STUDIOaka is a BAFTA winning animation studio based in London. They have done extraordinary commercial work for companies such as Guiness, BMW, MTV, BBC, and others. They have also created short films that are brilliant pieces of storytelling, emotionally charged, and oddly cute.
Lost and Found is an adaptation of Oliver Jeffers award winning book about a little boy who finds a lost penguin on his doorstep and decides to return him to the south pole.
Varmints is an Oscar nominated adaptation of the book by Helen Ward. About a “small creatures struggle to preserve a world being lost forever through recklessness and indifference…” Absolutely beautiful.
You is a creative collective operating in the communication and advertising area. Based in Italy and with an impressive international network of freelancers, they produce visuals especially targeted for the fashion industry.
Juan Moreno is an aspiring illustrator with near perfection clean minimalist lines that capture the essence of the scene or people in his drawings.
Showing: La tormenta esta arriba
Thank you twurl for shortening my loads of urls — the Internet wouldn’t be the same without you!
Seems like Wolff Olins have got nothing better to do than to huh design – huh build – huh code – huh play – wait up, how about Neverwork! Don’t know about you, give a peek to their ‘official’ website and this little experiment — is no less valid — in fact, it just follows the path of their controlled aloofness towards their own brand which in brand lingo implies it’s all thought out.. to make others talk about it.. of course.
So, Nat Thomson – tell them it worked ;-P
It’s ok if you think the screenshots don’t make any sense because they won’t till you check it out yourself. Because you ain’t seen nothing yet! Click on flying assets to see.. huh.. content.
Craziest blog (attempt) ever!
Allt eller inget (All or nothing) is the portfolio of Erik Johansson a 23 year old swedish digital artist. He personally creates, shoots and manipulates his images to create stunning new work. Fresh concepts, high quality photos and seamless manipulations make Erik worthy of much LUV!
Shaz Madani 
is a London based graphic designer with a serious case of the creative bug. She has experience with some rather large firms like Why Not Associates and Topshop.
Check out her incredible paper cut out projects.
Jeff Soto is Southern California based painter who straddles the line (and communities) between illustration and street art. His richly layered paintings practically defy description and are visually alive with colors so rich that they seem to jump off the canvas at the viewer.
Jeff’s work embodies the fantastical while retaining an urban aesthetic, which accounts for why his work easily traverses between the studio and the streets.
Gottal luv this! PAGE Magazine lists ND as one of the Top Sites for (design) inspiration! Wowie!
Lily Lin is a Canadian freelance designer and illustrator currently residing in Berlin. She is featured in the latest issue of IdN (v16n2) and has been published in various magazines as well as participating in art shows.
“Love Affair is the accumulative sum of my pursuits in art, design, friendships and love – both in success and in failure.”
She is an extraordinarily talented illustrator and graphic designer. Very refreshing and lovely work.
Jos Buivenga is the mindblowing (and generous!) talent behind Exljibris font foundry. A type designer and art director who makes great high quality fonts which he distributes for free. Thanx Jos!!
Battle for our brainshare is raging on! Been a Facebook user for a while now, it has gone through too many changes and has lost its simplicity (ubiquity?).
The ND group is ok. Use it to stay in touch. Recently realized that if I send a message to all — FB inserts their URL to taxi out links — adding another layer of annoyance (and no doubt adding to their ginormous click through rate).
Oh and don’t get me started on the deluge of stupid apps which I systematically block. Why not provide a one click to opt-out of all at once and for all?!?!
To describe how much spam I received from FB is beyond description.. in fact, I might have to can that email address altogether. I receive so much that notifying my contacts will be almost like a piece of cake, in comparison. So much for protecting our privacy!
Damn the bots harvesting emails (and their creators)!
Now that Twitter has gone from a friendly space to the new ‘hot’ Internet item — it not only became sluggish (well it’s free, right) and Ev and company are scramblying to keep up — with more than the Joneses, if you get my drift.
By far, prefer the 145 characters snippet like updates. It works wonders intellectually. How short and concise can your thoughts be made. It has been a stunning exercise and sometimes downright funny. That’s more therapy than I expected.
Now tried to ‘put’ the TW app on FB and got this lovely placeholder stating that they need to ‘fix’ something.. Ah really… grrrr.
