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designers, practitioners, artists, collectives, agencies, studios, brands, companies.
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fajne chlopaki
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pan tu nie stal
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Who?
Why? I choose Cool Guys as I’m strongly interested in the field of branding and advertisement and I could develop in that direction in future. The Cool Guys aren’t only the great inspiration for innovation and craetivity in building their brand, but also source of pride as we come from the same town. Their style are very unique and perfectly captures the spirit of Polish design from previous years. They works are authentical and you can’t not agree that the guys really ‘feel’ the subject. I just adorable their visual solutions and typographical choices. Thanks to them I discovered Apolonia font (first typeface suited to spelling of Polish language by dr. Tomasz Welna) and hopefuly I would be able to define my own style much quicker. I can’t hide that I’m not a guy, so the chance to work with them is quite small.
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Graphic Design Studio ‘Fajne Chlopaki’ = ‘Cool Guys’ forming Luke Zbieranowski and Maciej Lebiedowicz. The name is catchy and easy-to-remember. Their based in Lodz town in central of Poland. On their website guys write about themselfs that they: ‘work in customer service and the entire nation.’ As one of the first in Poland they began to refer to the retro design, mainly from the 60s and 70s Design and period of PRL. Citizens of Lodz know them from a billboard campaign: ‘Do you know that in Lodz ...’, and visual identification Fotofestiwal two (2008 and 2009), Festival of Good Taste (under ‘wing or leg’) and 16 Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. The Cool Guys are also responsible for the logo off center Piotrkowska - new culture area in town. In their works they focus on culture and art world, rather then business world.
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Works!
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Who?
Why? I remember how two years ago I discovered PTNS. Lodz is my home town, so it shouldn’t be surprised that I have to this city a great sentiment and any initiative that raises here, cause my great enthusiasm. At a times when Polish company stand out from their origin and try to raise the prestige of the English - speaking names, PTNS immediately arouses sympathy - after all, it sounds very familiar. Most of all I love play with words and a sense of humor, which can be seen on every product PTNS. The brand isn’t only the mine of clever ideas, but mainly inspiration for personal, thriving successful business. The owners still loking for fresh ideas and people who are willing to cooperation, that gives me a green light and a chance if I decide to continue my adventure with graphics in Poland.
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‘Pan tu nie stal’ = ‘You were not standing here’ is a streetweat brand located in Lodz town in Poland. The founders and the owners of PTNS are Justyna Burzynska and Maciej Lebiedowicz (one of ‘Cool Guys’ team and author of many deigns). All it started six yeras ago from the blog and willigness to share with others they collections of articles from the past. They do a really good job restore to favor and promote the possessions of Polish culture in the years 1950-1989. I really appreciate the fact that entire production of shop’s assortment are made in Lodz, and the designs founded on products are in our native language. Among the products cutomers can found: true sensational T-shirts, hats, scarves, shoes, books, matches, mugs, fake tattoos and even polish nail in really pretty colours! Brand for younger and older.
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Mikey
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& little jacket design
Burton
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Who?
Why? I can’t pass by and don’t mentioned about Mikey Burton. I really admire his specific creation of logotypes, posters or book covers. I think his works are strongly textural, retro and vintage. He doesn’t follow by world trends, but his visual solution are unique and memorable. He is not only a designer, but also a great illustrator and practitioner of handmade printing processes. From the mottled textures created by letterpress, to the chalky quality of screen printing ink - those imperfection textures are simply incorporate to his logotypes. I don’t planning work as a freelancer straight after University, but again Burton inspire me to harder work, experimentations with print and stock and execute designs on similar level.
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Mikey Burton earning his BS/MA in Visual Communication Design from Kent State University (USA). After that he became one of the founders of Little Jacket Design. He proudly describes his design aesthetic as “Midwesterny” and draws much of his inspiration from artifacts found throughout the hardworking, blue collar Rust Belt: old type-specimen sheets, arcane equipment manuals and ancient textbooks. He has received awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, HOW, CMYK, Logo Lounge, ADC Young Gund and recently Print’s New Visual Artist. He is now a freelancer in sunny Philadelphia where he designs and illustrates for such clients as The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN, Facebook, Fast Company, Monocle, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wilco, Wired and you.
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BeetrOOt
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DESIGN GROUP
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Who?
