Design news | Feb 08
Breaking news! I Met The Walrus is part of the shortlist at the 2008 AWN Oscar Showcase! Oh my gosh - congrats to team - which one, happens to be working in the same studio as a friend of mine!
Way to go Playairways!
Netdiver Best of the Year (BOTY) are more than a yearly retrospective - or a trendy compendium. We share the same space as TIME Best of the Year (via Google) and for an online sub-culture design magazine, we think that's pretty awesome.
Review our 100 best of the best! These folks whatever their disciplines create memorable and dazzling projects, taking us to uncharted territories where imagination, skill, talent abide - inciting us to keep pushing forward.
Another website using mega sized titles with a simple mouseover for navigation. About Kai Isselhorst? Well he is 20 year old rooted in graffiti (when he was 10 year old!?!?) and when you look at his work (reminescent of the 45 degree angles trend of some years ago and then some, the richness of the textured layers are incredible) ... this is when we all switch to warp speed to catch-up with him.
My gosh - imagine the career he will build. Oh, did I mention he is available for commissioned work!
Brilliant work by Albert Folch studio who's still hungry, still foolish! Perhaps like this Bomb poster simply mind blowing with realism. Most of the works in this portfolio website is for print and editorial design related with some stunning covers.
And there lots and lots of them.
The Design Green Project was able to raise over USD$10,000 for the StopGlobalWarming.org fund and plant over 8,100 trees! In addition, they shipped over 500 compact fluorescent light bulbs. All winners received an Apple iPod shuffle, a Roots Global Warming band, a USD$15 iTunes gift card, and a framed award.
Karen Lacroix, presently studying at the Royal College of Arts, and I share both the same hometown, Monteal, and a concern for the environment. She sent me this World Tipping map with imminent issues to ponder.
I really wonder if we will be able to avoid this?
Simplicity and quirky little scenes and characters illustration by Chris Haughton aka Vegetablefriedrice.
Kultnation relaunches a new website using diffused black and white screenshots to display the beautiful work of Vinny Morales. His portfolio contains absolutely gorgeous design and animations. Don't miss his MTV bumper!
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Back in 2006, Vinny landed the 2nd place in 1st Digital Art Competition with this piece.
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Luv his logo with inverted 'K' strong and simple..
Vanessa Dell work mainly centres around people and tries to capture the beautiful, ugly and funny aspects of everyday life and there is this caricactural quality with a bit of dysfunctional weirdness in her illustrations that are endearing.
Jan Weiss from Spyline makes a short coverage of Hyper Island which is a unique hypermedia school / education program in Europe.
They always have produced a string of outstanding graduates and the year-book available as a website is also a little jewel.
Discover talents!
YouWorkForThem is an online store ran by designers for designers. Check their collections of Brush - presently showing issue #15 designed by Maddy Nye.
Absolutely incredible. Just discovered the website of Ab Rogers whose work, without me knowing, already had made a huge impression upon me. Why is that? Because when I was in London this past November, I visited the Tate Modern and fell head over heels madly in love with the interior design... and clicked away, trying to be an artistic photographer in this majestic and inspiring setting. As you're reading - just discovered he is the one behind the recent redesign!
Simply was mesmerized by the black, white and red, the contrast, the angles and how the interiors just felt sleek and refined with a dash of intellectualism that was not, for once, self-indulgent.
BTW his studio is hiring - so if you've got the chops - go for it!
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Here are a few pictures I took, tokens offered as a poetic attempt to salute his masterpiece. If you're in London, the Tate Modern is a must see and I recommend having a light refeshment or lunch to take advantage of the views from the verandas.
Craig Atkinson is a UK based artist which portfolio is just a list of links to projects. With a in your face attitude and child like drawing lines, sometimes the illustrations can be pretty edgy.
Out of this world surreal paintings chuck full of contrasting colors can be found in the fine arts portfolio of Ricky Allman. Monuments imbedded in cubic like shapes and wonderful fiery mix of fluid curvy spots. Some would make for impactful editorial illustrations.
Definitely an emerging artist to watch for.
Tristan Louis and I date way-way back (like in the days of Mecklermedia before they bought the Internet.com domain) and was recently downsized after a recent job move. Now he's looking for opportunities in the New York City area that may fit and challenge his uber experience (executive roles in software development, program (or portfolio) management, and product management).
Check his resume to take in the scope of his accomplishments. If you can help do so, because you never know when you will need a little help from a friend.
Fifteen minutes of fame by DesignObserver
“It got us thinking: if graphic design's become so edgy as a profession that we're getting name-dropped in hit movies, maybe it's time to get serious about how we're really being portrayed. Herewith, our initial choices for some friends and likely suspects, appearing soon in Graphic Design: The Movie.”
Shown, Neville Brody played by Benicio del Toro. You will blown away by the matches and semblances.
Bionic Systems is a studio for media crossing design. Located in Düsseldorf, Germany, they are working for global players as well as boutique brands of wide-ranging sectors.
Outstanding projects throughout! Must see!
Give me wings to fly! LoviT is a new by designers merch and gallery website from Chile. Check them out.
Presenting the works of a graphic design collective Evening Tweed which is composed of Jez Burrows, Owen Gildersleeve, Sarah King and Tom Rowe. Posted are quite diversified works and interesting pieces.
Flickr Rebellion Brews at Specter of M$ Acquisition by Scott Gilbertson
“A small but vocal minority on Flickr are already staging online protests at the prospect of a Microsoft takeover. Flickr is one of several popular Web 2.0 websites owned by Yahoo that loyal users fear will suffer under Microsoft ownership.”
Read aslo: Microsoft's big Yahoo bid: Behind-the-scenes details by Todd Bishop
“Microsoft announced this morning that it's proposing to acquire longtime rival Yahoo for $31 a share, or $44.6 billion. It's a huge move that, if successful, promises to reshape the Internet industry, pitting Microsoft against Google in a head-to-head competition between two online giants.”
World Without Oil soon to be reality is not a blog nor a new reality show nor a new doomsday news.
“Can an alternate reality game be used to address a real world problem? Can a game bring people together to collaborate on a trial run of their common future? What motivates people to play a game such as WWO, which doesn't have points or prizes or winners per se? WWO tested out many game and social networking concepts.”
I don't own a car. Where I live there is little parking space available and daily, a curfew imposed for 2.5 hours in the afternoon during which no one can park on my street.. I travel by bus and subway - renting a car now and then for big errands and all dailies are just a fast healthy walking distance away.
Check the movie and play?
Keeping time! Furni creations slick retro industrial 50s meets Urbania clocks. Slick lines with round corners - they look sturdy enough and precious at the same time.
Shown: ALBA and ALBA "LittleGiant" currently sold.
Drop by the industrial section to view more related stuff!
You have gotta see this! The Alien Abduction Lamp concept model designed by Lasse Klein, who works as a design & user experience manager in one of the largest TV distributors in the Nordic scountries.
I want one!
Standing on the complete opposite tip in the specter of minamilist, FLAG is a graphic design studio established in 2002 by Bastien Aubry (*1974) and Dimitri Broquard (*1969) in Zurich, Switzerland.
The navigation is a pile of bubble-like white on black titles 'flagged' by section which show the year of completion. Luv it! Significance of establishing they've been around and are not rookies, and although both teach, they have kept this unconformist approach to presenting their work.
So you know, they work essentially for art and cultural projects such as catalogues, artists books, magazines and posters.
signal7 based in Germany is looking for a web developer.
Care to see what is the value of design? Mix-in a stunning interface design with the right amount of visual savviness, audience knowledge, high level interactions and a zest of hooplah to a good cause - as in this example - BoostUP that invites you to offer fledging high-school students a healthy dose of push towards completing their degree.
As listed - a swooping s6,894 encouragements sent so far! Wow!
Oh the curious craziness. Good things should never end is probably the longest scrolling flash site. Is it an interactive experiment? Don't know what to make of it..
