A 22 metre-long, hand-painted typographic mural in Walsall town centre combines wayfaring information and facts to tell the story of the West Midlands town in numbers
Manchester-based United Creatives worked with Urbed and the regeneration team at Walsall Council on the project which, according to United, covers a “previously dull stretch of concrete” on a shopping centre.
The consultancy says that “The new artwork aims to engender civic pride via a series of positive local facts” (such as Queen Elizabeth the First spending a night there). It also has a functional aspect, providing directions and walking times to local attractions such as Walsall’s arboretum.
The artwork was created using laser-cut stencils and micro-porous paint.
If the artwork is well received, it is hoped that it will be succeeded by a permanent, ceramic mural.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as a member of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and much more. Plus, Rick Poynor’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival, and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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.
Well, it’s over. The athletes have had their medals, but what about the creative industries’ contribution? Time to look back over the design and advertising highlights of the London 2012 Olympics
In the new spirit of post-2012 positivity (how long will that last, I wonder) I’m going to restrict this 2012 round-up to the success stories of 2012. So, who in the creative world had a good games?
Thomas Heatherwick From the moment it was lit to its last flicker, Heatherwick Studio’s cauldron was an absolute star of the Games. Conceptually brilliant and utterly beautiful it was one of the most succesful examples of an ambition among the Games’ organisers to reinvent the familiar elements of the Olympics – from the logo to the opening ceremony to the approach to venues. It hasn’t attracted much comment as yet but one of the best things about London 2012 was this desire to question the way in which these things have been done in the past and try to take a new approach to them. It didn’t always work but the Cauldron (of which more here) was a triumph. And, like all the best parties, the guests get to take a bit home with them.
Barber Osgerby Recognisably part of the 2012 look but with a beauty all its own, the 2012 Torch was an undoubted success. It was criticised in some quarters for not having an obvious cultural or historic reference to London or the UK in the way that the torches for Beijing and Athens did but this was very much in line with LOCOG’s overall determination to avoid cliché.
Danny Boyle Bonkers and brilliant, the Opening Ceremony was far better than anybody expected. Just how hard it is to make something like this truly engaging and original was, unfortunately, illustrated by the Closing Ceremony.
Crystal CG and Tait Technologies One of the highlights of Danny Boyle’s spectacular was the animated graphics created by LOCOG and Crystal CG. Which leads us to another great 2012 innovation – the use of 70,500 LED Pixel Tablets designed by Tait Technologies. Each one featured nine pixels arranged in a square. Over 70 minutes of animation was created to run on the system by Crystal CG for the Opening Ceremony, with more for the Closing Ceremony plus the two Paralympics ceremonies. Crystal was briefed by Danny Boyle to try to bring the audience in the stadium into the show, which it did spectacularly.
The organisers’ approach of treating each session of the Games as some kind of TV light entertainment show wasn’t to all tastes but we were particularly struck by the use of the big screens. We posted here about the various elements employed, from the informational to the inspirational (again by Crystal CG and LOCOG’s in-house team) but probably the best piece we saw was the Tron-inspired, Chemical Brothers soundtracked animation that introduced the action in the Velodrome (above).
Sarah Price and the planting team Yes, the venues in the Olympic Park were spectacular and innovative (particularly the temporary elements) but while they have been extensively praised elsewhere we want to put in a word for the planting. As with many new-build sites, the Olympic Park could have been a bit bleak. All those hard edges were smoothed considerably by the beautiful and imaginative planting all around the site. We’re not exactly expert gardeners here at CR but there’s a good interview with the principal designer on the project, Sarah Price, on the Telegraph site here).
Bob Ellis Created by Bob Ellis Equestrian Services, the showjumping fences in Greenwich were an unexpected pleasure, typical of 2012’s innovative approach. We had a London bus, Tower Bridge (sketch shown above, see all of them here), an Abbey Road tribute, Charles Darwin, the Penny Black and even (in a brilliantly Spinal Tap moment) a mini Stonehenge.
Sid Lee Our current issue has a great (though we do say it ourselves) piece by Eliza on whether or not sponsoring the Olympics is a huge waste of time and money for brands. Adidas evidentally thinks it’s worthwhile as it is one of the official partners. In the past, its campaigns, not just for the Olympics but also for the World Cup for which it is also an official sponsor, have not always been up to the mark creatively but Sid Lee’s Take The Stage work was refreshingly different (see our original post here). We particularly liked the clean photographic approach to press and poster, its illustrated Metro wraps (produced with Church of London) and its joyous Team GB sign off. However…
Nike Nike seems to have done it again with most people apparently believing that it and not Adidas was an Olympic sponsor, something that Nike has managed to pull off at most big international sporting events in recent memory. A major help was the Volt line of shoes whose fluorescent yellow form stood out in every event. What also helped was the curious habit of so many Nike-sponsored athletes of taking off said shoes as soon as their event was over and the cameras were on them, and draping the shoes over their shoulders in a highly visible manner. Coincidence? Or maybe the shoes were just really uncomfortable and they couldn’t wait to take them off?
