Creative Industrial Design : Literalist Product Packaging

naoto fukasawa

was born in yamanashi prefecture, japan, in1956.
he graduated from tama art university's product
design department in art and 3D design in 1980.
until 1988, fukasawa worked as a designer at
seiko-epson corp.
in 1989, he left japan for the united states.
in san francisco he joined a small office that had
employed 15 persons - ‘ID two’, the predecessor
to ‘IDEO’, which now has 450 staff in san francisco,
palo alto, boston, chicago, london and munich.
after eight years fukasawa returned home.
in 1996, he helped set up ‘IDEO’ in japan - a team
of eight designers working mainly for the japanese
market. he stayed with it until december 2002.
naoto fukasawa he went independent and in
january 2003 he established ‘naoto fukasawa design
in tokyo. fukasawa joined the advisory board of the
japanese company ‘MUJI’.
Read more...

Optical Illusions in Advertising

(c) MACLAREN MCCANN CANADA INC. - Optical Illusions in Advertising

KINETIC ART : FROM PAINTING TO ARCHITECTONIC

Victor Vasarely is often perceived as the father of Op’art.

The notion of cinetic art appeared for the first time in 1964. It aspires to explore simple geometric elements and the physics of shape in order to create dynamic optical phenomenon that entice a spectator’s active observations.

The result of artistic research carried out simultaneously by Albers and Vasarely, Op’art was born in 1955. Their initial work on this new artistic movement was furthered by subsequent generations of artists including: Agam, Soto, Cruz Diez, Morellet, Yvaral, Le Parc, Sobrino…

A similar style had already appeared in works by Bauhaus masters: Moholy-Nagy, Klee, Kandinsky and Itten, as well as in creations by Malevitch, Sophie Tauber-Arp and Mondrian.

“Bauhaus” is an experimental didactic and artistic centre which was founded in Weimer in 1919 and that operated until 1933, when the Nazis took power. The adaptation of Art and Architecture to the new-born elements of the Industrial age began at the start of the 20th century. Following (aesthetic) experiments of the "Deutsche Werkbund", initiated by Muthesius in 1907, Walter Gropius establishes a new vision of teaching that is to unify artists and artisans in collective style and research projects. The main focus is the discovery of forms that facilitate the production of series’ of artwork.

Bauhaus, or “the house in which we build” designates not only a particular technique in the history of art itself, but an attempt to blur the borders drawn between various aspects of culture and society.

Its manifesto never seemed as pertinent as it does today :

"This is not about teachers and students, but about masters and apprentices; this is not about artists specialised in general or applied arts, but about creators who complete each other in order to serve a common goal" Read more...

Homage to Mercedes Sosa

Grammy Winner Fused Folk Music With Social Justice

Volver A Los 17

Volver a los diecisiete despues de vivir un siglo
es como descifrar signos sin ser sabio competente,
volver a ser de repente tan frágil como un segundo
volver a sentir profundo como un niño frente a Dios
eso es lo que siento yo en este instante fecundo.

Se va enredando, enredando
como en el muro la hiedra
y va brotando, brotando
como el musguito en la piedra
como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si.

Mi paso retrocedido cuando el de usted es avance
el arca de las alianzas ha penetrado en mi nido
con todo su colorido se ha paseado por mis venas
y hasta la dura cadena con que nos ata el destino
es como un diamante fino que alumbra mi alma serena.

Se va enredando, enredando
como en el muro la hiedra
y va brotando, brotando
como el musguito en la piedra
como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si.

Lo que puede el sentimiento no lo ha podido el saber
ni el más claro proceder, ni el más ancho pensamiento
todo lo cambia al momento cual mago condescendiente
nos aleja dulcemente de rencores y violencias
solo el amor con su ciencia nos vuelve tan inocentes.

Se va enredando, enredando
como en el muro la hiedra
y va brotando, brotando
como el musguito en la piedra
como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si.

El amor es torbellino de pureza original
hasta el feroz animal susurra su dulce trino
detiene a los peregrinos, libera a los prisioneros,
el amor con sus esmeros al viejo lo vuelve niño
y al malo sólo el cariño lo vuelve puro y sincero.

Se va enredando, enredando
como en el muro la hiedra
y va brotando, brotando
como el musguito en la piedra
como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si.

