Interesting packaging

42 below vodka bag

Neue created this design, for 42 below vodka out of three 42 below vodka water billboards. This is a innovative way of recycling and creating a limited edition bag that everyone wants.

Image from http://www.neue.com.au/42below-vodka-bag-design/

The next two packages are from a website called the dieline, it showcases packaging awards, designs from the industry and from students, with the ability to leave comments on what you think and how the package could be improved.

Earphones

Image from https://awayproxy.appspot.com/www.thedieline.com/blog/2010/03/earbudeez.html

This is a series of packages for earBudeez, each package is for a different coloured earphone and has a different face, which portrays the kind of person who would buy that colour. They are interesting and create a point of difference I would pick these up in a shop, especially when they are sitting beside lots of boring black earphones and packaging.

Chocolate

Image from http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/02/packaging-experiment-choco.html

This is a experimental concept based around making the product itself into the information, clearly there would be problems with making the chocolate into the shapes and the chocolate moving in the package so that you couldn't read what it said. I think that it interesting and could be developed further, to crate a compromise, use a full cylindrical shape of chocolate and etching in the lines, deep enough to read and they could be the places where it would break as well.

Sources:

Neue. (June 5, 2009). 42Below vodka bag design. Retrieved on May 23, 2010 from http://www.neue.com.au/42below-vodka-bag-design/

The dieline. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 23, 2010 from http://www.thedieline.com/

Animation

In an earlier post I mentioned a blog post from Vidget (I have tried to go on their website today and it's under construction, can't see the blog anymore) about the beginning sequence of Catch me if you can. I like the use of typography and solid colours in the style of Saul Bass.

Video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLDyrun_Cc

The blog suggested looking at this site, they do animation, this one I really like, it is a movie musical about a white woman who becomes black, the title sequence is swan lake ballet animated using paper, it is made by Add a dog, Kuntzel and Deygas. The website design is creative yet easy to use and goes with the name of the company, the animation is very playful and elegant and gives the impression of swan lake and ballet.

Sources:

Portfolio: Agatha Clery. (December 2008). Retrieved on May 28, 2010 from http://www.addadog.com/v3/fiche.php?id=195&categorie=&reference=&motcle=

Speilberg, S. (producer). Speilberg, S. (director). (2002). (motion picture). United States: DreamWorks

Vidget inspire. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.viget.com/inspire/

Photographer, artist, graphic designer

Computer arts is a great magazine, I love the fact that they show us a interesting and complicated design, but they also give the steps of how to do it yourself. They give you one example of a technique but the reader can apply it to any of their own work too.

Image from computer arts 62, 64, 65, 66

This is the final solution, the brief was to design a piece, with the theme of body art, that was photo based. For me it's really interesting to look at this article to see the process, the final result is amazing, but when I look at the development I think "I could actually do this".

Image from computer arts 62, 64, 65, 66

First the artist Gustavo Lopez Manas, takes photos, then on tracing paper experiments with different lines and direction, using the photo underneath as a template to get the right shape. He then scans the tracing paper drawings into photoshop and starts using layer masks to create the final look, making the original photo fade away into his drawing.

Images from http://blog.monzuki.com/2009/12/calculated-art-of-beauty.html

What I really like is that his work gives me possibilities, things to think about and ideas. I also like the fact that the work is a cross between photography, art and graphic design. Everything is a mix, a collaboration, no one could design anything truly interesting and thought provoking if they never explored, never influenced by other designers, never saw the city where they lived, visited the museum or looked out the window.

Sources:

Gustavo Lopez Manas. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://www.glm-studio.com/

Monzuki. (December 22, 2009). Calculated art of beauty. Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://blog.monzuki.com/2009/12/calculated-art-of-beauty.html

Lopez Manas, Gustavo. (July 2008). Inspiration workshop. Computer arts. 62, 64, 65, 66

Illustrating a room

This is a video of a couple of illustrators, the bearded ladies from Brazil. I find their work quite amazing, I like the style, the collage quality to it, but what I really like is the scale of the work, they have drawn on the ceiling and walls, it will have taken days. I like the overall effect and as a designer sitting in that room it would inspire me all the time. Each section of wall tells a little story.

Live at MiCasa | Days 01, 02, 03 & 04 from Mulheres Barbadas on Vime

There are also other objects done in the same style. A black car with white roof that has illustrations on them, a paper wallet, a series of fridges, sunglasses, chairs, the design for the front of a vending machine and a shoe box for Nike. They must go through hundreds of permanent makers, especially when experimenting too see which one works best on a new or different surface than they have used before, like the car and the fridge.

Image form from http://www.mulheresbarbadas.com/

Mulheres Barbadas na Casa do Lado from Mulheres Barbadas on Vimeo.

I first found these illustrators on a blog about up and coming illustrators.

Sources:

Meek, Larissa. (April 8, 2008) Illustration inspiration: 20 artists who are making waves. Retrieved on May 29, 2010 http://www.larissameek.com/2008/04/08/illustration-inspiration-20-artists-who-are-making-waves/

Mulheres barbadas. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 28, 2010 from http://www.mulheresbarbadas.com/

Architecture and design-Does everything need to look new?

I've been looking at design a lot lately, not just graphic design and what I've noticed is that it is all very pretty even the stuff that is trying to be edgy has some thing that makes me think there's something beautiful in it. Maybe it's just that I try and find something beautiful or interesting in everything, but it also makes me wonder if it's going to look good in a couple of years. There are many things that I look at and think, "wow, that's so 90s". Usually that's not a good thing.

