itsmebrandon

2009-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

The text blocks, like "a good place to buy" were lifted from match book catalogs. In the corner of each one Art Chantry placed a ridiculous corporate logo he made for Urban Outfitters to resemble generic 40's and 50
s corporate logos. These were used interchangeably throughout the campaign. This campaign worked so effectively in stamping the brand in the consumer's mind that Urban Outfitters retained it as their corporate brand for several years. I can see why these are extremely effective. Urban Outfitters' demographic are trendy, hip consumers, these adds play off that retro/ trendy feel.

Sources: The Anatomy of Design

2009-12-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

Since its launch in 1981, the ad campaign of Absolute vodka has consistently produced innovative marketing concepts augmented by clever graphic design and strong typography. As the ads continued through the years, they stuck to a basic conceptual formula that has positioned the bottle amid various enticing images and a few memorable slogans. The brilliance of the design is its ability to tap into an existing graphic language while somehow taking ownership of it as well.

Source: The Anatomy of Design

2009-12-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

I thought this packaging was so amazing! " Apart from the utter tactility of the package, Motion Blur includes transparent typographic windows produced by laser cutting the title into the sponge. When the book and dvd are pulled from the sponge slipcase, they flash through the lettering, creating a kind of blur. The futurist painters, concerned with simulating Machine Age dynamism, also used the blur as a symbol of progress. For most of the twentieth century, typographers and photographers created static blurs as indictors of forward movement and thinking."

Source: The Anatomy of Design

2009-12-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

"movie posters may be the most beholden and tried-and-true graphic forms. Unlike movie trailers, which ca be exciting yet operate under their own rules and conventions- standard operating procedure for movie posters is to provide surfeit information, star billing, director and producer credit." This poster has its scratchy lettered Spider. This was introduced by kyle cooper, designer of the eerie film title sequence for se7en. I really enjoy the radial balance that the poster has, its extremely interesting to look at!

Source: The Anamtomy of Design

2009-12-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

I think this poster is beautiful, as all apples advertisements are. This is just a play off from their ipod nano advertisements which were also extremely effective. All of apples ads are very clean and simplistic.

2009-12-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

I thought this was such a neat poster! the way they used the orange throughout the poster. The way they designed the text is especially interesting! I would love to know how they went about this whole design!

Sources: http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/winners_of_the_what_is_graphic_design_poster_competition/

2009-11-16T18:40:00.001-08:00

Apple's first logo was designed by Jobs and Wayne which depicts Sir Issac Newton sitting under an apple tree. Not too long after that was designed, it was replaced by Rob Janoff's rainbow apple. Jobs insisted that the apple be in color as a way to humanize the company. In 1998, with a new iMac coming out, Apple discontinued the rainbow apple and began using monochromatic themes, no specific color is prescribed.

Sources: Wikipedia

2009-11-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

As we all know, pop art superimposed repetitive patters to underscore the concept of mass production. "In this abuse advertisement, the multiple mouths both increase the metaphorical intensity of the scream and symbolize its deep psychological root, which is born of emotions that dwell deep inside. The emotional type treatment for a terrifyingly emotional idea is the only way to convince the view that abusive might makes wrong."

Sources: Anatomy of Design, Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic

2009-11-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

This poster that i found in one of my many Andy Warhol books is an event poster for the Velvet Underground and Nico which were apart of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. (EPI) was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol. There they played screenings of his films, dancing, and performances. It had flashing lights, loud and very psychedelic. I believe that this poster does a great job of conveying the mood of this particular event

Here is a video of how amazing EPI was:

If you haven't heard of the Velvet Underground you should check them out!

I like them so much that i got the album cover tattooed on my foot. Warhol designed this by silk screening an image of a single banana:

sources:

Warhol by David Bourdon

2009-10-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

This is a great example of how food and sex sell. This is an ad for Teatro Restaurant. This is a great way to get 3 messages across. Number one, food. The make and female figures are made of vegetables which gets the point across that this is in fact an add for some sort of eatery. The second is sex, "what you see is what you get," anyone could figure out what these "food people" are up to. The last is dinner theater, the plate is the stage and the figures are the actors! "Sex is so prevalent throughout our lives, yet past repressions are so impressed on our psyches, that it is easy for the mind to make the cognitive leap and see sex in everything."

Source: The anatomy of design Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic

2009-10-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

This particular piece that i've chosen has to deal with the photographs of the american troops humiliating Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison that were published on the internet. The artist, Copper Greene captured the iconic ipod ad and used parody, in a sense to get his point across. The figure has electrodes attached to his hands standing on a box. The electric wires printed in pure white, like ipod headphones, transformed it into a dark comedy.

