Lauren Kalette, of Lauren Kalette Design, has won the $100 Amazon Gift card for completing the VMA Design Conference Survey. Thank you Lauren! Your contribution will help us immensely in planning future events like this one.
a few of the studio’s favorite outfits
‘During the research phase we sketched more than 90 interesting looks and then trimmed the list down a little,’ the re:designduo mentions. As this year marks the 20th anniversary of sex and the city, the studio decided to celebrate one of the cult shows of the late 90s/early 20s that changed the way people talk about sex and female friendship on TV. The poster feature outfits which were somehow connected with the show’s plot and reflect the various events that happened in carrie and her friends’ lives.
the entire poster with 69 outfits
carrie and the city poster
the messy research phase documented
last seasons had probably the most elaborate outfits
early seasons and their emotional turmoil reflected in clothes
that time when Carrie got a bird clutch purse
this was a problematic episode but a memorable look
the newspaper dress in which carrie met natasha for lunch
the dress for a playboy party in LA
that time carrie had to watch pete
the glamorous carrie with the russian
This article was originally published in designboom.
edited by: sofialekkaangelopoulou | designboom
Adobe has launched ‘The Hidden Treasures – Bauhaus Dessau,’ a campaign that will bring to life nearly century old original typography sketches and unpublished letter fragments from legendary Bauhaus design masters that were rediscovered and completed to inspire the next generation of creatives. Bauhaus Dessau, the world famous school of design, was closed in 1932 by the National Socialist Party leaving behind unfinished masterpieces, created by legendary design masters: Xanti Schawinsky, Joost Schmidt, Carl Marx, Alfred Arndt and Reinhold Rossig.
World-renowned typeface designer Erik Spiekermann led the effort to turn the lost letter fragments and sketches from the Bauhaus archives into complete and fully functional fonts. Working with experts at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, he supervised an international team of typography professionals and design students to digitally create five font sets from Bauhaus Dessau designs, with the first two fonts – Xants and Joschmi – based on artwork from Bauhaus designers Xanti Schawinsky and Joost Schmidt, available for immediate download via Adobe Typekit today. The Hidden Treasures – Bauhaus Dessau “Adobe had the great idea to reinterpret type designs,” commented Dr. Claudia Perren – Director Bauhaus Dessau. “Actions such as the ‘Hidden Treasures’ campaign show very specifically how current and fascinating the Bauhaus heritage still is today. Especially for the younger generation of designers.”
Read more: https://www.dexigner.com/news/31017
Leeds-based creative agency Studio Build wanted to create an updated version of the original branding that it created for the Track + Field line in 2016, which took design cues from track-line markings.
Featuring a black, white and red colour scheme, the previous campaign included bold typographic elements and numerals inspired by the curved shape of the familiar white spray-painted markings.
The new identity retains many of the visuals found in the 2016 campaign, but centres instead on the arrow graphic, which is presented in a blue and white colour palette.
“All of the compositions are created in a grid format,” said Michael C Place, creative director of Studio Build.
“By creating these in a strict grid, the spirit and precision of the Track and Field is accurately represented.”
“This new element can be used to create compositions in its more complex form, a simplified form or just used as a single graphic,” he explained.
“It was really interesting and challenging to make something as simple as the acceleration graphic (which is essentially just a triangle) to not only convey speed and dynamism but also building a graphics system that can be used for all manner of applications without looking tired.”
We don’t know much about these designs other than they appear to be created by AVGUST DESIGN of Minsk, Belarus. We just had to share. No matter your politics, these are elegant.
Like many things, the notion of the gentleman who knows his Gin Gimlets from his Cosmopolitans may be a thing of the past. But ladies AND gentlemen both will find something to savor in this set of elegant cocktail recipe cards produced exclusively for Ellicott & Co.
Inspired by maker communities across the USA, Ellicott & Co.’s mission is to provide uncommon, heritage inspired goods for the modern man. How interesting, then, that something that is digitally printed can also be considered a product of the “maker” movement.
Printed by Anstadt Communications on 80 lb. Verso Blazer Digital Satin Cover, these 16 cards are works of art all their own thanks to a fun retro design by Infantree, and creative use of Scodix digital enhancement technology.
There’s a lot of information to unpack in that sentence.
Yes, 150 sets of cards were printed CMYK on an HP Indigo 7900 in just three days. The sheets were then run through the Scodix Ultra Pro off-line unit, which added an inviting tactile quality to the pieces.
The “Scodix Sense” effect was used in various ways. Think of it as clear raised ink that can be applied all in one pass, ultimately creating a more tactile element.
The illustrations of the cocktails on each card are highlighted with a simple spot gloss. The “Classic Cocktails” title sports a spot gloss look and raised feel. All of the fine, decorative line work you see – front and back – was created using digital foil with some clear polymer on top.
