"...There are, however, some designers and even clients who insist that the public deserve and will respond to much higher standards in graphics. They are convinced, as Charlie Chaplin was convinced, that the best way to entertain the public is to first entertain oneself."
I bet everybody gets to feeling cheated by a bank, sooner or later. Today it was my turn. Sometime last night they must’ve changed the bank, replacing it with this one:
Joke or not, being told that I have to ‘do stuff’ every three months on my savings account or it gets suspended and dissappears completely from my internet banking account made me feel like being on candid camera, laughed about by the whole nation, eating popcorn on their sofas. My bad for not reading the extremely fine print, yes — but they should’ve mentioned this ‘petty’ detail when I signed up for it.
Btw, Raiffeisen Romania, did you know your Polish brother has heard of iPhone apps? Just thought I’d let you know, not that I’d need something like that or anything.
Last, I’d like to apologise to Mr. Otl Aicher for having the courage of altering his logo. It’s for a good cause (even if only for letting some steam off).
Following the wonderful Les Triplettes des Belleville, director Sylvian Chomet comes this summer with L’Illusionniste, a feature-length animated film about an old struggling illusionist and a young girl travelling throughout Europe. The story is based on an unpublished script written by Jacques Tati in 1956 as a letter to his daughter. The main character is a modeled version of Tati himself, one of the finest French comedians (both an actor and a director). But enough with the details, have a look for yourself:
You can find out more on the wikipedia entry or on the beautifully designed official site. If your french is brushed up, you can watch this interview with Sylvian Chomet (either way, you can drool over the beautiful scenes from the movie). You could also watch La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons (The old Lady and The Pigeons), another short animation by the same director (be careful not to miss the other two parts).
Funny how things go round — one year ago I saw a beautiful animation, called Father & Daughter, by Michaël Dudok de Wit. Yesterday I stumbled across a few other shorts by the same gifted author, from which I loved The Monk and The Fish. However, the following collection of TV ads really impressed me, managing to fill me with much more than indifference and nervousness, the usuals when it comes to advertising — mind you, I quit working in advertising 3 years ago and I’ve been off the TV for almost 9 years now.
I can’t really tell what makes them special — maybe it’s the beautiful watercolours, maybe it’s the music, maybe the slow pace — or maybe the credible slices of life told in less than 15 seconds. Either way, I’d sure love to see more advertising like this.
Rarely have I been so proud to be a designer as I am now. Two days ago, Brandient launched “Brandient 101″, the first book dedicated to Romanian brand design (limited edition of 101, signed).
I’ve been part of more than a handful of projects presented in the book, all of them being great experiences, from which I’ve learned a lot — the more difficult, the bigger the challenge and, of course, the reward. Working at Brandient for the last 3 years has been the real school that formed me as a designer (a brand designer, to be more precise, or a communication designer, as Mr. Erik likes to say), learning from and with my colleagues on all occasions, stressful or not (I found out over the years that the bigger the pressure, the faster you learn & work — of course, too much pressure is never a good thing, but one can never underestimate a designer’s ‘magical’ ability of pulling the ship around on the right track while the client is already ringing at the door :P) .
The book is designed by Cristian -Kit- Paul, Brandient’s Creative Partner, one of the best Romanian designers and also a great photographer — definitely follow him on Kit·blog. He’s also a very skilled speaker, another example that being a great designer is not only about drawing well-thought logos & identities, but also about explaining them, about promoting design as a business tool and last but not least, about teaching and inspiring the others.
But enough with the raves, here it is:
and some sneek peeks inside:
The first spread presents Dedeman, the largest DIY retail chain in Romania (having surpassed Praktiker by € 3mil last year). Its rebranding has been awarded a Rebrand “Best of Awards” in 2009 and is one of Brandient’s largest and most challenging projects ever — coming up with solutions that would work on 18 different giant stores is really something, trust me. The last spread presents Verida, a non-banking financial institution specialized in mortgage credits, for which I’ve designed almost everything, including the logo. For the rest, you’ll have to get it and see for yourself — or browse Brandient’s website (major redesign and portfolio update should be our next step, time permits).
The book is available at Carturesti Verona in Bucharest for 99 lei (aprox € 25) and it’s also available online on the Carturesti online shop (unfortunately, there’s no english version of the website and I don’t know if they ship worldwide).
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The official details:
Brandient is proud to announce the launching of “Brandient 101”, the first book dedicated to local brand design, bringing together 101 corporate or product graphic identities created by the company during its first eight years of existence:
Brandient 101
Award winning corporate identities, category leading packaging capable of catching both the eye and the heart of the hurried shopper, brand strategy problems solved by design.
• 101 graphic identities created by Brandient between 2002 and 2010;
• Limited edition of 101, numbered and signed by Aneta Bogdan;
• Bilingual edition in English and Romanian;
• 224 pages, hardcover, full color;
• ISBN 978-973-0-07554-0.
Available starting 24 march, until the 101 are sold—only at Carturesti flagship bookstore in Verona St., Bucharest. If you want one, you’ll have to hurry up.
Brandient — the leading branding and design company in Romania, one of the most awarded in Eastern Europe and the one I’ve had the pleasure to be part of for the last 3 years — celebrates a wonderful milestone: over 100 brands and identities, developed over the last eight years. To honour this event, an exhibition will be held at Carturesti Verona in Bucharest (sub_Carturesti coffee shop). The opening event will take place on 26 march, at 5.00 PM, when Brandient’s designers will share their experiences during the “Brandient 101 minutes about design” talk. For more info, you can read the official press release.
The exhibition will be open from 26 march till 7 april. We’re preparing another surprise, so stay tuned.
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If you ever thought that a bounch of old creatives couldn’t be even half funnier than Jerry Seinfeld, you’re dead wrong. Watch Michael Wolff, Erik Spiekermann and Oliviero Toscani ‘chit-chatting’ about success in one of the DBA’s The Edge talks:
_
Knowing Mr. Toscani’s work and the fact that he’s such a flamboyant italian (say what you will, but the obviousness of their nationalities is very funny), it’s no wonder how easily he steals the show, giving headaches to Erik and Wolff :)) Every gesture is priceless, and the bit about the European union just made me burst into tears laughing :))
Here’s a favourite quote from Toscani: “Creative Director? Not even God directed creativity.” And while I’m at it, one wise word from Mr. Wolff: “Our species is both as brilliant and as thick as it’s possible to imagine.”
Last year I had the pleasure of visiting both Tate Modern in London and The Pompidou Centre in Paris. The overall feeling that I got was that most of the modern art is born out neglecting the classic art, by going against it, breaking ‘the others” rules. Only few of the modern artists have come up with new, different takes on art. The rest are tied to the context, many times their art being nothing more than unestethic junk unless you know the artist’s historic background.
Such an artist is Kumi Yamashita, from Earth’s sister planet, Japan. Her work impresses through the gentleness of the subjects and especially through the maddening techniques used. Playing with light and shadows, thread, paper and many other materials, her installations manage to surprise, to awe the viewers. Take a look yourself:
City View, 2003
Light, Aluminum, Shadow
Permanent display at the 2nd floor of Nanba Parks Tower, Osaka, Japan.
Glider, 2002
Light, Aluminum, Shadow
Permanent display at the entrance hall of Takikawa Hall, Hokkaido, Japan. Constellation (Boy), 2007
Brads and Thread on Board
(the child is a young Muhammad Ali, all made from one uncut thread!)
Pathway, 2007
Clouds,2005
Light, Aluminum, Shadow
Permanent display at the 3rd floor of Stellar Place Sapporo JR Tower
Lovers, 1998
aluminum sheet, light, cast shadow
You can see more works on her website. There is also a japanese show (hosted by Takeshi Kitano :P) that had her as a guest, you can see it here, on Youtube.
When a man is witness to a murder and takes pictures of the killer, he has to run for his life. During the chase he is able to turn the tables and the prey becomes the hunter. All resulting in an unfortunate ending.
The film is designed and animated by: Kevin Megens, Floris Vos, Arno de Grijs, André Bergs
Music and sound design by Alex Debicki.
Script by Jan Eduards.
Produced by il Luster Productions.
2009
Such a wonderful thing to draw aimlessly on a torn paper, randomly picked among the piles of books and papers on your desk, never knowing what you’ll eventually get to — and not even suspecting that it’ll be related in any way to future events. If Mr. Glaser says ‘drawing is thinking‘, could it be that drawing is also a small peek into the future? I wonder…
“It costs every designer money to make beautiful [things]…”
—Saul Bass
Wow. All those nights of madly trying to find the right shape, the right colour or the best proportions don’t seem so insanely wasted now. Beautiful things just take time. Sometimes you succeed in making them, sometimes you don’t. Many times you feel like quitting. But it’s all part of being a designer. We all have our ups and downs. The important thing is to keep searching, pushing yourself to do something better, more beautiful, wittier, to keep learning more and more.
Luckily, we have the great ones to remind us why we do this:
