The Dark Knight - Art Direction Gone Mad

It's about time Batman brought back the darkness of the original story. Like the first and second films the Art direction was handled by Tim Burton, this latest edition continues the dark visions. For the past 10 years a few other Batman films have been released with childish and disney like antics. The Art direction in the trailers and promotional posters are absolutely beuatiful. The dark emotion is the way a Batman film should be.

View the Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WaIR9dAZRR0
Poster Ads: http://imdb.com/title/tt0468569/mediaindex

These Posters are my favorite.

Writing is Design... AGIA Response 2

Like design writing is a form of communicating a message to a particular audience. Writing can develop the same reaction as a visual design through the right use of wording as well as a design can convey the same reaction as a written piece. Both can be interpreted differently depending on personal experience and personal belief but are both effective methods of communicating a message. Both writing and Design can work together or just on their own. In order for either to work effectivley the concept behind the design or writing must convey meaning, emotion, etc. In the Command X conference my favorite piece from the final cut was solely typographically based, or designed through writing.












In this piece by Nichelle Narcisi, she's used typography to convey her message. Considering she's a designer and not a copywriter she has developed solid concepts to work with where words are a more effective method of communicating the message. It's all so simple, yet so effective because she is nailing the message on to the target audience by sending the viewer on a self-indulgent excursion. Beyond that I like how the ads work in a series, I think that would be very effective because they leave you questioning what the hell the message really is.

The Future is Here...Again.

For all of us Sci-Fi nuts, here's to bringing it to life. The thumb-print door lock. With recent advancements in technology and availability to the general public these locks are becoming quite affordable for the average family and small business. It stores up to 150 finger prints, so if you have 148 kids your set. For the business setting this would be quite useful for strict authorization and security purposes. I've perused the competing products, for one; because I want one, and for two this design really stands out to me. Quite possibly it's my love for Art Deco, as this door-lock carries out all the common elements of the Art Deco movement. Again, form meets function. As for its a futuristic improvement on traditional technology the design really explains that this lock is not the typical key lock.


http://www.fingeraccess.com.au/
Here you can read a little more about the technology.

Are Designers Obliged to do Pro Bono Work?

Design has no place in making U2 and bigger than they already are. And no, designers are not obligated to do pro bono work, but in respect designers should make an effort to help the non-profit organizations. Designers are skilled people of their trade and work hard to communicate the messages of the community, at some point the designers should give back to the community and perhaps on a greater scale the world by doing pro bono work. If you are designing something for no profit then hopefully the design will create some positive moment in society, thus being a contributing factor ridding world issues.

What Design Work Would I Refuse?

Nothing at all. At the moment, I'm broke, soon to be housebroken, and jobless. The times are tough and I'd be up for designing anything as long as I get paid in Dollars. Now I may seem selfish, and helpless to society from a moral standing, yet I do have morals and positive beliefs. Perhaps in the future, if i so do make money, enough to have the option of turning down design jobs I will then imply my morals. I'm starting to fall into the fad of this 'green' society we are trying to develop, which is useful considering as a Designer I'm responsible for communicating these messages. Anything that would potentially cause harm to the environment or life I would have no part in. As designers, our role is to inform and communicate positive messages as we are in control of the modern thought of society. The only other design job I might refuse would be a job for most kids television shows, I have this idea that they convey negative subliminal messages to todays children in attempts to develop morals and beliefs.

Heres an Image I ripped off of Google Images. As you can clearly see those are the faces of colourful pedophiles.
The implications of the Teletubbies is a more than another blog post, but a Novel I'm bound to write one day.

Is Advertising and Graphic Design Selling the Expierince?

Hell Yes! A good example is any Car commercial. Driving on the edge of death, better put, a cliff, at insane speeds. Nissan's slogan at one point in time was 'Experience Nissan'. A Common North American car commercial sounds something like this, "enjoy all 8 cupholders and DVD players." That would be an experience. This is only a small example, but I could provide tonnes of examples where a brand is selling the experience through design. Another common example, the Apple iPod, with words I won't explain.

In this Apple Ipod ad, are they 'the advertisers' selling you an experience? Sure are, who doesn't want to dance and sing in your own personal little iPod-musical world to psychedelic colours?

By showing someone a design that represents some sort of pleasing experience, that someone will hopefully crave the experience, and quite possibly consider investing in that brand. That is effective design. I believe selling the experience is an extremely effective strategy because the general public are always full of cravings, it's easy enough to tap into their minds and fulfill them with an experience's via design that gets them going.

Command X (Segment Number 1)

The Denver Broncos Logo Redesign

After watching 5 designers present their re-designs for the Denver Broncos I was somewhat dissapointed for designers on the 'big stage'. All but Matthew are pitiful presenters whether it's putting down there design before they explain it, or just the ethics of speach. With that aside, there was some potential in a few designs, but one design seemed to work for me, better than the existing logo.

http://designconference2007.aiga.org/dc-commandx
Kelly's Design.

This logo contained the most stylistic feature necessary for a football team, as well as just being a solid design. All elements such as strokes and hair are proportionate and lie nicely within the 'D'. The 'D', typical slap serif style but any more modern and the typeface would be too much for a football team. Colour-wise, the colours work well the way she has knockout the white of the horse, allowing for the blue hair, and my favorite, the red eye. The eye simply makes this design. The sharp angles make it angry and dangerous, the way a football logo should look. Perhaps if the hair had a similar approach as the highlight of the eye the hair would look less feminine as pointed out by one of the judges.

What I've Learned So Far...

A little Photoshop Doodle I whipped up when bored.

Most important, beyond the basic principles of design, I've learned how to communicate messages visually through various forms of media. As well I've learned to productively work with others in a creative environment. Simply listing what I have learned so far would be too complicated to explain so I've briefly mentioned what stands out most as a student.

What makes me happy?

- Flying, or anything to do with aviation.
- Playing hockey on a pond in 40 below temperatures.
- Psychedelic Brainstorming Sessions.
- Drawing, Painting.
- Song writing
- Spending time with those I care about.
- Aggressive Vocals
- Face melting guitars riffs
- A nice suit, or classy hat.
- Abrupt, quick witted humour.
- Exciting Design projects.

...basically my life in a nutshell.

Hours Consumed A Week.

After an average school week of logging my time here is how I spend my 15 or so hours on a typical day.

Designing - 4 hours
Playing Guitar - 2 hours
Internet - 1.5 hours
Music - 2 hours
TV - 30 minutes, unless there is a Hockey game on.
Radio - Never
Socializing with Friends - 2 hours
Riding the Bus and walking - 3 hours

Callsign SpinDoctor, my Wingman.

Friend, Classmate, partner in crime, and Fellow design enthusiast, David Spindler is my right-hand man. A Maverick and Goose, or Starsky and Hutch, together we are unpredictably unstoppable. In design process not only do my designs face the approval of my instructors, but I pass them through the very strategic mind of Mr. Spindler as he always provides useful criticisms and helps further my ideas. His strong abilities to undermine most with a striking vocabulary sets Mr. Spindler apart from the others and really provides a competitive existence. He tends to be quiet and listens thoroughly while studying the art of others failures, in turn taking his own design to the next level. In years from now the youth will consider David Spindler as the Obi-Wan Kenobi of graphic design.

Design is a Napkin and a Pen...

Design is a conceptual and psychological process constantly undergoing subconcious manipulations perhaps inspired by ones present environment. In order to solve arising problems a designer must record his/her epiphanies for it will ease the execution process. Ideas are constantly flowing whether you as a designer prefer to use it as an advantage or not design is simply a napkin and a pen.

Many, not just designers, find themselves sitting in a restaurant with only thoughts of delicious food, yet somehow in the subconscious you are at your most creative moment. A creative, genius idea will abruptly pop into your head, and there you find yourself grabbing a crayon, rummaging for a pen and whatever temporary drawing surface you can to get your idea recorded in a visual way. Later when you get home you pull out the napkin and get to work, and all flows smoothly. Ofcourse this is a typical thing for many people but little do they realize without an idea comes no concept, with no concept comes nothing to execute. An idea is the primary source of potential success in a design but can be the hardest thing to develop. Obviously the execution must convey the idea, but the 'idea' is the key point, as better designers can better execute a good idea.


As a designer no project is ever forgotten, no matter the situation the projects are always on my mind, and I'm always finding myself spontaneously determining new solutions to problems I'm currently encountering. Without fluke, the time I spend working out concepts always reflects in my final execution. Sketching and drawing out ideas anywhere possible, whether it's a sketchbook or a napkin determines solutions to design problems making the execution process flow smoothly as you already have a solid idea of what you are about to execute.


In the above image I've placed a few pieces where I've thoroughly worked out design problems before executing. Whether it's packaging, illustration, or information design, conceptual problem solving is the most important process of design.