The latest on trends, arts, science and innovation. URBANISTAS Motto: There's no fun in knowledge if you can't share with anyone.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
LPM 2011 Rome / Minsk
International meeting of live video performers, visual artists and vjs, focused on live video performances.
CMYK Alphabet
CMYK Alphabet is a typographic experiment, a set of 26 sans-serif uppercase letterforms on a grid of 5x5 inch.
More info...
This Ship Isn't Sinking [Video]
This Ship Isn't Sinking
This ship isn't sinking. Or maybe it's perpetually sinking. It's "Love, Love" by Julien Berthier, a boat that's been modified to appear as though it's capsizing. Crazy. And thanks to a motor it still moves around just fine:
Berthier describes the sculptural piece as a "permanent and mobile image of a wrecked ship that has become a functional and safe leisure object." He's functionally and safely piloted it to harbors all over Europe.
The ship was originally a 6.5 meter yacht that was sliced in half and outfitted with a new keel which keeps it upright at all times.
But while Berthier might be OK chilling out on his half-sunk boat, I can't imagine that he doesn't at least leave a little panic in his wake. [JulienBerthier via Designboom]
Send an email to Kyle VanHemert, the author of this post, at kvanhemert@gizmodo.com.
Design with personality, culture, and history
Written by Florida-based graphic designer Brandon Moore.
Published on Logo Design Love
When approaching the design of a new logo, it’s easy to be intimidated by the blank canvas of the whole thing. A company or business has invested their time and money in you, and your client is expecting something unique, creative, and personal that will produce the “thumb print” of the business. Simplifying the process and narrowing your focus is essential with creative briefs and when sketching, but there are three factors that will go a long way toward determining the success of your design. Ask yourself, does this logo design truly express the 1. personality, 2. culture, and 3. history of your client’s business?
Personality
— noun. 1. the visible aspect of one’s character as it impresses others
The visual personality, or attitude, of a logo can be the same as in any human and reflect a number of different moods and traits. There are logos that are fun, angry, happy, calm, energetic, flirty, geeky, smart, etc. A logo must capture the right personality of its owner. This also plays a major role in branding, and is why its good to establish a brand archetype(s) for each project before any sketching begins.
Line weight, colour, shape, and typefaces are the major things that I use to influence a logo’s personality. A small change to either of those can drastically alter the mood of a design.
Culture
— noun 1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
It sometimes helps me to think of a brand as its own country. Like many countries of the world, any given brand will have its own unique values, traditions, language, and beliefs. If personality defines “who they are” then culture could define “how they do it.”
When representing ones culture I use colour, patterns, style (hand-drawn, illustrative, emblem, etc.) and other symbols to reflect individuality. Each can be a powerful trait to any brandmark design.
History
— noun1. the branch of knowledge dealing with past events
History is usually the easiest of the three to represent, yet also the most varied from project to project. For a company that has been around a long time, has an established identity and some equity in their logo, all they may need is an update of sorts to their current mark. For a new design, it becomes harder. I recommend finding a story about how the business came to be, something about the owner, or perhaps the area in which they are located. Everyone has a story to tell and if it can come through in their identity, that’s a beautiful thing.
The typeface, brand story, and previous logos can be major factors in your representation of history.
Overlapping importance
There is some overlap between each of these three factors. History and culture help shape the personality. History and personality define the culture. Personality and culture stem from history. They are all intertwined, each with its own separate importance. Picture each factor as a slice of pie. The pie isn’t complete if one slice is missing.
Let’s look at an example of these factors put to good use, and one that misses the mark.
BMW is known for building cars that look just as their logo suggest: Clean, simple, stylish, etc. my favorite part of the logo is their history representation. BMW originally made airplane engines in the early 20th century. The white and blue in the logo could represent one of two things; a white propeller spinning with a blue sky behind it, or the Bavarian flag, which is made of a blue and white checkered pattern.
There’s no doubt McDonald’s has one of the most recognizable logos in the world, and for a company as large and successful as them they need nothing more. But let’s try to look at it as if we are seeing it for the first time, knowing only the basic information you would have in a design brief: they’re an American hamburger fast food restaurant targeting mostly children and young adults. You have to love the friendly, warm smile-like quality of the arches, so the personality is there. Now, is it just me, or is there a total lack of visual culture and history here? To me, this mark would have been just as good for any other business with an “innocent” or “caregiver” brand archetype.
