The Print Directory is now up and running at theprintdirectory.com.au.
This is a really great resource for designers or anyone interested in printing, binding and finishing services. It’s also a really great resource for students because there are featured articles on printing and finishing methods, demystifying processes such as foiling or letterpress (the two topics covered so far).
TPD is a free resource connecting Australian printers to designers, artists and publishers. The website aims to streamline the process of supplier selection by listing printers on the directory and highlighting their capabilities.
It looks like the site will be continually updated with information and listings, so it’s definitely one to bookmark.
This morning I was completely captivated by the work of Adam Simpson. I spotted his book cover for Sunnyside by Glen David Gold yesterday, and promptly noted his name down. Lucky I did, the rest of his work is spectacular.
Sunnyside book cover
I love the isometrics, imagination and masterful typography. Lots of tiny nooks and crannies in which tiny visual surprises are hiding.
A little more on Adam, from his website:
Adam Simpson graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2004 with a First Class Honours degree in Illustration. In the same year he moved to London to study at the Royal College of Art, where he began a Masters degree in Communication Art and Design.
His work encompasses design, animation and illustration - always with a strong emphasis on drawing.
Adam has contributed to major exhibitions and book fairs in London, Edinburgh and Bologna as well as numerous Japanese art museums.
‘Boundaries’ Commissioned by Conran and Partners, 2008
Extracts from ‘Let us cultivate the garden’ - a typographic book (2006)
‘Imagination Building’ from Wallpaper magazine, 2009
Visit Adam’s website for more fantastic work: http://www.adsimpson.com/
This morning I am really enjoying the work of Cristiana Couceiro. There is also an interview with Cristiana over at Untrendy Graphics Blogzine that is worth a read.
Via the wonderful Beyond the Pixels blog.
SPAM! We have all seen it, ignored it, deleted it, perhaps despised it. But sometimes it might just be worth hanging onto and glorifying. Alternatively, continue to ignore it and just enjoy the work of others who have done the glorification for you.
You may wish to go ahead and purchase yourself a copy of Linzie Hunter’s Spam Project; a book of 30 hand-lettered postcards based on the subject lines of spam emails.
Brisbane-based design collective Inkahoots have also take a similar idea and turned it into the wonderful work below. I am particularly interested in 19th century design devices and embellishments at the moment (like folded ribbons and fancy borders), so I am especially fond of the way the spam text is incorporated into this.
© Inkahoots (no title) from Tasmanian type mag Typotastic (Issue 4)
Visit Linzie’s website for more of her work.
For more information on Inkahoots, see interview in Issue 4 of Typotastic (available at artsy/designy bookshops) or visit their website.
Today I saw this lovely piece of work for Madam Madsen by Tim Bjørn whilst reading the selective and inspiring blog designworklife.
This made me think of other inspiring work I have been seeing lately that use pattern in a similar way. Firstly, it reminded me of Jessica Hische, (previously featured) and her wonderfully intricate embellishments, and secondly of the wonderful Marian Bantjes’ complex, highly resolved work.
Jessica Hische
Marian Bantjes’ Restraint typeface
And thirdly, it reminded me of the Kolam patterns that I also saw very recently on the equally wonderful BibliOdyssey.
Kolam (as it is known in Kerala and Tamilnadu) is form of sandpainting using rice powder that is traditionally practised by female members of the family outside the home. They are thought to bring prosperity to the home.
Images from BibliOdyssey
According to Bibbi Forsman:
“The basic pattern is a mathematical construction of beauty, one single line with no beginning and no end.”
Images — Bibbi Forsman
There’s such a rhythm and balance to these patterns and designs, and I love the craft and the mathematics involved in its traditional practise.
A few other delightful aspects of Kolam:
“Through the day, the drawings get walked on, rained out, or blown around in the wind; new ones are made the next day. Every morning before sunrise, the floor is cleaned with water, the universal purifier, and the muddy floor is swept well for an even surface.”
And my favourite:
“In olden days, kolams used to be drawn in coarse rice flour, so that the ants don’t have to work so hard for a meal. The rice powder is said to invite birds and other small critters to eat it, thus inviting other beings into one’s home and everyday life: a daily tribute to harmonious co-existence.”
(both—Wikipedia)
These characteristics of the practise reminded me of part of an essay by Ros Moriarty called Interpreting Visual Language: Aboriginal Australia (in Open Manifesto 2, 2005). Moriarty explains that the Indigenous Australian mark-making process similarly rejects the idea of art as precious, and immediately after being made a mark will naturally start to deteriorate and disappear.
“The diametric opposition between Indigenous and Western approaches to art, applies equally to signage. While a Western artist might often create a work to hang in a permanent location, to be reviewed and assessed, judged and acclaimed, the immediacy of Indigenous art making has no such aspirations. Whether gouged from rock on an inaccessible cliff face, scattered in ochre on the ceremony ground, or slathered in river clay on an initiate’s body, patterns and symbols are about the meaning of the moment. Their spontaneous beauty lacks artifice or self-interest. The very act of their creation is to pass knowledge, re-enact process, ensure meaning will pass to each new generation.”
When I was busy spending more money than I had in MagNation the other week, this copy of Voiceworks caught my eye—not least because of its use of my favourite colour.
The design is striking, the typography is inventive. It was glossy and neat and flat. I immediately had to have it, though I had no idea what the magazine was or what it contained. Further inspection revealed that it contained new writing (laid out wonderfully) by young Australians — fantastic.
