Feb 22

Pentagram puts the world back together for IDA

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The International Design Alliance has unveiled a new logo for its IDA Congress, a modified version of Pangaea courtesy of Pentagram…

According to the IDA the design is “an artistic restructuring of Pangaea”, the theory of “entire Earth” where, around 300m years ago, the world’s continents originated as a single land mass.

The above graphic is thus composed of silhouettes of all the inhabited continents (shown below), from which the IDA and its partner organisations (Icsid, Icograda and the IFI) draws its members.

While they’ve permitted some artistic licence here, had the designers opted for what is thought to be the actual shape of Pangaea (with the east coast of South America slotting neatly up against western Africa) the result, a rather blobby letter ‘C’, would no doubt have proved somewhat less suggestive of world unity.

Pentagram’s take enables the continents to be much more easily identified – at a larger scale at least – by keeping the recognisable country outlines visible (though I still can’t find India).

When used at a reduced size, the shape becomes more abstract of course, but the studio’s plan is that it remain flexible. The logo can apparently house the name of the particular country and year where each Congress is set to take place, while a system for “showcasing the unique attributes and culture of the host city” has also been created by Pentagram. This presumably would mean incorporating other graphic elements into the shape. The next IDA Congress is in Istanbul in Turkey from November 17 2013 so the design will no doubt get a proper run out in preparation for that.

As an aside, our abilitity to recognise the countries of the world by their shape and, in particluar, the rendering of Europe in the new logo reminded me of Slartibartfast’s coastline design skills as demonstrated in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

He was particularly proud of his work on the Norwegian coast – its sequence of fjords even won him a prestigious planetary design award. And you can just make them out on Pentagram’s design, too.

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Feb 21

Food for Thought

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As part of the New Windows on Willesden Green project, where designers are paired with local shops in an attempt to help revive the area, Robin Howie designed a series of Thinker Stools for the London suburb’s Food for Thought cafe…

Making reference to the cafe’s name – and to Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker – Howie selected a series of quotes to be laser-etched (by Nirvana CPH) onto the Tom Dixon-designed stools, featuring pearls of wisdom from the Dalai Lama, Albert Einstein and Miss Piggy.

Howie was commissioned for The Architecture Foundation as part of the Willesden Windows initiative which has brought 25 shopkeeper/designer partnerships to the Willesden Green area in Brent, London. The project is funded by the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund and Brent Council.

“The Architecture Foundation paired me with a cafe called Food for Thought to see what could be done with a small budget,” says Howie.

“I worked to create a more engaging window display and more flexible seating plan for the cafe. Taking inspiration from their name I designed the bespoke Thinker Stools and a window display that acts as a community engagement board featuring revolving questions each month that customers can ponder over and share their responses to as part of the display.

“The nice surprise for me was how receptive and open Mauro and Lu from Food for Thought were to everything,” he says. “When I first presented to them it seemed to remind them of all the things they wanted to do with the cafe when starting out, which was really lovely to see.”

Full details of the ongoing New Windows on Willesden Green initiative at willesdenwindows.com. The campaign is set to run until March. More of Howie’s work is at robinhowie.co.uk.

“The cafe has this nice quiet environment where you can get a bit lost in your thoughts,” says Howie. “I thought it would be great to accentuate this and provide a bit of a catalyst. The quotes are a mix, sourced by myself, Mauro and Lu.”

Mauro, one of the Food for Thought cafe’s owners, adopts the Rodin position

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Feb 20

A Novel Way to Waste Time

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YurkoGutsulyak-TrashCalendar-0.jpg

This design by Ukrainian graphic designer Yurko Gutsulyak was a promotional piece for his eponymous studio for the last calendar year, but it’s certainly worth another look. The “Trash Calendar” is essentially a 365-day calendar that’s been reimagined as a roll of trash bags:

Every calendar day is a new trash bag. Every month is a roll of 31, 30 or 28 trash bags. The Calendar consists of 12 rolls and is divided into 4 quarterly sets with 3 months-rolls. The date is printed on every bag so that you can see it when the bag is placed into the trash bin.

We created this calendar like self-promotion of our studio. Main message is that design is worthwhile. Design should surround us every time and everywhere. And if design is based on a good idea, it really works and has power to influence people and their activity. Design defines modernity.

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The text on the packaging reads:

All graphic design products ultimately end up in trash. And many more ideas remain just ideas. We believe that the design idea in each project should have the power to act and be effective during its short life. Only this way design really matters. Only when we create ideas that are able to change the world our life matters. Then, we do not regret a day, as we did not waste it.

