This site brings together designers and the music that inspires them. Free to sample. Is this even legal? Legit? I’m not sure if it is, but in the meantime, I’m going to find out what gets other designers inspired. Some are serious, others are not… check it out:
And here is an amazing stop motion video shared from Andrew Cutraro of snowfall in Washington, D.C. set to White Winter Hymnal. I can’t figure out why it is so mesmerizing, but I think it’s just the speed, the low light… it reminds me of laying by the window at night, watching the snow fall and hoping school would be closed.
snOMG from Andrew Cutraro on Vimeo.
Here comes a wonderfully organic, clean but colorful, example of a melding of artistic and journalistic disciplines. Every day I receive several infographics (elaborate, often full-page, graphical illustrations), that show stats and figures, within the guise of a visual presentation. Here is one that really does it all very well… motion, facts, etc. Nice job: Another amazing Infographic from Tony Shin .
Click on this one – enjoy!
Created By Online PhD
Children’s literature is still an amazing, magical world for me. Often, while reading to my children, I am once again transported to my blue bedroom with the dark windows, miles from nowhere. I am so pleased to find that my kids sometimes fall in love with the same authors or books that grew my and my life for illustration and literature. Maurice Sendak is one of those writers/illustrators. Here he talks about his own obsessions with authors and the mystery of how writers do what they do.
He compares the act of creating art to jumping off a cliff, into the unknown. You either do it and survive, or crack your head. I have cracked my head many, many times. I’m in agreement with him on this imagery, but feel that is more often a SERIES of cliffs. Sometimes you have the courage to shop for work, or to pitch a job that might seem out of your league. Other times you are taking the risk at doing something new or different. Stepping out to be an individual designer, rather than living under the wings of an agency was my Vesuvius, but some days can often feel like jumping off the high dive into an empty pool. (picture Bugs Bunny looking down into a teeny tiny pool below)
He also addresses the idea that many of his works are not considered “appropriate”. What the heck is appropriate? And who says? Yes, Micky from In the Night Kitchen is naked. Not strange, creepy naked. Just exactly the way kids love to be naked, say in the kitchen, while baking. (or maybe my own kids are the only weirdos that think it is perfectly normal to parade around in nothing but an apron?) My children loved it and wished that they could dive, commando, into a giant cake pan, mold the dough into an airplane and fly away. Since I don’t allow most of their fun fantasies, they have to live through books written by people like Sendak.
One thing about Sendak that I can truly relate to is the distinction that he is merely an illustrator, as if that is a put down. He is so much, much more but also exactly that. A fabulous illustrator, author, relationist, dreamer, realist, curmudgeon, wild thing.
Images of various Maurice Sendak books and the author.
Great, light article about his life and personality as he was turning 83, after the death of his long-time partner, and the upcoming production of Where the While Things Are into a movie, from the New York Times.
Additionally, here he is, interviewed by Stephen Colbert:
Two designers created Six Word Story Every Day in 2010 to explore language and typography. Throughout that year they [designer Anne Ulku, and writer Van Horgen,] provided one posting per day in collaboration, inspired by the work Ernest Hemingway “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” They opened the project up to the world in 2011 and just wrapped it up on 12.31.11. I am so pleased to have found this, though very late in the game, and even more thrilled to have placed a few stories in their archives. Thanks for the fun challenge Anne and Van!
The first attempt, total folly.
In collaboration with writer, Wendy Taylor.
And a few that didn’t get chosen…
The end of a relationship always leaves feelings of regret and anxiety about what the new future will be or what might have been otherwise. Those feelings are even more acute when the absence is caused by death. I knew that break was coming for my 4-year love affair with my Macbook Pro, but knowing that the end was imminent didn’t lessen the sting.
The display failure on our oven didn’t conjure up the slightest butterflies. Knowing that my clothes washer and dryer are both on their last cycles isn’t causing sleep loss. Not even the random freezing and thawing of the entire refrigerator of food has caused the denial, fear, and anger that I have experienced over the recent demise of my first laptop.
Possessiveness is relative when your machine is owned by the company you work for and managed by an IT team your options are limited. You can’t feel much empathy with a computer that isn’t truly your own. But the give and take between a full-time freelance designer and her Macintosh can be extremely important and fulfilling, setting off feelings of attachment and dependency that are seemingly unnatural. You can scoff all you like, but when your entire means of self-sufficiency and communication with the outside world is wrapped in a battered, scratched and dented hunk of mental, you can get a little weird about it. Any down time is a potential client lost. Tell me how long you could go without your phone, iPad, or email. Thought not.
When the mini-strokes started about a month (a usually foreign and remote possibility to a Macintosh user) ago I knew they were a sign of the grand mal seizure to come. My IT friend tried all the tricks and I made 1000 guesses about the cause, all in the hopes that what I was experiencing was a fluke. I was not ready to let my friend go yet. With a deadline looming and a week-long trip ahead, I needed that machine to work. So, it died. My denial was complete as I spent a night on the couch turning it off and on again, trying to will it back to life.
The silver lining on this little whine-fest is that in one short afternoon, I had a new machine, up and running, all programs installed, all settings adjusted or reinstated from the old hard drive, and a reaffirmed knowledge that the higher price is worth it for this special little machine.
Now, to get ready for new program software…
A dear friend who truly gets my weird love of paper, office supplies, organization, order and the smell of pencils, gave me a year long membership to Rad and Hungry for my birthday. Each month, I receive a wonderful assortment of paper, office supplies and writing utensils from around the world, expertly collected and packaged by The first package arrived in a way that really got my attention and probably the attention of my effusive mail carrier too. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you when you receive yours, so you’ll have to wait and see.
Get really brave and join their Pencil Pal club. Send and receive pencils from your Pencil Pals. 
Get your membership today or give one to a similar paper geek.
This was fabulous - several notebooks, pencils and erasers
Spain!
Wonderful notes from RAH - TSA passport
outer packaging - also included a great square eraser
I’m a Generation X child. I was raised on 3,2,1 Contact, The Electric Company (now re-released) and Sesame Street. My first design concepts were surely effected by the amazing vignettes illustrated by the PBS shows. I would not be the type of designer I am today if I had not been parked in front of those programs. The Xer babysitter taught us to read, to feel, to care and to appreciate cool 70′s art.
If you want to blow that off as poppycock, check out this old animation for Sesame Street with music composed by Phillip Glass. Tell me you don’t recognize some corporate logo babies in there.
Sommertime Marketing hired me to build a brand for a telemarketing firm based in Houston, with a tight deadline, strong design ideas, and tight restrictions on colors, fonts and such. Jessica Sommer explained that the 4 principles of the company had very strong likes to go with their equally strong convictions. Along with a desire to avoid colors that were similar to the competition, they were adamant about having the four core tenants, Sales, Service, Strategy and Solutions, appear with the icon. The challenge of showing that much text and having it represent well in small situations meant devising an icon that could stand alone when the text had to be removed for size restrictions. The icon also has to represent an easy flow between those tenets. Oh, and they needed final delivered in 3 weeks.
Feedback: let me know if you think the mark was hit.
Thank you Steve Jobs. Your daring and creativity have touched so many in such a short time. WE will feel your presence for an indeterminable time. If not for your little company, I might be doing something different right now. Maybe accounting. Maybe HR. Definitely not digital arts. Thanks for a future and a beacon for the creatives. Without Jobs, I would NEVER have been able to illustrate this likeness.
Digital Illustration of Steve Jobs inspired by image on apple.com, 10.5.2011
The Project Management Triangle has always been a great tool to help guide clients along the path from pitch to production. The idea is simple. Three factors affect the final Quality of a project: Time, Cost and Scope. Each one should be pretty easy to understand on their own. Combined, those three parameters determine whether you have a winner or a dog, or if you are still have a client at the end of a project. When TIME constraints are squeezed, something has to give. Maybe you tighten up the SCOPE or CHARGE MORE. The limping economy has made this tug of war a real mud bath. If budgets are chronically tight, and expectations of a quick turnaround are also the norm, the scope better be really tight. We all know that the usual request is for faster, cheaper and more of it, without a clear scope in sight. Creative director on an intern budget. Right now.
