Recently I had the pleasure of working on the logo and identity for AllTrue, a new brand that combines the action sports lifestyle with heavy philanthropic goals in developing countries. I was putting together a logo exploration pack for my newish portfolio website that will go up any one of these months years now. and well, I thought I’d throw a few of the finalists up on the blog.
My favorite? #3 partly inspired by the now defunct Yale Press logo designed by Paul Rand.
Do not fuck with graphic designers
Dear Rep. Boehner,
Recently, you released a chart purportedly describing the organization of the House Democrats’ health plan. I think Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree that the problem is very complicated, no matter how you visualize it.
By releasing your chart, instead of meaningfully educating the public, you willfully obfuscated an already complicated proposal. There is no simple proposal to solve this problem. You instead chose to shout “12! 16! 37! 9! 24!” while we were trying to count something.
So, to try and do my duty both to the country and to information design (a profession and skill you have loudly shat upon), I have taken it upon myself to untangle your delightful chart.
Click through for a larger version of the graphic and to read some of the unwittingly dumb shit and the willful obfuscations that are contained in the original graphic.
Never, ever, fuck with a graphic designer. Geez, I love a good cuss word.
[via Surfstation]
Creative Review – Two Tone: the graphics
I’m trying to figure out what influenced me more: the music or the graphic design behind The Specials, The Selector and a handful of other bands on 2 Tone Records. These bands were definitely on heavy, constant rotation for most of my teenage years. The sinister vibe of the piano/synth and chorus of The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ and the neo-70s soft-core basement pron film horns and bass of The Selector’s ‘The Selecter’ were permanent fixtures of my dj sets at art school. I still listen to their albums on a regular basis. And as influential as their music was on me, the graphic design and visual identity behind these bands was just as imprinted on my brain. Effective, cohesive and minimal.
Creative Review has an interview with David Storey who along with his partner, John Sims, created the visual look of the entire output of the 2 Tone label:
In 1979, fresh from art college, David Storey joined the team that, under the creative direction of The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, created the graphic identity for the band and their label, Two Tone. While the fashion ‘look’ for Two Tone was already well established – shiny suits, thin ties, pork pie hats and penny loafers all topped-off with a pair of Rayban Wayfarers – Storey and his partner John ‘Teflon’ Sims, helped create the visuals to go with it. Now devoting his time to painting, David Storey talked to CR about his work.
Storey is also releasing limited edition giclee prints of several 2 Tone era posters.
Incidentally, Storey is also the graphic designer behind the look of The Housemartins, another early high school favorite of mine (‘London 0 Hull 4′) and has Housemartin posters for sale as well. WTF factoid of the day: Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim was in The Housemartins! I didn’t know that until I linked over to their wiki page just now. weird, but true.
“Heavy Waves” tee by HunterGatherer
Todd St. John and Gary Benzel are HunterGatherer. A Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary design studio. In this video, Todd and Gary discuss their creative process and obsession with wood, beautifully simple graphic design and generally exactly how they make such rad stuff. I love these guys’ work, inspirational. Also, Todd St. John is part of Mollusk Family of Artists (amazing poster!).
[again, via KN+]
I designed this logo for my good bro Antonio “Birris” Ramirez, who has recently opened up La Escuelita Surf School in Punta Mita, Mexico. I really dig the name and we had fun coming up with the logo. You’ll notice a few photos of mine up on his site. Birri is an excellant surf instructor, his moto is something along the lines of “everyone gets up the first time” and he’s right – young or old Birris really gives his all to get people sliding.
If you’re ever in the Punta Mita / Vallarta area and need some really good surf lessons, and maybe if you’re dad (or mom) who’s in his 60’s wants to learn how to surf as well, cuz like he was missing out on the whole early 60s west-coast surf invasion, cuz like he was a working stiff or something – well, Birris is your man.
typography by Craig Ward
Words Are Pictures. Amazing typography and design. Most of his type is done on letterpress. The simplicity is inspiring.
