Friday Design – Too Tired To Scan Work Edition
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 2:43 am.
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It’s late. I wanted to get this post up before, but it’s been a busy week and I haven’t had time to focus on much other than work. My personal graphic design has flagged a bit. So, I’ll be posting something a little more entertaining next week…till then, you get some inspiring links.
I subscribe to the Daily Heller, a daily newsletter written by graphic design legend Steven Heller. The information is always good and the commentary is always insightful. There are a couple of posts, though, that stick out in my mind as particularly inspiring:
Apparently, Heller is related by marriage to Louise Fili, whose firm recently re-launched their site. It’s beautiful, typographically, and the work is absolutely stunning. (They do, however, use images as text throughout the site, which is a practice that should have died with the dot-com bubble. It’s beautiful to look at…unless you use a screen reader.) As suggested in the Heller, check out their case studies for some serious inspiration and informative copy. I can only hope I’ll be that good one day.
Also recently blogged by Heller: the work of Patrick Thomas, silkscreen artist and sociopolitical commentator extraordinaire. His work is terrific–the compositions are excellent and the messages striking. I’ve never really been interested in silkscreening as a process, but his work makes me want to try it out. Perhaps one of these days I’ll put up some posters done one weekend…
Moving on.
Hard Format is a blog dedicated to music design. They post brief write-ups and (more importantly) beautiful images of the actual hardware of music designers’ work: the album art. Most of what they post is absolutely great. In particular, this post on Tina Frank’s work really got me going. Her work has an ethereal quality that I love, even though some of the visual elements seem disjointed. Seeing her work actually got me more interested in trying collage out a little more extensively, which I hope to post next week.
Matthew Hollings’ work is terrific. While much of his portraiture focuses on musicians and celebrities, the gritty, graphic quality of the spatters of black ink over broad washes of color is really incredible. His technical skill is great, of course, but his compositions are all so solid. He occasionally includes type, which I love–I do that all the time in sketchbooks, when drawing people, but I never would have the bravery to put type on a finished portrait. He does, to great effect, and it’s totally inspiring.
I love to cook, and I think that graphic design is just as influenced by food as it is music, or contemporary art, or architecture. Most creative pursuits are related, and that’s quite evident in the work of I Dream of Cake. No silly Ace of Cakes-style creations here; all their cakes look like sculptures. They make cakes to resemble jewelry, haute couture clothing, and children’s books; however, my favorites are their traditional wedding cakes, which are detailed with incredible intricacy. Many of them are compositional works of beauty. (I’d link to some, but their site is about as inaccessible as Flash sites get.) So although it’s not a graphic design site, I’m sure you can find something to love in the portfolio that will inspire you in your next job.
Many have probably seen this already, but there’s a nice interview with design luminary Paul Rand on youtube. Rand is one of the most influential, widely-renowned graphic designers of the 20th century, and his thinking and writing about design never fail to inspire or motivate. In the interview he shares his thoughts on graphic design, and it’s very informative. He had such a genuine quality that I love.
That’s it for me. My eyes are closing. Until next week!
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One Response to “Friday Design – Too Tired To Scan Work Edition”
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Interesting article you’ve got here… luckily I stumbled across this while looking for something else. Will be adding this site to the list of regulars