Plastics in the 20th Century
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Here is an great reference for the history of product design: Plastics in the 20th Century, post WWII
"War effort made plastics industry boom. Many new materials developed just previous to war were fundamental in war effort like Nylon, Acrylic, Polyester and Synthetic Rubbers. After 1945 the market was flooded with plastic goods due to the inflated capacity of the industry. Plastics are the materials of choice for the Consumerist culture as it evolved from the 1940s on."
LEGO 50-15
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A while ago, Derek Beaulieu invited me to participate in a collaborative project which was a "constraint-based writing and artwork portfolio." Derek writes, "Lego was created 50 years ago this year, and has been an inspiration for generations of kids. Those kids are us. Lego was the toy—i know i spent endless full days creating cities, spaceships, creatures and more (and still have a box full of Lego)—it taught us to think. So many poets, writers and artists have since taken this modular thinking and applied it to their own oeuvre (how many of you have files, packages, piles and gatherings of inspiring things, tools for one day?) ...”
We were given a pdf of the original American patent application to use as we wished, but limited to a single letter-sized sheet of paper. For my submission, I decided to construct something out of the lego drawing. By stacking the diagram, it created an Escher-like pattern, in which the surface places tricks on your eyes.
The completed portfolio has an edition of 60 copies and contains work by Elizabeth Bachinsky, Jonathan Ball, Christian Bök, Steven Collis, Craig Dworkin, Chris Ewart, Jesse Ferguson, Helen Hajnoczky, Mark Laliberte, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Ross Priddle, Jenny Samprisi, Blake Smith, Andrew Topel and Janine Vangool.
LEGO 50-15 is available for $10 each (including shipping) from Derek at: derek@housepress.ca
Fabric designed by you
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Bonbonkakku.com is to textile patterns as to Threadless is to T-shirts: "Bon Bon Kakku is pioneering net store where you can design your own fabrics.
If your design is a success, it will be also sold on the site.
Every fabric designed on our site will be published on our site for viewers to see and vote for.
We will choose the fabrics to sell on our store based on the results of viewers voting."
Beautiful ballpoint
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Pentagram's Angus Hyland has received an international design award for his beautifully designed exhibition and catalogue celebrating the art of the ballpoint pen. Hyland is also the editor of one of the best books on identity design that I've ever read: C/ID. The book offers in-depth study of successful identities for cultural institutions with stunning images and truly brilliant design solutions. {available in our shop}
{original link found at SeeSaw Designs }
Innovative Publishing: The Thing
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I've been interested in The Thing since I first read about it prior to the release of their first issue:
THE THING is a quarterly periodical in the form of an object. Each year, four artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers are invited by the editors (Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan) to create an everyday object that somehow incorporates text. This object will be reproduced and hand wrapped at a wrapping party and then mailed to the homes of the subscribers with the help of the United States Postal Service.
Each new Thing is then assembled and packaged during a launch and wrapping party. Such a great concept! I would love the challenge to design and source the manufacturing for each unique issue, too. The project is supported through subscriptions, which are $120 for four issues. Alas, shipping is an additional expense ($20 per issue to Canada), so I have not yet subscribed.
National Stationery Show
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Hi everyone! I'm reporting in from New York and the National Stationery Show. The size of the show is unbelievable and quite daunting at first. But Glen and I methodically canvased the show, aisle by aisle and I think we saw all of it. I took some pictures of my favourite finds and will be posting them here on the UPPERCASE journal as well as pictures in my Flickr pool in the days to come.
Noticing: Inflatables
/Stefan Sagmeister: Everybody always thinks they are right:
here
Joshua Allen Harris' Air Bear, streets of New York:
Beyond Magazine, Issue 16
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This is a project I have designed for many years. It is a wonderful nonprofit, independent publication full of great visuals and interesting text. Issue 16 (the best one yet!) has cover art by Marc Johns and illustrations/art by as Katie Radke, Byron Eggenschwiler, Gordon Wiebe, Stefan Thompson and James Mejia plus photographs from 3191: a year of mornings by Stephanie Congdon Barnes and Maria (Mav) Vettese. There are articles on film, music, coffee, libraries, books and all things small. The article on “The Small Art Revolution” covers artists and projects such as Thumbtack Press, The Small Object, Little Otsu, Etsy and many more. You can see more images from the magazine here and purchase or subscribe to Beyond here.
“Beyond is the little magazine about a lot of things. We operate as a portable art gallery – not big enough to require a building but not small enough to be written on a grain of rice. We work with poets, writers, thinkers, artists, and readers to create a thought-provoking magazine containing a good dose of silliness. Or a dollop of silliness. Dose or dollop. We love the connections that develop via the Beyond community, where readers and creators from all kinds of backgrounds meet both inside and outside our pages. We’re not-for-profit, independent, and free of advertising. And we’re reader-supported through subscriptions and donations.”