Sources:

The Anatomy of Design. Steven Heller and Mirko Ili'c

2009-10-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

Josef Muller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher. In the 60's he was appointed the European design consultant to IBM. He was recognized for his simple designs and his clean use of typography. The shapes and colors he used inspired graphic designers in the 21st century.

A key part of his approach involved the use of a typographic grid, which divided space up into a number of consistent horizontal and vertical units.

This poster was made in 1955, I love the background color he has chosen. The black, curved lines varying in height and width pull you from the bottom left to the middle of the page.

Here is a neat video someone did. They animated a poster, Stravinski, Berg, Fortner which was done in 1955. Notice the straight, parallel and perpendicular lines.

Sources:

www.bombaycrow.com
www.youtube.com
www.coolibaa.com

2009-10-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Saul Bass, One of the great graphic designers of the mid-20th century also was a master of film title design. Bass broke tradition by using jagged-point, bold lines and simple images in his designs. He worked with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Stanely Kubrick.
"symbolize and summarize" were the words that Bass lived by. After a golden period that lasted into the mid-sixties, his designs fell out of fashion. Aside from film sequences, he designed logos for United Airlines, AT&T and Quaker.

Loving Alfred Hichcock I have watched his movies many times, and always wondered who designed the openings. These extremely simple cut out designs are extraordinary.

My favorite is his sequence for Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger. The black cut outs against the gray background really catches your eye.(video below)

Sources:
www.designmuseum.org
www.saulbass.tv

2009-10-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Frank Lloyd Wright, born Frank Lincoln Wright before taking the name of his family in Wisconsin, was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator. His main goal was to promote organic architecture. He completed 500 works in his lifetime, some being the Guggenheim and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Aside from being a brilliant designer, his life was filled with turmoil. Always spending too much money, never having enough, taking many mistresses, one who was brutally murdered by a servant.

My favorite pieces of architecture were his prairie houses that he had done for families all over the United States. They are wonderfully organic, and filled with his own furniture designs, window designs etc...

http://www.dana-thomas.org/ Here is a link to the dana thomas house website. This is a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie house in Springfield, i've been there a couple times. It's beautiful and totally worth the drive!!

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright)

2009-09-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Since we're going to be learning about art nouveau I thought i'd pick out something from that era. Alphonse Mucha, Born in Ivancice, Moravia which is today's Czech Republic is a incredible artist. He worked at decorative painting jobs in his town, in 1879 he moved to Vienna to work for Viennese theatrical design company. In 1881 he returned to his home town and did freelance decorative and portrait painting. He moved to Paris in 1887 and continued his studies. Here he started producing magazine and advertising illustrations. There was a high demand for posters to advertise, he produced many paintings, posters, advertisements and book illustrations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha)

The poster on the left was made in 1898. He made two advertising posters for Job cigarette papers. Both of them consisted of a woman holding a cigarette while the smoke circles her head. The border alone is magnificent with all the detail. The way he uses negative space with the woman's hair is neat. All the women seem have a maiden like quality in his designs. (http://www.muchafoundation.org/MIMGDetail.aspx)

2009-09-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've picked out a poster that I really enjoy made by Milton Glaser. Lets start off with a little bit about the man who has created such wonderful, eye catching graphics. Milton Glaser, Inc. was extablished in 1974 which focused on print graphics which includes logos, stationery, brochures, signage and annual reports. He was responsible for the design and illustration of more than 200 posters in the areas of publishing, music, theater, film institutional and civic enterprise. This poster was designed for CBS records in 1966 which was included with Dylan's greatest hits album. His use of negative space in this poster is just wonderful. The profile of Dylan is in black but one can easily recognize the singer by this darkened profile. The use of kaleidoscope hair gives it a real 60's vibe. Compared to the poser on the left designed by Martin Sharp in 1967 it is easy to tell which poster is aesthetically pleasing. Sharp's poster is has too much imagery and seems jumbled.

2009-09-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

"The constructive grid is an indispensable foundation for 2d design. As an amateur, it allows the designer to order type and image with mathematical precision and implement clear and effective visual hierarchies." Bauhaus designers revered the grid because it was essentially modern. They believed it was like a pen that contained necessary information in accessible units, similar and perhaps influenced by the periodic table of elements. This poster's grid is checkerboard on which pieces are placed and for the most part, its purpose is decorative. Equal sized squares that form a repeating pater are soothing to the eye.

Source: The Anatomy of Design