Design and digital culture NEWS // September 2004
Scott
Frances is a master at setting up and catching dazzling people
and interior photography. As you will see he has a lot of experience
in editorial and advertising projects. I particularly like the ones
involving artists! Site designed by TODA.
To
all the 15 ultra talented designers that have worked real hard in making
such a flash project become - cheers! The 'tunnel' fx is really passé
and cliché but the 3D futuristic environment is well done. Nikelab
/ AOS
Tröllback does
the Vanity Fair elegant little opening with clean, modern sensibility
-- not your typical frou-frou frock-film opening. Trollbäck has
also created openings for Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, Hysterical Blindness
(HBO Films).
Designer
Collis Taeed on 8 Thomas web
site concept. “Website was built for a high end office refurbishment
in Sydney. The establishment is in an area with a large chinese population,
so the identity and the site played on the number 8 in the address as
well as the colour red, which represent wealth and happiness respectively.
To show the flexibility of the space, I used unfolding boxes to illustrate
how spaces could expand and shrink and change.”
Daniela
Stallinger 
has
a sharp eye for people and blasts b&w pictures to high contrast
creating drama and suspense. Luv the abstract drape that serves both
as navigation and as a visual piece of art! Red hot!
pioneer10 updates
with a completely new grid and palette. Awesome projects. Mightily talented!
For
people who make websites:
In view that in the future, all devices will be connected to the network,
this article introduces Pocket-Sized
Design: Taking Your Website to the Small Screen by Elika Etemad and
Jorunn D. Newth
Oh!
That's a genial idea and concept. Bob
Stevens is certainly an excellent photographer of cars and landscapes...
but the collage like section in the case studies (literally using carrying
'cases' to emphasize the metaphor) are mini-stories that present the
diverse and unique personalities of his subjects. LUV it!
Full
Sail Real World Education has an interview with Mark
G. Murphy: “I think DigitalKick’s
site is probably some of the best work I’ve done to date. I spent
many long hours pouring everything I learned into this site.”
erikotten
v.7 is out! Performing the book metaphor with brio and the scrolling
wheel is still there. Design by Erik Otten and code by Simon
Hattinga.
MYST
IV is alive with unique creatures! For those who like the 'discovery'
and solving puzzles... an immersive experience.
ED
Moda Lab is Milano students who earned a degree in fashion design
web site. Lots of promising talent.
NEW is
...design / illustrationh / art direction... with lots of funky twists.
Excellent design skills.
Everybody,
Say Cheese! an
interview with Philip Brown by TAXI.
Which
is which? Back to normal pace means back to pirating sites unfortunately
for some?!?! Check the following. I know which is the original site since
I saw the beta phase months ago.
So what do you think? #1 or #2?
Brian
Ulrich photographer extraordinaire of /
NOT IF BUT WHEN is having two special events upcoming this week in
Chicago. Check his website and drop by to say hello.
Has
Arial always been the evil twin of helvetica, distributed by Microsoft
and looking ectremely similar to the type created in Switzerland by the
Haas Foundry? Check Helvetica
vs Arial.
Kevin
Airgid does a review of FireFox
0.9 (Mozilla built browser that is actually, the one that use as
my default browser every day) on Pixelsurgeon.
Who
would not want slick design skills as Neighbor?
Their work is very sophisticated and imaginative! One of their outstanding
strength is that all projects are positioned exactly so the mini-anims
makes us 'experience' the design.
Don't miss the everything else section to see what they did with a shopping
bag! From Singapore with LUV.
Promising
new 3D video animation talent! Have a look at -{
SlapMan }:
A
new close-up interview with
Robert L. Peters who is past president of the International Council of
Graphic Design Associations (Icograda).
He is active internationally as a consultant and design strategist, policy
advisor, juror and guest lecturer and lives with two cats in a passive
solar house in the woods...
Read the inspirational tidbits in the graphic below (even suggest print
and carry) more is available about his multi path to becoming an influential
designer and all around genuine and caring human being.
Time and time again I have insisted on not underestimating the power
of one. His, is such a story. He can do it and so can we!
Yuri
Melnicomm published a special report from APPLE EXPO in Paris.
Let the pictures speak!
Calendas is
not only a website. It's a songwriter's album and was made by himself
that is also a designer and partner of a company called Revolut.
Some
of life's greatest news do not come only in the form of a new project,
contract or school curriculum. Mau shared
this story and I thought you would have some appreciation for it too.
Awesome
flash site for nanozoom. Explorative
navigation (use the spacebar to close project) and double-click to view
menu which will open where your mouse is.
All around very good projects in the portfolio. Good job in designing
the interface around a unique idea!