The result: cards that feel more like a royal summons from Buckingham Palace than recipes for your favorite gin or vodka concoction. The 16 cards – 15 recipes and one cover – were then enclosed in a bellyband.
What is most exciting is that this is an example of Scodix – an enhancement system you normally see mostly in marketing materials – being used for a consumer product. The more that designers come across these types of projects “in the wild” where they can see – and feel – them up close, the more likely they are to dabble in Scodix, MGI, and “sleeking” in general for their own projects – and that’s worth toasting, whatever your cocktail of choice.
You can purchase “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Classic Cocktails” here.
TitleA Gentlemen’s Guide to Classic CocktailsClientEllicott & Co.DesignInfantreePrintAnstadt CommunicationsYork, PAPaper80 lb. and 130 lb. Verso Blazer Digital Satin Cover
Dimensions4” x 6”Page Count16 (2-sided) cardsPrint Quantity150 setsProduction Cost$1,755Production Time2-3 daysPrinting MethodDigitalNumber of ColorsCMYKFinishing and BindingScodix foil, round cornering, collating, and inserting into belly band
While some myths are hilarious and particularly harmless, there are other myths that are annoying and generally unhelpful in the understanding of clients to graphic design and graphic designers. In a quest to demystify these myths UCreative made a cool infographic to share that will help people understand what graphic design and being a graphic designer really is.
This originally appeared on youthedesigner.
Let’s be honest, art prizes are ten a penny. But back in January, a new prize launched that caught my eye among the, ahem, competition: one that only accepted entries via an app. It’s an intriguing prospect, and became even more so when I saw the shortlisted work: much of it was conceptual, a lot of it site-specific. None of it was the pastel-y, art-directed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life fodder that’s so usually the art darling of Instagram. The four shortlisted artists were ideas-driven, making complex work that frankly you’d be likely to scroll past if interacting with them in the usual way we consume art through image-led apps.
The competition in question was the ArteVue prize, orchestrated by the app of the same name—billed as “the first social media platform for art”—which launched in summer 2017 and has just unveiled its Android edition. The premise of the app is as a non-profit platform for collectors, galleries, and artists to interact with one another and buy and sell work. Algorithms show content according to users’ likes and interests to curate what they’ll find on their “discovery” page.
“The idea of the app and the prize was to democratize art,” says ArteVue founder (and funder) Shohidul Ahad-Choudhury. The entry process was simple and required no particular pedigree: the artist uploaded their images, a brief description of their work, and a PDF, if they wished, and used the #arteprize hashtag to be considered. The difference between ArteVue and a platform like Artsy, one of the more successful online art and gallery databases, is that ArteVue isn’t curated, it’s completely user-generated. Artists can put their work up for sale with no restrictions, tapping into an interesting trend that Ahad-Choudhury, stating that 80% of sales in the the art world are for art below $2,000.
Ahad-Choudhury is far from the first to use the phrase “democratize art” to describe a recent web or mobile-based platform for art. There’s been a wave of similar products recently, including Artvisor, Curatious, and Mangus, the self-described “Shazam for Art.” And then, of course, there’s Instagram, perhaps the original art world “disruptor,” to use an awful phrase, even if not the app’s original intention. So what’s the difference between artists using these new platforms to connect with potential galleries, fans, collectors and so on, and how they’ve been using Instagram for quite some time now?
Instagram, says Ahad-Choudhury, always offers only one format for displaying and viewing images and videos—it’s the same for a complex, conceptually based installation as it is for a picture of a cake (or a dog, your shoes, a bunch of drunk people, and so on). With ArteVue, on the other hand, the artists can create their own gallery page, curate works, and write about what they’re making in a certain detail that existing platforms aren’t cut out for. “Instagram is about half a billion people and 20 billion posts, and less than 1% of those are are art-related,” Ahad-Choudhury points out. “We wanted to go one level further, and say, ‘if you like that, how about seeing another 20 [related works]? It gets that person hooked on art, it’s a form of escapism.”
Developed and designed by Ahad-Choudhury, Ben Dobson, and Peter Goodwin, the app uses image recognition software and metadata to guide the users towards other works and automatically generate hashtags from images uploaded. The focus at the moment is merely on getting artists to upload their work to the app, but it makes me wonder: will artists start to modify their work to make it friendlier for such platforms? Are they already? And if so, is art playing the algorithms, or are the algorithms playing the artists?
Even if platforms like ArtVue are actively working to provide a different, and better, platform for displaying artwork than on Instagram, it’s safe to say that the rise in these types of art-sharing platforms can be traced back to that very app. The most visual of our social media platforms has spawned a whole new category of work that’s “Insta-friendly,” for want of a better term. It’s a cliche for a reason that people today—especially online, i.e most of the time—have very short attention spans, so any piece of art they see on such platforms has around three seconds to engage. Otherwise, on we scroll, for the most part.