De par en par la ventana se abrió como por encanto
entró el amor con su manto como una tibia mañana
al son de su bella diana hizo brotar el jazmín
colando cual serafín al cielo le puso aretes
mis años en diecisiete los convirtió el querubín.

Rio 2016 - Olympic Games - Master Plan‏

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TCoqZNesnM&feature=related

The visual identity of the Rio de Janeiro candidature consists of a logo and a slogan, which are being applied in marketing moves during the campaign.^[87] Designed by Ana Soter and selected among four finalists by a special jury, the logo was unveiled during the 2007 Brazilian Olympic Awards, held at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, on December 17, 2007.^[87][88][89] The
Sugarloaf Mountain was chosen as the symbol, representing the natural richness of Rio de Janeiro.^[88] According to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 bid committee, the design as a whole conveys a heart shape, representing Brazilian passion and enthusiasm for sports.^[88][90] Through its mirroring effect, the symbol also forms a stylized clover.^[88] At midnight on January 1, 2009, Rio de Janeiro's Olympic slogan "Live your passion" was launched as part of the New Year's celebrations.^[87][91][92] The slogan reflects the Brazilian people's way of getting passionately involved in whatever they do.^[93] It was projected onto a Rio de Janeiro 2016-themed big wheel immediately after the ten-second countdown to the beginning of 2009.^[94] The structure, purposedly erected at the Copacabana beach to promote the candidature,^[95] is 36 m (118 ft 1 in) high, weighs 80 tonnes (180,000 lb) and has 24 gondolas with a capacity for 144 people.^[96] Approximately two million people attended the official launch of Rio de Janeiro's bid slogan.

5 Ways to Grow as an Artist

Getting Back to the Spirit of Artists in Paris
Forget about exhibitions and juries, try these five ways to grow as an artist
From Jerry Fresia, for About.com

"I... must stick to my principles, our principles, which were, no jury, no medals, no awards.... Liberty is the first good in this world and to escape the tyranny of a jury is worth fighting for, surely no profession is so enslaved as ours." Mary Cassatt

"Think less of the success of the by-product and you will have more success with it. Keep living." Robert Henri

So how would a Cassatt or a Henri or Picasso approach painting differently than we do today? How might this heartfelt fear of others controlling our painting process impact our self-understanding as artists? Here are five possible answers:

1. Making a successful picture is not the goal.

2. The painting process is always a beginning.

3. Ignore non-artist authorities.

4. Get into a prolonged creative process.

5. Furnish the world with your beauty, let the world see, touch and feel who you are.

John Langdon: Ambigrams, Logos, Word Art

Wordsmith

A great Wordsmith ambigram designed by John Langdon.

“Ambigrams are the hottest trend in typography since Helvetica.” Wired Magazine 4.20.09

A Clever Collection of 40+ Inspiring Ambigrams

Sep 17th in Inspiration by Sonali Vora

An ambigram as defined by Wikipedia, "is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation." To simply put, an ambigram is a typographical creation where the word reads the same when upside down, or flips to create a whole new word. Ambigrams are often very sophisticated and very imaginative typographical style of visual design.

So let's take a look at some delightful graphic logotypes that read the same when they are reversed or flipped upside-down.

Ambigram Artist and Drexel's John Langdon Behind Symbols Appearing in Angels & Demons
May 04, 2009

Philadelphia
All those symbols flashing in Web site promos and posters promoting Ron Howard’s new film “Angels & Demons,” based on the novel by Dan Brown, were created by a professor of typography at Drexel University. John Langdon, who, not by coincidence, shares the same last name as the film’s protagonist played by Tom Hanks, has been creating ambigrams — words that can be read from left to right, upside down or from multiple viewpoints — since the 1970s. The follow up to the international blockbuster “The DaVinci Code” features Langdon’s ambigrams, which were first seen by the public in Brown’s novel, Angels and Demons, published in 2000. Read more...

The Style & Design 100

The Design 100 by TIME

Good design is everywhere these days. Great design—the objects, places and ideas that fuse functionality and aesthetics and then push the boundaries a step further to capture the imagination—is more elusive. Take a look at the standouts.


designed by British design firm Pearlfisher