The spirit of Halloween might be in the air in October, but Sears took a very healthy dose of Halloween spirit with their new social site dedicated to zombies.
In the 3rd grade, my teacher asked us to create a restaurant menu. I believe the idea of the assignment was to create groupings of items and lists (typical 3rd grade work), however even at that time I remember thinking of this assignment as one of my first design projects.
This post goes out to my Crew Members (and any other CFA graduates who read our blog):
Josef Albers Album Covers! See them all here. ••••
I am as big a PANTONE geek as the next designer. But, $50 for these posters? It better be on some silky sweet tasty paper. Thoughts? ••••
I know we are all sick to death of talking about the recession (maybe this should have been an MJ post, but I already started writing...) HOWEVER— I couldn't resist sharing this really smart information graphic illustrating the Largest Bankruptcies in History, including all those that contributed to/resulted from the situation today. To summarize, Lehman Brothers:Titanic as Chrystler:Speedboat. Clever!
It was made by the Brooklyn creative team known as Always With Honor and featured in June's issue of GOOD magazine. I am really impressed ALL their work, but in particular with the flair they bring to information graphics. Just check out what the Obamas having growing in the White House lawn below. I have serious garden envy.
Love Chip Kid's book covers and love his picks of favorite book covers. (Except I disagree with his pick of A Heartbreaking Tale of A Staggering Genius...or maybe i don't like it because I don't like the book. hmm)
Since this *IS* is design blog, I think we would be remiss not to touch on the recent lawsuit brought against Shepard Fairey by the Associated Press. For those of you who aren't familiar with the case, the AP is claiming that Fairey violated copywrite law when he referenced a photograph taken by Mannie Garcia (a freelance photographer for the AP) to create his now famous Obama poster. Fairey has since filed countersuit against the AP, saying that there was no violation because he dramatically changed the appearance of the image. Garcia himself seems pleased that the image was used, and has no problem with not being credited. The fair trade argument has been debated and debated and debated ad naseum on blogs over the past month. Even Milton Glaser has chimed in! I've found that a lot of commentary on the subject amounts to either mudslinging by dissidents or hero-worship by fans, so I think the subject deserves some considerate and open-minded debate by designers. After all, this is an ethical middleground that designers and artists deal with frequently.
Last week, I visited the Fairey retrospective, Suppy and Demand, that is now showing at the ICA, and had my own mixed feelings about the show. I was impressed by much of the work—the processes and layering Fairey used elevated many of the pieces to the level of fine art. For example, the piece above references a travel poster of the geyser from Yellowstone National Park, but Fairey reappropriates it to form a social commentary on the war in Iraq. The poster now on exhibit at the ICA is highly textured and clearly labored over— it is truly impressive to see in person. Beyond that, it makes a statement that is clearly the artist's own. Here, my instincts say "fair game."
If this is the case, does it matter that it was not immediately obvious Mannie Garcia was the source for the Obama poster? And although Garcia seems okay with the fact that his work was not credited, would our opinion be different if the photographer himself was suing, rather than the AP? For me, the answer is yes. Incidentally, but perhaps pertinent to the argument, Fairey himself balked at the reappropriation of his Obey Giant image by Baxter Orr in 2008, issuing a cease and desist against the latter for a negative parody based on his image (above).
In my mind, I keep going back to the case brought against Jeff Koons not so long ago for copywrite infringement. Design Observer had a very thoughtful write-up on the lawsuit that is well worth the read. In summary, a relatively unknown photographer, Art Rogers, sued the very famous Koons for making a sculpture based on his above image of a string of puppies— and won. To me, it seems obvious that Koons made extraordinary alterations to the image, not to mention the change in media. But should Rogers still have been credited? He work may be somewhat less respected in the fine art world, but should it not still be protected? At the same time, where do we draw the line? Clearly, artistic licence and freedom of speech are also at stake.Its never to early to start thinking about the election 2012. Am I right?! Yes, it's the last thing we all want to think about right now...Unless you are a republican. If the GOP is going to make a comeback, they had better figure how to reach the younger voters. Newsweek's Kurt Soller and Sarah Kliff asked four design firms to give this very large, seemingly impossible task a shot. I've shown three solutions below. (The 4th is an iphone application...not breaking any new ground there.)
Pentagram, New York:
The Groop, Los Angeles
Frog Design, New York 
Thoughts? ••••
Happy New Year, everyone! And, fyi, my New Year's resolution is definitely to blog more frequently. It's been a very busy holiday season for all four members of the Crew, so I hope you will forgive our recent ebb in postings. What better way to kick off the New Year than with a summary of last year's great design accomplishments. Luckily, Michael Johnson has helped to get the ball rolling with his list of 2008's design greats.
Check out the full article for more great picks— including these clever tea bags for a Health-centered cafe. I definitely hope to see more great design like this in 2009! ••••
TODAY is a piece of generative design for mobile phones.
It’s an application that visualizes personal mobile communication. It sits on the periphery of the machine, monitoring our connectivity through the number and type of calls we receive, subtly displaying them back to us, in the form of a generative graphic. Here, the visual result is a figurative and seemingly abstract picture – the story of your day. Some days will be really colourful and wired, others quieter and more reflective, either way the resulting visuals will always be personal, unrepeatable and unique. ••••
Located in the Baby Boutique at your local Old Navy is wide variety of Charley Harper gifts! Puzzle, Books, T-shirts and more. Someone please buy me the memory game for Christmas. ••••
Do you love the draw?! Do you love computers?! Do you loathe the recent onslaught of 'Become a Graphic Designer Today!" commericals as much as I do?! Jessica Helfand from the The Design Observer has written a brilliant article about these very ads that, in my opinion, trivialize the profession and education of design. ••••
Unless you have been living in a hole, you are probably acutely aware of the critical state of the economy. Yes, banks are going out of business left and right, Starbucks had its worst quarter ever, and the Detroit auto industry is asking for a $25 billion bailout. But what does this mean for you as a Graphic Designer?
