Egon Shiele inspired life drawing

Here's the fruit of a nice little life-drawing session I went to at The Islington Mill last week. A lot of the class was organised around quick one or two minute poses, to mix things up a bit. The drawing below however, was from a 30 minute pose. As my first class for over a year, I was pretty happy with the results. 

Vintage Communication Design

I recently came across the Austin based creative firm Helms Workshop. They've an eclectic portfolio that clearly harks back to bygone era's. Despite this, their work is far from dated and their collaborative projects create some distinctive brand identities, websites and packaging. Their use of vintage typography is refreshingly bold and their reference to iconic visuals in their illustrations are bang on.

Full Steam Brewery brand identity project 

Promo poster for The Hold Steady’s 2006-7 tour supporting their new release, Boys and Girls in America.

Lovely little animation for Wolf & Wolf Optometrist's

Stunning music video with puppets

The timing of the creative direction in the new Small Hands video is just perfect. 

See more of Blinkink's work here. 

I could look at this stuff all day...

I love the simplicity of Jelle Martens' collages. Especially the series 'In the quivering forest' below. His use of colour is spot on and I like the vintage, stained feeling of the landscapes. They remind me a bit of my dads old discoloured maps (thats a good thing).

(Images above: from Jelle Martens series 

'in the quivering forest')

For me, his seemingly very simple works are as rhythmic and as energetic on the paper as the likes of Hans Neuberg or Josef Muller Brockmann. 

(Image above. Zurcher Kunstler in der Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland- c1966)

While Mertens has tipped his hat to "the minimal graphic design of the 1960's and early 1970's" his more abstract works 'tussendoor' and 'vormenklus' (below) reflect influences that reach further back than to Mondrian and Malevich. 

(images above: Jelle Martens from series 'tussendoor')

Finally, I can't look at Jelle's work with out contemplating the work of Helio Oiticica(below) who, while largely unknown in the design world, refreshingly reflects the principals of visual communication that I hold so high; structure, use of space and colour.

It's nice to see new work rediscovering and developing these themes, as when they were first pulled apart by the constructivist artists of the Russian avant-garde before them (El Lissisky, Presner and Gabo). 

So, much more than just appreciating Martens 'vintagey' style or however much his work reminds me of my dad's old book collection, it's the principals that he explores that facinate me, as much as the pleasure of looking at them. This is also why I think graphic artists like Martens are relevant to the conversation and can contribute so much to 'every day' design. 

If I Were An Agent....

I've spent a lot of time, of late, fabricating my own make believe 'super' design agency, with an emphasis on collaboration at its core. I've fantasied about the hypothetical work that could be made from the varied portfolio's of talented people like the ones below. 'If I Were An Agent' is my mythical agency. It's comprised of my favorite illustrators, designers, photographers and typographers.

Below is a snap shot of the creative talent I'd house under my roof.

So imagine what you could do with....

...Will Vincent's wit

...the emotion captured by Ellie FP's drawings, prints and collages 

....the multi-talent photographer and art director Jakob Nylund

...Mosik Nadav on typography

and Edwardo Recife,  Stephane Tartelin, Nigel Peak and Daniel Egneus as in house illustrators.

Vintage packaging design

Creative Review's recent article on Sainsbury's packaging of the 60's and 70's is fascinating. I knew very little about Sainsbury's brand's history and am guilty of discounting its creative potential both now and in the past. 


It's interesting to compare their design outcomes midst the strict and somewhat bland branding used by supermarkets these days. The "predominance" of the illustrations and the fact that the "typeface choice was left to the designer" are indications of how much these large corporations have altered their approach. 

I can't think of any UK supermarket that produce enticing designs (perhaps bar Waitrose with some of their designs). 

It's now largely left to independent to think outside the corporate box. If I was to play devils advocate I might argue that Sainsburys own-brand packaging of 2011 communicates simplicity using a contemporary vernacular; design has progressed and it wouldn't work to reproduce modernist designs. We all can recall the white and orange Sainsbury's basics range and for that reason it achieves it's function of communicating value. But I think it would go along way for Supermarkets to try something a little more stimulating for the consumer.


As branding gets tighter and tighter I hope that the independent brands won't go the same way. Look what's at stake...

Designs produced by a recent packaging redesign from the French Supermarket Monoprix 

Innocent Smoothie - Won a D&AD Pencil for these designs in 2010

Fun packaging from Jamie Oliver

These designs from RAW Health  are as"alive and active" as the nutrients in their bars 

There is a blog post relating to the magazine article, check it out http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/august/sainsburys-own-label-book

Vintage Festival Southbank 2011

Here are a couple of drawings I produced as part of my mini residency at the Southbank Centre's Vintage Festival last weekend. I am thrilled to have been part of such a fantastic event and feel it has provided me with almost too much inspiration to capture on a page! This, then is the start of a much bigger project that will develop my first findings. So, keep your eye out for more in the future!

 

Having created a largely typographic piece, I found myself being drawn to the various vintage typefaces that peppered the festival in the stall holder's logos, the bric-a-brac stalls and the brilliant Southbank signage created by the amazing Morag Myerscough. Here are some of my snaps of the type I found and lovely people I met.