YurkoGutsulyak-TrashCalendar-2.jpg

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Feb 16

Unusual music formats of the month

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It would appear that packaging your album or music release in a jewel case just isn’t the done thing in 2012 (hooray!). Here are some new music packages (from Kindness, Anxieteam, and DJ Food) that disregard music packaging convention…

We recently received what we assumed was a 12″ vinyl release from Kindness (aka Adam Bainbridge). However, inside the 12″ sleeve there was no vinyl disc. Instead we discovered a 12″ booklet that contained no words but rather a photograph (each taken by Bainbridge himself, mostly of himself) tipped on to the cover and each right hand page:

A CD containing Kindness’ debut album, entitled World, You Need A Change of Mind, is housed in a sleeve on the inside back cover of the booklet:

Photographer: Adam Bainbridge. Except colour photographs: Matt Tong. B&W Prints: Robin Bell. Art Direction: Adam Bainbridge & This Is Real Art. Label: Wynacom

Anxieteam’s I Think I Miss You release is even more unusual in that it contains no disc whatsoever. Instead it takes the form of a book of 22 postcards…

Inside the front cover of the book of postcards the four tracks of Anxieteam’s I Think I Miss You EP are listed. To get the tunes, the proud owner of the booklet simply goes to the Hello Thor label website and enters their own unique download code. Both the artwork the music is by Anxieteam’s Jim Avignon and Jon Burgerman – both illustrators in their own right. Here are some of the postcards from the release:

Each postcard sports a free download link for the I Think I Miss You track, meaning friends can be sent a postcard and a piece of music all at the same time. The release is available from label Hello thor’s website: hellothor.com

DJ Food’s latest release, The Search Engine initially started out as a trilogy of EPs that would be collected as an album under the title Stolen Moments. Now the project has reached an album format, but not as originally planned – only ten of the fifteen tracks that appeared on the three EPs appear on the album, entitled, The Search Engine, and one special version of the album (shown above) takes the form of a limeted edition 46 page, undersize A4 book of artwork, song lyrics, photographs and illustration.

The book includes a removable transparent vinyl acetate containing a bonus 11th track entitled Discovery Workshop, and the album itself is included on a CD that is housed in a sleeve tipped-on to the inside back cover. Here are some spreads:

All the illustration is by Henry Flint, a comic book artist known for his work on 2000AD, with the cover featuring an astronaut with an enormous back pack. The photography in the book is by Will Cooper-Mitchell and features shots of DJ Food’s Strictly Kev in a replica astronaut suit. Design: Openmind. Label: Ninja Tune.

 

 

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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Feb 16

Evidently’s studio supergraphic

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Inspired, they tell us, by Unit Editions’ Supergraphics book, design studio Evidently has created its own 2.2 x 2.75 metre, eye-popping ‘supergraphic’ using approximately 600 metres of yellow and white electrical tape…

Designed by Evidently’s Jack Plant and constructed by Plant along with colleagues Tom Browning, Kate Skinner and Anne Doerenbecherthe, the graphic piece began as lots of evenly spaced strips of yellow tape applied to a blank expanse of studio wall space. Then, by applying yellow and white tape on top of the base layer of stripes at intersecting, 90 degree angles, the studio’s name has been created. Don’t stare too long though – it may hurt your eyes!

Here’s a making-of film documenting the process by Rob McDougal:

Evidently Supergraphics from Evidently on Vimeo.

“It was really fun to do,” says Browning of the project. “We travelled approximately 500 vertical metres in the awesome cherry-picker we hired and used 30 rolls of electrical tape in the production of the piece.”

evidently.com

Further reading: CR subscribers can read The Original Supergraphiste, our feature looking at Barbara Stauffacher Solomon’s pioneering large-scale graphic work from the late 1960s which helped transform modern architectural and design practice

 

 

 

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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Feb 14

Brevia Consulting brand identity

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Creative consultancy Figtree has completely rebranded PoliticsDirect from its name through its brand identity. As a result the public affairs consulting service (now called Brevia Consulting) sports a clean, no-nonsense identity, and a set of unique icons drawn by illustrator Chris Gray…

The identity (website screengrab, above) follows a branding review by Figtree that took place over a five month period. Figtree’s research found that PoliticsDirect had a name that no longer clearly defined what it actually did, but that it had a reputation for being “straight-talking, considered, quick and precise.” It’s this insight that informed the change of name to Brevia Consulting, and which also informed the straight-forward, black and white graphic approach to the identity.

“We wanted to create a set of icons that felt intelligent, sophisticated and ownble,” says Figtree’s Melanie Townsend of the 20 icons created specially for Brevia’s new identity system. “There are lots of icons out there and we wanted to try our best to make them look different. Our approach was to try and put a certain level of detail in them using keylines, though we had to ensure they would work at small scale as well as larger.”

“Chris came in to be briefed after we identified what areas we needed icons for,” explains Townsend of the icon-creating process. “We chatted about what the icons could be at that point and then he went away to craft them. On certain icons he had free reign to come up with ideas, but some we had already agreed how they would look i n our briefing. It was then a process of him emailing me with the options and working together to get them just as we wanted.”

