I love the portfolio from Austin-based designer Ryan Rhodes (aka Bigger than Giants). His work represents an interesting range of styles and ideas, and he also possesses some superbly handy typographic skills. (See the inked type work for JBG Farms above and below.)
Bossa Nova music arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1950s with an optimism and modernism that paralleled the arrival of the new Brazilian president, Juscelino Kubitschek, who promised ‘fifty years of progress in five’ in his election campaign and announced the building of a new capital city, Brasilia, deep in the heartland of Brazil. The city was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, a man who had just designed a new musical theatre production in Rio of a play written by Vinicius de Moraes and with music written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. These two, along with the singer João Gilberto were about to make Bossa Nova, the first modernist Brazilian art form, the most succesful Brazilian export since coffee.
Bossa Nova And The Rise Of Brazilian Music In The 1960s is a unique collection of the cover art of Brazilian Bossa Nova music, containing hundreds of record covers complete with a history of Bossa Nova, biographies and essays on many of the artists involved in the movement.
The work of Christopher Silas Neal is a lovely break from the chaotic mess that is the internet. It’s not often that you come across beautiful hand drawn type, mixed with completely original illustration, so it is a really great treat for the eyes. Also interesting is that his work always has a sense of movement to it. Even his typography, which is predominantly script, seems like it’s rushing across the page.
You need to take a gander at Erik Marinovich‘s work. It mirrors our current holiday climate quite well — bold and bright with a lot of busy hustle and bustle. Erik’s work defies any sort of specific style or set of rules (aside from the majority of it being typographic). The variety and amount of work contained within this portfolio is wonderful and exciting and void of plainness.
I was recently introduced to Esteve Padilla’s work and am really impressed with his ability to create interesting grids, while maintaining readable and clear type. Usually, I gravitate towards some crazy and/or experimental typography, but I have a very soft spot in my heart for a designer who knows how to use traditional typography to create beautiful layouts and publications. While Esteve seems to have conquered the difficult task of forming grids, his newest work (a font called “Nowadays”) has a touch of a old-style sign painting aesthetic.
I’m really interested to see where Esteve takes his work, he definitely seems to be a designer to watch for in the future. (more…)
What if all all TV series’ posters looked like this? I can’t imagine a world like that, but what a wonderful world it would be! Ty Mattson, the man behind Mattson Creative, has created posters for both Dexter and Lost.
The composition of these Dexter posters is great — I love the variety of stylized details, all relevant to the show. I’ve seen a few episodes of the first season of Dexter, but these prints pique my interest. There very well may be some more Dexter in my future.
Only one day left to apply for the 2010 Design Sponge Scholarship. This year they’re awarding $10,000 to both undergrad & grad students. Apply here.
Voidwreck is the collaborative studio of Amsterdam residents Karl Nawrot & Walter Warton. Karl is a graduate of the Werkplaats Typografie, which is considered by some to be the holy grail of typography programs in the world.
As an experimental studio, Voidwreck constantly explore different mediums to develop shape and pattern. The same can be said of their typography, which I think embodies the word ‘modernism’—embracing the new while drawing on geometrical sans serifs as inspiration.
Malota is the pseudonym of Spain based illustrator and designer Mar Hernandez. Mar’s work uses a lot of punchy colors, varied textures and gradients, as well as sharp geometric shapes, which is evident in this illustration of a cat in boots. I really love the way she depicts the cat’s fur and kooky tail. Its facial expression and whiskers are really fun too!
The above music cover inspired series is one of many self-initiated projects by the Switzerland based GVA Studio. I really love this series, and I can’t help but think that some jazz record was playing while these prints were in the works. Their simplistic, whimsical nature seems to express the feeling of certain kinds of music so well. Looking at this set of prints also reminds me of a number of classical jazz record covers.
