fruity

innocent make badass smoothies, but also, their company branding is really what i like. it fits their image and is very, laid back, natural, friendly and feels more 'home-made' than corporate. i think that the use of rounded fonts, simple illustrations and a colour palette inspired by the colours of the smoothies and their ingredients, coupled with the off-white backgrounds (as oppose to the standard pure white) helps them achieve this.

what most caught my attention though is the campaign they run at winter called 'the big knit'. it is done in co-operation with the charity age concern, to help older people with hot meals, blankets and keep warm in the winter. a noble cause but from an advertising point of view, innocent have spinned this very well. as you can see in the photos, during winter time innocent put little bobby hats on the tops of their bottles and run interactive bits and bobs alongside this to get people involved, like 'hat of the week' and a group on flickr devoted to people's photos of the hats.

though their smoothies are a little spenno, it seems other companies could benefit from taking a few leaves out of innocent's book. check them out here.

caffination

deadlines? late nights? yeh, yeh, we all know. caffeine. and lots of it.

i personally prefer coffee. and black at that. however relentless isn't such a bad drink and their cans aren't to shabby looking either. they make brake a few design rules in under some eyes, but they definitely stand out in the fridge. all 3 of the different flavours carry a definitive brand association and the different quotes on the back of each can, from grand people's such as wordsworth and lord byron are a nice little addition. the front of the can is big and bold, with a gothic script font that is more than clear enough. my favourite part perhaps is the subtle digs at other energy drinks that sell there products in apparently 'measly' sized proportions.


"no half measures"

nothing wrong with a little bit of pretentiousness is there?

refreshing indeed

it's nice to see some no bs (of sorts) companies producing great products packaged greatly. original, cheeky and great typography work. a great choice of typeface for the product and simple but effective grid layout to produce a very cleanly presented product. i can't really fault original source, apart from i would of liked the shampoo and conditioner to fit together more like other brands do, as if they were 2 halves of the same bottle. but that's purely subjective of course.

great brand identity and a different but eye-catching shelf presence. i highly recommend you try their stuff too - it's the nucking futs.

give'em some love. originalsource

Design For Print: Evaluation

Before the start of this module, I was only aware of CMYK, RGB and grayscale. During this module I have learnt how to manage workflows in different colour modes, as well as properly setting up documents to be sent for commercial print. Learning about how to work with spot colours and duotones has helped me expand what I can physically do with software, and it seems to me to be an essential part of what you should be able to do as a graphic designer in the industry.

The workshops we had in InDesign have opened up new ways in which I use the program. Though we covered InDesign in Level 1, I was still unsure of what I was doing and what could be done. I now know how to properly set up documents, use master pages, manage links and print booklets successfully from the program. This enabled me to produce a 16 page booklet for this last project quite competently and without too many technical issues.

For this project I did some quite extensive research. I directly contacted companies for specific information, bypassing the internet as a gateway. This is an issue that I have fell down on previously, causing me to run into problems related to lack of research along a project. This extra research helped me to better define variables such as my audience, and also requirements such as expected level of design, etc.

One of my major weaknesses on this project was time management. Being such a long project, I easily lost track of time, where and when I should have had things completed in time. Though I like my final design, I think it is the backup work and the ongoing evaluation that has suffered as a cause of this. This is something that I do need to work on, while I am quite comfortable and focused on week or so projects, this sight is lost on lengthier briefs. Week plans and more committed timetabling on my behalf is what I need to address in the next module.

rrrollling!

so tomorrow is the start of the 22nd leeds international film festival and as per last year, still haven't got any tickets like i said i would and the festival is on for just less than 2weeks (4th-16th november). does anyone have any recommendations of films to watch? (leave me some suggestions in the comments below!) night of the dead sounds good but tickets have sold out...

leedsfilm

fear and loathing in steadmanvision.

at the moment i'm looking at gonzo journalism for critical studies, and i've been meaning to upload some of this fellow's stuff for a while so it only seems fitting to do it now.

ralph steadman is a british illustrator who is most known for the work he did with the good dr. hunter s. thompson. his artwork is (for me) the illustrative equivalent of hunter's writings, and himself as eccentric as thompson too - there was an apparent noted change in steadman's personality and work after befriending the dr. and engaging in his more influencing pastimes.

check his website out or head over to the britishcartoonarchive where they have over 100 of his scanned images up.

welcome back...

whoa, long break over the summer from blogging, need to get back on the wagon. check back for regular (hopefully) updates, with hopefully a whole wealth of interesting postings. also dudes, (is anyone actually reading this), where's the discourse? leave me some comments and i might even return the favor!

what is graphic design?

firstly, i'd like to start with...

what isn't graphic design?

well, this isn't:

though geek designery humour it is. so...

what is graphic design?

to me, graphic design is the process, is the art of communicating visually. be it image or type, posters or videos, hand or computer made. the list is near endless. so...

what separates design from art?