Then again there is a lot of architecture at the moment that looks like it i could have been designed by Mies Van Der Rohe or Frank Lloyd Wright, In the photographs there a couple of things I notice. The colours are brighter now than they were in the 1940s and in Meis Van Der Rohe's case his design is very industrial, using glass and steel. In Frank Lloyd Wright's designs there are more natural materials like stone used with the boxy style of Van Der Rohe. The use of box shapes like in Wright's and Van Der Rohe's work is taken further by putting more boxes together, so the houses looks kind of like a toy blocks.

Mies Van Der Rohe's The Farnsworth House image from http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/farnsworth.html

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, image from http://www.franklloydwright.org/fllwf_web_091104/Home.html

In architecture at the moment, like in Van Der Rohe's work there is a lot of playing with different materials and textures, juxtaposing modern with traditional to create something new and unique. The same can be said for all other forms of design. Technology is developing so fast that the designer either has to be up with the newest of everything or start going back to their roots, where design started.

Images by Eric Sierins Monument. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61

Sources:

Drew, Philip. (February/March 2009). House of calm. Monument. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61
Frank Lloyd Wright's taliesin west. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.franklloydwright.org/fllwf_web_091104/Home.html
The farnsworth house. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/farnsworth.html

Websites-showcasing creativeness

From a person who doesn't know anything about web design I find it very frustrating when I find a website that I want to look at, but it is so hard to use that I give up before actually seeing it. This website is a prime example it is a photography portfolio by Sean Kennedy Santos, I wanted to look at his work after looking at an online magazine encore which was a Best of 2004 to 2008 had profiles of illustrators artists and photographers.

Screenshot of http://www.sksantos.net/2008/

As people who work visually this is something everyone should think about, especially when putting your portfolio online, people are impatient, if they are looking though lots of portfolios and one is harder to use then they will probably skip over it. We should also consider the layout and what size the images are, I often don't bother looking through the artist entire body of work if the page has to reload every time I click next.

Now it is embarrassing to admit that after reloading the page it is working better, however I still think that the most important information you should be able to see all of the time, no doubt it is a nice looking site and portrays the photography well but if I hadn't been writing this while looking at the site I would have given up and never seen any of his photos.

Image from http://www.magwerk.com/mag.php?magazine=encore&language=en

This is a spread from encore featuring Sean Kennedy Santos the caption reads "Truth be told a dancer does feel gritty… often grueling… and I'd even describe it as a dirty job. Your work, your art is being put out there every single day in how you walk down the street, how you carry yourself, how you move.When your body is both your instrument for creating and you final presentation performance, there's a lot to consider everyday. How do you take care of yourself, challenge yourself, look at your self (and also not look at yourself too much!)." I think to some extent this applies to graphic designers too, although we are have a client the work is still very personal and everyone is judged by the way they walk, the way they talk what they design looks like and the way it is presented.For me this one spread shows so much more about the photographer than what his whole website gave me.

A website is there to give the audience information, at a certain point the creative side of us has to step aside and know that our work speaks for itself.

Sources:

Best of encore 2004-2008. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.magwerk.com/mag.php?magazine=encore&language=en

Magwerk. (2007). Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.magwerk.com/

Sean Kennedy Santos. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.sksantos.net/2008/

Blogs and illustration

This post was going to be about illustration, however I started researching and found some really helpful, inspiring blogs from illustrator and designers, here's a few that I think you should look at. This blog was about illustration inspiration, I found all of the the things in this post originally from here.

Jim Bradshaw

Images from http://jimbradshawillustration.blogspot.com/

What I like about looking about looking at a blog compared to a portfolio, is that we can look at more of the work, lots of doodles, experimentation personal and professional work as well as their thoughts about their on work. I like the style of illustration, the mix of hand collage and vector. I also like Jim Bradshaw's wrote that "the computer is merely a tool and our minds must stay active in the creative process from start to finish. I don't think humans are in danger of being replaced anywhere in the near future." (Jim Bradshaw illustration. (November 4, 2009). http://jimbradshawillustration.blogspot.com/2009/11/robot-ideas.html) I agree with this, I think that there are many ideas that we come up with and the computer is our way of bringing them to life. There's is no way, I would be able to draw some of the ideas so that anyone but me would know what it is.

Viget inspire

This blog is written by a group of designers who are web consultants. There is a lot of jargon in this blog, since it is about web, however I did find some things that apply to any designer or design student. Some good advice I found was make an online portfolio, get inspiration from things you see everyday, this post looked at the starting sequence of "Catch Me If You Can" then used ideas from there in her own work and how designer get innovative, needing other designers and opinions to inspire and improve their own work and process work showing how they designed their own character for vigepops the companies holiday treat.

Images from http://www.viget.com/inspire/vigepops-making-them-look-as-good-as-they-taste/

Sources:

Jim Bradshaw illustration (n.d.). Retrieved on May 29, 2010 http://jimbradshawillustration.blogspot.com/

Jim Bradshaw illustration. (2007) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://jbradshaw.net/index.html

Meek, Larissa. (April 8, 2008) Illustration inspiration: 20 artists who are making waves. Retrieved on May 29, 2010 http://www.larissameek.com/2008/04/08/illustration-inspiration-20-artists-who-are-making-waves/

Vidget inspire. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.viget.com/inspire/