Hasta La Ideas

The Truth About Sex (Die Wahreheit Über Sex), 2008, created for Neon Magazine

Berlin-based illustrator Sarah Illenberger‘s work invariably incorporate food, wool, vegetables, car tyres, and other everyday objects. In fact, it would seem that there’s no materials Illenberger won’t use in her work. However, looking through CR’s review copy of publisher Gestalten‘s new book of her work, it is her visualisation of various statistics, created for editorial and advertising commissions, that we wanted to share the most…

Above left: How often do you masturbate per month? Above right: How Would you describe your sexual orientation? Both of these illustrations were also created for Neon’s The Truth About Sex feature, 2008, as were the following sex-themed illustrations:

The above spread and below page show stats illustrated for Neon magazine’s Big Eco-Survey (Die Grosse Öko-Umfrage), 2007

Above: Bread Lines (Hartes Brot In Zeiten Von Harz IV), 2010 for Hinz & Kunzt magazine

Above: Ads from a campaign for PSC (Socialist’s Party of Catalonia), 2010

The above and below spreads show illustrated stats originally created for Neon magazine’s How Are We Doing – The Big Survey (Wie Geht Es Uns Denn So – Die Grosse Umfrage), 2005

Sarah Illenberger (Gestalten, £17.50) is a hardback, 128 page book dedicated to showcasing Illenberger’s work – it will be available to buy next month from shop.gestalten.com. Gestalten is also hosting a solo show of Illenberger’s artwork at it’s Berlin offices at Sphienstrasse 21 until September 11. For full details and opening times, visit gestalten.com/space

To see more of Illenberger’s work, check out her site at sarahillenberger.com

Julie Felix at the Albert Hall silkscreen, April 1968, (shown left); The Soft Machine Turns On (right)

Artist Nigel Waymouth‘s mind expanding poster work of the 1960s is set to fill the Idea Generation Gallery in the retrospective, Hapshash Takes A Trip, in London next month

Waymouth formed the creative partnership, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, with fellow designer Michael English and the studio went on to create some of the high points of British psychedelia in their work for events and concerts, in particular for the famous UFO Club in London.

5th Dimension silkscreen, 1967 (left); Save Earth Now silkscreen, 1967 (right)

The pair met in 1966 when both were involved in creating murals for shops. English was working on the shopfront of Hung On You, while Waymouth was creating the exterior art for his boutique Granny Takes A Trip, on London’s Kings Road, which he had opened with artists John Pearse and Sheila Cohen.

A year later Hapshash was formed.

The Who – I Can See for Miles, 1967

Joe Boyd, owner of the UFO Club, acknowledged the example being set in San Francisco where clubs and venues would commission artists to make posters for upcoming gigs; the screenprints were also frequently given away to audience members on the night.

The Move at the Marquee Club in London silkscreen

Many of the posters were designed to be largely illegible to those not prepared to stand and read them – thus the artists could get away with including explicit elements, subversive codes and messages.

This of course carried within it an implicit feature of the modern rock poster: if you can’t decipher it, it’s probably not for you.

Tomorrow: My White Bicycles silkscreen, 1967 (left); Crazy World of Arthur Brown silkscreen, 1967 (right)

The Idea Generation show, entitled Hapshash Takes A Trip, will incorporate several pieces from Waymouth’s own archives and, in addition to the Hapshash posters, will feature original acetates, drawings, album covers, photographs and mementos.

The exhibition opens on September 9 and runs until October 2 at the Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance Street, London E2 7JB. More at ideageneration.co.uk.

Manchester-based Music has just completed the rebranding of Chester Zoo. The new brand identity centres on a bespoke handdrawn typeface and logotype, created in collaboration with illustrator Adam Hayes. Music also worked with copywriter Mike Reed to develop a distinctive and playful tone of voice for the brand…

This is Chester Zoo’s new logo, which exists in two forms, seen above and below

The new Chester Zoo type family contains four weights to increase flexibility of usage:

And, to maintain the illusion of brand literature being written by hand, there are a number of contextual alternates built in to the typeface…

There are also a number of alternate characters available in each weight of the Chester Zoo typeface which have suitably animal-themed decorations:

As befitting any rigorous branding programme, Music has created a colour palatte

And there are also a number of stand alone animal illustrations, all created by Hayes, that can be used as and where necessary – such as the new map of the Zoo:

“The new brand centres on a personality and voice rooted in the work of those who make Chester Zoo what it is, encompassing their passion, integrity and knowledge,” says Music’s Anthony Smith who worked on the project with Craig Oldham. “Add to this the license for creative expression in how the font works and is applied – and the zoo has the means ot make a powerful impact and really stand out in a competitive sector,” he continues, “by telling their story in a very natural and genuine way.”

Music has created a wide range of the zoo’s new marketing materials, as well as its site map and signage – plus the identity for The Act for Wildlife campaign that the zoo has also just launched (the homepage of actforwildlife.org.uk shown below). Music is now working with Chester Zoo on updating its website, incorporating the new look.

