Really Useful Posters

Posted on January 28, 2011January 28, 2011 Posted in Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, TypographyTagged graphic design, grid system, International Typographic Style, minimalism, modernism, posters, Typography7 Comments

The uber-talented Mark Bloom of Mash Creative just wrote in about these gorgeous ‘Really Useful’ posters they’ve created, extending the philosophy and thinking behind their State of the Obvious brand. The series consists of four themed posters: Greenwhich Mean Time, Emoticons, Print Sizes and Metric Conversion information and are available in A0, A1 and A2 sizes exclusively from Print Process.

Some people will find these designs to be boring, but I personally find them to be visually stimulating. The obvious grid, simple but rich color palette and staggered typography create interesting designs that are reminiscent of the classic International Typographic Style from the 50s and 60s. This is the kind of stuff that gets my creative juices flowing.

TWO – Think Work Observe

Posted on January 26, 2011January 27, 2011 Posted in DesignTagged graphic design, italy1 Comment

Fellow Italiano designers Piero Di Biase and Alberto Moreu wrote in about their design practice, TWO. Some nice work here.

Hugo & Cat – The BLK Book

Posted on January 26, 2011January 26, 2011 Posted in Design, MerchTagged foil stamping, graphic design, notebook, paper, print4 Comments

Uk agency Hugo & Cat initially designed and produced the BLK Book as a Christmas gift for their clients. I’m lucky enough to have an early copy and it’s a superbly crafted book that just makes you want to crack it open and take a big whiff of the glue, ink and paper. It’s pieces like this that make me love the printed medium.

The book is hand finished in heavy ebony Colorplan paper, printed with gold and white foil by Generation Press.

The BLK Book will soon be available for purchase.

Kristín Agnarsdóttir

Posted on January 24, 2011January 24, 2011 Posted in DesignTagged graphic design, helvetica, minimalism, packaging4 Comments

Recent graduate Kristín Agnarsdóttir designed this Knoll Architectural Paint packaging for a design class at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. The class assignment was to either redesign an existing architectural paint line or choose a brand or designer and invent a paint line for them. Here’s what had to say about why she selected the Knoll brand:

Based on my love for strong simple mid century designs, I chose Knoll as my inspiration and maker of a new line of paint colors. The name is french and means “light”. The idea is that they only make a very selected line of colors inspired by their textiles and color choices through the decades.

Excellent choice of colors that would make this product stand out from the rest. I’d by this stuff solely on the great design of the packaging.

I’m sure she received in A in that class. I love seeing work of this caliber coming from recent graduates.

Buddy Carr 66 Signature Model

Posted on January 19, 2011January 19, 2011 Posted in Design, MerchTagged buddy carr, graphic design, racing, skateboard9 Comments

The “66” is the latest skateboard I designed for Buddy Carr Skateboards. It’s Buddy’s signature model, so he’ll be ripping it up on one at the pools across SoCal.

Lately, Buddy and I have been inspired by GP racing graphics from the 60s and 70s. I’ve always loved the light blue and orange color scheme of the Ford GT40 Gulf Oil, so I used that as inspiration for this board. The design morphed into the final angled version after a few rounds of ideas that played off the simple classic racing graphics. The text is set in Univers Ultra Condensed, which really compliments the design.

As always, it was a blast designing this. You can check out more photos and info or buy a complete at Buddy Carr Skateboards.

Minimalist Tote Bags

Posted on January 15, 2011January 15, 2011 Posted in Design, MerchTagged bags, canvas, graphic design, merchandise, minimalism2 Comments

Brooklyn based designer Jeff Ramsey created these beautiful and functional canvas tote bags. My favorite is the Misc. pictured here. The bags are screen-printed on natural colored canvas. You can order one of these lovely bags on Jeff’s site.

Via Swiss Legacy