Posts filed under ‘Design’
Reid Miles’ amazing Blue Note album covers recreated… IN 3D!!!!!!! Seeing good type done with video is refreshing. It’s usually so half-assed and slapped on—especially with subtitles. Man On Fire got it right, though. Somebody needs to rip this idea off and make their movie’s opening titles in this fashion. I would pay multiple American dollars to see that.
copped from Grain Edit
This is a gem of a short video done up by Henrik Hansen. The editing and sound design in particular are superb. Listening to Kimura talk is pretty inspiring. His bikes are beautiful and through the film, you can see how much care he puts into his craft. It’s who he is. Now if he could just ship one of those babies over here, it’d be just peachy. Riding one would make me such a badass that I’d be able to get away with using the term “peachy”.
It’s interesting how some things come your way at just the right time. A friend just forwarded along this perfect article by Whitney Hess for A List Apart entitled No One Nos: Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas. I don’t know if the designer/client relationship will ever change; particularly in this age where anyone can get Photoshop, realize that there’s an effects palette, and post something to DeviantArt. The universal get-anything-anywhere nature of the internet has simultaneously helped and hurt the profession of graphic design. It’s opened up all these new possibilities, yet given the masses the same resources as the professionals.
The difference though, is a matter of education—and to a meaner degree, taste. You either have it or you don’t. Steve Jobs has taste. Steve Ballmer doesn’t. Karl Lagerfield has taste. Christian Audigier doesn’t. Windows became popular because of a real lack of competition. Von Dutch and Ed Hardy have become popular because of the “well-that-guy-is-wearing-it” attitude. Windows, since realizing that good design is a good thing, has made huge strides in the last few years. There’s no chance for Audigier. That guy’s a whore. The point of it is that as purveyors of good design, we have to work hard to fight for what’s right. We have to learn how to say “no”.
So, I pretty much need this to be real. Saikat Biswas made this concept of a digital Holga. For one, it’s beautiful. It’s a design Howard Roark would be proud of. Simple, elegant, and without anything it doesn’t need.
I also love the integrity of it. Sure, it’s digital, but it wouldn’t have an LCD or anything. Your images would be stored on an SD card and downloaded later, recreating that delayed gratification (or frustration) getting film developed entails. There’s an E-Ink display for battery status, frames left, aspect ratio, etc. and also a clever idea of having the top being able to flip for easier use for those weird southpaws among us.
There is the problem of digitally recreating those random light leaks and imperfections that make the Holga what it is. But whatever, that’s for the scientists and Kevin Costner to figure out.
The only thing I could see going wrong with this is the hipsters getting so upset that Holga went digital, they turn on the brand. It’d be like Dylan going electric. They wouldn’t be able to wrap their little brains and wispy mustaches around the idea. The tragedy!
John Woo made these which in turn made me giggle and clap my hands together three times. I’m gonna go buy a Darth Vader mask for every time I dress up now. Everyone will wonder who the guy with asthma and sharp suit in the corner is. It’ll be exactly how it is now, except I’ll be wearing a super nerdy mask.
I love stuff and things. Thankfully, Jack Cunningham came along and made this brilliant little video, reaffirming my love for said stuff and things. The sounds in this short made me wet my pants. Just a little. Stop looking at me like that. I get excited sometimes. That’s why my entire apartment is laminate and hardwood. Carpet is just such a pain to clean.
There are few things as American as Coca-Cola. The 1006 Navy Chair is one of them. And maybe this. The chair is such a classic, clean, and yet minimalist piece of design. Recently, Emeco and Coke got together and decided that there are a lot of bottles needing recycling and what better than to put them to use as the basis of a chair? The result is the 111 Navy Chair. It takes its namesake from the 111 Coke bottles that are used in each one. There’s this huge process that goes into the creation of each piece. All this sciencey stuff. American sciencey stuff. I plan on getting one of these eventually. They’re pretty affordable and I’d love to be able to say that I own a Coke bottle with a butt groove. America!
Renaud Hallée made this animation that makes my head hurt wonderfully. It’s like if we listened to music with our eyes. But then I guess we’d look at things with our ears. And boy would that be awkward.
copped from Kitsune Noir
Our money looks so bad. The newest iteration of our Benjamin proves it. I realize that security is a number one priority for our government. It should be. But who says that security and aesthetics have to be mutually exclusive? Michael Tyznik took it upon himself to redesign our currency with both those things in mind. As I’m not a big fan of typing and would much rather have someone do the work for me, he explains his design here. If you notice, Michael didn’t design a one dollar bill. He proposed getting rid of it and moving towards one and two dollar coins instead. The vending machine lobbyists would be furious.
I absolutely love this redesign. It’s thoughtful, considerate to America’s currency’s past, takes into account security and new features, and looks wonderful. It would even make those rumpled up coke/stripper dollars in your pocket look good.
via Kitsune Noir
If this short film doesn’t inspire you to get out there and make something, or even appreciate something, I don’t know what will. Up There is a documentary about the dying craft of large-scale hand-painted advertisements in New York City. It’s shot beautifully. (Much like Helvetica and Objectified, also both fantastic films.) Now I wish I were an apprentice. Just not the kind where I have to listen to a man with a roosting owl on his head talk.
Copped from my homeboys over at Goldcoast Longboards
