The Trip - Movie Poster

Original Dubonnet Wine Poster

Designer Daily brings us another one of their great collections. This one looks at movie posters from last year. Most seem to be from indie films which is not just OK, but pretty appropriate and not surprising since most Hollywood big budget blockbuster movie posters aren’t really concerned with good design. Instead they want to get you in the theater right ASAP.

All of these movie posters do an awesome job at letting you know very quickly what the movie is about (which is after all, the function of the movie poster in the first place).

I chose to include the one for the movie The Trip (which is great BTW–I thank my wife for suggesting we watch it) because it is clearly and purposely ripping off of the famous Dubonnet wine advertisement poster from 1956.

The writers at Designer Daily also recommend this gallery at Mubi.com which includes these plus more goodies, and some actual big budget hollywood blockbuster type movie posters that actually are good. You can view the full gallery at Designer Daily here. Happy movie watching!

2011 Logo Trend: Banded

The report for 2011 shows that color is still prevalent, but scaled down in the form of tints. Brown or gray is dominating the neutral hues. Meanwhile blues and greens are softer. They’re seeing more Pinks too.

Lightness is being carried out in other ways: Airier shapes that seem to lift off the page, line weights are thinner, and there’s plenty of transparency as well. Here’s a quote that sums up this year’s trend rather well.

It feels like what people believe a logo to be is also becoming more transcendent. A logo is no longer a single piece of flat art. It can be a favicon, an icon, or an entire set of marks that work together to support the team. Its boundaries have become less strict as well. There was a time when most logos could be enclosed in a simple hand-drawn square, circle or similar geometric shape, but now many logos drag outside those outlines. They just don’t want to fit the old mold.

Here are the trends they identified this year:

• Gradients
• Juvi
• Vibrate
• O
• Earth
• Monoline
• Series
• Brown
• Dandruff
• Concentric
• Loopys
• Banded
• Comma
• Buckys
• Fruit

Check out the full gallery here. Image courtesy of LogoLounge. Credits: 1. BrandBerry, Artive 2. Higher, Voscast 3. Dickerson, Healing Touch 4. Frog Design, Microsoft Word

2010 Logo Trend: Shift

Catching up myself with LogoLounge’s annual logo trends. Last year was awesome for logos!

This year some of the tools available to designers has had a hand in some of these trends. For example, new Ilustrator tools such as Swirl, Pucker, and Scriptographer have clearly left their mark. We also see that current events also influence ideas that make their way into logos. For example, O-shaped logos popped up after the 2008 U.S. Presidential elections. There are also new standards like Transparency. We’ve seen plenty of them now to be perceived as a trend. Transparency is here now. We also see an increase in hue brightness, and  it’s most likely due to the pervasive use of on-screen color, which is light that is projected (and also RGB and not CMYK). Text based logos are really strong as clients and designers are distilling their messages to be concise and direct. The use of color has been greatly expanded.

Here are the trends they’ve identified for 2010:

• Cubist
• Spores
• Ghosts
• Tendrils
• Shift
• Parts
• Pixels
• Hexahedron
• Dust
• Peepshow
• Festoon
• Stains
• Burst
• Wallpaper
• Box-up

Check out the full gallery here. Image courtesy of LogoLounge. Credits: 1. Asta form, Sheriff Studio 2. Go Welsh, Penn State Architecture 3. Effusion Creative Solutions, musicplace.com 4. Liska + Associates Communication Design, Becker and Becker.

Absolut Blank Online Gallery

Iconic vodka Absolut continues the iconic branding campaign with a delightful gallery of finished Absolut-bottle-silohuette-turned-work-of-art pieces that are as fresh as 30 years ago when the campaign was new. The original campaign was created around 1980 by advertising agency TBWA. The focus of the campaign has always been  the unique shape of the bottle. TBWA worked with photographer Steven Bronstein, and now includes more than 1500 ads. It is the company’s longest running campaign. It’s clear why and why it has many more years to come. Always nice to peruse all the iterations of the now familiar bottle.

Chinese Typography

Designer Nod Young shared his awesome typography on the Behance Network as part of a project to provide suggestions to visitors of Beijing. No additional details, but our guess is that these recommend things to do, places to go, where to stay, where to go for good entertainment, and places to eat. In his own words:

Beijing is an up-and-coming city with too much flavor not to share with the rest of the world. given that more and more people are coming to our city, many of whom might be in need of a suggestion or two, we thought we might provide a short typographical tour for any prospective visitors.

Follow the link to the gallery and check out the rest of the typographic signs. They’re all very good. Something about the ones laid out to look 3D reminds me of russian constructivist  type. Very nice.

Typographic Chair

I’d like to have this chair–and have nobody sit on it because it looks so awesome. Wonder if it’s available in other color sets. I do understand the simplicity of the black and red and the relationship of these colors to type. This 1h or whatever chair is part of a collection by designer Marc Lauckhardt entitled Typography Furniture which uses type in a sleek way.

