David Pidgeon "Geometry of Type" talk

I was fortunate to attend David's presentation "The Geometry of Type" on Monday (December 7, 2009) at the Australian Museum. Looking at David's work, I got many ideas for future projects about how to take an idea and simplify it to its essence. How to use simple shapes, lines and colour to communicate deep and complex concepts.

Event Summary
Keen to see the alphabet from a different angle? David Pidgeon, from Design By Pidgeon in Melbourne, looks at restricting the roman alphabet to strict geometries in an attempt to explore form, legibility, visual perception, dimension, points of view, perspective, colour, animation and modularity.

His passion for design excellence can be witnessed in the evolution of his work in the last decade. The son of a mathematician and of Italian/Anglo Saxon descent, David has embarked on a journey in design that is influenced by the way he sees the world. He pursues diversity in clients and output, which in turn employs a curious mix of playful yet intelligent; precise yet intuitive output.

His experiments in typographic form are a process that he has pursued since being a student and one of the creative threads that draws his work together.

David is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and has recently returned from speaking at the ICOGRADA World Design Congress in Beijing.
(source: AGDA's event listing)

David Pidgeon's typography work





http://pidgeon.com.au/

Film: Art & Copy

Synopsis
source: artandcopyfilm.com/synopsis

ART & COPY is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising's "creative revolution" of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them. Visually interwoven with their stories, TV satellites are launched, billboards are erected, and the social and cultural impact of their ads are brought to light in this dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion.



You can view the trailer on YouTube, or attend a screening if you are fortunate to live in the area. For the rest of us, gotta wait for the DVD :)

Barbara Glauber speaks at Billy Blue

As the principal of graphic design studio Heavy Meta, Barbara designs publications, exhibition and information graphics, identities, and other projects for a client list which includes Atlantic Records, the Museum of Modern Art, The New York Times, the Whitney Museum, Yahoo! and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Aside from designing for her arts and entertainment industry clients, she has edited, curated and designed exhibitions; judged competitions; taught classes and workshops; and directed creatively.

She has served as chair for the American Center for Design 100 Show and occasionally works as creative director on large scale projects with the Brand Integration Group of Ogilvy & Mather.

She is a founding partner of the Smoking Gun website and is on the faculty at Yale University as critic in graphic design, alongside luminaries such as Tobias Frere-Jones, Irma Boom, Karin Fong, Matthew Carter and Michael Bierut.

Her work is in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and has won numerous awards.

Barbara Glauber loves typography and chocolate; during her talk, titled 'Heavy Meta: Design and the Informational Baroque', passions will be exposed, methods unveiled and stories shared - a presentation that will provoke, inspire and delight.

Source: AGDA Events page


Barbara's Brilliant Infographics

Are you well hung?

The Brief
Pick a typography rule out of a hat and design A3 poster communicating the rule. The copy limitation is 300 words, and the post must have a hand-rendered element to it.

Design Outcome
I originally pulled out "headers and sub-headers," but the caveat was that we could trade the rules amongst ourselves, and I finally ended up with "hanging punctuation." Yes! I've explored a few ideas, such as "hanging here does not mean death by suspension, but failure to use it could be fatal to your design reputation." But I keep hearing that sex sells, so I went with "are you well hung?"

I actually cut out the woman shape, the letters and boxes with a scalpel, and the top part is a pattern made of felt (I bought it, hehe). There is also a string of jewels at the very top to add dimension. Much of the inspiration for my Semester 2 work came from paper crafts and scrapbooking, including this one.


Semester 2: Typography with Jodie Richards

"Hair of the Dog" beer label design

The Brief
Design and complete a logo plus front/back/neck labels for a new designer beer that is coming onto the market. The style of bottle is for a long neck bottle. The design should be "bright and colorful" aimed at the younger 25-35 year-old drinkers and should therefore be upmarket and current.

Design Outcome
The logo and label design were created in Adobe Illustrator CS3, using shapes and some hand-drawn elements.


