Benedikt Luft is a German illustrator from Frankfurt. Here, we’re sharing his ‘Daily Drawings’ series, which are ‘an ongoing free series of illustrative ideas’. They’re fun, frivolous and silly and most importantly they show a dedication to craft that we try and instil in all of our students. If you’re not doing it every day, you’re not going to get better at it!
Have a look below.
I see U is a project by Great Works Copenhagen that brings to light the issue of surveillance in our culture. It’s brought to life through a great website that uses glitchy graphics, cool scrolling effects and some other smart features to make you feel like you’re being watched.
The project is still to launch as of now, but will allow members of the public to purchase and build their own DIY surveillance kits, which create gifs. If you want to learn more – you’re just going to have to check out the site!
Set up your surveillance detail here.
We’ll be at Open Design Cape Town in August.
Come down and say hi!
We’ll be at Stand No 1 and will be giving a talk at IdeaLab on Friday the 19th.
See you there!
There’s nothing better than seeing local people doing well. This work that Justin Poulter recently did, commissioned by Droga5 for the launch of the Steph Curry 2.5 shoe is just great! He was tasked to create chalkboard-style illustrations which the team at Droga5 composited, creating short videos that played on Twitter during the NBA playoffs.
We’ve included the raw illustrations here from Justin’s site to show you the detail and process that goes into a job like this. It’s so easy as a consumer to not be aware of how much work goes into creating something like this, but the man (and woman) hours are just staggering.
Don’t forget to check out more of Justin’s work at his website above. And while you’re at it, have a look at a previous post we did about him too.
When you’re looking for a big rebrand there are a few international agencies you can look to who specialise in doing this for enormous brands. One of the best is Pentagram, who just redesigned the Corporate Identity for Mastercard. Talk about pressure!
Looking at where they’ve gone, you can see a natural progression of the brand identity, with a minimalist look and feel that feels right for 2016. It’s so interesting how you don’t see brand as dated until it gets a redesign, then suddenly the old logo looks like it was almost never relevant at all. That’s what’s happened here. And this is the mark of truly great CI design – being able to update something for the present that retains all the qualities of the previous design, while still being futureproof.
Pentragram have done an amazing job here. Check it out below.
Rodney Mullen is a skateboarder who has been innovating and pushing the boundaries for years, not only in his tricks and the way he skates but also in the ways he presents his work. Today we’re sharing his first new skate video in years. It’s called Liminal.
Not only is the skateboarding absolutely breathtaking, the video itself is shot in 360 degrees, and we see the camera move around Mullen’s body as he’s doing his thing in ways we couldn’t even imagine. Even if you’re not the biggest skateboarding fan – just seeing how the art direction and camera work is done here is inspiring enough. It’s enough to make you salivate!
Check it out below and remember: Do NOT try this at home!
Ash Thayer is a photographer and mixed media artist who currently resides in LA. We’ve shared some images here from her project, Kill City, which chronicles her time spent with punks and squatters in New York in the 1990s.
These images are not about perfect composition or the best possible lighting design, rather they are poignant pieces of documentary. We are given a window into a time and a lifestyle that no longer exists (at least in much of New York). Squatting and this kind of punk lifestyle is now much harder to find in 2016.
This is the power of photography – capturing moments and creating cultural time capsules that we can look back on, offering us insight into a way of life or a way of thinking that can be incredibly hard to find.
The rise of Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 video has added a new weapon to our arsenal, as branded story tellers. We can create more immersive experiences that allow people to get even more involved with brands than ever before. And while this discipline is still in its infancy, we can expect this trend to only get stronger over time.
Here we see the fashion label Jean Paul Gaultier with a piece about their iconic perfume and its packaging. We are treated to a 360 degree video (and VR experience if you have a headset) that creates a fantasy world of what it is like to literally be the bottle.
You can experience this in your browser, but to truly enjoy it we suggest you open it using the YouTube app on your phone. This will allow you to have the most fun.
Maria Svarbova is a Slovakian photographer with a distinctive style that is instantly recognisable. Very controlled, posed and rigid – her photographs are almost cold. Colours are muted and pastel, with strong attention to detail, symmetry and depth.
In this photo set, she photographs people in public pools in Slovakia, paying attention to the intricate detailing, tiling and layout of these spaces. The models are so static as to almost appear as mannequins, it’s hard to imagine them moving at all. The work is icy, but not in a negative way – it removes our connection to the subjects of the images and rather allows us to focus on the composition and the image as a whole.
Such well thought out work – we can’t wait to see more!
We’ve featured quite a few craft beer packaging designs on the blog, because, well… they’re generally quite special. As the category is more fun and experimental, it allows for more expression when it comes to design. Not bound by issues of ‘heritage’ and ‘tradition’ in their branding, as most older more established beers are, craft beer brands are allowed to be more fun and engaging in their design. And while we may see some interesting limited edition cans and other things from established ‘corporate’ brewers – they tend not to push the envelope too far.
Enter Noble Rey, with their illustration-forward design. In a category that is all about experimentation and finding interesting ways to stand out, these are just spot on. With nifty character design, Noble Rey created stackable cans that form full size characters when you line them up properly. If you were to walk into a bottle store or bar and see these lined up like this, how could you not ask for one? They’re just so much fun!
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