- Cover of Voiceworks, Designed by Aaron Moodie
The inside cover revealed Aaron Moodie was responsible for the design and so off I went on a tiny key-tapping research mission.
His website reveals that he is a Graphic Designer with 8 years’ experience but has “an interest in pretty much anything that involves making things”. He has worked on everything from magazines to typefaces, books to logos, websites to interfaces.
- Page from Sneaker Freaker, designed by Aaron
- Aaron’s Walrus Typeface
He has also worked on quite a few websites, including one for The Pond, a summer pop-up bar from Pure Blonde beer. Sadly it appears that I missed his first exhibition of artworks by the Platform Artists Group in the Majorca Cases last month (Centre Place, Melbourne).
- PSP Rhythm logo
- PSP Rhythm
Aaron has a diverse and impressive body of work. He’s prolific and consistently inventive in his approach, especially when it comes to web design. Check out aaronmoodie.com, and you can also follow Aaron on twitter and check out his Flickr page.
All images © Aaron Moodie.
Recently I’ve been observing a graphic trend of packaging and design that evoke a sense of old medical labels and classification. Personally I am quite a fan.
Glenrothes Whisky, via Lovely Package
Old Malt Cask liquor, via Lovely Package. Not a fan of some of the typefaces on here though, hand lettering might have been better
This one is my favourite, Karlsson’s Vodka, also via Lovely Package.
Incidentally I also love the logo. This is loto packaging, designed by Arutza Onzaga, P576
I really enjoy the idea of applying these aesthetics and principles to other objects, and I think that Jessica Hische’s book cover design below seems to convey a sense of the old, the medical and the organisational.. and it works really well.
Budapest book cover © Jessica Hische
I am nearly finished my uni work for another semester — only 1.5 left forever. Part of my work this semester was a studio shoot of a deck of cards that I produced for Melbourne Museum’s The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth exhibition, which is incidentally very good and I highly recommend checking it out if you are in Melbourne.
My outcome is a promotional deck with one topic per letter from A–Z on the mind and its history.
And with that, I’m off to finish the rest.
I had to share Wiley Valentine’s photographs of this wonderful Anthropologie catalogue by Hatch Show Print.
I love overprinting!
Blanca Gomez is an illustrator living and working in Madrid. She has been featured heavily around the internet lately and I really love her work, so at the risk of being a bit of a Reblogger, I thought I’d pull it all together and post on it anyway, even if it’s just for my benefit.
UPPERCASE Magazine
Blanca recently illustrated the cover for UPPERCASE (‘a magazine for the creative and curious’), the cover of which features the delightful typeface Mary Read by Melle Diete (along the bottom) that I cooed over recently.
The UPPERCASE blog is worth following as well, and the online store is full of wonders.
Moo Print
Blanca has designed many cards for online print company Moo (currently only operating in the USA and UK).
Images taken from Moo
Image taken from Blanca’s site Cosas Mínimas
Etsy
Blanca also sells her delightful illustrations as cards, prints and other goodies in an Etsy store.
Images taken from Etsy
Design*Sponge Sneak Peek
Blanca’s Madrid home was also recently featured on Design*Sponge. See all the photos (many more than I have reproduced here) over at the original feature.
Images taken from Design*Sponge
Blanca’s Sites
And finally, of course I must mention Blanca’s website Cosas Mínimas where you can see a full catalog of her work, her Flickr page and her Blog which she helpfully writes each post in Spanish and English.
Images from Cosas Mínimas — more delights designed by Blanca
Hofstede design were established in 1996, and their office is located in leafy Prahran in Melbourne. They specialise in environmental, publication and identity design.
Their Talking & Teaching Type poster (below) for Tobias Frere-Jones’ Melbourne visit caught my eye this morning as I browsed through TypeNeu.
I particularly enjoy the way a collection of artifacts that use Hoefler & Frere-Jones Typefaces are laid out and photographed for the reverse of the poster:
Front of poster
They also developed a nice environmental design strategy and rebranding of an outer suburban Melbourne shopping centre.. though I am not too sure about the strong presence of black on the exterior and then the use of navy + yellow.
They have also produced some impressively designed publications and books.
For Design Students
Hofstede offer an internship program with a minimum 4 week placement and a ‘modest stipend’ is provided. See details here.
Ma + Chr is a French design duo of Mathilde Aubier + Christine Delaquaize.
According to their website, they like “little dogs, riding bicycles and decorating”.
I thoroughly enjoyed my little visit to their site this morning, not least because I can’t even remember how I got there. Here is a selection of their work that I loved:
A work from their January 2009 Exhibition “Logs & Little Dogs”
Posters for Mace Parties (with Genkk)
Work for Diptyque Paris
Mask designs for the Festival Calvi on the Rocks 2008 (love the dog + tiny fox!)
Highly amusing artworks
Some more works from their January 2009 Exhibition “Logs & Little Dogs”
See more for yourself at Ma-Chr.com or their Flickr page.
As Einstein once said
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
Go Glamping are using a graphic that looks suspiciously like one I saw a while ago for Kiki Post.
I remember the Kiki Post one because I loved it so much at the time. I wonder if the two have anything to do with each other.. or if it was just a case of waiting until the time was right to pounce on the design (Kiki Post’s site appears to be down or gone).
I would love to purchased delicious baked goods and coffee in this packaging by Petter Hanberger.