Semester 1: Language and Systems of Communication, taught by Rob Tossen

Earrings for each seasons

The Brief
My client is invited to a Seasonal theme party, and she commissioned me to design 4 pairs of earrings corresponding to each season. Money is not an issue, and the only constrain is that I cannot use yellow gold. Additionally, each design must have a distinctive gemstone or crystal.

Here they are, one for each season with gemstones attached. Artwork is executed in watercolor and color pencils, on Arches Watercolor Medium 300 GSM paper.

Spring with Diamond and Citrine

Summer with Amber

Autumn with Red Agate

Winter with Rutilated Quartz

Final Presentation

Semester 1: Design Culture and Theory, taught by Edwina Riddell

Nomadic magazine cover

The goal here was to use as many Photoshop filters and effects as possible, without regard for aesthetic beauty... But I still wanted to create something that didn't offend the eye :)

The brief asked us to come up with a magazine related to any theme, and create a cover it. I had to ask myself, what do I like the most. Some of the possibilities were healthy eating, herbs or environment, but the topic that truly excites me is travel! Here it is, a magazine about travel, Nomadic.


Semester 1: Language and Systems of Communication, taught by Rob Tossen

Logo & Business Card Design

Alas, I am posting my first semester work! Better finish this up before the summer holidays run out :).

This was one of my first projects. We were asked to design a logo for "our business" using only 4 spot colors. We later had to identify the colors using the Pantone books, and trace each color into a separate piece of tracing paper, similar to the way printers use printing plates. I based my design on an Illustration file from iStockPhoto, which I was able to modify to my needs. I added colors, text, and changed some shapes. Great learning experience!


Second part of the assignment was to design a business card using this logo. Voilà...


Semester 1: Intro to Studio Practice, taught by Dave Walch

Contemporary Design Presentation

What is meant by Contemporary Design?

Instead of drilling boring lectures into the heads of the students, Edwina Riddell has found a creative and effective solution to deliveing the information. She assigned a particular design era to a group of 2 - 3 students, and thus transferred the engagement of the topic to the students.

I find this to be a a brilliant idea! The students get Public Speaking experience, they perform their own research, and in the end student presentations are usually listened to more attentively, than teachers, due to a feeling of solidarity.

Each student group presented on the chosen design era during the class (one group per week). Afterwards, Edwina filled in any of her extra knowledge and provided comments.

For our presentation, Gina and I selected Contemporary Design, an exciting and relevant period of design, which is still affecting our choices today.

Click the image below to view the PDF of our presentation:


Semester 1: Intro to Studio Practice, taught by Edwina Riddell

January: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

photo by dgermony

This is the first edition of my "monthly reflections" commitment, made as part of my 2009 New Year's resolutions.

I'll start with the "bad and the ugly", and finish off with what inspired me this month to leave a nice aftertaste. After all, why focus on the negative? Just learn from it and move on.

Not so cool

1. Sites that are slow to load. Yes yes, everyone hates slow connections. I get it. But what I am referring to are sites that make me sit through a huge flash (or otherwise) download without offering anything to chew on.
   
2. Unnecessary repetitive tasks. For example, copying & pasting my contacts into the Hallmark address book. Most e-mail and social applications provide APIs to import the contacts data.
3. When a new version of a site or product completely changes the location of navigation items. The upgrade of Microsoft Office to 2007 version always makes me feel stupid... looking for the basic buttons.
   
4. Being lost on a site. I like to always know which section of a website I am in, and if there is anything that requires my attention.
5. Colgate packaging. I hear it costs more to make the shiny package than the content inside. What?!! What am I paying for?
   

Now that the yackie stuff is out of the way, let's move on to...

Inspiring Stuff

1. Re-design of MyFonts.com website. I love this site, but I've always wondered when they would catch up with the times. The new version is great because it let's me interact with the fonts via sliders and dynamically updating controls, while still feeling familiar and friendly. One feature I really like is the loading of more search results as you scroll, so you don't have to use the pagination. Go ahead, give it a try by searching for script fonts.
   
   
   
   
   
2. It must be my recent trip to Switzerland, but I am fascinated with the clean and minimalistic Swiss and Scandinavian design. Here is a screenshot of Georg Jensen's website. Beautiful!
   