So been thinkering with the idea of an open-source app that would mimick TW/FB (but is neither) that could be embedded in a website running on WP allowing your ‘What are you thinking now’ or ‘Snippets of info’ to be published/exchanged with friends/followers in real-time? The beauty if possible, I would no longer have to go anywhere. I’d stay right here – home!
Does it exists? Feasible? If so, drop me a message.
One would think that ain’t the season for fleece gloves like the Freehands, right? ok maybe for our friends in Austral Asia then. But with temperatures still in the single digits, not all fingers would get cold. And the finger caps have got little magnets so they don’t keep falling over the keyboard or the cam menu 
)
Invented by Josh Rubin. Hats off bro.
Done with oversleeping! Nanda Clocky is a run away robot alarm clock that runs away and hides to get you out of bed. Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide, beeping all the while.
Nanda was started by Gauri Nanda when she was a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab.
Check this video! More user videos. Hilarious!
Hombre.Cosa is a creative studio from Buenos Aires who like to make somewhat weird little motion graphics movies. Best to see the MTV Countdown and MTV Open bumpers to appreciate their skills and imagination. Promising group!
Artist, designer, merchant, entrepreneur with a highly developed sense of quality, craftsmanship and a global outlook of the things that will live past our time. That, together with a healthy dose of humor and a tongue-in-cheek approach to life in general, is the DNA of Søren Rose which is also the essence of the studio.
Cody Hudson is the talent behind Struggle inc., a multi-disciplinary design studio based in Chicago, Illinois. Hudson and co. have cut out a niche for themselves designing album covers and posters for a veritable who’s who of indie rock bands. Their work employs a minimal, hand-drawn style that slides in neatly between sketch and collage while employing a strong urban-art aesthetic. This aesthetic directly leads us to the other part of Struggle inc.’s work-street art.
Hudson and a group of friends/collaborators use found objects that are taken back to the studio, assembled into 3-D sculptures and painted. The completed pieces are then taken apart and re-assembled/installed on empty walls and rundown buildings throughout the windy city for public consumption. Their process is very inspirational. More on Struggle inc. and their approach to design and art can be seen on the Upper Playground DVD The Run Up.
They LUV design! It shows! We show it!
Ginormously talented, all producing massively gorgeous digital art, graphic design, posters, editorial design.
Michal Sycz is a freelance digital artist based in Cracow / Poland. His areas of specialization include: illustration, web design, branding and interactive media.
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Suprb is Andreas Pihlström, born and raised in Stockholm / Sweden.
Specialised in typography, code, movable and static shapes since 1978.
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Letman by his owns words is “cuckoo about letters, he loves them, so far is certain. His letters are curious. His handmade style fits the boundries of typography like a universe on itself by lashing out to illustration, grafitti and graphic design”
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TwoPoints rocks! Founded in 2007 with the aim to do exceptional design work. Work that is tailored to clients needs, work that excites clients customers, work that hasn’t been done before, work that does more than work.
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Stubborn Sideburn is a character graphic project created by Junichi Tsuneoka designs unique and strong character based illustrations that can apply to many different graphic design project.
SAFARI poster for IP TOYAMA.
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Felipe Rocha or flpr is 19 years old! From Brazil and an extra talented design student with no doubt, a great career ahead of him.
BOSQUE is a new multidisciplinary creation studio with varied techniques and supports. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina as you will see, they enjoy working for art projects. They have done live painting on store windows and art exhibits and even an incredible booth design installation for Monoblock.
Nils Voelker is a talented communication designer with a knack for experiments. Recently he built a robot out of Lego parts that is hanging from the ceiling on top of a pile of paper sheets drawing dots. It’s part of an art and design exhibition in the Netherlands.
The exhibition is about the way we look at things. While a visitor is looking at images of certain objects an eye-tracker records where exactly the viewer has just looked at.
Check the video!
Wanna see blazing fast loading flash with loads of moving images that may make your head spin. Tell you, this guy knows his stuff! Head on to see Robert Kaniszewski aka Rokkaboy website!
Dan McPharlin miniatures are hand-made cardboard models of vintage synths and other electronica. Must see!
Wanna see someone who masters the art of editorial design? Eric Drooker is a native New Yorker, born and raised on Manhattan Island. His graphics are seen on countless posters, books and CDs, and his paintings often appear on covers of The New Yorker magazine.
Showing: The New Yorker / circa 1994 (!)
Cities x Design is a two-part nationwide documentary of how creativity is reshaping American cityscapes, transforming people and places and defining what it means to be unique.
