Blog 15 Beer

Product Labeling

This product label is the creation of a student designer, Nina Reck, from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. It was featured in CMKY Magazine, Volume 52. Normally, I wouldn't look twice at a beer label but this is just enchanting. The assignment was to create identity and packaging for a craft brewery. The designer took her inspiration from English folk tales for the illustrations and beer names. The brewery was named Pretty Things Brewery and the four brews were named Seven Swans Pale Ale, False Foxes Red Ale, Mossycoat Bitter, and Timbertoes Porter. Clever, clever names! The illustrations are equally creative – the colors are soft, the shapes are simple, and the imagery is familiar. The entire package seems otherworldly, ethereal, like it is taken from a fairytale. I find this work enchanting, imaginative, and highly effective.

Source:  CMKY Magazine, Volume 52, 2012, p61.

Blog 14 Shutterstock

Advertisement

I've seen this advertisement in several graphic design magazines and find it particularly creative relative to the other stock photo ads, which generally have gorgeous photos but tend to be serious. Although the layout isn't great, it has other qualities that I find creative and appealing. It stands out to me because of the bright colors, lush textures, and a bit of humor. The bright green background is a great contrast from the black & white magazine page that face it. It really makes the advertisement pop. The photo of the pink-heart-laden rubber duck wearing the boa stands out even more on its white background. The white text is also a standout on the background color. The contrasting textures of the smooth rubber duck, the feathery pink boa, and the scaly snake skin enhance the piece. The site shows off its large variety of photos with the keyword search of boa – an actual boa constrictor and a rubber duck wearing a boa. I also find the choice of the duck a humorous one. It made me smile anyway!

Source: Step Inside Design Magazine, Volume 22, Number 6, p11.

Blog 13 Complexions Ballet

Poster

Again, I'm still a quest to look at as many posters as possible to broaden my mind for the PKN poster. This one is from the student section of CMKY magazine for the Complexions Ballet. A little background was given with the piece to give it context:

Complexions Ballet presents a contemporary and continually evolving form of dance which transcends the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture. The challenge was to create a design which would give a nod to the traditional form of ballet while bringing in their ground breaking mix of methods, styles, and cultures.

I find this piece very captivating and creative. The typefaces used are a mixture of hand-drawn upper and lower case letterform treatments, as well as, hand-drawn script. The text itself creates the image of the dancer. The words that were chosen, aside from the names of the principal dancers, reflect the piece to be performed (gone, rise, moon, light &, fall). The designer uses a splash of white to emphasize the lines of the body and magenta for the tu-tu. To add interest and pull the piece together, the designer adds white to the center of some of the letters. This piece is so clever and truly reflects the unusual dance style that is portrayed in the explanation of the Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

Oh yeah, it uses Paul's poster rule for only huge/tiny text - Complexions A Contemporary Ballet (Huge) and the rest of the text (tiny).

Source:  CMKY Magazine, Volume 52, 2012, p61.

Blog 12 FREE WILL

Poster

This is from one of my all time favorite Graphic Design books called Anatomy of Design. Briefly, the book looks at successful works of design and traces how they have borrowed from past works. For example, the authors trace this poster back in time to cave paintings in Argentina from 2000 BC (okay, kind of a stretch – but they did use reeds to blow paint onto the wall with some type of stencil) through 1921 Communist Propaganda posters, World War II posters, and up to numerous modern works. It is an amazing book and it's in the library! So, look it up if you get a chance.

So, with the PechaKucha poster weighing heavily on my mind, I am looking for as many different types of posters as I can find. This one attracted me for three reasons: the image of Shakespeare, the clean, simple lines, and also the play on words of the headline. First of all, the imagery, somehow because of the flat image, Shakespeare looks more human to me – not so pretentious. Perhaps, the imagery of his time period is too fluffy and soulless for my taste. Secondly, clean and simple lines, everybody knows by now that I love uncluttered design – simple imagery, text beautifully placed on a page, a gorgeous color palette to create a piece that speaks to me. Finally (and this is where I find the piece to be highly creative), the irony and play on words in the title. FREE WILL, okay, for the obvious - no charge to see Much Ado About Nothing. Now a little bit of humor, it's a bit impertinent to be so colloquial with The Bard – at least use William! Now some irony, there has been controversy stirring for years about whether Shakespeare actually wrote his works or another (or multiple) author(s) should be credited. FREE WILL can be seen a cry for support of Shakespeare. Clear his name! Give credit where credit is due! I think the stencil lettering gives credence to this – kind of a militant proposal. That's my interpretation anyway!