   
   
   
3. Designing for the flow is not a new concept, but it has recently been re-enforced for me after reading an article on AListApart (which I read daily) talking about exactly that. So I started to pay attention to which product designs put me "in the flow", and Wii Fit game is one of them. It makes me feel engaged, capable and gives me a sense of constant improvement. Facebook is another. I know we all love and rave about Facebook, but here I am referring specifically to its flow aspect of interaction and design.
   
   
   
   
4. Agile for design. Again, my faithful friend AListApart has provided food for inspiration and learning. Wikipedia has a thorough write up on agile methodology, but ALA has demonstrated the way it can be applied to design as well. Thank you ALA :)
5. Last, but not least, I am hugely moved by Hunter Valley wineries. Right now at the top of my wish list is a 3 day get-away in a cozy cottage, and grape picking!
   
   

Congratulations, my brave reader, you have gotten to the end of this month's sharing session :) I welcome you to participate in the conversation. After all, this is the era of social web.

Buy Nothing Day proposal body copy

This is the text of the final proposal to Adbusters for creating a cross-track poster, advertising Buy Nothing Day. The brief and research were included in my earlier post.

View the visual version of the proposal and crosstrack design!


Give Products a Voice!

Introduction
Hello, my name is… well, it’s not important. You see me every day, multiple times a day; in fact you probably see me every few minutes and don’t even notice me. I sit on shelves, hang on racks, and sometimes I just stand on the floor. People mindlessly grab me, own me, and after a short time discard me into a dumpster. Sad story, I know.

I am a Product, and my only hope is Buy Nothing Day. I dream of a day, when people will treat me with respect; when they will stop and think before taking me home. My friends at Adbusters are making this dream a reality through their Buy Nothing Day campaign. Now a team of passionate designers from Tops Creative is here to join them to create a cross-track poster, so the young Sydney residents will notice me as well.

History
This glorious path to liberation started in Vancouver in the early 1990s, when a brilliant designer decided to put a stop to mindless buying, and organized Buy Noting Day. To me, it’s better than a Birthday! For 24 hours people just don’t buy. They go about their lives enjoying various activities that don’t involve destruction of my kind.

Now Buy Nothing Day is celebrated in more than 65 countries. It makes my heart sing. Additionally, every year Buy Nothing Day falls on the day after Thanksgiving in North America, which is the busiest shopping day of the year due to approaching Holidays. This year Buy Nothing Day will be observed on November 28th in North America, and on November 29th internationally.

Audience and Target Market
You might be asking who will be looking at the cross-track. In case you didn’t know, cross-track, as the name implies, is a large poster, positioned across the train tracks. Times have changed, and now railroads penetrate our land far and wide. They allow people to travel to their work and entertainment destinations at almost any time of the day. In the morning a cheerful pack of students is traveling to their schools, and at night the party owls crowd the platforms, awaiting the late train.

What a perfect opportunity to tell them about me! The pals from Tops Creative will put their cross-tracks throughout the CBD, where hundreds of youngsters ages 18 to 25 will notice me, and my message for Buy Nothing Day.

Kalle Lasn from Adbusters defined the target audience of Buy Nothing Day as “the 20 percent who consume 80 percent of the goodies in the global marketplace.” This is the young and working population with large disposable incomes. I would place them at 25 to 35 years old, but my question is, why wait so long? I want the younger people to realize that as a Product, I am more than just another “thing” they consume. I require a choice, when deciding whether to take me off the shelf. Am I really necessary? How long will I be used for?

To back up our approach, the designers from Tops Creative and myself went out and asked 18 to 25 year olds what they think about the Buy Nothing Day idea. Many of the people surveyed acknowledged that there is a problem of overconsumption in our society. Yet, they didn’t feel that one day can change anything. “I would just buy stuff the next day,” said Jason McFall. And we say that if enough people participate, it will reach a critical mass that will change people’s shopping habits, and consequently improve my life!

Survey Quotes (in their own words)
Jack Ukleja: I would probably do it, but it doesn’t matter. I buy nothing on many days. What I want is to “bring down the Man.” We need re-education. People who need this the most are the least aware of these issues.

Stuart Cam: I like the overall idea. Less consumerism means lower interest rates (smile).

