Here's the link the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JQwl1tuMyV8
This was a group project undertaken with college, we were tasked with trying to make a piece of worthless art appear valuable. We did this by trying to make people believe that a piece of street art was intact worth millions. We went off the idea that a small group of people later gathers a crowd. As there were eight of us, two decided to try and "sell" the piece of art work, while one person filmed and the rest of us posed as interested bystanders.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Sunday, 8 September 2013
5 Minute Page - An Introduction
So one thing that I've never even actually addressed. Why the hell did I call this thing Design Blueprint? Two reasons. Firstly; pretty much every witty, remotely decent url I had was taken. Lastly I thought the word Blueprint is a pretty relevant one given the circumstances; because for the next three years, me and millions of other young people around the world are going to start putting together the foundations for the rest of our lives. This is the tool I'm going to use to make sure I don't cock it up. It's a way to document every piece of work or vague idea I muster up on a permanent platform, and a way to put my voice onto the internet.
When I was creating my Building Blocks post (a lift of people who have influenced me in one way or another) I didn't really want to make a list fixated purely on graphic designers; I felt like it would have been sort of (excuse me for sounding a bit poncy) but insincere. I wanted this to be a personal thing, where I can talk about my creative influences honestly, which is why I've discussed photographers, film directors, pop stars, art directors etc. I was being deadly serious when I said America's Next Top Models opening credits where the reason I became interested in design. And once your hooked, you REALLY are hooked. We're surrounded by design every - single - day, it just felt so natural to look at a billboard or a magazine cover and start criticising the layout or font; I discovered a bunch of leaflets my grandparents saved from a trip to New York; advertising a bunch of bars and jazz clubs and instead of asking them anything related to trip I started bashing the horrendously tacky use of Century Gothic, and to make Century Gothic look ugly is quite a hard thing to do.
It's been such a weird experience. And quite frankly I'm not sure if I'm any good at it in the grand stratosphere of the Blogging Universe, but I've really enjoyed thinking of new ways to get my work out onto the internet, to promote myself as an artist, document experiences and to have a place where I can express new found ideas. It will most definitely be something I'll continue to develop, as well as something I can use for a point of reference for projects in the future. It's like you've bought a piece of the internet real state, and you're free to furnish it how you wish.
My name is Samuel. I'm 19, Welsh, I'm studying Graphic Design at Kingston University and I want to become an art director. Thank you for reading.
Friday, 6 September 2013
Pop Culture as inspiration...
I've said it before, but I don't think I quite hammered home the point enough, pop culture has always and will continue to be the main driving force behind the work I create. Until now I never really read books on graphic design, or studied it's history; I just knew I wanted to be someone responsible for designing a really cool poster, or a magazine cover. And the only inspiration I had at the time were television adverts, billboards, comics, books, magazines etc... all things linking back to pop culture. Design shapes and refines pop culture, and is instrumental in determining how we digest information. There is enormous power in that. But it's not just existing design that offers inspiration, it can be found in the most unexpected places.
Music inspires everyone. Any profession demands at least a little creativity, and there's nothing better to get the creative juices flowing than music. As someone who works with music on full blast constantly, the stuff I listen to really sets the tone for the whole project; I pick the music I listen to carefully, I'll pair different briefs with music that fits they're proposed stylistic tone. For example, if I'm designing a leaflet for funeral home, bring on Lana Del Rey's Born to Die. If I'm creating posters for a candy shop, then it's sugary sweet top 40 pop. Interpreting music onto paper is a wonderful thing and a good way to get ideas out. It's 2am in the morning, your half asleep and you desperately need to wrap up a sketch book for a deadline the next day, getting a few water colours out and slabbing them onto paper to the beat of a good Enya track could deliver some pretty interesting outcomes.
Watching movies is another useful technique. When your hit a creative block half way through a project, settling down to watch a movie might not sound like the most productive of activities; but it really helps. Simply because there's so much to absorb from them, no matter how bad the movie is. Think about it, the imagery, the colours, the way scenes are shot, music etc... even from looking at the technical perspective there's still a whole bunch of opportunity to think creatively and develop new or even existing ideas. In terms of concept a movies's plot, characters, central idea or even just a scene can always spark up some imagination. Especially if your involved emotionally, if a movie can make a feel something, or can provoke a reaction; that movie has just done a very important thing; it's not exactly what defines a "good" movie but it's powerful quality for any film (bad or good) to posses. The way we can get invested in good movies, shows me just how powerful they can be.
Video Games might sound obscure but don't judge; they can do anything a movie can do, with one very big bonus. YOU are part of it. When you play a game, there's a real sense of immersion, you could be fighting of zombies in an abandoned noodle factory one minute (Resident Evil), to boarding and alien aircraft (Mass Effect) or driving around New York picking up prostitutes and beating up old ladies. These games offer avatars to live out fantasies, a concept that will continue development. When your given something like a sandbox game (a game where you can nagivate an open world) the player is being given a blank canvas, they are given the tools to do anything they want to do inside that game. That's a pretty powerful thing.
