Pre-Postmodern Swiss Posters Exhibit

Posted on January 21, 2010January 24, 2010 Posted in Design, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic StyleTagged exhibit, graphic design, grid system, International Typographic Style, minimalism, modernism, posters, swiss style2 Comments

Designer Morgan Smail sent me an email about an exhibit called Pre-Postmodern Swiss Posters that was held at San Jose State University from November 17-December 18, 2009. The posters are from the private collection of designer Aaron Marcus and feature some real gems. Morgan was kind enough to snap some photos of this wonderful exhibit, which I’ve uploaded to my Flickr page.

While doing some research for the exhibit I found this blog post by Aaron Marcus that goes into the history of how he assembled this wonderful poster collection. There’s also a PDF of Aaron’s presentation at the exhibit opening.

The students that attend San Jose State are sure fortunate! This was the same school that held the Spiele: Otl Aicher’s Olympic Graphic Design exhibit two years ago.

Matthew Lyons

Posted on January 19, 2010January 19, 2010 Posted in ArtTagged Art, illustration, minimalism, modernism4 Comments

I want to switch it up a little today with the excellent illustration work by Matthew Lyons. I almost never feature illustration work, that’s because it’s rare for me to find good examples that fall within the “minimalism” and “modernism” categories. Matthew’s work does, on so many levels. His style is very minimal, he uses a lot of simple geometric shapes to form the elements and his subjects have a retro-modern-minimal 60’s feel to them that I absolutely love. The colors and shading are also very simplistic, not too much detail, just enough to get the idea across, but at the same time the illustrations have so much depth.

Brilliant work by an artist who’s still in school. Amazing.

Via ISO50

The Warfare of Deception

Posted on January 17, 2010January 17, 2010 Posted in Design, TypographyTagged graphic design, paper, print, Typography4 Comments

The Warfare of Deception is the work of Ryan Katrina and consists of 7 posters, which form a Basic Field Guide made up of 6 sections: Survival, Objective, Protocol, Safety, First Aid, and Communication. Each poster is 12?x18? and printed on generic brown school paper using archival inks.

Lovely typographic work.

League

Posted on January 12, 2010January 12, 2010 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged graphic design, grid system, International Typographic Style, minimalism, posters, print, switzerland1 Comment

League is a Geneva-based design studio with an exceptional portfolio. Each piece is an exercise in simplicity. The poster shown here reminds me of this excellent poster by Robert Büchler.

Anouk Rehorek

Posted on January 8, 2010January 25, 2010 Posted in DesignTagged black & white, graphic design, magazine, publication, serif5 Comments

Even though I’ve never done it, I love magazine design. Something about seeing a well-designed spread get’s my creative juices flowing. It’s unfortunate that the magazine industry is hurting because I’d hate to lose all the great creative.

Some of the best magazine designs I’ve seen are by Swiss graphic designer, Anouk Rehorek. His use of black and white color along with serif type is stunning and the way he integrates imagery really creates a perfect balance.

Roger Willems

Posted on January 6, 2010January 6, 2010 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged classic, covers, graphic design, grid system, helvetica, International Typographic Style, publications, sans-serif, Typography1 Comment

Here’s some lovely work by Dutch designer Roger Willems. I’m particularly fond of these covers for the architectural publication, OverHolland. The bold colors, obvious grid and solid typography give these covers a classic feel as if they’re right out of the 60s era.