MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES from C. Coy on Vimeo.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Inspiration: Poster Design: Gig Posters
Gigposters.com is the community epicenter for poster designers worldwide. Lots of great conversation and commentary in the comments.
Gigposters
MPLS Design Community: Event: Toys in the Attic
One of the great things about the MPLS design community is that most of the designers get out of their traditional work to create alot of interesting events for the public and for the greater creative community. There's a great show coming up featuring designers creating around the concept of toys. Toys in the Attic is coming up in a couple of weekends. As a young designer, you should find ways to participate in event such as this to make new connections with other designers. Many other people interested in design, from Advertising people to consumers of good design attend these events to discover new talent and inspiration. These opportunities also present a challenge in thinking about your own design in a completely different way. Plus, it's just plain fun.
Toys in the Attic is a celebration of toys, to benefit those without them. The annual Toys in the Attic event is both a toy drive and art show – featuring limited-edition, toy-inspired poster prints and custom-created toys. 100% of the door donations and toys collected go to The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation – along with 25% of art print and custom toy sales.
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Hours will be 6pm-9pm on Friday, December 4th* / Silent Auction ends @ 8:30pm, sharp. *Remaining prints available 11am-4pm on Saturday.
The event will feature limited edition / signed poster prints from local artists ($30) and custom toys from national artists (silent auction). All of the toys and door donations, plus 25% of print & custom toy sales, go to Toys for Tots.
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The Toy Drive
Guests are asked to help out children in need by bringing a new (unwrapped) toy* to the show. In return, you’ll get one** of the event official poster prints designed this year by Minneapolis artist Lonny Unitus.
*No military based toys such as guns, please / **While supplies last.
If you forget your toy, there is a suggested donation of $1-$5 at the door. All toys and door donations go directly to Toys for Tots. In addition, 25% of poster print and custom toys sales are also used to purchase new toys for the Toys for Tots program, which distributes the toys to children in need.
More information can be found at the Toys in the Attic site.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Experience: Package Design - Sonny Barger Lager
Redesigning a beer label in school was one of the pivotal experience of my design education. A year before I received the project, I was at the Minnesota Beer Festival. There were these guys who didn't pay for a booth, instead they were hoisting cases of their beer over the fence and passing cans of their beer around. (These were prototypes: they actually came in cans that were stamped to have an actual leather feel to them. Once it went into full production, this proved too costly so they used standard cans.) Total renegades. And why not their beer was Sonny Barger Beer. (Sonny Barger is the long time leader of the Hell's Angels.)
When the instructor gave the assignment, I knew exactly what brand I wanted to redesign. I thought about the man, Sonny, and the brand, and most importantly, the end users: bikers who were non-conformists, liked to show off, and for whom the culture of renegade biking changed and defined their life. One doesn't fake it around these fellows. No way.
What carried the most clout with these dudes, was pushing the ticket.
I also thought about things like functionality. Odds are, whether it is a good idea or not, that this beer would end up in the saddlebags of their motorcycles on some several-hundred mile trek across the countryside. So, glass was out of the question, bottles would click and break along the trip. That led me to think about the types of things that would be in their saddlebags.
I dug in a bit and discovered that the original Harleys were chain driven and that meant carrying a supply of motor oil and that motor oil containers were designed to be rugged and portable.
I actually laughed a bit thinking of this big biker pounding a liter of beer out of a motor oil container, totally showboating in front of his bros. I imagined actually seeing the beer glug down through the visible measurement window that is on the side of the container. I knew I was on to something. It fit the lifestyle perfectly.
Then I got realistic. It would probably be way too costly to produce en masse. So, I thought about it being a special limited edition beer. How about a beer exclusively to be sold at the annual Sturgis Rally. Perfect on two accounts. First, it's the ultimate party for bikers. And secondly, if you've ever been to a Harley shop or a biker's garage or even closet, you can't help but notice the amount of souvenirs these guys amass.
I set out to design. Font choices were based on outlaw spirit, and a pilfered copy of Mobil Oil's proprietary sans-serif font.
I mocked up a few of 'bottles'. One for me, one for the guys brewing the beer and one I actually sent along to Sonny. A month or so after, I got a call from Sonny's longtime friend and lawyer. While logistics (liquor laws) got in the way, he said he hadn't seen Sonny laugh so hard in a long time as when he got the package. Success!
