January 2012
44 posts
Famous Photogs Pose With Their Most Iconic Images →
wired.com
I love the juxtaposition in many of these pictures. Seeing the ‘man behind the lens’ brought forward into the picture is quite fun.
My Personal Fave:
Yes, yes the dance pic played a factor, but mostly I’m enamored with the composition of this photo. I love how seamlessly the photographer’s body is overlapped by her picture. The scale and proportion are perfect and the contrast between her tattooed, urban slightly masculine look against the highly feminine classic pink ballet outfit is striking.
An Anatomy of Uncriticism
In short, I love this article! I mean love and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety. One of the things that frustrates me in general about the evolution of American culture over the last 10-20 years is that we incessantly have to ‘be nice.’ Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for civility, but I’m as baffled as the author about when a polite objection or disagreement, especially about an intellectual concept like design, become a horrific faux pas.
Why can’t we be adults and remove our emotional investment into ideas in order to debate their merits? Is it hard? Yes. But does it have the potential to teach us more about ourselves as both designers and individuals thus making our work better? Yes. I understand how emotionally invested and inherently personal a design can become. It is after all an expression of creativity, intellect, yourself, or some combination thereof, but I think the author summed it up best with her reference to a quote by Massimo Vignelli,
“The main function of criticism is not that of providing flattering or denigrating review but that of providing creative interpretations of the work, period or theory being analyzed. Graphic design will not be a profession until we have criticism.”
So if you’re a creative ‘professional’, can you really afford to not have criticism as part of your industry? Personally, I don’t think so. As design becomes a greater part of our cultural ethos, wouldn’t you like to encourage and teach the rest of the 90% or more of non-designers the difference between good and bad design? If only, so that you’re not embarrassed by some of the schlock that gets passed off under the heading of design? More importantly, if design wants to be taken seriously by society, it can’t afford to be that cliched art critic that talks in terms the common man doesn’t understand and then mocks. Design is a powerful tool that has the potential to do a lot of good in our ever increasing media and technology influenced society. We shouldn’t set it up to be trivialized.
“Alice Twemlow, the chair of the design- criticism M.F.A. program at the School of Visual Arts, argued that criticism does the most good when it moves from talking about design to talking about society and the world. But that’s exactly where I see the gap. “
Read more at PrintMag.com: An Anatomy of Uncriticism
Are You A Comic Sans Criminal? →
comicsanscriminal.com
Fantastic little overview of the history of Comic Sans, as well as a pointed reminder that not all fonts work for all messages.
The right typographic choice is far more important than most non-designers realize, which is why there are so many options. The expertise and knowledge of the intent and perception of a font is just one of the skills a good designer brings to the table that has a tremendous impact in the success of a design, but that a client rarely understands. This is one of the many reasons you should consider paying for good design.
How would you make your office or studio more creative? →
eightyonedesign.co.uk
Personally, I like lots of natural light with a bring the outdoors in feel, but also bold colors and fun graphics. In translation, mostly white walls with lots of windows and then craziness with the art and decor.
Oh and biggest pet peeve of cubicle nation, actual walls. No more being startled every time someone walks up behind you and clears their throat to get your attention.
What’s your wishlist?
How would you improve your graphic design studio or office?
Just lately, we have been wondering how we could improve our graphic design studio to make it a more creative workspace. Whether it means adding a huge mural on the wall or simply designing some graphic art, we feel it could do with a bit of a change. After all, an extravagant and funky working space should give you an extra boost of inspiration! This led me to start looking at unusual and creative offices. Here are a few offices and creative spaces that take that concept to the extreme:
Google Offices
Pixar Offices
Three Rings Design Offices
Nike Offices
Red Bull Offices
ILSE Media Offices
Cartoon Network
Lego offices
Ogilvy Offices
Selgas Cano
So if you could add anything to your graphic design studio or office, what would it be? Would it be something crazy like a slide or something a bit more subtle?
Posted by Lu
30 Cups of Coffee for 30 Days
I’m a print and science nerd so I love 3D printing projects. When they have lovely design values and could be considered art, all the better.
I recently discovered this project, which has apparently been around a while. Called “A Cup A Day”, it’s a design project aiming to redesign the basic coffee cup once a day for a month. Each cup designed is available for sale. Some of them are pretty cool. Check it out here.
Double Espresso Cup
Tub Cup
Cupcake Cup
