Hasta La Ideas

It was on screen for just a second. But there it was in red on white. During the coverage of space tourist Dennis Tito’s announcement to take a ship to Mars and back, the above graphic leapt out at me. Could the NASA ‘worm’ be coming back into service?

I’m a big fan of NASA’s ex-logotype (I would stitch it onto my pyjamas if I could), so I was more than a little excited to see this pumpkin-like rendered space craft bearing a reworking of the 1970s classic in the middle of Tito’s Inspiration Mars presentation.

While it said “MARS” not “NASA” that meant, on the plus side, two new letterforms! But while the “M” looked spot on, the “R”, well, I wasn’t entirely convinced by that tail (shouldn’t it link with the “S”? Too much?).

So I emailed Richard Danne who was design director of the NASA program in 1975. His partner Bruce Blackburn, at Danne & Blackburn, designed the logo (which incidentally came high in our April 2011 issue on the top 20 logos of all time, and will feature in a forthcoming expanded book version). Danne said he hadn’t seen the new Mars logotype, but found it “quite fascinating”.

He added that many other companies had been inspired by the logo after it was introduced in the mid-70s, such as the car manufacturer, Saturn. “Considering everything, this is about as good a ‘lift’ as I’ve seen,” he says of the Mars iteration. “And if ‘imitation is the most sincere form of flattery’ then this is well done and OK!”

I think he’s right, it does look great – just as the original NASA worm did in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, having replaced the ‘meatball‘ of 1959, you know, that “amateurish mess” (Michael Bierut) that was reawakened by NASA administrator Dan Goldin in 1992. The purpose of the worm in the first place was to give people something that looked like it belonged in the future.

And herein lies my worry. Tito’s mission may well be a billionaire-funded private enterprise; but it’s not a NASA operation, so the agency may have grounds to object to a spin-off of its design glories of the past.

We shall see if the space tourist’s plans work out and, indeed, if he is even able to use the logotype on his Mars mission. There are hints at potential involvement from the space agency on the Inspiration Mars website. If true, I’ll certainly be watching from 2018 onwards to see if the worm can make it out of the Earth’s atmosphere once again.

CR in print
The March issue of CR magazine celebrates 150 years of the London Underground. In it we introduce a new book by Mark Ovenden, which is the first study of all aspects of the tube’s design evolution; we ask Harry Beck authority, Ken Garland, what he makes of a new tube map concept by Mark Noad; we investigate the enduring appeal of Edward Johnston’s eponymous typeface; Michael Evamy reports on the design story of world-famous roundel; we look at the London Transport Museum’s new exhibition of 150 key posters from its archive; we explore the rich history of platform art, and also the Underground’s communications and advertising, past and present. Plus, we talk to London Transport Museum’s head of trading about TfL’s approach to brand licensing and merchandising. In Crit, Rick Poynor reviews Branding Terror, a book about terrorist logos, while Paul Belford looks at how a 1980 ad managed to do away with everything bar a product demo. Finally, Daniel Benneworth-Grey reflects on the merits on working home alone. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

Designed to resemble an ingot of gold, the third book in Victionary‘s Palette series (which collate design projects that utilise a particular approach to colour) just landed on my desk: Gold & Silver, New Metallic Graphics…

Regular CR blog readers might have seen our posts on the first two books in the series, first Black & White: New Monochrome Graphics and also  Multicolour: New Rainbow Hued Graphics. Now the third in the series gathers together projects from designers and studios around the globe that turn to metallic finishes and print processes to achieve their allure. Here’s a look inside:

Alt Group‘s designs for awards and award certificates for the Designers Instituted of New Zealand

Although it’s not mentioned in the accompanying text, the Bape Archives book, designed last year by Tokyo-based groovisions, (shown, above right and also below) looks like it was the inspiration for the design approach to Victionary’s new tome

Above, SEA‘s design of the GF Smith Master Selector boxes (which housed booklets that guide users through the paper selection process) includes a super high quality silver foil finish

Gold card stock and foilblocking onto matt black paper qualified Nelson Associates work for Argyll to be included

Who can resist the charms of a debossed and gold foilblocked card? Nendesign created the above Christmas card for Marc Jacobs Japan

Base Design in Brussels created the identity and packaging for local biscuit bakers, Maison Dandoy, which features gold spots

And rightfully included are Coralie Bickford-Smith‘s beautifully foiled dust jackets for Penguin’s series of F. Scott Fitzgerald books

Studio NEWWORK‘s invites to IDEEËN’s AW 09 fall collection

Industrial designer Tomas Kral takes fairly ordinary bottles and jars and makes them beautiful by applying gold plate

And Lomography released a series of Gold Edition cameras

Good to see Leeds design agency Golden included on the strength of their suitably golden self-promotional work

Chocolate wrapped in gold: Rice Creative‘s packaging for Marou Chocolate is a joy to behold

Also included are some truly spectactular furniture from Studio Job‘s Robber Baron series

Gold & Silver, Metalic Graphics ($40) is available to buy direct from victionary.com.