Two new releases from Nobrow, YCN’s latest quarterly Ideas Illustrated journal, a V&A book entitled The Power of Making, Google’s latest Think publication, plus an encyclopedia of 8-bit computer game villains courtesy of GameSpite. Yup, it’s something of a bumper edition of our regular Nice Publications post…

First up is Luke Pearson‘s graphic novella, Everything We Miss, published by Nobrow. Printed in 3 spot colours, the hardback A5 book’s 38 pages follow the final, painful days of a couple’s doomed relationship – but illustrates all the things that might be happening around the central and peripheral characters when they’re not looking or paying attention. It’s beautifully observed and drawn, and darkly engaging.

Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson (£12), is available from nobrow.net

Also fresh from Nobrow, Forming is a larger book in every way. The oversize A4, 122 page hardback is actually the first part in an ongoing saga (there will be three books in total) by Philadelphia-based illustrator Jesse Moynihan that charts a fictional, psuedo-mythological history of planet Earth in which gods, giants, humans and interplanetary assassin droids slug it out in a new, irreverent look at how our universe, planet, and belief systems were formed over several millennia. Moynihan has actually been revealing the Forming story, page by page, on his website since early 2009, but this is the first time it has been printed…

Forming, Vol.1 (£18) is available from nobrow.net

It’s called Ideas Illustrated and it’s an apt title. There’s some great illustration in YCN‘s latest quarerly edition by the likes of Jean Jullien, Martin Nicolausson, Jacqueline Ford and plenty more. Written contributions come from Sir John Hegarty (BBH), Mark Borkowski (Borkowski PR), Tom Uglow (European CD of Google and YouTube) and more. Here are some spreads:

To get hold of a copy of Ideas Illustrated (£5), visit the YCN store online at shop.ycnonline.com

Also making great use of illustration is Google’s latest issue of Think Quarterly, the Innovation Issue – edited and designed by The Church of London. Written contributors include Google’s own president of advertising, Susan Wojicki, Ogilvy’s head of planning, Russell Davies, Nike’s Hannah Jones (vice president of sustainable business and innovation), and interior designer Kursty Groves. Illustration contributions come from Mitch Blunt, Robert Hanson, Steve Wilson, Noma Bar, and Gary Taxali.

Lift Think Quarterly out of its box to find there are some fridge-style word magnets. It didn’t take long to find they ‘stick’ to the front cover.

More about this issue of Think Quarterly at thinkwithgoogle.co.uk/quarterly/innovation

The Power of Making (September 6 – January 2 2012) is the second V&A and Crafts Council triennial exhibition and this book of the same name (cover shown above), edited by Daniel Charny, contains essays by Daniel Miller, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Martina Margetts, Ele Carpenter, and Bruce Sterling. It also showcases a host of works from the exhibition. Designed by Oscar & Ewen. Here are some spreads.

We were also sent the latest issue of GameSpite Quarterly, a magazine devoted to all things computer game related. Issue 7 is called the Encyclopedia of 8-Bit Villains and, well, that’s exactly what it is. From Abobo (Double Dragon) through to Zoda (StarTropics) they’re all here. Well known villains such as Atari’s Asteroids, and Nintendo’s Bowser and Donkey Kong are all written up, along with lesser known baddies such as Namco’s Biggy Man (from Splatterhouse released in 1988) and Goruza from 1990 game release, XEXYZ. This encyclopedia of video game nasties even has entries for Gravity which, according to this tome, made its first appearance as an obstacle to overcome in a video game in Steve Russell’s 1962  Spacewar! game. Also worthy of its own entry is the dreaded Edge Of The Screen – a classic gaming glitch that has plagued the hardiest of gamers since time immemorial (well, since about 1971). Here are some spreads:

To order a copy of GameSpite Quarterly (issue 3 is an encyclopedia of 8-bit heroes) head over to gamespite.net. Paperback issues will cost you $14 while hardback editions will set you back $38 a piece.

Fans of Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster series will be delighted to hear that he has created an app, which allows users to create their own monsters…

The Daily Monster series began after Bucher set himself a task to draw a monster a day for 100 days. He filmed each drawing, and over the course of the project taught himself to animate the monsters. The first film is shown below, to view the others visit dailymonster.com.

Each monster begins with Bucher blowing ink across the page, so appropriately enough this is how the Monster Maker app starts too, as the images below demonstrate.

You can then draw on the image and add eyes, arms and legs etc via the ‘parts’ tab.

Here’s a monster I made earlier. Her name is Doris. Hello Doris.

If your monster-making should go awry, there is also the option to get an instant monster by pressing a big red button.

The app allows you to save any monsters you make, and also place your monsters into photographs. These can be new photos taken with your phone or iPad, or you can choose a photo from your library and put a monster into that.

The Daily Monster Monster Maker app is available for the iPhone, iTouch or iPad and is 69p or 99c. Download it from the iTunes store here.

CR in Print

Don’t miss out – there’s nothing like CR in print. Our August Summer Reading issue contains our pick of some of our favourite writing on advertising, illustration and graphic design as well as a profile of Marion Deuchars plus pieces on the Vorticists, Total Design, LA Noire and much more.

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 hereand save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.