Time to discuss design!

Juxtapoz!

Chelsea Martin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:36:00 +0000

So I found a neat magazine Juxtapoz is an awesome way to connect to ton’s of talented designers. I toured around their site and was impressed by every artist that Juxtapoz would suggest, as well as the many blogs posted from Juxtapoz members.

I first came across a blog dedicated to the artist Christian Rex van Minnen. How he makes decaying body organs look so amazing is definitely mind boggling. Just take a look at his amazing paintings!! I wish I could come up with such a creative way to make art. I think this will be my goal over Christmas break. Figure out a way to create an art piece out of something so bizarre. http://www.seevanminnen.com/

How about this one? These illustrations are awesome! They make an entire school lunch come to life in cute character forms! These illustrations come from a couple of artists out of Chicago who started the Delicious Design League.

http://deliciousdesignleague.com
They have displayed some of the talented artists that participated in their 15th Anniversary Art Auction. I think I definitely enjoy graffiti or street inspired art. I love the contrast and the bold lines.

This one was done by artist Sam Flores.

This site is such an inspiration. I really need that right now to keep myself motivated for this last year of school. All of the artists that are featured on this site gives me something to strive for. Just when I think there can’t be any more originality in art I’m continually being surprised.

http://www.juxtapoz.com/

Who wants a shower?

Chelsea Martin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:15:06 +0000

Okay, so kind of random post but I swear its relevant to design. I’m sure everyone can agree that we all love a good shower head (I mean this strictly in a non sexual way). Last night I happened to experience an amazing 6 jet shower space. Anyways, I was at my best friends house, who recently had her basement renovated. Installing a 6 nozzled shower space, steam room included, was a main part of the renovation. I seriously can’t believe I’ve never set foot in one of these modern designed showers before. Curious about how much these guys cost, as well as the different designs, I stumbled upon many design companies who’s entire focus is the design of showers (this includes shower heads, jets, steam rooms, the interior and exterior design of the shower space etc.). They not only get you exceptionally clean, they also make your bathroom look beautiful. From tiled heated benches, to glass sliding doors, one of these showers would seriously complete my life.

This Water Tile Rain Shower panel has 4, 54 nozzle adjustable spray heads!!! With an even targeted spray this would be amazing. The other design creates a waterfall effect, how relaxing

I feel like these showers have been so beautifully designed I would just want one for its appearance and the actual shower experience would just be an added benefit. With this showers ranging anywhere for $600 dollars to $1000′s of dollars the likely hood of me owning one of these might be a little out of reach. Maybe if I somehow wing it and become an extremely successful designer… (haha, I’ll try my best). So thats my little blurb about showers heres some more designs to check out –>

Look at these silly looking things. On the left is a luxury shower head. While the one on the right, called the pocket shower, is a portable, frabric, shower bag that holds up to 10L of water!

Finally… Can I please have these?? Thanks.

Happy Design

Chelsea Martin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:03:52 +0000

Alllriiigghttt…. So lets take a look at a different genre of design. Industrial design! A friend of mine, who now works in Toronto for an industrial design company, is who initially introduced me to this field. Being such a creative person her designs were extremely eye-catching. Some of her designs included; her beautiful red sofa chair, which she made entirely by herself, and her unique chandelier she created with white feathers and lights. Although I feel I could design a a piece of furniture, to actually make it would probably do more harm than good considering my lack in engineering skills.

This is where I decided to find a couple highly respected Industrial Design Companies. What I came across was Happy Design!

This Company, founded in Milan, Italy in 1999, has been able to use advanced technology in internet to connect with clients all over the world. Having a large clientele from various countries in the world contributes to the companies design and they benefit from cultural inspiration.

I enjoy this companies abstract style on each of their pieces. The stand on the digital photo frame is playful and modern. And although I’d never own this cheese inspired chair, I still think its quite the original design. I’m always impressed when someone comes up with something unique and new. The design crew at Happy Design obviously pushes their creative minds to the extreme to come up with their designs.

This profession is definitely intimidating but something I could consider trying in my future. I’m impressed all you industrial designers!

Visit them www.happydesign.it/

Grind it…

Chelsea Martin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:59:55 +0000

Sooo, its been awhile since my last post. I found something a little different compared to the others. Something a little more funkier and grundgier

I’ve been keeping up to date with Grafika (the magazine I first made a post of) on facebook. On the facebook page any member is able to put up links or pictures of anything they find interesting, kind of like how a blog works. I’ve been visiting sites that other fellow Grafika fans have suggested. I came along one called GrindState.com. It had a funky, hip-hop feel in their designs. The majority of their work is photography. I was so pleased to find this site as I’m working on some portfolio pieces and I was needing some inspiration from different genres of design. A lot of their work involves clever words or phrases. They’re actually quite funny. I really enjoy the photo of a record player, with a “hello my name is ‘fat beats’” sticker placed in the bottom right corner.

