March 2011
3 posts
Midterm Hiatus
No blogging this week. Again, not an earth shattering revelation, but I have to post it here so that if I stop studying to post pictures of cool olive oil bottles or whatever I usually ramble on about, you will all know it’s just me procrastinating, and I’ll be so ashamed I’ll have to force myself into further exile.
Then again group of people just walked by my study room in...
February 2011
38 posts
IFC's 50 Greatest Opening Title Sequences
In honor of the Oscars (which I can’t watch, midterms, ugh), here is a link to the Independent Film Channel’s 50 Greatest Opening Title Sequences of all time.
I was pleased to see Rocky Horror and Austin Powers (seriously) made the list, and of course took great joy in having an excuse to watch the first few minutes of The Graduate. Disappointing that Saul Bass’ amazing...
Quilling and Type
Falling in love with the paper made works of Yulia Brodskaya. After attempting something similar in last semester’s classes, I think I appreciate their intricacy even more. And who doesn’t love paper craft, anyway?
See more here.
Jelle Martens
Oh, beautiful minimalism! Images by Jelle Martens via Grain Edit.
Official Propaganda
Demian Conrad has come up with a truly great design strategy for the Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival (LUFF). Because the festival’s management has recently undergone some very public changes, Conrad worked with the concept of administration, specifically what that means within the context of underground festivals.
He eventually arrived at the solution of creating seven...
Art & Graft
Gorgeous stationery for this British animation and live action studio by the designers at Collective Approach. I could stare at that ampersand for days.
Via Lovely Stationery.
Simon Walker
Can’t get enough of Simon Walker’s type skills! See the original post at Grain Edit.
Watching You Watch Me
Swedish photographer Moa Karlberg captures strangers engaging with their own reflections, snapping anonymously behind two-way mirrors to achieve moody, voyeuristic compositons.
Bobby at The Fox is Black puts it perfectly: “When you look into a mirror you’re analyzing your own appearance in a fraction of a second, considering intimate details about yourself that no one else will likely...
Denise Nestor
For an art student, my pencil drawing skills are pretty subpar, and these gorgeous graphite illustrations from Denise Nestor aren’t soothing my inferiority complex.
Via BOOOOOOOM!
I'll grind your bones to make my bread!
Want to feel giant? Here’s a little something special for an iSight camera, built by Ryuji Nakamura. My brain is spinning with the possibilities!
Via swissmiss.
Back to the Future
Photographer Irina Werning has put together a really compelling series of images where participants recreate old images of themselves. The work is really witty, but at the same time, I’m in awe of the accuracy of her new compositions. It’s definitely worth taking a few minutes of your time to see the rest on her website.
Now I want to dig up some baby photos. Via ISO50.
Jonathan Saunders
A few gorgeous looks from the Fall 2011 collection of Jonathan Saunders via The Sartorialist. It’s still winter here and the looks are for next Fall, but I want it to be Spring now and I want to wrap myself in those lush colors and prints then.
FibreForm
A Swedish company, Billerud, has created a new recyclable and biodegradable packaging material that has flexibility which enables some pretty great package designs. Marks & Spencer has used the new material to create this fantastic packaging. Via The Dieline.
Forts!
The combination of the decidedly dreary weather and this post from Apartment Therapy makes me want to do nothing but gather every blanket and strand of twinkle lights I own and spend the rest of my days eating snacks and alternating between reading and taking naps.
Disassembly
I know it’s not necessarily a new concept (graphic designers have been taking items out of their bags, arranging them in grids, and telling us what they keep on their person for years now)- but Todd McLellan’s images of scrapped mechanical objects are gorgeous. Via Quipsologies.
Phenomé
Everything is beautiful about this line of Polish organic cosmetics- but I especially love the system of pictographs that represent how each product is to be used. Via Lovely Package.
Excuses, Excuses
I have not blogged for the last week. It’s not that I think all of you (which may or may not consist of around three people, including my mom) are sitting at home anxiously awaiting my next post, but I do feel I owe some explanation as to why my RSS feed built up to 748 new items and not one new post was submitted.