Bonus points for not allowing the design to look like it belongs in a child’s room. Follow the link for pics of the full collection and separate shots of each piece.

Looks like the W3C has announced a new HTML5 logo to brand their efforts to advance what may or may not become the new standard in web coding, the HTML5 web standard. It sure seems as if everything today needs some sort of branding. How else can we get a message across in a split second of someone’s attention? So, some gripe, some rejoice, some think that it’s controversial. Who, why?…

The New HTML5 logo by the W3C

Who? Web developers. And they’re not addressing the looks of the logo. Why then? Well, web developers are stating that with the new orange and black crest, the W3C is using HTML5 as a general term that includes all upcoming web tools and interweaving standards such as CSS and SVG. The claim is that these separate technologies all have applications outside of HTML and therefore the new brand somehow places them “under” or “inside” a general term like HTML5. The issue’s not aesthetic. While they do have a point, who can say if any of us knew what those technologies are or that they exist if it weren’t for HTML. Yes, in 10 years nobody will be mentioning it much, but we’re here right now and HTML brought us here whether we like it or not. And as always with branding, connective technologies need a hero. A single icon or meme that spreads in people’s minds like wildfire. And HTML is already here, so why not?

Gizmodo designers took a stab at logos for some of these technologies. Check out the Gallery after the jump. They’re all good too.

Starbucks is keeping up with the sense of pace that they create and manage for its ubiquitous brand.

They’ve updated their logo once again and this time with a decidedly minimalist presentation. They’ve put away the copy  “Starbucks Coffee” and the  palette is now one color.

All versions of the Starbucks logo applied to paper cups

Here’s a bit  of  what MSNBC had to say:

Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history.

The Starbucks logo through the years

And yes, we’re al familiar with the logo’s colorful controversy. A reminder courtesy of Adfreak for those who forget:

The inspiration for the siren logo—early versions of which have been called obscene by some—goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler.

(pics and more via Starbucks)

AIGA published this great little article recounting the tale of how the NYC Subway system went from a labyrinth filled with mosaic and hand-made signs in a variety of colors, sizes, styles, and more–to a highly organized signage system. They made it look so easy!

We’ve all been witness to the efficiency of this system so we don’t even think about it anymore. They made it look so easy! This is on of those articles that you want to print and read offline on a Saturday afternoon. And that’s just one of the design wonders that the 20th century brought into existence.

NYC Subway signs - before

Mosaic subways signs (from the top): 1 train, Rector Street (1918); 1 train, South Ferry (1904); N/R/W, Prince Street (1917); “To 19th,” 1 train, 18th Street (1918); L, Morgan Avenue (1928); “Down town,” 4/5/6, 86th Street (1917); “Up town,” R/W, Whitehall Street (1918); E/F/G/R/V, Grand Avenue, Newtown (1936); M/R, F connection to 9th Street (1915) and BMT, Fourth Avenue (1933). Caption courtesy of AIGA.

NYC Subway signs - after

(top and bottom rows): From the 1970 NYCTA Graphic Standards Manual, Unimark Design Consultants, a page indicating directional information, the cover and and typeface instruction using Standard, not Helvetica; (middle) “Donna” illustration of platform signage by Bob Noorda (c.1966, colorized in 2008). Caption courtesy of AIGA.

People's Progression Toward Equality

And now for something different. Urban Murals are a force of positive change in Philly. I just heard this story on NPR and I had to write a bit about it because I liked it so much.

Jane Golden and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program have helped convert more than 3,000 walls into murals that, among many things, have replaced empty trashed lots with parks, attracted developers to renovated areas, resisted defacing (for the most part), provided a city-wide art tour (with audio guides), and headed some of the city’s neglected areas.

Technically this is more art than design, but this project serves the function that a good city PR firm dreams of. Looking forward to seeing some of these in person.

Flipboard's FlipDesign

So this iPad app exploded into the scene last week. Yes, Flipboard. Everyone’s talking about it! It flips!

Yes, it does. To me, that’s just eye-candy. The transition they chose to program on top of this app is the hook. What keeps me coming back is the look. It just looks great. They’ve put the content to the test, over and over and over. They’ve chosen a series of layouts, nit-picky typography, and  a minimalist color palette to showcase the content. Content is still king, and as long as you can make it look this good and throw in some eye-candy for the masses, you’re golden.

I did read an article pondering the legality of FlipBoard and its scraping technology–but that’s beside the point here. I think that now that they’ve made a splash and have some attention, they’ll get right on that legal thing ASAP. Especially with the list of content providers going around the block waiting to get in on this. Strike while it’s hot boys!

I really dig the FlipDesign section. Plenty of impeccable design to thumb through and admire.