Lana Del Rey
Music inspires everyone. Any profession demands at least a little creativity, and there's nothing better to get the creative juices flowing than music. As someone who works with music on full blast constantly, the stuff I listen to really sets the tone for the whole project; I pick the music I listen to carefully, I'll pair different briefs with music that fits they're proposed stylistic tone. For example, if I'm designing a leaflet for funeral home, bring on Lana Del Rey's Born to Die. If I'm creating posters for a candy shop, then it's sugary sweet top 40 pop. Interpreting music onto paper is a wonderful thing and a good way to get ideas out. It's 2am in the morning, your half asleep and you desperately need to wrap up a sketch book for a deadline the next day, getting a few water colours out and slabbing them onto paper to the beat of a good Enya track could deliver some pretty interesting outcomes.
Mulholland Drive
Watching movies is another useful technique. When your hit a creative block half way through a project, settling down to watch a movie might not sound like the most productive of activities; but it really helps. Simply because there's so much to absorb from them, no matter how bad the movie is. Think about it, the imagery, the colours, the way scenes are shot, music etc... even from looking at the technical perspective there's still a whole bunch of opportunity to think creatively and develop new or even existing ideas. In terms of concept a movies's plot, characters, central idea or even just a scene can always spark up some imagination. Especially if your involved emotionally, if a movie can make a feel something, or can provoke a reaction; that movie has just done a very important thing; it's not exactly what defines a "good" movie but it's powerful quality for any film (bad or good) to posses. The way we can get invested in good movies, shows me just how powerful they can be.
Cyberpunk 2077
Video Games might sound obscure but don't judge; they can do anything a movie can do, with one very big bonus. YOU are part of it. When you play a game, there's a real sense of immersion, you could be fighting of zombies in an abandoned noodle factory one minute (Resident Evil), to boarding and alien aircraft (Mass Effect) or driving around New York picking up prostitutes and beating up old ladies. These games offer avatars to live out fantasies, a concept that will continue development. When your given something like a sandbox game (a game where you can nagivate an open world) the player is being given a blank canvas, they are given the tools to do anything they want to do inside that game. That's a pretty powerful thing.
Perfect Sense
This is a very dull piece of
writing.
Mary went to the shop to buy some eggs.
She liked eggs. So she made a trip down to Tesco’s Express to pick some up. She
only had a few bob on her, but she discovered a deal on Flora butter. Oh how
she loved Flora. In sheer delight, she discovered she had enough for not just
the eggs. But the flora too! It was a good day for Mary.
This is a very dull piece of
writing.
Mary went to the shop to buy some eggs.
She liked eggs. So she made a trip down to Tesco’s Express to pick some up. She
only had a few bob on her, but she discovered a deal on Flora butter. Oh how
she loved Flora. In sheer delight, she discovered she had enough for not just
the eggs. But the flora too! It was a good day for Mary.
WRITING OF PIECE DULL VERY A IS
THIS
Mary
for day good a was it !too flora the but. Eggs the just not for enough had she
discovered she, delight sheer in. Flora loved she how oh. Butter flora on deal a discovered she but, her on bob few a has only she. Up some pick to Express Tesco’s
to down trip a made she so. Eggs liked she. Eggs some buy to shop the to went
mary
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
That damn comfort zone...
This is something I'm going to try and avoid like the plague come September. If it weren't for Foundation I'd have a very different idea of what it means to be a student of Graphic Design. Making the leap from A-Level to Diploma in Art & Design was a surprisingly big one. And it wasn't until then I realised how prescriptive A-Level actually was, and how little freedom we had in terms of creative development.
It's funny in a way, even though your essentially told to do whatever you want with A-Level Graphics, there's still a very specific curriculum you have to stick to. And you never really taught anything new; what you do is up to you; so despite a pretty enjoyable two years at A-Level, I didn't bother to learn anything new; simply because I didn't have to. I pigeon holed myself into a very clinical method of working, and by the time the years had finished; I hadn't really felt like I'd learned anything. I certainly improved on the areas of work I focused on (digital software, image manipulation, some light photography and a little graphic drawing) but I totally restricted myself to do anything else. I had found my niche and was sticking to it. By the second year, I'd improved vastly, and my first A-Level project gave me the best results I'd ever had - this gave me a false sense of security, and I practically copy and pasted the work over from that project to my final exam piece and my grades slipped. It's not because the work was any worse; it was because I was too afraid to try anything different.
By the time I'd started my Foundation course, I came to the realisation that relying on the same formula for A-Level just wasn't going to cut; so i tried new things. I tried stitch making, print screening, painting, drawing, film photography, collage etc... Trying to get my hands as dirty as possible, until I found techniques that stuck. My attitude to carrying out projects has changed vastly within the last year. And I hope to investigate further techniques whilst I study at Kingston.
Shoving yourself into a neat little box as a designer is about the worst thing you can do. I'm just glad I discovered this before any of the real work begins.
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
About the Helvetica Movie... ( + a quick review )
Ah. Helvetica... Where to begin? Okay for those of you that don't know Helvetica: The movie revolves around one thing, Helvetica: the font. A movie about typography? Hmmm... regardless of it's 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, not gonna lie, watching 90 minute documentary about one type face didn't sound like the best way to spend a Thursday afternoon. But boy I'm glad I did.