Source:  Heller, Steven and Mirko Ilic, The Anatomy of Design, Rockport Publishers Beverly, 

Massachusetts, 2009, p6.

Blog 11 Office Max

Promotional Material

I found this while browsing through the 2008 Graphic Design Annual. It was designed by DDB Chicago. In the intricate tattoo, the banner headline says (in an decorative, all-caps font): “SAVE MONEY ON INK.” In the small banner at the base of the tattoo (in a script-style italic font) the text says, “Unfortunately, printer ink doesn't last forever. So, next time you run out, save yourself a bundle – refill your printer ink cartridges at the OfficeMax Filling Station for as little as $12.99.” 

I think this is an incredibly successful and highly creative advertisement.  First of all, I love the irony – the permanence of the tattoo ink versus the printer ink. I think the illustrated did an excellent job integrating a boring old printer and some cash into the gorgeous tapestry of the tattoo. The advert is very eye-catching because the beautiful model, the color palette, and the amazing illustration. It made me take a second look even in a book dedicated to excellence in design. The use of the banner headline and subtext is a great way to present the information – I wanted to know what it said. Finally, the tabbed OfficeMax at the bottom stands out clearly. I know exactly what the promotion is about. Excellent use of design principles (proximity, unity, balance, rhythm), too – just and over great promotional idea for OfficeMax.

Source: Pedersen, B. Martin, 2008 Graphic Design Annual, Graphics, Inc., p 131.

Blog 10 National Actor's Theater

Identity and Stationery System

This Logo and Stationery System was developed for the National Actors Theatre Company in NYC by Christina Freyss Design. I find it an elegant, intriguing, and a creative solution for a theater company. I enlarged the mark and placed it in the upper left-hand corner so it can be more easily examined.

MARK: Comedy/tragedy theater masks are something we have all seen and we know that they are related to the theater. The concept of this mark combines the comedytragey mask into a single unit which is abstracted yet easily recognizable. It is well balanced in its positive and negative space and the series of lines on the left hand side create an interesting edge for the side of the mask.

STATIONERY SYSTEM: The logo itself is very appealing and well-balanced. The serif text in all caps (maybe Garamond) represents the formality of the theater as does the centering of all of the letters beneath the mark. The bullets add a little weight to the text and to balance it with the mark. The letterhead is an interesting combination of right and centered text which seems to work well. The business card has the logo on the left side as well for consistency. The envelope elongates and spaces the address quite a bit which generates an well-designed effect.

Source: Rosenbaum, Alvin, Trademarks, Logos, Stationary Systems & Corporate Identity USA, Graphic-SHA Publishing, Company, LTD., Tokyo, Japan 1993.

Blog 9 Rosemary's Baby

Movie Poster

This is a movie poster for Roman Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby. The poster was designed by Steve Franfurt. For those of you who don’t know about the film. Here’s a super-quick summary. Rosemary and her husband move next door to an eccentric couple. Rosemary fears that the couple is in a satanic cult. The couple offers Rosemary’s husband “help” with is acting career, which comes at a rather large cost. Rosemary ends up carrying Satan’s baby.

Mia Farrow's profile looms over the horizon as if it were the setting sun, as if she were larger than life. In contrast, the silhouetted baby carriage looks insubstantial and vulnerable. This strong visual image is ironic because in the movie the baby is larger than life and the mother is reduced to a fearful, vessel that will bring the baby into the world. The colors are dark and menacing. It reminds me of being in a photo developing room where only certain color frequencies are allowed. The green glow emanating from the carriage gives a hint that something is amiss. To me, this is a highly creative and artistically sound way to deal with the plot of this film.

Source: King, Emily, A Century of Movie Posters From Silent to Art House, Barron's Educational Seriea, Inc., 2003