I'm still really proud of the spirit of this design not just for the end product, but because the process really opened up the limitless potential for design to make even a good thing, like beer, bikes, and buddies even better.
PS: Still looking for the small-time brewery who can make this happen. Any ideas, would be greatly appreciated.
Package Design Inspiration: The Dieline
Moving into your advanced design classes, you will most likely be learning some package design. The Dieline is a great spot to discover what is being done on the leading edge of package design. The term dieline comes from the path that is cut when an item is manufactured or printed. Think of creating an odd shaped wine label versus a plain rectangle shaped label. The shape of that label will be cut by a die. It's a great analogy for what you will find here: innovative package design that goes beyond the normal.
You will see here how package designers think of the packaging in its entirety, not just a label, but the materials and shape of the product. This approach creates a complete and unique story around a product.
The Dieline
Thursday, November 12, 2009
MPLS Type Designer: Chank
Chank has been making fonts for years. Look through his portfolio. Study it closely. Then, browse the aisles of a grocery store, page through a city's free paper, or walk down the street and see how often his fonts pop up.
Font's are just a part of what Chank does. You will see his logos at Uncle Frankies. He painted the exterior of Creative Lighting off I-94 between MPLS & St. Paul. And he's a good umpteen tens of thousands into his lifelong goal of making 1,000,000 pieces of art.
Chank
Chank's Blog
Chank's YouTube Channel
Chank on Twitter
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Visual Inspiration: Share Some Candy
Another great inspiration site. This one is featured around individual artists. It is really easy to filter using the categories listed across the top.
Share Some Candy
Monday, November 9, 2009
Visual Inspiration: Dropular
Another great place to be inspired. I prefer the grid view to the list view. (icons are in the upper right, before "Recent"
Dropular
Friday, November 6, 2009
Visual Inspiration: Buamai
Here's another great place for inspiration. I like ffffound a bit better because it also gives links out to where the images are pulled from, but there's still alot of gold to discover here:
Buamai
MPLS Designer: Brock Davis
Brock is a creative director at Carmichael Lynch, an advertising agency in Minneapolis. He started out as a designer, moved up to art director (which means he worked closely with copywriters and had more input into the strategy of projects), and now as a creative director he oversees and helps guide the art directors and writers that work on his projects along with designing. His professional work is amazing. But, the essence of who he is as a designer can best be seen in the things that he creates on his own. He's challenged himself to makes something cool every day. And he does.
Brock Davis's (laserbread) Make Something Cool Every Day Flickr Set
Brock's T-shirt designs on Threadless
Brock's Portfolio
Information Design: GOOD Magazine
There is no better mix of science and graphic design than in the word of information design. GOOD Magazine does an exceptionally beautiful job of this. . . and for a great cause: making the world a better place. Some other terms associated with Information design are infographics and data visualization.
GOOD transparency archive on flickr
GOOD Magazine
Thursday, November 5, 2009
MPLS Designer: Aleksandra Stancevic-Till / Entropy Design Lab
Alecks is a great case study of a designer who designs around her passions, one of the greatest of these is designing to make a difference. She started out doing in-house design for several years at Best Buy, while she developed her personal style and client roster in her spare time. She's been out on her own for a couple of years now. Aside from the work shown here, I know she's also worked on some print publication work.
She's a good friend of mine. I can introduce you. Could be some good conversations around how design can make a social difference. Also, about women in the design space.
Entropy Design Lab
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Visual Inspiration: FFFFOUND!
This is one of the best places that I've come across for visual inspiration. The variety of mediums and subjects is incredible. The level of quality is always high. They even have a great screen saver that brings the inspiration to you without having to go search. A great place to start browsing to develop a sense of what you find inspiring.
FFFFOUND! Visual Bookmarking
FFFFOUND! Screen saver
Designer Profile: Charley Harper
First off, an introduction to a designer who captured the simple beauty in the diversity of natural design.
From wikipedia:
When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.
Charley Harper Wikipedia Page
Charley Harper Prints
Charley Harper - An Illustrated Life
Todd Oldham speaks with Charley Harper
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