Christoph Niemann is a brilliant illustrator. His work is always so clever that it often sparks jealousy among creatives alike. This work especially reminds me of the beauty of a child’s mind and the ability to see beyond the limits of wordly relationships. Play allows us to find new and multiple meaning in the abstract. Enjoy.
Christoph Niemann: I LEGO NY
It was only a matter of time
I don’t think anything has been discussed so much among so many venues of the design world. I remember back in October when I heard about the Pepsi re-branding in progress from the brilliant Maury Postal of Carrot Creative. I replied, hoping it was a joke. Obviously, now we all know that it was far from a joke. Personally, it’s grown on me slightly. It’s gone from the point of disgust and hatred to simply a near disinterest. However, it’s hard to find a design blog that hasn’t mentioned it. From the several posts on Armin Vit’s Brand New to even the Typophile Forums to the most recent episode of The Reflex Blue Show. It has even branched to outside the design community. It has become part of discussions with my family in which I don’t even bring it up. It has certainly become remarkable, but when just the word Pepsi become so iconic, at what level does the packaging weigh on the brand? I’d think that if Kleenex did a major re-branding, it probably wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms either. Does this make it the right move? Certainly, it produces a large amount of discussion about it. Therefore, at least it’s not boring, but does it make it a good thing?
Megan Corkrey, Type Designer, on American Idol Salt Lake City Audition Video
Thanks to Claus Eggers Sørensen (clauses on Typophile), I was informed of a type designer on American Idol and actually being quite good. She’ll be one to watch…
Small Town Hero or a Fish Too Big For Its Own Pond?
In a small gathering of business owners and entrepreneurs that I was part of last week, I was especially intrigued in a part of our discussion. The owner of a company who understands the importance of professional design and branding, brought up that now that their newsletter looks professional, it no longer feels like they are a small town company. His fear is that his client-base of the small town is being turned away by the idea that the company is too big.
The small town customer comes to the small town company often because of the fact that they are a small town company. But what happens when the company doesn’t look like a small town company? Can it actually bad for a company’s brand to look professional? Even if the company provides a higher level of quality in service while remaining a small town company?
It seems to me that there are two ways to approach this conundrum. One way is to refocus the brand in a way to not necessarily pull back in quality, but shift the message providing a strong focus on the town and the people being affected. The other way would be to actually reach out and grow to a size that is accurately being represented.
But where did this correlation of size of a company and the level of professionalism in the design of a company’s materials come from? When did this happen? Did this actually come from larger company’s having the budget to pay a designer or a studio to create their materials rather than a neighbor’s daughter who has photoshop? I’m very interested in what your thoughts are.
Paula Scher Gets Serious for TED
An interesting lecture on what may be more easily understood as self-experimentation/exploration versus following pre-existing norms.
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more about "Paula Scher Gets Serious for TED", posted with vodpod
Happy Birthday to Me
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Today marks one full year in which this blog had its first post. Thank you very much for following this blog. I hope it’s been as good for you as it has for me.
Meeting Andy Gilmore
Back on September 5th, I met Andy Gilmore at a showing of his work with some great music from LouLou and the Sharp Sword. After a long anticipated talk with Andy about his work, I had learned quite a bit. He believes that they are geometric proportions that exist naturally and that we tend to encounter them at some wonderful moments. These proportions occur in all aspects of life. We discussed how this is encountered through skateboarding, music and several other forms. Gilmore works tediously at this, whether it’s through the designs that he does mostly in illustrator, his extremely fine, analytical illustrations, or the music he produces.
