Letterpress typography

I was recently accumulating resources for a future blog entry and fell into a graphic designer's links page which led me on a strange journey through one fantastic site after another.

I eventually settled into the letterpress typography of Hammerpress, you may or may not recall seeing one of their designs in the TDC show this year; a concert poster for Sigur Ros.

I was taken by the design when I saw it the first time but had no expectations as to what other work the company had done. They have managed to layer colors and text in such a way as to create a retro-modern sort of appeal. I think that this sort of typography is dynamic in its playful composition. Here are some samples

The Wino - er... Wine Connoisseur Speaks on Design

As I am currently in the process of branding my winery, e?nigma, I have been paying even closer attention to the packaging of wines from different regions. I personally like the cost-value relationship of Australian and South African wines, but additionally these wines tend to have some of the most interesting and diverse packaging and brands on the shelves today.

I've been long bored by the gold embossing and delicate paper textures on wine bottles from italy and france. It was said to me recently that some feel that these characteristics are iconic of quality and prestige but I think this is hogwash. I may not be wealthy enough to appreciate the value of a $50 bottle of wine, but cost seems to be the only thing indicated by so-called 'fancy' packaging on these bottles.

I like to get a sense of mood from a bottle of wine; is it fun, sombre, delicate, exuberant, sensual? I cannot tell this from a fancy gold swash or an off-white label.

I prefer wines who attempt to create a sense of play or experimentation in the consumer, here are a few examples of 'fun' wine packaging:

Red Knot:

Kelly's Revenge:

South African wine - Obikwa:

My desire to create a mood for the consumer will be translated through the batch name where each batch will feature a dynamic and unusual name that when interpereted will indicate the qualities of the wine itself. eg. 'Glacial Sandstorm' (A dry wine best served chilled) etc.

Print Consumption: Delicious...

While I rarely have time to read in my daily life, I spend a disproportionate amount of time seeking out good design to fill my proverbial creative well.

My favorite magazine would have to be Idn, but I am also a frequent reader of Applied Arts, Juxtapoz, Toronto Life, Esquire, and Revolver. I am always looking for new design magazines because I always appreciate design more thoroughly when I am looking at the physical representation rather than the online version.

I do read the newspaper as well, The Toronto Star being the paper delivered to my home, and the National Post when I am at work. But truthfully, I read alot less in the real newspapers than I would in the rag editions like Metro etc, simply because it's not nearly as exhausting.

Otherwise, I read a lot of books on my off-time from class, we're trying to develop our library for our future 'study' -or home office- when we have a larger space than our apartment. I personally read alot of fiction such as Sci-fi, Satire, and alot of this being dystopian novels which I find fascinating. My favorite authors are John Wyndham, Kurt Vonnegut, and Chuck Palahniuk whose works are always steeped in social commentary(likely a primary source of my cynicism towards pop culture figures)

I also consume design texts above and beyond those recommended for classes, (see earlier post on the Stylepedia) and am a big fan of books published by Steven Heller or through Rockport.

Martin Kvamme - what strange music looks like

Some people may say that my taste in experimental music has long ago gone awry, an I might just be inclined to agree. It seems that my favorite musician Mike Patton is slowly losing his mind, in the most audibly pleasing way possible. His projects include numerous bands such as Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Tomahawk, Fantomas, and a variety of more experimental and virtually incoherent jibberish.

While this blog entry does not directly concern his music, it does relate to his imprint label ipecac for whom Martin Kvamme designs a bulk of their packages and posters.

Tomahawk's Mit Gas:
These are detail shots of the hotfoil stamping featured on my favorite CD design. In fact, the CD itself is my favorite CD in part because of the contrast between the rough experimental sound and slick regal packaging. With CD design a great deal of how we interpret music is through perception.

I did some research and found that many of my favorite designs of late had been designed by martin for ipecac.

Fantomas' Directors Cut:General Patton Versus the X-ecutioners:
Peeping Tom:

Of late a great deal of his designs have been cardboard sleeves, which to me says alot about sustainable design in music packaging. Who needs a hundred jewel cases that will someday be cluttering either a landfill or consuming valuable resources to recycle.

Some Posters as well:
This guy apparently has my dream job, designing strange packaging for strange music... Someday I hope to be able to work with clients such as these.

Responsible Design

I think theres two ways to answer the question; 'what is the responsibility of a designer'. First, we should consider the economic and environmental impact of the messages we are sending. Secondly, I would have to say that the responsibility of the designer is to bridge the gap between
the client and the target audience.
In either case for me, my primary focus is to find ways to incorporate sustainability into my work wherever possible.

My mediated life

I sat down to analyze my personal usage of popular media outlets based on a one week period, and found that I do consume more media than I had expected. While I'm not at all surprised by the inclusion of 26 hours of MP3 listening because of the 14 hours a week I am on the bus, I was surprised that My web usage was as high as it is.

I had thought that I wasn't an internet reliant person, but it seems that I spend quite a bit of time between classes and during breaks from homework to constitute 11 hours of surfing.

What surprised me the most was the limited use of print media, I suppose that while the magazines I read are numerous, I am not spending as much time reading them as I thought. This must be due to my school and work schedule as there is always some sort of research to be done online that it would be far more time consuming to look through printed materials

Print
News- 2 hr
Magazine - 1 hr
Book - 1 hr

Web
Internet - 11 hr
Emails - 6

Entertainment
DVD - 7 hr
Music - 26 hr

Communication
Cell Phone - 15 min
Telephone - 1 hr
Text Messages - 3

Studio Profile: The Movement

An interesting design firm to be sure, The Movement is a Toronto firm whose work is unique and inspired. Their website scrolls along a horizontal time line displaying their past present and future work, when you click a link you are shot forward into the future to the desired link.

The diversity of this design group was impressive to me, working on both conventional and unconventional projects incorporating information graphics, packaging, advertising and a variety of other media.


These guys seem genuinely interested in the progression of design in terms of both their own designs and that of their competitors. The claim on their website is that they have a free desk for any designer who wants help bringing an innovative job to fruition... free of charge.


I am definitely going to be keeping an eye out for these guys in the future and hopefully someday I may have the opportunity to bring some unique concepts of my own to their doorstep.