!!!
Deb Wagner from dstripe is
a netdiver powagirrrl! ; ).
“I’ve got a new site and a great story for you! Caroline
James of bigmango found me on
your site when you posted my new website in May. She invited me to collaborate
with her on a site for a well known floral design company in San Francisco.
The result is amazing: http://www.floramor.com”
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle:
If you have similar stories in reference with direct outcomes and benefits
from being published on netdiver - I would LUV to hear them.
Literally
food for the eyes (and for the tummy). In Madoka Muto personal space
Miruki, a Sydney based student of Fine Arts lays a clean and well scripted
site which contains digital art and over 150 recipes, which I will actually
try some.
That's an original idea. Enjoy!
365project is
a year-long journey through one man's 2002, one day at a time. In Jacob's
who words: “I took 365 photographs: at least one a day. Some days
I took only one, some days I shot roll after roll, but for each day I
chose only one photograph.
There was no set theme, other than to capture the most interesting image
possible for that day. Some of the shots are commonplace while some of
the shots are great, but together they comprise my 2002: ups and downs,
good and bad.”
“20%
de la population consomme 80% des ressources mondiales”
or “20% of the population consumes 80% of the world's resources”
on %.net.
Remarkable!!! Peter
Schafrick photography skills are extraordinary! The composition,
the lightning, the colors... minute details that adds up to show you
are accomplished in your art!
Need
some free fonts? Check Orgdot open
source: pixel and led fonts for flash!
Still
going strong after all these years! ok47
Blackpulp has
got a technology base site that is transparent and yet innovative. It
was built around the concept of allowing users to browse muitiple content
simultaneously, the site is 100% Actionscript all on one frame. Also,
notice how the site resizes itself to fit the browser window, even when
and after you resize the window.
The background pictures are awesome. LUV it!
One
Girl Diary travels through time in an exquisite and nostalgic mix media
project made of illustrations of kids at play and old photographs. The
visual treatment is splendid.
Just
for the sound track D'Art Design
Gruppe is worth a visit. Kiddin'. Gosh immersive bubbles? Why not?
You float in an out and discovere little gems projects that even these,
you wish you could dive into and find out more. Another aspect that is
interesting, is that there is no push in your face navigation. None!
Absolutely none!
Now to get a client that is confident enough to let the very nature
of the experience (based on their portfolio) will draw in to inquire
about their services - takes b...ubbles!!!
_ _ _ _ _ _
ndle1: Brillant
explorative project masterminded by Group94.
You've
gotta see this! Projectgraphics is
a superb flash based site that offers a new kind of navigation and outstanding
projects sorted by color!
Cyan
Xia, Jian Jiang and Frank Liu are the 3 xtra talented designers composing
Joyn:Folio based in Sydney and Beijing. Fresh out across media section
overflowing with contextual urban flavor.
Rebellbase is
a student ministry that has a mini bank of videos that exemplifies they
do know who their audience is. These are incredibly full of life, vibrant
with humor and well edited. In praise of reaching out to youth, their
efforts are supported by high quality good urban rock music and inspiring
ballads! Ready for the revolution?
Shannon
Weir and the Even Strangers is a nice tutti fruiti site with music
that is a mix of garage techno and lyrical solo piano tracks.
Welcome
to ¦¦¦ Lysergid ¦¦¦ Loic SATTLER
Portfolio 2004 who claims to be “Empowering the Earth with Visual
Presence since MCMXCIX”. Well just preceding sentence tells a lot
of the originality seeked and intended. Incredible talent at work here.
DBCut introduces
new design trends made in Asia, especially in Korea! If you need to have
a reference for the how it is done in the raising sun areas - this is
definitely a good place to start. What I find fantastic about asian style
is the explosion of fruity colors and dreamy illustrations.
Probably
one of the top emerging agency AMEN is
all about powerful advertising concepts rendered in extraordinary simplicity.
Imagining by
Josh Smith is a 2 min short film worth seeing. How it was edited is really
great! Emerging talent to watch for!
An
all around extraordinary portfolio with original content and navigation!
The DOFL showcase works, lab and words of Dolf Y.H. Yun who is extensively
published in industry related magazines and books.
Why
it is important Switching
from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox // Vulnerability
Note VU#713878 / Microsoft Internet Explorer does not properly validate
source of redirected frame by US-CERT.
Get Firefox today!
Emerging
talent to watch for - Vectorized
Me that combines paintings, illustration, 3D and flash animations.
The
reason I like the AR2DESIGN site
is that all functionalities are minimalist and fast. The loading sequence
is part of the design which makes all clickthrough seems to be part of
the experience instead of seeing a loading sequence in the middle of
the interface.
