blink.

Ignorance is bliss.

This artwork is about how much information we read online each day, but how most of it just disappears before as our eyes, and we ignore it. It also reflects how sometimes the most important information doesn't affect us, where as just 20 years ago it would have been a different story.

With modern day technology, we are exposed to almost everything online, including things of horror, macabre and just things that we shouldn't be seeing often. This includes video games, where the graphics are becoming more and more life-like, almost making us feel as though we're there, right in the middle of a battlefield shooting someone down. We see them fall down, but it has no impact on us as it's what we've gotten used to as we grew up.

Me, personally, was allowed to play violent video games when I was younger, but I haven't realised how much this has impacted me, as well as seeing horrific images in the news as technology has got more advanced. I grew up seeing these types of things, so I thought nothing to it until I saw this. The modern day people have got used to so many horrifying statistics, images and events that they have almost become normal to us. They don't shock us anymore, when really it should do, as we now care much less than before. 

The way the piece of artwork is designed it rather unique, it lives up to the message on the paper, and it reflects what we see in day to day life but ignore it. By showing these shocking facts in this way, it really opens up our eyes and minds as to what we're missing, and makes me wonder 'how much are we reading but ignoring in day to day life?'. I believe the aim of this project is to shock the viewers, into realising what has become of this world and how little people know about whats really happening out there in different countries. 

CargoCollective

Earlier this week, a friend of mine who is off at university shared a link with me which led to a collection of beautifully designed posters by the artists/art director Shauna Mae. These are minimalistic designs with few colours, but to me this makes them even more appealing. Take a look yourself here

I can relate to this artist is that they don't have a set style, which is what I struggle with. I cannot seem to stick to a certain style as I want to explore many, and not just be stuck doing the same style all the time. Although the styles are different, the majority of them relate to one another as they have a simple shape and line style, with the use of empty/negative space helping draw attention to the designs. An element of Mae's work that catches my eye is the colour. They don't stick to a colour scheme, but some of the colours they use within each artwork blend together subtly, where-as others contrast strong against each other, giving the artwork a certain pop that just makes you look. 

After further research into the website cargocollective.com, I have discovered that it is a personal publishing platform for various creative areas, from photography to digital. It is a great way of finding new and contemporary artists, or even students to reflect from and be inspired by. However, I don't think I'd use this site to search for artists that much, as it doesn't feature that many graphic designers, which is my specialism.

"As the founders of Cargo we have our own respective backgrounds as artists, designers and filmmakers and share a deep commitment to the creative culture we support. "

HeForShe

Whilst lightly browsing Behance earlier today, I came across a quite simple, well thought-out logo that really caught my eye as I felt as though I recognised it, even though I'd never laid my eyes upon it before. This was a pink and black logo, made up of generic straight and angular shapes for the HeForShe campaign. Here is a link so you can see for yourself: HeForShe 
After a while of looking a the logo I suddenly realised the connection between the logo and the name - the black right angle represents the male symbol (Mars symbol), and the pink upwards arrow represents the female symbol (Venus symbol), in a highly simplified manner with its own twist, though it still leaves you able to identify it once you look deep enough into it. It's unique and thought out logos like this that draw me in and make me want to look more into what it stands for, as it has a very professional, modern and clean look to it. When looking further into the branding of the campaign/organisation, the designers have developed the logo into a unique pattern on the back the products, linking it right back to the company, rather than have any old pattern stuck on there. The minimalistic colour scheme also give this a more professional feel by sticking to the rule of three - yes, I believe in this, it's not just English literature that goes by this rule.

This project was uploaded by DIA, a New York based strategic brand consultancy, design studio and production company. They described the work as "Overall, the identity communicates with shared masculine and feminine sensibilities. The typography is bold, but thoughtful while the colours are powerful, warm and energetic." with which I completely agree.

It's Been A While

I would just like to apologise for not updating this as frequently as I should, as I've not been very well recently and because of that I haven't been writing as much as I'd have liked to. I should be back up and posting often again soon.

Extracting Knowledge from the Creative Field

Alexis Winter

One artist/designer that is definitely on me 'must interview' list is Alexis Winter. Her work is so varied, from graphic design, paper embroidery and photography, to a combination of them all. I can really relate to that as I don't just want to focus on one thing, I want to mix and match, continue to explore and learn as I design.Winter spends her time in Melbourne, Australia working as a Communication Designer, and loves 'layered concepts with hidden meanings.
Here are a few examples of her work (also some of my favourites):
Pad loves 'layered concepts with hidden meanings.

