Posts by Alex

A little while ago, I wrote about my current class assignment to reinvigorate a brand that is “dead, dying or defunct”. As we are nearing the semester’s end next month, I thought it would be a good time to begin describing the process of this project. The final deliverable is a book, in which we describe the history of our chosen brand (and why it’s time for a update), outline the new identity guidelines (visual standards manuals, usage considerations etc), and show potential extensions (mock ups of storefronts, products, etc). For this process post I’ll describe my brand choice and eventual logo development.
(project permalink on my site)

When I wrote the first article, I was considering No Fear as my primary option. With such a versatile name, I figured I could take the brand in a number of different directions. However, as much fun as it would have been to revisit the dominant clothing of my middle school years (along with LA Lights), I was concerned that the project would not really extend anywhere beyond a basic brand overhaul (new logo, visuals, products, etc). I saw little opportunity for humor or much conceptual work, and I opted to move in a different direction.

I decided to rebrand Playboy — a brand that many might say is arguably not dead, dying or defunct. Like many magazines, they actually are “dying” (financially), but for my project I focused on the decay of the overall perception of the brand. The graph below displays how I feel the brand has progressed in a more abstract fashion. Basically, these days, I would say most people would be embarrassed to say they read Playboy. A baseless assumption perhaps, but when was the last time you saw someone reading Playboy in public?

To keep up with the increasing trashiness of the American Men’s magazine, Playboy has been forced to reposition itself as “one of the boys” as it were, and is now indistinguishable from the Maxim’s of the world. Rather than hold on to the sophisticated standards of their early years, Playboy has come to embrace its unfortunately crude place in the magazine world. This evolution (rather, devolution) is tragic and the original soul of the brand has been lost. Maybe not “dead, dying or defunct”, but Playboy has certainly lost something along the way. I saw an opportunity to bring some of the original classiness and sophistication back with a drastic repositioning…

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I was reading the New York Times this weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see the work of Cristina Couceiro as part of one of the magazine articles. I recognized her distinctive style from when Scott posted her work a little while back. In the capacity of the magazine article, it was interesting to see how the use contemporary imagery changed the overall impression of her work. I think it was successful — it brings context, and an slight twinge of humor to the work that wasn’t present in some of the earlier ‘found imagery’ pieces. Something about Steve Carrel especially just works for me…maybe it’s that ridiculous shirt he’s wearing.

This is probably the third time recently I’ve randomly stumbled upon the work of an artist I recognize in a magazine; I saw Leandro Castelao in a recent issue of GOOD, Mark Weaver in Wired, and someone else I’m forgetting now. It’s great to see how their work translates into an editorial environment. And great to see that magazines are supporting the amazing talent of all these artists!

Older poster series by Darren Firth. I’ve always been a fan of Darren’s web work and recently came upon the project above while searching around for innovative ways to shoot pictures of printed work. I thought this was a cool idea; playful and interesting without being distracting. Of course the poster design is what I really like. I’ve never been able to pull off this kind of mega overlapping layout, and I always appreciate it when it’s done well like this. Hopefully going to see some new projects soon! Keep an eye out at Darren’s portfolio.

Follow up reading: AisleOne interview with Darren.

The University of Brighton has a nifty website up displaying the work of their Spring 2009 design and illustration graduates. I’ve placed some of my favorite pieces above, but there is a lot of impressive work to be seen. I think it’s great that the school puts this together for the graduates. While each student seems to be very web-capable (at least in terms establishing an online presence), this kind of collective resource allows each student to benefit from the aggregate buzz of the project. This institution-sponsored online portfolio presentation is something I think we will be seeing more and more of (in conjunction with, or probably as a replacement for, the onsite end-of-semester shows).

The work above is by the following designers, in this order: Kirsty Hole, Richard Carey, Edd Harrington, Kyle Bean. Those old school phones remind me of some of the work by Dan Mcpharlin.

via The Strange Attractor

The work of Tom Balchin stopped me in my Google Reader tracks this evening. His Pax Europa project was my initial favorite, for the bold simplicity and terrific layouts, but there is a ton of terrific work in his portfolio. I came across the phrase “talent turbine” in the NYT Magazine the other day and have been itching for an opportunity to use it, so here goes; Tom Balchin is a talent turbine.

via Changethethought

A new edition of the frustratingly infrequent +81 Voyage is out now. Billed as the ‘Magazine Creation and Bookstore Excursion’ issue, it rounds up some of the most exciting and innovative magazines out there today. From Newwork to Monocle, there are example spreads, designer interviews, and just about everything else a magazine lover would hope for. As stated in the introduction, the goal of the issue is to prove that, even in this day and age, the appeal of magazines is alive and well. As a die hard magazine consumer, you don’t have to tell me that, but if you need convincing, there is plenty of terrific and inspirational design to be found in this most recent issue. Above are a few of the magazines profiled.

Our aim with this event is not to yearn for the magazines of yesteryear but rather to look upon those magazines extant in the world today, and in doing so, understand the culture and tastes of our time, reaffirm our awareness of paper’s function, and confirm the intelligence and ingenuity of humanity as seen in magazines.

Related Reading
– An Overview of Design Related Magazines
– Can Design Save The Newspaper?
– NYT Magazine ‘T’ Covers

This series by Simon Page is great. I’m always a fan of this retro minimalist look. I think he does a great job making it feel aged without going overboard. The color and texture is spot on and the vintage feel is skillfully conjured. Sounded like what started as a personal project turned into a successful client job after they saw the work. Got to love when that happens!

Maybe it was my last post, or Scott’s recent travel adventures, but something has reinvigorated my desire to go back to Japan. I guess I’ve always wanted to go back, the feeling is just very acute right now. As Jon and Kjell mentioned in the Non-Format interview, Tokyo is a rather hard city to beat. Personally I can’t imagine a more inspiring place.

Anyway the poster above is by Yasuhiro Sawada and I’m sorry to say, I don’t know too much more about it. I’ve always loved it for the simple shapes and unusual layout. It also took me repeated viewings to see that there was a message in the shapes — felt pretty oblivious after that. The image comes from GD in Japan, where you can find many other excellent works like this.

I’ve been spending most of my recent waking hours looking for an apartment in San Francisco. Most of what I see looks like it was built in 1900 (because it was) and is light years away from an architectural style I gravitate towards. I prefer styles like what you see above for Plastic Moon by Norisada Maeda Atlier. (Good luck finding this in SF.)

As weird and crazy as it looks, I think this is fantastic. Reminds me a little of the Micro Compact Home, though I don’t think you can pick up and move everything quite as easily. Sterile looking? Perhaps, but that’s what you get when you combine a living space, dental clinic, and a swimming pool all into one space. I bet I could get a lot of work done here if I switched out the dental clinic for a design firm. I would live in Plastic Moon instantly. And of course, a little resemblance to Jakub’s Moodgadget cube never hurts anybody.

via designboom

These spreads from Newwork Magazine are exceptionally awesome. At first I wasn’t sure why I was so taken by them, but I think it’s a combination of the following factors: sole use of (mostly) black and white, implementation of a strict grid, lots of little type details throughout, and a sophisticated and effective use of negative space. Newwork Magazine (ink on paper / 32″ x 23″) is put out by Studio Newwork.