BMWism
An overview of all the BMW designers.
Create your t-shirt online
My sun just directed me to Spreadshirt, an online creative platform for personlised apparel.
Everyone has ideas and many of them fit on a shirt. We give those ideas the space they deserve: Spreadshirt’s customers can let their fantasies run free on over 100 different articles of clothing. They can use their own designs and texts, or use works from other designers. Whoever likes to create themselves or would like more attention for their projects can also sell with Spreadshirt – in their own free Spreadshirt shop. Companies and clubs, artists and bloggers, individuals both private and famous take advantage of this offer. There are more than 400,000 Spreadshirt shops open around the clock.
Helvetica and the subway
There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is the signage typeface of the New York City subway system, a belief reinforced by Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, but it was not the typeface specified by Unimark International when it created a new signage system at the end of the 1960s. Why was Helvetica not chosen originally? What was chosen in its place? Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur? To answer those questions this essay explores several important histories: of the New York City subway system, transportation signage in the 1960s, Unimark International and, of course, Helvetica. These four strands are woven together, over nine pages, to tell a story that ultimately transcends the simple issue of Helvetica and the subway.
Related:How Helvetica Took Over the Subway by Jennifer 8. Lee in the NYT.
Paimio Chair
Armchair 41 “PAIMIO” designed by Alvar Aalto 1931-32. Birch, natural lacquered. Seat bent birch plywood lacquered in white or black. The chair was specifically designed for tuberculosis patients to sit in for long hours each day. Aalto argued that the angle of the back of the chair was the perfect angle for the patient to breathe most easily.
It’s still being sold by Artek, a Finnish furniture company founded in December, 1935 by architect Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino Aalto.
(documentary tonight on Arte)
Processing 1.0
Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.
Processing is free to download and available for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Ben Fry writes about it and Casey Reas as well.
Women, Art and Bach (2)
Last year I posted a link to a video survey of portraits of women in art history. I could identify several of these paintings, but not all. Boni, an instructor at the “Fayetteville Technical Community College” has a list of all 90 works used !
F*ck
WordPress changed the Journalist theme without notice which makes that the changes I made either disappeared, looked clumsy, or… This is the first time I’m upset with these guys. Never heard of good communication ?
I made some quick changes, but will need to spend more time to get it back as I want. Why did I pay for this css upgrade anyhow if you guys change things without notice ???
UPDATE: I like the guys again at wordpress ! They uploaded the ‘old’ version of this theme again, and so my own modifications are back to normal. Thanks.
The history of graphic design
The history of graphic design. Interesting introduction.
Nanotechnolgy as Fashion Accessory: The Morph Concept by Nokia
Morph is a concept demonstrating some of the possibilities nanotechnologies might enable in future communication devices. Morph can sense its environment, is energy harvesting and self cleaning .
Morph is a flexible two-piece device that can adapt its shape to different use modes. Nanotechnology enables to have adaptive materials yet rigid forms on demand.
Related: The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition.
(via)
Le Smoking
Created in 1966 by famous couturier Yves Saint Laurent (died yesterday 01 Jun – obituary BBC), the Le Smoking tuxedo suit for women was the first of its kind to earn attention in the fashion world and in popular culture. When Le Smoking appeared as part of Saint laurent’s ‘Pop Art’ collection, in the shape of a black jacket and trousers in grain de poudre with four button down pockets, and a straight cut, high-waisted satin version over a white organdy blouse, they were a controversial alternative to the classic little black dress or evening gown. Instantly adored by a chic collective of style icons including Catherine Deneuve, Betty Catroux, Francoise Hardy, Liza Minelli, LouLou de la Falaise, Lauren Bacall and Bianca Jagger, over the next 30 years Saint Laurent reinvented his signature silhouette in hundreds of new and different guises from dress and short versions to jumpsuits and trenches. Today all Saint Laurent’s successors from Alber Elbaz to Tom Ford and the current YSL designer, Stefano Pilati, all ensure that Le Smoking is an inherent feature in every YSL collection.
Fashion photography echoes the influence of this suit in shoots that feature androgynous models with slicked-back hair in a mannish three-piece suit, a style that was first popularised in photographs by Helmut Newton (now you know why I posted another picture yesterday of Helmut Newton).
Welcome to the world of stewardess uniforms
Images of hundreds of retired and current airline flight attendant uniforms, mostly from the 1980s to the present. Browse though images by name of over 300 airlines such as Aeroflot, Air Berlin, Bangkok Airways, Debonair, Iranair, Kuwait Airways, South African Airways, Tikal Jets Airline, and Virgin Atlantic. At uniformfreak.
Related: have a look at Starbrook Airlines. Enjoy…
Book By Its Cover
Julia Rothman has compiled a very interesting site about book covers and the like. Have a look e.g. at the sketchbook section.
Holiday Logos
As you probably know Google has published a variety of logos commemorating holidays and events. All (?) of them are displayed in a sort of online museum. Have always considered this to be a nice idea. No idea if any other company is doing something similar.
Meet The Cast
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.
(source text – official film web site)
Helvetica is the name of a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger. More info on this typeface here and here.
The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos
Neatorama has a nice post on The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos. Included are Adobe, Apple, Canon, Google, IBM, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola, Mozilla Firefox, Nokia, Nortel, Palm and Xerox.
Worth a thousand words
A good graphic can tell a story, bring a lump to the throat, even change policies. Here are three of history’s best. See also Edward Tufte’s book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. (Via)
Irma Boom
Many of the most beautiful books to have been designed in recent years are the work of Irma Boom. Born in Lochem, the Netherlands in 1960, Boom has won international acclaim for the iconoclastic beauty of her books.
Her award-winning tome e.g. about the history of the Dutch company SHV took up five years of her life, during which she invented her own paper for the project. Laden with colour-coding, mixes of type and page edges that depict a tulip field when seen from right to left, the book contains found text and images but no page numbers or index. “It started out as a dream project,” Boom said, “but became a nightmare, because of the time.”
Some pictures of the 2136-page book:
Quotes:
Irma Boom on the relationship between designer and commissioner:
We are not fine artists, we work with a commissioner. He or she has to be clear in what he or she wants. It is important that there is a dialogue between the commissioner and the designer. This process is essential. To ask him or her and yourself the right questions, and to maintain a critical attitude is also essential. They are both responsible for the result. And if there is no question of a dialogue and you cannot agree, then you should quit.
… and on graphic design she says:
Graphic design is an interesting profession when one is asked to be a participating developer on a project. Graphic design is not interesting when a designer is asked to make things on demand. The making process is a mutual ‘journey’ in which both the commissioner and the designer have to be open to the unknown and unexpected. Because you cannot always describe things in words, meetings are important in the search for a direction. When graphic design is a developing process, there is no guarantee of success. My experience in this matter is that it is very interesting and necessary to have a long relationship with a few clients to establish a working method that is valuable for both parties. If there is no time to invest in this, I have no time.
Further reading
- Website Irma Boom
- Reinventing the look (even smell) of a book, article in the IHT
- Irma boom at the Design Museum
- And an interview by Peter Bilak
leave a comment