BMW While other brands were firmly excluded from the venues, BMW managed cunningly to infiltrate the stadium via its remote controlled Minis, used to retrieve the javelins, discuses and hammers hurled therein and via the vehicles used in the Closing Ceremony (Rolls Royce being owned by the BMW group now). By the way, there’s a nice Guardian interview with a young volunteer who had one of the plum jobs of the Games – driving one of the remote controlled Minis, here.
Team GB branding While sales of official 2012 merchandise have reportedly disappointed, items featuring the Team GB logo (created by Antidote) seem to have been much more popular. Certainly when visiting the Olympic Park last week, the Team GB logo was far more evident on clothing and bags than the 2012 one. Of course, some of this will be due to Brits wanting to support their team, but it may also be due to the relative aesthetic appeal of the two logos.
Channel 4 While all the focus has been on the Olympics, Channel 4 has reminded us that the Paralympics are still to come with a wonderful piece of filmmaking by director Tom Tagholm (see our post here) and a cheeky press and poster campaign.
The ‘Look’team The logo is still unloved by many, but the way the 2012 look was created and applied across the Olympic Park, London and all over the UK, with the cooperation of local authorities, the GLA, TFL, sponsors etc, was unprecedented (for much more detail on this, see our post here and exclusive interview with LOCOG’s marketing chief Greg Nugent here). We were promised a brand and not just a logo, a comprehensive visual experience to an extent not seen in previous Games. Futurebrand and LOCOG (building on Wolff Olins’ original work and using Gareth Hague’s typeface) along with architectural partners Surface Architects, delivered just that. Now they have to do it all over again for the Paralympics.
Wolff Olins I was in the US for the first half of the Olympics. Watching their TV coverage and reading the local papers, what came through was a sense of London and the UK as a place of innovation, humour, self-deprecation and an endearing kind of wackiness. There was much talk of how Britons had softened their ‘stiff upper lip’ and how open and friendly everyone was. These are ‘brand values’ to die for. Wolff Olins has to take a lot of credit here. In our current issue, in Adrian Shaughnessy’s piece, WO’s Brian Boylan and ex-creative director Patrick Cox talk for the first time about what they originally presented to LOCOG for 2012 and their ambitions for the brand. London was not going to follow the clichéd Olympics model: the desire to treat all aspects of the Games as never before springs from this initial work. So we have Wolff Olins to thank, at least in part, for some of the best things about the Games – the Opening Ceremony, for the venues, for the volunteers, even down to one of the last acts of 2012, turning a Heathrow car park into a special terminal for departing athletes. The impetus for all this came from the brand that Wolff Olins created for 2012. Too much emphasis has been placed on the aesthetic appeal (or lack thereof) of the logo (incidentally our current issue has a fascinating image from the sketchbook of designer Luke Gifford showing the logo’s development, which has never been published before). As I wrote in my intro to this month’s issue, I still can’t bring myself to love it and I do think that the goals of 2012 could have been achieved with something more appealing, but I absolutely admire the thinking behind what WO did for 2012. They set in motion, from the very beginning, a principle that London would reinvent what it means to host an Olympic Games. That principle succeeded brilliantly.
There were lots of other things to admire at London 2012 – the venue architecture, the art in the Olympic Park (the Orbit excepted), the Swiss team’s rather nice use of Helvetica. Let us know your personal favourites below.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as a member of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and much more. Plus, Rick Poynor’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival, and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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.
Designer Jon Daniel created the new identity for last weekend’s Brixton Splash festival, alongside street banners (above) and a gallery of ‘Jamaicons’ posters to celebrate the 50th anniverary of the country’s independence…
The Brixton Splash free street festival took place on Sunday August 5 and featured a rebranded logo from Daniel (on banner, above), who used the Jamaican motto, ‘Out of Many, One People’ as a theme to reflect the country’s fifty years of independence.
The rebrand included the new logo applied on all related festival material, with superlite posters sited across the Lambeth area of south London and street banners hung throughout Brixton high street. Daniel also made a series of poster artworks celebrating ‘Jamaicons’.
These graphic artworks are currently being shown on the side of the famous Ritzy Picturehouse cinema – the first time that the institution has allowed their ‘picture wall’ to be used in this way since it was launched four years ago.
