Design and Wonder in the Everyday

The iPad inspires new UI design

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Love it or hate it, the iPad is here. What’s Agogo worthy here is the intriguing new ways to think about the tablet interface, especially when it comes to electronic magazines. The new UI behind Bonnier’s Mag+ application for Popular Science sets the bar incredible high for future magazine iterations. Read more.

Bad ass mutha-posters

Friday, March 19th, 2010



Notice a trend in designers creating movie poster remakes? It may be a sign of jobless designers creating money-making side projects or an emergent theme of inspiration wafting through the ethers. Whatever the case, here’s Ibraheem Youssef’s take on some Quentin Tarantino films. We’ve been following this guy on Flickr, but have failed to feature him yet. Well, it’s about time!

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.

The Infomancer Michael Paukner raises facts from the dead

Friday, March 5th, 2010




Designer Michael Paukner is an infographic wizard level 25. We’ve seen his work before, but thanks to to a Fubiz feature on him, our interests have been rekindled to a height bordering fanboy love. Not only is Paukner a splendid designer, but he strums all the strings of our nerd love by illustrating cool concepts of astronomy, cosmologygeometry, epistemology and many other cool topics. He’s even kind enough to provide a free zipped download of iPhone compatible wallpapers of his artwork. If he were to sell his character (Infographic Wizard 25lv.) on Ebay, we would put up my house for it. Be sure to check out his online shop.

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.

The pie is no lie

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Thanks to Ars Technica for introducing us to the spectacular game trailer for The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. The game, which debuted at the 2008 Independent Games Festival, was just released on Xbox Live Arcade. Amazingly, Winterbottom was originally created for the Student Showcase at the IGF and wasn’t initially intended for commercial release. The game trailer alone made Agena Agogo because of its visuals inspired by the silent film era. Oh yeah, and the gameplay looks great too (it has pie!).

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.

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.)

Rethink Scholarship promo

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

What a fitting video promoting the Rethink Scholarship!

The Rethink Scholarship is an $18,000 scholarship for aspiring art directors and designers to Langara College’s Communication and Ideation Design program. The winner will also receive a 3-month internship with Rethink.”