The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) is currently having an exhibition called ‘Architectural environments for tomorrow – new spatial practices in architecture and art.’ Among it’s participants is Haruka Kojin, the youngest of the exhibitors. Her piece ‘Contact Lens,’ uses two types of acrylic lenses, one flat and one warped, to create a poetic/distorted view of reality. Although the technique of distorting real environments isn’t a new idea (Alyson Shotz – http://derekeller.com/
Branding is creating distinction, and there’s a point in a branding exercise when a company’s unique personality traits are devised. It’s as if a human being is being built—a living, breathing brand. It’s a part of the process I particularly enjoy.
While flipping through photos I’ve shot in various cities, I was drawn to images of Rome—specifically the distinctive storefront signage so abundant there. You see, I love cities. They’re the result of a massive collective endeavor, with their own unique complexities, histories and discoveries. Cities are rich in detail and no two are alike.
I was struck by the thought of how a city attains its personality without even trying. It just happens with time. In the case of Rome, its signage creates a singularly distinct and beautiful voice. I wonder how Romans would characterize their city.
As a designer, I’m drawn to this sort of detail. And I love typography. I haven’t seen anything else quite like it—in Italy or any other place.
“Since the early days of Modernism, the interplay between art and music has given considerable impetus to the development of new art forms.” And so begins Barbara Johns’ highly illuminating essay about that very interplay, although she really could have given a tip of the hat to Alex Steinweiss who passed away this week at 94. A large contributor to 20th-century audio-visual culture, he revolutionized how albums were packaged and sold by simply putting covers on them. It’s hard to imagine nowadays, where image is everything and manipulated for the hard sell, but this innovation saw massive sales increases. As Eye magazine notes, “He was just as much a pioneer of corporate branding insofar as he gave a major recording company a distinctive identity.” Alex Steinweiss changed the way people saw music, forever.
Back in 1939, those hard shellacked 78s were covered in brown, tan or green paper and in the words of Alex (how auspicious of him!), “Who the hell’s going to buy this stuff? There’s no push to it. There’s no attractiveness. There’s no sales appeal. So I told them I’d like to start designing covers.’’ And he did—thousands of them. The art of the record sleeve had been born. His eye-catching covers, initially only for Columbia Records, used stylized imagery combining motifs from folk art, art deco and cubism as well as his own hand-drawn lettering. He single-handedly started a whole new design form and industry.
His account of starting out is fascinating, even inspiring and his influence is still with us. As Art Director for Columbia, he hired Jim Flora as a commercial artist who himself defined the 1940s-50s-era jazz album cover like no other. Today’s pop surrealists/low-brow artists such as Tim Biskup, Mark Ryden, Shag, Shepard Fairey, to name but a few, can trace their artistic evolution back to the Steinweiss/Flora era. Not to mention album art began to be taken seriously in other musical genres. Where would we be without classic rock covers of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, Peter Saville’s iconic images for Joy Division and New Order or the countless sleeve designers whose visions populate so many fabulous Best of and Worst of lists alike?
The Steinweiss legacy lives on, Taschen produced a weighty retrospective and an “art-star tribute exhibition” was shown not that long ago, acknowledging that these early commercial artists created something that deserved to be enjoyed on its own terms—as fine art. In the age of intangible downloads and music-streaming, long live Alex Steinweiss—the original music image-maker.
Not that long ago I saw a comedian telling a joke about how Google has ruined his life; in that the time between knowing and not knowing has significantly decreased and once he had that information, he then promptly forgot it. Here, then, is a Baker’s Dozen of things you maybe didn’t know — or might have missed — you might even read and remember some of them.
We all want to be future-proof, here Kevin Kelley shares his six words defining the future of the internet, and are cloud computers part of that future? Meanwhile, music doesn’t have to only live in the cloud, if you’re a Playboy reader in Brazil, it’s also embedded in your magazine spine and QR codes are not just for ads, they’re popping up on currency.
Visualizing massive amounts of data is always a challenge and this chart built in HTML5 showing global migration manages to both simplify and be well-organized. Maps are great at imparting complex information and now, using open-intelligence and geo-referenced information, maptivism is engaging people across the planet. If you need a break from business lessons from Bono, then Penguin Books goes beyond the basic e-book and brings to life a classic Beat novel; and Shazam moves from your phone to the TV.
Need a break from all things digital? Make your Scrabble board look like a ransom note, have a cup of fair trade coffee from your own personal coffee farmer and surround yourself with the familiar scent of newsprint.
And, if you like any of these but can’t decide whether to share, comment or reblog yourself, perhaps these will help you decide.
F L U X from candas sisman on Vimeo.
FLUX is a video interpretation of Ilhan Koman’s sculptures. The piece isn’t a direct video translation of the physical work. There was a conscious effort not to re-document Koman’s work. The result is an impressive spatial experience that not only honors Koman but amplifies the work to a new level.
