I’ve been having a good deal of fun editing on my iPhone lately and its even spilled over into some of my design work. I recently discovered a great little app called Grid Lens (well worth checking out), and created a custom grid for myself of skinny columns (Some inspiration from this painting) and took a sequence of photos of a white wall… It turned out like this (see image above).
I figured I was onto something and brought it into Image Blender (another invaluable app) and started layering it. First horizontally and then diagonally. I ended up with this:
This got me pretty excited, especially because it started with a photo of a white wall… I then layered it over another photo that I mirrored for more symmetry and ended up with this:
I find accidental creativity to be some of the most exciting, especially when it comes together quickly, when you almost cant keep up with it.
A few more examples of the same technique:
I am working on a logo right now and I figured this is great application to try out this same technique. I did it all in illustrator but the inspiration came from a $2 app.
Tools that fit in my pocket fit much better into my life.
All images by Seth Hardie
Find me on Instagram here: @hallwood
Jimmy Turrell launched his new website recently and I spent the evening pouring through his work. Really great stuff, my favorite is this set of designs for Yellowire. Check out the rest of his work here.
When I look back into my childhood I try and figure out why I have such a intense passion for certain layouts, design and unique printing. I’m sure some of it just stems from trying to revive nostalgia, though sometimes I think it all comes back to my obsession with collecting sport cards, I think I was at 40k+ cards at one point and every Beckett Pricing Magazine imaginable. I’m only showing the tip of this iceberg so i’ll make it a series, we’ll start with some classic O-Pee-Chee and Fleer and once we get into the deep cuts i’ll share some real favorites but pretty much that Cam Neely one is a favorite.
Tom Eckersley (1914-1997) was an English poster artist known for his use of bold, bright colors and simple block shapes. During WWII he was a cartographer for the Royal Air Force and created designs for the General Post Office. In 1947, Art and Industry magazine described his approach to design as scrapping the “non-essential, by the perfect mating of chosen word with chosen picture, he wings the total message.” A year later he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services to poster design.
Good Day CA is a self-initiated project by Los Angeles designer Braden Wise. Drawing inspiration from the sights and experiences of traveling on the road, Wise created a set of postcards to chronicle his trip from the Midwest to his new home in California. See the rest of the series here.
Westvaco Inspirations was a graphic arts publication issued by the Westvaco Corporation, formerly named the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, with the objective of showing typography, photography, art work and other graphic inventiveness on papers manufactured at its mills. Because Westvaco Inspirations was intended to demonstrate printing processes and papers, its primary audience consisted of 35,000 designers, printers, teachers and students.
Thompson designed more than sixty issues of the magazine over eighteen years and utilized a variety of printing methods, including letterpress and offset lithography. Tons more great scans at Typogabor.
Amy Henderson of AQ-V recently acquired a large collection of old United Nations stamps:
Because the UN is an international organization, its stamp must bear symbols that will be recognized universally. Besides the beauty of the design, the UN Design Committee must consider the political implications of any symbolism used. Naturally none of them can stand for anything contrary to the standards and principles of the United Nations, nor can they represent any one culture, religion, or race.
It was the Design Committee’s suggestion that the official five languages—Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish—should be used on as many of the stamps as possible. This was the origin of the “five-language border” which has become characteristic of UN stamps.
I had the pleasure of meeting fellow San Francisco artist Amy Franceschini yesterday. Amy is from the design studio Futurefamers, a group of people who create “platforms for sociability within new media spaces; internet, wireless devices and public space”. I remember being aware of — and influenced by — their work when I was starting out in design but this recent meeting prompted me to take a look at what they’re been up to in the years since.
As you can see, their output doesn’t exactly fall within the scope of your average design studio — although they did design the Twitter logo. This excerpt from Amy’s bio sums up the themes I find most interesting in the work “[she] creates formats for exchange and production that question and challenge the social, cultural and environmental systems that surround her. An overarching theme in her work is a perceived conflict between humans and nature.”
Aesthetically pleasing and challenging at the same time, really great to see people doing work like this.