Figures illusrated on the ‘Jamaicons’ wall include Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Linton Johnson, Michael Holding, Merlene Ottey, Mary Seacole, Queen Nanny, Grace Jones and, of course, Usain Bolt (above), who went on to celebrate victory in the Olympic 100m during the evening of the festival.
All photography by Martha Love. More of Daniel’s work at jon-daniel.com.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as a member of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and much more. Plus, Rick Poynor’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival, and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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.
D&AD’s Black Pencil. Not easy to get one. But here’s a teaser for a forthcoming behind the scenes film which will apparently shed light on what happens in the judging room…
Produced for D&AD by Ridley Scott Associates and directed by Trevor Melvin, the film will reveal the discussion processes, the arguments, the yays and nays (and by the looks of this the swears), which go into deciding the design and advertising work that will scoop D&AD’s top prize.
It’s no doubt a fair stab at opening up the D&AD judging process a bit, the element in any awards ceremony that is routinely conducted behind closed doors.
Whether any of the remarks featured in the above clip will actually be attributed to particular pieces of work remains to be seen. The full 13 minute behind the scenes film launches on dandad.org/#blackpencilfilm next week.
Do you excel at explaining phenomena ranging from plate tectonics to nuclear fission using only a pen and a dinner napkin? Doodle double helices—and their accompanying nucleotides? Then listen up, because the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland is looking for a new visual Einstein to join the energetic bunch of scientists, educators, graphic designers, film producers, and writers that comprise its Educational Resources Group, which develops multimedia content aimed primarily at high school and college audiences. Need you be able to tell xylem from phloem, ventricles from atria, a chupacabra from an exasperated kangaroo? Probably not, but be ready to wow them with your “outstanding sense of graphic design” and “demonstrated interest and skills in the visual presentation of scientific concepts.” Don’t forget to balance your equation.
Detail from poster for Stacked, Eindhoven by Letman (see below), 2010
Letman aka Job Wouters is a master of the hand-crafted decorative letter, and his first book is a celebration of the beauty of putting pen and ink to paper…
The cover of Letman: The Artwork and Lettering of Job Wouters boldy announces the penmanship of the artist in three highly stylised calligraphic words: ‘Well well well’.
If the tone is one of setting up a point to be proven, the 160-page book (published by Gestalten) succeeds in affirming why Wouters is one of the most engaging graphic artists and hand-letterers working today.
Left: Proef de Czaar Peter poster for MRKMLN, Amsterdam. Collaboration with Yvo Sprey. A2, offset print. 2008. Right: Welcome to Detroit: poster for MRKMLN, Amsterdam. Collaboration with Yvo Sprey. A2, offset print. 2008
There are hundreds of projects here from magazine and book covers to prints and posters, even a menswear collection for Dries van Noten, where Letman reworked a series of letters as a print pattern for shirts and jackets.
It’s lovely stuff: physical and inky-fingered work that you can really savour on the page. Plenty more at letman.com and the Letman book is available from Gestalten; £27.50.
Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime menswear collection for Dries van Noten
Left: The Last King of Scotland. Book cover for The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden, published by Faber & Faber, UK. 14 × 22 cm, offset print. 2010. Right: This Is History Not Rock ‘n‘ Roll: cover for Amsterdam Weekly, Amsterdam. 30 × 30 cm, rotation print. 2007.
Detail from This Is History Not Rock ‘n‘ Roll
Part of a still life series of typographic sketches. Photography by Qiu Yang. Commissioned by It’s Nice That magazine, London. 2011
Letman at work on wall lettering and artwork for launch of the A/W 2012-2013 Dries van Noten menswear collection
Ten years since we first followed his adventures in an eponymously titled illustrated tome, Kid Acne‘s hip hop-loving Zebra Face character is back, this time in a series of animated adventures which will air on Channel 4 from tonight…
As in the original cult comic book, Zebra Face gets into scrapes with various friends whilst listening to as much hip hop as possible – only now the characters are in glorious technicolour and brought to life by the voices of an impressive cast of UK hip hop artists including Lady Chann, Juice Aleem, Infinite Livez, Taskforce, Farma G and Kid Acne himself. Listen out for Jarvis Cocker as the narrator / sun character too in this trailer:
Cloud Trouble is the first of five episodes created by Universal Spirits and directed by Paul Reardon of Sheffield design duo Peter and Paul. It is set to air tonight at five minutes past midnight on Channel 4, as part of its Random Acts strand of programming. Once aired, the episodes will be available to watch online at randomacts.channel4.com.
Fans of Zebra Face can find him on Facebook and, but of course, follow him on Twitter.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as amember of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and more.
Plus, Rick Poyner’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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.
Launching this September, OFF LIFE is a new comics anthology that will be distributed in shops, bars and galleries in London and Bristol. If you’re interested in contributing work to the publication, read on…
Editor Daniel Humphry is on the look out for comic book stories from “up-and-coming and indie talent” to feature in OFF LIFE, which will initially be published every two months.
