Last week, Robynne Raye of Modern Dog Design Co., gave a lecture on graphic design at the Hartford Art School. She gave a wonderful talk and we thank her for coming to the school.
Since co-founding Modern Dog in 1987, Robynne has continued to do work for entertainment and retail companies - both local and national - and counts poster and identity projects as some of her favorite work. She routinely ignores the boundaries between illustration, design and typography.
Frank Chimero, illustrator and graphic designer from Missouri, has recently produced a brand new website. His online presence now is all under one roof that includes his portfolio, blog, and online store. I could not be happier for Frank because the site looks wonderful and I am sure it now gives him peace of mind to have everything so well organized and presented. Congrats sir!
Along with Ben Barry, he has launched Questionable Characters. This is an online place in which they both answer questions that anyone can ask on the website, mostly about graphic design.
Frank and Ben are two of the artists in Creative Grab Bag, which my first book coming out in the summer.
Today I would like to introduce a series of posters entitled This is Backwards.
Today in our world somethings are just Backwards. They are broken, wrong, and opposite of what they should be. They are headed in the wrong direction. Backwards is series of messages commenting on those political and social issues. By drawing attention to these issues and offering solutions we can have an impact.
Each poster has a single statement or sentence that is backwards, thus demonstrating and illustrating the problem. At the bottom of each poster there are the words “This is Backwards” which unifies the series of prints. Under that there are three suggestions to change and fix the backwards problem above.
They come as a set of three and are 11 inches by 17 inches each.
Shipping is included in price below based on your location. handled with care.
They have been produced on a digital printing press through a local printer that I have used before. The funds that I hope to make from creating these pieces of artwork will be put towards college, art supplies, and the living expenses of a design student.
From a design perspective, three different shade of blue are used to represent the progression that needs to be made. Three different serif type faces are used for the different backwards statements, Georgia, Rockwell, and American Typewriter. At the bottom the solutions and suggestions for fixing the problems are in Helvetica. Thanks for checking them out, please share the news with your friends, and I hope you get some for yourself and your walls.
Last night, a friend and I went to the the inaugural event for AIGA Connecticut, which is the Connecticut chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Artists. Sean Adams, the AIGA President gave an insightful and great talk on fear in the design business.
Over the last 10 years at AdamsMorioka, they’ve made mistakes. Big design mistakes. Some were a collision of events that hit like a train wreck. Some were self-produced. All of the mistakes were motivated by fear. When is fear appropriate in design? Are we on the Love Boat, or a voyage of the damned? How do we know the difference? Where are the lifeboats?
The next event is William Drenttel of Design Observer giving a talk on his so called public life, there is more information on that right here. Looking forward to joing this remarkable organization and I couldn’t be happier that it has been brought to this state. Even better, there is a student chapter that is being started at the Hartford Art School as well.
On my trip to New York City last week I had the amazing opportuninty to stop by and visit with Paul Sahre at his studio. Paul is participating in Creative Grab Bag, my visual collaborative book and it was a great experience to meet him in person, discuss design and creativity with him, and view the space where he works.
Graphic designer, illustrator, educator, lecturer, foosballer and author Paul Sahre established his own design company in New York, in 1997. Consciously maintaining a small office, he has nevertheless established a large presence in American graphic design.
While I was there I interview him for Behance Magazine and that article will be up soon, you can view more photos of my visit here.
I can’t help but be drawn to the Happiest Book in the World by Alex Ostrowski. It just seems like such an amazing book by looking at the photos and hearing what its about, there is only one copy as of now, which makes me not happy at all. Alex shares with us the story behind this book.
In one way or another we are all looking for happiness. Some people even say that man’s sole purpose for existence is to hunt down and capture this intangible and elusive treasure. In 2006 researchers at The University of Leicester concluded that Denmark is the happiest country in the world - this was good enough for me. In March 2008 I made the decision to visit happiness, and embarked upon a pilgrimage to find it. My experiences are presented in this book.
Take a look at more photos of the book here.
