Since the David McCandless post on data visualisation I have been doing tons of research into info graphics and how to turn complex data into rich, clear and easy to understand visuals. I stumbled upon the portfolio of Nicholas Felton who’s work is really very nice, especially his annual reports.
I had to make a trip into my loft this weekend to get a few things and while I was there I noticed this black box. I had forgotten all about this box, it holds a collection of graphic material that I have collected since I was at college (15 years ago!). So I obviously neglected what I was supposed to be doing and took a trip down memory lane.
I was amazed at what I had collected over the years. Everything is pre-digital and is an incredible array of books, brochures, leaflets, flyers, business cards, post cards etc. It was lovely to hold and feel tangible objects that had numerous printing and binding techniques, there wasn’t a single printed pdf in the whole box.
Now as much as I love digital and archive lots of digital movies, pdf’s, banners, emails, jpgs etc and using the mac I have numerous ways of efficiently browsing and finding exactly the file(s) I’m looking for I haven’t been this excited about looking through an archive for years.
Above is just a small number of items from the box. If you’re interested or are a graphic nerd then there is a brochure by Jonathan Barnbrook for the Virus font, House Industries type brochure, One Dot Zero film festival brochure, D&AD invite, T26 font leaflets, Zip design promo, Designers Republic (RIP) invite, Fuse 11 typeface postcard, Letraset catalogue (which is about 20 years old) and a couple more items going off shot.
I’ll have to post some more as there is some really lovely pieces of print design, especially one from Artomatic.
I only found out about this yesterday, the Anti Design Festival is happening around Redchurch Street in London’s Shoreditch. Apparently there are a host of exhibitions, installations, workshops, performances and talks in Art, Design, Product, Film, Sound, Fashion, Performance, Print and Interactive etc.
This is what the website has to say “As a response to 25 years of cultural deep freeze in the UK, the Anti Design Festival will attempt to unlock creative fires and ideas, exploring spaces hitherto deemed out-of-bounds by a purely commercial criteria. Created initially as a direct response to the pretty commerciality of the London Design Festival, the festival will shift the focus from bums-on-seats to brain food, and from taste and style to experiment and risk.”
Go check it out.
Tomorrow I am off to Click London, hosted by Creative Review at LBi’s London Headquarters.
Tomorrow’s theme is – Advertising born again
Advertising is not dead, it’s just being born again by merging with the world of gaming, computing, movies, and social media – in short, advertising is getting closer to, and more integrated, with all the things that people are already using and appreciating in their daily lives. Nowhere is this more evident than in the digital advertising world. In order to become relevant in the everyday lives of regular people, brands need to enter the web that people actually use. With this in mind, we set out to explore how all the external influences will impact the creativity of digital advertising.
A full day’s activity and lectures given by some of the industries big hitters including James Hilton, Chief Creative Officer, AKQA, Johan Tesch, Creative Director, BBH, Nicolas Roope, Founder/Creative Director, Poke London, Matt Ross, Creative Director, Tribal DDB London.
Expect updates on how the day progressed and what were the main topics of conversation.
So what does make good information design? Well David McCandless has been pondering over this whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea. Everyone from UE’s, IA’s, designers etc etc will have a different opinion on this one but at least he’s had a stab at giving it some structure.
Very elegant branding, typography and layout from B&W Studio up in Leeds. The minimal application of colour and styling make for very strong, effective pieces of communication. They cleaned up at this years Roses design awards and will no doubt go from strength to strength next year.
Found these lovely posters for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on ffffound.com today. The original work can be found here on the Pentagram site. Designed by Harry Pearce and Jason Ching the posters are a training tool specifically aimed at the Russian police, whose country has a particularly poor track record in drug treatment.
Some really nice work on Konx-om-Pax.co.uk by Glasgow based Director/Animator/Sound Designer Tom Scholefield. You can view his latest reel here. In recent years he’s worked with Warp Records, Universal Everything and Optimo Espacio. He’s had work shown in Tokyo, Egyptian Theatre Hollywood, Buenos Aires, Cannes Lions, Florence, London and Glasgow. Konx-om-Pax has recently been featured in Grafik Magazine and has been awarded a prize of Best New Blood in the annual D&AD awards. Go check it out people.
Spent a fantastic bank holiday with the family up at the East Anglian Railway Museum which is just outside Colchester, Essex. We were there for the Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends day!
This is a fantastic fully operational station with working museum. The museum buildings have been kept or restored back to their original state and there are hundreds of great examples of railway signage, posters and other collectible ephemera ranging from the early 1930′s and 1940′s.
Found these great examples of advertising that were exhibited in the main ticket hall. The visual impact of simple bold typography, the use of strong vivid solid colours and illustration are a great antidote to some of the over photoshopped examples we are bombarded with daily today.
Also great simple straightforward copy, “You can taste the fruit!”, “The mint with the hole”, “They’re new, They’re pepperint, They’re Spangles” Genius!
And here is the reason why we went in the first place. The phenomenon that is Thomas the Tank Engine!
Great interview with Fred Deakin of Airside and Lemon Jelly fame on FormFiftyFive. Shot at his home in London showing his vast record collection!
A Q&A session which gives a good insight into the workings of Airside and his brutally honest view of his own low attention span on project work!
The digital ramblings of John Randle, who is Head of Design at a digital marketing agency based in London, UK.
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