≠ — Gets Formal

Post 35: All Done For Now

2008-05-06T01:36:00.002-05:00

Thanks for all the times Form Making. I'll always remember that beautiful, all too brief 4ish months. You were great.

Post 034: A Look at Rick Froberg

2008-04-27T14:10:00.003-05:00

Rick Froberg (his other site is here) was the leader of such seminal bands like Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, but his other talents lie in illustration, a tad bit of design and drawing. His work was featured on each of Hot Snake's three full lengths, as well as promotional material for Swami Records (started by band mate and RFTC leader John Reiss) and is now doing work on backgrounds for various cartoons. Peruse at your leisure.

Post 033: New York Times on Al Jaffee

2008-04-23T04:01:00.004-05:00

Seen via It's Nice That, this the New York Times nice and interesting feature on Al Jaffee, the famed artist who made experiential fold in work for countless issues of Mad magazine through the years. Often times, these were statements that deviated from the usual slapstick of Mad. They dealt with social and political issues, as topical as the recent Roger Clemens steroid dispute that recently went before congress.

Enjoy this, and hopefully let us linger on the idea of experiential graphic design.

Post 032: A Look at Tin&Ed

2008-04-20T15:45:00.002-05:00

In honor of our dear friend Colin, I am presenting the work of Australian design firm, Tin&Ed. Tin&Ed operate out of Melbourne and do work of varying types, often with a childlike and interesting illustrative look but with formal understanding of the Swiss edge. Fun stuff, all in all.

Hopefully by the fall we get to hear some of the personal and awesome stories that roll out from this studio from Mr. Trechtor.

Post 031: A Look at Marcel Dzama

2008-04-19T03:29:00.004-05:00

First Born, 2007 by Marcel Dzama

I saw Marcel Dzama's work from his solo exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery in New York City titled "Even the Ghost of the Past" via We Make Money Not Art's website.

Alas, today is the final day of his exhibition and I am not in the city to see these beautiful dioramas, which are surreal and alluring in their vague and almost disturbing visual appeal. Definitely some beautiful things to poke around and look at.

Post 30: REPOST–P-A-T-R-I-O-T

2008-04-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

Made for Dan Ibarra's Form-Making course at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, this piece employs the use of a destructive object to make a typographic statement. I opted to use my voice.

Audio created by Jenny Tondera and Abby Mullen.

Post 029: A Look at Ragnar Freyr

2008-03-17T13:27:00.002-05:00

Ragnar Freyr had been featured on Geotypografika a while back and I instantly fell in love with his work. An Icelandic designer who has work that speaks to simple visual communication but also to the Swiss aesthetic, it is not hard to fall in love with this work. He also founded createmake, a very nice and sweet blog that features graphic design, typography, illustration, photography, product design, architecture, film, fashion design, music and art. Take a peek around.

Post 028: A Look at Aesthetic Apparatus (A VIDEO FEATURE!)

2008-03-03T13:56:00.002-06:00

Found this gem of a vid via SwissMiss who found it via Coudal Partners. It features our beloved professor Dan Ibarra and his partner Michael Byzewski (you know, Aesthetic Apparatus) showing us their work w/ out screaming at us in the face as sometimes they have been known to do.

Post 027: A Look at Hokusai: An Animated Sketchbook

2008-02-24T15:34:00.001-06:00

Saw this via Clusta blog. So beautiful.

Post 026: A Look at Jeff Canham

2008-02-19T12:00:00.004-06:00

Jeff Canham is of the old ilk. He hand paints signs in San Francisco, and also finds time to do some stellar illustrations and designs. Beautiful stuff. Watch the vid.

Post 025: A Look at Al Burian

2008-02-18T13:41:00.002-06:00

I have been a fan of Al Burian's writing and music work for quite sometime. I mean, who can dislike Milemarker, really? It appears he now has a blog set up to showcase some of his interesting painting skills. He did, after all, major in art while in college. Pretty awesome.

Post 024: A Look at Making Known

2008-02-16T13:12:00.002-06:00

This work should look familiar to all of us at MCAD. Making Known is Ryan G. Nelson and his work was seen all around our fair school for many years. He has now moved on to the Walker and his work is still very pleasant. The real excitement comes from how stunning his website is now. How fresh!

Post 023: Music Video Archive: The Promis Ring–"Why Did Ever We Meet?"

2008-02-14T13:24:00.004-06:00

Late 90's videos are always funny. The Promise Ring completely slayed on all fronts. This video is hilarious, both for how (weirdly enough) it is so dated but also because bands that had no budgets or, often, no real rotation on MTV made these beautiful, naive clips that were more genuine and honest than Puff Daddy vids.

Post 022: A Look at Begin Began Begun

2008-02-13T17:59:00.003-06:00

Begin Began Begun is a one man studio based out of Berlin, Germany. The work, as stated by Mari J. Hovden, "are collaborations with other freelance designers, illustrators, photographers and writers."

Take a peek around.

