Apart from being a dark song, I'm loving this video for being a throwback to the 80s with it's Aha vibe.
Nice work and in a seemingly typical creative style inseparable from this genre of music now. Bad thing? Hope not.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Chromeo - Momma's Boy
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Arrested Development
It's been time since my last post . . . uni has been a bit of a joke, tonnes of work n stuff. Literally non-stop, I feel like a grown-up.
Anyway, as part of a relaxation plan, to stop me from going completely mental from all this work, I've been watching Arrested Development. It's my new favourite thing. I pair it with the same style of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but with a bit more of a Gervais-esque humour at some points, particularly in the second series. Basically it's class and I'm sad it's over :(
Alas I shall move onto Curb again.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Letman
This bloke is class. He does typography for fun. His lettering tantalises the eye. He does the best illustrative pieces and the best standard pieces. This man's gotst skillz.
www.letman.com
Sweet ass record sleeve
Bought this sweet bit of record sleeve design in Oxfam about a month ago. Its from 1981! I haven't even listened to it yet, but just fell in love with the design. I didn't know they could achieve this type of thing in the 80s? aha. Got the whole Charlie Fanclub/datA vibe to it. I really need to get on this type of design, learn how to do it properly like.
David Thorpe
That's made from paper that.
David Thorpe is immense. I first discovered him in year12 when i was researching collages for a prosepctive art project. I went to the Saatchi gallery, saw his work and fell in love with it. He uses humble media to create these illustrative yet strikingly realistic collages and sculptures and to convey a sense of utopia. Truely original work and a far cry from the collage work of Matisse or Schwitters. I love it.
Supersonic - visuals for music
I love looking at how music can be visually represented. This book is kind of my Bible (next to Hand Job of course). Created by Die Gestalten Verlag (Berlin), this manual comes full to the brim with record sleeves, CD designs, posters and video stills from every genre of music. I just love to open it and have a look inside, it's like a treat. The cover design is sex too. Eye candy.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Hand Job rant
I've been saying for ages now that we need to put down our computer mouse and pick up a pencil. We keep reproducing the same old crap designs. People have forgotten about the principles of design. Since the computer came about, we've even forgotten how to bloody draw or write with out hand too. A while ago I suggested a resurgence in handmade/illustrative design in the world of media/advertising. I expected it to take a while, but it happened sooner than I thought. Now . . . I've gone off it and it's annoying me.
The current advertising campaign for Carphone Warehouse involves felt-tip drawn animations knocking about a white screen to some minimal-techno music. I hate it and I've been trying to figure out why.
Recognising this need for a more 'hands on' approach ages ago was in reality, useless, I'm too young/not experienced enough to actually do anything about it. Now, with all these companies producing these seemingly creative, illustrated, handmade adverts I feel sort of cheated! It's spoilt it for me now. Should it have though?
These adverts that are on now, yes they are different, at least to adverts we used to have, but stuff needs to stand out. What was sacred about it when it was 'undersued' was just that. It was different, original, it had a personal, human touch. Now, being overused it isn't any of those, the quality has been lost, like a Dior design being copied by Primark. Is it a case of trend? Can this go on forever because its 'in fashion' at the moment. Yes, it is 'good' and I do actually like most of it, but is it, in a way, like music? Naively, often once a band or song gets popular, especially if scallywags like it, I find I go off it. Largely, anything is good until it gets too popular and overused. (What was 'in fashion' before this though?) I think it's because it's not original, it's no longer yours. People just 'jump on the bandwagon'. Surely, not all these adverts actually need to be 'handmade'. Do they do their job right? Do they fit the brief? (Sadly the answer probably is yes.) Nokia, Orange and Sony all have these colourful, fun adverts. What is special about them individually? Or is this not actually the problem, is it just me being picky? I mean, they are similar in style i.e. colourful, quirky, fun etc, but they are obviously completely different too. What happened to unique brand identities? If you took away the logo from these ads, you probabaly couldn't tell whose was which. They are almost 'overly creative'. These companies can't all be aiming their products at creative individuals though can they? Maybe if there was an advert for a mobile phone, (I'm using a mobile as an example because creative adverts are apparently particularly rife with this product), that wasn't illustrated or quirky it wouldn't actually stick out because the public/consumer eye is on the current creative, artistic trend. So possibly the consumer is looking for the newest/latest/best creative advert? I can better imagine someone going into school or work and saying "did you see that NEW illustrated ad lastnight?" than "did you see that different one that's not cool because it's not creative like all the others?" It appears to all be about trends here.
What I think we will soon begin to see is pioneers emerging. People pushing the boundaries of illustration and creativeness. Struggling illustrators for years are probably relishing it now because they are finally being accepted. It's their time to shine if you like. I hope these designers, pushing the boundaries, will be seen for being the best, a class above, given credit for not being copycats.
Diana Scheunemann
This photograph is sick. I love it. And no, its not because this girl has her norks out. In image such as this should be pornographic, but Scheunemann manages to just make it sexy, spontaneous and seductive. Born in Germany and trained in photography in Zurich, Scheunemann has bases in New York, Shoreditch and Switzerland.
In an interview last year in Design Week she said "I move around a lot because you can't do nothing, the more you see, the younger you stay."
I like that.
Wood that we Could
It's almost a year to the day that this class furniture was introduced to the world, but I thought it was so cool I had to put it in my blog anyway. This series of faux-wood pieces by Richard Woods and Sebastian Wrong was on display at the New York design gallery Moss, a collaboration between the gallery itself and furniture manufacturer Established & Sons. Looks like it's out of a comic book or something, reminds me of the computer game "XIII" as well. Quite illustrative and imaginative I think, and definitely fit.
