The Design Police

In a world with some good design and an abundance of bad design, the 'Design Police' have come up with an ingenious campaign to rid the world of bad design.

Paying close attention to typography and basic graphic design principles the Design Police is a good example of a guerilla campaign. This may make crit sessions faster and you can print out your own copies from design-police.org.

Orange, Digital Craft

Something you may have come across recently:

'Bright Top Ups' an advert put together by the agency Fallon and Peepshow for Orange

The advert consisted of characters designed by Peepshow and devised by Fallon. What is interesting about this particular project is its combination of media. Card models were created and used as props and then edited using 3D software to give it the appearance of puppets.

The combining of craft with digital does appear to be a trend in the industry at the moment. Although much can be achieved with changing technologies, it seems that the texture and aesthetics of the real deal sometimes cannot be beat.

Illinois Institute of Technology

I took these photographs at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This particular building was designed by the architect Remmert Koolhaas. I was particularly interested in the use of texture and colour within the building. The intensity of light and colour was a key aspect in the design. The use of type, texture and pictograms were all incorporated providing a unique and consistent atmosphere to the building.

Chicago - A unique place for architecture and design

I recently visited the Mid-West American city which is rich with architecture, art and design. My trip consisted of visiting a number of buildings that were integral with regards to modern American architecture, and visiting noted sites in the city.

Chicago is a city that has flourished in recent history and was the first city of the skyscraper (not New York, as many would think). Below is an evaluation of a few observations I made during my trip there:

The Bean:

This sculpture is situated in Millennium Park in Chicago. It has been nicknamed 'the bean' by residents, but it is actually titled 'Cloud Gate', and is by Anglo-Indian artist Anish Kapoor. Its design is subtle in comparison to the rest of the Chicago skyline. It delicately mirrors the skyline above and the people below, providing an interactive piece to the people that surround it. It acts like a distorted mirror to those below and arround it.

As a design piece, the artist has put great consideration into how this sculpture fits into its environment, which I feel is something that applies to all design. It creates numerous responses and reaction to those that view it.

Milwaukee Art Museum

I recently visited the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA which is noted for its great architecture and its sensational collection of modern art.

The museum building was built by the world renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Its exterior was an engineering feet with steel wings that fold and unfold frequently. Calatrava's style of architecture is takes form like a sculpture with soft curves and beams; a stark contrast to the brutalist architecture I looked at previously.

The building is not the only interesting part of the museum. It features a wide variety of art and design pieces, more info can be found on their website here.

Whilst I was visiting there was an exhibit about optical illusions and colour, I took a few photos of pieces that I found particularly interesting.

The above photo is of a piece called 'Walk-In Infinity Chamber' by Stanley Landsman. Its title is descriptive of what it is. With padding on my feet I walked into a cube shaped chamber made of glass. The glass contained small lights which were reflected infinitely. The piece was recently refurbished and is one of the most popular exhibits in Milwaukee Art Museum.

I found the Milwaukee Art Museum to be symbolic of the American Mid-West. It is an example of where contemporary meets the traditional, but it also has an essence of liberalism which isn't evident everywhere in the U.S. It is difficult to be critical of somewhere which conveys so much. The museum probably does not compete to the levels of the Tate Modern or MoMA, but it does spark interest and is very insightful with a wide variety of pieces.

Interactive Innovation

Graphic design is part of everyday life and is continually changing in form. The most recent and significant development is obviously the internet and the advent of interactive design.

I have found it hugely interesting how firms are continually adapting to innovations in technology and how they achieve new reactions out of design.

Clusta Ltd is an agency based in Birmingham which specialises in combining graphic and communication design with innovations in digital technology.

The company worked on a project for the American agency Hall Riney. They created a site which combined and utilised video, flash and playing with water and ink.

Screenshot of interactive navigation using a webcam to direct the ink to a link.

The Hal Riney site based its concept to symbolise 'new blood' in the company, and was created by filming ink in a fish tank and compiling it together in After Effects. The website is a good example of combining a design concept with innovations in technology.

El laberinto del fauno

a.k.a. 'Pan's Labyrinth' is a dark fairy-tale that deals with very harrowing issues.

I watched this film for the first time this week and made note of its evocative cinematography and its original mix of combining child-like fantasy with adult issues.

The film is set in Spain under Franco's dictatorship and follows a young girl (Ofelia) who is interested in books and fairy-tales.

There appears to be two plots in the film. One being the war time reality, and the other being a fantasy. This fantasy seems to be a metaphor of both being human and of the feelings of the oppressed Spanish people at the time.

In regards to the cinematography; the lighting, the camera movement and the special effects all contribute to making this film an epic piece. The use of fantasy and CGI graphics are intriguing. The use of violence contrasted with a child's imagination evokes many emotions.

The technical details about the making of the film can be found on IMDB here.

The website of the film is also a great resource, and has an interesting and award winning design which can be found here.