The “personality, culture, and history” philosophy can also be applied to typography. So on your next project keep your client’s business personality, culture, and history in mind. If you can represent all three, you’ll be on your way to providing a very strong identity.
—
Brandon Moore is a graphic designer based in Orlando, Florida. He designs, blogs, and tweets, and recently graduated from Full Sail University.
Header photo courtesy of china.sixty4
Published on Logo Design Love
Dribbble’s Effect on the Web Industry
Dribbble. The industry’s newest addition to design exclusivity where you, should you be lucky enough to be invited, can share small screenshots of whatever it is you are working on. Dribbble has garnered criticism, reverence, and a huge following of designers and onlookers; but how is this design community affecting our industry, and more importantly, what has it already done?
“Dribbble is show and tell for designers, developers and other creatives. Members share sneak peeks of their work as “shots” — small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on. It’s also a place to talk design, give and receive feedback and iterate toward better work.” Straight from the word processors of Dan & Rich (co-founders of Dribbble). Short and sweet: It is a invite-only design forum in its most simplest terms. The site uses pretty good UI to disguise its functionality by implementing imagery as title’s of forum threads. This definition from Dan & Rich is more of what it was and intended to be but not quite what it has become.
Dribbble is intended for designers. That’s it. My mother would not be particularly interested in the content on Dribbble where as a freelance artist may have it as a homepage. This is all fine and good. Designers of all types need places to receive criticism, see what everyone else is doing, be inspired, and share their work. Dribbble solves all of this in one spot…well sort of. The purpose? Simple: To help designers develop and share designs. This is not an original idea, many sites do this. Cgtalk.com is among one of the highest quality critique forums around littered with professional artists; but Dribbble is unique in exclusivity and its newly acquired purpose and inherent design.
Dribbble is not what it used to be. The founders did not forsee what their frankenstein would become: self-preserving, devolving design society. <Designer rage ensues> Now before you get all antsy in the pants, let me explain.
This should have been forseen. The moment Dribbble was created and invites were sent, the founders were establishing style guidelines and expectations and the inevitable fate of Dribbble. What happens when something is invite-only? What happens when people, of which we are all biased, are those who can invite? What does invite-only mean? I will tell you. Similarity, trends, and dis-interest. This is no fault to the designers but Dribbble’s exclusivity limits the integration of unique artists. This lack of unique artist integration is due in large part to the simple fact that we invite other “players” of which artwork we like. This usually means that we invite those who share similar views or styles as us.
There is also, an extreme lack of critique. Many designers are praised with “likes” rather than constructive critiques. Again perpetuating the cycle. Dribbble is more of a showcase than a design community and this is a tragedy.
So what happens when something is invite-only? Everyone wants in. Exclusivity says that which is exclusive is best. If it is exclusive you are excluding the common people, of course. Invite-only is saying “This is so good, we can’t share it with everyone.” and therefore, naturally, everyone wants in.
The effect the idea of invitation has is huge. A few select designers were invited to select a few more select designers, and so on, and so on. Dribbble has exploded with new designers, new rookies are added everyday. They are invited through other designers who feel that the “new rookies” have the quality work to be on Dribbble. But is it quality or style they are recruiting? Bingo, you guessed it: Style. Like I said earlier, we are all partial and with varying degress of self-preservation. This is human nature. Just like in politics, leaders appoint other leaders who share similar views; in designer’s case, style. We see the same styles all over Dribbble.
I serached web design and these are some of which I found. Why did I pick them? All 3 use some type of ribbon and texture background. Are ribbons and textured backgrounds a major component of web design? An onlooker would say that these qualities are inherent with quality web design since Dribbble is synonymous with quality. As designers we don’t want to give off this message. We don’t want quality web design to be a series of trending graphics and ideas, we are essentially crowd sourcing concept style. Use other searches and you will see a lot of the same regurgitated styles.
Where is the outside influence? Well, there is none and we need it. Designers who are trying to be a part of the Dribbble community are learning what it takes to get in there: design like the designers already onboard with the site. We are festering in our own design incest. Recruiters are recruiting similar artists who then do the same. Dribbble is flooded with iOS app designs, Web 2.0 designs, and the like – not that this is a bad thing but Dribbble is slowly devolving. What once made it unique is now making it the norm. The community is saying “this is what we like, this is what the top designers are designing, and so should you if you want in.”
