Reblog Article #5: Fit Nation

 

Pentagram's Luke Hayman and a team have helped to utilize architecture to encourage physical activity and healthier lifestyles, the team created wall art and dimensional panels with various information both inside and outside of a gallery space for the Center for Active Design. The icons are simple and represent simple actions and encouragements such as "take the stairs rather than the elevators.

 

I appreciate the subtly of the designs message while also giving making it a very clear one, only basic shapes and basic colors are used yet the imagery is very striking and eye catching. More than anything I appreciate the simplicity of the icon people, the use of the icons ( that resemble traffic rules) give a kind of authority because of the connotations associated with them while also implying fun and east with the color choices.

Pentagram Article Link:
http://new.pentagram.com/2013/07/new-work-fitnation/

Pentagram Link:
http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

World Wildlife Magazine

Designers DJ Stout and Carla Delgado together worked on a magazine entitled World Wildlife magazine for the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF wanted to create a magazine that would educate and inspire their members through factual information, story telling, and beautiful images. The designers created magazine covers that featured close up images of various natural textures from animal fur, bone, or even just patterns seen in nature. On the inside the magazine features full spread photographs as well as a short story. The rest of the magazine features more photographs and stories as well as info graphics, and interviews. The Magazine is clean and clear it, features close up images of animals and people making the reader empathize with the subject more, which is important to the WWF's goal of conservation and protection. Though I personally do not completely like the outlined words as the title I appreciate that the type allows the full blow photograph to show through and dominate the page. I also appreciate the cover has little to no other text it keeps the magazine clean and sophisticated.

Standford Buisness Magazine

Luke Hayman of the Design Company Pentagram redesigned the Stanford Business magazine that focused more on the concept of innovation. Working with the editor-in-chief Hayman completely redesigned the alumni magazine to be more lively and leave more of an impact and unique by being smaller and bright and clean. The magazine also features new article layouts and incorporates striking photographic and illustrated images. I appreciate the new design of this magazine because of how it is able to bring a splash of color and fun to a serious business magazine, though the new light design does not take away from the technological business subject matter the magazine displays. This is a wonderful example of balance between business and fun in an over all design.

Reblog article 7#: Tenement Museum

The Lower East side Tenement Museum is a museum that focuses on America's urban immigrant history. In 1863 Manhattan's Lower east side was home to about 7000 working class immigrants, the Tenement museum wants to tell the story of these people and the challenges they faced in their attempt at making a new life in America. The Tenement Museum identity was created by Pentagram, though their site doesn't go flu in depth into the process behind the logo's design it is clear how the logo mimics the structure of the apartment building that house the actual museum. The color scheme is a basic red and white so it stands out against the natural earth tones of the buildings of Manhattan's down town area. I especially like the designed bench in from of the museum with the name of the museum cut out. 

This logo like many of the ones i refer to in my research are very illustrative through just the use of font and text placement, very simple layout but still eye catching. I also like the way the inverse of red and white create interesting negative space that matches the thickness of the actual text. 

Pentagram website:
http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

Reblog Article #6: The Surreal House

The Surreal House is a show featuring surrealist architecture from artists such as Salvador Dali, Marcel, Duchamp, Man Ray  and Joseph Cornell. The exhibit was held at the Barbican Art Gallery in London England, the identity was created by Pentagram's Angus Hyland who created illustrative typographic images to represent each area/ house of the exhibit.

I like the simplicity of the designs Hyland created, changing the font depending on the part of the exhibit while still keeping everything very constant looking with the use of the bold thick illustrative font and the black on off white color scheme. 

Reblog Article # 4: Taiwan Pavilion

 This article is about the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale Curated and designed by architect Jimenez Lai. The pavilion is a collection of nine small houses, each embodying one domestic program and based on the theme of "Fundamentals" such as a house designed around the aspect of sleep, and a house designed around the aspect of social eating. Designer Natasha Jen of pentagram created an identity for the exhibition mixing typography and colorful graphics. 

I find the integration of graphics into the title of the identity really fascinating and inspiring, I appreciate how the designer incorporated them together rather than creating a logo that was one part graphic and the other part words you so rarely see that in a logo. Though as much as I can appreciate this mixer and appreciate how good compositionally it looks the words are somewhat hard to read and it bothers me some that the letters are inconsistent. With some letters directly on top of others I feel as though I should be reading certain words vertically as well but though don't spell anything. But despite that I still appreciate how the logo looks and what it is trying to convey.

Pentagram website:
http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

Taiwan Pavilion by Pentagram:
http://new.pentagram.com/2014/07/new-work-taiwan-pavilion-at-the-venice-architecture-biennale/

Reblog Article # 3: Hallelujah! It’s a Pentagram Revival

This article is a report from the Design company Pentagram about their company's  "Revival" and to celebrate their commitment to the city of Austin, as well as give away their newest publication The black book or  as they called it "The bible".  The poster was created as an ad for Pentagram's revival party I find it interesting how it seamlessly combines the obviously edited cow head onto a religious painting. They even added Pentagram's black book as "The bible in the poster". Though the poster is set up in the style of a religious painting it doesn't lose it's targeted message of a fun party. It relates to my work because i'm not only interested in illustration in graphics but also because of the concept of combining animals and humans together in a seamless "natural" way and this poster is successful in that.  

Article:
http://new.pentagram.com/2008/04/hallelujah-pentagram-austin-ho/

Site:
http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

http://gra4950c-graphicdesignportfolio.blogspot.com

Reblog Article # 2: The Leo by Hyperakt

The Leonardo is a contemporary museum for science and culture located in Salt Lake City, UT created in honor of the renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, Hyperakt created it's logo as well as it's design, typography, and color pallet using elements of science, technology, and art all things that Leonardo da Vinci was interested in.

I'm very much the kind of designer who brings other elements into my work and is greatly inspired by other art pieces that I see, so I really appreciate how the company was able to add new elements to old and famous Da vinci icons. Such as the contemporary Vitruvian man and woman the designers created for the bathroom symbols.

The museum itself seems to be very innovative and interactive and fun so the color choice of saturated pink and a bold san serif font are very appropriate for the design. I'm also interested in the way they reversed the word "The" to "EHT" in the logo, I can see why they did it because the E in "The" and the L in "Leonardo" would have gotten jumbled together but I still find it fascinating that you can still read the backwards "The" as just that. I think that us attributed to the font and spacing that they used.

 

 

 

Link to the Article:

http://hyperakt.com/items/leo/

 

Museum Site:

http://www.theleonardo.org/about_the_leonardo/what_is_the_leonardo/

 

Link to the Blog:

http://hyperakt.com/

Reblog article #1: Gift maker toys for PNC by Invisible Creature

The article is a report from Invisible Creature describing a project where they were asked to design a series of original toys based on the "12 days of Christmas" song. the toys they created were very unique because they're design allowed for customers to mix and match certain parts to essentially create their own toy or version of a toy and purchase them offline. They also setup an event where people who create a toy are entered into a drawing where they could win a 3d printed gift.

I found this article relevant to my work and design process mainly because of the use of the Makerbot/ 3D printer and how you can customize an object easily through that process. I also really liked the idea that the company didn't just create a toy that people may or may not buy but they also included the ability for customers to customize the toy for themselves making it a bit more personal to them, this way the designers give more options without having to do more work.

 
Link to the Article:
http://blog.invisiblecreature.com/gift-maker-toys-for-pnc/

Home Page:
http://www.invisiblecreature.com/intro/