Was awarded the Henry Wolf Award, a Worldstudio AIGA scholarship! This was very exciting news and I thank everyone who was involved with the scholarships. In writting to express my thanks to AIGA and Worldstudio I shared the following with them.
Design holds a special place in my life and work. It is just not a career track but a way of thinking, communicating, and living. While I plan on being a graphic designer I also plan on using design and creative thinking in other areas such as business, politics, and education.
Shel Israel will be getting a fresh coat of design work on his blog and website by yours truly! I am really looking forward to the design project and developing a more strucured online presence for his many projects. Shel interviewed me about social media here and blogged about my book here. You can read more about the changes in Shel’s work at this post entitled Several Changes.
The book tentatively titled Backwards will have much of it written this week. It is a book of my ideas, plans, and proposals on how to solve the many problems that are facing us in the world today. I have recently finished the detailed outline for the book and have concluded most of the research, in doing so I will start the actual writing process this week. I look forward to sharing some of the book with you in the coming weeks.
Fifty Designers’ Current Favourite Typefaces is a small publication that showcases exactly what the titles says. Each page contains five of the typefaces that each designer takes a particular liking to at this point in their work and career. All of the cover price goes to UNICEF for the children of the Myanmar Cyclone.
Ran into some great work from 25ah out of Sweeden.
The talented folks at Design Observer published a little book made up of differnt design possibilities for table of contents. They have posted a collection of images from the book online for your viewing pleasure.
In it, we have choosen to narrow our sights to the written word, considering what we read next, how we move from one chapter to the next, and how we navigate through a single volume. Often overlooked by serious bibliophiles, the humble table of contents is our portal into a world of knowledge. In the realm of the printed word, it heralds what comes next, a verbal proscenium with its own peculiar prose and typographic conventions.
There is the practice of design.
There is practicing design.
Practice of design is the business and art of doing and creating design, like a medical practice. Then you practice design, learn new methods, just like you practice a sport.
Design and Practice.
Here are four new design projects. This first one was done for Open Mic Night at my school which I hosted with two of my friends. The design is based upon a typeface that I created for this project. They hung on the walls of the school to promote the event.
This was a tri-folded map design for a self guided walk around my town.
It brings you to certain historical locations and provides the information about the site.
Permanent signs that I designed to be installed in a new addition to the school that is environmentally friendly. The signs educate the green features. I was responsible for the design, logo, project name, and byline.
Poster designed for the musical theatrical production of Edwin Drood by Rupert Holmes.
I have also done the lighting design for the show.
All of this work and other past work can be viewed in my portfolio here.
This past fall I headed to New York City to see an artist talk with Kate Bingaman-Burt and Mike Perry at the Jen Bekman Gallery. I had arranged to spend some time with them and filmed our conversation.
Michael Perry runs a small design studio in Brooklyn, New York. Working with clients like MTV, Brooklyn Industries, Dwell Magazine, New York Times Magazine and so many more. Perry just finished his first book titled “Hand Job” published by Princeton Architectural Press. Doodling away night and day, Perry creates new typefaces and sundry graphics that inevitably evolve into his new work, exercising the great belief that the generating of piles is the sincerest form of creative process. He has shown his work around the world, from the booming metropolis of London to Minneapolis to the homegrown expanses of Kansas.
Kate Bingaman-Burt started Obsessive Consumption in 2002 when she decided to photograph all of her purchases and in turn create a brand out of the process to package and promote. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Lowdown Magazine, Money, Print, HOW Design, Craft, Adorn, GOOD, and many others. Her work is featured in the upcoming books Handjob! A Catalog of Type by Mike Perry and Becoming a Digital Designer by Steven Heller and David Womack. She received her MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004 and is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Mississippi State University.
It was great to finally get to meet them. Both Kate and Mike have contributed work to my book, Grab Bag Book (HOW Books). Thanks to both of them for the time they spent talking with me and their inspiration.
The most recent book that I have acquired is Paul Rand, Conversations with Students from Princeton Architectural Press. I first got my hands on the book in the Museum of Modern Art’s Book Store in New York City and then received it as a gift latter on. The book provides some amazing insight, thoughts and ideas on design through two conversations that Paul Rand had with his students. There are also six personal stories from his students that show the true character of one of the most well know graphic designers in history. You can read one of the stories from Jessica Helfand at an article on Design Observer.