There's so much to love here, and to really appreciate. Never before did I think a font could carry so much socio-political baggage, or be accused of endorsing capitalism - turns out there is, and it's Helvetica.
There's definitely a good balance here, there's no bias, no agenda; it's just a documentary about an incredibly common type face. It's funny, we see Helvetica EVERYWHERE, but this begs the question why? Why is font that was born in the 1950's so commonly used today? Personally, I'm of the assumption that's it's just a beautiful font. Timeless even. I don't think there's all that much more to say about it. Clearly, that opinion is by no means universal. World renowned designers like Stefan Sagmeister and Erik Spiekermann are clearly not fans, with the (fair) argument that's it's just... dull. Overused, contrived and boring. The idea that Helvetica somehow restricts creativity and innovation. And it's not like they haven't got a point, Helvetica is over used, evident by the modernist movement. But personally, no matter how many logo's, flyers, posters or jumbo jets I see it plastered on. I still can't somehow not like it? And I guess that's the appeal. To the average person it's a font that's impossible to find fault in. It's anonymous and simple - yet holds enormous power, (and in my opinion is quite lovely). Mid way through, that socio-political baggage I mentioned earlier rears it's ugly head. It comes from the fact that Helvetica is used by several hundred major world wide brands. Leading the font to be associated with Capitalist ideals, in turn created a stigma with designers.
There's a lot to appreciate, and there's something here anyone (designer or not) can find interesting. It's an insightful window into the design industry, the importance of a corporations aesthetic and a neat history lesson thrown in for good measure. Discovering the cultural, and historical importance of nothing more than a type face was extremely enlightening as a hopeful practicer of design. There's an interesting point made within the first few minutes of the documentary: that the designer controls quite literally anything and everything the public see's and absorbs, we add voice to context. Something that made me realise this what I want to so with my life.
9/10
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Friday, 30 August 2013
TED TALKS
As a someone who hopes to one day be a designer, being a good thinker, and having solid ideas is pretty key. When I want a good idea, when I want inspiration, looking at art galleries, studying books and browsing through tumblr can only go so far. When I feel like I need to develop a project with substance. This is the place I come to.
One of the reasons I love Youtube. Great ideas, great messages, solid advice. Everyone can take something away from these kinds of videos. Here are some of my absolute favourite TED videos.
Cameron Russell, talk about societies standard of beauty and how complexity unrealistic it is. She talks about it being a creation, the accumulation of the best stylists, photographers and retouchers the industry has to offer. As if it's all one big lie. She also talks bout the racism in the fashion industry and how non white girls are faced with an uphill battle to get work.
Richard Dawkins, a professor at Oxford University and author of the bestselling "The God Delusion" gives a seminar about simply not respecting religion. Throwing it completely out the window and looking at cold hard facts. I'm not sure I agree entirely, but it's certainly an interesting watch that re affirms my beliefs (or lack of beliefs). Looking at religion objectively can only really, truly be done when you don't abide by any.
One of the reasons I love Youtube. Great ideas, great messages, solid advice. Everyone can take something away from these kinds of videos. Here are some of my absolute favourite TED videos.
Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me I'm a model.
Cameron Russell, talk about societies standard of beauty and how complexity unrealistic it is. She talks about it being a creation, the accumulation of the best stylists, photographers and retouchers the industry has to offer. As if it's all one big lie. She also talks bout the racism in the fashion industry and how non white girls are faced with an uphill battle to get work.
Richard Dawkins: Militant Atheism
Richard Dawkins, a professor at Oxford University and author of the bestselling "The God Delusion" gives a seminar about simply not respecting religion. Throwing it completely out the window and looking at cold hard facts. I'm not sure I agree entirely, but it's certainly an interesting watch that re affirms my beliefs (or lack of beliefs). Looking at religion objectively can only really, truly be done when you don't abide by any.
Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability
I loved this one. Berne Brown comes out to share a personal epiphany, the power in being vulnerable. In a very quick summary, she talks about how it's the starting point for us to live happier, better lives. How by being vulnerable we learn to accept and embrace our insecurities, because it's what makes us human.
Hyeonseo Lee: My Escape from North Korea
It's a sad one, but an important one. Hyeoneso paints us a very sad picture of what's become of North Korea. How the totalitarian regime has impacted not just her life, but the lives of her family and everyone living there. It's story that feels like a good movie, only it's real; it's happening right now.
Steve Johnson: Where good ideas come from
Revoles around the importance of networking and sharing ideas. Communication is the key to deconstructing and reassembling existing ideas, in order to create something new. To innovate. The eureka moment doesn't really exist, it's the accumulation of a lot of time, work and trail and error. Similar ideas and themes (such as 20% time) are brought up in TED's most popular video, see "TED: The puzzle of motivation".
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Foundation 2013 (Part 1)
Thought I'd do a brief retrospective of my work... Kinda nice to look back at it now and think "Oh yeah, I did that"
Opposites (Book Art Project)
Sadly these were never used, but were meant as a graphic drawings to be put inside a much larger piece of work. Graphic drawings depicting abstract interpretations of opposites, here we see the opposites of "truth + lies" (on the left) and shape (right).
