position on spec work."

Love at First Sight





Heading in the way-back machine I remember as a little boy my first real encounter with package design that I absolutely refused to throw away. It was GI-Joe packaging and it was beautiful. The illustrations were rich, saturated and full of discovery and detail. Much to my suprise while shopping for my son I saw that Target had brought back a few gems from my childhood. Here are some samples of GI-Joe packaging from back in the day and some of the stuff they just brought back from the archives at Tar-Get!

iPod of Handshowers


http://www.us.kohler.com/performanceshowers/handshowers/flipside.jsp#/home
The marketing and product design was very iPod-esque... vibrant color palette, simple straight-forward photography... and a very cool product!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Bike Design

http://www.madsencycles.com/
Very cool and fun looking bikes that you can actually pull cargo with. Beautifully designed, nice lines, really strong product design...

Process : Page Design

Arkle Update


One of my favorite illustrators has updated his site. Check out www.peterarkle.com

Red

Typical high-end HD camcorders have 2.1M pixel sensors and record with 3:1:1 color sub-sampled video at up to 30fps. RED offers the Mysterium ™ Super 35mm cine sized (24.4×13.7mm) sensor, which provides 4K (up to 30 fps), 3K (up to 60 fps) and 2K (up to 120 fps) capture, and all this with wide dynamic range and color space in 12 bit native RAW. At 4K, that’s more than 5 times the amount of information available every second and a vastly superior recording quality. In addition, you get the same breathtaking Depth of Field and selective focus as found in film cameras using equivalent 35mm P/L mount lenses. Mysterium ™ boasts greater than 66db Dynamic Range thanks to its large 29 sq. micron pixels. And 12,065,000 pixels deliver resolution that can only be called Ultra High Definition.

Shoot lightweight EFP style (body around 10 lbs., in rugged aluminum alloy) or load it up to shoot a feature film. Options include RED-RAIL™ mounting accessories that “grow” the camera body. Configure for tripod, crane or long lens applications. High-resolution RED LCD and EVF monitors come equipped with advanced tools for framing, exposure and focus. The RED ONE™ body and RED-RAIL components provide numerous mounting points to allow hundreds of optional RED and third party accessories… some that haven’t even been dreamed of yet. Choose between the convenience and durability of recording directly to Compact Flash, in-camera, or outputting signal to RED FLASH DRIVE or RED DRIVE (RAID) for even longer recording options.

Prosumer Options

If you are into shooting short films, etc. I found a link that lists some really top-notch and affordable prosumer digital video options. I've used the Canon A1 many times and highly recommend but wonder why something like the lower cost Red technology isn't listed here.

Bowling Alley Gets a Second Chance



http://www.dwell.com/articles/reclaimed-bowling-lane-furniture.html

uArt

Fun App

To Photoshop or Not...


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?ref=style

Less = More

Read me now!

Eco-Press


Based in Brooklyn, Rolling Press is a family-run offset print house that uses vegetable inks and wind generated power to run their presses. In addition, co-owner Eugene Lee is also a book designer and recognizes the importance design has on our lives as well as the environment.

Bing! Ding!

Microsoft's new search engine brand identity is horrible and I hope they had it donated because if anybody dared to cash a check for doing this work they should receive a lifetime ban from brand identity.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Oldie But Goodie

Kyle Blue, Dwell Magazine from Arkitip on Vimeo.

Product Design

Closing Shop

I've been a big fan of Michelle Kaufmann's prefab work. Today she announces that she's closing up shop and focusing on how to extend the idea into more multi-family living (green of course). Here is the blog post

Architecture 101


Good series from dwell.com on everything you need to know about working with an architect.

Cool Posters


Check out the site

Cool Spot

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=41b14619

Frank Lloyd Wright


http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/090513wright.asp

Weiden Interview

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1227613352?bctid=24387615001

Documentary Interview


http://www.dwell.com/articles/interview-filmmaker-eric-bricker.html

Vodka Packaging


Twitter on Paper

http://top.sampottsinc.com/

Modern Living : Ferris Bueller Style

Grab the check-book its time to go house hunting.

We See

Design Soul Ride

The Design Lifestyle

Much of design is like training. It can be hard to see the benefits from one project to the next, or one unappreciative client to another, and easy to forget the reason why you chose this profession over something else. I see design as a lifestyle. When it starts to feel too much like work I grow impatient and frustrated. And I need the design equivalent of a soul ride.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

MagCloud

Click here to learn more

Ford Hybrid

Fun! Movie Posters




http://www.flickr.com/photos/craiglyons/sets/72157604123165191/

Honda Fuzo

Art & Copy

ART & COPY trailer from Baldwin& on Vimeo.

