Sam Flores

Sam Flores   

 I have always loved winter sports and getting out on mountains.  A couple years ago my dad bought a pair of skis by Icelantic.  They are a company based out of Colorado that pair awesome quality skis with awesome graphics.  Recently they partnered with Sam Flores to create a limited addition style of skis.
    Sam Flores is an American visual artist, illustrator, and muralist who's genre is mostly urban and graffiti-inspired modern art.  His mediums are mostly acrylics, pen and ink, and sculpture.  He focuses his talents on created designs for skateboarding and clothing companies.  He has shown work in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Japan and throughout Europe.
    The reason why I chose him is because 1) He is working with Icelantic, a company that I would love to have a chance to work for  2) Because he is a designer who has persevered by being true to his style while also making his mark in businesses such as Icelantic.
    I especially like his realism mixed with abstraction that is all tied together with his vivid uses of colors.  His art and successes are a great inspiration to aspiring designers.

Check out Icentic's website to see his work as well as the awesome graphics used on Icelantic's other merchandise.

Brand New, New brands.

Well, This has to be my favorite branding-related website.

The Brand New section of the underconsideration website is my personal "informant" for all the major rebrand cases on a global scale. It also has a section where professionals of the industry reviews some rebrands in-depth. It has a database of cases that goes back to around 2006.


The website is also crawling with other people who shares the same interest of branding, although the comment section can get hectic with people comparing logos with similar design traits (even though the two companies may be from different continents, and different professional sectors) and people trolling with self-made memes and other shenanigans. Nonetheless there are many insightful comments regarding the case in question. Plus, the rest are pretty amusing to read anyway.


The rest of underconsideration is full of goodies as well.  Art of the Manu would be my runner-up favorite.

underconsideration.com/brandnew/

underconsideration.com

underconsideration.com/quipsologies/


But yeah, have a great rest of the semester!

Shh...this has nothing to do with our next project.

I totally forgot to reply to this blog.

In other news, since project 2 is starting soon, I thought that it would be a good idea to share a relevant article about packaging design. I stumbled upon this while researching for the project.

Here are some of my favorite designs.

I adore the "bean bag" for it's organic, transparent look. The product looks so much fresher in it than the normal bean products I saw at the supermarket last week. (It reminds me of the "milk in a bag" I encountered in China back in the 2000s, I think they have those in Canada now.)

The pun involved in this design is just genius. Putting mints in coin rolls (usually distributed by monetary mints) makes it a memorable item that you can find in store.

This reminds me of the IKEA packages. The important texts are bold and highly visible on the package. The opening makes it easy for consumers to examine the light bulbs before purchasing. Also, just imagine how much ink (& money) the manufacturer will save by using this design.







I just love the dogs in this one.















The milk cartons are great because they are simple. It really gave me the impression that the milk are perfectly white and pure. Here is also a similar design that I also like.

This has to be my favorite one. Despite the cost concern I loved how it has the academic theme. Perhaps it could be sold individually by the test tubes. 

These are all designed by students, not that we need to raise the bar because of that...

In you're interested in seeing all 30 of them, here's the link to the article: Awesome

For all the gamers out there...

*Originally I was going to talk about another website that covers corporate and brand identity work, but I stumbled upon this website so that other one will just have to wait.

The Game Art Hub (www.gamearthub.net/) is an archive-like resource formed in 2012. It has around 80 posts and is continuously growing with new posts every week. The site is perfect for those who are interested in becoming a video game design artist because that's all this site has - concept arts and models for video games. 


The site has collected concept arts from many hit titles like The Last of Us, Call of Duty, HALO and more. Many of their posts start with a short paragraph introducing the artist(s) or the studio, the video game in question and their opinion about the video game. They might also go into detail regarding the creator's career history, technical aspect of the project, or some interesting facts about the game / project.

The video game industry has been growing steadily in recent years. In 2013 Grand Theft Auto V set a world record for having the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours., among other stunning records. Meanwhile, cheaper games offered on smartphones and tablets like Angry Bird is transforming the industry into an ultra-competitive, multi-billion dollars market of casual games and apps. Video game design is definitely a shining career path.

For more info, visit www.gamearthub.net/

All images copyrighted to their respective owner.

Ten Paces and Draw

I found this really cool website: http://www.tenpacesanddraw.com/

 

Each week, the people that run the website sets a challenge for designers and illustrators to sketch and swap with others to make cool designs. So the whole website has designs from different people and sketches also.

 

And you can see all the different challenges that they had. One of the challenges that I like is Character Redesign because they had a Star Wars challenge and all the designs for it are awesome. Also when you design something for a challenge they put your information in like your website so if people like your stuff they get to know more about you. So if you're bored, you can contribute to the website and do one of the challenges!