Thobias Faldt (umlaut over the second a please)
I first heard of this Swedish photographer back in July when I was on 'iheartphotograph. I checked out his website and found some nicely shot images. His style seems to be very bleek and quite 'cold'. I like it. He's been featured in a tonne of magazines and won a few awards too. He has a quite a nice philosophy that he only takes one photo and leaves it there, he explains it better himself . . .
"i take thousands of pictures but i always stick to shooting only one frame of every photo 'cause i don't know how to choose otherwise. and i can't look at the pictures directly after i have taken them because if i do that i have such a strong feeling of the moment when i took it. it can only be a "picture" for me when the feelings from the moment are gone and all that is left is the picture as you see it. then i can choose. i'm always looking for pictures that have more than one layer of feeling."
I can't help thinking, is his stuff only cool though because it's set in Sweden and that's obviously foreign to us? Anyway, have a butchers . . .
www.thobias.se
www.iheartphotograph.blogspot.com
Glow Worm
Found this typeface when I was flicking through one of my brothers' old crappy type folders from secondary school. Would be a nice typeface to reproduce by hand with an illustration piece. I like the rounded, shiny ballooniness. Quite playful.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is mental. He makes truly unique and inspirational work. I first heard of him when I saw the video for Daft Punk - Around the World and instantly looked up to see who made it. I found that Michel Gondry in fact made a LOT of music videos and even adverts and films. His videos are very creative, artisitc and even childlike. He has a crazy imagination that makes you think this guy has got to have done a lot of drugs in his life. I'd happily be a crack addict if my portfolio looked like his though. Literally all his videos are excellent. He has made music videos for the likes of Beck, Bjork, Foo Fighters Chemical Brothers to name but a few. I recently saw one of his films The Science of Sleep which was very surreal and ingenious. He is also the man behind Be Kind Rewind, a film which take son the recent craze of 'sweding' to a whole new level.
Introducing . . .
My mum bought me this set of books about 5 years ago. I have only recently read them. Despite their cheap appearance these books provide a helpful insight into those kind of things you wish you knew about, but don't have the time to properly read up on. For example, I learnt everything I needed to know about Freud and penis envy in just a few hours. They've been a great help to my course as well, providing me with knowledge in varying things that could easily be related to graphic design or affect esign. I think there are many other volumes in his range too, I may invest.
Dean Rogers
Dean Rogers is a great photographer. He mainly does film photography for the likes of his mate Shane Meadows. His portfolio up to date includes iconic photographs for gritty Brit dramas like Control, Dog Altogether and This Is England. His photographs capture the essence of the films and highlight poignant moments with brilliant skill. He has also done several commissioned works, my favourite being 'World Cup', a great idea. Check out his online portfolio.
www.deanrogers.co.uk
The Life Aquatic
I'm not Wes Anderson's biggest fan, I mean I don't mind The Royal Tenenbaums, but I could never really get into it. However, The Life Aquatic is brilliant. It' one of my favourite films. My adoration of this film is largely down to Bill Murray's performance as the ageing sea explorer Steve Zisou, but this film should be credited on many other levels. The script is subtly hilarious, the filming and directing is excellent, the little animations throughout are quirky, the repetitive backing track does not get boring, but rather adds to the film's strange pace, and just the overall plot and narrative is genius. Seu Jorge's acoustic Spanish(?) covers of Bowie songs is a particular highlight for me too.
Nice.
SO ME
SO ME is another French graphic designer/illustrator(/DJ). His rise to fame is mostly due to working for the popular electro record label 'Ed Banger' for which he designs each artist's record sleeves, merchandise and most videos. The style he employs in his work is nothing technically challenging, rather standard vector stuff on Illustrator/Photoshop, but it just looks great.
He won the MTV video award a couple of years ago for Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends and if you ever saw the awards you probably remember Kanye West being a douchebag and getting on stage saying he didn't deserve it. (Basically Kanye West's DJ, A-Trak, told him he was being a douchebag and SO ME and Kanye ended up making a video together). . .
He also made what I believe to be the best video of last year, Justice - D.A.N.C.E. in which the two performers in Justice are filmed from the neck down walking along to the beat of their song as the graphics change on their t-shirts. It's unique. His illustrations have resulted in becoming the artists' 'identities' if you like, most notably the iconic Justice 'cross' and Sebastian's 'face'. There's something just extremely aesthetically pleasing about his designs, particularly on record sleeves and t-shirts. The illustrative type and illustrations themselves just work well together and lend themselves to the genre so well. Well, actually, as fromage as it sounds, it could be seen as the other way around. SO ME has almost defined this genre of music with his designs. (The two go hand in hand, like music/fashion - which one follows the other?). There is a 'class' of person now, like a chav or emo, who you can tell likes electro because they are wearing an Ed Banger t-shirt. You see these hoards of fans jumping up and down at a Justice gig, waving homemade illuminated 'crosses' and think they're all grouped together not only by the genre of music, but by the design and they probably don't even realise it. Or maybe they do? Maybe the audience are more active and intelligent than I give them credit for. Is it a choice? Do they say "I like this design. I like this music"? Hmmm.
I think it's true to say SO ME has captured a generation with his illustrations and design, much like you would say a photographer had "captured the seventies" or something. It's what the industry needs right now, it's just a shame I didn't get in there first. He has inspired me to do more t-shirt designs and doodle.
www.myspace.com/20399307
www.arcademode.com
p.s. check this website out for some humourous portraits SO ME did of Ed Banger boss, Busy P and scroll down to get more of an idea of what he's about.
www.studio.to/gallery.html
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