I am sure if you trawl the internet as much as I do you have stumbled across Jonathon Yule’s (AKA INVDR) fontbots. They are robot-like characters comprised of Yule’s favorite fonts. The bots are made of Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica and Futura which I would dare say are probably the favorite fonts of many a designer. They happen to be my favorite fonts as well, along with Lubalin Graph and Avant Garde.
Jonathon Yule is currently a resident of Ontario, Canada and seeking commission for freelance work.
Wow, this video is cool. I love Boards of Canada and this video for Everything You Do is a Balloon is fantastic, weird but fantastically so. The video splices in samples from “One Got Fat,” a (1963) bicycle safety movie. I have been a fan of the Scottish music duo, comprised of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin for several years now. If you haven’t heard of them, take the time to look them up and do yourself a favor and buy one of their albums. They are mellow, but well worth the price of a CD or download.
I saw this image today and it really cracked me up. Building this blog just about killed me this year and I swear I am paying someone to do it next time around. I am super particular about design and typography and web design is just pure hell for someone with that special form of neurosis. I think this diagram is almost precisely accurate to the time spent building this blog (especially the bit about Internet Explorer). Will someone just abolish that damn browser already? I swear you should be able to trace a suicide to building a compliant website for that browser by now.
Industrial Organic is the work of Art Director/Designer Justin Thomas Kay. Kay lives and works in Brooklyn. He occasionally collaborates with friend Steve Green as Upnorth. Kay and Green also publish Oneonenine. He currently works as an Art Director for Mass Appeal Magazine and freelances for various clients. His typographical work is oh-so-nice.
The amazing and talented group known as National Television launch their new site. They’ve always had a knack for creating flash sites that aren’t annoying.
The ‘Refacing Government Tender‘ series on Flickr just killed me. Someone went in and refaced 1, 5, 10 and 20 dollar bills with drawings over the faces of the presidents on the bills. It’s a brilliant idea and the results are hilarious.
Lovely illustration work, arguably more fine art than illustration, from Olaf Hajek. That fine line may be the reason that he has created work for clients like Apple, United Airlines, Macy´s, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Playboy, Forbes, Wallstreet Journal, Architectural Digest, GQ, Shape, Bolero, Flaunt, Travel & Leisure, Cicero, Bacardi, Nike, Daimler Chrysler. Spend some time picking through his work. There are some real gems to be unearthed.
Kathleen Lolley has created some interesting artwork in her day. It’s whimsical with a touch of dark.
Here is her bio copied from her website:
“Kathleen Lolley (born 1978 in Marshfield, Wisconsin) moved to Kentucky nine months after her birth. She spent her childhood split between Louisville, KY and Pittsburgh, PA.
She attended California Institute of the Arts and received a BFA in experimental Animation. While at Calarts she experimented with hand-crafted stop motion puppets. This experience introduced her to the world of comics and sequential art. In addition to working on various commercial animations, including Nickelodeon’s Sponge Bob Squarepants and titles for the movie Willard, Kathleen has created a handful of short films.
After spending six years in Los Angeles, she moved back to Kentucky to concentrate on painting and living a simple life. Storytelling still plays a prominent role in her work. Critters try to break the spell of day to day heartbreak. Rabbits flee from hunters, girls are lost in the woods. Giant elk stumble over towns clasping bottles, is it a remedy they hold or just a beer?
Her work can be found in small shops and galleries across the U.S. Last year her work received international recognition by appearing in Elle & Japanese Vogue and appearing on the latest album cover of My Morning Jacket. Also she has been published in a few comic anthologies (Unicorn Mountain) Lolley currently resides in Kentucky where she spends her time making crafts, comics and fine art.”
Awesome. I am a huge sucker for new rad wallpapers. Kitsune Noir is the blog
of LA based retoucher/graphic designer Bobby Solomon. He asked each of the
contributing artist to donate a wallpaper to his blog. Just to share. And he got a great
response The wallpapers are free to download, and come in a multitude of monitor
sizes, as well as iPhone and PSP versions. All kinds of great stuff to enjoy!
Nice to see Change the thought made his daily favs list. Thanks for sharing Bobby.
Normal Natural comprises the work, autobiographical recollections and premonitions of Lance Sells’s conscious and subconscious life. His work has been online for a long time now and has received many accolades over the years. Out of highschool, Sells worked a stint as a comic book illustrator for Image Comics. Since then he has worked in the creation of CGI, storyboards and graphic design for clients such as MTV, Sony and American Express. He also co-founded Motherland in New York city where he now splits his time as Creative Director with his personal work at Normal Natural. He just updated his site and there is now a pretty large archive of his work on display for your creative inspiration.
Well, I apologize for the bad news today but there are some stories in circulation that deserve attention beyond the normal banality of our design scene. Another such story that just left me aghast today is the story of Josef Fritzl.