Why? For me Beetroot is a company, which shiny in the field of visual communication. In their works they tried to combine the ‘Greek’ factor - rich heritage along with the ‘contemporary design’. I like that they refered to their roots such as Greek alphabet, mythology, ancient culture and art or even current financial crisis. I admire team, who can dream and create without fear and with big passion. They works are orginal, fresh and vivid. I appreaciate them too for unusual ideas, strong concepts, metholodgy and characteristics, recognizable style. They are a perfect example of design company, who can achieved the biggest success in their country and abroad even at the time of financial crisis.
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Beetroot Design Group was founded in 2000 when three close high school friends Vangelts Liakos, Alexander Nikou and Yiannis Charalambopouls - reuinited in their hometown of Thessaloniki, Greece, after completing their studies in different countries. The firm now employs 11 team members, all of them are deisgn enthusiasts with expertise and skills in the creative field. Beetroot mission is to develop orginal, startling and edgy communication design. They blurs line between art and design with its captivating work, ranging from packaging, visual identities and self - promotional art exhibits. The studio is anxious to connect on projects with an international audience. Maybe that’s why they are still awarded, so far they were rewarded 110 times by national and international awards (Red Dot Agency of the Year 2011).
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TEMPEROWKA
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Who?
Why? Temperowka is one of the most promising graphic design studio in Poland regarding theme of editorial design. They take care on the details and with passion build awarness of their aesthetics. I really like an effective use of type in their designs, all of their typographical solutions are on high standart. Very often I’m strugling with that field of graphic design, so Temperowka and others designers works inspire me to better understand of the subject. I don’t planning go straight into typography after course, but design like this give me more confidence with my own works and encouraged to work harder.
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Graphic Design Studio ‘Temperowka’ = ‘Pencil Sharpener’been established at 2003 by Maria Bukowska and Justyna Kosinska in Warsaw. Their studio focusing on overall branding issues, both commercial and srtistic, but they real strong element is the graphic publishing. Temperowka cooperated with professional artists, illustrators, photograpers and cultural institutions, including The National Theatre, The Theatre Institute by Zbigniew Raszewski, Ochota Theatre, ESK Gdansk 2016, Gutek Film. Among their clients there are also companies associated with the media like Polish Radio Programme II, Agora SA or Empik. They create for them a variety of graphic design publications and events. Temperowka belong to the Association of Graphic Designers in Poland.
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USHchenko
ANDREY
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Graphics group
Shch
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Who?
Why? Andrey is an amazing talent in the field of typography, so far the best one which I ever found. His work is as unique as it’s inspirational, and the artist’s hand precision and ability can rival (and in my opinion, exceed) any computer software. This kind of talent does not appear overnight, but is honed through years of hard work and dedication. The simplicity of his work is outstanding! Yet every design is so complex at the same time. I admire his wide range aesthetic, from highly decorative to elegant and reserved. I love the way he stay minimal with color, it gives the line work the attention it deserves. I like field of typography too, however according to my opinionis one of the most difficult. I clearly have a lot to learn and plan on spending a lot of time studying his inspirational work.
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Andrey Ushchenko aka Shch is a Kiev, Ukraine based multi-talented graphic designer, typographer, calligrapher and Principal of SHCH graphics group. There is no doubt that Andrey has some extraordinary skills and the beautiful part is that all of his work is hand drawn lettering designs. SHCH do miracles even on a plain piece of paper napkin. Their prestigious client list includes Coco Chanel, Givenchy Bvlgari, Nina Ricci, Prada, Vogue.
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ORLA
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kielY
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Who?
Why? I have to admit that my journey with patterns start thanks to Orla Kiely. For me, she is an icon and expert on print, shape, texture and colour. In each of her design, I find a unique world, which is renown for its individual voice. Her works simply play and work together thanks to instinctive love of patter of their author. I admire her unique design language and sure sense of graphic control. As fan of her label, I love the colour palettes, which she uses, retro aesthetics, which shapes her style and organic forms, which dominate in her prints. Thanks to her my world is one where pattern reign and I would like one day create my own recognizble brand.
