Design

Creative Amnesty: The Horror

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Creative Amnesty: The Horror

Yesterday there was a Creative Amnesty over at checkthis.com. The idea was that, for one day, you could share your worst creative projects with impunity. It's a brilliant idea and there are some reall humdingers on there, I particularly like the Wet Lemon website posted on the Creative Review site. As the designer Jonathan Ogden says: "I'm sorry internet."

How to die in real style

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How to die in real style

I stumbled upon this the other day, it's Tony Wilson's headstone in Manchester, designed by Peter Saville and Ben Kelly.

It's just beautiful, I'm knocked out by how lovely it is. I then spent too long looking for the gravestones of other designers, including Saul Bass, Jan Tschichold, even Eric Gill but could find nothing. The only other one I found was Paul Rand's in the Beth El Cemetary in New York, which is also really good.

Why Blade Runner is the Best Designed Film of All TIme

Why Blade Runner is the Best Designed Film of All TIme

I spent an inspiring four hours watching the making of Blade Runner at the weekend, and as a designer, what really stood out for me was the designed world that Ridley Scott and his art team created. Every detail is lovingly attended to and it creates such a seamless and immersive landscape. While it is a bleak dystopia, it is graphically lush, and I thought I'd share some of the logos from the documentary. I couldn't find any better examples on the the web so apologies for the ramshackle shots, but hopefully you get an idea.

Stupid Movie Poster Naming Convention

Stupid Movie Poster Naming Convention

Take a look at this poster for the new Michel Winterbottom movie, The Killer Inside Me. Why is Jessica Alba’s name directly over Casey Affleck’s body? And why is his name the closest to Kate Hudson, and Kate Hudson’s name the closest to Jessica Alba? This makes no sense.

Two basic laws of design are being ignored here: Proximity and Pattern.

Why the London 2012 Olympic logo is a good thing

Why the London 2012 Olympic logo is a good thing

June 2008 and the country is up in arms. The official logo for the London Olympics of 2012 has been released and has been derided across the nation. 50,000 people sign a petition to get it changed and MPs have put forward various motions in the House of Commons requesting the same. Stephen Bayley calls it “lazy and inept and completely without energy,” and in one of the more creative critiques, author Tom Lutz thinks, “...it represents the multicoloured vomit sprayed across the capital's pavements at 3am on your average Sunday morning.” The Sun even claimed the logo gives people epileptic fits (actually it was the flashing release video that gave people epileptic fits, but “Flashing Images Triggers Epilepsy” doesn’t really have a news element). People from around the world send in their alternative logos using the jagged elements of the London one, including a man sitting on a toilet, sex acts performed by Lisa and Bart Simpson or, in a more literal sense, the shapes were amended to spell out the word S H I T.

Designing the Den Kit for BBC Show High Street Dreams

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Designing the Den Kit for BBC Show High Street Dreams

Recently I appeared in BBC1 show, High Street Dreams with Jo Malone and Nick Leslau, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk a little about my contribution to it. I barely appeared on the screen but some of the work I did became a important part of the episode. The show itself has a very good focus on branding and packaging and it was great to be involved as a graphic designer in the project.

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