NYC Storefronts

You can't front on New York Cities storefronts. The playful use and abundance of typography, the clear and to-the-point advertising, the ubiquitous New York City patina, it's all somehow perfect. Here is just a taste of a great new book that tells the story through photography. Click the link to see more. Yay blog posts!

9 More Days...

T-shirt concept for the Dutch Football Federation by Bas van de Poel and Daan van Dam. If you are watching the matches in the office, it would probably not be a good idea to wear one of these shirts...

The New Pantone Plus Series

Below is a video introducing the new Pantone plus series via Cool Hunting.

Keeping to its tradition of innovative solutions, the Carlstadt, NJ-based company today launchesThe Plus Series. A complementary video, "360˚ Color: A Peek Inside Pantone on the Release of The Plus Series," (made by CH filmmakers Gregory Mitnick and Ami Kealoha) offers a behind-the-scenes look into the system's development and products with the folks at Pantone and notable designers.

"Kapitaal" by Studio Smack

KAPITAAL from STUDIO SMACK on Vimeo.

Above is a video by Studio Smack called "Kapitaal." It is a pretty interesting concept and serves as proof that more is not always better. Below is Studio Smack's summary of the short film.

"Award-winning Typo-Animation that gives you a clear impression of the enormous amount of visual stimuli that plague us every day. Due to the immense scale of the visual bombardment, the commercial effectiveness has become utterly dubious."

Death of Cool

A fairly excellent source for international groundbreaking and often extravagant design has decided to end it's relationship with the internet today. Apparently blog life just ain't what it used to be. ;)

Projection Project

No, it's not some crazy 3D rendering, it's real, real real, just one giant fracture sculpture, 4 projectors, and lots of attention to detail.

Augmented Sculpture by GROSSE8 & LICHTFRONT / Passagen 2010 from Lichtfront on Vimeo.

25 Ways To Overcome Creative Blocks by ISO50

Scott Hansen asked 25 "artists and creators" how they get through a creative block. Below I have posted some excerpts, but you can find all 25 of them here.

Jasper Goodall

I have a couple of things I do –
Take time away from the computer/sketchbook; visit a new city and just mooch about ( I once sat in a cafe in Berlin and had more ideas than I knew what to do with). I go to the Local University arts and design library and pour over back issues of graphic design and photography journals, snapping things that spark my imagination, then go home and print them out and stick them in a scrap book, I always have loads of ideas after this.

Erik Spiekermann

There are 6 strategies for this situation:

1. Avoid
Do something else, wash the car, back-up your data, do errands…
2. Think
Sit back and think about the issue, just let your mind go…
3. Research
Look up stuff, go through your old projects, but avoid Google — it takes too long to find anything useful…
4. Collect
We all have lots of stuff; there must be something in there that is waiting to be used…
5. Sketch
Drawing is great, even if you have no talent. Just visualising the simplest things makes them come alive…
6. Deconstruct
Take the problem apart, look at the parts and then put them back together…

MINE

To me there are three factors that contribute to creative block: One, believing you’re stuck. Two, knowing you’re stuck but not knowing how to get out. And three, knowing you’re stuck and knowing how to get out, but doubting your ability to do it. Here are my solutions, respectively:

1. I ask myself, am I really stuck? Sometimes we think we’re stuck or we want to think we’re stuck but we’re actually on track and just don’t know it. Some paths are inevitable. Remember, a rut is also a groove.

2. I do nothing. Being stuck is usually a matter of not seeing the problem clearly. The best medicine for that is perspective. I measure perspective in units of time and distance. Getting a away from a problem helps give me better view of it. Instead of flailing away I’ll do something unrelated — like go to a museum or watch a movie. Inevitably, something in that other experience presents itself as the answer to the problem I’m trying to ignore.