In April 2005, AIGA began conducting a quarterly survey of design leaders to assemble an overall statement on the current conditions within the design economy.
Each quarter several hundred design leaders answer a few simple questions—the possible responses to the following questions are: substantially better, moderately better, same, moderately worse or substantially worse. A few sample questions:
•How do you rate present business conditions for the economy as a whole, as compared with six months ago?
•How do you rate present business conditions for design, as compared with six months ago?
The quarterly index for October 2008 dropped to the lowest level since the survey was launched in 2005, hitting a measure of 50.
Only thirty-four percent of respondents believe the design economy is as strong or better than six months ago. Yet their perspective on the next six months is more positive than business leaders’ (though still very sobering): 38.5 percent feel the design economy will be moderately worse, and 13 percent feel it will be substantially worse. Twenty-three percent believe the design economy will be stronger in six months.
A fellow designer recently told me, "It (the job market) is really depressing. I feel like I'm going to be stuck at my job for longer than i like because the job market is so bad. I'm frustrated with looking for jobs." Is this true? How do you feel about the job market? Does your job feel secure?
-article content via AIGA ••••
Thanks again to the e-mail blast that makes my morning, the Daily Heller, for informing me that this week is not just any week— it's National Design Week! What does this mean for designers and design enthusiasts? Well, if you live in New York, it means free admission to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the event's sponsor. But if you live anywhere else in the states, not to worry— you can still partake in the festivities. Visit the Cooper-Hewitt website, find your city on their banner's map, and learn about design events happening near you. The week culminates with the announcement of the winners for both the People's Design Awards and the National Design Awards on Thursday night. You can get a preview of the incredible, inspiring nominees right here. ••••
I have followed Why Not Associates ever since I had the pleasure of visiting their studio in London. I have always been a fan of their cutting edge designs and strong use of typography across all mediums. Here is some recent work by Why Not Associates:
230 page book drawing from topics of contemporary culture - Love the color palette and bold typography.
Typographic tree columns created in collaboration with Gordon Young at Crawley Library - work in progress - library opening january 09. - Amazing. I have to see these in person one day.
Magazine created for the London College of Fashion - Promoting fashion with type. Love it. ••••
Much like stamp collecting, there is a secret world of matchbox collectors just waiting to get their hands on the next big (but in reality very small) treasure. To be honest, I've never really understood what people would want to do with hundreds of miniature collectibles, however, after finding this flickr set of vintage matchbox labels I might consider becoming one of those crazy collectors. The detail and artistic precision on each of these tiny labels is remarkable. Each piece could just as easily be a poster, making the fact that it was created on a 4x6 centimeter space even more amazing. 
Most of these date back to the early 20th century when Japan's expanding industrial base fueled rapid growth in commercial art. The intricate graphic design work on these matchbox labels helped develop brand recognition and sales for the matchbox industry. ••••
I love this essay by Petrula Vrontikis, a Graphic Design teacher, who answers the question: Will graphic design be a satisfying career?
"I’ve been teaching graphic design for many years now. Sure, we talk about messaging, composition and process—but there’s a question that looms heavy. Surprisingly, it’s rarely asked: Will graphic design be a satisfying career?
What can I say to those who ask? There’s a glass half full response and a glass half empty response.
When the glass is half full, I see that most of us really love what we do. We become fast learners and are quite resilient. Our field changes frequently, especially in terms of technology. We keep up because we fear that our work will become stale or our skills outdated. Our civilian (non-designer) friends think we have it made: we get to be creative for a living.
Our civilian friends don’t realize that the tough part is being creative for a living. Creativity doesn’t always happen on demand. When the glass is half empty, I see that many of us are tormented by procrastination and resent the “business” part of our creativity. We question everything and are rarely sure that we are doing our best work.
Most graphic designers create artifacts for a living. When we reflect back, we see a trail of books, catalogues, brochures, posters and logos. Is that all that represents our endless hours of toil? Has graphic design been our life?
Some of us just crave recognition—validation that what we have done is important. We designers reward each other with more artifacts: certificates, books, plaques and Lucite circles, squares and triangles. Again, is that all that represents our endless hours of toil?
The answer is varied; and the experience, like design itself, can’t be limited to one perspective."
Petrula goes on to ask her colleagues to share experiences of their own design experiences. To read those go here.
Well said. Do you agree? ••••
On Nov. 4, most ballots will repeat design mistakes made in previous elections. Many of these errors are avoidable. This year, the United States Election Assistance Commission released ballot design guidelines. Using these guidelines, AIGA developed a new interactive feature, on the New York Times online, to identify common design problems and offer improvements.
Click Here to see an example of the problem ballot in 2004 and the new design solutions. ••••
I've been putting a lot of thought recently into designing my personal business card, and while searching the web for inspiration the other day I hit the jackpot. Daily poetics has a flickr set consisting of 874 very well-designed cards (and counting). The set features many types and styles of cards, ranging from those that are clever (but sometimes gimmicky), elegant, amusing, or even downright funny. This is just a sampling of a few of my personal favorites, but if you have some time to kill, you won't regret browsing the set in its entirety to choose your own. ••••
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