Design:Related List of Lists for 2009

I hope you have some time to read. I mean read. Design:Related has a List of Design Lists for 2009. What does that mean? It means that right on that page, you’ll find a wealth of interesting Design reading. They have gathered over 100 lists in the following categories:

• Architecture
• Blogs
• Books, Comics, and Magazines
• Fashion
• Food
• General Design
• General News
• Green/Sustainability
• Movies, TV, Animation, and Video
• Music
• Photography
• Strange/Weird/Funny
• Technology
• Tutorials and Resources
• Video Games

My head is spinning. Yes, we’re in May 2010. These lists also cover the decade. And, it’s good to know these lists are here to come back and catch up with on a holiday. Not all categories appeal to everyone–I know I have my priorities of what I want to read. And there is still a lot to catch up with.

A week or two I had a great time going over this great post from Smashing magazine. As the title clearly states, it’s a collection of homepage captures from websites of all shapes and sizes. From Ivy League to Motor League, I think you’ll agree that most university types are represented.

I really enjoyed looking at all of these if merely to demonstrate how one goal can be approached from so many different angles. The screenshots are categories under General Colleges and Universities, Community Colleges, Art & Design Colleges & Universities, and Other Institutions, Colleges and Universities.

I’ve included my two favorites here. I picked them for their clear use of hierarchy, solid structure, effective color palettes, and typography. Note that they are not from the Art & Design category. It just goes to show.

Lenoir-Rhyne University

University of Chester

I think the author says it best:

While the vast majority of college and university websites out there are in need of serious overhaul, there are some fine examples of sites if you look hard enough. If designing a site for a college or university, remember that simplicity and negative space are both important, regardless of the amount of information a site needs to contain.

Smashing magazine.

Selfridges House brand packaging

High-end British store Selfridges & Co. re-launched their house brand packaging system that covers over 100 products. Their house brand did not set itself apart much on the shelves. Now it is eye catching, forward thinking, clear, concise, and decidedly modern. It has a hip new attitude that inspires confidence in their product line.

Black is the base for all their new packaging, and type does its job letting the visitor know what’s inside. The type is even used in the same point size whenever possible to strengthen the brand consistency. Black with colored text is not new, but it is certainly not what comes to mind when thinking about store packages. This is bold and refreshing and I suspect it will go over very well. London-based R-Design deisgned the new packaging. Good job to both.

www.r-design.co.uk

www.selfridges.com

Story via Communication Arts.

I love Typography website

One of the sites that I visit regularly is ilovetypography.com. A quick glance upon getting to the homepage reveals the sheer amount of information available on this site. Aside from the free desktop wallpapers and stuff you can buy,  there is always good reading within a click or two.

The list of popular articles on the center column showcases some of the best resources they offer. Currently on this list are articles on how to make a font, type terminology, type history, a web typography guide, choosing type, and identifying a font.

Web design benefits greatly from good use of typography. The same rules that have applied to print for centuries are critical in web design and have been largely ignored since the web exploded into what it is today. The viewers have the same basic need for clarity when accessing information–regardless of where it is displayed. I was very glad when I first learned about this site. The time invested in learning  how to improve web typography pays off in the quality of the design as a whole.

Star Wars travel poster

Artist Justin van Genderen makes traveling to planets in the Star Wars universe look so retro hip that you would probably have to knock and have a codeword ready to enter places like Cloud City or Tatooine. View the rest with Justin van Genderen’s Flickr stream which popped up on illustration and cartoon art blog Drawn! In one of the comments of the original io9 post,  a reader wrote that these posters reminded them of Simon Page’s  International Year of Astronomy 2009 posters that I wrote about here. I completely agree—manly because I clicked on the post to read it because I thought the posters were by Simon page. Small world, no?

Via io9.

Milky Way Transit Authority

The map, titled Milky Way Transit Authority, was created by Harvard computational sociologist Samuel Arbesman. He had the idea to make the map while reading Carl Sagan’s Contact and contemplating the organization and presentation of galactic data in a format that is familiar easy-to-read, such as a subway map. Arbesman said:

This map is an attempt to approach our galaxy with a bit more familiarity than usual and get people thinking about long-term possibilities in outer space. Hopefully it can provide as a useful shorthand for our place in the Milky Way, the ‘important’ sights, and make inconceivable distances a bit less daunting. And while convenient interstellar travel is nothing more than a murky dream, and might always be that way, there is power in creating tools for beginning to wrap our minds around the interconnections of our galactic neighborhood.I have attempted to actually make this map as accurate as possible, where each line corresponds to an arm of our galaxy, and the stations are actual places in their proper locations.

Arbesman says he is open to input from those with ideas to improve the map and/or make it more accurate. You can read more on his project page devoted to the Milky Way Transit Authority.

via io9.

International Year of Astronomy 2009 promotional poster by Simon Page

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first glimpse of the night sky with a telescope, and the publication of Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, The United Nations declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. To promote the year-long celebration, they hired Simon Page.

But what is fascinating about this story is that he is a trained mathematician who never planned to work in graphic design. Page graduated university with a degree in applied mathematics in his native United Kingdom. After graduating he worked in London’s financial sector and later in programming & database development. This type of new work brought about the necessity for presentations, and they had to be top-notch–he then did what any mathematician would do and decided to design them himself.