Competitors and Their Ads
Adbusters is not alone in their aim to change people’s behavior through a one-day event. White Ribbon Day is a campaign against violence towards women. It’s been very successful at attracting attention of many people. In 2006 for instance, White Ribbon Activists distributed 300,000 white ribbons.

People participate in White Ribbon Day by purchasing and wearing white ribbons, and people like buying stuff. On the contrary, Buy Nothing Day asks individuals to not shop, which could be difficult to promote. Additionally, White Ribbon Day is only three days before Buy Nothing Day, and they may attract the same audience.

In their 2007 advertising campaign, White Ribbon Day organization captured people’s attention by using images of famous people. However, they did have noticeable problems with text hierarchy within the ads, and a large amount of copy to read. The headings didn’t explain the point of White Ribbon Day well enough after seeing a dominant picture. Understanding the ads required excessive effort from the viewer.

We will learn from the successes and pitfalls of White Ribbon Day campaign to produce an effective cross-track poster, and give me and my fellow Products a voice!

Existing Advertising and Our Proposition
Buy Nothing Day’s prior advertising has employed humor, as well as a more serious tone, to portray the current state of the world. It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of Buy Nothing Day campaigns, since participation is on individual level, and no ribbons or tokens are sold to count the participants. It is also a global multi-national event, which makes reporting of data somewhat vague.

However, from our research young people do recognize the problems of consumerism in our Western society. They are ready to listen, and I am here to capture their minds with my charming character. Once my cute icon grabs youngster’s attention, the text of the ad will convey the importance of consuming less, and urge them to participate in Buy Nothing Day.

Conclusion
The approach of giving Products a voice is rather controversial, and it hasn’t been done before. The main idea behind the campaign is that Products are not just cold mindless things with barcodes on them. They cannot be used and thrown away without a thought, but need to be respected and valued.

The above proposal, as well as the proposed cross-track, is written from the perspective of a Product, which will help younger people associate with its character and realize the personality behind anything they buy.

Moshe Safdie: Seeking Beauty

Moshe Safdie is an architect who designed many well known architectural spaces. These include the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, set to open in 2010.

He spoke at the TED conference in 2002, when he discussed what makes the building unique.



In his talk, Moshe also shared a beautiful poem he wrote, which for me clarifies some of the internal struggles I face as designer-in-the-making :)

He Who Seeks by Moshe Safdie
He who seeks truth shall find beauty,
He who seeks beauty shall find vanity.

He who seeks order shall find gratification,
He who seeks gratification shall be disappointed.

He who considers himself the servant of his fellow beings
Shall find the joy of self-expression.
He who seeks self-expression
Shall fall into the pit of arrogance.
Arrogance is incompatible with Nature.

Through the nature of the Universe
And the nature of man we shall seek truth.
If we seek TRUTH we shall find BEAUTY.

Nokia Morph Concept

Today we learned how to do concept rendering using Copic markers, black pen and white gouache. We produced a rendering of a metal fork with small fish on it. It turns out that it's actually not that difficult to achieve a realistic look of an object, if you know where to apply shadows and highlights. The main points to remember are to work in layers, from light to dark.

One of the brilliant recent applications of concept rendering was used by Nokia to communicate the idea behind Nokia Morph, the future of mobile (at least according to Nokia, lol). Here is the video of the rendering:



One thing to notice is that the phone itself is drawn in great detail, while the surrounding environment is more rough. This brings attention and focus to the phone itself (note to self: you can use it in your work as well).

Kandinsky's Transformation

Brief
Write an essay exploring the influence of indigenous symbols on the work of modern artists.

Essay: Transformation of Artistic Style

Creation is a process. Every artist has a personal ritual that he or she partakes in, prior to beginning a new masterpiece. This preparation can be in the form of conscious research and observation, or it can be inner transformations and feelings that lead the artist to produce a certain form of expression. Many artists in their quest for inspiration draw upon the creations of those before them, the indigenous artists who worked with mediums traditional to their style of life and surroundings. The works of the indigenous artists have greatly influenced the style and flavour of many visual creators of the 20th century. These works from ancient times demonstrate masterful applications of colour, reflection of profound ideas, and viewer’s involvement and participation in the story.

