Illustration: Jacob Thomas

"You work for the small design firm Deco Zone, doing illustrations for magazines such as Forbes, The New Yorker, Boys Life, Vibe and other publications, as well as commercial work for L'Oreal, Bath & Body Works, and other corporate clients. On a typical illustration job, how much guidance are you given in terms of the magazine or company's vision for the project? Is there ever a clash between your design ideas and theirs?
It varies a great deal. Some clients will tell me word for word what they need done and others simply say "I need this, this is the budget, here’s the deadline, here’s the story, GO!" Followed by a starter pistol sound effect." Read more...

MOMA: Design and the Elastic Mind

Over the past twenty-five years, people have weathered dramatic changes in their experience of time, space, matter, and identity. Individuals cope daily with a multitude of changes in scale and pace—working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, and being inundated with information. Adaptability is an ancestral distinction of intelligence, but today’s instant variations in rhythm call for something stronger: elasticity, the product of adaptability plus acceleration.
Design and the Elastic Mind explores the reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world by bringing together design objects and concepts that marry the most advanced scientific research with attentive consideration of human limitations, habits, and aspirations. The exhibition highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use. This Web site presents over three hundred of these works, including fifty projects that are not featured in the gallery exhibition.

Lexus Missing H ad

H Is for Help!What's wrong with the new Lexus H ads.
By Seth Stevenson
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, at 11:19 AM ET

The Spot: Children in a classroom recite the alphabet. When they reach H, they fizzle into an awkward silence. Subsequent scenes show us a typewriter with a blank where the H key should be, the Yahoo logo spelled Ya oo, and the famous "Hollywood" sign missing its first letter. The ad concludes by showing us the H as it reappears on the back of a Lexus automobile. An announcer says: "The power of h. The Lexus hybrids." (Click here to watch the ad.)

Loremo: The 'Low Resistance Mobile'

The idea is deceptively simple. Forget about fancy batteries, regenerative braking, and alternative fuels. Instead, make a car that's elegant in its minimalism and efficiency. The Loremo's German designers revisited the basics — engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag — to create a car that offers fuel-efficiency in the neighborhood of 130 to 150 miles per gallon. The Loremo is likely to dazzle drivers not with its acceleration, but with its ability to drive from New York to L.A. with only three stops at the pump. Read more...

Magazine Covers

Animal Magnetism by Jessica Helfand

A magazine is that rare publication in which you're actually expected to judge a book by its cover. This explains why a good magazine cover — like a good book jacket or, say, a poster — benefits enormously from a great, central, visual idea, which is one reason why portraits are so ideally suited to covers. This is perhaps particularly true of fashion and lifestyle magazines — things like Vanity Fair and Vogue — publications that typically enlist a celebrity's likeness to help sell magazines.

With such an unbeaten formula for success, clearly the barnyard is the next logical step. Read more...

Color Control Freak ’08 - Pantone Seminar

Sponsored by X-Rite, HP, Pantone, and Eizo, this one day interactive seminar exposes a new level of design freedom by unleashing color opportunity and building confidence in its reproduction. Miami, 3/18/2008, 9am - 5pm

Capture, Create, Calibrate, Communicate
Using a best practices approach, this educational session will show attendees how to control color in the design process using the latest technology and tools including advanced instrumentation, software, and applications specifically designed for color selection and sharing.

What You’ll Learn
# The latest tools and features to improve color selection and it’s usage in the design process
# Measurement device color selection
# Building influence with spot colors and their control
# Color accurate comps and proofs including soft proofing
# Proper color output – Confidence in screen to print matching
# Applying color management in Adobe CS2 & CS3

Disneyland Will Go Back to the Future

Decades after it closed the House of the Future, the Anaheim theme park will once again take a crack at predicting what tomorrow’s home might look like.

By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press

"The $15 million home is a collaboration of The Walt Disney Co., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., software maker LifeWare and homebuilder Taylor Morrison."

Campaign Posters

Campaign Stops: Beyond Red, White and Blue

By Steven Heller

Published: February 15, 2008

Campaign posters that break from tradition may not bring in more votes, but they are eye-catching and have a positive public impact.