Quality is going to get trampled every time, unless clients are educated about the importance of that original balance. Tight budgets do not have to mean that projects are chronically shortchanged. SCOPE and TIME must be kept in control. This means fewer meetings. Shorter meetings. Tighter concepts, agreed to beforehand and adhered to. When a client wants to pay 1/2 the usual rate, with a broad scope and endless changes, the creative has to decide to take the work and eat the cost or take a chance on educating the client. They are facing the same constraints in their businesses. Creative work has to have the same importance and professional respect as widgets and wingdings. Take the chance that your client will value the quality as much as you do. When their product has a clear message that is dead on target, they will see the value of high quality, and you will have a product that you are proud to put in your portfolio.
© BigStar Creative, 2011
Jennifer Lazar of Help Your Structure, a private bodywork and massage practice in Austin, needed a brand that would better portray her straightforward philosophy and comfortable setting. Previously, she had relied on an image of a Live Oak to show the possibility of strong, sustainable posture, but her clients didn’t get it. Over the course of several weeks the possibilities ranged from a literal illustration of structural body problems to the real need of something clean, concise, and clear – to keep with her personality and message. I believe the winning brand speaks to that look well.
© BigStar Creative 2011
We’ve all had that manager, boss, co-worker that had a reputation for a red hot temper — the kind that demands excellence, and responds with tyranny if it isn’t reached. Maybe you’ve cringed at the thought of a meeting with a particular hot head, knowing that you might be the next punching bag. Or, are you that firecracker? Does a good argument get you fired up? Are you going to perform better under the pressure of anger? Do you make people cringe at the thought of your wrath?
So many politicians (but we’re not going to get into that mess), sports figures, entrepreneurs, and regular Joes seem to have a little of the Mean Reds under behind their success. Maybe there is something to it. When that client asks for 8th round revisions on their $200 project or your print vendor screws up the job AGAIN, maybe you can channel that Red Hot Fire for good. See this great article by Jonan Lehrer about Anger as a motivator.
Let me know. Is Anger a motivator or a squasher for your? In this political season, I have to say I hope that it isn’t, but I fear that it is.
dwell Magazine is constant inspiration for me. Although I still devour Communication Arts, and Print, and the entire rack of architecture and design magazines at Book People, dwell is the magazine that I pour over, soaking in every article, every photo.
The article below tells the tale of the Emeco 111 Navy Chair. You’ve seen one before, probably sat on one. Only, this one is made from 111 recycled CocaCola bottles. The company was about to close up shop forever when the owner, Gregg Buchbinder realized that famous architects Frank Gehry and Norman Foster were long-time customers. So, instead of throwing in the towel, he revived the company by bringing new life into a true classic. Take this story to heart. Try it in your life. Recycle when you can, repurpose if possible. Treat a classic as it should be treated.
The scene as I started my run this afternoon must have been pretty strange to anyone watching. As I hit Play on my trusty Shuffle, I suddenly heard a running, snarling dog. Coming closer, on my right, then going to my left. Another reminder that my Mamma was right when she said things like, “You’ll ruin your ears with the volume so high”, zipped through my brain, as I spun around to see the oncoming, attacking Fido. With the odd feeling that time has both slowed down and sped up, I figured out with a giant grin, that it was part of the Pearl Jam song, Rival, that was about to start. My freaked out, hearing voices dance, played out on my country road, in the hot Texas hell-sun, to an audience of thirsty deer and a road runner. Once my heart rate returned to something resembling normal and my run took over my brain, I started wondering about all the animals in the music. (check out my list below and add your own)
The past few years have brought us a whole genre of songs that tell stories of running through the woods, leaving life behind for the wilds of the woods. I love them all. When you’re trying to forget the sweat in your eyes or your burning lungs, a story of escape with a great sound can take your mind away for a bit. But why? Why all the songs about mythical creatures, shape shifting and escapism? Why so furry? Is it a response to a generation growing up a little too quickly? Is it an ode to the Wolf at the collective Door? A little bit more testosterone in the world? A nod to all the Young Adult Teen wolf books? And I’m not even mentioning all the ones about Vampires. Whatever it is, I’m enjoying it, but I think I’ll have to take Rival off my Shuffle for a while, or at least until I get over my spooks.