Fame Kills Dress
A dress I made for my Textiles class. I used nearly 12 ft. of Organza, and smothered the entire thing in text, reading "Marilyn", "Judy", "Britney" and "Diana" - referring to Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Britney Spears and Princess Diana. Women who lived, died or suffered in the eyes of the media. The dress was designed to be traditional and feminine, but the creepy "stalker style" handwriting was meant to create a contrast to the cliché design. It was meant to strike a balance between something fashionable and conventionally pretty and something darker. Conceptually I think it's one of my strongest pieces, and really triggered a desire to investigate the idea further, the idea of "Fame Kills" was the used as the basis for my FMP later in the year.
Book Art - Rough Sketches / Texture Experimentation
An ambitious prototype that never really saw the light of day. One of the objectives of the Book Art project was to question what the whole notion of the book was. So I took it upon myself to create something that didn't in any way look like a conventional book.
This was a very rough prototype for my last Book Art piece. Using abstract drawings as a means of describing opposites, the mark making and use of texture became key. I wanted to interlink with the typology project in that each piece of paper would have a slightly different texture. Using different types of spices, coffee's or even using crushed tablets, as a means of creating different colours and textures.
Playing with Shape, Size and Dimensions
(Above) Further investigation into the final book art piece.
GANG BANG - Lyric Video Screen Shots
A project I did whilst I was on Foundation but never got around to finishing it. I think it might be about time I went back...
It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be, Paul Arden (Book Review)
I'll be honest. The joy of reading was never something that ever really struck me... Am I still allowed to blame television? Meh, probably not. So being given a mandatory reading list from my future University was a bit of a bummer if I'm honest. But low and behold, Paul Arden did the impossible, he gave me a book that could actually class as some kind of... recreation. SHOCK HORROR! What have I become?
It's Not How Good You Are... can be read in all of an hour, and it's an incredibly good read. It's simple, cut's straight the point and surprisingly easy to digest and take in. The title might lead to believe it's a book intended to help anyone in the business world, but it's centred around the advertising industry and is generally geared towards more creative minds. So to some might be somewhat misleading, but even if it's not your field of practice it's a still a great pocket book for anyone eager to excel in the world of work, as most of the it can be applied to any kind of business.
As the summary says, the advice is simple and I guess a little old fashioned but is that a bad thing? Lord no. It really does take you back to basics and words things in a straight forward, yet logical manner. I read this book coming home form a trip to Cardiff as soon as I realised how short the whole thing was, and for most of that train ride, I nodded my head, grinned like an idiot and had one or two bursts of laughter emerge. The comment about Victoria Beckham and the Persil Automatic was pretty hysterical.
All in all It's Not How Good You Are, is simple, to the point and crammed to the brim with useful information. It's as entertaining as it is insightful and logical. I wasn't going to do a rating system... but for the first ever book I've managed to get some genuine pleasure out of reading, what the hell; I'll bite. I'll give Paul Arden's self proclaimed "business bible" (I concur btw) a ...
9/10
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Lady Gaga - Applause (Music Video Review) + The "ARTPOP" Concept
I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a huge fan of anything Pop culture, it's one of the reasons Pop Art was so predominantly featured in my work throughout A-Level. And as you've gathered I'm a bit of a Gaga fanatic, but it's only because she's one of the only Pop stars out there right now that's genuinely interested in Art and the science behind pop culture and celebrity. I'm also a huge media freak, and I'm obsessed with using video in my projects. The following is a link to my attempt at making a music video two years ago... granted my German is horrible, but I actually think the outcome is pretty good considering.
(And dear LORD please ignore the description box, I swear I'm not nearly as annoying as I sound)
Applause is her latest music video, coming straight from the minds of herself and Inez and Vinoodh, the Dutch fashion paring. Granted if we're looking at Applause as a music video, let's be honest it's no Bad Romance. But in terms of actual artistry, Applause is her most visually compelling and thematically interesting video to date. (See the link below to watch it for yourself)
The concept revolves around transformation, and we see Gaga playing homage to her former selves, showing her ability to reinvent herself time and time again. Which plays into the theme of a Magic Show, explaining the use of the grossly oversized top hat used at the beginning of the video and the fact that the whole video looks as if it were shot on some sort of stage. We see references to four different Gaga's, pre fame, breakout (Poker Face), her status as a bonified pop icon (bad romance), her Born this Way era, and finally where she is now. And it plays into the idea that Gaga isn't really a person, but more of a character, who's capable of morphing and shifting her personality, image and sound to create a completely new brand for herself and appeal to whole new demographic. A feat not done as well since the days of Madonna. There's a famous quote by fashion photographer Richard Avedon, stated after a session with Marilyn Monroe "There's no such person as Marilyn, she's an invention, a genius invention". In my opinion the same can be said for Gaga, she's a living breathing cartoon character (in the best possible sense).
Gaga has previously stated her album "ARTPOP" is the direct opposite of what Andy Warhol did with the Pop Art movement. As opposed to putting pop culture into art, it's in Gaga's intent to put art into pop culture, and with her recent collaborations with Jeff Koons and Robert Wilson it's an ideal she's eager to achieve.
