a new app from al gore, that gets a rave review from coolhunting, i downloaded it this week and it is indeed worth a look… erm read…
me news
868 books that inspired 62 designers
a website full of must-read book recommendations from graphic designers, not everybody will be interested, i understand… good to see mister sagmeister naming brian eno’s fabulous ‘a year with swollen appendices’ diary, it would be on my list too…
foto boom
any regular readers will know that ‘irma boom’ already is highly ranked in my esteem as a book designer, possibly even the best there is… worldwide, her latest book is no exception, the large volume ‘foto vincent mentzel’ covering the long career of this respected dutch portrait and documentary photographer bears the signature ‘boom’ sober, (large sans serif) typographical cover (black & white in line with mentzels own ouevre) and the material choice/printing quality is as usual highly refined and warm to the touch…
the real trump card however here, is her image editing: such a large body of work can be ordered in a number of logical and legitimate ways, she chose the unusual, yet highly effective, route of grouping images in visual context (or similarity) instead, people standing in front of bookcases, people wearing suits, with hands clasped, the whole book is clustered in this way and once you have grasped this ‘visual storyline’ the viewing experience becomes even more rewarding, this choice naturally places people and events in close proximity that have in reality little or no formal connection, creating a new layer of information whilst smartly presenting the width and depth of the photographers career, yet without trying to hijack the subject of the book and imposing a superfluous layer of extra ‘design’ elements, very nice indeed…
the book has several cover image variations, in the amsterdam bookstore i visited, the version with an image of a chinese factory worker had sold out immediately whereas a queen beatrix cover version was as yet still untouched by customers… i thought they always say never judge a book by it’s cover…
the art of visual persuasion
it turns out that my office neighbour marc andrews is not only a graphic designer but also a social psychologist, he has combined these two areas of interest in a recently published research thesis entitled visual rhetoric on the psychology, semiotics and rhetoric of social communication campaigns, the whole project can be viewed online and downloaded to read later in depth, worth a visit it is too…
it seems to me that this kind of research can provide a context and ratio to the stuff that we as designers seem to know instinctively but are not always aware of in our own work and methods of thinking, plus it looks like i’ll have to call him ‘professor’ from now on…
an interest for the common
this beautifully made and well researched book by finnish designer ’emmi salonen’ arrived in the studio this week: common interest: documents which (to lazily quote from the blurb text) …explores document design in the fields of arts, culture, academia, public sector an charities. Displayed, handed out or sold in art galleries, cultural events and other public places, these designs are shared by the general public. Without big corporate budgets, close to a hundred case studies show resourceful and creative design solutions, which improve their conveyed message. Focusing on considered environmental solutions and unique production and finishing techniques, each study list print and paper choices, together with details on finishing…
i was invited to contribute several projects but they didn’t make it to the final selection apparently, not good enough i guess, oh well…