The book is designed beautifully with large quotes and one color photographs. While the book is considered short and small at eighty pages it is well worth it for the brilliant insight to the life and thoughts of Paul Rand.
These typography blocks seem pretty amazing and can act as some nice decoration for your work or living space. You can even start teaching you children about typography at an early age. They are hand painted and produced by Post Typography.
This shirt is among some other great shirts that I found at Cottyn.
Brought to you by the same amazing people who brought us Virb and Purevolume.
Wolff Olins has introduced a brilliant new project. It is a model for the brand of the future called Brand Next. They are introducing this concept through a show entitled The Store for Tomorrow.
Taking an aspect of the Brand Next thinking, The Store for Tomorrow explores the idea of brands as platforms for action, helping people do more and do better.
Held in London and New York, the show highlights ten platform brands that invite people to take part, to give as well as get. And the more people who join in, the better it becomes for everybody.
I think that this model as one that everybody should keep an eye on. In the near future, I hope that we see more brands embrace this way of thinking.
For the first time, I recently took some time to think about what I was planning to do with my life. I asked myself whether I truly wanted to become a graphic designer, and the answer was yes.
To create is in my nature. My fear is having to settle for a design position in some huge advertising company doing work that isn’t worth my time. The secret, I assume, is to work hard and become amazing at graphic design so that I can be creative in other ways than what time, money or the client will allow. I won’t mind those things, for they are sure to make some good stories some day when I give a lecture to a room full of young designers in my old age.
No budgets, proposals, deadlines. Just me and a paintbrush, pen, camera, pencil, and some paper, all backed by a creative mind.
When visiting colleges I have been told that many people come in wanting to be something and change their mind and graduate doing something else. Right now, I would tell you that this will not happen with me. Graphic design is for me and I am sure of that.
Design is simply what feels right for me, and I am happy it’s that way.
As part of a scholarship for college I had write an essay on an artist that I would like to spend an afternoon with.
One of the most well known and respected graphic designers in history was Paul Rand. He was not only a graphic designer but was an educator as well who taught at Yale University. He is responsible for creating many wide spread corporate logos, including UPS, ABC, IBM, Next, Westinghouse and more.
I chose Paul Rand because of the several stories I have heard about him and for the inspiration and education he has provided to many great designers who came after him. He is one of the people I regret not having the opportunity to meet.
If I was to spend an afternoon with Paul Rand we would visit his house. We would sit there, drinking tea that he made for us. His house would be simple but the furniture would be arranged perfectly. The home would be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Naturally we would have discussed graphic design and he might have gone on about form and typography. I would inquire about how he started his career and would be looking for stories about the amazing past that he had. He would stray away from the topic of graphic design quickly and there would be nothing I could do. He would talk about culture, ideas, and books. I would add my thoughts and we would debate about a couple things here and there. He would suggest books for me to read and new ideas to wrap my mind around.
From Paul Rand I would learn simple lessons that are important in life. I would not be educated in specific graphic design techniques or concepts, but rather I would learn about the larger picture of life. He would tell me how design impacts others, what not to miss as I went through life, and how to see the world.
What if leaders of local and national communities, along with the global community, thought like designers; would some of our problems be solved? Many designers and creative individuals will respond “yes” to this questions, on the other hand some of the political and social leaders might not see the benefit or necessarily understand what it means to think like a designer. This needs to change.
This is an excerpt from an essay that I have written. The full version will be placed online later this year. Copyright 2007.
I subscribe to plenty design and creative blogs, some of the best I would say. And everyday, I truly enjoy going through all of them and finding some great work and articles. I have even been featured on some of them. The problem however is that all I do is look at the post and the work and then if it’s good enough I will save it for later. The internet allows us to do so much more than look at design and creative work, we might as well take advantage of it.
I would like to see a new type of design and creative blog. One that engages it’s audience more. For the most part, the audience of these blogs work in the creative field themselves, thus making them easily engage-able. So for starters, most of these blogs will have the title of the post, an image or two, and then a link back to the portfolio of the creative individual who made it.