Visually Applause strikes contrasts between bold colour and black and white. On a whole it's pretty eclectic. Playing into the idea of transformation and Gaga's ambition to play the role of anyone or anything. It's as if the aesthetic has been worked into the concept development. On top of that, simple black backdrops are balanced with highly eccentric fashion, and bizarre set pieces (see the Gaga swan).
Applause does bite off more than it can chew at times, but that's not a bad thing; not in this context. Gaga's larger than life persona (along with larger than life ambitions) kinda runs a nice parallel to the clusterfuck that is most of video's content. It's an all visual assault, and crams an insane amount of imagery and ideas into a relatively short three and a half minutes. Once dissected and isolated however, everything become a LOT more clear, and you're left with a relatively coherent beginning, middle and end.
(And dear LORD please ignore the description box, I swear I'm not nearly as annoying as I sound)
Applause is her latest music video, coming straight from the minds of herself and Inez and Vinoodh, the Dutch fashion paring. Granted if we're looking at Applause as a music video, let's be honest it's no Bad Romance. But in terms of actual artistry, Applause is her most visually compelling and thematically interesting video to date. (See the link below to watch it for yourself)
The concept revolves around transformation, and we see Gaga playing homage to her former selves, showing her ability to reinvent herself time and time again. Which plays into the theme of a Magic Show, explaining the use of the grossly oversized top hat used at the beginning of the video and the fact that the whole video looks as if it were shot on some sort of stage. We see references to four different Gaga's, pre fame, breakout (Poker Face), her status as a bonified pop icon (bad romance), her Born this Way era, and finally where she is now. And it plays into the idea that Gaga isn't really a person, but more of a character, who's capable of morphing and shifting her personality, image and sound to create a completely new brand for herself and appeal to whole new demographic. A feat not done as well since the days of Madonna. There's a famous quote by fashion photographer Richard Avedon, stated after a session with Marilyn Monroe "There's no such person as Marilyn, she's an invention, a genius invention". In my opinion the same can be said for Gaga, she's a living breathing cartoon character (in the best possible sense).
Gaga has previously stated her album "ARTPOP" is the direct opposite of what Andy Warhol did with the Pop Art movement. As opposed to putting pop culture into art, it's in Gaga's intent to put art into pop culture, and with her recent collaborations with Jeff Koons and Robert Wilson it's an ideal she's eager to achieve.
Visually Applause strikes contrasts between bold colour and black and white. On a whole it's pretty eclectic. Playing into the idea of transformation and Gaga's ambition to play the role of anyone or anything. It's as if the aesthetic has been worked into the concept development. On top of that, simple black backdrops are balanced with highly eccentric fashion, and bizarre set pieces (see the Gaga swan).
Applause does bite off more than it can chew at times, but that's not a bad thing; not in this context. Gaga's larger than life persona (along with larger than life ambitions) kinda runs a nice parallel to the clusterfuck that is most of video's content. It's an all visual assault, and crams an insane amount of imagery and ideas into a relatively short three and a half minutes. Once dissected and isolated however, everything become a LOT more clear, and you're left with a relatively coherent beginning, middle and end.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Layout Concept #01
And designers worst nightmare has emerged... missing a god damn E in Blueprint... LORD how on this earth did I pass English GCSE?
Check out...
There's a whole load of blogs out there geared towards graphic design and all things related, but I thought I'd give a quick run down of some of the best ones I've had the pleasure of coming across.
01 - http://www.septemberindustry.co.uk
ABOUT:
SI has always been about quality not quantity since day one which is why the site isn’t updated daily but rather biweekly or triweekly.
If you’re looking for a carefully curated selection of the very best contemporary graphic design — exceptionally crafted work that truly inspires — you’ve come to the right place. SI prides itself in showcasing large/exclusive images of each project contributed by the original designers, studios and photographers (not just taken directly from their site). We don’t do anything smaller that 800px wide because you can’t truly appreciate the finer details in the “blog-friendly” 500px wide format.
Unfortunately the current version of this site doesn’t have pagination on the front page (that will change when the new design rolls out sometime this year). So in the meantime have fun browsing the visual categories for the older stuff and don’t forget to follow SI on Twitter and Subscribe for the latest updates.
Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoy your stay ;)
01 - http://www.septemberindustry.co.uk
ABOUT:
SI has always been about quality not quantity since day one which is why the site isn’t updated daily but rather biweekly or triweekly.
If you’re looking for a carefully curated selection of the very best contemporary graphic design — exceptionally crafted work that truly inspires — you’ve come to the right place. SI prides itself in showcasing large/exclusive images of each project contributed by the original designers, studios and photographers (not just taken directly from their site). We don’t do anything smaller that 800px wide because you can’t truly appreciate the finer details in the “blog-friendly” 500px wide format.
Unfortunately the current version of this site doesn’t have pagination on the front page (that will change when the new design rolls out sometime this year). So in the meantime have fun browsing the visual categories for the older stuff and don’t forget to follow SI on Twitter and Subscribe for the latest updates.
Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoy your stay ;)
02 - http://designyoutrust.com
ABOUT:
Design You Trust is a hourly-updated collective design blog and community, full of new design trends, news and events, great design portfolios, young design bloods, design articles, photographies, fashion, creative advertisements, architectural inspirations, video design and hand-picked design stuff from all over the globe.