The proper spanish translation for “to give birth” is “dar a luz”, directly translated back to english this means “to give light”. I can’t think of a more poetic way to say it. Amazing.
We’re now in the 40th week, and depending on who you talk to, our date was either the 12th or it’s tomorrow (the 17th). We’ve been in a kind of escalating limbo, waiting for little man to decide he wants to be born, (although technically speaking, it’s probably the woman’s body that makes that decision). We’re trying to catch up on sleep, movies and fending off hourly calls from concerned family and friends hoping that things have progressed. My father has taken to calling him “Godot”, as we’re definitely feeling a little like main characters in Waiting for Godot.
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There is still magic in this world: Yves Montand – A Bicyclette and bonus live version.
Interesting surf movie branding of the week award goes to Modern Collective. It’s nice to see surf art/branding being pushed in a different direction. I’m digging on the epic space-rock opera meets 70s uptown fashionista Bodoni vibe. Or maybe I’m just reading too far in to it.
Oh and the detail in the “M”? Don’t think for a second that I don’t see that. dope.
[via Daily Dropola]
Latin American Graphic Design. TASCHEN has just put out a insanely large survey of Latin American-flavored design, historical and contemporary. The book is text + photo heavy and weighs in at 504 pages1, lots of profiles on prolific designers past and present. For anyone interested in design south-of-the-border, this is the book for you. Taschen has a full flash-based preview of the book, you can actually leaf through every page. Very impressive.
Comprised of 20 countries located in North, South, and Central America as well as the Caribbean Islands, Latin America is populated by over 500 million people. From Argentina to Mexico, all Latin American countries are Spanish-speaking with the exception of Portuguese-speaking Brazil. Latin America has been producing a very unique form of graphic expression for decades and this historical publication brings together the best examples from the 20th century as well as today. The book begins with an extensive historical essay about the region’s contribution to design, featuring the development of graphic design in the region from 1900 to current times, while the main body of the book features A to Z entries of almost 200 designers and design offices that have built up and continue to champion the Latin design identity. Finally, a handy index facilitates access to key information in the book, such as designers’ names, countries, publications, educational institutions, and famous events.
Bodhi Oser has some beautiful skate/surf/snow tinged work. Art-Direction, Design and Photography are his domain and he does it inna fine style. His portfolio site is shortnsweet, exactly as it should be. His work appears effortless and minimal, deceptively so.
You’ll probably recognize Bodhi’s work from the Surf Life 32 to 02, Ron Church CA/HI 1960 to 1965 and Ron Church Surf Contest books published by Tom Adler’s book imprint. As well as work for Gravis, Quicksilver and a bunch of action sports related brands. Dude is heavyweight.
Further, I’ve written about Tom Adler before, his series of books are responsible for helping alter my perceptions of how surfing-related imagery can be presented. His approach to the subject has helped elevate surf photography to a high art level. Bodhi is a part of this process, these guys should be winning awards for their work.
Go drool, now.
Emil Kozak nices it up again. This time we find this Barcelonian design aesthete killing it on a collaboration with Kelly Slater and Al Merrick, for Slater’s board graphics. These sheets are made by HP and sandwiched in between the foam and glass. You can actually order Emil’s designs here, as well as board graphics by Thomas Campbell. At $60/side, it’s not exactly economical for us mexican contingenters, but if someone were to float one down my way, for like um uh testing purposes, it would knock my stoke level up a few gigometers. hint hint.
The Solitary Arts has a blog and it’s good! Their whole site is filled with interesting imagery and the blog is no exception. lots of interesting posts, usually about goings-ons and what-have-yous. but always on point.
No rss feed though.
Hi, my name is Ed. I’m a graphic designer who lived in L.A. I quit my job, sold my car, rented out my house and moved to Mexico. Along the way, I learned how to surf and fell in love. This blog is my story. In these pages I write about and photograph my daily experience. I also post about things I find interesting: art, design, photography, music, tech, etc...