I'LL BE WATCHING YOU:INSIDE THE POLICE 1980-83

An exhibition of photographs by Andy Summers (Police) at the Mirai Gallery in Tokyo.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 13 2008 until Monday, 10 March 2008. Gallery open 7 days a week.

WHERE: Mirai Gallery at 5-10-25 Zelcourt 2F Roppongi Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0032 Japan.

The InDesigner - Michael Murphy

"For nearly 20 years, Michael Murphy has been a hands-on designer and art director, crossing the line between design, production and software training throughout his career. An Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign CS3, Michael is a contributing writer for InDesign magazine, and has been a featured speaker at the InDesign Conference and at several InDesign User Groups.

Taken directly from Michael’s real-world experience, The InDesigner video podcast showcases the power of InDesign to automate repetitive tasks, improve productivity and build unprecedented flexibility into the design process. The InDesigner is dedicated to empowering designers to understand and embrace concepts and features that will transform how they work and allow them to both meet their deadlines and satisfy their creative passion."

Tips for Creative Takeover

"Unless you work for Interbrand (Xerox - Transforming an Iconic Brand) or Pentagram, the art direction
challenges are much smaller in scope and potentially much more
frustrating...

"Rule 1. The art assets will suck. Deal with it.
The logo will be something someone's kid drew in 1976 and if you're lucky, they scanned it. However, the only version they'll have is a 72-pixel-tall GIF with transparency and jaggies. The company will not have any fonts on hand, unless they came free with that mouldering copy of CorelDraw 4 stashed in the IT guy's closet. There'll be no money for custom photo shoots, except maybe for executive headshots. Microsoft Word is considered 'layout software."
Tips for Creative Takeover
by AJ Kandy

posted by Brian Ashe

From Sketch to Stage

Ben Katchor narrates a look at the drawings he created for the musical "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island."

Breakthroughs

The subjects of the 2008 Oscars portfolio talk about the actors who inspired them. Breakthroughs by Jake Paltrow

Film Court - Lawrence Russell

Brazil. Two young men, one white, one black, and a girl who is mostly white, take a boat down the coast to the "lower city" of Salvador de Bahia. A sex triangle develops....

Says Lawrence Russell: "You could say that the cinematic style of Lower City is typical of today's digi verite movie making, where the hand held camera and fast computer edit gives the action a clandestine look, as if the montage has been assembled from security camera captures. The result is a hi-concept naturalism that places the viewer right inside the action."

Great reviews:

All About My Mother (1999) Almovodar
L'Avventura (1960) Antonioni
The Big Heat (1953) Lang
Black Orpheus (1958) Camus
Blowup (1967) Antonioni
Blue Velvet (1986) Lynch
Breathless (1961) Godard
Crash (1996) Cronenberg
The Conformist (1970) Bertolucci
La Caza (The Hunt, 1965) Saura
La Dolce Vita (1960) Fellini
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Kubrick
Fellini Satyricon (1970) Fellini
Fight Club (1999) Fincher
First Name: Carmen (1983) Godard
House of Games (1987) Mamet
Heat (1995) Mann
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Resnais
Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953) de Sica
Ivan The Terrible II (1944) Eisenstein
Killer's Kiss (1955) Kubrick
The Last Emperor (1988) Bertolucci
The Motor Cycle Diaries (2004) Salles
Naked Lunch (1991) Cronenberg
Persona (1966) Bergman
The Razor's Edge (1983) Bryum
The Red Desert (Il Deserto Rosso 1964) Antonioni
The Winslow Boy (1999) Mamet

Jose Cordova - Motion Graphics Artist

Check out Jose's reel at http://necio.tv/home.html

What is Etsy?

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.
Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.
Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:
Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

Neenah - Eco Paper Calculator

"The Neenah Green Initiative is our commitment to earth and sky and future generations. Green means making it easier and simpler to do the right thing for the environmnet. Whether you need letterhead or an entire identity collection, our fresh, trendsetting papers breathe life into your communications.
So go ahead - order some paper. And do a favor for mother earth."

Casa do Poster - Miguel Luis Betti

"When I started to look for old magazines I was surprised how these magazines and posters were interesting and pretty. The idea to transform this into a business was automatic."
Take a look at these great posters from 1950s and 60s.