Join Design You Trust community on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, follow us on Twitter and subscribeto our RSS Feed!
Explore our fantastic deals for design community: themes, icons, freebies, vectors, games, gadgets and many more.
Design You Trust was founded in 2007 by Dmitry Utkin. Feel free to contact me atdesignyoutrust@gmail.com and send your comments and suggestions. I’m committed to helping you find the right answers to your questions and concerns. Your information will be kept confidential.
Join Design You Trust community on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, follow us on Twitter and subscribeto our RSS Feed!
Explore our fantastic deals for design community: themes, icons, freebies, vectors, games, gadgets and many more.
Design You Trust was founded in 2007 by Dmitry Utkin. Feel free to contact me atdesignyoutrust@gmail.com and send your comments and suggestions. I’m committed to helping you find the right answers to your questions and concerns. Your information will be kept confidential.
03 - http://www.bitique.co.uk
04 - http://swisslegacyatelier.tumblr.com
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Mixed Media
So whenever I get down and work, it's not just graphic designers and artists that I look to for inspiration. There's a whole bunch of other media's I use, music, movies and even something as obscure as a video games all bring something new to the table. And to some degree they can ALL be classified as "art", if it can make you feel something, if it can challenge you in some way; to a certain extent that's what art is supposed to do.
Music is a big one for me, when your pulling all nighters trying to finish something for a crit the next day, music is exactly you need to keep your adrenaline going; that a whole load of caffeine. It also helps get you into a certain type of head space, depending on what the brief asks for, listening to a certain type of music really helps. Take my experience last year with foundation, my first brief was to question the notion of the book, so I took that very literally and thought about what the books true purpose was? To distribute information, so technically television and music can serve the same purpose, just through a totally different medium, so that's what I did; i wanted to distribute information through visually and sonically. Choosing one of Madonna's most theatrical tunes "Gang Bang", a song which tells the story of a women's revenge to kill her cheating boyfriend. I used to the music to inspire the video's visuals, I took to Photoshop and Illustrator and literally designed a new slide for every word of the song; it resulted in being one of the most strenuous pieces of work I'd ever done, designing and illustrating around nearly 500 slides for the video; all of them unique; all of them inspired by the track. I needed to pick a song which I could milk a lot of imagination from, and I think I did just that. In terms of concept I developed my own interpretation, taking inspiration from her MDNA tour with an art film for Nobody Knows Me" I wanted to study the idea of subliminal messaging and "reading between the lines" in a political and cultural sense. The idea was to develop something chaotic but tasteful. A mess of imagery but substance.
Madonna's Gang Bang
Some of my favourites...
Same case with movies, and much more obviously; when you come across a movie like Cell, Drive or Mulholland Drive, something really wonderful happens. It's rare when you see a film that really takes you back visually, but the ones which do are always great for sparking up imagination and delating artists block. Their out there there, you just need to look for them.
A couple of examples...
Mulholland Drive
Drive
Traffic
Cell
Memento
Kill Bill
Perfect Blue
Metropolis (2001 Anime)
Another go-to for me is video games. Not only can they mix and combine audio and visuals (already serving the same purpose as a movie) the interaction you have with it is what makes it such a special and UNIQUE experience. Not many people bother to acknowledge that video games are often just as culturally relevant, innovative and important as any great movie or piece of art. Granted the actual audience of a game like Call of Duty (sort of the video game equivalent to a movie franchise like Twilight, draws huge numbers but next to everyone hates it) revolves around foul mouthed pre pubescent teenage boys. But there's so much to be seen with games like Mirrors Edge, Bioshock Infinite , The Last of Us, Portal 2 or the Mass Effect series. Think about what games let you do, they let you play out all of your fantasies from the comfort of your own living room, just think about where that concept can take us in a few years.
Some of my favourites...
Mass Effect
Bioshock: Infinite
Mirrors Edge
Portal 2
The Last of Us
Silent Hill
Final Fantasy
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I hope to develop on this post in the future. Maybe even use some the ideas mentioned here as the foundations for future projects.
Music is a big one for me, when your pulling all nighters trying to finish something for a crit the next day, music is exactly you need to keep your adrenaline going; that a whole load of caffeine. It also helps get you into a certain type of head space, depending on what the brief asks for, listening to a certain type of music really helps. Take my experience last year with foundation, my first brief was to question the notion of the book, so I took that very literally and thought about what the books true purpose was? To distribute information, so technically television and music can serve the same purpose, just through a totally different medium, so that's what I did; i wanted to distribute information through visually and sonically. Choosing one of Madonna's most theatrical tunes "Gang Bang", a song which tells the story of a women's revenge to kill her cheating boyfriend. I used to the music to inspire the video's visuals, I took to Photoshop and Illustrator and literally designed a new slide for every word of the song; it resulted in being one of the most strenuous pieces of work I'd ever done, designing and illustrating around nearly 500 slides for the video; all of them unique; all of them inspired by the track. I needed to pick a song which I could milk a lot of imagination from, and I think I did just that. In terms of concept I developed my own interpretation, taking inspiration from her MDNA tour with an art film for Nobody Knows Me" I wanted to study the idea of subliminal messaging and "reading between the lines" in a political and cultural sense. The idea was to develop something chaotic but tasteful. A mess of imagery but substance.
