Wednesday 26 November 2008

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Monday 6 October 2008

1 week project (work in progress)

front cover idea...
inspired by tribal scarification
double page spread...
being positive about scars

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Brick Museum







How cool is this, a lego exhibition currently touring the US! Reminds me of the White Stripes video fell in love with a girl. This guy Nathan Sawaya makes some astonishing sculptures using the standard lego bricks. My favourite is definatly the guy looking in the mirror.

Ned Kahn





This guys work is weird! But very unique. Influenced by weather conditions mainly, he creates large scale installations, some temporary around public places others permanent fixtures as part of a buildings or sea breakers. His work is well hard to describe so check it out! I particularly like the huge tornado he's managed to create.

The essential design handbook



I know loads of people are probably going to write this exact same thread but I dont care. 'What is Graphic Design?' is a fantastic book thanks go out to the design department for telling us to buy it when we where wee freshers. If I'm ever stook for ideas or need some visual stimulation I always wip it out!

Future farming






Can you believe this!? Jamie Oliver would go nuts! Farms built on skyscrapers! A new concept to save the acres and acres of land that farms take up. I think it's stupid and probably will happen at some point in the future. I have a passion for food and buy food from the market when ever i can. I hate buying massed produced crap and animals that arn't treat fairly. How is the meat going to taste better if a cow is on the 50th floor of a skyscraper in the middle of Seattle. This is inspired me to buy more fresh produce from local shops etc, join me folks! Dont succumb to the powers of Asda and Tesco.

House of Cards



Check out Radiohead's new video for House of Cards, I aint even gonna bother trying to explain how it was made i'll just quote

'No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.'

If you think the video was cool, check this out it is AMAZING trust me follow the link!

Jen Stark



Check out this cool design approach. Jen Stark has taking stacks and stacks of different coloured paper and made these cool 3D sculptures out of them. She's really made her own style, there so intricate and detailed they look like they've been made on the computer, insane!

David DiMichele





I wasn't sure which topic to post this under but I think it fits in with the museums theme. Notice anything about these photo's? Pretty big shards of glass eh? Well actually no! There small models of museum spaces which David DiMichele creates then puts tiny little people next to them, lights it perfectly and then photographs the scene leaving the viewer stunned out how big the shard of glass are or how on earth he's managed to get ice cubes that big! I think it's a wicked idea and really plays with our perception of size, pitty he hadn't done it for real.

Tuesday 30 September 2008

Tate Modern



When I went to the Tate Modern a few years I was blown away by the building and by Rachel Whitereads exhibition. The massive entrance hall is literally stunning and the work I saw on show their that day really helped me with work I was doing at the time. I have to say I usually dont like museums but that trip was well worth it!

FaulknerBrowns Architects





Here is a new identity designed for FaulknerBrowns courtesy of London based design studio A2/SW/HK. The orginal company identity was a confusing mess of too many typefaces, weights and colours. A2 decided to totally simplify the company images. The end design was based around stripping the outline of the company name and leaving only the counterforms remaining from the letters A, R, B, R, O, A and R. I think this design is very unique, clever and simple and really does prove that less is more.

Abduzeedo

http://www.abduzeedo.com/
This site is definatly my greatest form of inspiration. If I'm ever stuck for ideas, cant figure out how to do something on photoshop and need a tutorial, or just want to be simply wowed by others work, then this is where I come. Abduzeedo features work by up and coming talents, people who have original styles and tells you how to create similar effects on Adobe and other programs. The design of the site itself is nothing special but thats not why I am posting. This site is like buying a copy of creative review or going for a windy walk, it helps me think and never fails to inspire!

Toyota Matrix

www.fullofpotential.ca/

This is a cool site, the designers have managed to add excitement to an otherwise boring and uninspiring car. Lets face it the Toyota Matrix is'nt exactly a Ferrari so it's hard to get people excitied and interested but this site has definatly done that! The sites takes it's concept from the very cool intro movie for the site, in which the Toyota Matrix is driving around a city at day time with its full beams on, turning everything they shine upon into night time and partying fun etc etc. It's a very nice idea and is hard to explain so just watch it on the site! The site is based around a 3D model of the Matrix, your cursor is the full beams which makes everything look alot cooler and more interesting when you roll over anything on screen. You can also move around the car by moving the cursor to the edges of the screen. This is no ordinary website and almost resembles a computer gaming menu, and shows what happens when people think outside the box.




