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Pre-Postmodern Swiss Posters Exhibit
January 21st, 2010Category: Design, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style
Comments: 2
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.
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Research RCA Exhibition Catalogue
December 18th, 2009Peter of The Luxury of Protest has emailed me about this folded A3 catalogue he and Karin von Ompteda designed for the Royal College of Art. On one side the catalogue highlights seven students representing the seven different schools that comprise Research RCA department.
On the other, the entire student body is visually represent through an information visualization that shows the distribution of all Research students across departments. Each student was recorded with regard to school, department, degree type (MPhil or PhD), project type (Project or Thesis), status (Part or Full-Time), nationality and relationships to collaborators and funding agencies (arched connection lines).
Set in Akkurat and Didot and offset printed in single color (PMS Black) with yellow gold foil stamp on Arjo Wiggins Curious Metallics White Gold 120 gsm paper.
Gorgeous. Wouldn’t expect anything less from Peter.
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Dieter Rams
December 7th, 2009
Image courtesy of September Industry.
Seems like there’s a ton of stuff going on around Dieter Rams and his legendary work.
There’s the “Less and More — The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams” exhibit at the Design Museum in London.
To coincide with the event, a book with the same name will be released by Gestalten this month which features all of Rams’ products as well as selected sketches and models. They also have a video interview with Rams on their website.
The excellent design agency Bibliotheque has created two stunning posters dedicated to Rams’ legacy. The first, which is pictured here, is titled “Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles” and features his ten principles for good design. They were commissioned by Vitsœ to create the poster, which is currently available on their site.
The second lovely poster they designed is titled “Dieter Rams T1000″ and features an illustration of the Braun T1000 shortwave receiver. It will be screen printed and should be available this week.
And finally we have the retrospective book “BRAUN – Fifty Years of Design and Innovation” that celebrates 50 years of the Braun brand. The book is slated to be released in 2010 but you can pre-order it now through Amazon.
Wheew! That was a lot! Enjoy.
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Arthur Erickson & Japan Poster
November 22nd, 2009Category: Architecture, Design, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 6
Love this poster for an event called Arthur Erickson & Japan that focuses on modernist architect Arthur Erickson’s journey to Japan in 1961. Not sure who designed it but the big bold type, white text on black, two-column grid and the uneven horizontal strips of color make for a beautiful design.
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Lubalin Now
October 8th, 2009Lubalin Now will be a new exhibit in the re-located Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography. I’m looking forward to this!
Herb Lubalin (1918 – 1981) is best known for his wildly illustrative typography and his groundbreaking work for the magazines Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact. On view will be recent posters, publications and motion graphics by internationally recognized graphic designers that spotlight an emerging trend toward expressive lettering and typography. Original sketches, magazines, logotypes, and posters selected from the Lubalin Center Archive will illuminate Herb Lubalin’s influence on contemporary graphic design. Featured artists include Herb Lubalin, Justin Thomas Kay, Non-Format, Matt Owens, Alex Trochut, Post Typography and many more.
CURATED BY
Mike Essl
Alexander Tochilovsky
OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 6 – 8pm
41 Cooper Square Gallery
EXHIBITION ON VIEW
November 5, 2009 – December 8, 2009
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Pop Up Story
September 8th, 2009Streetlab will exhibit new work by young Amsterdam artists in NYC this coming weekend. From fashion design and visual arts to photography and graphic design, Pop Up Story includes work by And Beyond, LEW, Parra, Danielle van Ark, Jolijn Snijders, Isabella Rozendaal, Experimental Jetset, Patta, Glu, Melanie Bonajo, Coriette Schoenaerts, Rush Hour, Rockwell, Elza Jo, Wyne Veen, Vincent van de Waal, Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman, Orpheu de Jong, Tarja Szaraniec, Miktor & Molf, High Nature, Constant Dullaart, Rafael Rozendaal and The Sessions.
It’s a can’t miss! I hope I have a chance to get there and see it.
Chelsea Market
75 9th Avenue (Between 15th and 16th Streets)
September 10 – September 13
Thu 12.00 – 05.00
Fri 12.00 – 07.00
Sat 12.00 – 08.00
Sun 10.00 – 02.00
More info can be found on their Facebook page.
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Swiss Graphic Design: Precision and Presence
July 10th, 2009Image above by Ryan Nelson.
Man, I wish I lived in Minneapolis right now. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has an exhibit titled Swiss Graphic Design: Precision and Presence that features a series of 20 Swiss posters dating from 1950 to 1985. It has been on display since January and I’m bummed that I’m just hearing about it now because it ends this Sunday! It’s good to see that such a great era in design is still being respected and passed along. We need more exhibits like this. I really have to try to curate one here in NYC.