Web design isn’t alone. Want to make an icon? There’s an app for that. I am not bashing these artists. There is some nice work being done here that has a lot of sweat and heart in it. I actively search Dribbble for ideas, inspiration, browse quality art, and to offer my critiques. Dribbble has a magnitude of knowledge and talent. However, haven’t we seen these designs before? Designers keep developing the style that got them into Dribbble and then propagate that style by recruiting similar artists. The cycle is never ending and is the ultimate reason why Dribbble is becoming less of a unique and distinguishing service.
Surely there are exceptions. You can go through and look for unique stuff; though it may take some time to do so. Some designers that should be part of Dribbble aren’t, I understand that and that’s ok. There are also designers who shouldn’t be on Dribbble but are (maybe me
). This is the nature of the beast. But there are some great unique designs:
These are fresh and imbue a unique sense of style and character that appear to be inherent in the designer or brand. They are a stark contrast to the plethora of similar and sometimes unoriginal ideas that flood Dribbble. Don’t take my word for it. The Dribbbles with the most views and likes are certainly the trendiest and of the most similar styles (not getting into celebrities here). This is obvious.
Invitations need to be sent to designers who are not the best, by Dribbble standards. We have defined that the best are those on Dribbble who all share the same styles and therefore those who do not share the same styles are not the best. These are who we need to be injected into Dribbble. Designers who use their own style and originality to create their revenue that is great artwork, mostly unaffected by the glow of Dribbble. What if these designers joined Dribbble and recieved tons of likes and critiques? This would be encouraging to them and we would see different and evolved styles grow, Dribbble’s original intent and now its greatest challenge: Can it create great artists? Do we see artists grow that are part of Dribbble? Not yet.
Support those who are trying to create original, different, and creative work and then recruit the same. If you’re a great iOS app designer, why only recruit another great iOS app designer? Why not, say, recruit a great android app designer – we all know how different these styles are or can be. How refreshing. Now what if these two styles made a baby? This is how the Dribbble community will push and continue on. Why are there only a few (if any) flash developers on Dribbble that showcase their work? These are important questions that are not being accounted for. And lastly, why are we letting Dribbble define what is the best art?
Help our design community grow by not limiting the growth to only those designers with a particular style. We are flooded, ok, we get it. Lets focus on creating great designs that push our audience and are defined by individual style that is cultivated through Dribbble; not by Dribbble. How is Dribbble affecting your view of artwork and the designers not a part of Dribbble? Do you find yourself designing outside of your own unique style for sake of Dribbble consideration?
What is Dribbble?
“Dribbble is show and tell for designers, developers and other creatives. Members share sneak peeks of their work as “shots” — small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on. It’s also a place to talk design, give and receive feedback and iterate toward better work.” Straight from the word processors of Dan & Rich (co-founders of Dribbble). Short and sweet: It is a invite-only design forum in its most simplest terms. The site uses pretty good UI to disguise its functionality by implementing imagery as title’s of forum threads. This definition from Dan & Rich is more of what it was and intended to be but not quite what it has become.
Dribbble is intended for designers. That’s it. My mother would not be particularly interested in the content on Dribbble where as a freelance artist may have it as a homepage. This is all fine and good. Designers of all types need places to receive criticism, see what everyone else is doing, be inspired, and share their work. Dribbble solves all of this in one spot…well sort of. The purpose? Simple: To help designers develop and share designs. This is not an original idea, many sites do this. Cgtalk.com is among one of the highest quality critique forums around littered with professional artists; but Dribbble is unique in exclusivity and its newly acquired purpose and inherent design.
What has Dribbble become today?
Dribbble is not what it used to be. The founders did not forsee what their frankenstein would become: self-preserving, devolving design society. <Designer rage ensues> Now before you get all antsy in the pants, let me explain.
This should have been forseen. The moment Dribbble was created and invites were sent, the founders were establishing style guidelines and expectations and the inevitable fate of Dribbble. What happens when something is invite-only? What happens when people, of which we are all biased, are those who can invite? What does invite-only mean? I will tell you. Similarity, trends, and dis-interest. This is no fault to the designers but Dribbble’s exclusivity limits the integration of unique artists. This lack of unique artist integration is due in large part to the simple fact that we invite other “players” of which artwork we like. This usually means that we invite those who share similar views or styles as us.
There is also, an extreme lack of critique. Many designers are praised with “likes” rather than constructive critiques. Again perpetuating the cycle. Dribbble is more of a showcase than a design community and this is a tragedy.
Everybody wants in.
So what happens when something is invite-only? Everyone wants in. Exclusivity says that which is exclusive is best. If it is exclusive you are excluding the common people, of course. Invite-only is saying “This is so good, we can’t share it with everyone.” and therefore, naturally, everyone wants in.
The effect the idea of invitation has is huge. A few select designers were invited to select a few more select designers, and so on, and so on. Dribbble has exploded with new designers, new rookies are added everyday. They are invited through other designers who feel that the “new rookies” have the quality work to be on Dribbble. But is it quality or style they are recruiting? Bingo, you guessed it: Style. Like I said earlier, we are all partial and with varying degress of self-preservation. This is human nature. Just like in politics, leaders appoint other leaders who share similar views; in designer’s case, style. We see the same styles all over Dribbble.
I serached web design and these are some of which I found. Why did I pick them? All 3 use some type of ribbon and texture background. Are ribbons and textured backgrounds a major component of web design? An onlooker would say that these qualities are inherent with quality web design since Dribbble is synonymous with quality. As designers we don’t want to give off this message. We don’t want quality web design to be a series of trending graphics and ideas, we are essentially crowd sourcing concept style. Use other searches and you will see a lot of the same regurgitated styles.
What happens when something is invite-only? What happens when people, of which we are all biased, are those who can invite?
Where is the outside influence? Well, there is none and we need it. Designers who are trying to be a part of the Dribbble community are learning what it takes to get in there: design like the designers already onboard with the site. We are festering in our own design incest. Recruiters are recruiting similar artists who then do the same. Dribbble is flooded with iOS app designs, Web 2.0 designs, and the like – not that this is a bad thing but Dribbble is slowly devolving. What once made it unique is now making it the norm. The community is saying “this is what we like, this is what the top designers are designing, and so should you if you want in.”
Web design isn’t alone. Want to make an icon? There’s an app for that. I am not bashing these artists. There is some nice work being done here that has a lot of sweat and heart in it. I actively search Dribbble for ideas, inspiration, browse quality art, and to offer my critiques. Dribbble has a magnitude of knowledge and talent. However, haven’t we seen these designs before? Designers keep developing the style that got them into Dribbble and then propagate that style by recruiting similar artists. The cycle is never ending and is the ultimate reason why Dribbble is becoming less of a unique and distinguishing service.
There are always exceptions.
Surely there are exceptions. You can go through and look for unique stuff; though it may take some time to do so. Some designers that should be part of Dribbble aren’t, I understand that and that’s ok. There are also designers who shouldn’t be on Dribbble but are (maybe me
). This is the nature of the beast. But there are some great unique designs:These are fresh and imbue a unique sense of style and character that appear to be inherent in the designer or brand. They are a stark contrast to the plethora of similar and sometimes unoriginal ideas that flood Dribbble. Don’t take my word for it. The Dribbbles with the most views and likes are certainly the trendiest and of the most similar styles (not getting into celebrities here). This is obvious.
We are festering in our own design incest.
What can we do?
Invitations need to be sent to designers who are not the best, by Dribbble standards. We have defined that the best are those on Dribbble who all share the same styles and therefore those who do not share the same styles are not the best. These are who we need to be injected into Dribbble. Designers who use their own style and originality to create their revenue that is great artwork, mostly unaffected by the glow of Dribbble. What if these designers joined Dribbble and recieved tons of likes and critiques? This would be encouraging to them and we would see different and evolved styles grow, Dribbble’s original intent and now its greatest challenge: Can it create great artists? Do we see artists grow that are part of Dribbble? Not yet.
Support those who are trying to create original, different, and creative work and then recruit the same. If you’re a great iOS app designer, why only recruit another great iOS app designer? Why not, say, recruit a great android app designer – we all know how different these styles are or can be. How refreshing. Now what if these two styles made a baby? This is how the Dribbble community will push and continue on. Why are there only a few (if any) flash developers on Dribbble that showcase their work? These are important questions that are not being accounted for. And lastly, why are we letting Dribbble define what is the best art?
Help our design community grow by not limiting the growth to only those designers with a particular style. We are flooded, ok, we get it. Lets focus on creating great designs that push our audience and are defined by individual style that is cultivated through Dribbble; not by Dribbble. How is Dribbble affecting your view of artwork and the designers not a part of Dribbble? Do you find yourself designing outside of your own unique style for sake of Dribbble consideration?
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