What Makes me THAT designer. How my interest in design has seen a shift from the foundations of my interests, to leading the lifestyle of a designer.
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Contents A visual look book of the context that has influenced my practice as a designer and shaped my design direction.
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Chapter 1 Designers - Mysterious Al - Saul Bass - Passport - Matt Ottdal Chapter 2 Studios - Hey Studio - Turner Duckworth - Glad - Fuse/ Delete Chapter 3 Inspiration - Adidas Originals - Go Sick Get Raw - Designspiration - Served.
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Mysterious AL. Mysterious Al has been making graf-ically inspired art for years, and has been someone that I have frequently seen in shows. He was one of the original members of the Finders Keepers set along with D*Face, PMH and Dave the Chimp. Finders Keepers was a series of DIY / illegal street art exhibitions where artists were invited to exhibit their work on disused shop fronts and on the street for the public to come and view, and take what they liked for free. Looking back, it seems quite a radical interventionist concept now with the business side of the UK street art scene steering the motivations for a large amount of street art we see in the post-Banksy blow-up era. Al is an accomplished muralist, but doesn’t really associate himself with the street art scene. You may well have also seen some of the commercial work he has undertaken for many a brand name.
TF: This is probably a good opening point to get out of the way: you have never claimed that what you do is graffiti, whereas a lot of the people who’ve profited well from selling artwork over the past few years have labeled themselves that way. What are your own personal distinctions between true graffiti and the guys who are doing street art? Al: Oh dude, Where do I start? Although I’ve always been massively interested in graffiti and draw a lot of my working process from its methods, I’m about as far away from a graffiti writer as you can get. Real graffiti artists are infinitely more hardcore than me and hold down crazy skill in intensely hot situations and spots. I occasionally paint walls and sometimes they’re illegal, but for me it’s all about the social aspect of this… Painting with friends, doing a good spot, then going for a beer… That’s what I like. I don’t see the point in street artists that aren’t up everywhere fronting like they’re hardcore. Everyone can see through that shit straight away and its embarrassing.
Designers:
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Saul Bass. Bass was prolific as a logo designer. His signature style and method behind conveying company identities have had true lasting power and still win admiration from the graphic design community today. Christian Annyas, a web designer, in 2011 studied Bass’ creations for longevity to discover that the average lifespan of one of Saul Bass’ logos is a staggering 34 years. That’s a heck of a long time when you consider the amount of mergers, management changes and switches of agency partners big corporations and entities he worked with go through.
He became known for designing brilliant animated sequences for motion pictures. In his 40+ year career he did work for the best Hollywood movie makers including Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese just to name a few.
Designers:
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PassPort. Founded by Jonathan Finch and Rosalind Stoughton in 2012, Passport is an independent branding and print design studio based in Leeds, UK, informed and influenced by certain destinations and international design culture. We enjoy designing thoughtful and effective identities that aim to strike a balance between classic and contemporary aesthetics. We strive to realise projects through carefully crafted and well executed print as a result of constant research and experimentation into unconventional processes and materials.
services include: Brand Identity Creative Direction Editorial Design Packaging Design Print Design Typography Web Design
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Mats Ottdal. A norwegian Graphic Designer and Illustrator working with print, motion graphics & art direction. Bachelor in Communication Design at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, 2005. Mats Ottdal is a multidisciplinary Designer / Art Director with an additional passion for illustration and typography. After 7 years experience working closely with local and international clients, Mats Ottdal is currently working with design projects for agencies in Oslo, London and New York, basically within branding and packaging design.
He became known for designing brilliant animated sequences for motion pictures. In his 40+ year career he did work for the best Hollywood movie makers including Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese just to name a few.
Designers:
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Hey Studio. A design studio based in Barcelona. Mostly working in brand identity, illustration and editorial design. Achieving their own style. Geometry, colour, direct typography. Let’s say purity. When I look back over thier work I feel it is consistent. Their personal projects are almost as important as the commercial ones. Inspiring. They explore, innovate, they are small. But work effectively like that, because it lets them stay close to their clients.
Studios:
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Turner Duckworth. “We design iconic visual identities and packaging for consumer brands. We constantly strive to deliver not only world-class strategic design, but also world-class project management. Our studios in San Francisco and London work together through a unique collaborative process, during which strategy and design become clearer, simpler and richer in meaning.”
“We have won most of the world’s top brand identity and packaging design awards including the first ever Cannes Grand Prix for Design, and we are the only design company to have our work inducted into the CLIO Awards Hall of Fame. We even won a Grammy for our design work for the rock band Metallica. The awards attract the best talent to our studios and also to our clients’ companies.”
Studios:
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Glad. Characterised by a commitment to engaging ideas that look great and produce results, Glad was founded in February 2011. Since then, we have collaborated with some great clients, worked on some fantastic projects and picked up a few awards along the way. We are a branding and design agency with a simple mission statement; that everyone who chooses to work with us will be glad that they did.
Studios:
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Delete. Their Process;
DISCOVER DEFINE CREATE DEPLOY EVOLVE
Studios:
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Adidas Originals. The driving force of adidas Originals is to tap into the vintage, classic style of the brand, while offering something truly unique. And it’s this spirit of adidas Originals that appeals so much to the adidas collector and consumer. As a brand, adidas Originals combine cutting edge footwear with diversity and artistic expression. Just as surfing as a sport comes with its own philosophy, adidas Originals is more than just a sport shoe. The appeal of the brand is combining quality and aesthetics. Designer Jeremy Scott has his own take on adidas Originals – his designs will be called ‘Originals by Originals’ to reflect the individuality of the fashion designers adidas have recruited. For Scott, combining the vintage shapes of adidas with high-end fashion details is key. Scott said in a press release about his collaboration with adidas Originals: “I could not think of a better compliment than to be called ’an Original’ by adidas and I am so happy to finally make this dream of a collaboration collection with adidas a reality!” Adidas Originals are the most sought after footwear collection, incorporating highly technical and modern materials with iconic style.
No other trainer combines classic styles from the forties and fifties adding a contemporary twist, making adidas Originals the only brand for the ‘discerning cad’.
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GosickGetraw. Lifestyle. Interests. Pleasures. Entertainment. Culture.
Inspiration:
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Designspiration. Designspiration is a resource to help you discover and share great design. Designspiration is focused on maintaining a high level of great design inspiration to share around the world. It is a nudity-free environment so browsing at anytime, anywhere is always safe.
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...Served sites. Served is a collection of sites that showcase category specific content from Behance, the world’s leading platform for creative professionals across all industries. Projects featured on the served sites are selected by our curatorial team. To have your work considered, sign up for Behance and create a portfolio.
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