I am going to try my hardest to achieve this look for one of my upcoming projects. I find it original and something a little more “out of the box”. I think my absolute favorites on this site are the many photographs of graffiti. Since graffiti is just a two dimensional subject I’m definitely impressed by the abstract angles, and different lighting the photographers shot at. Although the subject matter is fairly similar, they’ve done a great job achieving individuality in each piece.

Good Job GrindState I look forward to my hopefully grundgier future!

www.grindstate.com

The Beauty of Still Motion

Chelsea Martin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:59:17 +0000

So there is a website that I recently have developed a little obsession for. I don’t know if its because most girls seem to always dream of a perfect, beautiful wedding and I have realized I definitely fit into that category. Or if I just appreciate beautiful photography and stunningly captured video. Either way this site could move even the most stubborn person in some kind of emotional way. Please visit this site and be moved to tears as I have been. The photography is so impressive. This company is able to put such a unique twist on their wedding photography in comparison to other typical wedding photos. I find the majority of the photographers photo’s are taken with the subjects in action, most likely why they are called “Still Motion”. This creates so much character and movement in the photo, they seem so real apposed to a staged photograph.

The home page introduces a slide show of photography the company has done. This gives you a little taste of the company’s talent before you move on to some of their videos. I was most impressed by their wedding videos and how they’re edited to resemble a movie trailer. Music that they pair with the video compliments nicely and quality is impeccable. One of my favorite videos has to be the Melinh and Seewell wedding. I love cultural weddings and this one is so colorfully beautiful. I can only wish for the day I’d be so lucky to work for this amazing company.

Visit them at www.stillmotion.ca

Their entire portfolio is amazing.

Red the Agency

Chelsea Martin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:00:53 +0000

Today I’d like to give “Red the Agency” a little credit for all of their hard work. This is a company that does it all, this includes; advertising, broadcasting, digital design, interactive design, logo design etc. I was introduced to this company by a friend who is in the video editing field. She strongly recommends working with them, as they’re professional, creative, and reliable. She also recommended checking out their website. I was happy to find an online portfolio with an extensive amount of projects they’ve worked on.

You are first introduced to the website with a page explaining the company’s approach and why they are a company you’d want to hire. They make their confidence obvious by explaining their process and how it “creates consistently brilliant work.” Their website is easy to maneuver around, and intrigues you with different links to different areas of their online portfolio.

While this company’s website is enticing and informative their video is actually what drew me in. Different members of the agency explain what they’re initiative is, how they’re unique from other companies, and their goals to be the best. They sum up their success in a few words:

Be curious

Be relevant

Be remarkable

I, as a a designer, can agree with that. I was quite impressed with the words they chose and the reason why they chose them. It made sense that you must be curious, curiosity is how you find inspiration, and being relevant to what your client wants creates a understanding relationship. In return you will have a remarkable output.

I guess the idea of using these three words is why I connected with this company so well. I completely agreed with them! And I will keep these three words in mind for future projects. Thanks Red

http://www.redtheagency.com/

Hello Grafik!

Chelsea Martin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:07:13 +0000

Last year in school, my first semester, I was finding it very difficult to get motivated. I was becoming more and more frustrated with myself. My projects were lacking creativity and I came to the conclusion that this was the end of my design potential. However, one day this all changed! It actually started with a casual stroll down Whyte avenue when I decided to check out Chapters, it had been awhile since I had a good read. Instead of finding my next novel, a busy, bright colored, cover of a magazine caught my eye. I picked it up. Inside I was thrilled to find typography pages, blog pages, editor letters, graphic art, logo forms, photography. Immediately the magazine was getting me excited. Especially because we had a massive project due in Typography, completing a Veer Magazine…

It was called Grafik Magazine, and I loved it!

It’s a magazine based out of London. It has a quirky, cutting-edge style and while the writing holds a fair amount of humor in it, it is still very informative. After becoming a fan of the book I shortly became a fan of the website. Although the site is unfortunately under construction you can still visit the virtual edition for the time being. The amount of creativity that goes into this magazine and site is definitely impressive. The work of the Grafik team helped me out of a serious design rut, which I am grateful for. I hope that they will inspire and amuse you and as much as they did for me. Enjoy!

http://www.grafikmagazine.co.uk/
become a Facebook fan too! http://www.facebook.com/grafikmagazine?ref=mf

-Chelsea