So now he’s found a new career in graphic design.  How? He was inspired by the IYA 2009 celebration and decided to make his own promotional posters for the year-long event. When the staff at IYA 2009 saw his work online, they deiced to take the opportunity to use the posters as the official posters.

Below is a quote from a recent interview with the design blog Grain Edit, where Page discussed the influence of his mathematics background has on his work:

I think maths has inspired me hugely and influenced more geometric designs than I probably would of created otherwise. I also think a lot of artists, like myself, subliminally use mathematics in their creations – such as the golden ratio for creating eye candy layout designs.

I find it very satisfying getting mathematically correct proportions when designing something like a logo, for example. But for me the main connection between math and design is pure and simple, it’s geometry. The golden ratio is probably one of the most popular examples of math and design coming together but look back at the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, for instance, he used mathematics all the time in his art. I also believe some of the best designers work with math, in a number of aspects, even though they probably do it completely subconsciously.

To read the rest of his interview with Grain Edit and see more of his work use this link.

Below are the thumbnails with links to the source photo gallery on io9.

Images courtesy of io9.

Walking Bicycle

I just had to share this post by Designer Daily about great bicycle designs. I’m using the whimsical Walking Bicycle, but trust me there are some really ingenious ways to redefine the entire class of vehicle. Some fold into totally portable and compact forms, some are just nice looking and are made of uncommon materials. Either way you won’t be able to look a a bicycle quite the same way again.

National Parks Foundation micro site

Recently I noticed these case studies on the AIGA website. I’ve been reading some when I have a little time to take in a really good example of how to carry out a project and develop really unique solutions to tough challenges. This case study brings us a micro site that design studios Modernista! and FL2 designed and developed for the National Park Foundation. The site was to accompany Modernista!’s broadcast campaign to support Ken Burns’ PBS documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. On the site, users can explore the national park system, contribute to the foundation, and share the site and their experience with others.

Visit the site to read how the project was planned and executed. They’ve shared how they assessed the project’s goal, the methodology, the user experience, the challenges the project presented, and the results.

Metropolis movie poster

I have to admit that I was looking forward to seeing the posters in this collection by Designer Daily. I think they’re very good for the most part. But the ones that I’m still thinking about are the ones that I did not expect to see in this collection.

I didn’t have any posters in mind, but I was not surprised to see the awesome Metropolis poster, 50′s sci-fi posters like The Forbidden Planet, and swinging 60′s posters like Vertigo. Those are the kind that while they do show very iconic and memorable eras of the movie posters, they represent what we already knew–our own western and typically commercial movie posters.

This collection becomes more memorable because it is including different posters that are from other countries and film genres. I was very glad to see the poster for The Wall (rock musical film), and the posters from movies from other countries like Teorema.

The collection also shows that no matter what era, a great movie poster could be executed many different using different elements to support the composition and convey the meaning. From typography to image+type placement to shapes+lines, you can clearly see that there is an abundance of things to do that are unique.

Why then is it that so many movie posters today have so many floating heads, cityscapes, actors standing around, and so many other unimaginative things. There is so much to choose from.

Design History Primer 2 - Handwriting to Printed Type

Moving on to the second page of Design History lecture guides by Design History.org which covers the beginnings of writing and how it came to be what we know today.

This page groups the information into five major trends in the history of writing.

1. Early Writing in Clay and Stone
Writing started as humans stopped living nomadic lives and started to settle. They use the Clay Bullae used in Mesopotamia as an accounting tool to record transactions.

As the need to record more than agricultural transactions emerged, Cuneiform provided a way to communicate ideas and concepts with horizontal rows of symbols pressed into clay tablets. The symbols were abstracted from pictograms of animals (for example).

In Egypt, writing and relief carving merged into the Hyeroglyphics that adorned the walls inside pharaohs’ tombs. This system used both rebus and phonetic characters and is thus the first link to an alphabetic system of writing.

Not so far away in ancient Greece, Early Greek was arranged in horizontal rows, and was read switching directions on every other row. It is believed that Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians and added vowels.

And still in the Mediterranean neighborhood, the Romans copied the Greek style. In Early Roman Lapidary they carved letters in stone that were equal in width and did not have serifs. Early on they used dots to divide words.

The serifs originated with the development that lead to Classical Roman Lapidary. It is theorized that the serifs were developed to decrease the possibility of stones splintering at the end of a carved line, as well as to possibly mimic the way the brush strokes produced varying thickness of the letters when the letters were painted on the stone initially as guides.

Special mention in this section goes to Trajan’s Column. The letters in the inscription at its base are considered to display the ultimate results of the development of Latin letterforms. The characters have been studied by type designers for almost 20 centuries and have inspired many spinoff typefaces. Some include reinterpretations by Edward Johnston, Eric Gill and Carol Twombly.