the age old question, and may many flame wars ensue. for me, it is not the content or the media used to create the work, it is the function and context. design, by definition has to have a real-world purpose to some extent. art is usually created for the artist's own wishes, whatever they may be. though the lines blur, for example designers creating personal work that has no function, and artists whose work may have a political or social impact, it is this fundamental difference that separates the two. what the initial intent of the work was.

you sick at photoshop

its that time again folks...

regular drill. check out some of their other shows over at mydamnchannel.

apple design chief talks!

shut up and listen. here's the man responsible for the creation of all those lovely white and aluminium boxes we know and love. jonathan ive - arguably one of the most influential people in design at the moment.

inspiring i guess. go and check out some of his work over at apple. (like you didn't already know where to go.)

words of advice

stuck? feeling lost? need a kick? then the following article is definitely worth a read (if your a design student). taken from core77 (the 'industrial design supersite', apparently) and written by allan chochinov.

i should probably take some of these points on board, though hypocrisy does have that warm fuzzy feeling...

have a gander at said article over here.

you got a big enough wall?

this ma-husive calendar was designed by the genius that is massimo vignelli way back when in 1966 and it's been a sellout since. the design has remained unchanged and can only be a testament to it's clean, simple design. timeless? most likely.

apparently it's so big that the pages can be recycled by using them as wrapping paper... hmm, i would of thought that would be reusing but whatever.

check more of this out at stendigcalendar to see the sheer scale of it (i've not a clue of the language, though if you hover of the blue dots you will get some shots of the beast) and to see more from the big man himself, head on over to vignelliassociates.

you suck at photoshops

time for more from donnie? me thinks so.


as per usual, more from this lot @ mydamnchannel. (chimone, if you haven't already, click it, these guys won 3 webbys for this series alone - it'll be worth it, i promise... sorta.)

spread the love...

...with tree-hugging cards! some more design mastery from bird and bee. this time, 2 cards, 1 for peace and 1 for love, with the word in question arranged in 100 different languages from around the world and in keeping with the theme of this, they're all printed on recycled paper and manufactured using wind power. to wrap this all up, a transparent envelope is provided to give the rest of the world a sneaky-peaky as it travels along her majesty's postal service.

great concept. great grid work. great set. great ethics. great design.

for more stuffs, head over to bird&bee.

lunar calendars

while we're on calendar design, i thought it'd be useful to bring up this one. produced by one of my former graphic teachers from my days at eccles college, ryan morley, and his design studio, bird and bee, these calendars track the stages of the moon throughout the year by use of a lunar wheel. printed as a wall poster and postable card.

as well as tracking the moon's journey through the skies, it also provides information on monthly moon phases, moon quarters, 'moonrise' time, moons rising sign, lunar and solar eclipses, solstices and equinoxes, sunrise and sunset times plus traditional pagan moon names and festivals - the latter of which seems quite interesting.

check more of his stuff out @ bird&bee.

it's raining, it's pouring (the old man is snoring)...

this is 'il pleut'. a french poem about the rain by apollinaire.

nope. i've not a clue what it says either, but it is a very nice piece of typography that really relates to it's subject. luckily some fellow named roger shattuck made a 'linear translation' of the poem:

it’s raining,

it’s raining women’s voices as if they had died even in memory,

and it’s raining you as well marvellous encounters of my life o little,

drops,

those rearing clouds begin to neigh a whole universe of auricular cities,

listen if it rains while regret and disdain weep to an ancient music,

listen to the bonds fall off which hold you above and below.

the old, handmade, typewriter-aligned feel gives the reader a real sense of the arbitrary, dripping patterns of rain on a window pane. a great example of how graphically descriptive of even the purest forms of typography can be.

tis always a bad day when one doesn't know what day it is...

calendars. some might say pretty boring but apparently it pays a pretty penny.

here is airside's annual calendar from 2004 till now. in classic airside fashion they're brightly coloured and highly illustrative. i really like how they have tried to deviate from the norm of the grid, but yet still kept the calendar functional and how they have tried (and succeeded) to do this in a unique way each year. i was a bit apprehensive about using a grid myself and have tried to do something different with it than the stereotypical 'box with dates'.

(click thumbnails to enlarge for your perusing pleasure.)

i guess you've already heard of these lot anyways, and if so, i'm sure you like their work. check more of it out over here. if you haven't, why the hell not?!

you suck it photoshop... #4

come on, come on, settle down and listen up... you might learn something.

mydamnchannel.

thou shalt always...

...kill. the ten commandments (a modern interpretation)

i saw this 'book' while in ok comics over the bank holiday weekend for fcbd. i kinda wanted to resist buying anything on free comic book day, i mean, yeh support the store, but on the only day of the year you can get them for free, why bother?! being only £1.50 and strangely intriguing in it's small, brown, wage slip envelope i thought it couldn't be any harm.

the little leaflet details ten new commandments which we all should try to do more often, revolving around helping other people and the environment. a very thought provoking little piece. the type work is nice and the images simple yet refined. bargain i say.

check out more of this fella's work over at newthink.

fcbd!

free comic book day 2008 occurred over this bank holiday weekend. an event that takes place every year to encourage people to get down to their local comic book stores. i am just getting into comics (and illustration for that matter) properly myself and so couldn't really pass up this opportunity. i somehow succeeded to get down to forbiddenplanet and okcomics in time on saturday and managed to bag myself 17 free books! pretty neat, the bag alone from ok comics makes it worth while.

hope to really enjoy reading these and get inspiration for starting to draw too.

check it freecomicbookday.

body copy?

