Paste-up Project

I'm surprised to say that I actually enjoyed the paste-up project last week.  It was cool getting to see how my job used to be done before computers, and I can honestly say I would NEVER have gotten into graphic design like this.  Getting everything to line up correctly (which i never got my "O" right)  was a pain, but I enjoyed the challenge.

I don't have access to a working camera right now; the one on my phone does not work, and the only real camera I own is packed in a box because I'm moving sometime this week.  I'll get some pictures of the project up soon*

Edit:  got someone from another class to let me use the camera on their phone for a few minutes:

Visit to the "Rare Prints Gallery"

I was mostly bored out of my mind at the Rare Prints Gallery. The guide (who's name I can't remember) was very knowledgeable and it was interesting to hear about how some of the items were made, but the most amusing aspect was the prices!  

My favorite piece was an old map of the world that, with frame, cost a little over $4,000.  The imprinted plants were also pretty interesting.  The guide was nice, and some of the prints were interesting, but I don't think I'd really be interested in visiting again any time soon.

Another visit from Jim Sherraden

So, a few weeks ago we were visited by Jim Sherraden from "Hatch Show Print".  This was actually the second time I've seen him speak, and the presentation hasn't changed much.  He brought some posters to pass around that he didn't have with him the last time I saw his presentation, and the slides had more examples of posters made using broken pieces of older wood blocks this time around and they were some of my favorite items shown.

I was a little disappointed that he held back on his more inappropriate jokes this time.  Jim is always interesting every time I see him and I'd like to eventually get to go see the shop sometime soon.

Final Movements and Styles post

Late Modern/New York Style:
I was surfing the internet, doing some research on Saul Bass when I found these works.  I originally wanted to use this for a blog entry, but decided it would make a great early modern example.

Designer Hexagonall, apparently a big fan of Saul Bass, made a series of Tron posters mimicking Bass's style.  To the right, I've posted up of my favorite of the posters and the rest can be found here.

Hexagonall also made an amazing, Saul Bass style, intro video for the original Tron movie. Check it out:

Tron vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.

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Psychedelic:

I've talked about this designer before, and while I'm not a big fan of his illustrations, I couldn't think of anything better than Enkeling's typographic posters for an example of the psychedelic movement.  

This one reads "Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along."  

His best works (in my opinion) are on page 8 of his blog, but there's some pretty good stuff if you go back or forwards a page or 2.

Out with the old

As I've mentioned in some of my previous blog posts, one of my favorite websites is mmo-champion.com, an new site dedicated to online games.  I've been visiting the site since late 2007 and they've never changed their even once, until earlier this month.

The old look of mmo-champion

Their new design gets them up to date with more recent web design protocols, feels less cluttered, loads faster, and is just easier on the eyes.  Despite this I didn't like the change at first because I had gotten used to the old design over the last 3 years.

I felt that this would be an appropriate update for this week as our reading was all about the coming of the digital era and ending with the introduction of the internet.

Bad Typography?

So, my second semester of school I needed an example of bad typography for my Intro to Graphic Design class.  I did what all good students do and waited till the last minute to find a my example using google images.  While I was browsing through the hundreds of amazing images that you get by searching for "bad typography examples" I can across this poster titled "How Bad Does it Have to Get" by Enkeling.

The poster reads "How Bad does it Have to Get in Order for You to Start doing Something About it?"

Enkeling's blog is filled with illustration work and typographic posters. Most of his typographic posters appear to be heavily influenced by the Psychedelic-poster style. Most of them seem nearly impossible to read at first, but when you stair at them long enough you will start to see the words.  I've spent hours staring at his posters trying to read the hidden messages.

His blog can be found here. He's hasn't done many of these posters lately, so you'll have to look back several pages to start finding his better typographic posters. Fair warning: some of the illustrations that you'll pass over while looking through the pages are quite... interesting and sometimes disturbing.

Another Classic poster found at Blizzcon

So,  was just randomly digging through more images from this years Blizzcon when I spotted another poster for one of their new games that was based off of a classic movie poster.

This time it's even more relevant as it's based off of a poster by Saul Bass, whom was one of the main figures talked about in last weeks slideshow.

