These are some great posters from Olly Moss for the 2010 Rolling Roadhouse tour brought to you by the Alamo Drafthouse. To commemorate this years tour, they printed a limited number of posters to sell on the tour. I must say this is some great eye candy! I wish the roadshow was coming to my neck of the woods so I could see one of these classics in a theater, and try to get my hands on a set of these posters. Here are some of my favorites, and there’s more after the jump. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »
I recently came across this new poster for the upcoming movie Buried and couldn’t help but think that this was a Saul Bass recreation. As as graphic designer, I am a huge fan of Saul Bass and am aware of his accomplishments and influence he has had on the world of graphic design. During his life Bass had a masterful talent for creating visual references for film campaigns and title sequences. Take his poster for the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo. Most have seen the movie, and if you have not, I won’t spoil it, but the poster reflects what the movie is about. James Stewart’s character develops acrophobia, and throughout the movie he deals with this dilemma of not being able to break free of it all the while dealing with death, love and loss, and insanity. He’s essentially fighting an inner battle. Bass illustrated the poster to reflect the emotion and confusion that Stewart feels, and he did it to perfection.
I don’t have an idea what Buried is about, except that Ryan Reynolds character is buried alive. It’s probably his struggle to stay sane while six feet under and running out of air. It looks to be a man struggling with himself while in his horrendous environment. I researched to see who did this poster, but couldn’t find anything. I absolutely love it, and think it fits the film well (from what I’ve read about Buried so far). I am glad to see that Saul Bass’ influence on graphic design is alive and well. I am glad that designers still recognize our history. I am glad that designers are using a Pioneer’s ideas and visual imagery as influence for their own projects.
Les éditions volumiques is a publishing house located in Paris, France. They are exploring the paper book as a new computer platform. Their e-books are not trying to replace the paper book, they are enriching the intimacy of the paper book connecting it with the digital world. Take their project “Pirates” for instance. Your phone acts as an interactive pawn transforming into a sailing vessel when placed on their map. As it sails through the ocean on the map it keeps memory of its recent feats. I’ve attached some pictures above, but you can find a video of how it works here along with other videos showcasing their innovative work. It’s a great website to check out for inspiration, and it gives an idea of what talented people are doing with ingenious and creative collaborations.
When I created my Color Theory tutorial last summer, I spent countless hours researching books, magazines and websites to find valuable information that I could use to make an organized, educational online tool. I came to the conclusion (after receiving feedback from current and past students) that all they wanted was a basic foundation for color. What is the difference between complimentary and split-complimentary color groups, when should I use CMYK vs. RGB, and what in the heck are tertiary colors? Making a tutorial where they can find the answers quickly to these basic questions is what motivated me to create my Color Theory tutorial. My tutorial is basic, but once you have this foundation, you are able to understand color better, and create better color relationships for projects.
This is what lead me to COLOURlovers. I came across this site last year when I started The Design Shadow, and I made sure to include a link from my homepage to theirs. COLOURlovers is an international community of designers and artists that visit frequently for inspiration, ideas and feedback. They also keep up-to-date on the latest color trends and news. I have used their blog many times for projects because it is easy to navigate and just so freakin’ cool to use. Members can even create their own colors, palettes and patterns for others to see, comment on, and even download. So check them out at www.colourlovers.com, you’ll thank me later!
Check out a new video that is mighty impressive. It is titled Pixels and is directed by Patrick Jean for Paris-based visual effects company One More Production. It’s amazing to see classic video game characters running amok in New York City. My favorite is Donkey Kong on top of the Empire State Building throwing barrels at the streets below.
Rube Goldberg’s machine idea is that the builder tries to make the most complicated machine to do the simplest task. Ok Go’s entire video is based on this idea. I read about the video earlier today, and watched it on YouTube. It is definately a video to watch for some creative inspiration! I guess all the people at the end of the video are the scientists and physicists that volunteered to design it. Simply amazing! Enjoy!
I am currently reading Graphic Design: A User’s Manual by Adrian Shaughnessy with a Foreward by Michael Bierut. It’s a book that offers insight to the complexities of current graphic design practice and thinking. I’m about 70 pages into the book, and it is nicely designed and organized alphabetically. I’ve already read topics about art direction, art v. design, book cover design, branding, broadcast design, clichés, creative block, and found each little section very helpful and informative. It’s books like this that make learning about graphic design fun! I would recommend this book to anyone wanting insight into the field of graphic design or simply wants to brush up on design knowledge.
