tableau |ˌtaˈblō|
Um, that title may need some work, but I went to a Penguin talk last night at The Design Museum and came away thinking that Coralie Bickford-Smith is a truly remarkable designer. There's a great interview with her here. Her Penguin Classics hardback designs are simply sublime, her designs hark back to other times and yet are so modern in their execution.Over the decades Penguin has sustained a reputation for generating innovative and influential cover designs as seen in the work of Alan Aldridge in the 1960s. In this cross generational discussion, celebrated Penguin designer David Pelham and former Penguin editor Judith Burnley will talk about the factors behind their particular Penguin heyday to be compared with recent achievements and future direction described by current Art Director Jim Stoddart.
Happy National Pharmacist Day! If you pop in to Boots (or any other branded or unbranded pharmacy) be sure to greet your kindly pharmacist.
Shame on me, I'm a Bowerbird and I didn't celebrate National Bird Day last Monday. I was sat at my desk in my 'studio' last night searching for a muse and I think I may have found it in the form of the National Holidays website, there are infinite amounts of useless holidays we should be celebrating. So this could become a regular post, I did a few in advance last night, excuse the dates/holidays I've missed so far, but there are some brilliant ones on the horizon.
You may or may not be familiar with tilt-shift photography, simply put it's a way of taking pictures of real life in a particular way to look like miniature models, and now there's a super simple way to do it, just upload a picture and let the site do the work for you. It's normally a lengthy process playing with blurs, depth of field, colour saturation and focus but with this site it takes seconds, enjoy. Thanks Toby for the link, even if you don't think it's that successful.
I'm fairly smitten with the painterly talent of Olivier Tallac, I would love to see some of this animated it has such a vivacious quality, I was sucked into his website, hope you like it too.
I'm finally getting around to making half of my room into a studio, my inspiration wall is starting to fill up, I'm going to aim to shuffle it around every month, but we'll see what reality brings. It's a bit hard to make them out but I have my Penelope Dullaghan print, Marc Johns print, Jon Burgerman original and even some personal work in there too. I just need to start the work...
This is a very original way to entertain tourists in Lvov city in Ukraine, the questions are posted around the city in places of interest and if you return at night, the letters fluoresce gently and you can check your answers. The crossword buff in me suddenly wants to visit the Ukraine. More here.
First thoughts? Scale model? Photograph? Painting?
I stumbled upon Dan's work while researching earlier, he's got quite a lot of editorial experience under his belt, I recognise some of his magazine work, I recommend downloading his PDF of work in print, it looks great in situ.
I discovered the work of mobilet projects today, they create a charming mix of eclectic product design and graphic design, check out their quirky, beautiful milk crate covers in gemstone colours, you know you want one. As for this barcode light-shade there is a charm and abstract quality to this otherwise mundane collection of numbers and lines.
Christmas card design from my lovely Bearded friend, she isn't really a bearded lady, just a great illustrator. Thank you for my physical card too Miss Beard, I'm collecting the set; see you in the New Year.
Just thought I'd show how the Poladroid sits on your desktop and what the development looks like. Give it a go, it's great fun, there's also a Flickr group you can submit them to afterward.
As of 31st December 2008, the Polaroid will be no more, they will cease production, but worry not there are some new alternatives coming on to the market. However you can create Poladroids for free, FREE!
I had this idea the other day for alternative sexy Christmas cards, which are open to pun-age.
Mmmm, simple, human, interaction.
Only one earth week until Christmas! You still have time for last minute shopping and wrapping, but I shall take a moment now in the spirit of good will to all men and say smugly that I have completed all my shopping and wrapping with one week to spare. Hurrah! Some creative repositioning of old illustrations into gift tags was needed, but voila!
Only joking, it's actually The Birds Barbie, created to celebrate the film's 45th anniversary, couldn't they have waited another 5 years? It seems an arbitrary anniversary, ho hum, here's the blurb, note the age restriction, brilliant. Also it was Zombie Barbie on Monday I wonder what's next?
I can not believe I have uttered those words, but every now and again a banner advert actually succeeds and engages you. I have witnessed such an event. Lo, I present the campaign for National Book Tokens.