Also how you go to the next frame in the portfolio section when you
have picked a project. The initial graphic is what Arturo calls “The
weapon of design” - a printer! Smart.
A
clean minimalist site for Die Gestalter who
capitalizes on their studio interior photographs to act as predominant
visuals on their site that uses a beige, gray and white palette.
Crown
Dozen... interviews Bobby
Dixon a street smart urban illustrator, Nando
Costa the brazillian eclectic and imaginative designer, as well as
many others.
Liquid
Journey is an Art / experimental open source flash project! Go
explore. There is so much content there... should keep some of you
busy for a little while :)
Color
Whore (sic) is a directory of nice color - so they claim - gosh
you add your favorite and the list is interesting if looking for a
palette for a project.
I
don't think I have seen yet character illustration and 3D figurines with
such intense emotional presence. Welcome to the Red
Nose Studio, infusing situational context that simply marvels the
imagination!
Building meaning within a world of fantasy is almost a paradox and this
artist, does it with brio. There is no extreme, just balance. Everything
is just perfectly set up to create the appropriate atmosphere.
He is like a director. You sense there is a very real script behind
all he does and what we get to see, is the capturing of a precise moment.
The scene was carefully picked.
The richness of every project is based on human likeness... something
that we can all relate to, without further explanations. We have 'seen'
these before.
I remember someone saying: 'If you have to explain it - then you have
failed to communicate it.' So true of the work he does. In fact, the
captions just bring another level of relevance to what you see.
Each of his projects tells a story. It fires us. We recognize the analogies,
the facial expressions, we understand, we see ourselves at one time or
another of our life.
To be able to do so, points to one completely absorbed at expressing
through his craft, our inner joys and fears.
Chris Sickels is a true master!
International
Design Alliance (IDA) has decided to establish its head office
in Montréal. The choice made by this prestigious organization
confirms Montréal’s position as an emerging design centre,
and powerfully underscores the city’s international status
It
has be a constant and recurrent known problem that M$ and IE (Explorer)
have security holes big enough to let malicious and even critical breach
available. Now it has just gotten worst and probably is time to start
using alternate browsers like Firefox (Mozilla
and open source) or Opera to surf
the web. Get the whole story about: M$
drag and drop vulnerability and you can test
IE browser to see how it would happen.
Julia
Hoffmann is
an all around excellent designer, check the diversity of her portfolio!
Her forte is conceptual design mostly in print projects!
Scene360 puts
on a brand new face! Their goal is to make the site even more functional
and organized, as well as keeping it visually appealing.
Some
of you have been inquiring about good reference books on chromatics.
Here are 2 books that I use.
/ Pantone Guide to Communicating
with Color by Leatrice Eiseman
/ Designer's Guide to Color 5 by Ikuyoshi Shibukawa and Yumi Takahashi
_ _ _ _ _ _
This one was suggested by Ian Lawson:
/
Color Index: Over 1100 Color Combinations, CMYK and RGB Formulas, for
Print and Web Media by Jim Krause
Interesting
interview with Florian Schmitt | co-founder of Hi-ReS! by YCN.
Fantastic!
Just found a pearl. Discover d414 which
concept revolves around a familiar metaphor - the fireman! Oh yes sometimes
we definitely could use 'fire extinguishers' on clients! Not only their
projects are outstanding but they have cool merch and desktops!
The
future is automated partly by companies such as Ebinger
und Giek. Wow! Check the skate (holder) locks. When I think of my
own skates that are always falling all over and using lots of space.
That's such a simple solution, the kind that innovation is made about.
Simply
gorgeous!!! Mas d'en pou is a
farm which traditional recipes from local produces is offred on their
website. Looks delicious!
Rhett
and Maggy Dashwood run Heavy
Backpack which describes itself as a Creative Catalogue.This is a
space that provides concise insights to creatives dealing in the visual
medium. It showcases many styles and various artistic backgrounds. Promoting
individuals, collectives, companies, and their creative work.
Individuals are chosen to be profiled by invitation only. Astronomical
talent lodged in.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Brought to you by Wade a talented
studio!
Metro-cultural
graphic designer Qian
Qian interviewed on Taxi
“For some five millenniums, China has been pretty self-indulgent
in its own brand of traditional arts and cultures.
Fortunately, with its haste progression into the global economy and
sprouting of open-minded individuals, the most populous country in the
world has finally welcomed 'contemporary design' into its exclusive brand
of franchise.”
Need
some brain_bytes?
Links to some interviews I did!
-> more
news
^