The relationship between the past and the present is evident in the works of abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky, who gave birth to many captivating works during 20th century. He was highly inspired by the ancient Slavic icons abundant in churches around his beloved Moscow. It is common to associate iconic paintings with Christianity, however the idea of capturing images of significant people came long before Christian religion. This tradition originated in Egypt, where portraits of the dead were placed on the covers of the sarcophagi. At first these were in the form of three-dimensional masks made from plaster, but later they transformed into two-dimensional stylized portraits painted on wood. These funeral masks were extremely powerful in capturing attention of the onlookers by using exaggerated forms and startling colours. Richard Temple describes these creations as “a gaze that speaks directly to us from a world beyond time and the earthly plane.” (Temple 2004, p.16). The purpose was for the viewer to connect with those who were dead, and to share their human feelings of loneliness and hope.

One of techniques employed by the ancient Slavs was the use of brilliant and pure colour tones. The images were generally very large, more than 2 meters high, and they covered the entire area of the wall, drawing the viewer in. This combination of enveloping surrounding with vivid clear colours created an atmosphere of timelessness spiritual reflection and participation. While at university, Kandinsky visited the town of Vologda, where he came in close contact with decorative houses and furniture, traditional folk costumes and numerous churches. After this trip, Kandinsky entered countless Baroque churches and chapels in Bavaria seeking to feed his artistic thirst. He was deeply influenced by this experience, and later he always aimed to recreate this feeling of being in the picture through the bold use of colour in his own works. Figure 1 demonstrates the influence of the traditional Slavic icons on the use of vibrant colours in Kandinsky’s work.

Another striving of ancient Slavs, as well as of Kandinsky, was to bring the observer into the picture, make the person take part in the creation of the masterpiece. The wide-open eyes on the traditional iconic paintings grip the soul of the onlooker and make one stop to consider the questions of life and death. In the words of Kandinsky himself, his motivation was “to let the viewer stroll around within the picture, to force him to forget himself, and so to become part of the picture.” (Kandinsky, Duchting 1991, p 9). Figure 2 shows one of Kandinsky’s earlier works, which displays his arrangement of shapes and colours not as objects would be found in the natural world, but more as characteristics of our human thoughts, swirling and overlapping each other, of intangible and impermanent nature. Just as the aboriginal artists, Kandinsky wanted to express the essence beyond the visible. He felt the colours, felt the world through his mind’s eye, and he expressed his vision through increasingly more abstract style of painting.

Kandinsky’s late works demonstrate complete separation from realistic images, and full exploration of expression of the outside world using symbolic representations. Figure 3 illustrates this transition to pure abstraction. Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs to record the local laws, religious belief systems, and military achievements. Egyptian pictographs have become almost synonymous with the stylized representation of the surroundings and events. In one of his last works, “Composition X” (Figure 3), Kandinsky used this powerful metaphor to eliminate any doubt in the mind of the viewer of his intention of displaying abstract form.

“Every revolution has its historical causes and its inner necessity” (Anselm 1993, p3). The abstract art movement is the personification of these words. From the burial traditions of the early Egyptians, to the iconic works of ancient Slavs, to the pure abstract arrangement of shapes and colors in Kandinsky’s late works, the influence and the transformation are evident. Kandinsky is thought to be one of the first to break the ties with Realism and move into the world we now call “Modern Art.” To him, as to his colleagues from centuries ago, art was about expressing emotions and mystical inner processes, rather than portraying anatomical and biological accuracy of objects. He said so himself: “When you create a work of art, you create a world.” (Anselm 1993, p5.)

Figure 1: Influence of Colour

Figure 2: Images As Thoughts

Figure 3: Pure Abstraction

References
Anselm R., P. 1993. Kandinsky, Park Lane, London.

Duchting, H. 1991. Wassily Kandinsky, 1866 – 1944, A Revolution In Painting, Benedikt Taschen, Berlin.

Russia The Great: Where We Came From
Available: http://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/10667.html

Temple, R. 2004. Icon: Devine Beauty, Saqi Books, London.