Netdiver Mag

Peter Hamza from famed Inertia just let me know that one of the first independtly published book Visual Culture (Catalog) 2001 (out of print) which he edited, is now available for free on the web.

“To mark the 10 year anniversary of our community, we decided to share this hard to find book with everyone. Capturing the trends of the last decade, it contains nearly 200 pages of beautiful graphics from true pioneers such as François Chalet, Jens Karlsson, Büro Destruct, Todd Purgason, and many more.”

Ready for a trip down (design) memory lane?

Little Buddha is a very useful and well-built iPhone app of over 39,000 unique quotes developed by HappyTapper and illustrated by Scott Jackson. Quotes are nuggets of wisdom tallied across centuries of human knowledge and who would not want to be inspired? Set a keyword and get quotes including it, such as creative or select to read more from same author.

_______

Includes save, share, search and even write your own functionalities.

Watch the demo movie (by Carla White) to see how it works.

When are one pager websites using the (infamous) right scroll make sense? Only with a well presented and organized strip of visuals for completed projects such as Tomorrow Studio, a young multi-disciplinary design studio in East London, specialising in forward thinking design and art direction, did.

This is an excellent example.

Stunning (collage-like) illstrations for the Swedish magazine SOMA by Vesna Pesic aka BECHA. Luv both the initial submitted sketch and final published cover she did. The inside page split face details could have been gruesome, but something happened in the storyline and we get it, just want to know what!

Her portfolio can be tagged as being out there and audacious. Her style is ominous yet not too so that it would prevent receiving commercial commissions.

Excecution and concept? Exceptional!

Americana memoribilia? Check the “COUNTY FAIR” 50 Editions by Field Notes.

How greater can it get if the products you design brings out the happy-go-lucky child in you? From the talented Poketo team and available on their Supermarket store in the decor section.

These just make me smile.

Designing for iPad: Reality Check by IA

“We worked on iPad projects without ever having touched an iPad. One client asked us to “start working on that tablet thing” even before we knew whether the iPad was real. The question Are we designing desktop programs, web sites or something entirely new? has been torturing us until that express package from New York finally crossed our door sill.”

_______

via: Rainer Berg

After a web hiatus for some months, Josh Rhode aka Kult House has just relaunched his website with a ton of new interactive / motion / branding works mostly focussed on sportswear – and much more coming soon.

Pay special attention to the Nike Sister1 Limited concept of overturned shoe that becomes a landscape. Brilliant!

HyperQuake is all about designing, strategizing and generally creating amazing things.. and truly they are one of the longest surviving it all agency. First discovered circa ’97 – wonderful to see them thriving. Luv their new color palette and interface design throughout their website which is elegant and sprinkled with just enough visual vavoom.

Joshua Gorchov, principal of TheLoud Cloud creative agency, recently sat down with long time friend Scott Dadich, Creative Director of WIRED Magazine, for a conversation about the new Wired iPad app. This is the first full interview Dadich has given since the launch, an inside look at his team’s innovative design process.

The Dadich Touch is a must read!

Sadi Yann aka blindSalida is a France based art director and graphic designer. He also dabbles in creating eye popping, chaotic assortment of elements illustrations that often ends-up looking like unusual visual sculptures.

What is this? StickWithMeBaby is a collection of stickers designed to personalize the apple logo on your MacBook with loads of ‘tude. It’s not for everyone. Gotta luv these!

_______

via: Design Milk

John Hendrix works in his attic and try to make it a place he enjoys visiting each day. Some of his favorite studio decorations are the ‘trades’ he’s made with other illustrators whose work he admires.

No doubt his drawing illustration skills and style soar to the high peaks of technical prowness and deep understanding of editorial commissions.

Like the changing top banner identifiying different sections.

Rufus Leonard art directed for his agency the main reception wall decor with vinyl based typography bubbles which were illustrated by Edson Williams.

“Promises. Must be kept” – “Consumers will out you” – “Brand value wiped out” – stern advice that probably shake the sleep out of you when coming in, in the am..

Telegramme is a small bespoke studio built on a love of craft and communication. They are inspired by music, people, unique ideas and beautiful things. They direct their creative energy into graphic design, illustration, art direction and web design.

Wow this studio’s work is terrific!

Dadako developed Facemakr a custom avatar builder for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch which outputs, can be best used for social networks. Easy to use interface, with millions of combinations, hundreds of face parts.

_______

This is a sweet animation – full of emotions with its three intersecting stories. From a technical point of view, the panning and 3D space movements with rectangular shapes – although still from 2D flat drawings – are exquisite.

U2 – I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight by David OReilly and Jon Klassen.

Sumptuous and luscious interior photography by Paul Barbera who mainly works in Australia and Europe.

Oh I am totally digging this! Disk-it // Sticky Notes by Burak Kaynak. Ain’t that cool or what?

Luca Laurenti aka MKLANE has updated his illustration portfolio that is composed mainly of portraits of known-people.

Brian Rea is the former art director for the Op-Ed page of the New York Times and a guest art director for GOOD Magazine. His style of illustrations toggles between quirky to plain bizarre but ome of his art directed editorial work shows stunning page layouts.

Don’t miss them.

Nice animation that explains how Helvetica (the font) came about by Emanuel Cruellas.

iPad no more. Why? Big disappointment on multi-levels. Quick sharing some:

Current OS should have reflected and included the iOS4 functionalities such as multi-emails threading, folder creation and most importantly, multi-taskings since it was most likely concurrently being developed by Apple, right? Especially that the device ain’t cheap – why not load it with the most recent version?

Sound? You must be kidding right? Absolutely need to wear headphones (or plug it into an outside system) So much for portability? No go for that.

Screen? Why not incorporate the Lumina retina screen technology right off the bat – since the device will be mostly used to see or read as advertised, right? So that is really crappy. Some apps are not apps just feeding progressive (often pixellized) .jpg that mimick magazine pages (GQ Japan).

Now for apps.

With all the media hooplah – as a new media pioneer – was expecting to be really blown away. Instead was made confused (usability anyone?) by obscure navigation, too much advertising pages (it could have been something else – such as the Cadillac sponsor spot on Coolhunting) and little to no interactivity..

Ok, this is a wifi digital what not that has not been thought of to hook up to the Internet seamlessly. You know the INTERNET!!! Do I need to be asked that it will open Safari (is there any other optional browser I’m missing?) and need to say OK?!?!

Oh no! Did I just follow that link within the Coolhunting app (which is totally one of the better ones).. I’m so dead. Safari opened and.. because no multi-tasking – I have lost my spot in Coolhunting which is closed too, so I need to start all over again. Hate that.

Wired? Well I’m bummed! When I tried to load the video – it went to nowhereland – making the app hang. Recipe: close, open, try again, close, open, try again.. The layout is nice – but interactivity?!?! Clicked a link got to another page and there was no way back. Had no clue where I was within the magazine. Apart from other magazines, it did remember the last page I was on. Ouf!

Pop Sciences is overkilled – using navigational references that make no sense and being told to do this and that to find my way around is simply counter-intuitive. Is this to be an immersive experiment or should I get to read the content at some point? Was offered a full issue free – downloaded it and for the life of me, couldn’t find it. Where was the issue? It’s only when I hapchanced moving up the screen that a menu appeared. Oh and I was supposed to know that? Very pretty pictures though.

The Elements is baffling poo – look I can make objects spin? Where’s the beef (science)?

Facebook app is a joke and is the iPhone version (same size as on my iPhone). What???

NPR is brilliant! Careful to wanting to see it on the web, remember open Safari and you have to close, open again.

The London Times is excellent – granted you are reading a newspaper and accept it as that and willing to pay a monthly subscription.

Tried many differenet utilities with overall a high level of disappointment except perhaps for Dropbox. There were so many demands for login and password to just get them to work that I was turned off.

Oh and SDK platform and C++ to develop an app may be object oriented but its purpose has not been ported for full interactivity. Lots of experimental programming needs to happen. So nevermindus, the costs for developing will be prohibitive to most of the core community.

As for visiting Flash websites – better not get me started on this.. it’s a weird and bizarre of an experience especially if you either see garbage looking css link lists or the message “you need the Flash player to view this website” – only then, that it dawns on you.. Oh no had forgotten – iPad doesn’t support it.. Not good! Not good at all! It’s like the web has been hacked or robbed of one of its essential ingredient/component.

This is an over media sold green code (immature) technology underdelivering device whereas companies may scramble to be iPad ready – advanced users are left hanging in a back to 1995 all over again. Luv the concept and idea of what the future of publishing will be like but for now, will wait for the next generation (that is probably in the pipes as I write this).

Lezinkstudio is the digital showcase of David García aka «LeZink» a graphic designer based in Asturias, Spain. His work encompasses many areas related to design including art direction, graphic design, illustration, branding and web.

Digging his website and work!

The 3 Keys to Twitter’s Success by Jack Dorsey

“Jack Dorsey outlines three core takeaways from his experiences building and launching Twitter – and more recently – Square, a simple payment utility. 1) Draw: get your idea out of your head and share it, 2) Luck: assess when the time (and the market) is right to execute your idea, 3) Iterate: take in the feedback, be a rigorous editor, and refine your idea.”

Get a drink and listen to the video.

WOLDA the worldwide logo design annual has announced the ’09 winners and launched the new edition 2010 which will allow every participant to be a judge!

(Design) Industry Insights comments and conversations on the business of design in U.K 2010 published by the Design Council. Now I’m seriously beginning to think that baby pink is the new blue and that funky information design is the next-new trend in publishing.

Worth reading (no matter where you’re located on the globe).

Greystripe And Adobe Partner To Bring Flash Ads To The iPhone And iPad. Sort Of by Leena Rao

“The ongoing battle between Adobe and Apple over the lack of support for Flash on the iPhone and iPad has been entertaining to say the least.

Greystripe’s technology now transcodes Flash authored ads as HTML5 to mobile devices that do not support Flash Player (such as the iPhone and iPad); these ads will be supported in both applications and on the mobile web. There’s no work for the advertisers or publishers; Greystripe says the transition from Flash to HTML5 is seamless.”

The outdoor campaign for the Calleja lighting store that Bulldog created is totally rad. Luv the 3D perspective based on tagline: “The right light fixtures can make a small space seem bigger.”

What do you think?

Ten principles of good design by Dieter Rams

“Back in the early 1980s, Dieter Rams was becoming increasingly concerned by the state of the world around him – “an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.” Aware that he was a significant contributor to that world, he asked himself an important question: is my design good design?

Good design is: innovative, useful, aesthetic, understandable, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough down to the last detail, environmentally-friendly, as little design as possible.”

Enough to tinker with – so we do good design.

_______

Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

Book features the design philosophy, designs, sketches, and models.

_______

ICON6 delivers a compelling and provocative program with over 50 speakers who bring their unique take on the industry and professional practice, specifically for illustrators and the graphic arts community providing an unprecedented forum for the creativity, inspiration and drive that captivates the profession.

Upcoming: July 14-17

Don’t know if you will tag their merch as super fancy? Or like the baby pink background? But that’s how the designy folks from Danmark have decided to name themselves: Super Fancy.

Pretty, out there, edgy stuff you will find tho.

Totally crazy app! The Pirata Boat Race pits two teams against one another to row themselves to victory.

_______

Watch the movie to see how it works.

Dan Matutina aka Twistedfork designs, illustrates and experiments. His angular boxy somewhat weird characters as charicacctural they are – they serve the briefs purpose well.

Really like the SEAir Anniversary Issue (the mix media illustrations were for an article about favorite teen hangouts) project.

Currently blowing me away? Take a Seat designed by Darris Hamroun. Folded, it looks like a book — can be stored on a shelf as a book — whereas in fact, it is a crafty (and mobile) bench!

Don’t forget to watch the video to see it unfold.

PepperMelon keeps on rocking forward creating deliciously well crafted animations and all sorts of motion graphic designs for their clients. They believe that when the right people come together, with lots of passion and experience, extraordinary work will result.

If you work in the industry, they have job opps now.

See for yourself!

They luv motion! It shows! #1 We show it! Brilliant storyboards, motion graphics, animations from studio reels, shorts, films or ad spots.. Follows splendid examples to be inspired from.

UNO by 611

_______

Amsterdam Osdorp by The QBF

_______

Google Chrome Speed Tests

_______

The Making of a Book Cover by Gail Carriger

_______

Tim and Puma Mimi / Perspective by MONE

The Cassette is a new sneaker brand not yet launched which conquered a huge fan community in just a few days. Created by the Baptiste Clinet, Dany Allal and Guillaume Nairaud, The Cassette, with its vintage look and its great color palette will be officially launched in two months.

LUV their tagline: “Time to Rewind” — brilliant!

Now these are rad kicks! Wanna design one?

_______

via: dtail

Swatch Young Illustrators Award is a unique competition awarding creativity and innovation in personal contemporary illustration and graphics. The award encourages and supports designers in their artistic practice and offers an international and worldwide recognized platform to them. Illustrative art works, art projects with graphic influences, animations and book art objects qualify for submission.

Deadline: September 30

Apple news. iPhone 4 launch. This changes everything. Again. The functionalities and specs are just mind-blowing. Wanna see what the buzz is about — including loads and loads of pictures?

Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010 by Joshua Topolsky does an in depth coverage of the iPhone4 for Engadget.

Since this was a live stream – go to the bottom of page and work your way up. I know weird, but worth it.

_______

Watch also: This changes everything. Again.

WIRED on iPad: Just like a Paper Tiger… by IA (Information Architects – Japan)

“First, the paper magazine was crammed into the little iPad frame. In form of a PNG slide show. To compensate for the lack of interactive logic, this pretty package was provided with a fruity navigation. In the end it was spiced with in-app links, plucked with a couple of movies and salted with audio files (”interactive”). Then it was off to marketing. And it sold 24,000 copies. Dammit. It’s the Nineties all over again.”

_______

Includes ex to show the difference between InDesign and iPad.

Thoughts on Flash by Steve Jobs

“Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.”

“Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen.”

