Intervista: Experimental Jetset

Posted on February 4, 2008February 4, 2008 Posted in IntervistaTagged amsterdam, brockmann, crouwel, culture, dutch, experimental jetset, graphic design, helvetica, Intervista, modernism, punk, rock, typeface, Typography17 Comments

Experimental Jetset is an Amsterdam graphic design unit founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers and Danny van den Dungen. Focusing on printed matter and installation work and inspired by modernism and rock culture, Experimental Jetset has done work for clients such as the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum (SMCS), Purple Institute, Centre Pompidou, Colette, Dutch Post Group (TPG), Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN), Le Cent Quatre (104), De Theatercompagnie and t-shirt label 2K/Gingham. Since being formed, Experimental Jetset has emerged as one of the most respected studios in Europe. Continue reading “Intervista: Experimental Jetset” →

There

Posted on January 31, 2008January 31, 2008 Posted in Design, Technology, TypographyTagged area 17, australia, brockmann, crouwel, Design, graphic, identity, posters2 Comments

You have to respect any studio that has Brockmann and Crouwel posters on their walls. There, an agency based in Australia, has compiled an excellent body of work.

On a side note: I don’t like how their site functions. It’s pretty and all but it becomes very annoying when I have to wait for a new piece to load in Flash. It ends up taking forever to see all of the work and I quickly lose interest. I also don’t like that you can’t easily see all the work at once, even in thumbnail form. All the work should be right there and easy to view rather than having to explore the site in the dark. A good portfolio displays all the work at once, clearly and organized, so it makes viewing faster and more exciting. Area 17 is a great example of this. Flash is definitely the biggest cause for this issue. I think it’s being used more and more in a way where it’s become a barrier between the user and the work. In my opinion a simple CSS site works so much better for portfolios.

I’m not trying to trash There, they do awesome work, it’s just something I’ve been bothered with for some time now and needed to vent.

Another New Theme

Posted on December 22, 2007 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, TypographyTagged brockmann, crouwel, Design, graphic, helvetica, marber, minimalism, modernism, theme, wordpress6 Comments

So I thought about it for a while and I was growing tired of the look of the site. The theme was based on an Upstart Blogger theme that is great, but I was in a rush and it really didn’t come out looking how I envisioned it. So once I decided that it needed to change my initial thought was to create a whole new theme from scratch using Sandbox. I designed the theme is Photoshop and started to implement it into the Sandbox platform but I ran into the same problems as I did on my last theme quest. After some frustrating hours, I came to the conclusion that it would take too long for me to create a theme from scratch, I just don’t have that kind of patience. So I ended that and began focusing on finding a theme that was very simple, easy to customize and was built on some kind of grid system. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy.

After some searching I finally found Marber by Apt Studio. It’s based on Romek Marber’s 1961 grid for Penguin Books, which is a huge plus, and when I looked at the CSS it was all clean and easy to understand. In no time I was on my way to creating a theme that I think represents my style as well as the content of this blog. I wanted a simple, clean design that payed homage to the modernist era and I think I accomplished. What ya think?

I’m going to be tweaking it in the next few days so pardon me if the site is down for quick changes. I haven’t tested how it looks on a PC so if those of you who do use a PC could give me some feedback that would be great.

I want to thank the folks at Apt Studio for creating such a wonderful theme. It might not be a theme with the most “eye candy” but it sure has a lot of underlining meaning to the form and structure that makes it so valuable. You can read a bit of the background to the theme here.

Here are some features:

A simple, two-column theme.
Six colour schemes, easily changed via the backend.
Three layouts, for 800px width, 1000px width, and fully fluid, again easily switched via the admin panel.
Widgetized sidebar.
WP 2.3+ only – includes tags.
Typographically set to a baseline grid.
Author comment highlighting.
Cross-browser compatible, with subtly different layouts for Mozilla, Webkit and IE browsers.
Integrated microformats.
Fully valid XHTML and CSS.
Integrated WordPress.com stats (with no smiley!).
Custom 404 page.

Josef Müller-Brockmann Tribute Video

Posted on December 6, 2007August 26, 2008 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, TypographyTagged brockmann, butcher, gary, josef, Motion Graphics, muller, video

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Here’s a great motion graphics piece by Gary Butcher in tribute of graphic design legend Josef Müller-Brockmann. The video was made for the Forty Eight Posters exhibit.