Print vs Pixels

I found this really nice quote summing up the feelings of most designers on this subject from the Japanese designer Kenya Hara. This humble quote beautifully describes the tactile quality that web based design can never compare to.

‘Thanks to the rise of electronic media, paper can finally behave as it can and should; as an intrinsically charming material. If electronic media is reckoned a practical tool for information conveyance, books are information sculpture. From now on books will probably be judged according to how well they awaken this materiality, because the decision to create a book at all will be based on a definite choice of paper as the medium.’”

A great article on the struggle between print and the web and how this has started to effect designers can be read by clicking here. I hope you find it interesting

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Harmony

For all you frustrated creative types and potential artists out there I have found this great bit of online fun. Harmony is an addictive online drawing tool offering a few different brush styles. I particularly like the fur option. Go to Harmony to have a go yourself. You can even save your little works of art and impress your friends later.

Reality Football

Being a massive football fan I love this simple collection of football portraits by Alan Powdrill for a project he has called Reality Football. Pictures were taken of Sunday League teams, Pub teams and in local parks across the country during 3 seasons with the aim of showing the real, grass roots side of the beautiful game.

The all-encompassing nature of the sport becomes very apparent as you flick through these pictures. What a varied bunch us footballers are!

To have a proper look visit http://www.realityfootball.org/

OK Go keep things creative

OK Go are building something of a reputation for going the extra mile with their music videos. Who could forget their extremely creative and originally choreographed treadmill dance routine for the song Here it goes again which has been copied and referenced many times including a recent obvious parody by Berocca to advertise their vitamin supplement. Yet somehow they have managed to surpass themselves. This is a very recent video of theirs for This too shall pass which obviously took a lot of time to get right. It is taken as one long, panning shot and is a lot of fun. It also brings to mind the classic Honda advert The Cog in which various parts of the car all interact in a long chain reaction.

AR is the future

The term Augmented Reality has been hovering just outside of my

consciousness for a few months now but it's reputation among the

online community is growing. No doubt it is a term some of you

will have heard of however if you haven't, Augmented reality

involves using a barcode style symbol alongside your web-cam or

iPhone to create media that interacts with the world around you.

As with most technological advances the practical uses were not

apparent at first, most early applications were aimed at the

entertainment market in the form of hardcore gamers however

some companies like Benetton (to create viral promo videos) and

especially IKEA (see the my.IKEA video below) are begining to use

AR to good effect. From the look of these two videos the future is

going to be really cool!

Beautiful object from GF Smith

We recently received this great piece of print from GF Smith to

show off their Colourplan range which glow currently use for

some of our stationery. Stunning in its simplicity and finish,

we have come to expect nothing less from the paper merchants

as they have worked with many design agencies on their

promotional material over the years.

If you like what you see there is a exhibition celebrating 111

years of Graphic Design from GF Smith currently touring Art

schools around the country. The exhibition features

Promotional work from the 60's up to the present day and

features work by Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Bill

McKay and SEA Design.

recent logo trends

There seems to be a growing trend for logo design which

implements varied textures and gradients creating a deeper

richer logotype. This almost breaks into a realm of CGI with the

current SKY logo looking as though it is made of glass reflecting

and changing colour at will. Whether things continue to move in

this direction or revert to more minimalist tendencies you simply

have to admire the craftsmanship involved.