Signature is a book collection of patterns by Gond artists. The publisher notes, “Gond artists hail from Central India and work with an older tradition of drawing on walls and floors. Yet these artists mark their work as their own with carefully chosen patterns… each artist has invented his or her own distinct design, with particular meanings. This is their mark or ‘signature.’”
There are plenty of other examples of traditional Indian design on the same site, for examples old book covers here and here and folk art here and here.
1. ilovetypography.com
Japan-based designer John D. Boardley created his blog in order to make people more aware of the typography that’s around them.
2.swisslegacy.com
Swiss designer Xavier Encinas with his very Swiss blog focused on typography, graphic design and inspiritional matters.
3.typography.com
The blog of Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones.
4.typophile.com
A forum / blog system with discussion boards dedicated to all areas of type design, from identifying fonts to interviews with typographic designers.
5.slanted.de
A weblog published by MAGMA Brand Design from Karlsruhe, Germany about typography and layout. It complements their printed quarterly magazine.
6.spiekermann.com
Erik Spiekermann, self-confessed sufferer of ‘Typomania’, gives his typographic perspective on a variety of things in his Spiekerblog.
7. typetheory.com
Another aggregator that pulls together all manner of posts on contemporary typography, created by US designer Ty Wilkins.
Unlike many bands, the Arcade Fire have successfully embraced digital technology. This is their new interactive video, Wilderness Downtown using Google Maps and Google Street View technology in a creative way. Another interactive video. Also an article about the digital artwork for their last album. The Wilderness Downtown was directed by Chris Milk, who also made this promo for Johnny Cash.
In case you need a photo of something that you can’t take yourself, these stock libraries are useful. sxc.hu is free, whilst istockphoto.com and dreamstime.com. Getty Images and Veer are more expensive but are great places to look for ideas.
Daniel Eatock is an example of how a graphic designer’s questioning mind can be successfully applied into the world of conceptual art. He uses humour, brute-logic, coincidences, paradoxes to create simple but clever pieces of work that don’t fit into the traditional mold of what a graphic designer normally produces. His work is always based around an strong idea… form always follows function, yet often retains a child-like playfulness. Virtually all of the projects on his site are worth exploring.
A blog for students on the Bachelor of Design (Graphic Design) and Advanced Diploma (Visual Communication) at Raffles Millennium International, Bangalore. Visit
www.rmiblr.com for more info.