Nike’s new adrenalin-charged World Cup TV commercial is a masterful example of storytelling. Called “Write The Future” and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, (Amores Perros, Babel, 21 Grams) it’s a skillful realization encompassing the global passion for arguably the world’s favorite sport. Backed by a thumping prog track by Focus, the lavishly detailed 3 minute film — how could we call it a mere “advert”? — is as much a tribute to some of the best in the profession as it is to the devotion of the fans.
Containing some surprise cameoes from Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer, Homer Simpson and Gael Garcia Bernal aswell as footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro and Landon Donovan to name but a few, the intense jump cuts manage to capture the unpredictability of the game and, incorporating a nod or two to our electronic connectivity, several flashforwards to a possible but not unrealistic future. Skillfully weaving several storylines including a Rooney-obssessed nation, a jaunty Spanish musical homage and a Ronaldo statue/stadium, it’s one impressive journey.
In a statement which is as relevant to everyday life as it is to football, Ronaldo says, “One touch of the ball can be an opportunity to leave your mark on the game and write your own future, or equally a moment missed, that creates a legacy for your opponent with their fans.”
Davide Grasso, vice president of global football marketing at Nike, summed it up by adding: “This epic campaign really captures the scale, emotion and impact that one single moment in a football game can have on a player, fan or nation.”
Which ever way you look at it, the ad’s a winner! See for yourself. 
On my daily perusal of msnbc.com I came across an article titled, “‘Awesome blog becomes a book”. I don’t know about you but when someone uses “awesome” it triggers a rubbernecking, prove it, skeptical yet curious reaction that I can’t pass up. I mean really. How awesome can it really be? But when the first entry, #1000 Broccoflower, pokes fun at “the bizarre misfit child of two of nature’s most hideous vegetables” you can’t help but smile while the word “awesome” slips from your lips. Neil Pasricha had a simple goal. Focus on the the positive. Specifically, a 1000 positives. In the world of branding, where simple resonates, I think he’s hit on something…well…awesome.
Well, first of all, there are a lot of reasons. But let’s just focus on a couple of them here.
We talk a lot about being communicators, storytellers. Part of the reason we place our focus there is that it’s a characterization that exists beyond the medium we use to communicate — a story is a story, an audience is an audience. We choose our delivery method from a broad palette of the most relevant media available to deliver that story, that message. As such, an important part of our job is keeping our eyes on the horizon — when a new delivery medium becomes available, we have to know what it means to us (as a communicative tool) and to the world-at-large (as an experiential tool).
Enter the iPad, a brand new game-changing device. Up until now, the “netbook” has filled an unusual market space: it’s a tool meant for the user that wants to carry a computer with them but primarily wants it for less processor-intensive tasks… web browsing, email, watching movies, etc. Computer manufacturers answered this need in the most simplistic way possible; they provided hobbled machines, built in smaller cases with smaller screens and lighter materials — like less-capable laptops. What Apple has done, is analyze the underlying needs of that user segment and create a device that caters exceptionally well to those needs. If i might make a fairly obvious prediction, this is going to be the next “must have” piece of mobile technology — it’s going to be the device to have if you’re a college student, a frequent traveller, a commuter, an artist, a reader, a movie fanatic… the list goes on and on. Only a month after it’s announcement, it’s relevance online in articles, searches, blog entries, etc., has proven the impact it’s already made, and it hasn’t even shipped yet.
One of the most exciting aspects of this device though, is what it means in the “printed page”/digital media arena. Last month’s New York Magazine commented that the iPad was looking to bring “old fashioned printed page graphic design into the digital era.” This is an exciting thing to watch. For years, designers have been frustrated by the limitations of designing for the web. In many ways, designing for print is far superior to designing for the web… we create a design that is confined to a target we choose, and once printed is “baked” that way. From that point forward, the experience is (hopefully) exactly what we intended for it to be. With the advent of web design, however, all of the limitations of the printed page were suddenly done away with –both the good and the bad — but along with that blank slate came the challenges of wrestling with variable page widths and lengths, different target resolutions, different color depths, different browser requirements, etc., etc. We would never again be sure that two experiences of the content created would ever be the same, and experience is critical.
All it takes is one look at the demonstration of how a book behaves on the iPad, and suddenly the possibilities become clear… all the welcome boundaries, physics and behaviors of a real printed page, but with the additional capability of including video, motion graphics, links, etc. A fixed display resolution, beautiful color depth and multi-touch interactivity. And most importantly, everyone that has one will see your content in exactly the same way. And that is a very powerful thing. A critical part of delivering a message is knowing that it will be seen as intended… the iPad provides us with a platform where we have that security. It is going to be the go-to device for college students, early adopters, alpha consumers, frequent travelers, readers, movie watchers, web browsers — and most importantly for us, people that are empowered to be brand champions.
I don’t know about you, but mine’s already on pre-order.