Post 021: A Look at the Intro for Lakai's Fully Flared

2008-02-10T18:06:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Someone took this off youtube. Now you'll find a direct link to the Lifelounge page that features the video.

I—not so secretly—would love to be a skate boarder. This is the most beautiful and astounding skate vid intro I've ever seen and reaffirms my wanton desires to ollie.

Too bad I always sucked at it. Found this on AJ Warnick's blog via Lifelounge. Their link did not work so enjoy the youtubeiness.

Post 020: A Look at Risto Kalmre

2008-02-07T17:14:00.001-06:00

Risto Kalmre is a graphic designer who studied in Amsterdam (we can all be jealous) and is now working in Tallinn Estonia. The work is simple, elegant, but thoughtful and sometimes very tongue in cheek. Modernism doesn't need to be boring-ism. Am I rite!?

Post 019: A Look at Guilaume Grall

2008-02-06T11:11:00.000-06:00

This isn't the first time I've written about the mastery of Guilaume Grall. A brilliant graphic/type designer based out of France who has a quirked out and beautiful outlook on design as a whole. His work exudes fun, as seen above. He's also so good the Walker has used his type face. Big time, no?

Post 018: Finalized Shanty Designs

2008-02-05T18:36:00.000-06:00

Pretty pleased.

Post 018: Working in Progress

2008-02-04T15:37:00.000-06:00

Current iteration of Art Shanty Project poster.

Post 017: A Look at Gary Taxali

2008-02-02T19:08:00.000-06:00

Gary Taxali is an Indian born but Canadian bread illustrator who's work is extensive, breath taking and culturally poignant. The throwback appeal mixed with current issues is a sweet juxtaposition. There is infinite talent from page to page of his website. Worth everyone's time.

Post 016: Film Poster Archive

2008-02-02T01:55:00.001-06:00

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 1—Polish poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey
Fig. 2—Polish poster for Playtime
Fig. 3—US theatrical Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back poster.
Fig. 4—US theatrical The Savages poster created by Chris Ware
Fig. 5—US teaser poster for Thumbsucker.

Post 015: A Look at Play With Type

2008-02-01T08:53:00.001-06:00

Play With Type is a blog detailing an ongoing project by Chelsea College of Art and Design student Jack Featherstone. I suggest watching the stop motion videos and digging into the archives of this project to see where the ideation has come from and where it is going. Exciting stuff.

Post 014: A Look at Helping Hounds of Hell

2008-01-30T11:04:00.000-06:00

The Helping Hounds of Hell is a charity exhibition of skateboards created by 30 varying international artists/designers. Twilite Skateboards sponsored this event, in which all the skateboards are up for sale in Germany. Some of the designers include Alex Diamond, Boris Hopeck and HORT, among many others. Proceeds got to the Sage Hospital in West Africa. The boards are absolutely amazing and beautiful pieces. If you find yourself in Berlin or Hamburg this year looks this exhibition up.

We can dream, right?

Post 013: A Look at NothingDiluted

2008-01-29T10:47:00.000-06:00

NothingDiluted is a graphic design firm based out of the UK. The work is very pleasing, but I also really enjoy the "Nothing Manifesto" posted on their site.

It Reads:

"Years back I watched a man place a sign in a window, hand written on cardboard it read, soft and juicy 6 for a quid. People seen it and acted, brown paper bag after brown paper bag a mountain of peaches was finally levelled. Contented he removed the sign and shut up shop. Soon after I realised something very important if you've got a message, stick it in the window. The work that follows is a natural extension of this window as it occupies a place in the public forum. Whether the result of direct instruction or latent thought it exists to be comprehended, considered and responded to.

Like all good messages it employs engagement so as you pass by remember, soft and juicy 6 for a quid, cant be bad to that."

–

Couldn't have said it better.

Post 012: Currency Schmurency

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000-06:00

3D translation of 2D spread from last class period. Not the greatest results, but alas, that's what experimentation is all about.

Post 011: A Look at Mass Hysteria

2008-01-28T13:37:00.001-06:00

This animation had been sent to me last semester by way of the missed Trevor Burks while I was struggling to understand what I could see as a positive in motion graphics. A dynamic and interesting graphic play purely based on form and movement, it's a terrific little animation. Can you believe it was created in 1985? So good.

Post 010: A Look at The Graphic Aware

2008-01-24T22:35:00.000-06:00

Don't let the long photo intimidate you. You need to look at The Graphic Aware's work. Just the right stuff and very right now.

Post 009: My Dimes

2008-01-23T14:32:00.001-06:00

Part of the first form making exercise for class. This along with the bible image I put up earlier and a few other experiments on the photocopier are my first forays into this disarmingly weird/complex idea of form making.

Post 008: A Look at GRRR

2008-01-23T00:19:00.001-06:00

GRRR is an art collaborative of multi-disciplinary activities ranging from the practice of painting to design to street art. The work is often ironic and snarky. There is not a lot to view on their website, but what is there opens up the idea of the collaboration and the extension of communication being no longer a segregated practice between art and design. GRRR is prevalent in its deft ability to make both the fine, the social and the design work harmoniously in their works.