[pun intended.]

sorry/bad idea.

sagmeister aiga conference poster.

touché to the 'vandals'

anything banksy can do, the national gallery can do better (apparently...)

over this bank holiday the cansfestival is happening in landan. a weekend long art exhibition celebrating stencil art. so it seems fitting to mention the grandtour project. set up by the national gallery, a possible backlash of sorts towards artists like banksy, self installing graffiti into prestigious galleries and juxtaposing other fine art like warhol's soup & monroe and monet's garden & sunflowers?

the grand tour project took reproductions of the old masters out into the streets of london, framed and hung. an interesting concept.

[photos from nationalgallery pdf.]

covered by the guardian. gallery here. 

no logo

in december 2006, sao paulo's mayor passed the 'clean city' law which effectively outlaws all billboards in the city. now the law has been enforced, the issues it raises, especially for graphic designers is certainly cause for debate and discussion.

couple of good articles over on adbusters, boingboing and businessweek (by creativereview's editor). flickr set with some amazing photos documenting the change over here.

ironically enough, murdoch's excuse for a broadcaster, sky used the situation to make an advert, explaining that they love movies so much, that they're not going to interrupt theirs with ads... srsly wtf?

whadda you lot think on this, comments?

you suck at photardshop... #3

yes. you do. and it's depressing. sort it. up this week, cloning.



hit it up. mydamnchannel.

liking this? giv'em some credit over at the webbyawards.

the motherland

i recently did my critical studies essay on socially, politically and culturally, powerful and changing graphic design. i decided to look at constructivism and its effects on the russian revolution. i wish i had this article then. alas, it is still an interesting read and has some amazing examples of early graphic design from the 1920's up until 1970. link to the article over on crestock after the jump. 

article here.

also, some links i found at the end of the article and from sifting through comments. a blog seeming to post a different soviet propaganda poster a day, here, and a russian site (in english too) cataloguing russian graphic design here.

kintography

kinetic typography. as showed to us by fred today. i've liked this piece for a long while and brought it into a couple of ppd sessions before now. REALLY wants to make me learn flash/after effects and final cut. whatever the hell was used.

by jarretmoody. hit the link and check more of his stuff out.

some more stuff by olivierbeaudoin entitled 'typolution'. very organic feel to this. seems to be done purely as an illustrative type project rather than worded expression of a film.

and just a bit of fear and loathing for good measure really..? (if you haven't seen this movie, watch it, now, do it now, stop whatever you are doing, and just watch it).

ENJOI.

the biz?

here's quite a cool idea for a business card,  a break-out lockpick set. two near identical designs, one for melvin.net and the other for kevin mitnick, both professional hackers come computer security experts. apparntly melvin.net had the orignal idea and was  adopted and changed (with permission of course) by mitnick for his own use.

shweet.

pocket rainbow

now i don't have a clue what the hell the text says from the site (it's in japanese), but i'm sure it says something along the lines of 'this book is definitely cool'.

check it out @ utrecht.jp

you suck at photoshop... #2!

still not learnt ps yet? and you call yourselves designers? shame. maybe donnie can help you out.

enjoy!

mydamnchannel.com

macca

though he can piss me off at times for unknown reasons, this is actually an amazingly animated itunes ad featuring sir paul. (memo to self: need to learn flash SOON...)


catchy song too (if you can stand the oooOOO). 

don't think you can go wrong with any of apple's ads.  check 'em out at apple.com

raise them on squash!

evidently it seems the big wigs at robinsons' have decided it's time for a makeover, and i'm sure with a campaign like this they've turned some heads over anyways.















pleasing, soft use of colour in both the print and tv ads makes these really appealing to me and i guess to their target audience (mothers/children). i really like the hand, print-made aesthetic too.

there's a nice enough website aswell, with a community/post images section too. kinda cool idea for the sort of product. some random shameless self-promotion by microsoft aswell. strange. link.

make my logo bigger cream! YESS!

dry, satirical, graphic design based humour - plus a designer's worst nightmare!



more at makemylogobiggercream.com

thanks to computer arts forums.

ecotonoha

speaking of leaves, here's an amazingly designed data visualisation app by the folks at nec. an attempt to go 'green' it appears. the audience is encouraged to add 'leaves' (messages) to the tree, and as it grows, nec will plant real trees... apparently.




live version here.

via visualcomplexity.com.

you suck at photoshop...

workshops? fuck them off, this guy knows where it's at. photoshop tutorials by donnie hoyle (he knows his shit).

via mydamnchannel.

a new leaf...

well i've been neglecting my blog. tut tut. no more! more frequent updating from this point on, plus backdating that should of been done!

(i don't like designing in a bubble)