Madonna's Gang Bang
Some of my favourites...
Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
Betty Who - The Movement
Natalia Kills - Saturday Night
Robyn - Body Talk
Hurts - Exile
Madonna - American Life
Anything by Hans Zimmer.
Same case with movies, and much more obviously; when you come across a movie like Cell, Drive or Mulholland Drive, something really wonderful happens. It's rare when you see a film that really takes you back visually, but the ones which do are always great for sparking up imagination and delating artists block. Their out there there, you just need to look for them.
A couple of examples...
Mulholland Drive
Drive
Traffic
Cell
Memento
Kill Bill
Perfect Blue
Metropolis (2001 Anime)
Another go-to for me is video games. Not only can they mix and combine audio and visuals (already serving the same purpose as a movie) the interaction you have with it is what makes it such a special and UNIQUE experience. Not many people bother to acknowledge that video games are often just as culturally relevant, innovative and important as any great movie or piece of art. Granted the actual audience of a game like Call of Duty (sort of the video game equivalent to a movie franchise like Twilight, draws huge numbers but next to everyone hates it) revolves around foul mouthed pre pubescent teenage boys. But there's so much to be seen with games like Mirrors Edge, Bioshock Infinite , The Last of Us, Portal 2 or the Mass Effect series. Think about what games let you do, they let you play out all of your fantasies from the comfort of your own living room, just think about where that concept can take us in a few years.
Some of my favourites...
Mass Effect
Bioshock: Infinite
Mirrors Edge
Portal 2
The Last of Us
Silent Hill
Final Fantasy
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I hope to develop on this post in the future. Maybe even use some the ideas mentioned here as the foundations for future projects.
Monday, 19 August 2013
Museums, museums and yet more museums...
So it's been a bit of a cluster fuck of a year for me... with getting University sorted out and everything, it turned out I needed to take a more than just a few trips up to London (for interviews, open days all that jazz) and in doing so I thought I may as well make use of London's vast array of museums and art galleries. Turns out I didn't have NEARLY enough free time to cover as much ground as I would have liked, but we made use of the heavy weights.
Firstly the Tate Modern. Haven't been here in a while... I visited TTM when I was ten, and obviously at ten you know nothing about art, but I remembered the experience as a pleasant one. Looking at TTM now, I've obviously developed a new found appreciation for the subject, having said that a good chunk of what was on show went over my head completely. I came across some amazing Francis Bacon pieces and got the chance to discover new artists, John Heartfield being one of them; I came across a giant wall filled with his satirical commentary on Nazi propaganda with 50 beautifully fashioned. posters
I also came across a Swiss installation artists by the name of Thomas Hirschhorn, his piece "Candelabra with Heads", showcasing a collage of mannequin parts all wrapped up and stuck together. It was gaining quite a lot of interest from the crowed, and honestly kinda struck a chord with me; I'm not big on installation art, the top floor (which was ALL installation) bored me to tears, but this one was different, there was a creepiness to it that kinda fascinated me, it got me to look up a lot more of his work. Other than the excessively over priced gift shop, it was a pretty pleasant experience.
While we were there my Dad took me to see The Design Museum. Kinda crucial for someone who wants to pursue a career in design so this was a big priority for me, unfortunately the exhibition they had on at the time couldn't have been further away from what I'd expected to see, it revolved around the literal design of sports cars, sports equipment and all things SPORT related... the only thing I took away from the experience was absolutely disgusting at how vastly underpaid women are in sport, seriously it's a crime. The upper floor was a lot more to my taste, it wasn't strictly graphic design, but it was cool - it shows a bunch of light installations, many of which were interactive. It's exactly what I expected; but then again I should have pre anticipated that "DESIGN" covers a much much broader spectrum.
Later in the year, I travelled over to Madrid to see my Dad. And it was a no brainer, Museums were a PRIORITY. We were smack bang in the centre of one of Europe's biggest and most culturally important cities. So off we headed to the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art, operation GUERNICA! It was finally happening, Guernica to me was nothing more than a 10 by 6 inch title hanging above my bed all my life, now I was going to see the real deal, in the flesh. And it was pretty amazing. Seeing the detail of the brush strokes and getting up close to the concept sketches was really special for me.
And in the spirit of spending my last few weeks in Wales, I thought I might aswell take one last look at our National Museum and finally get around to seeing the refurbished galleries. So me and my sister hopped onto the train that took us to Cardiff's National Gallery and we had a good snoop around. It was years since I went there, so it was a pleasant surprise that they had a couple of Picasso's, Monet's and Mondrian's lying about...
I'll post some images we took a little later
Gotta admit though, I'm more than prepared to get my own ideas on paper, I've been gazing at other peoples for long enough.