2. Majuscules and Minuscules
During the 1st century AD, Roman Capitals emerged in early attempts to copy the attributes of letters that were originally carved in stone. Roman Capitals were mostly written on vellum paper using a reed that had a flat edge, or a quill nib.

Early Christian works during the 5th century AD show the development of Uncials letterforms, which were taken from the square capitals that were previously carved in stone and also from written majuscules. It was written between 2 guidelines of one uncial — the Roman name for the one-inch measure.

One more century led to the Half Uncials. During the 6th century AD, Half Uncials were written between four guidelines that allowed the development of ascenders and descenders. This newer style was easier and faster to execute.

The Carolingian Minuscule came about during the 8th century (789 — 1100′s). Emperor Charlemagne decreed that the entire Holy Roman Empire use a standard style of writing as a way of uniting his regime. It is believed that the Carolingian Minuscule was developed by the British monk Alcuin of York. His letterforms are based on classic documents from ancient Rome. During the Renaissance (centuries later) the Carolingian handwriting was mistaken for the original Roman style. It was copied and labeled a “Classical” handwriting style. The Alcuin of York founded a school for monks that featured the following standards for clear and legible script:

1. Uniform spelling
2. The Carolingian style of well-formed lowercase letters
3. Capitals to begin a sentence and lowercase to continue
4. Space between words
5. Standard punctuation
6. Division into sentences and paragraphs.

Blackletter: The Gothic Hands
Handwriting styles became more condensed and angular after the death of emperor Charlemagne. To conserve space and materials, word, line, and letter spacing were reduced. Carolingian and Blackletter handwriting were developed in France. Both evolved into variations of regional style. There are 4 basic styles of Blackletter that emerged from 13 to 16th centuries.

• Textura (formal)
• Rotunda (formal)
• Bastarda (semi-formal)
• Cursive (informal)

3. Renaissance and the Humanist letter : Quill Pen & Compass
Renaissance Humanism arose in Florence, Italy as scholars sought to recapture their lost heritage by re-evaluating the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. Humanism was committed to the idea that ancient Greece and Rome was the peak of human achievement and should be taken as a model by Europeans at the time.

Transcribers used two forms of letters based upon the ancient (or antique) Roman models: The Lettera Antiqua formata (for elaborate manuscripts) and the Lettera Antiqua corsiva (more informal) for scholarly works.

Leon Battista Alberti, believed the circle and the square are the most perfect geometrical forms, and that architecture and the alphabet should use them as their base. He restored the Roman tradition of inscribing letters on facades.

4. Steel Pens & Engraving
George Bickham published The Universal Penman in 1741. It was the considered the ultimate guide to English penmanship. It was also a compilation of broadsides, that focused on a different art, profession, emotion, or human moral. Aside from the handwriting, many of the broadsides are highlighted with engraved vignette illustrations by Bickham. He wrote books that were not only decorative, but also examples of easy-to-read and easy-to-write styles for business clerks and others who required a much writing and record-keeping.

5. Letterforms in Metal : Mechanical Writing Leads to a Cultural Explosion
Johann Gutenberg developed a modular “moveable type” system in about 1450, even though printing had been practiced in Asia for several hundred years and Europeans had been printing type with wooden blocks for about one hundred years. Johann Gutenberg is the commonly accepted inventor of modular moveable type system although different people were working on a system of “automated writing”.

A letter was carved on the end of a steel bar. The is is called the punch. Then a matrix was created when that letterform is struck into copper. Gutenberg was a jeweler by profession and was knowledgeable in metal carving, casting, and knew which metals worked best for each stage of his process. He developed inks that would adhere to metal surfaces.

A clever inventor, Gutenburg was not a very good businessman. He borrowed considerably from Johann Fust. When Gutenberg could not pay his debts, Fust sued and took over the business. Fust then partered with his brother-in-law Peter Schoeffler they produced the bible around 1455. Still to this day it is known as the Gutenberg bible.

Gutenberg did not use Roman style lettering. Instead he used the Blackletter style. He hoped it would replicate handwriting. Scholars believe that Gutenberg designed a font that included 270 characters which used several variations of each letter to add a human factor.

Within 50 years, over one thousand printers established themselves across Europe, and many people tried to establish control of the technology. Professional scribes feared the technology would cost them their livelihoods. Religious and sometimes secular authorities attempted to control the content of what was printed. Some were successful—for hundreds of years books could only be printed by printers who were authorized by the government, or with the approval of the Church in some European countries. These printers would be held responsible instead of the authors for the ideas considered “unwanted” by some. Printers were even executed. In the end most of these restraints eventually fell.

Typography Daily

If you like Type–and who doesn’t? Check out the new Typography Daily site from the folks at Designer Daily. Full of inspiration, links to free typefaces, typographic experiments, and very good reading material, the site doesn’t disappoint so far.