Instragram is one of the main culprits in overhauling how we see art, judge it, and make it. Take Canada-based artist Brad Phillips, for example—a man currently boasting 32,600 or so followers on Instagram. Phillips has described the platform as “both an amazing and horrible tool for me and other artists”, and speaks of a love hate relationship with it, veering ever more towards the former.
While it’s meant he’s sold a hell of a lot more work (poor lamb!) and garnered him a ton more solo and group shows and a hardcover book “published by a reputable English art book imprint,” one of his gripes is that none of the sales or steps up his career ladder were facilitated by his New York gallery. Thus, he concludes, “The art world right now is a youth-fetishizing cannibalistic death cult of speculation and interior design masked as progressive painting.”
Hyperbolic? Perhaps. But it’s no exaggeration to say that Instagram can truly make a creative’s career. When I spoke to illustrator Polly Nor for Creative Review last year (one million followers and counting), she told me,“I don’t know where I’d be without Instagram.” For Phillips, Instagram has meant the increasingly obsolescence of galleries, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for artists starting out, since they often take 50% of the money from art sold. But the flipside of easy access—a world where, as the Phillips puts it, “a jpeg has almost as much value as the physical object”—is easy copying. As we’ve explored on the site before, designers and artists are frequently seeing their work ripped off by both big brands and individuals using on-demand services.
This has been a massive problem for Nor, too, who has seen her own work turned into memes, traveling the internet uncredited. She felt that dissemination “devalued” her work at the time; but since, that proliferation of her own work through others has meant she’s gotten to the point she can make a living from her art alone: “I have my shop but I don’t really do much commissioned work.”
As Phillips points out, sales-wise, digital cuts out middle men, provides a direct conduit from collector to artist, and offers a supposedly democratic chance for work from anyone and everyone bubble to the surface according to what makes it in the online mass-popularity stakes. In my view, that inherently makes it undemocratic: some creatives are simply better at playing the social game than others.
Online platforms and the digital realm in general have provided a lower barrier to entry for showing work, and put agency into the hands of the artist over gallery or press—but the web has also turned the artist into marketer and self-promoter. Some very brilliant artists make incredible work but couldn’t write a pithy artist statement or build a hip website if their life depended on it. Perhaps because of my ink-stained, weary, Victorian peasant heart, I’m a bit of a Luddite, and this is where I find that the utopian democracy of the “anyone can make it!” online world crumbles. Some of the best artists—those making work that’s perhaps inherently ephemeral or performative; or even just those who have little time for, interest in, or understanding of website-building—are inherently at a disadvantage if they’re being judged, in part, by the quality of their website. Some people are just better at that—and more interested in it—than others.
Charles Broskoski, co-founder of the online platform Are.na—“an open-ended space where you can organize your thoughts, projects, or research with anyone else”—has a different opinion on this. He firmly believes that everyone, and particularly artists, should learn how to make their own website. “It’s the one place you can contextualize your work in the way you want to,” he says. “You can frame things, set out a narrative, or have no narrative at all. It’s the place you can set yourself up as an artist.”
Perhaps it’s this build-it-yourself mentality that makes Are.na feel different to platforms like ArtVue and Instagram. While image-led platforms like Instagram could be said to put artists in the position of modifying or curating the work they upload to be more instantaneously eye-catching—fit for square frame, ripe for visual click bait—Are.na is designed more to facilitate the process of art-making, rather than displaying the end result.
Other platforms for artwork occupy other places on the spectrum that ranges from self-coded artists websites to the rigid format of Instagram. Just as digital has meant vast new horizons for artists in terms of media they use, it’s also meant vast new opportunities for disseminating their work. The gallery system is slowly but surely being tipped on its head as traditional representation and hushed white walls are crumbling, and as we increasingly engage with art outside of its physicality.
Yet with this online democratization of art also comes a new system of have and have-nots, particularly if we ignore the analog. Some art won’t catch the eyes and algorithms of users on the likes of ArteVue or any of the self-proclaimed art Shazams; many artists are frankly terrified of things like coding, site building, and even using social media. Does that make it less worthy or interesting? No. Use these new platforms wisely, use them sparingly, and use them alongside a healthy diet of art IRL. And please, artists, don’t go trying to fit all your work in square boxes.
By: Casha Doemland
“I believe humans have been taking poor care of the planet lately,” begins Antonina Kozlova. “The amount of plastic waste is a huge problem, and everyone should start living and working more sustainably.”
To show her commitment to change, Kozlova teamed up with up fellow classmate Dohn Kanokpon and entered a sustainable competition, Better With Less.