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Orla Kiely began her career at Dublin’s National College of Art and design, and continued her education with a masters degree taken at the Royal College of Art in London, where she is currently Visiting Professor for Textilles. She launched her own buisness in the ‘90s, and brought a freshness to the fashion world with her use of colour and graphic pattern. Orla’s classic signature stem print has become a highly recognizable international brand, and besides her womenswear and accessories collection, she has also expanded into homewares. Orla also carry out many consultancies for leading furniture and homeware brands including Habitat, Heal’s and Target. She has a flagship store in London’s Covent Garden, and design studios in the city, and her products can now be found all over the world.
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Blahova
PETRA
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Alt + 0193
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Who?
Why? I mentioned about Petra from two reasons: 1-st because we share the same passions (illustrations + patterns), 2-nd because she is a huge tallent worth every minute of my atention. Her world of patterns are full of geometric shapes, textures and colours. I really like that kind of aesthetics - carefully thought, polished, in which we don’t see a kitsch. Patterns can be found everywhere, however that need also a time to build your own style, your own ‘pattern language’. So far I’m strugling with that, still belive that my own style will shape itself, however people like Petra shows that is worth to try. It’s definitely one of the things, which gives me a great pleasure during designing process and I consider to follow in that direction.
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Petra Blahova graduated from Cumbria University in 2011 with a degree in Graphic Design, and now works, under her business name, Alt + 0193, as a freelance designer. Petra is now based in Kendal, doing commisions and collaborations as requested. Petra always been pasionated about patterns and illustrations. She find inspiration for her work in shapes and colours around her. As a young designer, she already won Letts Diary Competition in 2011 (200-th Anniversary) with placement in Letts and chance to design a new diaries for 2013 collection. Most of her graphics and prints are used on children’s clothing and greetings cards, although she has recently started illustrating for children’s books. Her works has featured also in t-shirts, bags and wallpapers.
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&
DESIGN
Mengsel
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WESTHUIZEN
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Luzelle
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Who?
Why? I discovered Mengsel 2 years ago, when I was looking for orginal birthday gift. In her designs I appreciate the artistry and orginality. Luzelle hand-drawn patterns and illustrations are fresh, imaginative, well composed and carefully selected. Thanks to her I tried traditional silkscreen printing methods and really enjoy that way of print for patterns making. The silksreen methods of print gave amazing chance to experiment more with colours and thicknesses. The results can often surprise their whimsical. It’s also more orginal way for outcomes then average digital print. I would like set-up my own studio in the future, where silkcreen station will be a mandatory point.
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Luzelle van der Westhuizen studied jewellery design at Cape Town’s University of Technology, graduating with honours. After graduation, she set up a small jewellery studio in Cape Town, but after a couple of months, the travel bug bit and her bags were packed for London. After working for other designers, the time was right to go on a creative adventure again, and so Mengsel was born. Mengsel is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for mixture. Her work is inspired by geometric and hand-drawn patterns, as well as African and Scandinavian design. Luzelle has also done freelance design work for clients such as Marc Jacobs and her work has been sold in stores that represent the best in contemporary design, such as Heal’s. At the moment, the range consists of interior products such as tea towels, pillow cover sets and cushion covers.
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Egg
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Who?
Why? The Egg Press is one of my favorites letterpress studio, who as one of pionieers driving the resurgence of letterpress printing as an art form. You can’t not appreciate their exploring, experimenting and designing processes, how they communicate with expression through color, pattern, form and wit. I really adorable that kind of hand craft movement, no two prints are exactly the same each is subtly different. Pressed letteres and images have a wonderfully crisp and sharp look on paper that is both distinctive and elegant, not to mention unique. Morever the artistic opportunities offered by this most traditional of printing techniques are many and varied, and the results are quite simply beautiful. I would like take my letterpress experimentation forward in my future career.
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Tess Darrow started Egg Press in Portland, Oregon, as an outlet to combine her passion for graphic design with her degree in textile deisgn from the University of Washington, where she began letterpress printing. In 1999, she left her product and brand design carrer at Nike to buding Egg Press. Their name and reputation for innovtive letterpress greeting card design quickly spread, drawing business, along with an enthusiastic clutch of simliary talented and passionate designers, printers, operations and business specialists who make Egg Press the fun and dynamic. Egg Press works on specialized communications projects and custom printing for individuals and businesses from multi-national companies like Herman Miller, MoMA, Nike, Adidas, and Apple to local design-oriented companies to boutique wedding designers.
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Magdalena Nowak Graphic Design Self - directed study