CR in print
The March issue of CR magazine celebrates 150 years of the London Underground. In it we introduce a new book by Mark Ovenden, which is the first study of all aspects of the tube’s design evolution; we ask Harry Beck authority, Ken Garland, what he makes of a new tube map concept by Mark Noad; we investigate the enduring appeal of Edward Johnston’s eponymous typeface; Michael Evamy reports on the design story of world-famous roundel; we look at the London Transport Museum’s new exhibition of 150 key posters from its archive; we explore the rich history of platform art, and also the Underground’s communications and advertising, past and present. Plus, we talk to London Transport Museum’s head of trading about TfL’s approach to brand licensing and merchandising. In Crit, Rick Poynor reviews Branding Terror, a book about terrorist logos, while Paul Belford looks at how a 1980 ad managed to do away with everything bar a product demo. Finally, Daniel Benneworth-Grey reflects on the merits on working home alone. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

By 2014, Manchester’s famous Cornerhouse centre and Library Theatre Company will be based in their new, aptly named site, HOME. But the nascent arts organisation already has a new identity system, courtesy of Glasgow’s O Street studio…

The designers worked with Manchester’s Creative Concern to create the identity for the new centre, which will open in its new building designed by Mecanoo and _space architecture in just over a year’s time.

The Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre Company were officially brought together in April 2012, as the Greater Manchester Arts Centre Ltd, but both identities and names will remain in place until HOME is adopted at the new site.

O Street developed a logotype and a bespoke typeface for HOME – the images shown here will, say the designers, “be used to inform the applications across environmental, digital and printed collateral”.

As Design Week reported in May last year, Creative Concern were brought in to work on the branding strategy, while O Street were chosen to work on the various creative elements.

Among them are ideas for how display type might be worked across various applications; in some instances, creating new words out of other words – a play on the unfixed nature of the letterforms. The display font features a pair of screw holes on each letter suggesting that they can be fixed and then repositioned accordingly.

Cornerhouse say that HOME will “produce the best in contemporary theatre, visual art and film, learning and participation, creative industries and digital innovation”.

CR in print
The March issue of CR magazine celebrates 150 years of the London Underground. In it we introduce a new book by Mark Ovenden, which is the first study of all aspects of the tube’s design evolution; we ask Harry Beck authority, Ken Garland, what he makes of a new tube map concept by Mark Noad; we investigate the enduring appeal of Edward Johnston’s eponymous typeface; Michael Evamy reports on the design story of world-famous roundel; we look at the London Transport Museum’s new exhibition of 150 key posters from its archive; we explore the rich history of platform art, and also the Underground’s communications and advertising, past and present. Plus, we talk to London Transport Museum’s head of trading about TfL’s approach to brand licensing and merchandising. In Crit, Rick Poynor reviews Branding Terror, a book about terrorist logos, while Paul Belford looks at how a 1980 ad managed to do away with everything bar a product demo. Finally, Daniel Benneworth-Grey reflects on the merits on working home alone. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

Alexander Chen combines music, coding and design to create charming interactive experiences, one of which turned the New York Subway system into a musical instrument

CR is at the Design Indaba conference In Cape Town this week in and we’ll be reporting back from some of the most interesting talks. A Day 1 highlight was definitely Alexander Chen.

Alexander Chen speaking at Design Indaba in Cape Town

Perhaps one of his best-known projects is Conductor which translates the movements of NY subway trains into music (after doing our special issue on the tube, seems like every where we turn at the moment were seeing underground-related stuff!). Chen discovered a database of the departure times of subway trains online. He combined this with code he had written for earlier projects to set up a system whereby departing trains trace their route in the style of Massimo Vignelli’s subway map. As they intersect with another train, they ‘play’ a note. The whole thing (which you can watch here) plays through an accelerated loop, switching at 6pm to a black background.