More Design / Branding

Great piece today on fastcompany about the role and respect design deserves in the greater marketplace.

iArt


"Artist Jorge Colombo took about an hour to fingerpaint an intricate Times Square scene on his iPhone using Brushes, a $4.99 iPhone drawing app. Now, it's the June 1st cover for The New Yorker."

Monday, May 25, 2009

Editorial Design



Great covers from Interior Design Magazine....

Type as Product


A must buy from House Industries
---

L. Cutting Board
Large Ampersand Cutting Board: $110

While most of the House Industries staff could not fathom the sheer volume of cheeses and cured meats that might be heaped upon this generously-sized and sublimely shaped cutting surface, Andy and Rich commented that even their smallest social engagements would employ at least three such cutting boards. Besides, when vegetarians are making the scene (don't they always?), one needs to keep the Humboldt Fog and Lincolnshire Poacher separate from the Culatello di Zibello and Coppa di Parma.

* Made in the USA
* Solid Maple Butcher Block
* Approximately 18" (45cm) x 18" (45cm) x 1.5" (38mm) thick

Great Story of Hope

When underdogs break the rules, by Malcolm Gladwell

About a House

Arch Inteview : Dean of Architecture, Columbia University

Design : Ford Focus

What's imediately clear is that this doesn't feel Ford so automatically it feels cool. It's not a current US model although it begs to be and its got aggressive lines, alien-like looks and an attitude desperately needed on this side of Americana.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Swatch Master


New iPhone/iTouch app available june 1 will allow you to spec a swatch color from a photo you take on your iPhone/iTouch and select the closest Benjamin Moore paint color.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Arch Cinema

AD Interviews: Standard from ArchDaily on Vimeo.

Good Stuff

Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.

Arch Stock

Here's a bit of rant. Being in the design business I've always hated anything not original. I hate stock photography and what makes my blood boil is websites where you can buy pre-designed templates. What came first, the layout or the concept? The idea of having an idea and already having a layout really makes me sick. It is this kind of automation that takes the art and craft out of what designers and art directors offer in terms of value. Just as many creative production tasks have been shipped overseas to dirt-cheap labor I see the same thing happening to many folks who are in favor of this canned conceptual bs. The same arguement is being had on the architectural side. I think the stat is that around 1% of homes in America are architect-designed. Everyone talks about how modern should come to the masses and the conversation usually ends up centering around pre-fab. One site I just read about is offering low, low, low cost modern house plans to the masses, stock house plans.... In a modern home design project I'm engaged in we talked early on to quite a few folks exploring prefab because of what was perceived as a cost-savings. In the end though it was as much if not more to go the pre-fab route. I truly appreciated the value and services that an architect offered after exploring the pre-fab route. In the end so many things in our life are mass-produced and what makes many things special are the few things that we can have customized, made to our specifications, etc. When I saw this article I almost threw up in my mouth because it reminded me of those stock layouts devaluing the craft of being in the design profession. I think its great that design has become part of the greater conversation in this country but I do not agree that there are short-cuts. Just as you are tailoring a specific message to a client who has a brand that has specific attributes, etc. you wouldn't force that message into a pre-canned layout. Just as a home site has a unique landscape, a unique environmental DNA a one-size-fits-all approach just adds to the beige-ness of America. Houses plopped down on the landscape like they were dropped from outer space. Custom is custom and that's what makes its special. My wife pointed out an article she read in the NY Times about the art of working with your hands. It talks about craft and how true artists, creative people, designers, etc. and others in the industry that work with their hands, builders, plumbers, etc. alll have unique skills because you cannot ship hand-crafted jobs overseas. Its a great piece and reinforces why many of us got into the business. To make things. To create. To contribute.

Arch Cinema

Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects: Context & Work System / English Subs from 0300TV on Vimeo.

Legacy Continues

First came the Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen bible, then Tom Kundig : Houses, now famed founder Jim Olson has a new book coming this November 2009 celebrating his colorful career. You can pre-order here.

Cooper-Hewitt : Sustainability



Check out the new exhibit on sustainability. The show, book and website were all designed by Pentagram.