SINGLE ISSUE:
$12
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
$36 for three issues if you live in Canada.
$39 for three issues if you live in the USA.
Intoxication
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"Idea generation is an addiction...an engaging, brain-spinning indulgence that must be practiced in moderation."
This statement is from the Behance's article which cautions on the intoxicating side-effect of idea generation. "New ideas have the potential to transform your life in wonderful ways, but they are also the most notorious source of distraction. Frustrated entrepreneurs and struggling creatives often trace back their problems to a moment when they decided to pursue too many things at once." This certainly rings true for me! Over the past three years, I have opened UPPERCASE, curated a few dozen gallery exhibitions, designed a line of wholesale greeting cards, made hundreds of handmade papergoods, launched an online store and published a book. All the while, I have continued to maintain my graphic design business. I admit that this is quite a lot to manage and though it has been exhilarating, it is also exhausting.
The arrival of a new year always brings about contemplation and resolutions. Leading up to 2008, I had been looking forward to putting more focus on my creative and business endeavours. UPPERCASE gallery, books & papergoods has developed into a bigger project than I could have possibly imagined when it first began. It its infancy, I thought it would be a small bookstore — a companion to complement my graphic design studio. It quickly became an outlet for my creativity. If I had an idea for a product, I could simply create it and see an immediate response from my customers. UPPERCASE allows me to conceptualize all aspects of a project — from concept to production to marketing to distribution. It truly uses all aspects of my creative thinking and I find this very fulfilling and enjoyable. Although working for clients has its rewards, it is so much more satisfying to have full ownership of an idea and its design.
Over the past year, the balance of my business shifted from Vangool Design to UPPERCASE as I began to devote increasing amounts of my time to the store. The success of The Shatner Show in terms of the quality of participants, press and other attention, was phenomenal and was a definite turning point. It put my small enterprise (pun intended) on the map. Although the show and book have just broken even at this point, with proper distribution now in place I hope to make enough to eventually fund another book.
My current self-directed publication project is Work/Life: the UPPERCASE Directory of Canadian Illustration & Photography. The intention of this publication is to promote Canadian talent to the best clients across North America. Participants pay a reasonable fee to be in the book and this, along with some sponsors, will cover the production and distribution costs. Some incredibly talented people have signed up! Necessarily, I have had to decline a lot of client work in order to have time to dedicate to Work/Life. After a decade of freelancing, it is against my nature to turn down a job — but now it has become a necessity to do so. I regret the inconvenience this will cause to some of my clients, but I know they will wish me well. I won't be turning absolutely everything down: I will focus on my love of publication design and special arts/culture projects, plus I remain open to any amazing unforeseen opportunities might come my way.
bye bye Blueprint
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Going forward, the company will produce Blueprint as focused special interest issues within the home category, which it will introduce to brides-to-be through its established Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. Bluelines, the Blueprint blog, will continue and the company anticipates growing Blueprint digital content across its websites. Blueprint magazine will discontinue publishing on a stand-alone basis after the January/February 2008 issue.
They better spruce up that Bluelines blog, then, because it has always been the weekest link in the Blueprint brand. The quality of the images posted there is always lacking.
"We are constantly evaluating the best ways to position and grow our brands. Weddings and Blueprint appeal to women at a similar life stage and we believe this strategy will allow us to better leverage the synergistic relationship between the two publications," said Susan Lyne, President and CEO of MSLO. "By publishing Blueprint in a special interest format, we can provide newlyweds with useful ideas and inspiration for their homes; and advertisers with a targeted platform to reach this highly desirable consumer."
Thats a very antiquated notion that women must be getting married or recently married to be interested in decorating their homes. (I purchased my home without a guy in sight!)
"We thank Editor-in-Chief Sarah Humphreys, Design Director Deb Bishop, Publisher Amy Wilkins, and the entire Blueprint team for all the hard work, talent and passion they brought to this start-up," added Lyne. "We look forward to working with Sarah, Deb, Amy and other members of the Blueprint team on the new special interest issues and other company endeavors. We expect Blueprint's new format and the expansion of Weddings will position us well in a dynamic, multimedia marketplace."
At least they are keeping this talented team (hopefully not too many will lose their jobs). I've always admired Deb Bishop's work. (She attended the Alberta College of Art & Design before me.)
Blueprint is the only magazine I subscribe to. I liked it enough to show my support that way, rather than purchasing it on newstands. I hope they refund that two-year subscription I just renewed!