The author’s multi-cultural insights, reflections and commentary will provide an inspiring, informational and rewarding read to those interested in the applied uses of creativity but frustrated with singular or overly academic and economic approaches.
The traveling team are international experts in the field of design, design promotion, social and urban studies, cultural heritage tourism, and events management.
LVU is a clothing line made by design couple loveshugah and yurra in 2006. They both love monsters and cuteness and presents wearable artworks such as doodles and monsters on t-shirts for you to wear everyday.
Showing: Burgboy and Burggirl
Mesmerizing and mysterious, the OFFF 2009 Main Titles is setup in the desert? By the sea? Outwordly? Cast in prismacolor with tints of turquoise, it’s pure eye candy and a beautiful way of giving props to this year’s attending speakers.
Brought to you by Prologue (by Kyle Cooper, Ilya Abulhanov and Elizabeth Newman).
Music and audio by HECQ.
Coco is an illustrator by background, spent five years studying fine arts in Paris and now works as a communication consultant for many leading fashion designers.
“I like to mix several techniques but aim for restraint and minimalism in the finished work as I like the results achieved from combining these two approaches.”
Her approach is half-way hand drawing beautiful lines mixed with collages which result in enigmatically refined compositions and patterns.
dmtr is Dimitre Lima pod on the web where you can see a host of explorations using different software (like processing). If you’re interested in learning more, check this recent post: C.E.B. Reas.
On show: XOLOR
Part of our anniversary bash, we invited special content scouts to contribute 10 project reviews on the topic of their choice and do a 3 question based mini-interview.
Presenting #4 in the series: Girl Power by Liz Wolfe
“Netdiver has always made a special effort to recognize the work of female creators. There are so many talented women blazing trails in design, sometimes it’s easy to forget that women are still severely underrepresented in many areas of the industry. Netdiver’s Powagirrrls 
section helps target this inequity through its focus on “women who rock the design scene…with more than pink design!”
I’m happy to have this opportunity to share with you the work of some of my favorite female creators.”
Light touch and spirited movie based on the proverbial mad scientist concept, OFFF 2009 Sponsor Titles by Onesize a motion direction design studio, will make you chuckle and laugh out loud. Don’t miss reading the brief and process.
Having being involved with the event for many years, it’s a first ever that ’sponsors’ get such a treatment! New trend?
Jeff Dodson had a blast working on the audio.
Marco Zamora has got his brain at the tip of his fingers! His imagery about the urban landscape and the people that inhabit it has resulted in richly complex and experimental illustrations with a strong and unique identity. City life, his culture, color/scale experimentation, and the working class have influenced his artwork.
Need some LUV? Inspiration? Both? There you go honey, another installment from our 10yr Bash treasure chest. Now pass it around so others may also be merry!
You LUV everything design? So do we. Welcome home! poster recently appeared in the OFFF 09 program book.
Download, print, stare and create lovely (after). And remember, you are always welcomed home!
Jessica Hische is a talented artist with a knack for crafting exquisite typography. Her attention to detail and conceptual wit are extraordinary gifts that will propel this rising star to international fame.
Jennifer Maestre is a sculptor originally inspired by the form and function of Sea Urchins. Her medium: pencils. Lots of pencils. Jennifer has been in the press, received awards, been in publications, and has exhibited (solo) since 1999/2000.
Her works are mixes of form/function, simplicity/complexity, beauty/beast, and minimal/maximal. Similar traits found in the nature that inspires the art. Lovely.
Experimenta are now The International Office. They are rocking a really nice and simple one page horizontal scrolling site with some new amazing type based works.
The International Office’s work has a timeless feel to it while rooting themselves at the forefront of modern design. Much LUV for these guys.
Yulia Brodskaya is an illustrator specializing in an original technique called PAPERgraphic. Her deft hand and crafting beautiful typography is original and world class.
Kitschy = Pop Kulture Kouture and Vintage treasures, designs and finds by Lala-a-Gogo. Kitschy parties-in-a-bag are chock full of all sorts of fun surprises — everything from vintage beads & 1960s doll heads to buttons & faux flowers to pop-pom balls & garden gnomes.
Each Bag O’ Kitsch is one-of-a- kind. Let’s party!
Print and motion commit to a long life together in a movie made from 4,000 great pictures and… Presenting The Long Haul, an animated short film by Dumais Studio and Full Serve.
