Design and Wonder in the Everyday

Kids these days

Thursday, March 11th, 2010




Vectortuts interviewed illustrator Christian San Jose and featured some of his vibrant artwork. He may be only 20 years old, but this young artist already has a lot of work under his belt.  He’s worked for Nike Philippines, Coca-Cola Company Philippines, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and Paramore. (Yes, that’s right, those last three are names of bands you’re too uncool to know.) Check San Jose out.

Thanks to @valdezign for the story.

Raghava KK: Five lives of an artist

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

An incredible talk from this year’s TED.

“With endearing honesty and vulnerability, Raghava KK tells the colorful tale of how art has taken his life to new places, and how life experiences in turn have driven his multiple reincarnations as an artist — from cartoonist to painter, media darling to social outcast, and son to father.”

Sci-fi movie posters revisited

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Illustrator Travis Pitts is a fan of vintage design and sci-fi. He’s redone a few posters for some of his favorite movies and they look great. Click on and buy a few. Don’t forget to check out his illustrations and his Flickr page, you’ll probably recognize some of these splendid pieces floating around online.

Secret rings: “I’m up to something, but I have no idea what”

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Thanks to Boing Boing for adding another item to our crave list. AJS, a jewelry-maker in Poland, sells secret society rings. These rings represent the Masons, the Knights Templar, and yes, the Boy Scouts. Now I need one of these before I can start on Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.


Credit where credits are due

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Some of the most amazing motion graphics out there are being viewed by millions of people worldwide through Hollywood movies. We’re talking about title sequences and end credits. As you can see from some of our favorites below, creative motion graphics don’t always come from animated movies.

Thanks to The Art of the Title Sequence for having the best quality legal versions of the clips anywhere online. For quick viewing, I’ve also embedded lower quality video from other sites. UPDATE (2/22/2010): It didn’t take long for the videos to be taken down from Vimeo. I’ll leave the remaining survivors.

For best quality viewing, I recommend clicking on the “480p” or “720p” links next to each title. Clicking on the title itself will take you to The Art of the Title Sequence which may also have credits and extras available.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Jamie Caliri (480p720p)


Sherlock Holmes
by Prologue Films (480p | 720p)


Casino Royale
by Daniel Kleinman (480p | 720p)


Stranger Than Fiction
by MK12 (480p | 720p)


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
by DUCK Studios (480p | 720p)


300
by yU+co (480p | 720p)


Iron Man
by Prologue Films (480p | 720p)


The Incredibles
by Pixar (480p)

Jules Verne book cover art redesigned

Saturday, February 20th, 2010





We had no intention of posting two book cover posts nearly back to back, but upon viewing designer Jim Tierney’s work, there was no avoiding it. These redesigns of Jules Verne book covers were part of Tierney’s thesis project for the University of the Arts. Visit Tierney’s walkthrough of his process on Faceout Books for more images and insights. View the video for the glory of the books’ transparency, die cuts, and pull-tab goodness.

My shelf awaits

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Coraline Bickford-Smith is the senior cover designer at Penguin Books, where she has gained notoriety for her clothbound covers. In a year starting off with a fervor over e-book readers, Bickford-Smith is making a strong case for the aesthetic and tactile benefits of ink on paper. Truly, these books are individual art pieces made to adorn the shelves of book lovers and anyone who appreciates good design.

Thanks to The 99 Percent for their interview with Bickford-Smith and for introducing me to her work.

T-shirt war

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

From Rhett&Link comes the T-shirt War. They’re also selling all the t-shirts used in their store.

Designing with the Force

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Graphic designer and illustrator Justin Van Genderen’s Star Wars posters have been making the rounds lately and they are certainly Agogo worthy. Be sure to check out his Tatooine and Bespin posters too!

Influencing this post is the fact that the wife and I attended a prom last night as chaperones and got our prom photo taken — Star Wars style! (No Storm Troopers were hurt in the taking of the photo.)

Colleagues who pwn colleagues

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Daniel Clarke, submitted “Just too things i did after work for fun:)” to one of my favorite blogs: Gorilla Artfare. If I may parse this nine word sentence… Although he doesn’t claim so, his casual mention of these fun projects makes these pieces all the more impressive. It’s as though they were doodles on the back of a receipt. His misspelling of “two” — well, that’s just to mock me. I am the Hulk to his Spiderman and the Ironman to his Captain America. I look forward to more from this talented artist!