Continue to do that, but now add some more value to it. In the post, put in some of your own commentary. Why do you like what you are posting and even why you do not like it. Feel free to critique it a little. Then ask your audience what they think. If you ask them specific questions then it can make it even easier for them because they will be responding to something. This is not a new concept, rather it just takes advantage of the comments by having the readers comment more and answer specific questions.
Some bloggers might not have the time to do this. Or might feel that their role in the community is to share. And I won’t stop reading those blogs. But I think that if some of the design and creative blogs out their implement this concept and method, they will be able to provide so much more to their readers.
(There have to be even more ways to engage your readers, what do you think some other methods might be?)
Printed and hung this poster on Monday for a school dance that is coming up. I am very lucky to have a large format printer at school along with a great Mac lab (already have two new iMacs, new iLife and new keyboards), DSLR Cameras, and video cameras that I get to use. Been getting some great comments on it from friends and teachers. Will have a better picture soon. View more of my work here.
There is a magazine that has launched recently and has a wonderful website that goes along with it. This magazine is Monocle. They continue with the black on the as it is the color the cover is. I have never been quite alright with dark colored websites that try to present a good amount of information, but they have seemed to pull it off here. Along with that, the website provides us with a sort of upscale feeling due to the simple layout of the site. They stay away from many traditional features that you would find on other sites including advertisements, social bookmarking, or other things that obstruct the simplicity of the site. On the site you won’t find any written articles for people that don’t subscribe but there is plenty of other content.
My favorite part of Monocle’s website are their videos. They cover a wide range of areas and interests from business interviews, to design and culture. Even better is that the videos are shot and edited nicely, I only wish we could view them at a larger size as high quality video.
I picked up an issue of Monocle in NYC’s Grand Central Terminal for ten dollars, and it costs a lot to subscribe but it might just be worth it for this kind of magazine. And if you are ever in Grand Central Terminal, make sure you go to the magazine shop, the bigger of the two, it is the best one I have ever seen and they carry so many magazines. Keep an eye on Monocle.
Field Notes is a collaboration between Aaron Draplin and Coudal Partners. Draplin was kind enough to send out some Field Notes after I expressed interest in them. For those of you who don’t know who these people I speak of are, Aaron Draplin runs Draplin Design Co. out of Portalnd, Oregon with his trustworthy companion; Gary, a Dachshund. (Draplin is taking part in my collaborative visual book called a Grab Bag Book and here is an interview with him) And Coudal Partners is a small design firm out of Chicago, IL. Coudal Partners does some amazing projects other than design, which you can find at their website.
So as you can see from the picture, right on the front they say Field Notes in the typeface Futura. Unlike some other similar products that might have blank covers, Field Notes don’t and suprisingly it doesn’t really bother me. Oh, and did I mention the cover is pretty “durable” if I do say so myself.
Once you get inside you will find graph paper. This is my first time really using graph paper in a sketchbook or notebook, and I have to say I like it quite a lot. It makes it so I can write in any direction unlike lined paper, and it is great for jotting down design concepts or ideas. And yet, it provides some guidelines unlike plain paper that you find in my sketchbook.
While they do fit nicely in your pocket, I haven’t found myself carying them around that much. I suspect when school starts I will though. So far I have used them for a variety of things which I thought I would share with you. Eventually, I plan to photograph them all and upload them to Flickr but for now…
-Lists
-Design Ideas
-Project Ideas
-Random Thoughts
-Some Quick Sketches
-Blog Post Outlines
-and more.
You will also find some clever copy and written remarks on the inside of the back cover, along with the specification ranging from who printed them, the paper, the fonts, etc.
There is a certain feeling when I use the Field Notes or see them because I know the people behind them. Even better is the fact that they are made in the USA, which is really great cause so many things aren’t these days.
Check out the Field Notes website.
Hold tight, they aren’t up for purchase yet, but my advice would be to stay tuned.
Overall, I have truly enjoyed using the Field Notes.