One thing for sure - some folks spent a lot of time on this.
I tend towards minimalist as in delivering the goods - due to increasing information overload and short span attention of an audience. This is especially important for an agency portfolio - unless they can pull in a stunning concept - less is best.
Elastique is no doubt a talented studio and I like the grid overall - although I find it hard to understand that while using a liquid site they are cramming the visuals in such a small space.
I grant them a uniqueness factor of 10/10 - they have managed to stand out from the crowd.
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Errata: I really like this excerpt from one of their previous projects - Nike Art of Speed. Beautiful! Jan Weiss just informed me that the Nike Art of Speed was designed by Bionic Systems.
Louise Campbell heads a design studio that delivers furniture, lighting and environment and states their work “is based on three simple rules / always start from scratch / find the core of the issue / dare to be different.”
Different they are - some very original forms, structures and materials are used!
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Luv their ecclectic layout website which was designed by StudioMakgill who are using a pretty straightforward navigation to show their portfolio.
Blink-blink! Kashiwa Sato entry page is one of the most unusual to date. Bar codes animated leading portfolio pieces by selected designers which will display rubrik-like cubes showing the color palettes of a particular project. Wow, can't imagine how much time it took to build these.
So from the index, pick a palette that intrigues you and see what was designed! Strong contrasting colors ahead!
Keeping to the essentials, great photography is all about mastering lighting to generate unique ambiences. I think moko an upcoming photographer based in Toronto and Dubai, knows how to achieve so.
The Galaxy Bunch are out and ready for their mission. Most are a bit neurotic and weird looking all displaying serious behavorial attitudes. Created by Michael Kwong, a toy designer from Hong Kong.
More and more companies are making dips into the sub-culture by inviting artists to contribute their work in return for visibility. Latest such I came across is the Levi's Backpocket gallery whereas the pockets will be auctioned and money donated for fighting against AIDS. Although the cause is no doubt important, isn't this another branding strategy in disguise?
Shown in thumbnail, Source Creative contribution.
What do you make of that?
Image creator? More and more designers are using their own photography stock to generate astounding assemblages and messages! Meet VARIAL* a visual creative studio founded by Cédric Houin, assisted by graphic designer Romain Fumey.
Founded in 2004 and deep-rooted in marketing and communication, the studio is highly driven by a strong passion for beautiful images and brilliant concepts. They do advertising campaigns, visual communication, photography, illustration and matte painting.
Be ready to be amazed!
DOGO Diseño + Comunicación portfolio is a must see! Very nice work and professional execution. Particularly like some of their identity and packaging projects and illustrations.
From Buenos Aires with luv!
Lala aka Lalaladcaniis big into collages and illustrations and has decided to shed the flash site for a simple list of projects.
Well I guess when you are a multi-billionnaire it is rather easy to do world economy rethorics - and afford you a podium to make amends. As you will read, gotta admit there are a lot of statements (not necessarily ground-breaking) that I can't help but agree with.
Bill Gates: World Economic Forum 2008
“But I am an impatient optimist. The world is getting better, but it's not getting better fast enough, and it's not getting better for everyone.
As I see it, there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest, and caring for others.”
Teams in trees? Well it seems to be the approach Idreams has chosen for their new website. I got to admit it is a very clean interface design for a company that works across the interactive spectrum with the panning tree being just the right amount of metaphorical - to convey their vision.
“The concept behind it, is our 4D work method, which goes from dreaming (dromen in Dutch), thinking (denken), doing (doen) and continuing (doorgaan). In the end, we came up with a tree (hard to miss ;-) ) and its several stages of growth and blosseming as metaphore for our clients/accounts.
Dreaming only works when the end result is firmly rooted in solid know-how and expertise, hence the tree that reaches to the sky, but has its roots firmly established in the ground.” says Eric Steuten.
Pawel Fabjanski updated his web site with new photographs.