Contact Details
Email: alexis.k.winter@gmail.com
Blog: http://alexiswinter.tumblr.com
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/AlexisWinter#_=_


Oliver Munday

Oliver Munday lives and works in New York as a graphic designer. He co-founded a socially based design collaborative named 'Piece' with Bernard Canniffe and Mike 
Weikert. Together, they believe that designers can play a key role in social justice and 
positive change. I love how Munday's work is so simplistic yet eye catching, with the minimal colours playing a key part as they contrast well together. 
These are just a few of my favourites:
Wire Poster Project
Knopf
See, Mix, Drink 

Contact Details
Latest work shown on: http://omunday.tumblr.com
Email: oliver.munday@gmail.com

Avinoam Noma Bar

Noma Bar is an Israeli born graphic designer, who studied typography and graphic design and states that he's “after the maximum communication with minimum elements”. He's currently working for the design agency Dutch Uncle, who have office in London, New York and Tokyo. His work has become well known within the advertising industry, resulting in him winning numerous awards for his work. One thing I would love to know is where the ideas are derived from and who his influences are, as those are the types of things I struggle with the most. He has such an effective and creative way of using the negative space within the images that he produces. 

Here are what I feel are his best pieces of work:

Tea for Two

Winter

Cut it Out

Contact Details
Twitter
Facebook

Metaphors in Art & Design

During my time at college today, we started to look into metaphors in things such as commercials and numerous works of art. We were shown different images and each had to write down what other meaning they could have, such as a runner wearing high heels on a racetrack - an advert for Pirelli tyres. The meaning behind it was that you could have the most powerful vehicle in the world (the runner) but if you haven't got good grip/tyres (represented by the high heels) then you won't get very far and you won't get the optimum performance. We then went on to look at other things similar to this, such as the Bill Viola 'The Messenger' artwork (rather scary in my opinion!)
To this collection I would like to add this rather strange advert, Beagle Street. Life insurance. Reborn., as i think it's a great way of saying that most insurance companies can be a right pain and hassle with life insurance, making them not very approachable. When the fluffy, more approachable creature arrives, that represents Beagle Street, making them appears to be kind and approachable to customers. 

We also started to look at professional websites to take advice and inspiration from, and I found one which I signed up to a while ago but didn't really look into as I didn't know how to use it - Behance. This is an Adobe run website, making it a specialist site mainly for graphic designers of all subcategories, including photographers. On this site you can find artists and designers from professional to amateur, resulting in a mix of talents and creative knowledge in 30+ creative fields. The site is mostly used to post ongoing or completed work by the users, but it can also be used to post jobs for others to complete. It's such a great site, especially for freelancers as it can be quite a good way for them to showcase their portfolios and to get them noticed and recommended by the community, essentially boosting their career.

YSP

Ursula von Rydingsvard was born in 1924 in Deensen, Germany. She attended the University of Miami – Coral Gables in 1965 where she received a BA and an MA and an MFA in 1975 from Columbia University. She then attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 1991 where she received an honorary doctorate. She spent the majority of her childhood in post-war refugee camps and Nazi slave-labour, which she reflects upon within her work. The aim of her sculptures is to show the trace of the human hand and for them to resemble wooden bowls, tools and walls that reflect on her past, pre-industrial Poland before WW1. Her work almost reflects puzzles with the staggered forms and surfaces. Rydingsvard has achieved many awards during her lifetime, including a Joan Mitchell Award in 1997 and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1979 and in 1986.

Rydingsvard uses cedar wood beams that have been commercially cut in 4x4 pieces, which had been central to her work since 1975. Sometimes when she’s creating her sculptures, she uses cedar molds. For a period of 20 years, she cut all of the wood herself but now has a team of four cutters; two men and two women. They use circular saw, chisels and personally developed and adapted tools to suit their needs. To begin with, Rydingsvard marks the wood with pencil so can execute her designs. As quoted by the artist herself, “my cutters are very experienced and know exactly what I want, we work and eat together and we are like a family” “I can only hope that the cedar feels that all the abuse we inflict on it is worth what it becomes in the end”. She applies graphite power with a soft bristled brush and sometimes chalk or plaster to the wood to give it subtle age.