The focus seems to be on visually sophisticated typefaces, avant-garde typographic treatments, packaging with exceptional type, and the like. A very favorable move considering the existing ocean of free typefaces that leaves much to be desired, horrible web design, and general disregards for the principles of design. Good job–and keep up the good work. I’ll be visiting it regularly.

Jekyll & Hyde Movie Poster update

Classic movie posters used to be very indicative of what was happening in the world of design at any given time. Yes, there were many that were derivative and looked like many other posters, but there was plenty of ground being covered and many unique posters. Not so much anymore. Many movie posters look alike today, and that’s about it. I was very glad to see this post by Communication Arts.

The post shows a sample of movie posters that were updated by update to advertise Turner Classic Movies’ summer movie event Summer Under The Stars. This annual programming event features the films of a different movie star each day during the month of August.

This year, New Jersey’s One Trick Pony launched a website that captured the films with an updated look to promote event. They all look great and really capture the films. The full Summer Under the Stars site launched August 1 , showcasing 31 posters for classic films, each redesigned with a contemporary look. The site featured a calendar of dowloadable posters, a full programming schedule complete with a video clip for each title, a Twitter feed that updated what was playing through the month, and a widget that highlighted a new photo and video that reflected the current programming schedule.

Moss Grafitti

Designer Daily brings us this collection of urban marking/marketing approaches that have clearly evolved (or de-evolved) with the times. This reflects the attitutes of a new generation of designers who not only want to do something different, but they view their surroundings in a different way. They’re more in touch with nature, and they’re concerned with materials and the impact of their designs on a global/environmental scale. More marketing than self-expression, they show a degree of creativity that is unusual for urban art. For now. They certainly grab attention.

They’ve grouped this collection into mini-series. Let’s see. We have Moss Grafitti, where text and graphics are on-the-wall and made of moss or grass. Very earthy. Chalk art is very playful and versatile and cheap. No steady hands? Make a stencil! Very nice. I dig the rock-n-roll logo/ad.

Reverse Grafitti

Reverse Grafitti is probably my favorite, simply because it involves removing what’s already there (dirt, mostly) and creating the designs in reverse. These have an air of purification somehow. They’re almost luminous because more light is reflected off the clean surface–much like when the wall was freshly painted or the concrete wall built. Very easy on the eyes.

Snow tagging is not only cool and has a nice texture, but it has the least impact of all. This type of communication is very temporary. And working with snow has a built-in expiration time. It’s also cheap to make your mark with a stencil and go around tagging snow around a city after a fresh snowfall.

Fur Coat Graffitti is more art than marketing but it certainly has its uses and it does grab attention. They show examples of animal shapes. Maybe throw in a little Fur Text? PETA anyone?

Design History Primer 1 - Symbols

I recently wanted to read something on Design history since I really enjoy the subject and I find it so fascinating. And while looking for an interesting bit of Design history to read, I found DesignHistory.org. A site originally launched in 1999 by Nancy Stock-Allen as a companion to her lectures on Graphic Design History. The site has 11 pages of essential subjects in Design History. I’ll do a quick post on each after I’ve read them and give you my quick impressions and comments.

Clearly labeled as “not a substitute for attending class”, this first page covers the basics and offers enough to get your feet wet or refresh your memory on symbols and logos. It starts with a primer listing the differences between a pictogram, a rebus, an ideogram, a trademark/brand, a logotype, a printer’s device, a monogram, and a coat of arms & family crest. Today some of these are used or referred to interchangeably and knowing the difference will help knowing when and how to use each and whether to mix one with another when working on a project such as a logo.

Then it moves on to symbol contemporary symbol pioneers from Raymond Lowey and the Shell Oil logo to Paul Rand and the IBM logo to the AIGA and the International Transportation symbols (free for download here!.) Then a quick touch on digital symbols such as the CBS logo by William Golden and the original icon-based Macintosh GUI by Susan Kare. Very good to know about these and how digital symbols have roots in fine arts–where else?

An important section here is the section on Cultural Mismatch. The American Red Cross in the Middle East and the skull and crossbones and its recent evolution. Cultural issues of appropriateness and the ability to convey a message globally are increasingly more important as brands big or small go global. The world is indeed getting smaller.

Lastly it covers a bit of re-branding, citing Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a new logo to be used to promote tourism and trade, and Nike–how the famous swoosh was perceived then and now. And a nice nod to Anti-Branding finishes off this piece with the world’s first global anti-brand created by Adbusters magazine and its Black Spot Sneaker. An eco-friendly, anti-brand sneaker in which the black spot replaces the corporate logo.

AIGA Design Archives Online

Love to look at what others are doing? Looking for inspiration? Love to look at excellent design? Head on over to the AIGA Design Archives, which feature selection from AIGA’s Annual Design Competitions. Covering everything from Brand and Identity Systems Design to Book Design, you’ll find a wealth of resources. With a sleek interface that’s easy to figure out and navigate, it’s a pleasure to browse through. Excellent design? Check. Inspiring? Check.