After getting very sick, falling behind on homework, watching my state and...
Caelum
Space wine: the greatest invention ever. Okay, that obviously doesn’t exist (yet) and consequently is not what is inside of these beautifully wrapped bottles, but the labels have me transfixed. The winery’s name comes from the constellation Caelum, and its owners are “passionate about the sky,” so the astronomy theme seems like a perfect choice.
(Via Lovely Package)
Remed
Amazing murals by Remed. I’m not used to seeing such crisp lines and minimalist style in street art; they definitely look like they’ve been informed by serigraphy.
Peter Orntoft
Infographics using photography by Danish designer Peter Orntoft. I’m absolutely blown away- such a seemingly simple concept but I’ve never seen it explored. Fantastic use of color and type, too!
See more here.
Do a Lot of Work
“The first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good — it’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people...
French Paper: Package Redesign
I’m already a loyal customer of French Paper Company, but their packaging redesign makes me want to order fresh ream even more than usual, if only for the wrapping. Via Lovely Package.
Feltron Annual Report
I know every designer in existence is losing their cool over this, but I couldn’t help myself- I had to post it. Nicholas Felton’s annual report is back and as magnificent as ever. Order it here.
Adalyn's Party Trick
Awesome print from drkennedyjones on Etsy. Via swissmiss.
The Infographic Machine
Amazing infographics on the Flickr of Andy Blekinsop.
(Via Quipsologies.)
Riikka Sormunen
I want to cover my walls with the work of this artist. She has an equally impressive commercial illustration portfolio on her website (here).
Anyone else getting Henry Darger vibes?
Lizzy's Lovely Little Dollhouse
Though I admire every house tour Apartment Therapy has to offer, it’s rare that I find one I personally connect with. But my jaw actually dropped when I saw this tour because I can’t believe that my dream home actually already exists.
Open and extremely well-lit, the structure itself somehow remains both earthy and urban, and the splashes of color throughout are quirky but in such...
La Mascarade
Images shot for Desastre Exquis Magazine Paris by Imke Klee and Antonios Mitsopoulos. Exactly the bit of imaginative cheer I needed to get me through this dreary, claustrophobic snow day.
I want to go to there.
(Via Hello!Lucky)
Treasury Table
After seeing this treasury table, I’m almost ashamed to say I thought that the Container Store was the pinnacle of great organization. It’s a shame this comes with a price tag of almost $3000, isn’t it?
Via Better Living Through Design.
Designers & Books
On a site designed by Pentagram (swoon), 50 designers talk about the reading that has been important in their lives- a total amounting to 678 books.
“From Vitruvius to William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright to Edith Wharton to Le Corbusier to Paul Rand—there has always been a particularly special and robust relationship between designers and books: reading them, writing them, designing...
F-Stop Watch
My books arts instructor and I were geeking out over Nikons per usual when he mentioned this watch that references the hours with aperture sizes and promptly sent me the link. Instant wishlist item!
$36 at Uncommon Goods. Via Jim Escalante.
Google Art Project
We live in the future: Google is now offering a service that takes internet users worldwide into museums, utilizing a format similar to the one used for street view. Especially awesome is the dropdown menu offering a direct view of each piece in the room. This is amazing, and I will definitely use it when deciding which museums to see abroad, but it just can’t compare to seeing a great piece...
Fifty and Fifty
“50 and 50 is a collective, curated project where fifty designers are invited to represent their state by illustrating its motto.”
See the gallery here. Not a lot are yet completed but the ones that are done are stunning. I can’t wait to see who they choose to design for Wisconsin.
Cooper Black as Cannibalism
Michael Beirut has an amazing essay over at Design Observer about working within the sometimes seemingly oppressive limits of modernism under Vignelli and how that impacted him as a graphic designer, for better or worse. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the positive and negative effects of working under such constraints, so his essay really reverberated with me (though most of them do-...
Color Theory
I thought I was meticulous. Then I saw this hand-sewn color wheel by Peter Crawley. See more of his work here.