“The aim,” says Humphry, “is to provide a platform for new talent while opening comics up to a larger audience. There is no set genre for OFF LIFE, though we are looking for stories that have something to say for themselves. Whether that be about politics, society or first dates is totally up to the creator, and we’re open to it all.”
OFF LIFE won’t be able to pay for contributions, but all revenue generated from advertising featured in the anthology will, says Humphry, go back into printing the issues. Contact details for each artist will be published alongside each comic (and each piece of work included remains the intellectual property of the artist).
The deadline for issue one submissions is August 24, but OFF LIFE will continue to accept submissions for its second issue beyond that date. For those not living in distribution areas there will also be a high quality digital version of each issue placed free on the OFF LIFE website on the same day as print distribution.
To submit work for consideration artists must have a 1-5 page, preferably completed, story. Be sure to include your name, story title and contact info (website/Twitter) as you would like it to appear with your work. All submissions and submissions queries to info@offlife.co.uk with the subject heading ‘SUBMISSIONS’.
Featured artwork: Loud Neighbour by Will Elliot (art) and Daniel Humphry (words), set to appear in issue one of OFF LIFE.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as amember of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and more.
Plus, Rick Poyner’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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&P were briefed to create bold graphic materials that would get the attention of the attending politicians, policy makers and world leaders during the lunch break at the Westminster summit, and communicate to them some of the facts and figures that The Girl Effect organisation is set up to tackle.
“We worked with Ben Gallgher at the Nike Foundation,” explains A&P’s Matthew Jones, “and the brief was to bring the focus onto family planning for the youth sector.
The Girl Effect gave us reams of data which we distilled down to 12 key data points [about how giving girls and women in the world’s poorest communities access to education and also modern contraception can have a huge impact on the economic potential of the countries they live in]. We then designed a series of data visuals for each of our 12 chosen hard hitting facts which were screen printed onto newsprint in fluoro colours at K2. These were flyposted around the venue’s lunch area.”
As well as the flyposters, A&P also created physical data pieces including one which involved hundreds of dollar bills pinned to a wall and spray painted with the message that preventing a teen pregnancy costs $17 a year and saves $235 a year.
Plus the studio created a photo booth where delegates could hold up a printed pledge relating to the campaign.
There was also an A2 folded data sheet (printed by PUSH) that contained the key infographics and messages:
Of course, how much effect A&P’s graphic work had on the delegates can’t be measured, but by the end of the one-day summit, over $2.6 billion had been committed to provide access to contraception to 120 million girls and women in the world’s poorest countries by 2020.
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 The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as amember of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and more.
Plus, Rick Poyner’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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.
Berlin’s leading design book shop welcomes world renowned illustrator Olaf Hajek and more
As ardent readers of Gestalten‘s stellar art and design books, we’ve been wanting to visit their storefront, Gestalten Space, ever since it opened last year in Berlin. Tucked away in a cobblestone alley in Mitte, Gestalten Space sells the imprint’s own publications along with a well curated selection of covetable design objects, while the exhibition space in back allows for an expansion to the work of the artists and designers they publish. Demonstrating a wide scope, in April they exhibited photographs from Jorg Bruggemann’s book “Metalheads,” followed by a selection of the best new Japanese communication design from the Tokyo Art Directors Club.
Right now Gestalten is celebrating “Black Antoinette,” their second monograph by illustrator Olaf Hajek, with an exhibition that runs through July. A collection of Hajek’s work from the past three years including editorial contracts, commercial portraits and personal pieces, “Black Antoinette” continues Hajek’s visual language of colorful botanical headdresses and folkloric influences with a distinct handmade, tactile quality akin to woodblock, not seen is most contemporary illustration. The look stems from the fact that Hajek never starts his work on the computer, but with paint on paper, wood or gray board. He does use a scanner, but only to send his work to clients—never as part of his illustration process.
The new book sets itself apart from Hajek’s previous publications with a style that has become more “free and painterly,” as Gestalten puts it, and less committed to absolute perfection. “Hajek masterfully melds influences from West African and Latin American art to create surreal juxtapositions of fairy tale fantasies and disordered realities. His magical realism enriches the perspective of anyone viewing his work,” and, we’d like to add, allows him to masterfully tread the fine line between commercial illustration and fine art.”
“Black Antoinette” runs through 29 July 2012 at Gestalten Space, where you can also buy the book. Copies will be available in the US within the coming months.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Do you excel at explaining phenomena ranging from plate tectonics to nuclear fission using only a pen and a dinner napkin? Doodle double helices—and their accompanying nucleotides? Then listen up, because the 