Works on the archive are selected from these AIGA competitions:

• About 365: AIGA Annual Design Competition
• About 50 Books/50 Covers competition
• Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism
• Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships
• INDEX: | AIGA Aspen Design Challenge
• Regional AIGA competitions

I flip through these when I get them in print form every year as part of my AIGA membership, and it’s always a celebration of good design. Not just good looking, but good design. Good design looks good most of the time, but really isn’t it just doing it’s job? It makes us comfortable looking at the information, even inviting us sometimes. Making us feel comfortable (or uncomfortable) with the message. One of my professors told us once that Design is a logical sequence of events. And I agree with him. There’s an audience, a context, and a purpose. These are considered and evaluated, research has focuses our options, and execution and refinement have polish the project to a degree which makes the design exceptional.

Of course, good design often looks easy, and that’s part of the appeal. It looks easy because it’s relating to the viewer. The viewer feels almost like they could have thought of it themselves. And that’s a very good thing if you want to get your message across.

2016 Olympics logos

The International Olympic Committee has taken bids to determine which city will host the 31st Olympic Games in 2016. Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo are going head to head and are doing everything they possibly can to win the prestigious spot as an Olympic host. And of course, they all went the extra mile and each city already has an official logo ready.

Today, the IOC released the report of the Evaluation Commission. The final decision will be announced one month from today. Who will emerge as the victor?

Based on these logos alone, it is even hard to make a choice. But let’s see what they have to offer on q quick assessment. All four have been executed so well. The Chicago logo, the most refined of the bunch, suggests height and light. Gothic Olympics?

The Madrid logo is the most playful one. It’s reminiscent of finger paintings, and the Olympic colors covering the hand (same as each one of the rings) suggest world unity and a summation of individual parts in order to complete a whole, and the colors reinforce the Olympic theme. My wife thinks it looks like Thanksgiving turkey drawings made by 5 year olds by tracing their tiny hands. Playful, yes?

I have to admit that the Rio de Janeiro logo has something going against it. What is that shape other than a heart? Mountains, sea and sun? Chances are that it is those things. It didn’t reveal itself so quickly. I had to really look and think about it. Now, I don’t mind, but the casual user doesn’t invest the time and effort into deciphering logos. A logo such as this needs to communicate on a global scale instantly. The typography is very nice and so is the graphic icon. But perhaps not hitting the mark as well or as quickly.

The Tokyo logo is… well… let’s see. We have looping motion with the swooshing around of lines in the colors of the Olympic rings forming a knot. Again we have world unity by way of the colors of all the strands, a reinforcement of the Olympic theme, and strength in numbers. Very representative of a collectivist culture such as Japanese culture. Finally, we have the Japanese flag represented by the red circle between the name of the city and the year of the games.

We could probably take more out of these upon further examination, but that’s the basics in a few sentences each. All very nice, all very unique. No matter who gets the hosting spot, we’ll have a nice Olympic logo in 2016. Don’t you think?

NPR website re-design 2009

This summer, independent news and entertainment source National Public Radio has been heavily promoting their re-designed website. Here’s a recent screenshot of the homepage. A user normally doesn’t get to see the entire page like this, but it is a very useful way to assess how the elements of the page are interacting, what is working, and what is not working and needs further development.

This new design is completely up to date. The large, horizontal navigation is solid and dominates the header with blocks that guide you as to what kind of content you can visit on their site. Elements in the navigation have an active state that features a little fold, as when a person folds the page of a book to keep their place marked. Nice touch. Even though NPR is radio based, and this is (of course) a website, it lends the otherwise quiet design sort of an analog flair.

The homepage is divided into three columns, and each column is nicely segmented into little bits of information that are easily scanned with the eye, and easy to digest since there is a lot of content here on the homepage. They also use color to differentiate different types of content such as News, Arts & Life, and Music.

There is plenty to see as well, for those who look more and read less. Colorful thumbnails introduce us to audio articles, photo galleries, blog entries, and music videos. And taking advantage of today’s technology, there are boxes with popular content such as most viewed, most recommended, and most commented.

There are plenty of icon based links to audio players to listen to radio articles, podcasts, widgets, RSS feeds, videos, and plenty more to keep up with the heaviest of users who go through content a mile a minute.

Overall this is an example of design serving as a crystal goblet that holds and features its contents. The content then calls attention to itself based on its own qualities. There is no additional information in the communication channel. If the content is appealing to the audience, it is appealing because of its own qualities. When design is approached this way, authorship is maintained to a minimum if there is any at all by the designer.

A big change for the better. I am now visiting NPR.org more frequently.

Charitea package design

LemonAid package design

LemonAid Beverages GmbH is launching these beverages with a subtle minimalist design in Germany now and later this Fall throughout Europe. Swedish design firm BVD designed the packages. Not only are these very nicely designed, but most of the proceeds will go toward social purposes managed by the manufacturer.