Great idea of trying to show the elements of a production come together in a stop motion piece.
All images are digital renderings! Now isn’t that mind-blowing? Alex McLeod is in a league all of his own. Using Cinema 4d, Zbrush and design software, he creates fabulous landscapes that are soo believable – thought they were real-life installations.
Just studying the surface textures, lighting and formed shapes is awing and perplexing. Pay attention to the facing reflection in the first image – that show extreme attention to details.
Grab the wallpaper along the way.
“Kate MccGwire’s work asks questions about the very nature of beauty. She’s intrigued by the possibility of envisaging beauty as something more complex than merely what delights the senses: beauty can be about a problem; it can be something that repels you or makes you question the status quo. The idea that it is a cultural phenomenon, susceptible to argument through the creative process, fascinates her.
Much of Kate’s work references Freud’s ‘Unheimliche’ (the uncanny, or, literally, the ‘unhomely’); the idea, to quote Freud, of ‘a place where the familiar can somehow excite fear’. It also embraces artistic notions of the Abject.”
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via Artist Statement
Brilliant illustrator and designer, Emmanuel Polanco brings the art of collage to a next level. His images are as dark, retro and fearless as they are fresh, clever and ironic.
Pick any series to find absolute beauty!
Jennifer Daniel = intelligent + funny. Her url is reason enough to check out a fantastic body of work.
Piero Zagami is an Italian graphic designer based in London who does very nice information design. His use of typography and colour is quite masterful as is his ability to creatively (and cleverly) display information in an aesthetically appealing manner.
Don’t miss the UNSC/R project!
“Ideas were sought from architects, designers, automobile and electrical appliance manufacturers, media artists and even a flower artist. It will be fascinating to see how many new possibilities emerge from this initiative. The exhibition represents an intersection of technology, materials and talent, all oriented towards future manufacturing.”
One of the best exhibitions during the Salone del Mobile in Milan (Milan’s Furniture Fair), Senseware is packed with fresh ideas and groundbreaking materials. Must see!
Olivier Pasqual is a fantastic photographer. He has worked with many diverse agencies and his DIY compositions are perfect technically. In 2007, he set up his studio in Geneva, Switzerland. He specialises in still life photography, realisations range from advertising campaigns to fine-art reproduction.
Part of our anniversary bash, we invited special content scouts to contribute 10 project reviews on the topic of their choice.
Presenting #3 in the series: Boldness by Pál Varsányi
“I find inspiration in designs that show me something new, something unusual and are able to draw attention at the same time. I like artists who do not follow trends but their own ideas and are brave enough to
experience.
It can either be the most minimal design or the most detailed one, if you can see the unseen, then it’s inspiring indeed.”
“Max Brenner the bald man, is creating a new chocolate culture. In the following months we will reveal to you the fine layers of this unique approach to chocolate. We invite you to see, to listen and to feel Max’s chocolate love story.”
We LUV chocolate too!
3er mundo is a Barcelona based animation and design firm with loads of talent and a latin flavor. The two Venezuelan designers Ramon Paris and Maria Teresa Castillo have produced work for clients like Discovery Channel, Hbo, Mtv, Sony Entertainment and Sesame Street.
Their commercial work is enticing and their short animated films are little treasures. Enjoy!
Loic Sattler aka Lysergid and now LSD your mind (mmm) — has put out and issued This looks like an update. LUV the Omega-tainted Dior photomontages.
Aj Fosik three-dimensional wood, paint and nails Self-Portratit.
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via Hell Yeah Dude collection.
While complaining about the get rich scams deluge on Twitter, Jesse Bennett from 31 Three sent this article in reply:
Leamington man loses $150,000 in Nigerian scam by Trevor Wilhem
“John Rempel said he quit his truck driving job, lost friends, borrowed money and crossed the globe in pursuit of a non-existent inheritance, after he was contacted by e-mail in what is known as a Nigerian 419 scam..”
Hailing from Sydney is the new agency for the digital age Toshiedo who put out a smart top section with catchy rotating projects setting tone to the overall clean and professional with a tad tiny-wheenie-bit edgy statements proposed in their tagline.
Surpised! Joshua Distler hide and seek website interface sports a chic new minimalist ditching a mile away black on white approach. Using shades of dark chocolate, marron and charcoal code bars like horizontal spans stating in text only, the projects he did. Smart use of clients name to detour instant credibility your way.