Giving back to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar! Pablo Gamba is the illustrator behind the Monoblock notebooks we reviewed recently. His work belongs to the imaginary land of characters that children are drawn to.
From Argentina with luv!
Proud Creative is a multidisciplinary design studio who have got themselves a really nice website that is so easy to navigate through to sample their excellent projects.
Shift has done an interview with Cristian Turdera who “has created a dream world for us. When I entered his place, I found myself in the middle of one of those children’s books, the ones you won’t let go, those books that will remain forever inside your deepest thoughts and fantasies.”
Illustrator extraordinaire drawing yummy characters!
Pseudo Pseudo just launched its portfolio website showing some nice graphic design projects.
ico is a small, sociable and prolific design team with a successful 12-year history. In their central London studio they create brands and produce print and digital media pieces for clients from the arts, property, leisure, interior design and museum sector.
A well rounded graphic design portfolio for Damien Correll. Some of his snow and skate board designs are quite original.
Kasian website isn’t the typical architectural showcase containing pictures of shiny buildings. Instead, it’s a story – a story that shows how they consider people above all else. A story that reveals how they think of each project by sketching life. It demonstrates how an inspired thought can lead to just about anything.
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Website was designed by xtra talented Burnkit who just relaunched a new and very cool website. Check out the projection surface!
Thinking for a Living is now available in print version. This small booklet is dedicated to the concept of open source design education.
La pomme croquée serait-elle brune?
“Le site Gizmodo.com constate un fait intéressant. Les produits récents d’Apple semblent tout droit inspirés de ceux de la marque des années 60, Braun.”
Can't pass up on this one! If you can't read French, I guess just looking at the images you will understand what is inferred: that Apple would have inspired itself from Braun?!?!?
Noroutine is an audiovisual project, where fantasy, cinematographic creativity, mastership of actors, stop-motion animation joins together to create an interesting spectacle...
It’s a website of a short length film, which represents an experimental genre in cinema. Unfortunately, trailer is not yet available.
Danka studio is looking for a full-time French speaking Flash Developer with AS 2/3 knowledge, they are located in Lyon, France. Submit on their web site.
Duebi Italia has put together a wonderful assemblage of photographs of their bathroom suite of furniture and accessories accompanied with panning and zoomed in details.
Laura Weider is a talented illustrator and graphic designer and she just published The White Black, beautiful solo piano tracks. It is wonderful to discover talent that adds a new dimensional layer to someone you already appreciate.
James Touhey invited me to answer some interesting questions and is now published on FAIRspot and I'd like to share these with you.
Always a challenge to be honest and true to self when doing an interview and dig in your experience to pass along relevancy, insights and your convictions without being a bore or worst, a self-infatuated ego boasting insipid blabla delivery automaton.
As you know, I am passionate about us, our Industry and rising our voices - hope you agree.
A study produced by the Design Council of the design process: Eleven lessons: managing design in eleven global brands.
“How do leading companies manage design in their businesses? Our in-depth study of the design processes used in eleven global brands gives real insights into the way design operates in these firms, and delivers usable lessons for all designers and managers.”
Available as .pdf to download.
Alex Dukal specializes in children illustrations and lives in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia Argentina. He studied at the National School of Fine Arts. Like his big bold characters and the finesse of his layouts.
The Big Flake is community based initiative where you can write down your wish, which will give life to a snowflake out of the letters and the goal is to have one big wishflake in some months.
It's never out of season to express what we long for!
From the snowed under Park City hills, a quick update on Sundance Festival. Sightings, Ben Kingsley, Robert Redford and Jimmy Hiu.
At midnight tonite I'm excited to see the movie U2 3D which is not only a concert film, it is a concert experience in digital 3-D which promises to leave us fumbling around for our jaws.
Look Ma, we're rocking the New Zealand billboard scene! Thanks to Rachel Cunliffe for snapping the picture! Over a year ago was contacted by an agency asking permission to use our URL for an upcoming campaign by Vodafone (who btw had created this outstanding Future Vision advertorial).
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Ain't that cool or what?
