design:related - salsaman2963's inspirations

A Grayspace Poster Gallery - Polish Poster Design

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:27:10 GMT

Great online resource for design inspiration. All manner of interesting and conceptual ideas and styles are represented here. From the Grayspace site:

This gallery mostly consists of Polish posters designed since 1940 (with the exception of some posters by Czech and Cuban designers as well as US born, Saul Bass). This is a favorite design era of ours and we wanted to share these great works. There are over a 200 posters so it may take a little bit to load all of them on slower connections. Enjoy the inspiration.

I found the link to this page on FFFFOUND! Another great resource site.f ours and we wanted to share these great works. There are over a 200 posters so it may take a little bit to load all of them on slower connections. Enjoy the inspiration.

Undercover Book Designer - David Gee

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:19:03 GMT

Every once in a while you stumble across someone like David Gee...a hitherto unlauded talent, working two jobs for some reason. Self described as "Advertising copywriter by day, freelance under-the-radar part-time book cover designer by night," one can only hope that David is as good a copywriter as he is a designer...and he's a damn good one. His conceptual work reminds me briefly of David Drummond's work, but he has a different sensibility for type and image that I find striking.

You can see more of his work at his blog. Hopefully we can see more from David in the future.

Leanne Shapton - Designistrator/Author/Publisher

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:23:07 GMT

Leanne Shapton, though perhaps I didn't know it, has been behind many of my favorite book jackets. I only recently became aware of her talents, as she has been selected as one of TIME Magazine's Design 100. Her beautiful and tactile illustrations are a delight to behold. She's also worked with a veritable "who's who" list of book designers. Below is her description from the Design 100 Website:

"In the tradition of versatile designers, Canadian-born Shapton not only designs book covers (and, incidentally, the cover of this magazine) but also writes and illustrates books, including Was She Pretty?, a collection of stories published in 2006. A former art director for Toronto-based Saturday Night, Shapton now draws illustrations for magazines, designs textiles, paints and edits an imprint, J&L Books, specializing in art and photography books."

You can view more of her work at leanneshapton.com.

Book Autopsies - Brian Dettmer

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:18:02 GMT

Brian Dettmer carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures. See more work at Centripetal Notion.

Action Figure Photography

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:26:31 GMT

Amazing artistry and skill goes into the creation of these (for lack of a better term) action figures. Hardly able to be called "toys," these sculptures show an amazing amount of detail when viewed close; glancing quickly, you'd swear they were real people. These heroic sculptures come so much closer to my perception of a super hero than any actor ever could. The photographer (Powerpee, from Flickr) also gets credit for these dramatic photographs. Check out more comic book action here.

Watching The Body Burn

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:39:19 GMT

Chip Kidd's grasp of pop culture ephemera continues to amaze. What we have here is one of his earlier works (1989), looking as fresh as the day it was released. Seeing the entire production is what really drives this home. The package taken as a whole speaks to me as a piece of art...all done in the days before Photoshop (at least the Photoshop we know). Check out Chip's Website.

Classic Children's Book Covers

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:24:11 GMT

These book covers are from before the 1970s (some from much earlier), and were all designed for a children's audience. What's interesting to me about these covers is that they don't look "dumbed down", just because their target audience may not be able to tell the difference. All are examples of interesting design married with beautiful illustration. These covers were all pulled from Children's Book Covers, by Alan Powers.

Invisible Creature - Seattle, WA

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:24:07 GMT

This Seattle based design firm has quietly (or not so quietly...they've been nominated for Grammys 3 times) been producing unique and provocative design for the music industry since, gosh, I don't know, a while. The founders are Don and Ryan Clark - brothers - and members of the band Demon Hunter (one of ten "Artists to Watch" by AOL Music). They've designed hundreds of albums and posters in their tenure as kick-ass designers. You can also buy their sweet, sweet posters, if you really really want to. Visit their website to see their work. It's worth the click.

Points of View - Felice Varini

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:39:02 GMT

Felice Varini's architectural installations transcend the traditional view of 3D space, and take on a surreal dimensionality. The anamorphic illustrations on the walls look completely flat from certain angles. They're featured in a book called Points of View (which is beautiful in itself, and echoes the aesthetic of the source material), designed by Integral Lars Muller (Wettingen, Switzerland). Click here to see more of his work. It's awesome.

David Pearson - Penguin Group

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:39:15 GMT

No one else's work has been as inspiring to me recently as the work of the UK's (and Penguin's) David Pearson. What's immediately striking about his work is its stark, beautiful simplicity. My favorites are his Great Ideas and Great Loves series.