In most cases we would consider automated font adjustment (using the bold button in MS word rather than using a bolder font weight) a crime against the printed word. LAIKA however, seems to have taken the automated rendering of typography in a new direction with shockingly good results. LAIKA is the BA thesis work of Nicolas Kunz and Michael Flückiger and is one of the first examples we’ve come across of real time dynamic type rendering.
“Type has always been something static.
In considering type we speak, for example, in terms of bold, thin, grotesque, classical, roman, italic: terms that all describe a defined variant of the font family. Thus we only ever see individual fixed points in what is actually an infinitely wide space of possibilities.
With digitalisation, however, typeface has left its manifest image – cast in lead – behind, and with it all the associated limitations. Computer-based applications, the Internet and new, fluid advertising media allow us to go beyond the existing, static view of typography.” -from LAIKA website.
The pictograms for the 2012 Olympics have just been released. It’s interesting to compare them to the historic counterparts such as the famous 1972 Munich set by Otl Aicher. The new set was apparently done by British firm SomeOne. Despite the fact that the controversial 2012 Olympic logo made such a break from tradition, the pictograms are more in line with historical approaches. It’s a difficult assignment to make something highly stylized and maintain the required legibility, never mind the olympic approval process.
Dan McPharlin’s work takes us back to the weird fantasy/Sci Fi cartoons we (vaguely) remember from late seventies to early eighties concepts like Fantastic Planet, Heavy Metal, and basically anything by Roger Dean.
Mix that with a few Iso 50ish references to analog electronic music devices (moog keyboards anyone?) and you’ve got quite an array of stunning work to choose from. Read the rest of this entry »
Danish Designer / Illustrator / Whatever Emil Kozak has just released his new book “One Day“. This new volume chronicle how graphics have pervaded the products we buy and and a little bit of individuality to the other wise one-size-fits-all objects we surround ourselves with.
We should stop being so flabbergasted that we can find such incredible work coming out of the other side of the globe. But we were still a little caught off guard by Cyrill Clunev AKA Dualform Network coming at us with beautiful digital abstracts from St. Petersburg Russia.
Siggi Eggertsson’s A Growing Pile of Work is a compilation of over 400 images created from 2003 to 2009. Bits of unused, rejected and personal projects were used to create intriguing display of Eggertsson’s vast body of work. His rigid graphic style is becoming more and more coveted. The young Icelandic illustrator is being snatched up by companies like Coke and Nike and by luxury brands such as Mulberry.
***We suggest you buy tix ASAP if you’re even thinking about going to this***
If you’ve been under a rock for the last decade and you haven’t heard of Tomato UK that’s all the more reason to go to this event. Tomato UK is an Art / Design / Music collective consisting of many members including Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, of Underworld who all but created the sound track of the nineties.
Tomato members Michael Horsham, Dylan Kendle, and John Warwicker will cross a continent and an ocean to share their secrets on all aspects of art ranging from commercial print to music and sound to architectural design. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and gain insight from an amazing group with valuable experience with cross-platform art. Horsham will present a general selection of work, Kendle will present film work and Warwicker will discuss process – Tomato’s philosophy and approach to making work.
It’s amazing to look at the height of analog technology back in the 1970s. While the graphic styles of this 1972 election coverage video are a bit kitschy by todays standards, they are extremely well done.
Our guess is this work was done largely by the late great Lou Dorfsman who was Creative Director at CBS through the seventies. We wonder if the graphics produced by CBS today will hold up as well in forty years. If you are looking for good retro inspiration, look no further.
Thank god someone finally made some decent hand and arrow icons and gave them out for the world to use. Thanks to Michael Mulvey for hooking these up. You can download them here.
