Design Boom

This is another very interesting website full of the most up to date works of design from all over the world. It does not give such detailed descriptions or analytical views and opinions as the website I spoke about previously 'World Famous Design Junkies'; but is instead more of a daily update of images that speak for themselves allowing you to remain aware of what is going on around the world, because there are some things that you might, otherwise, not see. On the website there are also sections where you can read interviews with designers, competitions where you can get involved and submit your own design work, sections about design history and ideas for the design future. I think it is a website that all design students should definitely follow as it is always full of new and exciting design pieces and ideas that can inspire your work. There is a section entitled 'Daily Coverage' and today on that there are images of the new Paul Smith water bottles, images of the helix wind to power cell phone towers in the USA and Africa, a poster called 'be nice to a girl, by her a ring' by Ted Noten, images of 110 watt lightbults designed in the shapes of wine glasses and a looking glass carafe designed by Sebastian Bergne. Take a look at www.designboom.com/eng.

Miles Aldridge

Miles Aldridge is one of Britain's most famous and most talented fashion photographers. I absolutely love his work and admire his ability to capture an entire environment through his use of photography and choice of models and colour. Everything about his work is exciting and often very provocative, which makes him stand out and allows him to be much more free with his work. He has worked with many famous designers and has done many incredible photos of couture ranges; he has also often combined nudity with fashion to juxtapose the ideas of what is being hidden by the clothes and what statement the clothes make alone. I think the fact that much of his work is so outrageous is what really appeals to me and the way he is able to create a mood that shows the clothes in such different ways in each photograph is unbelievable. When observing his work I think about so much more than just the clothes but how much effort has been put into the image as a whole; I am very interested in settings and placement of objects and models when they are being photographed and think that he is such an expert at this which is why I find his work so inspirational. If you are at all interested in fashion photography, or even just photography then his website is definitely worth taking a look at: www.mylesaldridge.com

20 Years of Style

This book by Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits kept me fully involved from cover to cover. This is not just because I love fashion but also because of the other features of design that the book contains. It is written by the co-editors of paper magazine and so you know you are getting words written by two of the most experienced editors in the design world. It is a book for anybody who is interested in where style starts, and i do not necessarily mean style in the sense of fashion because the book looks into the life and times of the last twenty years in all aspects and how each aspect of design and culture has inspired another. It talks of the huge influence of underground cultures of art, music, film, sports and urban street and how these have effected fashion. It is laid out chronologically starting in 1984 and going up to the present day. It is filled with exciting images which I found to be the most interesting part, as this allows you to see the way that not only the clothes have changed by also the photography, the layouts of the images and the fashion advertising and photography. It is packed full of images of celebrities outfits and is a very glamourous book that shows the change in design through a variety of forms over the last twenty years. I found it inspiring as the more I read the more I realised that with a degree such as graphic design you are so free to be influenced by all aspects of the design world and that I will be able to incorporate all of my interests into my final self initiated project.

Blow

This is one of my all time favourite film, mainly because I love to watch films that are based on real life and this film is based on a true story about the life of George Jung. I realise that on this blog I have written mainly about films that include Jonny Depp; but I think this is because he is such an incredible actor that he only choses the most interesting and challenging films to be in because he strives to play the most intense and bizarre variety of characters. Blow was directed by Ted Demme and was originally a book written by Bruce Porter entitled 'How a small town boy made $100 million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and lost it all.' The screenplay was written by David McKenna and the film was released in 2001. Blow has been compared by critics to films such as: Scarface, Boogie Nights and Goodfellas and is such an amazing film because it tells the story of a drug smuggler without placing any sort of moral judgement upon the character. It leaves you feeling unsure of what your opinion of George Jung is because you get to see his life story and although you are completely aware of how morally wrong what he is doing actually is, you can't help but love the character and feel sympathetic of him when it all goes wrong towards the end. The way the film is directed is very inspirational as you gain such an all round idea of the characters life in such a short space of time and become very attached. I think the way this is done is so clever as the director has managed to get into the minds and hearts of the audience, which is a technique that could be used in advertising and all aspects of design to engross the target audience and make them intrigued by what they are seeing.

World Famous Design Junkies

This is an amazing website updated regularly with what is happening in the world of design. It has all the latest new and totally bizarre works from all over the world. Most of the posts are written by Chris Burns who seems to have a real flair and passion for discovering and researching the most outrageous and up to date design manifestations and he comments himself on what he thinks of the work and asks others to comment too. Most recently he has written about 'The Big Golden Farting Bull' and some stickers he found which he entitled 'Stickery Peeltastic' he has also shared his views on the Rubix cube and created a post called the 'One Single Cubular'. It is almost a design blog similar to our own and it has been inspiring for me to read and see just how many different sources he uses to find work that inspires him and that he is interested in. Take a look at this website if you are ever in need of some new design works to inspire you thoughts; www.worldfamousdesignjunkies.com 

Iain Crawford

I have always been very interested in fashion photography, yet this work takes instant photography and fashion to an entirely new level. It is all about temporal fashion that goes out of style in an instant as there are no actual clothes involved; instead the models are wearing the paint and therefore they can only be seen to be wearing this fluid motion of colour by the pure skill of the photography. Iain Crawford is a very inspiring photographer as he always creates work that is different and exciting. His ideas are ambitious and it is only because he is so talented that he is able to pull them off so well. I love his use of colour in his work and the way that he directs his models so that nothing else is needed to create a mood or setting. I would love to try and work in this way to test my own photography skills and create work that can advertise fashion in a way that is new and original.

The ɪncredibles

ɪ recently watched The ɪncredibles, which is a 2004 computed-animated superhero film created by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures. This film has been one of my favourite animated movies of all times, because ɪ have always preferred films with people in it to films with fictional creatures and The ɪncredibles was in fact the first full lenɡth Pixar film to feature an entirely human cast of characters. The story is about a family of superheros who all hold different superpowers, which they are banded from usinɡ as the government has ordered them to live a normal life. The film was written and directed by ʙrad ʙird, who was also the director and executive consultant of The Simpsons. ʜe was inspired to write this story by his own life experiences and has been said to have compared himself to ʙob (the father of the ɪncredibles family) as they both strive to do what they really want whilst at the same time takinɡ care of their families (ʙob - savinɡ the world and ʙird - makinɡ films).

ʙird had oriɡinally developed the film as a traditionally animated film for Warner ʙros however complications meant that he moved to work with Disney and Pixar and had to create his concept in 3D format. ʙird wanted to use his own artists and so many of his artists had to learn to use the 3D equipment especially for this film. ʙrad ʙird was also unaware of the limitations of computer animation and yet did not want to compromise any of his ideas when makinɡ the film and so new technoloɡy was created to allow ʙird to animate the human anatomy believably. ʟonɡ hair had never before been done in Cɢɪ and this film became the most complex film Pixar had ever created. Disney even considered cancellinɡ the creation because there were so many complicationsˑ however, John ʟasseter (who started Pixar) ɡot behind the project and The ɪncredibles ended up beinɡ a major success. On ʀotten Tomato it was even voted the 15th ɡreatest action film of all time and ɪn 2004 it won an Academy Award for the best animated feature film. ɪ think that it is an incredible film, with a wonderful plot that is loved by allˑ however after findinɡ out how much work and how many complications there were with creatinɡ the film ɪ have a new found appreciation for what an absolutely incredible movie it really is.

'Walking In My Mind'

'Walking In My Mind' is a recent exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. It is a collection of ten international installation artist's works and the idea behind it is that the artists are expressing what is going on in their heads when they are going through the creative processes and how they are thinking and feeling. It unifies process and product which I thought was very relevant for us as students right now because what we are trying to do through this blog is gather and understand all of our creative thoughts and ideas that have inspired us and eventually conclude by developing a physical final project. It made me think about what thoughts and creative processes are going on in my head and how I could express them, what are my weaknesses and strengths? what to I think I will be able to research and develop well as a project? and what am I most interested in? Despite there being ten artists work displayed in this exhibition including; Bo Christian Larsson from Sweden, Dutch Mark Manders, Yayoi Kusama, Keith Tyson (Turner Prize Winner), and the American Jason Rhoades; it was in fact the work of only two artists that particularly interested me because both of their works were so interactive. The first was a piece entitled 'Caveman' by Thomas Hirschhorn and the second was entitled 'Spotted Landscape' by Japanese Chiharu Shiota. Shiota had created a red room filled with white spots, that were reflected in mirrors and that covered large shapes which filled the space. Spots are the artist's signature statement as she uses them to represent her schizophrenia that has inevitably had a major impact on her life. I felt fully involved in her piece especially as it spread to places outside the gallery (including on the room and the trees that lead up to the building). This was her first installation piece to be exhibited in London and I think she has definitely made herself know through her exciting work that caused a hype in the area. In the same way that the giant chess board in Trafalgar square caused a stir i think this did too as it caused people to become intrigued; this is an idea that i will definitely be thinking about using in advertising work in the future.