This yearly competition kicks off in November and asks creative minds to produce a packaging design made from sustainable, renewable or recyclable materials. Dubbed the “open idea competition,” they “aim to find new solutions for some of the most frequently used consumer packages, to deliver better experiences with less impact on the environment.” Additionally, according to the website, “the use of mono-materials is preferred.”
The first prize winner receives a cash prize of €10,000 Euros, in addition to a student award for an internship at Metsä Board Packaging Services in Shanghai.
Since the event took place over the winter holiday, the duo collaborated via Facebook chat and email to produce not only the product but the graphic designs and branding as well. “We challenged ourselves to create a product with packaging that could be used,” shares Kanokpon.
Despite the time zone differences and working remotely, the duo came up with 10 pt, a sustainable solution to t-shirt packaging.
The design begins with vivid, cylindrical packaging in contrasting hues of blue, magenta, orange and/or tan. The cotton t-shirts are then rolled up and stored inside, offering a compact and eye-catching package.
Each tube is made like a spiral when reassembled, as the inside of each can features a black and white measuring tape. “We used mummies as our inspiration source,” adds Kanokpon.
In keeping with their zero waste policy, Kanokpon and Kozlova designed the paper pulp caps to be a case for the measuring tape. All in all, the design features only 3% waste, which comes from the triangular piece of paper you have to tear off to get the measuring tape from the tube.
“The tube itself is made from 100% recycled paper, while the caps are made from molded pulp,” states Kozlova. If you don’t need the extra measuring tape, throw it away in the nearest recycling bin.
As innovative as their concept was, the duo did not make it into the top 10 finalists of the competition. But not to fret, Konokpon and Kozlova are still chugging away at their college courses and other projects. And, if the opportunity were to present itself, they would be thrilled to take 10 pt from concept to reality.
Casha Doemland
LA-based and Georgia-bred, Casha Doemland spends her days crafting poetry and freelance writing. Over the last two years, she’s been published in a variety of publications and zines around the world. When she’s not nerding out with words, you can catch her watching a classic film, trekking around the globe or hanging out with a four-pound Pomeranian.
This article was originally published in Dieline.
As designers, we face this challenge on every project. We fear going into presentations, because the ideas we gave birth to will face judgement. Somedays you feel like you’ve found a diamond in the rough. “I am a genius!”While other days, your ideas feel like garbage. “Why can’t I figure this out?”
After working in the design industry for over a decade, I’ve come up with a formula to evaluate my own ideas. I ask myself these 3 questions at every stage in the design process.
Does it achieve the goal?
Is the information and story clear?
Is it interesting?
From the initial pitch, up to delivery day. I use this formula to test, filter, and refine my ideas. It gives me confidence that I’m delivering something of value to my clients, and the intended audience.
At the beginning of the project, you established a clear goal. What this needs to do. Who it’s for. What they need to walk away with. This is the problem you’re trying to solve.
If you’re lacking clarity on what the goal is, stop designing. Go back to your client and diagnose the real problem. Dig in deep and ask clarifying questions. Surface the challenges getting in the way from your clients being able to achieve their goals.
You, as well as your client, will use this as a primary metric to evaluate your ideas. Your ideas aren’t viable solutions until they pass this first key test.
Is the message coming through? Is the hierarchy of information in the right order? Does this make the audience feel something?
A great way to test this is to show your work to an outsider. Someone similar to your target audience. Without explaining much (other than context), what did they think your work was about? What did they read first, second, third? How did it make them feel?
If your audience isn’t getting what you intended, chances are your you’re trying to say too many things or your message is buried too deep. Go back to your goal. Edit and simplify. Make sure your fundamental message resonates. If it doesn’t pass this second test, whatever you’re designing will be ineffective.
Does it prompt you to think? Does it challenge you? Are you connecting two disparate ideas to create a new meaning?
If you’ve passed the first two tests, your idea has addressed the challenge. For conservative projects, that’s all it needs to do. Congrats! But in the field of design, marketing, and advertising, we’re challenged to do more. To cut through the noise and grab attention. To instill desire and build intent. To recruit our audiences to act.
What I’ve come to learn is that the most creative ideas are the ones that surprise you. In Chris Do’s article, “Can Creativity be Taught?”, he sums it up nicely:
“To me, creativity is the ability to connect two or more disparate ideas to create new meaning. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
Here are a few great examples that demonstrate this idea:
The next time you’re on the fence about your ideas, test it with these 3 questions. It should save you time, cut through the fat, and help your course-correct when you’re lost.
About the Author
Matthew Encina is a creative director at Blind, focusing on brand strategy and video content. He also authors content on pitching, design, and animation forThe Futur Network.
Follow him everywhere @matthewencina
For those of you who have to pitch creative ideas to win business, but are struggling to land these opportunities, check out The Pitch Kit. I created this for those seeking clarity and structure in their design and pitch process.