See more of the work at brevia.co.uk

figtreenetwork.com

 

 

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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Feb 14

A (Belated) Selection of Valentine’s Cards for Designers

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Most of the world has pretty straightforward choices for their loved ones: a cheesy greeting card, a box of chocolates, a bouquet of roses and a nice dinner. But it’s our job as designers to be innovators, to buck the trend, to chart new territory, right?

Thank goodness for designer-y Valentine’s cards for the creatives in your life. Here are three of my favorites:

SnuggleSutra.jpg

Snuggle Sutra: Just started dating? Still in that awkward phase of the relationship and not ready for the commitment of passionate love making? Behold the Snuggle Sutra, a set of PG-13 cards with classic snuggle positions like the Spork ("Half spoon, half fork–best of both worlds") and the stretched out Superman.

QRValentine.jpg

Make it Yourself QR Valentine’s: Fire up the studio’s laser cutter and get your lover a hot QR code for Valentine’s Day. This code can be printed and then cut out for some steamy smartphone action. For bonus points, use an X-acto blade and a ruler and map out your own code using a custom code generator like QRhacker.

LetterpressValentinesCards.jpg

Letterpress Valentine’s Day Cards: And for the typography nerd in all of us, there’s the letterpress Valentine’s Day card set. Bathe in the font of TrueType love with such clever hits as "You’re Just My Type" and "You Make Me Happy When Skies Are #CCCCCC." Because nothing gets the heart pumping like a partner who knows an em dash from an en.

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Feb 14

Jamie Hewlett designs new Absolut London bottle

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Absolut has launched a limited-edition, London-themed bottle, featuring a unique design by Jamie Hewlett.

Hewlett’s design is a take on London’s style and fashion pioneers over the past 200 years. Set against a familiar London backdrop, featuring iconic buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Gherkin, the illustration features seven characters, including the 18th century dandy, the pinstripe gent, 60s chick, punk and 80s casual.

The Absolut London edition will go on sale at Selfridges and Harvey Nichols in the city on March 1 (retailing at £20.99). Absolut is also offering people the chance to win one of 50 bottles in a competition held via Instagram. More details are online at facebook.com/absolutuk.

 

 

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK,you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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Feb 10

Worldstudio’s Mark Randall on Social Design, Woodsy the Owl, and Making an Impact

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Can design change the world? Of course. The challenging part is figuring out how to best harness the power of design to make a difference, for clients and causes alike. A pioneer of this tricky, potent, you-know-it-when-you-see-it combination of design thinking and social entrepreneurship has been Worldstudio, the New York-based marketing and design agency that specializes in creating and implementing programs for corporate clients that support their social responsibility platforms. Between projects for the likes of Adobe and The Metropolitan Opera, Worldstudio principal Mark Randall co-founded (with Steven Heller) Impact! Design for Social Change, a six-week summer intensive at the School of Visual Arts that is now in its third year. Meanwhile, interest in the field of design for social impact is surging, and as Randall and friends gear up for a March 1 panel at SVA on the social design job market (a taped webcast will be posted online following the event), we asked him to tell us more about how good design can do good.

How do you define “social design”?
This is a great question, and one that the design community is slowly defining. In the broadest sense, social design uses design thinking and creativity to improve the human condition and to ensure a sustainable future for us all. A social design approach can be applied to a wide range of areas; non-profits and NGOs, civic design, corporate social responsibility, as well as social enterprise and social entrepreneurship.

Was there a particular project or point in your career that got you interested in social design, or was it an area that you gravitated to more gradually?
As a kid growing up in the 1970′s I was engaged by the ecology movement and Woodsy the Owl—”Give a Hoot! Don’t Pollute!” In 1993, David Sterling, who at the time was a partner in the legendary firm Doublespace, approached me to design a logo for a concept business that he was developing. He wanted to create a design studio that incorporated a social agenda into the work that was done on a daily basis. His ideas were unformed at the time, and as we worked on the identity together we discovered that we viewed the world—and design—in much the same way. Our conversations helped to shape what the business could and ultimately would be. Instead of being his designer I became his business partner. David left the business almost ten years ago, but I have continued the work that we do with a great group of collaborators.
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Feb 10

OFFSET 2012

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This is the view that awaits the likes of Paula Scher and Michael Bierut from Pentagram, Kyle Cooper, Stefan Sagmeister, Seymour Chwast, Erik Kessels, Friends With You, Johnny Kelly, Matt Clark from UVA, Eike Konig of Hort, and Shepard Fairey – all of whom are set to deliver talks at this year’s OFFSET festival in Dublin…

Once again the conference will take place over three days from March 9-11 in the 2,000-capacity Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin’s docklands where a hugely impressive line up of international designers and image makers will take to the stage and discuss their work.

For a full list of speakers and to see the just-announced schedule of events, visit iloveoffset.com/schedule

As well as full three-day conference tickets. therehere are a limited number of day tickets (150 available each day). To find out more visit iloveoffset.com.

 

 

 

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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