Month: August 2009

Dieter Rams Less and More

Posted on Posted in Apple, Design, Design Legends, Industrial DesignTagged , , , , , 6 Comments

dieter_rams

“Good design is as little design as possible.”

Damn right. Words to live by.

Dieter Rams is one of the most influential industrial designers of this past century. Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, is heavily influenced by Rams’ work. You can see huge similarities between Apple and classic Braun products in their simplicity, beauty and function.

From November 18 – March 14, The Design Museum in London is having an exhibition titled “Dieter Rams Less and More“. The exhibition will showcase Rams’ inspiring designs for Braun and Vitsœ. I might have to head to London just to see this.

To satisfy your fix, here’s a short documentary of Rams, a Dieter Rams Flickr group and a Braun Flickr group showcasing the classic Braun designs.
       

Grid Calculator 1.3

Posted on Posted in Apple, Design, Grid SystemsTagged , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

grid-calculator

A new version (1.3) of the excellent Grid Calculator has been released for the Mac. The main feature of this upgrade is the ability to calculate grids for web design. It’s the only stand-alone app that I know of that supports both print and web. Pretty sweet. I’ve been told that the PC version is coming soon.

Here are some more new features:

• Inches and Points support.
• More paper sizes (DIN, ANSI and Arch).
• Great new time-saving feature “Copy Settings” introduced – NO more back and forth!
• Modified “Quick conversion” section.
• Web designer friendly, use Points in 72 ppi resolution and calculate your grid.

Get Grid Calculator 1.3 for Mac OS X        

LemonAid Beverages

Posted on Posted in DesignTagged , , , , , 6 Comments

lemonaid

One of my favorite design studios, BVD, just finished up some stunning new work for the German company LemonAid Beverages. They created a simple and eye catching design for the new drinks ChariTea and Lemonaid. BVD also selected a classic bottle design on which the graphics are silkscreened instead of using labels. I’d drink this stuff even if it tasted bad just because the design is gorgeous. Also, definitely check out the LemonAid site by demodern. The typography and videos are awesome.        

Michael Kosmicki

Posted on Posted in Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic StyleTagged , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

michael_kosmicki

Michael Kosmicki is a graphic design student at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, and his work simply blows me away. I’m amazed at how refined it is, but what I love the most is Michael’s classic sense of style. A lot of his pieces feel like they’re right out of the golden age of Swiss design. Perfect in every way. If we did any print work here, I’d hire this kid in a second.        

Voice Over Magazine

Posted on Posted in Design, TypographyTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

A lovely publication by Iaspis and Sternberg Press that examines staging, theatricality, and performative strategies in contemporary art practices.

Art direction and designed by Stefania Malmsten and Ulrika Hellberg, Voice Over’s gorgeous cover is printed in silver foil and the entire magazine is set in Chronicle Text and Chronicle Display by Hoefler & Frere-Jones.

Overall this is stunning work, the interior layouts are to die for.

Via FPO        

Tankboys

Posted on Posted in Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged , , , , , 5 Comments

Tankboys is a multidisciplinary Venice based studio founded in 2005 by Lorenzo Mason and Marco Campardo, focusing on cultural, artistic, editorial and
design project.

Every piece in their portfolio exhibits beautiful typography, strong grids, and a minimalist approach. It’s great to see the International Typographic Style still thriving. Tankboys have become one of my favorite design studios, up there with Experimental Jetset and The International Office.