Thursday, March 3, 2011

Banksy

Banksy is an amazing street artist and I consider him a graphic designer. I love the way he uses a medium as simple as spray paint to illustrate heavy social and political topics in an interesting way. Also, I should warn that the first time I saw Banksy's art it blew my mind like crazy so beware. Here are a few really cool designs by him:








 Wow. Just look at that last one a good long time and tell me you don't start to question life's meaning.

Album Covers

Here are a few more album covers I really love. This time I'm going to pick out of records I have here at the house.


Awesome band from right here in C-U. Great watercolor and typography.


There will always be a (large) place in my heart for Willie Nelson. What a great album, and the use of mixed media (I think it's a photo with paint or ink on some parts) is crazy looking up close.


I don't know why I love this album cover so much. It's simply beautiful beyond words to me.


Ok, so this is technically a photo, but I love the design that the organic moss stuff creates out of its own texture. Really weird album.


Who cares if you flat out steal an idea from the King of Rock and Roll as long as you pull it off? The Clash one upped the heck out of him on this one. It's PERFECT.


THE COLORS!!!!!!!!!!!! So awesome. Sure it's not a perfect design, but the beauty here lies in its imperfection and sheer attitude.


Quite possibly the greatest album art of all time. Andy Warhol's graphic designs were ingenious. The end.

Shoes

Here are some really cool shoe logos I've found throughout my many years as a lover of foot apparel.

Such a classic design... This one is just about perfect in my eyes. Mmmmm.






Doesn't this just make you wanna go to the beach? Something about the colors and type always give me a good vibe.




Obviously I had to choose one of the greatest logos of all time for this little list.


Last but not least is the Chuck Taylor All Star logo. Classic.

Hatch Show Print

I really love the designs that come as a result of the printing process used by Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. I went there myself a few years ago and it was awesome to think of how many amazing posters have come from one small shop. This company has been in business for a long time and still makes posters for modern clients. They reprint a lot of their old stuff using the same process, and so you can purchase what is essentially the exact same poster you would have had in the 50s.

Here is a print I have in my room:


Wow...... so great. Ok moving on, here's an example of Hatch Show Print's ability to make designs that span a wide range of musical styles and time, featuring two of my favorite artists:

Also, I think the sign itself has some really cool old school (it is old) typography as well:

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Gaming Consoles

I don't think some gaming consoles get enough credit for the design that they exhibit in and of themselves. Here are a few examples of some of my favorite consoles, design-wise:

NES

The original! The geometry in this thing is simply perfect. The controllers complement the system, too, and it just looks right.






GAMECUBE

This system is great because of its portability and large buttons which enable a great ease of use.





 Wii

The Wii design is really nice. It harkens back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System, but is updated to look modern nicely.



PS3

The PS3 has a beautiful design. It's extremely sleek, which contrasts with the Nintendo consoles, and it pulls off this shape really well. The simplicity in the design of the PS3 seems to be unmatched by any other consoles.

Movie posters!

I work at a movie theater, so I thought I'd share two of the posters I really like.

One that is pretty good is for The Mechanic. It's a gun shape composed of lots of smaller weapons, like grenades, other guns, and knives. I like the boldness to the design and the contrast of the colors chosen.






My favorite one lately, however, is the poster for the upcoming Jane Eyre film. It's simplicity and washed out colors are really beautiful. The typeface looks great. I think it's Helvetica Ultra Light? Anyways, check this out. The wisdom to know when is too much photoshopping is a good thing to have if you're a designer, and this poster makes just the right use of the program.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Some cool stuff

 I really like the animated Mountain Dew "History" commercial... I love the color palette and style of animation especially.

This is a cool illustration by an artist named Neryl Walker that I think exhibits a great use of design principles. The abstracted peacock feathers are awesome:


And one last image is the cover of Bon Iver's "Blood Bank" EP. I love the framing of the photograph, and the starkness of the image goes really well with the sounds on the album: