Guinness Birthday Card

I just wanted to throw this one out there to see what you guys and girls thought. Would be grateful if you could give me any pointers, as to how you think i could improve this birthday card. (please click for an enlarged version)

It was my Dad's girlfriends 50th birthday not that long ago, so i thought i would design her a birthday card she would remember. She was born in Ireland and has a soft spot for Guinness funnily enough so i thought this theme would be appropriate. Have also posted the original image, which i photographed myself having stolen a pint glass from the pub. The pub will remain unnamed!

Blue Screen Website

http://b-l-u-e-s-c-r-e-e-n.net/streamscape/

This website is a must see. A friend sent me the link and was interested to see what I thought. The concept behind the website is fairly easy to explain, however, the programming that must have been used to achieve this is far from easy and out of my league so I will have that up to you to decipher.

The concept is to produce a hybridization of images from 15 web cams scattered all over the world. Every minute the streams from all of these cameras are captured on a server and then incorporated with the help of a very progressive dissolve, resulting in the landscape visible on this site. The aim of the website is to give birth to a landscape that lives from the inside, an inhabited landscape, which has a particular life form and is nourished from the flow that inhabits it. This landscape is timeless or at least not subjected to a specific timeframe, and shares some of its time with the viewer, the time that it lives.

The web designers have attempted to create such landscapes by substituting the image with the stream from live web cams. A still image by definition fixes time, a moving image captures, contracts or extends it; live display of camera stream has for its part the particularity of placing the viewer and what is to be seen in the same timeframe: the time in which we are living. The landscapes one is able to see are composed with the help of a special program, which was specially developed for this project and devoted to the manipulation of this sort of image stream from distant web cams. The resulting landscapes originate from the re-composition and live hybridisation of the stream from sources located in different places all over the world. What is projected and what we observe is no longer a singular, immobile, stored image, but a transitory state resulting from the orchestration of a multitude of streams, a sort of network of fragmented landscapes, rendering and simultaneously mixing distinct views of spaces sent by the web cams. This kind of mental landscape incessantly rebuilds itself from views that arrive instantaneously from different distant places and spaces.

In essence this is an interactive piece of media that allows the viewer to become part of a global cycle. Can you see this concept becoming something that will be developed further, I think I can.

BMW TV Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Ny5BYc-Fs

This video ad combines the engineering genius of Theo Jansen to reflect upon and associate the values and innovation of BMW.
In fairness i think this link works well and certainly puts BMW in good light, as we are cleverly left after an awe inspiring video with BMW's strapline - 'BMW Defining Innovation'.

I have to say i can't blame them for picking such an eccentric and talented man such as this guy. However, i do feel that this guy is way ahead of BMW, and that they are somewhat flattering themselves by associating there company with someone of suc ingenuity, creativity and outright brilliance that this man possesses.

This man's ideals also scare me a little for the future!

Concrete Poetry

As illustrated in one of my previous blogs about Thomas Allen's 'Pulp Fiction', books can take on many shapes and forms, both 2D and 3D. Here again is another interesting and inventive example of how works of poetry, can become interactive and take on a different form.

The Artist Book "Concrete Poetry" was designed & printed in the Edition + Artist Book Studio in 1996. This book has a sculptural figure that resembles a book, which has a surreal feel about it but still opens and shuts like an everyday book. Its triangular shape can still open out like a normal book, but can also change its structure to resemble shapes. The artist book is not meant to be handled as a normal reading book, but instead with white cotton gloves in the presence of others, i think you can see why.

Play, interaction and movement often disrupts our common experience of reading, as does non-linear text. Bernadette Crockford’s Concrete poetry 1996, with its origami-like folds, opens like a flower to reveal text that follows the paper creases. The reader must turn the book to read, playing with different combinations of sentences along different folds, and making up a different poem each time the book is read.

To come to some sort of conclusion, i think that the subject matter of books ought to determine the design of the book they are inscribed in. In this case, poems are emotive, generate feeling and reaction, so by designing a book where the shape generates a similar response seems to work well with its content.

'Type The Sky'

I found this work by Lisa Rienermann on the web a couple of days ago when browsing through various sites and it immediately instilled in me some curiosity. What really appealed to me was the combination of where photography and typography intersect. When you think of these two disciplines being combined, i am fairly sure the large majority would think of letters being photographed, but Lisa Rienermann's perception was sightly different. For her project, 'Type the Sky', she didn’t take photos of letters, but rather she looked up (for weeks on end) and captured the letters formed by the spaces between buildings.

“It began with the Q “.
"I was in a courtyard in Barcelona, looked upward and saw houses, the blue sky and clouds. With the longer i looked, the area from the houses above formed the letter 'Q'." Once Lisa had found the letter 'Q' she thought to herself that she would be able to find the rest of the letters, given that they are relatively simple in their construction. Hence the project 'Type The Sky' was born. After weeks of hunting around and a lot of neck ache, she managed to find all the letters of the alphabet with just a very miniscule amount of help from Photoshop.

Once she had accumulated all the letters she decided to create a published book showing off all her work and findings. Although i haven't had the chance to look through the book myself, i can imagine that some of the images appear very abstract in their form and are a great inspiration for any typographer/designer.

All in all, a great way of interpreting letter forms so that not only do they become of typographical interest, but also of photographic and visual stimulus.

Hidden Typography, Guggenheim NY

As far as great architecture goes there is of course the Guggenheim in New York, one of the great artifacts of American architecture. In 2006 the museum was being renovated, the scaffolds were up, and paint and surface stucco was being removed. When this was being removed there was a little surprise found beneath the surface paint which had been hidden from us for a very long time. Some years ago, some poor sign installer went to put the first letter of the name of the museum up on the wall, and someone screamed, "No, you idiot! Lower! Much Lower! Get it down close to the edge. And a quarter-inch to the right." Given that the building is the Guggenheim Museum, and that the architect was Frank Lloyd Wright, this photographic detail becomes especially interesting.

Tying letterforms to the soffit edge — emphasizing the horizontal line — was in my opinion Wright's intention early on, as evident in his drawings. I could be wrong, but I don't think he ever floated text. Wright tended to use text in an "active" way to emphasize building lines and datums; or packed in a square panel, expressing a planning module. 
Guggenheim Museum, perspective drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1951.
I'm not sure that it was Frank Lloyd Wright who art directed this correction. It could have happened years later. As they say, though, design is in the details. These are the kinds of little decisions, one at a time, hundreds cumulatively, that make a great building great.

Stephanie Levy

Stephanie Levy is an American artist/illustrator and is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. She no longer lives in America and has now been living in Germany for the past 11 years. She studied art at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Arts degrees.

After travelling widely in Europe, Stephanie settled in Munich, Germany in 2005 with her husband and daughter. She works as a freelance artist and illustrator and teaches English to ambitious Germans in her spare time. Stephanie has exhibited her work in galleries and cultural institutions throughout the world. Her work can be viewed in private and public collections in the USA, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Japan.

What i think appeals to me most about Stephanie's work is the variety of materials that she uses. For example in some of her collages and paintings she incorporates materials such as Japanese origami paper and gold leaf. All of her works are originals and predominantly use handmade paper, canvas, or wood as supports. The main subjects of her work are interior settings, and often to source ideas she gathers images from, IKEA catalogs to old issues of Better Homes and Gardens.

If you briefly scan over some of her work that she has produced it is immediately apparent that an interior theme occurs quite repetitively. One of the reasons i discovered for this particular theme is related to her personal history. Her grandfather was a descendent of four generations of Irish carpenters, and the house that she grew up in was designed and built by her grandfather. One of her favourite acitivities at night, was to sit at the dinner table and draw house plans for imaginary or “fictional” houses. It may be no surprise then, that now as an artist she still create images of fictional ones.

I especially like the lightbox image with the translucent materials mounted on the lightboxes. It is surprising how much the collages can be transformed when placed in a different environment. Compared to the rest of the images these light box images appear to have a very unusual but modern feel. This i find interesting, as it goes to show that the placement of art or if you like its environment, has a very profound effect on its aesthetic appeal and has it is perceived by its audience.

Belles Will Ring, 'The coldest Heart'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkClzqa6WDY

This innovative animation music video really hld my attention so i thought it would be worth bringing it too yours. It was created for The Coldest Heart by Belles Will Ring. The company responsible for the animation is called WeBuyYouKids, who are two people strong and live in Sydney, Australia and as they put it on their website they 'draw things for a livin'. They make artwork for posters, albums, tshirts, magazines, the internet, the magic of YouTube and many other things. Occasionally, where possible, they hand-screenprint these things.

What captured me about this animation was the sense of movement that you feel as it is played. This movement is timed with the music so that when the beat quickens so does the animation, and together they work in parallel. Besides the constant movement, i really enjoyed the washed out monotone cityscape, that features as the main back drop throughtout the animation. I think it fits well with the skeleton man who seems to be running from something as it gives a eerie and empty feel, which reflects the nature of the song. Good transitions, mixed with well timed movment help for me make this piece work well with the song.

'Walden', Nils Moormann

I stumbled upon this interesting alternative the other day when flicking through the Arts section of G2. Nils Moormann is a German furniture designer and is the man responsible for the concept behing this 'different style of living'.

He calls these dwellings 'Walden's, and they are somewhere between a garden shed and a mini-home, standing 6.5 metres long and about 1m wide with specified compartments for garden leisure. These include a watering can, wheelbarrow and barbecue utensils. The upper storey consists of a bed and a sitting area.

Portable architecture has really been the focus behind this design, and that isn't anything new. However, having broken free from the restraints of conventional building, i believe that this particular design suggests a shift in the relationship between nature and architecture - if you like a re-negotiation between the space we enclose for ourselves and the 'outside'.

The question which really sticks out in my mind is 'How much space do we really need?'

Noodle Slurper, Ambient Media

What a great idea for an outdoor form of ambient media advertising, was what i thought when i first saw this. These massive 'ship-side' ads were done for Mondo Pasta, and were created by the German agency Jung von Matt. The large heads that you see in the images were nicknamed the 'Noodleslurpers', a suitable name i feel. It may also come as no surprise to you, that they were finalists in the 'One Show' ad contest (Innovative Use of Media: Outdoor Category).

The concept behind this campaign i find uniquely clever and appealing. The sentiment behind the strapline 'So Good You Can't Let Go', seems to fall into place with the idea of a ship being moored by an extremely large noodle, and only makes it quite obvious that these noodles 'simply must' taste amazing!

The one thing i would like to know about this advert is, who its target audience was. If the port that they choose to advertise in was solely industrial and just for fishermen and sorts, then i am inclined to think that they may have missed out on other potential customers and audiences. If they had done this in a harbor or port where there are amenities and attractions for visitors to come and see, then its exposure would be far greater and the advert more successful. However, this is what they could well have exactly done, who knows?

Pulp Fiction, Thomas Allen

As far as making books a really interactive form of media, i think Thomas Allen has hit the nail on the head. Thomas Allen's photographs are inspired by his childhood experiences with pop-up books. He begins his process by cutting figures and images out of illustrated pages of old books and vintage fiction novels. Allen then cleverly rearranges and juxtaposes the forms to create three-dimensional scenes. Next, he carefully lights his subjects and photographs the scenes.

When separated from their original stories, the figures take on fresh roles in entirely new situations. Yet they retain their intended purpose of storytelling. Characters and objects originally created as two-dimensional illustrations are raised from their pages and given new life in three-dimensional space. The figures return back to two-dimensional objects, this time in the form of a photograph.

As a director would stage actors, Allen stages his cut-outs in ways that create humor, tension, mystery, and drama. A boxer fights his own shadow in Spar, and in Bookend a gunfighter stands over his recently fallen opponent. Although the characters are freed from the closed pages of books, the books themselves still remain present in each photograph. A turtle and rabbit bounce and crawl over the centre foled of an open book. In Cover, a gunman finds safety behind the spine of a book. And in Recover, a worn paperback acts as a life raft to three weathered shipwreck survivors.

The work combines the humor of children's pop-up books, the nostalgia of dime novels, and the drama of the stage. Allen's inventive and evocative photographs capture characters and events in mid-action. And the viewer is left to wonder what will happen next.

An interesting and unique interpretation of how books can really be brought to life.

Robinson's Cordial Advert

When you think of Robinson's, it to me triggers memories of hot summers, being a kid, running around playing games, getting grass stains and being generally naughty. I saw this ad the other day in the Culture section of the Times, and thought it was a good example of what i am sure many people associate with the brand, being represented as an advert.

It has that child like appearance which is generated through the simple almost hand drawn imagery. The copy for me is what makes the advert a success. A lot of time not only from a typographers point of view, but also from the copywriters has been taken in order to get the text to fit snuggly into the jug. There is also the crafty bit of word play (intentional or not i don't know)between the message of 'caring what goes into the product' and the fact that agency that designed this ad, obviously cares what goes into their product as well. A good little ad really representing the values of the brand well i feel.

Gillian Blease

Gillian Blease works as a freelance illustrator mainly on editorial work, such as books, magazines and newspapers. However, she has also done some advertising illustration and logo design. Some of her clients have included Barclays, The Guardian, Sainsbury's, Nestle and Tesco just to name but a few. Her work is a familiar, yet a fresh alternative to the glossy special effects that have bled into most realms of design. She tends to see things in a simple boiled down light, which in my opinion is an admirable trait, as it is so easy to look at things and then start to over complicate them.

This first image is an editorial job she did for a restaurant magazine. When i first looked at this image, the thing that jumped out at me the most, was the bottle opener and what appeared to be pound coins entwined around it. It immediately made me think of food and drink, as the bottle opener stands out as the dominant feature in the graphic, due to the fact that it is the only element which is coloured white. Whether the use of coins is to convey the sense of good quality wine, or that most people associate wine and money with a restaurant i am not too sure, i personally think the latter. However, the point being she has communicated the idea of a restaurant through a moderately simple graphic, that not only is easy on the eye but divides the artwork up nicely allowing for the easy addition of copy.

The next illustration is a book cover for '21st Century Small Holder', which discusses property prices and how to get on the property ladder. This illustration really caught my attention as the bold colours are very strong and vibrant which in turn, draws you in and holds your interest. At a first glance the copy is clear cut and bold which makes it easy to read. The subtle use of imagery on the graphic is merely representative of the tone of voice on that particular page. The snails, in my opinion echoe the fact that it is a slow process to get onto the property ladder. With regards to the other page, i am fairly convinced that it will be full of suggestions of how to get established in the property ladder, given the graphic of the light bulb. I also like the reversing of colours she has used for the two pages, perhaps to indicate the two different tones of voice.

Here is an example of some advertising work Gillian did for Nestle. Again its a flat two dimensional illustration that isn't over glamorous and doesn't try to show anything off. This really is an example of how simple, simple can be. Nestle as i am sure everybody knows does several types of cereals - what simpler a graphic can you communicate this with than a spoon with grains of corn placed into it? This image to me also conveys a very organic, natural and soothing feel due to the placid colour palette she has used. An interesting interpretation.

This logo was designed for a record company called 'Porcupine'. For me not only does the supporting graphic make the logo work, but the typeface used fits in well and compliments the logo on the whole. The circular shapes that litter this logo make a link explicitly to the shape of a record, but also give the logo a sense of form and pattern. What i can't make out is what appears to be a magnifying glass on the eye of the porcupine, maybe this is intended to represent the intricacy of the brand? Anyone got any ideas?

Lastly is another logo, this time done for 'Marmalade'. At a first glance this immediatley made me think of mornings, but good positive mornings. This logo is full of energy and ouses life, which i think is due to the vibrant colours that have been used and also the range of different shapes. What really makes this logo for me is the combination of the shape of the orange segments with the half risen sun. This association with early mornings, having marmalade for breakfast and the sun slowly rising is a strong element that people can associate with the brand and it is all contained within a sinlge logo, not bad.

I think that Gillian Blease's work shows a very basic and simple way of communicating ideas and concepts. This is not to say that her work lacks depth, it doesn't and the reason for this is that the images she produces often have signifificant meaning and presence but without the over complex additives. This isn't easy to achieve. Why should she make things more complex when she can communicate so well in a simple fashion. Surley this is more effective?

www.gillianblease.co.uk

Robinson Advertising Website

http://robinsonad.com/

I came across the above website by accident the other day, when looking for a recent Robinson's (as in the cordial) ad. The company is called Robinson Advertising and is based in Missouri, United States. They are a small graphic design agency, with most of their work revolving around either advertising, design or interactive media. From their philosophy, you can see that they very highly prioritise being able to understand their clients background and the ins and outs of their business. A sensible idea when dealing with any potential client. Lastly they stress the importance of communication between themselves and their client. Again, an absolute must for any design orientated company when dealing with clients.

Anyway, now we know a little bit about them, what i really want to talk about is their website, as this was what really grabbed my attention. The flash animation you see before you enter the website flows very well, and i think it is maybe trying to reflect the nature behind the essence of the company. They generate lots of ideas, mix them up and analyse them to eventually produce the one big idea. The reason i feel this, is due to the chaotic appearance at the beginning of the animation, which is then transformed and slotted into the shape of their logo. Maybe i am reading into this too much, i don't know.

Once into their website you are faced with an easy to use interface listing their philosophy, case studies, portfolio and contact details. They have given the site some subtle detail, as you can move the blue bubbles around the screen at your discretion, as they emerge from your mouse pointer. Also as you hover the mouse over the four characters, the scrolling list just above comes to rest and you can clearly see which section of the website you are about to enter. For me this can be a dangerous area when designing websites, as sometimes you often are faced with animations that over complicate the website and make it difficult to navigate. In this case, however, i think these subtle but effective additions give the site a bit more depth and show off what the company is capable of, a nice touch. The use of the black and cream coloured backgrounds also minimalises the negative space that the website actually uses, and in turn creates a small but simple visual aesthetic and a compact user interface.

The choice of colour palette that they have used for the website is very earthy, but the colours vary enough to give it some visual stimulus and also compliment each other. When you click on any of the coloured coded tabs, the page then morphs into a different page. These earthy colours almost become a statement know as they dominate the background. The distressed typeface working with the big bold earthy colours fits well not only aesthetically but is also easy to read.

What i think makes their website particulary attractive is firstly the easy to use interface. There is no need to keep clicking on your browsers back button to navigate anywhere, as it is all self contained on the page itself - just click on their logo to go back. Secondly, every page you visit feels like it is part of the website. The number of times i have been on different websites and you feel like each page isn't part of the same website: this is due to the dramatic layout changes. In this case the transition is very smooth as colours blend, text slides in and symbols calmly rearrange themselves on the page. All in all, i feel that this website is a very good introduction to Robinson Advertising; it is well constructed, engaging, simple to use and reflects professionally upon their company.

UBS TV Ads

VIDEO 1
http://www.ubs.com/1/e/about/brand/tv_spots/everywhere/emea.html

As far as global advertising campaigns go, UBS (United Bank of Switzerland) had a major expenditure on TV based commercials, in order to boost their image and promote the essence of their company. UBS's campaign is a marked departure from traditional advertising strategy, as rather than simply promoting the merits of UBS's products and services, the campaign's "You & Us" theme highlights the intimate approach UBS takes to its client relationships. The wide-ranging global television and print advertising campaign is founded on extensive internal and external research. It focuses explicitly on the importance and strength of UBS's client relationships, which are backed by the powerful resources of the firm.

As I see it, this was the big investment that the company took to establish a long-term effort to make clients around the world, better understand how the firm is committed to working with and helping them meet their needs. It wasn’t just an isolated advertising campaign as there were numerous print ads which ran, as well as the TV commercials that went along with it. This advertising campaign also marks the next phase in the implementation of their brand strategy, which is to exploit the tight-nit relationship the bank has with its customers, and is also the new basis for their future brand communication.

VIDEO 2
http://www.ubs.com/1/e/about/brand/tv_spots/listening/us.html

The campaign's tagline, "You & Us," underlines the intimacy of the relationship between individual clients and their advisors - an intimacy that is reinforced by the campaign's image of "two-ness" - two people together in different situations - images clearly symbolizing the client and his or her advisor. The notion of two-ness was so fundamental that the actors were chosen in pairs. Furthermore, all of the advertisements revolve around two people, whether they are sitting at a restaurant table, seen from above crossing a road or meeting in a conference room. All the TV adverts are depicting entirely familiar situations where a client and advisor may choose to meet.

VIDEO 3
http://www.ubs.com/1/e/about/brand/tv_spots/cross_segment/emea.html

All of the situations that you see in the commercials illustrate the intimacy of the client-advisor relationship, an intimacy that is further reinforced by the voiceover that accompanies the images. The voice that has been chosen for the ads, sounds very human and not resonant like a corporate voice, but one that is more reassuring, like the voice of a trusted friend. The background images of skyscrapers, offices and open spaces all seem to subtly reinforce the message that a UBS advisor has the support of a large, powerful institution able to mobilize global resources on a client's behalf. I think that the advisors also play a crucial role in all the advertisements, as they become the face of UBS. Clients can access the "UBS universe" of products, services, tools and resources through their advisor. However, with the 'You & Us' strap line the bank formulates a promise to its customer, but only the firm's employees can prove, in their day-to-day contact with clients, that it's a promise that will be kept. I wonder if this promise has been fulfilled and given these well crafted adverts justice?

The Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to have the chance to visit the notorious Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Since it was first opened late in 1997, more than nine million people have visited this iconic building, designed by the Canadian architect Frank Gehry. The breathtaking Guggenheim building reminds me of an attractive stone and titanium boat which sits proudly next to the Bilbao river. It is capable of capturing all the bright lights of the big city, which at different times of the day can emote different moods and perspectives.

It was designed to change the face of the city, and in my opinion it has achieved exactly this. The Guggenheim was conceived as the central piece of a rehabilitation project, set up to give a new purpose to an abandoned industrial estate in the river. It was a risky avant-garde project, which suffered numerous setbacks and defects in the beginning.

What appears today to be the ideal marriage between the museum and the city, was not the case when its planning began, as there were serious problems and also widespread controversy. At the start of the nineties a powerful wave of public outrage arose in the face of its construction. At the bottom of the list was Bilbao, with the figure that the Basque regional government planned to spend on the project. The people of Bilbao had the impression that they were going to pay the Guggenheim Foundation’s debts – and it was rumoured that the foundation was undergoing serious financial difficulties – and that the budget for this huge project was excessive.

As the years rattled on, the leaders of this opposition movement revealed that it was Frank Gehry, (the Guggenheim’s architect) who managed to gradually win the people of the city. Gehry’s project slowly began to convince Bilbao’s inhabitants, that due to its immense beauty and its perfect harmony with its surroundings, this project would be a success.

The building, seen from the river, resembles the shape of a huge steel boat paying homage to the port city that has given it its home. The museum’s bright shining panels resemble fish scales, reflecting the influence of natural forms and shapes that are present in many of Gehry’s works. As I am led to believe, if seen from above, the building takes on the shape of a flower, which again fits in with the organic shapes and natural curves.

Gehry’s huge sculpture-like building is fashioned from a surprising array of materials and endowed with an extraordinary, unmistakable silhouette. Under the apparent chaos caused by the juxtaposition of fragmented volumes with regular forms finished in stone, curved forms covered with titanium and huge glass walls, the building revolves around a central axis, the atrium, a monumentally empty space crowned by a metal dome. Daylight floods in through the glass walls and the skylight set high up in the dome. Leading off from this central space, a system of curved walkways, glass lifts and stairways connect 19 galleries that combine classical, rectangular spaces with others of unusual proportions and forms. The wealth and variety of spaces makes the museum exceptionally versatile.

To design the museum, Gehry’s conscientious team employed computer simulations of the structures that were necessary to support the building, creating shapes that would have been impossible to achieve decades ago. Whilst the museum rises with an influential presence from the surface of the river, its appearance from the street, (which is on a higher level) is much more modest and does not therefore detract from more traditional buildings in its proximity.

Today, hardly anyone remembers those early criticisms, since the success of the building and of the museum itself, is undeniable. Since the Guggenheim was built, Bilbao has never been the same again – the museum has helped create pedestrianised areas that run from the town hall to the port on the shores of the river, and along this route you will also find famous architect Santiago Calatrava’s contribution to the city in the form of one of his highly distinctive bridges.

If you walk along this bridge, the Guggenheim presents you with one of its most visually appealing permanent sculptures - an enormous spider by French sculptor Louise Bourgeois, which is called ‘Maman’. Bourgeois is known for using her personal experience as a woman to influence her work and is an iconic feminist artist, since she has been able to express the combination of strength and fragility of the universal woman’s feelings, like no other artist has been able to.
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/bourgeois/

The last of the museum’s major acquisitions, was installed by the North American artist, Jeff Koons. It consists of a giant bunch of coloured flowers resembling the shape of an enormous puppy. This giant pup guards the door to the museum and has become an iconic sculpture of the city and a delight to its people. In light of the Guggenheim’s natural and organic presence, the idea of having an innocent puppy constructed out of colourful flowers only reiterates the Guggenheim’s standpoint, and also gives the area another attraction and focal point.

In truth, the Guggenheim, with or without its pet puppy, is a well-crafted structure and proves that although it is constructed with man-made materials, it can still work within its environment well and also compliment its surroundings.

Camel 'Natural' Cigarettes

As a smoker i have seen my fair share of packaging designs for boxes of cigarettes. However, the one brand that i feel has produced a carton with distinct character and aesthetic appeal has to be Camel. They have recently launched a new product line simply called 'Natural'. These cigarettes promote the fact that they do not have all the harmful and artificial chemicals that are so often put into other cigarettes.
In light of the ever growing health conscious, 'green' and organic trend that we are now submersed in, it doesn't really come as a surprise, that now cigarette companies are following suit, despite it being a clear cut oxymoron - 'the healthy cigarette'. However, although many smokers opt for the 'slightly less bad' cigarettes nowadays, i would certainly choose these from the shop, purely for the reason that it is clearly promoted that they are cleaner than if you smoked the 'not so natural' cigarettes.
Obviously, the design has to reflect this sense of purity otherwise the whole concept would be lost and the selling point destroyed. I feel that this has been achieved and to me the packet has that earthy, organic and non man-made aura. The colour palette is one of the key factors behind this products success, and they had to get it right otherwise the concept and the product would contradict each other. The use of the subtle earthy colours along with the simplistic design and the constant reiteration of 'natural flavor', really help convey and make apparent the concept behind this brand of cigarette.
In addition the typeface used for the 'natural flavor' copy, feels very unrestricted and flowing. I think this has been worked through the unobtrusive sans serif employed and also the generous kerning, and as a result the type sits naturally and doesn't have that forced feel, which often can be found when trying to keep things confined to minimal spaces.

Altogether, i think that this shows when you have decided upon a strong concept that works well, you need to stick quite consistently to those parameters and that they should be clearly reflected in the execution. This way the whole design process fits together in harmony, and the selling point becomes not only more effective, but clearer in its message making it more profitable and marketable.

Phaidon Cover Design

As far as leading publisher's on the subjects of visual arts, Phaidon Press are certainly one of the world's leaders. They have offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Milan, New York and Tokyo, and distributors worldwide and its not difficult to see why.

Today Phaidon books are recognized worldwide for the highest quality of content, design, and production. Each and every design of the books covers appear to be different, exciting and innovative. What i think they do very well amongst other things, is to tailor the design of each cover, so that it is still relevant to the content but also becomes a prominent feature and in turn something that you would want to pick up and look at.