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Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)
The Cube gallery in Manchester is currently displaying a collection of work by the world famous graphic designer, Alan Fletcher. Described as ‘Britain’s best ever graphic designer’ by the Observer and ‘one of the giants of 20th Century design’ by the Guardian, this a a fantastic opportunity to view fifty years of the designer’s work that continues to influence graphic trends today. The exhibition runs until the 3rd April. Don’t miss it.
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Posted By: Matthew
01 February 2010
Google Chrome
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Posted By: Matthew
17 December 2009
Trends In Typography
It’s always a tricky business choosing the right font for a logo and typography for a brand. There are many factors to consider before you even open up Illustrator. Most importantly is the industry for which it is intended, as well as the target audience, tone of voice, aesthetic appearance, application (be it web or print) and whether or not it visually communicates the correct message for the company.
Reflecting values through the typography is a vital part of a logo as well as primary and secondary fonts in branding. A change of font, weight, size, x height, wether it is in capital letters, can all totally change the connotations of a brand. Looking at how typography is used in individual industries such as Fashion, Creative & Film we can begin to build up a greater picture of why certain fonts are popular and widely used for specific industries.
The fashion industry has honed in on a few good ones. Didot, Garamond and Bodoni are often used as primary or secondary fonts in fashion brands. Time and time again you can see the use of these three, which seem to be perfectly balanced for fashion. and are used predominately throughout magazines such as Vogue, Marie Clare & Bazaar, as well as clothes stores, fashion labels and fragrance brands. Fashion industry logo’s are generally serif fonts set in black, or white reversed out on black.
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Posted By: Dave
16 October 2009
QR Codes are everywhere!
A couple of weeks back, (as part of the Eurocultured weekend), artist Yuri Suzuki created “Graffiti Radio”. Dotted throughout the city, 2D graffiti QR codes (unusual square shaped barcodes) were sprayed onto any available surface with s stencil. People who find the graffiti around the city can take a snapshot of the code on their mobile phone which then triggers music - in the form of an internet radio stream created by the artist. The idea was to musically map the city of Manchester by using this informative form of graffiti.
“Yuri is interested in a connection between graffiti and pirate radio. Both are creative expressions that hack into public facilities. In the case of graffiti, the hacker uses the wall. In case of pirate radio, the hacker uses public radio waves illegally. It can be said that pirate radio is sound graffiti and Suzuki proposes to combine these two methods of graffiti.”
The technology has been used in numerous advertising campaigns. In 2007, posters of QR codes were used to “Spread the virus” for the DVD release of 28 Weeks Later. Recently Editoras Online bookshop used the format to create “The Living Book”. And glancing over my desk this morning I I spotted one on Dave’s Pepsi bottle. QR codes are everywhere!
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Posted By: Matthew
23 June 2009
Low Impact / High Impact advertising
Most businesses these days are concerned about their carbon footprint and the impact their service has on the environment. Here’s a few creative ways of advertising without it ‘costing the earth’ so to speak.
London based design agency KentLyons created a wonderfully eye-catching advertising campaign for ‘Get London Reading’, using a beautifully simple technique called ‘clean advertising’ - a process which includes intricate laser cut stencils and some clever cleaning equipment. The stencil art of various book quotes was laid throughout the streets of london along with the Get London Reading logo to encourage Londoners to make more time for reading. And it did the trick. People stopped in the street and took the time to read. Clean advertising lasts anything from 2 to 20 weeks, is completely legal, incredibly versatile and highly targetable.
There’s many other forms of low impact/high impact advertising. Howies have creative a great sand imprint to advertise their summer catalogue. Curb advertise themselves as ‘the natural media company’ and have some great new ways to promote business and events with minimal environmental impact, including solar art, snow tagging and rake ads. Take a look at what they can do here. It’s pretty impressive!
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Posted By: Matthew
03 June 2009