Especially with the way creative professions are going, and especially being presented with the cultural push away from the west and to the a grander global context, the work that GRRR accomplishes is a transparent understanding of moving towards colaboration as means of stimulus, but also as a means of survival. The way the world is moving, we are definitely faced with the choices of collaborate or struggle. Certainly some interesting work.

Post 007: A Look at In The Habit

2008-01-22T16:01:00.000-06:00

In The Habit is a New York based graphic design studio that produces some amazing typographic work. Definitely worth a looksie.

Post 006: Velo Tribute—Bikes Are Beautiful

2008-01-19T16:20:00.000-06:00

I originally saw this site on Kevin Wade Shaw's blog. The beauty of these bikes and attention to the era detail is enough to make anyone who's ever hopped on two wheels swoon like a prom-date. Definitely amazing stuff.

—

Hope the weekend is bringing you a wealth of ideas and work.

Post 005: The Holy Bible: JUST DO IT!

2008-01-17T14:13:00.000-06:00

First go at the current assignment of text/symbol. Might need to work on the artifacting happening on there. I thought bitmaps cut that shit out? Oh vell!

Post 004: REPOST! A Look at LogoCities.org

2008-01-17T12:53:00.000-06:00

LogoCities.org is a growing database of found type/signage from cities around the world. Erik Brandt sent this to his students (current blogger included) for his Special Topics: The Global Context course being taught this semester. This falls in line with our semester long project based on a brief from the Teaching Designers Network. More on that to come. From the Logo Cities site:

"Logo Cities is an ongoing research/creation project addressing signage, branding and lettering in public space, with a particular focus on the city of Montréal. Logo Cities is directed by Dr. Matt Soar, Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University, and is made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. With considerable assistance from grad students Cecilia Chen, Grant Collins, AnneMarie Ennis, Lisa Gasior, and Michael Lithgow, plus my trusty research assistant Frances Millerd."

Inspiring stuff. I'm definitely interested in what we get accomplished in this course.

Post 003: Steak Mtn. Has New Blogs

2008-01-16T13:41:00.000-06:00

Steak Mtn., the perennial go to for quirk-horror illustration and design has two new blogs floating in the bloodstream of the internet. First there is the Stomach! which, if you were previously a fan of his (real name Christopher J. Norris) work, you know this to be the home of items he has been working on and now has some updates about his life/friends/movie interests. Then there is The Liquorice, a place where he posts up oddities and horrors from the net that are truly awesome. Both should be bookmarked now and digested for sometime to come. Amazing stuff.

Post 002: A Look at Brad Harris Photography

2008-01-15T16:38:00.000-06:00

Brad Harris creates soft moments out of Americana that is very beautiful. Check out the site also for the finest example of how to use flash effectively as opposed to just being the VD of the internet. There's a good amount to sift through in his work. There seems to be a large paradox between the communication of self and communication of environment, often with both being separated from photo to photo. The Memphis and Out West series resonate most with me because of the obvious connotations to rurality of Wyoming and how I view it. Harris has accomplished the feel and look and, to a larger extent, the emotion of how it is to live in the west. Definitely worth a look and an analytical thought on America.

POST 001: A Look at Julien Notter & Sébastien Vigne

2008-01-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

Large size poster for H.P. Lovecraft designed by Julien Notter & Sébastien Vigne

The first time I came across the work of Julien Notter and Sébastien Vigne was while on the net perusing the Clusta blog. When looking at the earlier points of their portfolio you get the sense that these two work in a stripped down minimalist fashion with a heightened awareness for modernist type usage. These examples I found intriguing, but not the most inspiring. While annual reports usually set me a-tizzy, this work seemed like refined old fare. I then went further down their drop down menu and unearthed this gem of a poster. Now, forgiving their use of the hands-showing-standing-behind-the-poster-'cause-that's-so-cool method of showing us the poster, it really is quite amazing. The image is legible, but makes you work for it a bit. The subject matter is correct in correspondence to the imagery display bed Notter and Vigne. I just was really struck with this poster in its effective communication, forgetting I speak half-assed French, which I only learned during the awkward times of Junior High. Their portfolio continues on with simple designs, but also smart communicative skills. This flyer is intriguing and, given more time with a hardy French master, I imagine it is also very informative based on just the use of layout and imagery.

Now, granted, this is what would be in the dictionary if you looked up "High Modernism", but it's done effectively and well. I feel like to correctly do this type of design you have to really really really not fuck it up beyond belief. Because elements are stripped down so much in high modernism there are more factors to weigh in how to use and what to use for those elements. Notter and Vigne accomplish the seamless tone of the modernist movement while maintaining a level of fun as well as accomplished design. I appreciate and enjoy their work.

I only did this post because I figured you had heard of Mike Perry. SIKE!