3. I become awesome. Sometimes I’m faced with a problem to which I know the solution, but executing on it just seems too hard. One trick I use to get over that feeling is to work on other, easier tasks. They don’t have to be related — finally touching up that paint above the office light switch, finishing a blog post, organizing the garage are all fine examples. Taking on a bunch of little things that I can do quickly (and well) puts me in the mindset of being able to accomplish things. Then when I come back to that insurmountable problem it’s just the next task to check off the list. No more anxiety.

Vintage Packaging

Core77 posted the link to a "goldmine" of vintage packaging. You can check it out for yourself here.

My New Favorite Inspirational Movie

Thanks Rich, for reminding me to help keep this dang blog alive :)

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

Tom Geismar Interview at DesignBoom

The entire interview between Tom Geismar and DesignBoom can be found by clicking here. Logos and identities he and the rest at Chermayeff & Geismar are responsible for include Mobil, Xerox, Chase, National Geographic, PBS, etc... Below are some tips for "young designers," whatever that may mean. (It may mean all those younger than Tom Geismar, which would definitely include all of us...)

what mistakes or 'traps' should a young designer avoid when working on a logo design?
- not properly analyzing the real need
- trying to convey too much
- being too concerned with making something 'pretty'
- designing something that’s too much like other logos, and therefore not distinctive
- not taking into consideration the range of media in which it will mostly be used
- not being critical enough of your own work

Mindbending Hotel Interior

The new Boscolo Hotel in Milan features a candyland of chrome and neon. Click the link for a virtual LSD trip.

It's Always Sunny

Brighten your day with this feel good mural series along the El train in Philadelphia. All done by Steven Powers aka ESPO, one of the true innovators in graffiti over the last 20 years.

It is About Time for Another Post...

For some Friday fun, check out Mark Weaver's portfolio. The portfolio has some fun retro-ish images from his "Make Something Cool Every Day" series. Enjoy! And while you visit PPP, make sure you post something.

Polaroid Eye Candy

This is one of those things that make me think "I wish I had thought of this first." Click here to see Grant Hamilton's portfolio of Polaroid photographs. A comment from Grant via Daily Tonic is included below:

“Although I felt like I was onto something, those images seemed sterile and lacked soul. I was introduced to Polaroid images through the internet and thought that the imperfections and characteristic colors perfectly suited the types of subjects I was interested in.[...] Through my photos, I strive to find beauty in the mundane. It is hard to describe to passers-by why, exactly, I am photographing the side of a bus or standing on a ladder on the side of a road, trying to reach a sign. Most of the time, however, people will see the beauty that I am seeing and will smile. Often they will remark that they never noticed that before.”

Summer Breeze

Another cool take on the interactive "video" installation:

Breeze reflection by Djeff @ "Mal au pixel" France from djeff on Vimeo.

(Personal) Identity Guidlines

Christopher Doyle takes branding standards to heart.

Packing meat, not in there please

I've got a little R&R time in New York coming up, so in preparation I was doing some research on the Meat Packing District, where I'll be staying. Found this really cool interactive map of the area, with lots of photos and things to see. (click the title to give it a go)

And, here's another super chic new restaurant in the area: http://www.nychighline.com/flash/highline_land.htm

GOOD Infographics

GOOD Magazine has a Flickr page containing their infographics - which, in my opinion, is the best part of the magazine. Check them all out, here.

Warmer, Fuzzier - The Refreshed Logo

From the NYTimes, an article on some refreshed logos that, according to the article have toned down type, friendly flourishes, and happier colors. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“A logo is to a company what a face is to a person,” said Michel Tuan Pham, a professor of marketing at the Columbia Business School. "It’s hard to memorize facts about a person when you only know their name but you haven’t seen their face.” So logos remind consumers about companies’ traits and pluck at emotions — “the glue that ties all the information about the brand name together," Mr. Pham said. The economy, environment, image repair — new logos may address all of these. They are also meant to stand out in a crowd, but there are striking similarities among recent redesigns.

You can find the full article here.

Architectural Interactive Sculpture Thing-A-Majig

I can't explain it, but it's awfully cool.