What songs are making you sketch? What songs are keeping you energized? Send me some new ones for my run.
A new one… TV on the Radio, Wolf Like Me
Mountain Goats, Damn These Vampires
The Kopecky Family Band, Howling at the Moon
An original furry. She might have been singing about the two-legged sort of dog, but I’m giving this one a big, big hit: Big Mama Thornton, Hound Dog
Yep – most of you out there are viewing this on a PC. In my young, young life, I used one too, but I begged, borrowed and practically stole the right to use a Mac in my professional life. Since my first job paid less than minimum wage for my crazy long hours, I can make the calculation that my theft was my Mac education. My hope for all the crazies out there is that the new team at Apple can keep the mystic alive now that Steve Jobs steps down.
Sometimes an image won’t leave me alone. Something subconscious or buried deep in the dungeons of neurons is trying to get out. When you are looking for that needle in the impossible pile of stuff that is our information overload, sometimes you need a little help. A little jolt. Something that will set the idea free. In the furnace that is Central Texas, it is not a good thing to joke about fire, but sometimes that is what is called for. Get your ideas out of that haystack and set them ablaze.
HEY hay
Back to the music. I’m getting quickly, completely addicted to Spotify. Everything I love about iTunes, but the ability to listen to full songs. While trying it out, I was reminded of a practice tool. Sketch what you hear. Carolina Rain, by Ryan Adams always fills my head with images in the same way Gordon Lightfoot’s, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald or Don Mclean’s American Pie did when I was a kid of the 70s. Grab your pen, post-its, copy paper. Spin your wheel and draw what it lands on. Take a 3.5 minute trip. Don’t worry about what it looks like as you are sketching. Just let it go. You know you haven’t done it since you were 7. Draw.
pick a song, sketch the story, live a little
Music will always be a giant inspiration for me. I can’t tell you how much time I spend replaying the same song, running down the road, mental pictures flying by. Once in a while, I can capture something and turn a tune or a phrase into something meaningful for myself or a client. As I write or work, a new playlist is altering what happens on the screen. But sometimes, the eyes need more help than the brain can supply.
sailing | butler eaton | chinese camera, rigged with electrical tape
Photography is another medium that captures my heart and sets the story free for me. The act of pulling someone through a lens and into your own eyes is an amazing art. Lately I have seen some wonderful sites that call attention to striking images and try to pin down the elusive COOL. And if you can create that on your own, you’re golden (see above). What does it do for me to flip through these images? Is it a little bit of theft to use other people’s creative works to inspire your own? Is it even possible to be creative in a void, or have artists always used each other for energy and inspiration? I’d like to think so. This is just a TINY sample of what is out there. So, get your juices moving – through the lens…
The Impossible Cool | A Tumblr site of mostly Hollywood and music icons. Grab a little Bardot and Mitchum.
The Sartorialist | A site by Scott Schumann in which he shares photos of people in street scenes exhibiting their own special fashion sense.
The Selvedge Yard | A big dose of testosterone, some serious chrome, and lots of leather… musicians, actors, bikes, cars, and some California mountain climbers. This site has it big.
Photograveure | Dedicated to an older photographic art, enjoy the feel. See the blog site.
Lens | New York Times photojournalism photos. Wonderful stuff – also similar work available from NPR and National Geographic.
Tell me some of your favorite photographic inspirations. Pass it on.
© BigStar Creative, 2011 |
