Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
I have been following Nicholas Felton for a few years now. His unique ability to organize information, nevermind catalogue it, often leaves me speechless. I’ve purchased one of his Annual Reports before, but his newest report is something else entirely. Already sold out (in advance of printing of course) this Annual Report is printed on French Durotone paper and letterpressed by Swayspace (Brooklyn, NYC). The report was limited to 2000 copies, but have no fear, you can sign up to be notified when this item is back in stock.
Tags: Feltron, letterpress, Nicholas Felton, Swayspace
Posted in Design, Packaging, Typography | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Tags: Big Bird
Posted in Design, Inspiration | No Comments »
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
Most designers need to sketch. Whether it’s just scribbles to organize random thoughts on a post-it, or elaborate drawings in a sketchbook, it becomes an essential part of you as a creative person. If you’re like me and can’t leave the house without your sketchbook, then The Sketchbook Project may peak your interest. They describe the project as “A concert tour, but with sketchbooks”. I describe it as “Awesome”. All you need to do to be included in the tour is purchase a sketchbook for $20 from here, choose a (loose) theme, and sketch away until January 15, 2011 when all of the books must be returned to the Library. In March, the tour will take the thousands of sketchbooks that they receive on an Art Gallery tour. You will receive email/text updates when someone takes out your book, so that at any point in the tour you will know where it is and who is reading it. You also have an option to get your book digitized for the Brooklyn Art Library website. Sign me up!
Posted in Design, Illustration, Inspiration, books | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
While perusing the aisle at the local liquor store this past weekend I stopped dead in my tracks at this excellently packaged Dark Rum. This bottle literally had my name all over it. I am a Dark Rum drinker and a fan/collector of unique glass bottles and jars. The label uses a pen and ink style illustration and a varied type palette prominently featuring Neutraface, which combine to form an elegant tongue-in-cheek design. In a rare instance of getting completely sold by a product’s packaging, I marched immediately to the till, pulled out my plastic gold and sealed the fate of my night to come. Suffice to say, I was not disappointed. Upon further research I now realize this particular brand of rum has a highly imaginative story, featured on it’s one-of-a-kind website. Full of motion graphics and witty dialogue you have to see it to appreciate it. Furthermore, it has been featured on Lovely Package and is but one of many bottle and label designs from a company called Stranger & Stranger. Now, if this studio doesn’t have one of the greatest client bases I could ever imagine, then call me Kraken.
Tags: dark rum, stranger & stranger, the kraken
Posted in Design, Illustration, Packaging, Web | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Angela and I signed up for Martha Street’s DIY Show Posters class. It was a “crash course in screen printing” that was 10 hours long spread out over a weekend. This was my first time going to Martha Street, and I’m very disappointed I didn’t know about them a couple of years ago when I was in school - I would have had the coolest posters in town! I spent the first day of the class sketching and inking an image that I wanted to print, and day 2 was spent printing and trying out different techniques. I have to say, I have a lot of respect for screen printing artists - there is a lot of work that goes into a print and I don’t think you can truly appreciate it until you attempt it yourself. That being said, it was also a lot of fun! I definitely want to go back to try out a few other posters.
If you missed this spring’s sign up, don’t fret! They offer fall classes as well. I think my next attempt will be letterpress…
Posted in After Hours, Design, Illustration, Inspiration | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
“Colour is infinite, you can always split the difference between 2 colours.” And with that statement Pantone throws 566 new colours into the mix with their new Pantone Plus Matching System. If only we had Pantone’s 28 spot colour press at our disposal, and if only our clients had the budget to print 28 spot colours. Until then, we’ll have to settle for more modest 2 or 3 spot colour jobs or hope that printers can match these wonderful new hues via CMYK processes, but I won’t hold my breath. My favourite line from a print rep: “Ooooooh, gee, i don’t know… hmm, orange (or purple, or black, or ‘insert colour here’) is a really difficult colour to match.”. I’m of the opinion that more colour=more awesome but printers may not agree.
Tags: Design, graphic design, Inspiration, Print
Posted in Design | No Comments »
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Love these simplified vintage-inspired posters from Milk for Match Cup Sweden. From what I can tell, it is a sailing event held in Sweden… obvious? Maybe. But Sweden to English translators aren’t very helpful.
Posted in Advertising, Design, Illustration, Inspiration | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
With the recent release of Adobe Creative Suite 5, I’m sure there are many designers who may be sharing Tyler’s sentiment. (Just to clarify for those of you who are new to our blog, or unfamiliar with our sense of humour, when we’re not being sarcastic we’re seriously exaggerating the truth.)
Tags: Design, quotes, Typography
Posted in Design, Technology, Typography | No Comments »
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Remember this post? I’ve found a cheaper alternative - All Posters. While they’re not the original, they are a more practical and affordable solution for those of us who can’t afford the real thing. Here are a few of my favourites; Firenze, Blumenfest, Parfums Djemil, Anisetta Evangelisti, and Cognac Monnet.
Posted in Design, Illustration | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
First of all, I love all things vintage. Vintage packaging, however, is my absolute achilles heel. I find it rather serendipitous that I stumbled onto a fantastic collection of vintage European matchbooks this morning a few months in advance of our journey to Europe this fall. My fiance and I are already small time collectors of matchbooks (among other things) and I find myself constantly amazed at the simple solutions artists and designers alike are able to fit on such a small amount of real estate. Truly graphic design in its purest form. If you like matchbooks, here’s a little video by Navigators I found sometime late last week which fits nicely into the “match” theme.
Download Video
Tags: european design, graphic design, matchbooks, navigators, vintage
Posted in Design, Illustration, Motion, Music | No Comments »