15 Illustrators

I thought that this article was interesting because it shows the several different ways that illustrators design. Some of the illustrators in this article give me a new perspective. I enjoy it because the illustration go from super realistic to very cartoony and fun. It shows a lot of inspiration. I do like that this article also provides an explanation for each illustrator as well.

http://weburbanist.com/2010/02/15/dazzling-digital-illustration-15-artists-to-watch/

I love Typography

   I stumbled upon this website a while ago when researching some sign design stuff I was working on and this site has tons of amazing resources for typography.  The site has basically all the answers you would ever need for any typography type questions.  There are an endless amount of interviews posted with famous type designers and how to go about using the right typeface for certain jobs and even breakdowns of how to go about creating your own typeface from scratch.  The site also has a link to Codex Mag which is another awesome journal for typography.  I would definitely recommend this site if you come across any typography/design problems.

I Love Typography

Codex Magazine  

SPOON GRAPHICS- Freebies, tutorials, and more!

While working on one of our many assignments, I wanted to figure out a way to texturize a logo in Illustrator. Thus far, I've only experimented with grunge textures in Photoshop, but the Brits at the Spoon Graphics Blog gave me plenty of help with my Illustrator endeavors! Not only were there 5+ tutorials covering different aspects of the design I needed, but Chris Spooner created a Vector Texture Freebie Pack that I could use and someday emulate on my own.
There are tons of detailed articles, and even more free packs that are really helpful! The tutorials are easy to read, and include great pictures to help you follow along. I feel like there are always tutorials online, but the amount of comprehensible tutorials is far more limited. If you need help with an effect, or creating a specific type of graphic, I'm sure Spoon Graphics has it! I know it will definitely be my first stop the next time I'm having trouble with something!

What NOT to do in Logo Design

I found another awesome article from Smashing Magazine that I think could be very useful for all designers called "10 Common Mistakes in Logo Design."  Although I have little to no experience in logo design (the only logo I "designed" my client had already sketched out what they wanted for me) I think it is good to know this tips on what NOT to do so if I do start log design I have something to go off of.  The hardest thing for myself in logo design is knowing where to even start, so maybe knowing where NOT to start and having this information in the back of my mind may be helpful.  Most of these tips have to do with avoiding the obvious, what others are doing, or what already exists in logo design.  I think overall what I can take away from all these points in this article is to make your logo unique, ordinary, and professionally fitting for the business it is to represent.
If you don't have time to read the full article, here are the bullet points they say graphic designers should avoid in logo design:
1. Designed by an Amateur
2. Relies on Trends
3. Uses Raster Images
4. Contains Stock Art
5. Designing for Yourself Rather than the Client
6. Overly Complex
7. Relies on Color for its Effects
8. Poor Choice of Fonts
9. Has Too Many Fonts
10. Copies Others

Comic Sans: Misunderstood or Just Plain Tacky?

      If you were to name one font that you absolutely detest and makes you cringe when you see it used in a public space, what would it be? If you are like most of the designers (or just people with taste in general) I know, your answer would be Comic Sans. I know that personally, Comic Sans is on my definitely-never-ever-use-this-typeface list. But how many people have actually stopped and thought about why we hate this typeface so much? Sure - it's poorly kerned, unprofessional and looks tacky. But why did anyone ever design it in the first place? Did it ever have a purpose? I stumbled upon this video a few weeks ago and thought that I would share: 

   
     Now if you're like me, this video still did not change my opinion on the tackiness of Comic Sans at all. I did however, gain a little bit of respect for it than before. Now that I know where it came for and what it's original purpose was, I'm feeling a little less disdain towards it than before. Plus what this guy said was true, people who know absolutely nothing about design using creative fonts like Comic Sans is a step in the right direction towards design literacy. It's a small step, but a step none the less. 

Visual Design: Not Just By Sight

            I read an article in Communication Arts Advertising Annual and Wendy Richmond explains how we see with our brains, not our eyes. It was really interesting as a designer to think about the question she brings up of, “how do our brains process the visual world around us?” With this understanding that our brains working in crazy different ways we are able to be aware of and understand the details and things that influence our beliefs and actions.

            She goes on to give examples of how when we feel or sense things we see and imagine them. We see the objects shape, size, contour, etc. We are able to subjectively perceive the layout.

            Simple observation is important as the brain processes an object. Richmond explains her exploration into the effect of using different senses such as touch, sight, sound, etc. to really see, imagine, and create designs. “The brain is not so single-minded…our senses work together processing incoming information.” We take all this information and interpret it in many ways in our minds.

            She emphasizes the use of sense and its importance in design. These factors greatly affect the overall effectiveness of your design. Things are not just marked by their appearances, but rather by the way people interpret and perceive them. So we must ask what makes this design resonate with us? Through observation, with an awareness of your senses, how does it make you feel? Instead of just designing by sight we need to consider how the design will spark imagination and what people might picture and feel. We must understand how to effectively design for our target audience by learning what senses will trigger visual perception of a design that will resonate with them.