This is my submission to a contest started by Dan Meyer to see how people sell themselves in picture and text only slides. It could be for a college application, a job interview, or whatever. More information on Dan’s blog here.
Naz Hamid, while he is supposed to be on vacation, updated his site with an image of the things he carries. Let me just say, that it looked pretty sweet and a bunch of other people thought the same thing. Then the Items We Carry Flickr Group was started. Here is my photo of the items I carry.
I did this shirt for Threadless based on the title of this post. If you are a member of Threadless you can go and critique it here. If not leave some comments. Thanks
Thank you for bringing us JPG Magazine. I remember when I first saw it in a book shop and when I received it in the mail. The feeling of holding the magazine and looking through was amazing because I knew that many people from around the world had come together to create this beautiful magazine. I am truly sorry for what has happened and am glad that you were able to take something away from it all.
I would also like to take this time to invite you to contribute to Grab Bag Book. This is a collaborative visual book from artists around the world who are coming together to explore their creativity.
To get more information and see the brief click here.
To see a list of participating artists click here.
I wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors and can’t wait to see what is to come next.
Best,
Ethan Bodnar
See my post on the future of magazines
http://www.blog.ethanbodnar.com/2007/04/10/magazines/
See Derek’s post
http://powazek.com/posts/534
Guess what? I am going to Sweet Talk NYC. This is a one day design conference being put on by Candy Magazine and Veer. This is their first one in the states. To learn more look at the poster below. Hopefully I will see you there. More Information
I went on to Threadless to purchase some shirts for Christmas and the three that I really wanted had just run out. So, I learnd my lesson that when they have a sale the shirts go fast. Anyways, if you have any ideas for my christmas list that would be great. I am looking for gifts for creative/design people (me) that are around 20 dollars and don’t need international shipping.
What you are looking at right now, this blog, isn’t supposed to look like this. I had started designing this site last spring. The design had to go through at least 15 different versions. A couple months ago I finished the design and had exactly what I wanted. The next step was to start the css and html. Now the way I learn is through experimenting. Its the way I learn how to do pretty much everything with technology. Since this is the way I learn, I had been fooling around with css, html, and the wordpress php during the summer. Since September, I had been working on the code and development of the blog design. Combined with learning css during the summer and actually putting it all together in the last to months, I have gotten tired of looking at code. This is not the reason why I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to start it to be able to write. The code and development was taking away from what I really wanted. So what did I do? I stopped writing the code and developing my blog design.
Instead, I chose a wordpress template called K2. Now this is a great theme, don’t get me wrong. But I would much rather have it look the way I designed it to look. Maybe sometime soon.
The other day when I was in Stop and Shop, I went to check out the magazine isle. There I found “Dwell”. I had seen it before on the internet and picked it up at the store. I thought it was designed very well and it had a lot of good content. The best part was, of course, the pictures. Go check out Dwell’s website
An IKEA store just opened up near where I live. Obviously, I wanted to go. So, I turned it into a day trip for the entire family. It was probably the best shopping experience I have ever had. The way the store was laid out worked really well. Upstairs there was all the showrooms and downstairs was the self serve warehouse and the smaller items shopping section. They had informational signs that were beautiful. They provided you with rulers, pencils, and shopping lists for you to use. We even ate lunch there at the cafe/foodcourt. Oh, and of course their products are awesome as I am sure some of you know.
When I came home from the store, I went onto their website. I had been on if before but this time was different. I just had a really nice shopping experience at their store and was looking to have one on their website. However, their website was terrible compared to the store. Heres some stuff I would like to see changed.
New simple design and navigation.
An information footer like http://www.elsewares.com
Larger product images and the use of Slideshow Pro for image galleries.
Redesign the shopping cart.
Create shopping lists that you can print and bring to the store.
Email Newsletters.
Customer Reviews.
Designer Intreviews.
Blogs of course.
Gift Certificates.
Tell a friend.
Photo sharing of IKEA products in people actual homes.
I think that these things would really improve the IKEA website.
Copyright 2008 Ethan Bodnar. All Rights Reserved.
Happily Creative. Since 1990. Have a nice day.
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