Some great examples of packaging design by Dutch artist Louis Swart. Swart got his start as early as age thirteen and was quoted at that time as saying ‘I am striving not to become the grand old man of the profession, but to close my design doors when I reach forty-five’. So not only was he a designer at 13, he was getting interviews, pretty incredible.
I recognize those Albert Hein logos in there. As I recall, the current in-house brand has not carried on this tradition.
I’ve seen a lot of beautiful, moving images of the Shuttle lately but none have felt so intimate as these by Justin Ray for Spaceflight Now. Something about these photos of the now decommissioned spacecraft, engines removed, mission complete, bring the idea of it to life like none I’ve seen thus far. It’s the textures and details that highlight what an incredible machine this was and what a profound achievement for humankind it represents.
And look at that lettering! I’ve never seen it so close; it has such a handmade feel to it at this scale. The logos and typography of the Shuttle program always intrigued me, they seemed to represent the idea of the United States as a brand, an ideal to be consumed by the rest of the world. Then when Canadarm was installed on STS-2 it became apparent that even other — less crazy — countries felt the desire to push themselves as a brand in space. Of course, pushing your national space-brand became a bit more accessible with the ISS, but the US and Canada used Helvetica and were way ahead of the curve so I’d say they won whatever prize you get for most recognizable space-brand.
I wonder what we all gained growing up in a world where the Shuttle existed. I know it was a big part of my consciousness as a kid and probably had something to do with how I felt about my national identity. For me it symbolized the combined efforts of some of our greatest minds collectively reaching for a better understanding of the world we live in. For some — and perhaps rightly so — it probably represented a colossal waste of resources in the face of more earthly problems. Maybe it was both, but I I’ll personally miss it as a symbol of what we as humans can achieve when we work together.
I’m in Sacramento decompressing after the final, completely insane, few weeks putting the finishing touches on the new Tycho album (I’ll be announcing the release date here very soon). It just so happens that Launch — Sacramento’s annual art / music / fashion festival — is going down this weekend and I’ll be doing some live visuals for Little Foxes during their set.
If you’re not yet up on Little Foxes, they’re a new band consisting of Dusty Brown, Jacob Golden, and Zac Brown (live bassist and collaborator in Tycho). They’re incredible and this event is not to be missed. There are a lot of other great artists on the bill and to top it off it’s back at The Greens again. Hope to see you out there.
Just came across William Eggelston’s photography work tonight (I know, very late to this party). I’m completely blown away. A lot of these almost feel like realist oil paintings.
Does anyone do work like this anymore? I’ve never really seen tone and definition like this in anyone’s work. I have to imagine most kids starting out in photography these days are purely digital; sad to think we’ll be seeing less and less film output as the years go on.
Not a whole lot of info on this one as the page is in Japanese, but Wakui Works has some nice shots from 1960’s Japan featuring Eames / Herman Miller furniture in it’s natural habitat. Whenever I see shots like these I imagine the lucky people who found all this discarded in an alley somewhere around 1994.
Besides approaching the most pressing issue of our time from a very interesting perspective, this video by Markus Kayser is absolutely stunning from a visual perspective. Kayser harnesses raw solar energy to produce glass objects using via a 3D printing process.
Fascinating. It’s visuals like these (and these) that make me realize I need to spend a lot more time in the desert taking pictures.
The MoMA has a collection of some of Jacob Jensen’s forward thinking product designs for Bang & Olufsen during the 60’s and 70’s. That red Beolit 400 is incredible.
Beautiful alternate posters for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) by LaBoca. Looks like these were for promo only and not available for purchase, shame.