_______

HTML5 and the future of the web

“Every new Apple mobile device and every new Mac — along with the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser — supports web standards including HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.”

_______

This is a must read — and I am genuinely interested in reading your reactions about this: is the future web without Flash? — please share in the comments.

In April 2010, DesignCollector celebrated 7 years of online existence and to underline this event, they held a Wallpaper art contest which resulted in receiving some pretty nifty samples ready to download for your screen, iPhone and iPad.

Showing a couple favs: a) by David Delin b) by Stefan Lucut

LOVE your neighbors! This is exactly what two Dutch painters have undertaken and done. What do you think of Favela Painting in the heart of Rio de Janeiro? Really – really – really beautiful visually. Wow what color and design (passion and heart) can do to the most dire of places.

Something I wish could be emulated the world around.

Trained in graphic design and arts, Carine Brancowitz lives in Paris. I am just in awe of her incredible capabilities and particularly fond of the limited colors she uses (Blue, White and Red – inconsciously putting forward France flag colors?) in all her illustrations. Her drawing skills and sense of perspective are near perfect.

From top to bottom, her portfolio is full of stunning work!

Canvas Group opening index allows for shiny white 3D objects on a starck black background to capture your attention instantly. Why so? Unusual. When something is evaluated as well executed – you tend to want to know more. Makes you curious. So advice to those building their online presence – do keep this in mind. It doesn’t take a 1k layers feat – but something standing out and memorable.

Another interesting aspect – on mouseover – each object acts as section / expertise highlighter. Too bad the metaphor was not carried over throughout the site – would have increased understanding of the second level navigation.

Like that you can zoom in and out of project and the People & Culture area is a must see: kidz pix and personal objects populate the space allocated to introducing each member of the team.

Overall? Simplicity expanded!

Collaborative Consumption video by Rachel Botsman

“We are at the start of the "Big Shift" away from the 20th century defined by hyper-consumption towards the 21st century, an age of Collaborative Consumption. But just how LARGE and FAR-REACHING is this groundswell?”

Excellent topic and data visualization project.

Just luv the work of Juan Molinet and particularly, this illustration he did for Board Magazine for PepperMelon.

_______

And this one, named Tragic Kingdom!

Loverstown is Jonathan Calugi is an illustrator based in Italy and it is from his self-proclaimed chaotic workspace, that he creates his clean illustration and pattern works. Illustrator per se, he dabs into font design, merch and anything between juggling and embracing many many different type of projects.

Luscious and useful? Check out the Mint Hard that is a hard disk drive that looks like an ice cream bar! Genial! They’ve come up with over 90 concepts so far. Browse their selection and be awed.

The new Creative & Live website is astonishingly beautiful and highly functional yet retaining a very minimalist grid and white interface with black fonts and accents. They cover photography, design, advertising and illustration.

Hats off!

The London Design Festival is a nine-day celebration of design in the world’s creative capital. The Festival is a platform for the widest spectrum of design disciplines, brought together as a unique and accessible programme.

Over 200 events (most free!)

Upcoming: September 18-26

What exactly is (Digital) Circlism? This is a modern artistic expression, a mix between Pop Art and Pointillism. It is made with digital tools (this is just a personal definition) and Aäsheesh Kumar is developing this new style of illustration.

Check the Pointillist Self Portrait, only small and big colored dots painted each one in CS4 with a sharp brush. It took roughly 2 evenings of work.

Amazing!

Itswhite is Matthew Whiteley hub on the web and ain’t shy of using colors. He is a very promising (not so much of a rookie anymore) designer that is up for grabs for a junior creative position in the Manchester and Leeds area.

Hear hear?

Adobe Unveils Digital Viewer Technology for Magazines

“Revolutionary WIRED reader application delivered through new Adobe digital publishing technologies. Adobe’s work with WIRED has resulted in a digital magazine format that creates an immersive experience, allowing a publication’s unique content, look and feel and advertising to stand out in the digital realm.”

_______

So finally Apple and Adobe will dance together! Nothing beats a healthy does of competition to stir things up – in the right direction.

View as well: Introducing WIRED for iPad to see why the future of publishing has arrived! Wowie!

_______

via: Stella Gassaway

No Mint releases the 3rd and final installment of The Greek Crisis Explained. If you missed previous episodes, here they are: /1 + /2.

Hiroshi Endo is most at ease in 2D/3D worlds as an animator and designer. View excerpts of his work. Just click out to go back to main page.

Wow! That is a blinding bright color – very seldom used as interface dominant hue, one that you can’t miss the impact of. Itsallabouttheprocess is the portfolio of Jimmy Soat.

We Shall See is home to multi-skills talented illustrator/designer and sometimes even photographer of Chris Gray based in Manchester. He is currently available for freelance assignments across the UK. Gotta luv the vast array of excellent projects he delivered.