I apologize for the bad photo, it’s the best I could find, but I did manage to find two Flickr sets of the exhibit. One by Joe Kral and the other by Ryan Nelson. Enjoy.
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Counter Print Canvas Bag
July 7th, 2009The excellent new online book seller Counter Print has created this wonderful limited edition canvas bags. It has a bottom gusset, long handle and is made from 8oz cotton canvas. You can receive one free, while stocks last, on orders above £40 or purchase it on its own for £6.00.
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ISTD Lecture — Wim Crouwel
June 3rd, 2009Category: Design, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 12
For all you lucky folks in the UK, there’s going to be a lecture tonight with Wim Crouwel. I’d love to go to this. Someone needs to get this guy to NYC! Anyway, here are the details:
The International Society of Typographic Designers is pleased to announce the return or their acclaimed lecture series. The first of which on the 3 June will be Wim Crouwel. The Dutch legend will be introduced by 8vo’s Hamish Muir, who will talk about the studio’s work that was commissioned by Crouwel when he was director of the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen (1989 — 1994).
Crouwel’s lecture, Designer and Client, will take place at the The Royal College of Physicians’ Wolfson Lecture Theatre, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4LE (19.00 — 21.30).
Tickets are limited, likely to sell out quickly and are only available in advance from istd.org.uk/wim-crouwel. £16 (£12 for ISTD members, £10 for students)
Attendees will be invited to celebrate the ISTD’s 80th birthday with a complimentary drink in the Dorchester Library after the lecture.
Tickets also include entry to a raffle for the chance to win a very special prize which will be presented by Crouwel himself.
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Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
March 10th, 2009Visual Acoustics is a documentary film by Eric Bricker that explores the career of the extraordinary architectural photographer, Julius Shulman. His aesthetics, composition and style create timeless photographs that epitomize modern architecture. Shulman is easily one of my favorite photographers.
Unfortunately there isn’t a good online gallery of his complete work, you have to do some searching to find most of it. But there is an amazing book set titled Julius Shulman, Modernism Rediscovered that catalogues his personal archives. Gotta get my hands on a copy.
The film is being screened in limited cities, one of which isn’t NYC, which I don’t understand. Shulman himself will be speaking at some of the screenings and if you’re lucky enough to be in one of these cities, definitely check it out. It’s should be a good one.
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The Practice Sessions
February 23rd, 2009The Practice Sessions is a workshop and panel discussion by Frank Chimero, Duane King, Matt Owens and myself that’s taking place at the National Student Show & Conference from April 2 — 4 in Dallas, Texas. The Practice Sessions was created by Thinking for a Living, an ever-growing platform dedicated to the concept of open source design education. Through a network of topic specific design sites with a focus on education and resources, we share our thoughts, inspirations, critical analysis, design histories and individual experiences relating to a career in design.
I’m looking forward to meeting all of you talented students out there. If you’re an AisleOne reader and attending the conference, definitely come by and say hi.
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Otl Aicher and the 1972 Munich Olympics
December 19th, 2008Category: Books, Design, Events, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style
Comments: 9
When it comes to my top three most influential designers of all time, the list includes Josef Muller-Brockmann, Wim Crouwel, and Otl Aicher.
Otl Aicher is a legendary designer and one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th Century. He’s responsible for many incredible designs, but he’s most famous for the work he did for the 1972 Munich Olympics. He created a beautiful and elegant design system on top of a functional grid system for the entire games that covered all visual aspects including posters, books, catalogues, flags, mascots, medals, tickets and stationery.
To honor all this work and to create an ongoing collection, this site was created. The collection includes pieces that span the entire visual identity for the games, many of which I’ve never seen before.
A few months ago an exhibit was held in San Jose California that focused on all the work done by Aicher for the games. What I would have done to have been able to see it in person. If you’re one of the unlucky souls who wasn’t able to visit, there is a Flickr set of the exhibit.
Recently, I’ve become obsessed with obtaining items from the games. Considering that the Olympics happened in the 70’s and it’s become pretty popular among the design community, most of it is hard to find and expensive. I’ve managed to get my hands on a few things, which I’ll be photographing and adding to my Flickr page very soon, but my “holy grail” is Die Spiele (The Games), a 3 volume set covering the design, execution and usage of the entire visual identity for the games. It’s a damn gold mine! I’ve seen it on ebay only 3 times in the last year and all 3 times I’ve lost the auction because the price went too high. I’ll get a set one day. Anyway, here is a nice Flickr set showing the interior pages of Die Spiele. Get a bib because you’re going to drool.
The image above is the from the excellent Blanka Flickr set. You can also see more juicy stuff here and here and in the Otl Aicher Group.