WEBBY Profile: 2007 Winner We Make Money Not Art

2007 "Best Blog - Cultural/Personal" Webby winner we make money not art is great example of the power of the blog to reach a specific audience and develop a community around similar interests. Régine Debatty brings her experience as a reporter, documentary film maker and art curator to bear on the site to write about the intersection of art and technology. A distinct creative perspective comes through loud and clear in the photos, design and text, illustrating that what sets award-winning blogs apart is a definitive goal and identity.

Design-Engine - Japanese cell phone design

" The main makers of cell phones in the world are Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. However, the situation in Japan is quite different from other cultures or countries. Most cell phones used in Japan are made by domestic companies such as Sharp and NEC. Since the companies have been making their cell phones only for Japan, they have been uniquely developed in functions and designs beyond what is seen in the United States." Take a look...

A Writing Primer for Designers - HOW Design

by Juliet D'Ambrosio - Juliet uses her writing and editing background to direct creative projects for Delta Air Lines, the International Olympic Committee and Kodak. She's also a regular contributor to HOW and Editorial Director for Iconologic.

"It's a strange paradox: So many designers whose work speaks so fluently in images flee in terror when called upon to communicate with the written word. After all, designers are nothing if not communicators, and communication is most fully realized when image and word unite.

It's time to conquer that fear. One look through any recent annual's credits will confirm that, in this era of shrinking budgets, designers are more frequently called upon to serve double duty—writing everything from taglines to full-blown annual reports. For those who tackle the challenge, it can be highly rewarding, enriching the creative experience and extending the boundaries of expression.

And all it takes is practice. Here a few tried-and-true verbal brainstorming techniques designed to help you find the right words for your next project.

Begin with the words. While it may feel more natural to begin the process by sketching images, starting with the words will help you quickly zero in on the concept—and inspire images in line with the language.

Get to know the territory. Pore over the annuals—they're rich with examples of excellent writing. Read and absorb the winning entries. Take note of the techniques used by those you admire, and get a feel for how the format you're working in—ad, brochure, Web site, whatever—sounds and feels.

Find the key(s). Creative briefs abound with keywords that serve as guideposts to the brainstorming process. Identify and compile a list of those words that evoke an emotion, that seem particularly important to the client or that speak to you.

Create a Mind Map. Take every word on your list and free-associate. What other words does that one bring to mind? What images does it inspire? Are there connections between them? It's also a good idea to get comfortable with a dictionary and thesaurus. Many words have nuances in meaning or unexpected synonyms that can provide fertile ground for ideas.

Get it all out. When it's time to actually sit down and write, it's often best to just let yourself go creatively. Allow yourself to write thoughts as they come, without stopping to second-guess or edit. Don't even use full sentences. It's surprising what can come from these stream-of-consciousness ramblings.

Organize and edit. This is the hard part—sifting through what your subconscious produced in the previous step and whipping it into shape. For long copy, identify one main point or theme and make every sentence support it, ensuring that every thought logically leads your reader to the next. For short copy like headlines, select your top five and refine. Request feedback from someone you trust, and keep an open mind.

Simplify. Be merciless with your red pen. The fewer words, the better."

January 21, 2008

Super Bowl XLII Ad Showdown

Pick your favorite commercials and then vote for the overall winner.

The Art of Photography Show

The Art of Photography Show 2008 is a world-class international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art -- images shot on film, shot digitally, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, etc. The Art of Photography Show will be exhibited at the two-level Lyceum Theatre Gallery, a perfect venue for exhibiting a large showcase of awesome photographic art.

The online entry process is very easy, simply filling out a short registration form and then uploading your digital files. Entry deadline is March 1st at 11:59 pm (California Time).

Entry Fee: $25 for the first entry, $10 for each additional entry. There is no limit to the number of entries an artist may enter. Artists who entered work in any previous Art of Photography Show or the Art of Digital Show will receive a $15 discount towards the Art of Photography Show 2008.

Calendar:
March 1, 2008: Deadline for submission of Entries, Registration Form and Entry Fee
March 16, 2008: Announcement of accepted entries
April 11, 2008: Deadline for receipt of framed prints
April 25, 2008: Show opens with the Opening Reception Gala
May 23, 2008: Last day of the Show