Hasta La Ideas

A forthcoming London show features some great examples of 1960s and 70s Polish film and theatre poster design collected by archive and shop, Eye Sea Posters…

From October 19, a selection of posters will be shown in the Iluzjon exhibition at 18 Hewett Street in east London. The rare examples on display (and for sale) will include posters by Wiktor Górka, Waldemar Świerzy, Franciszek Starowieyski, Andrzej Krajewski, Jerzy Flisak, Maria Ihnatowicz, and Jan Młodozeniec.

Czarna Komedia by Franciszek Starowieyski, 1969

What typically makes Polish film and theatre posters of this time so distinctive is an avoidance of recognisable visual references from many of the films in question.

Under communism, Poland’s state run film and theatre organisations commissioned original works by poster artists, often rejecting the imagery that accompanied Western film promotion. As a direct result, however, these Polish artists created some of the most expressive and often surreal designs ever committed to poster form.

Presented by Protein, Iluzjon is on at 18 Hewett Street from October 19 to 29. Eye Sea Posters’ extensive archive of posters is at eyeseaposters.com. London-based artist and curator, Stanley Schtinter, will also be curating an evening dedicated to Polish cinema; while Protein will be hosting a Forum event that explores the history and influence of Polish poster and graphic design.

Budowniczy Solness by Waldemar Świerzy, 1971

Klute by Jan Młodozeniec, 1973

Harem by Andrzej Krajewski, 1971

Read our post from almost exactly a year ago when we first wrote about Eye Sea Posters and talked to founder James Dyer here.

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. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

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 to 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.

A former creative director of the Target retail chain is leading a rebrand of the San Francsico area Goodwill, the US social enterprise organisation which helps people back into work

Tim Murray was creative director at the Creative Vision Group at Target, but joined Goodwill in San Francisco in July 2011. “After many years convincing people to consume more stuff, I felt a need to address the environmental impact of my actions as a marketer,” he says of the decision. “By providing a second or third use for stylish stuff, Goodwill is one of the reasons the San Francisco Bay Area is one of America’s greenest and least wasteful regions.”

There are over 165 Goodwill chapters across North America, each operating semi-autonomously and most concentrating on running programmes which help the needy into work. Murray enlisted the help of illustrator and designer Craig Frazier to spruce up the San Francisco area chapter. “Its brand strategy and look had worn thin. It deserved design as iconic as Target’s, and that required strong creative partners,” Murray says. “In a year, we’ve repositioned and started re-skinning the brand from fleet to stores to site.”

“The big “G” logo, with its references to the recycling logo and its suggestion of personal uplift, was first developed around 2003,” Murray says. “I thought it was pretty genius. One of my first decisions upon arriving at Goodwill was to keep it, improve it, and use it big. (I came from Target, home of the bullseye. ‘nuf said.)”

Here’s the current Goodwill SF website

“A logo does not a brand make, so we set out to rebuild everything around it,” Muray says. “We started by establishing a new brand position – See the Good and Grow It – from which we could develop a new brand expression and related advertising.”

Goodwill operates a fleet of lorries which collect unwanted items from householders for resale in its shops. Those lorries used to look like this.

But now feature Frazier’s illustrations

In-store, the somewhat dowdy previous look

has been updated with Frazier’s illustrations and strong use of the logo.

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. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblemetric.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement sponsored by Tag celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

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 to 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.

The current issue of literary quarterly Granta features not just some fine writing but some beautiful illustration too, as does another Granta publication, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings

The Medicine issue of Granta uses illustration only rather than the magazine’s usual mix of illustration and photography. This work by Matthew Green introduces My Heart by Bosnian writer Semezdin Mehmedinovic

Granta’s artistic director Michael Salu illustrates The Perfect Code by Terrence Holt

Suzanne Rivecca’s Philanthropy is accompanied by this image from Sam Green

And Robert Hunter illustrates The Third Dumpster by Gish Jen

Daniela Silva was assistant designer on the issue.

Also from Granta, and similalry visually rich, is The Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Casper Henderson, a survey of some of the more exotic, weird and wonderful creatures of the world.

Taking its cues from medieval beastiaries, the book is richly illustrated by the Iranian artist Golbanou Moghaddas. Each chapter is introduced by an intricate and witty summation of its content

Moghaddas’s decorative type also features on the endpapers of this beautiful book designed by Michael Salu

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. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblematic.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

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 to 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.

In our October issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of sign painting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD

D&AD is 50 this year. Mark Bonner of GBH design looks back to the founding of the organisation, tracing its roots and interviewing the art directors and designers who came together to give British design and art direction a much-needed platform

In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden

Back to the magazine and a wonderful celebration of the art of sign painting thanks to a new book from Princeton Architectural Press. We have an extract and fantastic images

What is it about Riso printing that has made it so popular among designers, illustrators and artists? We trace the rise of Riso and profile three leading Riso presses – in Berlin, London and Glasgow.

In Crit this month, Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design

Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games

Gordon Comstock critiques new book, Goodvertising, featuring ads to make the world a better place

And Michael Evamy explores website emblematic.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”

And for subscribers only, this month’s Monograph features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

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 to 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.

Illustrator Marion Deuchars is following up her highly successful Let’s Make Some Great Art book with a new publication aimed at encouraging young artists to get messy. And it has a charming film to promote it

Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art will be published by Laurence King in October. “It’s for a slightly younger audience, but I wanted to show what was possible with one of the most basic forms of printing… your thumb!” Deuchars says. “Although fingerprinting is normally cartoony, I wanted to try and push this medium to show that it could be more sophisticated but at the same time very accessible.”

“It’s a very playful book,” Deuchars says. “I wanted to show how to create interesting characters but also learn some other art techniques alongside fingerprinting.”

As with Let’s Make Some Great Art, Deuchars has worked with Animade to create a film to promote the book.

Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art is priced £9.95

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. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
In our October print issue we have a major feature on the rise of Riso printing, celebrate the art of signwriting, examine the credentials of ‘Goodvertising’ and look back at the birth of D&AD. Rebecca Lynch reviews the Book of Books, a survey of 500 years of book design, Jeremy Leslie explains how the daily London 2012 magazine delivered all the news and stories of the Games and Michael Evamy explores website emblematic.com, offering “data-driven insights into logo design”. In addition to the issue this month, subscribers will receive a special 36-page supplement celebrating D&AD’s 50th with details of all those honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards plus pieces on this year’s Black Pencil and President’s Award-winners Derek Birdsall and Dan Wieden. And subscribers also receive Monograph which this month features Rian Hughes’ photographs of the unique lettering and illustration styles of British fairgrounds

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 to 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.