Santos Saul - A touch of class

www.santossaul.com

This is one of the simplest, sleekest classiest sites I've ever seen. Photographer Santos Saul Diaz shows us how to perfectly present your work online. I love how he lets his amazing photo's do the talking without clogging up the site with other crazy menu bars or animation. The site is not only beutiful but cleverly put together as well, every page has a stunning high definition background which leaves me stunned while the simple and shiny menu's are stylish and functional.

Suzie G

www.suzieg.co.uk




Webdesigners at vivid imaging created this very cute site for jewellery company Suzie G's Gypsy Baby collection. The site does really well in encapsulating the brands bohemian style with its gypsy images and styles. I really like the loading bars on this website too, see below. The site starts off with a video navigating the viewer through some stills showing the range of jewellery while playing some spooky carnival style music. I recommend everyone checks this site out because the site perfectly fits with the product, as any site should!

Moon Palace

www.moonpalace.fr

Alexandre Soubrier a French graphic designer created this innovative site for his online portfolio. I noticed it in the magazine webdesigner last year and I've never forgotten about it. The site is an animated spinning earth with an orbiting moon and other satellite type objects that serve as the navigation. Alexandre has not sacrificed any usability as the site is easy to use yet visually explosive. The site isn't exactly slick but keeps you interested shows just how experimental you can be with online portfolio's.

Sunday 28 September 2008

Kinetic Sculpture


I was reading an article in Design Weekly about a new trend of experiential and sensory exhibitions, designed to draw audiences in and get them to participate in their environment. I was particularly struck by the kinetic sculpture in the BMW museum in Munich. This extrodinary exhibition uses 714 digitally controlled metal spheres to form shapes and patterns. Technology is now getting so advanced that it no longer even interferes with the design itself. The metal spheres seem to be floating in mid air when they are actually suspended by computer controlled wires. In the video you can see the spheres form the out line of classic BMW cars.


Wednesday 24 September 2008

Beijing Olympic Stadium


I can imagine everyone was just as astonished as I was when they watched the beginning of the Olympic games. Im not sure what stunned me more the amazing opening ceremony, the sheer size of the stadium or Usain Bolt's 100 metre finish time! I hadn't really been following the progress of the games or the construction of the stadium so it totally took me by surprise to see a giant birds nest. All of the 110, 000 tons of chinese steel make this the largest steel structure in the world, and at $423 million it was built for one tenth of the cost it would have taken to build in the west. Swiss architect firm Herzog & de Meuron are responsible for the amazing design of this building, and they see the nickname 'the birds nest' as something of a compliment, "In China, a bird's nest is very expensive, something you eat on special occasions." Although the olympics are over the stadium will still be used for football games, and there is also a planned exstention for a shopping mall and hotel to increase its use.






BMW Museum



Above you will see the BMW four cylinder building and in front the BMW museum. Although contructed in the 70's these building remain unique to this day. The special technique involded in constructing the four cylinder was that each of the 22 floors had to be contructed on the ground and then pulled up to the top, each floor hanging from the one above. The museum on the other hand is a self supporting body, the reinforced concrete shell of the building supports the roof. I love how BMW have the audacity to stick a giant 41 diameter BMW logo on the roof of the building!

Thursday 18 September 2008

Pans Labyrinth



A fascinating magical tale set in fascist Spain 1944. The story of a young girl and a fantasy world created in her own mind to survive the harsh reality of a real world she is not prepared for, set in a not so tranquil Spanish war time countryside this is a charming, graphic and sometimes dark fairy tale. The art direction in this film is amazing, I'm sure most of you will have seen this film, when I went to see it at the cinema I knew little about it and wasn't expecting it to be in Spanish with subtitles through-out the whole movie. I strongly believe the foreign aspect added to this movie, it helped to create the illusion of another world and it's not often you see a film of this scale and budget that isn't in English dialogue, it was a refreshing change. This dark adult fairy tale has some very interesting characters, especially the Child Catcher. The set design, characters and story line make this fantastic film a must see.

Cai Guo-Qiang’s “I Want to Believe.”


During February of this year the Guggenheim New York played host to Cai Guo-Qiangs most ambitious show so far. Known especially for his use of explosions in a wide range of work and mediums Guo-Qiang 's grand installation shows actual real size cars hanging from the ceiling of the Guggenheim spiral. Guo-Qiang's work, which took over the whole museum for the show, also features a long streaming pack of wolves. You cant help but admire the sheer amount of motivation and perspiration involved in a project like this!




Wednesday 17 September 2008