ChariTea is freshly brewed with natural fruit juice added, as opposed to ice teas that are made from extracts. It will launched in three flavors initially, and all are labeled totally ecological and fair trade. LemonAid, is aimed to be served in bars, and can be used either as a mixer or on its by itself.

Package design is unique in the way that it is difficult to keep the materials to a minimum while keeping a sense of completeness. Today’s marketplace is crowded with products bloated with unnecessary packaging extras like boxes, wrappers, boxes within boxes, and the like. I think these extras do nothing except give the consumer the sense that the product really is worth the price.

This package of these beverages is minimalist yet definitely unique. They have message clarity. The product itself is part of the design in the case of ChariTea. The color of the tea is serving as a background for the white text and graphics on the bottle.

The design is nice, the proceeds go to a good cause, which is nice, and the bottles are easily recycled. Nice. The teas are acquired from fair-trade sources. Nice again. And, less packaging means less is used and therefore less to recycle.

Neiman Marcus print ad

One of my favorite things about design is typography. One can do so much with it–and yet so many pay little attention to it. John Berry’s Dot Font column on Creativepro.com is a great source for those of us who love typography. This particular article shows great examples of how type and type alone can be used to compose a great design. I like that he opens with a piece by Herb Lubalin, who I think is great. he looked at type like nobody else did before or after.

Examples from newspapers, books, advertising, and fine art show amazing uses of expressive typography. In these examples it’s hard to imagine the type placed anywhere else or doing something else. Expressive typography can inject meaning to the design, offer visual puns, be used as texture, reinforce the meaning of the words in the design, or simply exist as art.

Although there is no specific standard to using type in an expressive way, the result looks like it was very easy to do because it looks so natural. This is not the case. Designs that use type in an expressive way can range from requiring a modest assessment of the purpose of the design in order to take a direction with the expressive type–to requiring extensive research and experimentation to meet the goals of the design. It can be a lot of fun too. Expressive type allows us to use (sometimes) type in ways that type is traditionally not used. We can use principles like repetition, anomaly, placement, and kerning.

Sample courtesy of Creativepro.com.

Rocky IV movie poster

Head back over to Designer Daily for a different collection of Cold War propaganda. This time the focus is on pro-america. All the examples are from post World War II. It also covers literature and comic books, media and advertising, and movies. Note how much more commercial the types of media that are covered. The nature of the west or a product of the post-WWII boom, or both?

I can’t help but notice how much more emphasis this collection puts on making the other side a villain. I also don’t think it’s mere coincidence and that the folks that gathered these had anything like this in mind when they put these together. As a mid-thirties Gen-Xer I clearly remember how the east was portrayed everywhere in the media up until the end of the Cold War–and even after. Rocky IV is still one of my favorite movies of all time despite all of this.

Another thing that I noticed, is that the commercial nature of many of the samples in this collection–and therefore the lofty goal of reaching vast audiences, takes away from the designs and leaves and they fall short of greatness. They don’t even evoke any nostalgia. Hm.

Sample courtesy of Designer Daily.

Lenin: V. Briskin, 1970

This collection of posters from Designer Daily splashes around a bit of nostalgia from Cold War era design. This collection features posters from the Soviet Union or independent political activist groups for the most part. In my opinion it also shows what designers were–and are still–capable of.

No shots were fired during this war, but the weight of these images was enough to move the minds of the masses for decades. I also find these images liberating. Just the designer and the work. Direct connection. In the age where a computer is king when it comes to design, who would even think of taking on a task such as making one of these posters by hand for every project? A lot of us would really like to do that today. How much of a reality that can be in this day and age is up for debate–at least in a mass scale. Pro-bono, freelance, or highly unique projects can still lend themselves to such retro tech. The thumbnail sketch provides the spark that many projects need. Numerous manual sketches can take a design to a whole new level. But ultimately, the vast majority of design work is completed using the computer in one way or another. Just looking at these posters we can almost see the designers sitting on their draft tables making these posters freehand.

In any case, the posters can serve as a reference, inspiration, food for debate, material for analysis, or retro decor. I know I wouldn’t mind having one of these up on my home office wall. Look for the follow up on their follow up, featuring pro-american or anti-communist Cold War propaganda posters.

Sample courtesy of Designer Daily.

2009 Logo Trend: Circulate

Heavy-hitting logo design website for logo-lovers LogoLounge published the seventh annual Logo Trends feature. Always a great read, it shows how designers continue to push the envelope. The feature not only captures what has come out of designers’ minds over the course of the last 12 months, but it also informs what we might see later on. Full of color, shapes, text, and ingenuity, the latest trends do not fail to impress.

This year’s collections include:

• PhotoFill
• Concealed
• VariDot
• Candy Stripe
• Texting
• Encrust
• Monolgue
• Doily
• Flip Flop
• Mosaic
• Sequential
• Recycle
• Dandelion
• Circulate
• Gossamer

If you also want to catch up on previous year’s trends: here are the links:

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003

Sample courtesy of LogoLounge.com