Mouseover, small but well-chosen thumbnails entice the viewer to click-on to discover his portfolios pieces. His “pièces de résistance”.
His skills are superlative! LUV the logo and signature Tshirt for the Visit London tourism office.
Justin Harder is a gifted director/designer whose aesthetic evolves with each new production. He moves deftly from cell animation – live action – 2d/3d motion graphics, and his wicked sense of humor enriches his broad visual palette.
After watching his reel, you can click through to his site and view additional work.
“Lifelong Friendship Society was formed with the intention of channeling a diverse range of creative abilities and inspirational vision into one vibrant organism. A collective of individuals that share a love of creative communication, visual story telling and brand development by both traditional and non traditional means. Using animation, live action, design, illustration, and typography we help to craft and expand the aesthetic bounds of our patrons.”
LFS recently redesigned their website with a new colour pallette, easy to use navigation, and loads of LFS style.
Graphics to die for new carefully crafted imagery by Bartholot.
ToDo SpamGhetto wallpaper is a spam-based wall-covering showing at the Design Crisis exhibition during the furniture fair in Milan. Unconventional use of the unsolicited annoyance produced by spam being recycled and software generated to produce a bitter-sweet experience of our daily misery.
More pictures on flickr of the installation.
VitaBrevisFilms produced a serie of beautiful adverts for 3form which manufactures ecoresin, a co-polyester recycled content product, used to make panels containing textiles, natural objects, and textures.
Check the MADE sections to view all.
Mario Hugo’s site may be sparse on visual details, but dig one layer lower and you find that the real gems lie just below the surface. The talented illustrator/designer has produced work for a range of clients including Microsoft, Nike and Dolce and Gabbana.
His work deftly incorporates hand-drawn elements, type and photography into wholly unique and layered compositions.
His use of negative/positive space to convey shape and type is inspirational.
PandaPanther is a New York based animation studio.
“PandaPanther’s work bears the signature of both Jonathan and Naomi, whose combined talents create fun, colorful worlds of magical adventure brought to life with the use of high end 3D animation, illustration, design, stop motion, hand crafted sets and live action.”
They just updated their show reel, with lots of cute, happy, cheerful, and inspiring visuals.
Mika’s Marshmallow Train is a great example of the kind of eye candy they can produce! What a sweet movie!
Made of Stills is a new artist collective spear-headed by 4 xtra talented photographers: Maxime G. Delisle, Simon Couturier, Simon Duhamel and Nik Mirus. In budding stages, they officially launched last Friday, this is a space to watch for since they intend to grow the spectra of creatives involved.
From Montreal with luv.
Cartelle is an interactive studio led by two seasoned veterans, Johnny Slack & Stevijn van Olst (AKQA, Sid Lee and Blast Radius). Try playing with their interactive toys, and keep your eyes on the horizon for collaborations with Europe’s hottest agencies.
Romania-based designer, Stefan Lucut’s work is a mix of type, photography, and vector elements, infused with a modern, contemporary feel. He mixes vibrant colors, seriffed typography and primitive shapes to create imagery that is both bold and strong.
Despite the minimalist nature of his site, it does not take long to recognize the maturity and imagination that comes through in his work.
Stephane Halleux is a French sculptor working with found materials, creating wonderfully cyberpunk/steampunkish (with a dash of Tim Burton flare) characters, vehicles, gizmos, gadgets, and other curious creations.
Must see!
Multi-continent-based design firm, Non-Format, believes in the concept of keeping busy-very busy. Aside from their deep roster of client projects, the firm has produced a best-selling monograph, held a series of solo shows and even find the time to art direct a journal of illustration and design. Creatively, their work blends a range of styles and elements to create a fun, engaging and sometimes visually arresting body of work.
Just launched! The starting (nearly) from zero Serial
Cut awesome imagemakers delivering stunning projects since ‘99 new website! If you remember the #FFFFCC background colored one-pager they had for years, you’re in for a huge departure from it and a very pleasant surprise. Wanna see good? Excellent? Superlative?
Totally rad! Thumbs up!
Perhaps best known for his trademark female characters, Sam Flores has been a staple of the urban art/graffiti scene for many years. His work has migrated from the walls of our urban centers to the walls of galleries all over the world.
Sam’s work features wonderfully detailed characters and draws deeply from asian culture.