The poster is for the new StarCraft 2 computer game, and it's based off of the Vertigo movie poster by Saul Bass.

So you need a typeface?

So a few years ago, my fiance discovered this website called StumbleUpon.
It's a pretty simple concept: You create an account and hit the stumble button, at which point the website loads up a random, unique webpage that from the internet.

This can sometimes be risky as some of the content you can come across is a bit questionable, but most of the time you'll find some really unique, creative, and interesting pages.  They've even incorporated it into facebook so you can easily connect your finds to your facebook wall.

It's rare that I get into it, but when I do I can end up sitting there for hours clicking that little stumble button.  Occasionally I'll come across some really 'awesome' design work during my time lost on the internet.

I came across this image a few weeks ago while stumbling.  It's an info-graphic poster designed to also act as a flowchart for selecting a typeface for your design.

The original file is extremely large.  It can be purchased as a 20+inch poster and is also available as a computer wallpaper.  I'll update this post with a link to the designers website once I manage to find it again.

edit: Finally found a link to the designer's portfolio site.  There's download links for the image, and a link to buy the 24x18" poster.

Wasn't expecting to find this at blizzcon...

So Blizzard Entertainments big convention, Blizzcon, was this weekend and of course I didn't have the chance to go.   So I spent most of my weekend watching videos and looking at pictures from the convention.

At Blizzcon there was an art gallery filled with posters for their latest games, including posters made to parody old movie posters.  

Thought this one was amazing.  It's a poster for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion "Cataclysm".  Obviously a Parody of the old Jaws movie poster.  Has a bit of a Modern Pictorial/Late Modern blend feel.  Not much to talk about, just thought it was awesome enough to include in the post.

A victorian gaming magazine? pt 2

The second of the collectors covers.  This one seem to be a slightly later design.  has some feature of Victorian and Early Modern

A victorian gaming magazine? pt 1

The latest game informer magazine is being released with 3 different collectors covers over a 3 week period.  I was really surprised to get the first one and see the cover.  The cover story is for a game that takes place in 1912 and the first cover uses a strong victorian feel with the varying type and type in banners.

16oz Coca-Cola

I've staring at these bottles for a while.  This is the design for the new 16oz Coca-Cola bottles.  I hated this when I first saw it, but it's really grown on me.  This probably isn't how it went, but I'd like to image a board meeting to decide on how to adjust the logo for the smaller bottle and someone has the guts to say "Why don't we just cut it off?"

Leaving that behind, I think it's a great idea for getting across the message that you're buying a little less of the same great product.

Paper Making

First time making paper.  Was fun... and messy.  Had to really fight the urge to cut this down to 8.5"x11" and see if it would break a printer...  Punched a whole in it, tore it a little, wrote my name on it, and also used a mat cutter to see how cleanly it would cut.

Photograms

This was my second time making photograms so I tried to get a bit creative with them.  There weren't that many letters ti choose from so I attempted making my own by overlapping different items in the first image.  If you look closely at the bottom of the second image you'll see that I paid a piece of fabric over my hand, and you can just barely see the design going through my fingers.

I know there should be 3 of them, but due to my own sheer stupidity, the third is somewhere on i65 between Franklin and Hermitage

Art Movement Examples

Art Nouveau:

 I chose this book cover as an example of art nouveau because of it's use of strong curvilinear shapes and floral designs.

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Victorian:

 Match box covers.  The defined borders, type in banners, and busy embellished designs make for great examples of victorian design.  The lower one shoes later victorian concepts with fewer curves in the lettering and a less busy background.

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Plakatstil: 

 Fond this image on a web article about the history of video games.  The poster itself is obviously missing the older look that it should for it's contents and attempted style; but the flat-color design, limited use of type and a strong central image still makes it a good attempt at mimicking the Plakatstil style.

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Art Nouveau:

The Tree of Life, Designed by Morris & Co.

One of the most recognized  tapestries designed by Morris & Co.  Elongated vertical subject depicted with "growing" organic movement.

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Art Deco:

X-Men Poster by Eric Tan.

A great modern example of Art Deco poster design.  Integration of the words as a part of the image, strong use of geometric shapes and limited color.