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The Smithville Papers: Number Two

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A Forgotten Craft

Well term is finally over and this is my last blog post! You might remember a few weeks ago I posted that my piece for video production class was going to be about the Letterpress printer Jamie Murphy, well here is the final film. 

It’s my first ever film and I’m only learning so don’t judge too harshly!

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A Forgotten Craft

Well term is finally over and this is my last blog post! You might remember a few weeks ago I posted that my piece for video production class was going to be about the Letterpress printer Jamie Murphy, well here is the final film. 

It’s my first ever film and I’m only learning so don’t judge too harshly!

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I have been mocking up my website assignment in photoshop over the past few days so I have been taking a look online for some design inspiration. I find pinterest is a great source as many people post up full images of their site designs.

As I was looking at various different approaches...

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I love the art direction of this fashion shoot. I think the photography is so good and I love the way they have played around with the idea of school photos and uniform.

Bold   |    http://boldatwork.com

"Our collaboration with Stromae continues through the second Mosaert capsule collection. Mosaert’s capsule 2 consists of cardigans, pull, polos and socks designed and produced in limited quantities in Europe. It is characterized by a mixture of the meeting of the "English school" cuts, the checker and isometric patterns and the warm colors of the African wax."

Bold is a multi-disciplinary creative duo based in Brussels, founded in 2010 by Olivier Gillard & Vincent Losson. They approach every project as a personal challenge to communicate a clear message with elegance and skill.

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Lovely use of simple layout and 2 one colour here.

Leah Surynt (Auckland, New Zealand)

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Ground control to major design greatness!

Cassie Stegman (Tulsa, OK) 

2010 Annual Report for Kennedy Space Center

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Alvin Lustig

Alvin Lustig is one of my favourite designers. I particularly love his book cover designs. Lustig was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1915 but he trained in LA and worked as a graphic designer and interior designer, designing the Lustig Chair for Paramount Furniture in Bevely Hills. A true creative here is a selection of his graphic work below but find out more here about his life and designs!

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Lovely!

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womenofgraphicdesign

Love this!

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The New World Trade Center Logo

This is the new World Trade Center logo. How does one go about re-branding the WTC after such an horrific event which destroyed it? Well Landor Associates have just done it and I think the result is very successful. Landor is a large multi-national design consultancy and have worked on large branding projects for the likes of FedEx, BP and Smirnoff.

Despite its corporate roots, Landor has gone to a lot of effort to include multiple levels of symbolic and meaning into the logo, which I personally find very interesting. These symbolic meanings are explained very well by this Business Week interactive graphic where the viewer can see overlays of all the visual symbols included by the designers.

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Fail!

Here's an example of a visual communications fail from the door of Arthur's on campus!

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Letterpress printing

I’m making a documentary about a friend of mine called Jamie Murphy who is a Letterpress printer. I thought that I would mention it here on my visual communication blog as we are doing typography in class. I can’t wait to get into film Jamie working but it also makes me grateful that typography, or at least refining type is so much easier in the digital age. Check out Jamie’s work here on his Salvage press website. It great inspiration for design and we can really appreciate the craft as all the type is set and manipulated by hand, using little pieces of lead!

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Daniel Eatock

This guy is more of an artist and all round creative fella rather than strictly a graphic designer (are you seeing a theme in this blog here!). I think I came across Eatock when using stumble upon some years ago. I love the way he thinks, often ironic and humorous he has created work such as his fruit bowls, shoes and a stone that weighs a stone. His most famous graphic work is probably the Big Brogther Logo but I think I must prefer the conceptual and irreverent work he puts up on his personal website here.

Big brother logo

One stone stone.

Fruit bowl decorated with fruit stickers

Shoes on a wire, laces too long!

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Graphic Design Books

I used to buy lots and lots of Design books, mainly second hand as they are really expensive. Over the last couple of years design books and magazines are less important as so much design is now accessible online (see my pervious post on inspiration). But there are some design books I love and are great reads even if you’re not into design. Here are two of my favourites, I read while I was doing my undergrad:

A Smile in the Mind

I read Beryl McAlhone’s book “A smile in the mind” nearly 10 years ago now and I have to say its still one of my favourite books on design. It’s not a manual on the nuts and bolts of how to make a visually pleasing and balanced design, it more about creative thinking.

I think the title sums up the aim of the book beautifully. The book explores what it calls ‘witty-thinking’ and playfulness with ideas, image and words. The book isn’t just about how to make funny visual juxtapositions or funny drawings, its about how to create visually engaging design solutions which engage emotionally with the viewer, or if humour is intended by the designer, to create a smile in their mind.

I think this is the core of what the graphic designer must set out to do, a balanced, pretty design is great, but if its bland and creates no engagement with the view on an intellectual or emotional level then it will be quickly forgotten. 

Forget all the rules you ever learned about graphic design

One of my favourite writers on graphic design is Bob Gill. Gill is a respected design teacher a co-founder of the New York design studio Fletcher/Forbes/Gill. The studio was founded on April fools day 1962 (the day they choose will tell you something about Gill!) and is the forerunner of Pentagram, now the world’s biggest Design agency.

I have just picked one of this books to talk about here, but nearly all of them a really worth a look, but "Forget all the rules you ever learned about graphic design" is I feel one of his best.

I read this book also about 10 years ago, its called “Forget all the rules you ever learned about graphic design”, so not exactly a practical guide to the nuts and bolts of design practice then! What the book is really about is visual problem solving and conceptual thinking. But even if you’re not interested in design, its a dam entertaining read!

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Furry Ampersands, because what's not to like there!

Amfursand by David McLeod

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Inspiration – where I find it

The Dieline

A great website for design inspiration, especially packaging design inspiration is this one thedieline.com. I have used it so often when I need some visual inspiration, its just a great website. Its a catalogue of Packaging Design from around the world that allows you to search by product category and even by the substrate used.

Creative Review blog 

The Creative Review Blog is another excellent source of inspiration, especially as it encompasses many forms of design, film and advertising. This is a great place to go for conceptual as well as visual inspiration.

Not Cot

Notcot.org is a great scrap book of all sorts of design, fashion, industrial design and art inspiration. There is always something interesting to find here and the ‘polaroid’ inspired design of the site gives it a great visual navigation, allowing you to find a project visually enticing for the viewer. 

Pinterst.com

Pinterest is the ultimate inspiration site, however it can be a bit full of wedding and fashion imagery, some interesting design boards I follow are:

Branding we Love - for lots of Branding ideas

Present and Correct - excellent modernist stationary

Vintage Aviation Posters - for the glamour of flying’s golden age design

Cut paper – for illustration inspiration

Logo Lounge 

This is a great site for logo inspiration, also the design trend reports are excellent.