Captivating post (newyork.com) profiling David Bradford and his approach to photographing the city and its people from his cab. For more of Bradford’s work, head to his website Drive-By Shootings. No surcharge….
Category: Inspiration
The new world is flat
It’s goodbye to faux wood, felt and metal as Apple unveils a sleek new UI design for iOS 7 under the direction of celebrated Apple design chief Jonathan Ive. The new iOS 7 was unveiled today at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco after months of speculation that Ive and team was about to ditch its increasingly outmoded attachment to skeuomorphism and move to a clean, flat color version already taking the industry by storm (i.e. Microsoft Windows 8 prodded along by superstar design firm Pentagram). A new tech minimalism is definitely well on its way. These may sound like small tweaks, but they combine to make iOS look elegant and grown-up. The design now feels like it belongs on a touchscreen. As Apple states, the higher purpose is to create “an experience that is simpler, more useful, and more enjoyable”. New features such as Control Center (organizes your most used apps), AirDrop (send photos faster vs. having to text or email), enhanced camera capabilities, better photo management and smarter multitasking were also announced along with the redesign. It’s all good but, should be interesting to see how this translates to the next generation of mobile devices (they have to have something up there well-endowed sleeves). Gotta love all the big boys embracing simplicity. Now, all we need is a cooler phone. We’re rooting for you, Jony…
Inspiration Spotted: Akio Nukaga, ceramicist
More on Saul Bass
Title Champ: Short documentary that brings to life the extraordinary work of Saul Bass. Through interviews with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, this short film reveals why Bass is still considered film title design’s greatest artist. Great perspective on this gifted man…
Saul, Marty + Edith
Saul, Martin and Edith… The Age of Innocence (1993): Later effort, again with Martin Scorsese. Simply fascinating to see how the work has progressed decades later…
Smart, stylish and distinctively Bass
Saul Bass was the master of the title sequence and movie poster, working on some of the most remembered iconic films in the history of Hollywood. His signature graphic style has been acknowledged to have brought Hollywood to a new modern sensibility. Pure genius…
Tidy by design
Ursus Wehrli, comedian and cabaret artist, shares his vision for a cleaner, more organized, tidier form of art by deconstructing the paintings of modern masters into their component pieces, sorted by color and size.
Google-driven pattern making
Anthropocene by David Thomas Smith (Copper House Gallery, March 21st – April 16th, 2013, Dublin, Ireland). Fascinating new exhibit by artist utilizing aerial images found online. Each image is composed from thousands of thumbnails extracted as screen grabs from Google Maps, which are then reconstructed piece by piece using Photoshop to produce large detailed and patterned images. The artist draws upon the patterns and motifs used by Persian carpet makers, inspired by the weaver’s use of the carpet to record their experiences. A complicated, compelling use of color, pattern and place…
Graphic repeat
Daniel Buren’s newly restored work “Two Plates”, a network of 260 striped octagonal columns of black and white, was unveiled back in January 2010 at Palais Royal, Paris. First commissioned by the French Culture Ministry in 1985, work on its restoration began in September 2008. Buren had been very vocal about the government’s negligence. Glad it made it back. Simply, amazing…
Art inspires fashion (and commerce)
Daniel Buren’s Les Deux Plateaux, now installed at the Palais Royal gives Marc Jacobs his starting point for this Vuitton collection (Spring/Summer 2013). The columns’ three different heights suggested the show’s three lengths—mini, midi, and maxi. Buren also collaborated with Vuitton on the breathtaking set, with its four escalators emptying out on a giant yellow and white check runway. Jacobs and team cleverly employs the famous Damier which becomes the ideal template for the checks. Floral embroideries were embedded in mini-squares and several iconic bags get the cube treatment. It all added up to graphic immediacy and a bold platform for a strong spring season. Art meets graphic design meets fashion meets branding meets sales, sales, sales…