Chen showed a number of music-related projects which start with a simple line. Baroque, for example, visualises Bach’s cello compositions:

This experimentation eventually led to the hugely popular Google Les Paul Doodle, which Chen created in collaboration with his colleagues at Google Creative Lab in New York where he is now based.

Chen is now working on the team developing Google Glass, which is beginning to look like this:

See more of his work here

CR in print
The March issue of CR magazine celebrates 150 years of the London Underground. In it we introduce a new book by Mark Ovenden, which is the first study of all aspects of the tube’s design evolution; we ask Harry Beck authority, Ken Garland, what he makes of a new tube map concept by Mark Noad; we investigate the enduring appeal of Edward Johnston’s eponymous typeface; Michael Evamy reports on the design story of world-famous roundel; we look at the London Transport Museum’s new exhibition of 150 key posters from its archive; we explore the rich history of platform art, and also the Underground’s communications and advertising, past and present. Plus, we talk to London Transport Museum’s head of trading about TfL’s approach to brand licensing and merchandising. In Crit, Rick Poynor reviews Branding Terror, a book about terrorist logos, while Paul Belford looks at how a 1980 ad managed to do away with everything bar a product demo. Finally, Daniel Benneworth-Grey reflects on the merits on working home alone. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

They’re used to creating magazine and album covers but now Angelique Piliere and Lee Owens (aka illustration duo Revenge Is Sweet) have set up their own luxury silk scarf label called Jour Blanc…

As well as designing a collection of scarves adorned with their graphic illustrations, the duo also created the brand identity, packaging and website. We caught up with Piliere and Owens to find out a little more about the venture…

Creative Review: What led you to start making beautiful silk scarves?

Lee Owens: We’ve always been trying to apply our graphics/illustrations to diverse mediums. We started screen printing posters a couple of years ago, as well as wallpaper and a big mirror for our Pick Me Up show. We’ve actually been wanting to do scarves for a while as we always thought our graphic work could fit well with this medium.

CR: Tell us about the name and the approach to the identity.

Angelique Piliere: Jour Blanc means ‘white day’ in French. This is generally referring to a weather condition where everything is white, the horizon disappears completely and there are no reference points. It is a really strange experience in which all senses of perception are lost. We both liked the poetic meaning to that name and also the more scientific approach, which we explored through the visual identity.

Above: Screengrab from the Jour Blanc website

CR: This is, I’d imagine, an image maker’s dream – to create your own product / brand. Did you get any advice before doing this or did you just decide to do it? How did you find a manufacturer to work with?

AP: Yes, it’s something we’re really excited about and no, we didn’t get any advice about the project, we just decided to try making some beautiful scarves and see what would happen. In terms of finding a manufacturer, Lyon has been renowned for silk manufacturing for a very long time, since the 16th century, in fact. I am from Lyon so it made sense to get the scarves produced there.

CR: How many different designs are there in your debut collection?

LO: At the moment there are five scarves in the collection, but we’re already thinking of new designs for a future collection.

CR: You also art directed a photographic campaign for the launch of the first collection, tell us about that.

AP: The photographer, Fred Mortagne, is a friend of ours so the shoot took place at his house in Lyon, France, the city where all the scarves are made. Funnily enough, the house used to be a silk workshop many years ago. We wanted the photographs to reflect the idea of being in a white/ foggy environment but we also wanted to be a bit abstract using the colours from the scarves to create various textures and layers.

See more at jour-blanc.com

And to see more of Revenge is Sweet’s illustration work, visit breedlondon.com.

CR in print
The March issue of CR magazine celebrates 150 years of the London Underground. In it we introduce a new book by Mark Ovenden, which is the first study of all aspects of the tube’s design evolution; we ask Harry Beck authority, Ken Garland, what he makes of a new tube map concept by Mark Noad; we investigate the enduring appeal of Edward Johnston’s eponymous typeface; Michael Evamy reports on the design story of world-famous roundel; we look at the London Transport Museum’s new exhibition of 150 key posters from its archive; we explore the rich history of platform art, and also the Underground’s communications and advertising, past and present. Plus, we talk to London Transport Museum’s head of trading about TfL’s approach to brand licensing and merchandising. In Crit, Rick Poynor reviews Branding Terror, a book about terrorist logos, while Paul Belford looks at how a 1980 ad managed to do away with everything bar a product demo. Finally, Daniel Benneworth-Grey reflects on the merits on working home alone. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.