AnotherDesignBlog.

The Fortune 500 Legacy Covers 1950's-70's

 

Great legacy collection of the 'Fortune 500' covers from 1950's-1970's from Linda Robes collection: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=533064110&aid=161293&l=d34234f7e...

Includes work from Art Directors such as:
Walter Allner 1909-2006 http://library.rit.edu/gda/designer/walter-allner

Vintage German Sci-fi books by Eyke Volkmer

 

Minimalist, airbrushed, colourful and mysterious, what's not to like?

During the 60's and 70's Eyke Volkmer has designed 162 paperbacks in the airbrush styled series "Goldmanns Weltraum Taschenbücher" - see full set here: http://www.weltraumtaschenbuch.de/pages/theproject.html and referring article here: http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2010/02/27/eyke-volkmer/ - also check out http://www.houdinination.com/ which is a good online archive of sci-fi literature.

Dollar ReDe$ign Project

 

Dollar ReDe$ign Project blog - http://richardsmith.posterous.com/

A really interesting open project to rebrand the US Dollar, organised by Richard Smith ( http://www.thinkcreatebelieve.com/about-approach.htm ) -"The Dollar ReDe$ign Project hopes to bring about change for everyone. We want to rebrand the US Dollar, rebuild financial confidence and revive our failing economy." 

I didn't realise how much of a preconceived idea about the design of money I had in my head until I saw this project. So many questions dart through my mind on looking at the various designs, some so sub-conscious that I almost disregard most designs on first glance. Currency design is more than just do I like how it looks, it has to answer questions like...
> Is it secure?
> Do I trust it?
> Does it give the right gravitas to that country?
> What does that country want to tell me through it's currency design?
> How progressive does the country appear through the design of it's currency?
> Can I read the note quickly?
> Does the valuation of notes get confused?
> Is it effectively colour coded?   
> Does the imagery resonate with me or teach me anything of importance about that country?
> Is the design of money important anymore with the advent of global currencies such as PayPal?

A lot of these designs would never work for real, but it's fun to see how people approach this most difficult of design projects.

Links:
Dollar ReDe$ign Project Flickr -
One Hundred Dollars - great article about designing bank notes by http://ministryoftype.co.uk/words/article/one_hundred_dollars/

Make Your Tweets into Penguin Modern Classic Covers

Fun and quite addictive to see how your tweets look when generated as Penguin Modern Classic covers - rather convincing results me thinks. Type in what you want the tweet to be about e.g. # = '@kathykavan' & the web-app pulls in feeds of that # content. Have a play here: http://gravitron.com.au/twittermodernclassics/ and see other people's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/twittermodernclassics/

Eclectic 'Effenaar' venue branding

 

Really love the eclectic branding of the Effenaar Venue in Eindhoven by Dutch agency Fabrique (designers now at JongeMeesters). They've created a slice of controlled chaos that's really fresh with a heads up to the 80's. The edgy graphic compositions and bold typographic assortments allow every performance's promotional matter to feel individual but part of something bigger. Really fun, perfect for a young crowd and I bet the designers had a riot doing the designs.

Beautiful wall mosaic concept 'Change It!'

 

Designer: Amirko (Amirkhan Abdurakhmanov) from Russia - http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Change-it/411949

'Change It' is a wall of analogue triangles that turn, each triangle has a white, black and a shade of rainbow colour on it - simple really, but visually effective. Like a big mosaic puzzle for adults that can create a myriad of playful designs according to mood or the function of the room. Moving forward, it could definitely be digital and become limitless with the combination of possibilities, with each square representing a pixel or multiple of pixels - but I still like this analogue version. 

http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/02/08/everchanging-wallnado/

Here's another article about the 'Change It' wall with a load of comments which are an interesting read - some people are getting really angry about how it would/wouldn't work. Personally the simplicity of it is what I like, it doesn't become intimidating - just playful - and the authors of some of those comments should just relax more!

LittlePixel's Classic Records as Pelican Books Set

LittlePixel's well designed collection of 'Classic records lost in time and format, re-emerged as Pelican books' is rather fun to look through. Im a bit late on this one as it seems all the fuss on it was last year (see the press links on the Flickr set), but I like the collection so it's today's design find for me...have a look!

LittlePixel's site: http://www.littlepixel.info/

Graphic Art by Andy Gilmore

Beautiful graphic patterns by Andy Gilmore from NY - his work has featured on Wallpaper, Wired, Warp, Dazed and Confused to name but a few. Some of his work is also for sale at the 'Pick Me Up' Contemporary Graphic Art Fair at Somerset House, London 23 April - 3 May 2010 ( http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual_arts/pick_me_up/ )

More links to Andy Gilmore work: