Apologies for being MIA. Been busy finishing up my final projects. Designing under stress can be so difficult…sometimes you just can’t force creativity. So I’m curious what you guys do when you’re frustrated with your designs and you feel that everything you create looks like poo. How should we de-funk ourselves?
In a funk
Milimbo Publishers
It’s a well known fact that we at GraphicHug love small press. Milimbo is a publisher out of Spain. They publish “books for little children and big children.” As an imprint they put out some immaculately designed books that would make Bruno Munari smile with joy. Even though most of their texts are in Spanish the products cross boundaries with superb visual storytelling. Support Small Press!
Sawdust
Rob Gonzalez and Jonathan Quainton come together as Sawdust. Their formal mastery forgives some of their triangle worship. Nonetheless it is some nice stuff.
Ryoichi Kurokawa
Ryoichi Kurokawa is an audio-visual artist based in Japan. He creates video installation and screening works, and also performs audio-visual live. Some of his performances are on Youtube too.
Archigram Archive
Every once in a while you stumble upon a website that demands a lot of attention. Sometimes it is an immersive flash site, sometimes it’s an obscure photo blog, and sometimes it’s a treasure trove archive of design. I have been a long time fan of the architecture collective Archigram, but access to their pleathora or revolutionary work has been sparse. This has been particularly true of their seminal magazine, which has been getting more and more underground exposure. The University of Westminster has put together this large online archive of the collective’s work. With the support of the Humanities Research Council and working with the archives of Dennis Crompton and Ron Herron they have done a superb job unlocking the mysteries of Archigram. Grab a brew and sit back for a long design drool session.
Type Together
There are some nice typefaces such as Rue Displa, Karmina, and Etica created by Veronika Burian and José Scaglione, Type Together. Veronika lives in Prague and José is in Argentina working together.
To Be Or Not To Be (We’re Talking About Gradients)
I remember around the time when I was a student, that being the early naughties, using gradients in any shape or form was like the visual equivalent of introducing the ‘C’ word into your day to day vocabulary. This brief article highlights some of today’s most well-known and innovative (arguably, in some cases) logo designs which helped to successfully abolished this taboo once and for all – starting with none other than the iconic Apple symbol. Personally I’m still on the fence with this one. What does everyone else think?
Old Boxing Posters
Just some fun visual research for everyone this Wednesday. It is pretty astounding how contemporary some of these posters feel. Big type is always a good call in my book. Keep it epic.
Nikolay Saveliev
Nikolay Saveliev‘s approach is a manifest of new-wave, mysticism, and a view of American pop-culture through Soviet-filtered telescope. Born in Leningrad, Russia and currently living in New York, he reinvents ways to produce great design with tangible, historic duality. Future Shipwreck spoke with him in a great interview here.
“Regular populism mixed with serious obscurity works for me”. // N. Saveliev
Kate MccGwire
These feather sculptures by Kate Mccgwire are pretty insane! You can read her interview over at Juxtapose magazine where she elaborates on the meaning of the feathers and how she utilizes them.