Fritzl is a resident of the small town Amstetten in Austria. At the age of 18 he drugged and imprisoned his daughter, Elisabeth for the next 24 years. During that time he repeatedly raped her which led to her in turn giving birth to 7 children as a result of the abuse. One of whom died because of inadequate care. The child who died of neglect was a twin whose body Fritzl disposed of by incinerating it in a furnace. 3 of the children had never seen daylight until they were recently released. One of the children is still in critical condition. Another may have permanent vision problems because of his inexposure to natural light. The last, at only 5 years old was elated to ride in the police car as he had only seen them on television and never in person. He appears to be in good health.
73 year old Fritzl was an electrical engineer who apparently used his skills to construct an elaborate basement dungeon under his family home that measured less than six feet high in some areas. He kept the space secure with a massive 660 lb concreted door fitted with an electric lock that could only be opened via a remote control that he kept on his person at all times. The living space had only 3 total cells and measured only around 650 square feet. 650 square feet for 24 years. It belies imagination. It wasn’t until the 19 year old child fell ill and had to be taken to a nearby hospital that the atrocity was uncovered.
The strangest twist was that Fritzl managed to keep the entire incident secret from his wife the entire time by forcing his daughter to write fake letters to his wife (her mother). He even brought 3 of the children out of the basement hell to be raised by him and his wife claiming his estranged (but really imprisoned) daughter had left them on the doorstep.
In accordance with Austrian law it appears Fritzl may only be facing a 15 year sentence. At the age of 73 he will most likely die in prison, which is well deserved in this case. I do not believe in the death penalty but I do think he should be sentenced to at least the same amount of time he robbed his daughter of and that would be 24 years. How a man could do this to his own flesh and blood is an amazing human tragedy.
This is just disturbing. Enough so that I had to post it here instead of on the sideblog. I was just shocked when I heard this and then saw the videos. Allegations have arisen that South Carolina Highway Patrol Police Officers have been using their vehicles to ram suspects. It’s bad enough to hear about something like this on the news but it gets even worse when you watch the actual dashcam videos of the officers engaging in the alleged behavior. How does something like this happen? We have more people in jail in this country than any other country in the entire world. What has gone awry in our culture? We pay our police officers with our tax money to protect us and uphold the law. This kind of behavior crosses the line from simply unacceptable to criminal and makes these officers no better than the suspects they are trying to capture. I know it is an easy leap to think all cops are bad when you see something like this but that just isn’t true. Most police officers are good people who live a life of difficult public service because they believe in what they are doing. The bad apples here shouldn’t spoil the bunch but videos of police brutality just keep surfacing. We need to turn the law back at these officers and make sure that if they are tried in civil court for these actions they are reprimanded and punished. They are risking peoples lives and there is just no excuse. None.
Here is the copy about Salvation Design taken directly from their website:
“Salvation is the creative portfolio of Brooklyn, New York based freelance artist & designer Sal Dell’aquila. Salvation focuses on an application of mix-media by fusing illustration, natural textures, & photography with digital art. Sal has produced a wide range of work for clients in several industries, from advertising agencies, new media companies, sports, record labels, magazines, fashion/clothing companies. He is constantly working on personal projects and always making efforts to push the boundaries of his artwork.”
Sal’s work shows a lot of talent and an ability to collaborate with some of the top design talent in the business. He is also conveniently located in one of the hottest design spots in the country right now.
What is the deal with all of these awesome people from Brooklyn right now? I think I find a new one almost every week. I swear I am busting my ass non-stop here in Denver and I cannot get a lick of recognition. Denver is asleep and no amount of screaming seems to awaken it. I can’t land decent freelance contracts here and I just can’t generate momentum in this town. It’s killing me softly.
Director and lucky-ass Madonna husband, Guy Ritchie just directed this new spot for Nike Football. Some of the biggest soccer stars in the world appear in the first-person-perspective video. If you are a fan of soccer, as I am, it is about as close as you can get to living the dream for just a few brief minutes. Fantastic idea. I can’t believe something like this has never been done before. Brilliant.
Wow, I have to say this Skittle ad made me laugh out loud. The agency responsible for it is TBWA in conjunction with the production company MJZ. The abused-pinata co-worker is just a hilarious concept. Awesome.
Three great brands to keep your eye on. Poets & Thieves,Ludwig, Exact Science. I’m a big fan of these brands. Each has a clear mission statement/narrative and a distinct aesthetic. Available at DigitalGravel.com.
07/19 CHEVY AVALANCHE This American beast of an SUV now gets only 12 miles to the gallon and costs $130 or more to fill up. The sad part is there is still a long list of morons who want to buy one. Sad.
07/19 78% BURNED OUT A new poll shows that 78% of American workers feel burned out. Add me into that one please.
07/11 WAR CRIMES FOR U.S.? I never thought I would see this in my lifetime but now I couldn’t be less surprised. The Red Cross is calling for war crimes charges against the U.S.
07/11 F THE CONSTITUTION That’s what Karl Rove has to say and how much respect he has for you, the truth, and the constitution. Most are guessing he will be facing charges of contempt by next week. As well he should.
07/04 NO MORE BOZO Bozo the clown died. Man, what a bummer. I loved Bozo the clown.