Firstly the Tate Modern. Haven't been here in a while... I visited TTM when I was ten, and obviously at ten you know nothing about art, but I remembered the experience as a pleasant one. Looking at TTM now, I've obviously developed a new found appreciation for the subject, having said that a good chunk of what was on show went over my head completely. I came across some amazing Francis Bacon pieces and got the chance to discover new artists, John Heartfield being one of them; I came across a giant wall filled with his satirical commentary on Nazi propaganda with 50 beautifully fashioned. posters
I also came across a Swiss installation artists by the name of Thomas Hirschhorn, his piece "Candelabra with Heads", showcasing a collage of mannequin parts all wrapped up and stuck together. It was gaining quite a lot of interest from the crowed, and honestly kinda struck a chord with me; I'm not big on installation art, the top floor (which was ALL installation) bored me to tears, but this one was different, there was a creepiness to it that kinda fascinated me, it got me to look up a lot more of his work. Other than the excessively over priced gift shop, it was a pretty pleasant experience.
While we were there my Dad took me to see The Design Museum. Kinda crucial for someone who wants to pursue a career in design so this was a big priority for me, unfortunately the exhibition they had on at the time couldn't have been further away from what I'd expected to see, it revolved around the literal design of sports cars, sports equipment and all things SPORT related... the only thing I took away from the experience was absolutely disgusting at how vastly underpaid women are in sport, seriously it's a crime. The upper floor was a lot more to my taste, it wasn't strictly graphic design, but it was cool - it shows a bunch of light installations, many of which were interactive. It's exactly what I expected; but then again I should have pre anticipated that "DESIGN" covers a much much broader spectrum.
Later in the year, I travelled over to Madrid to see my Dad. And it was a no brainer, Museums were a PRIORITY. We were smack bang in the centre of one of Europe's biggest and most culturally important cities. So off we headed to the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art, operation GUERNICA! It was finally happening, Guernica to me was nothing more than a 10 by 6 inch title hanging above my bed all my life, now I was going to see the real deal, in the flesh. And it was pretty amazing. Seeing the detail of the brush strokes and getting up close to the concept sketches was really special for me.
And in the spirit of spending my last few weeks in Wales, I thought I might aswell take one last look at our National Museum and finally get around to seeing the refurbished galleries. So me and my sister hopped onto the train that took us to Cardiff's National Gallery and we had a good snoop around. It was years since I went there, so it was a pleasant surprise that they had a couple of Picasso's, Monet's and Mondrian's lying about...
I'll post some images we took a little later
Gotta admit though, I'm more than prepared to get my own ideas on paper, I've been gazing at other peoples for long enough.
Saturday, 17 August 2013
30# BRITNEY SPEARS
NAME: Britney Jean Spears
PROFESSION: Singer, Entertainer
NATIONALITY: American
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.britneyspears.com/index.aspx
Britney Jean Spears. Okay, don't judge me. Who doesn't like Toxic? I've got a affinity for pop stars and you don't get much more iconic than Britney. A women who I don't think even realise or understands how interesting her life is. She's the definition of what I've been talking about all this time in relation to fame, when you get to the top there's no where left to go but down; the public couldn't get enough. Seeing the hottest thing to hit pop music shave her head, go to rehab, loose custody of her two children and attack a sports car with an umbrella quite literally shook the world.
Oh yeah. And her music is catchy as hell. Enjoy the bops ya'll.
29# BROM
NAME: Gerald Brom
PROFESSION: Illustrator, Concept Artist
NATIONALITY: American
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.bromart.com
Originally a commercial artist, Brom transitioned rather smoothly (as early as his 20's) into conceptual artwork for books, movies and video games. With an incredibly distinctive style: basing his sexy, spooky, monster like drawings on the Dungeons and Dragons board games. I've always been really obsessed with dark, quirky imagery and Brom is always on hand to astonish with his sinister, overly yet cartoony paintings.
28# BARBARA KRUGER
NAME: Barbara Kruger
PROFESSION: Conceptual Artist
NATIONALITY: American
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.barbarakruger.com
One of the (if not thee) most well known and respected conceptual artists of all time. Her incredibly distinct pieces and her colossal installations (namely the Frankfurt shopping department) are evident that text is a powerful thing. She disputes being called a political artist, instead she prefers just being seen as an artist with something to say. Even though her play on George Bush "Life for the unborn, death for the unborn" is my favourite piece from her, I chose her best known piece. "Your body is a battle ground", a commentary on a woman's right to choose.
27# JOEL PETER WITKIN
NAME: Joel Peter Witkin
PROFESSION: Photographer
NATIONALITY: American
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: N/A (His work can be viewed) here http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkin.htm
Say what you will about Joel Peter Witkin, he certainly knows how to get your attention. Throughout a career spanning five decades, Joel has constantly strived to provoke and question the notion of what makes an image beautiful, by using all the things we don't associate with beauty. In fact it's more the exact opposite; dismembered body parts, decapitated heads, burn victims... the list goes on. It's not so much the subject, but the context, the composition, when it's right in front of you, it just works. And despite whether or not you agree with that, you can't deny his originality, or ability to shock.
26# DAVID CARSON
NAME: David Carson
PROFESSION: Graphic Designer
NATIONALITY: American
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.davidcarsondesign.com
No introduction necessary.
TED: David Carson - Design Discovery and Humour
David Carson - The Rules of Graphic Design
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