There were a few mentionable tidbits from the print world that I came in contact with this weekend.
I found this postcard among the free beer samples at the Amsterdam Brewery. This cute knife series (yes, they made knives cute) is promoting a culinary event where Toronto’s top chefs will be cooking several course meals in the name of charity. Really nice and simple design — and Amsterdam’s new Pomegranate beer wasn’t bad either….
Wired Magazine had a great article “The Inconvenient Truths About Global Warming”. I kind of want to make out with these double-truck type-driven layouts. I’m a sucker for large fonts on photographs. Great coloring and image pairing.
This last one doesn’t have to do with design, but I thought it was humorous. I came across graffiti artist, Banksy’s, new book while on a casual scout through the bookstore. This quote was on the back.
I have a huge weakness for single concept projects that involve many visions. I was just exposed to two great ones.
Christina Black sent me this link to a project from Jacob Trollback. He asked his designers to create a personal animated piece illustrating their last thoughts before sleeping. Six designers, six different styles + short narratives. I particularly like the first one by Tetsuro. It’s a mood piece where subliminal visuals show the fleeting thoughts that flash through your mind while you’re drifting off.
Another recent group project is “Exploring the Lost ‘Art’ of the Film Poster”. Firecracker Rudy Jaimes told me about this art exhibit celebrating 70 years of film. Forty designers were asked to create their own interpretation of a film poster from the past. A full-on illustrator remix of the classics. It’s interesting to see the different uses of typography and design. Of course the real challenge would have been to redesign the less-than-classic Leonard Part 6.
Greig Anderson emailed this photo our way to show what he was seeing at TEN:15. Poignant words from a bus station in Glasgow. The photo was cool, but his portfolio was even cooler.
He’s done a huge amount of work but I was most drawn to his self-initiated projects. Anderson is a conceptual designer and I found myself thinking “I wish I had thought of that” when looking through the projects. Simple, smart and really type-driven…SSRTD. Ok, that’s never going to catch on. Anyway, check out his work, it’s fun and I totally regret throwing out my spirograf.
I was perusing The Serif in my attempt at productive procrastination, where I’m technically not working but it’s easier to rationalize because I feel like I’m learning something. I came across this poster by plusminus.ca (designer Peter Crnokrak) and fell in love. It’s solid proof that beauty and political awareness are not mutually exclusive.
The poster, A_B_ Peace & Terror etc., first caught my eye because of the large type and crazy vector shape. But beyond the design, it’s based on geopolitical research showing the quantitative degree that each of the member states of the UN has contributed toward peace and terror in the world. It’s a dual sided poster, one side — the A side — shows the peace, the other side — the B side — shows the terror.
The rest of Crnokrak’s portfolio is worth looking at; I especially enjoyed reading his general about section, it provides even more perspective on his approach to design and the greater picture:
in today’s visually literate society, users can no longer be effectively engaged with vapid pretty images and banal messages. instead an appeal to the intellect must be made using image and text….when a person asks why, they are much more apt to investigate and interact with a design than when given the answer.
