Web design powerhouse North Kingdom has relaunched with a new site and some new project work. Their conceptual thinking seems to be transitioning nicely over to broadcast advertising and brand campaign development. It’s a testament to the kind of strategical thinking that goes into web design and development.
Swiss Graphic designer Ramon Lenherr has some excellent editorial print work in his Behance-folio. The use of black and white on the cover above is striking.
Rob Gonzalez and Jonathan Quainton have relaunched their website and refreshed their portfolio at Sawdust. Their cover of Novum served as a nice reminder to me as to where my priorities should be while I start my own studio.
I can’t tell much about Ross Berens after picking through his portfolio and his Flickr-folio but what I can gather is that he lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan and might still be a student. Beyond that what is really important is he is a talented designer and his series of posters titled ‘Under the Milky Way’ is exceptional and would look sweet hanging on any studio wall.
Design legend Dieter Rams became alarmed during the 80’s by a world consisting of ‘an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.’ So he looked inward and asked himself if he was a contributor or if his design was good design. As a result he penned what are sometimes referred to the ‘Ten Commandments’ in design. You can read them all at Vitsoe. You can also buy a beautiful poster from the Design Museum Shop detailing Rams principles.
As I am sure you have heard from numerous other blogs, Spike Jonze has directed a short film which recently aired at the Sundance Film Festival titled ‘I’m Here‘ (sorry my headline font conversion doesn’t allow apostrophes). The film is branded content for Absolut but it looks beautiful. If brands want to throw their weight behind genuine ‘art’ for a change and allow people to flex their brain muscles a little bit, I think that could be a good thing. Jonze really is incredible. His childlike vision and appreciation for ‘wonder’ always translates beautifully into his films.
Reykjavik based graphic designer and illustrator Siggeir Hafsteinsson has stayed busy and recently updated both his website and Behance-folio with several new projects. I’ve always been a fan of his work and am continually amazed by how prolific he is. I don’t think he ever sleeps. Ever.
Artist Nick Gentry has found a muse on our throwaway culture. He paints onto discarded computer disks and cassette tapes.
Here is a a section pulled from his artist statement:
“Since graduating from Central St Martins in 2006, the focus has been to explore how technological advancement is affecting society. Throughout history, information has always been recorded on physical objects. Important documents, favourite songs, videos and more were stored on mountains of tapes, polaroids, cassettes and disks. As media is rapidly absorbed into the World Wide Web the rich variety of formats of the past are becoming obsolete.”
You can now check out the works created by artist Doze Green for his third solo exhibition at the Jonathan Levine Gallery website. I have always been a big fan of his work but I must admit as much as I love his original work, I am really into his recent black and white works on paper. They are more abstract but beautiful to look at and make for an interesting progression of his style. I’d kill to hang one on my wall. Maybe a print will suffice, if I can get my hands on one.
Christopher Colville currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona where he often uses the Sonoran Desert as the backdrop for his ethereal and contemplative imagery. He is an active member of his local art community and is currently a faculty associate at Arizona State University and adjunct faculty at Scottsdale Community College. He recently received the Humble Art Foundations 2009 New Photography Grant.
Russian artist and illustrator Eika Dopludo has some nice pencil work in her Behance-folio but the standout is definitely this hand drawn alphabet. Each letterform is it’s own work of art and you can see all of them one-by-one here.
Stockholm based design studio Chevy Chase not only has a compelling name but also has some equally compelling work covering the bases of logo design, identity, design manuals, yypography, web design, web development with CMS, digital identities, poster design, magazines, brochures, annual reports, packaging and imagery concepts. The kind of work that is compelling enough for them to have done a full creative blogosphere tour in the last week.
The one thing I want to know is if they have gotten a cease and desist from Chevy Chase’s agent yet.
Venezualan designer Yker Moreno who now resides in Brooklyn and works for one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world, Buck has updated with a few new projects and a new website.
This is one fine little piece of brain candy produced by Takuya Hosogane. You can see the full credits at the Vimeo page for the video and learn more about some of Hosogane’s other projects at Bonsajo.
Oslo-based multidisciplinary design studio Heydays has been busy and updated with a slew of new print and branding work this week. All of which is meticulously photographed (a skill in and of itself) and looks stunning. Their bold simple use of color makes their work pop.
London based ‘typo-illustrator’ Sarah A. King has stayed busy and recently uploaded a series of fruits that she actually hand drew typography onto. It’s kind of a bizarre thing to do but the end result was really interesting and definitely not something you see everyday. Eat your words. Literally.
Photographer or rather more appropriately ‘Photo-Artist’ Thomas Mangold has some downright freaky photo retouching happening in his portfolio. The above elephant fly thing is insane. The detail he manages to capture is inspiring, no doubt that’s not an easy feat to achieve.
South African designer and illustrator Adam The Velcro Suit has been busy lately and made some updates to his Flickr-folio. There has been some great looking gig posters recently added, still rocking on the vintage tip but that old school inspired eye candy looks sweet.
