Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I WANNA BE A HOBO!

So this evening I saw a movie that I absolutely loved. Well I guess it was more of a documentary, either way it was quite cool. The title of it is "Who is Bozo Texino?" and it is a fascinating look at hobo train art. Hobo train art is a form of graffiti that has a very different look to it. The film explains how these people develop a moniker that they can draw out in less than 30 seconds so as not to get caught. They tag box cars with these monikers while riding around the U.S. and mostly use grease stick or chalk.
Here are some pictures of the work:
This DVD is put out by hobo film maker Bill Daniels and the production is small scale due to the special interest quality of the subject. The packaging is what first attracted me to it. Even though it had a very hand made feel it fit with the concept of the film and was successful at alluding to the content.
Here are some examples of the packaging:



http://www.billdaniel.net/

WOW

SO this is just about my favorite thing ever and not just because it contains my name, though that is pretty cool too. Sadly I don't have much background info on it. I know a friend of a friend of a friend created it and that the voice is done by his 4-year-old child. I tried to google for more info but as of yet have had little luck.
Here is the link, definitely check it out:
http://bradfordsingley.googlepages.com/robot.html
I just like the simplicity of it and the colors and in general the whole concept is pretty nifty.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

IN A PUFF OF COLOR

The other day for one of my classes the painter/artist Steven Hull came and spoke and showed his work. He seems to be a pretty cool and interesting fellow so I decided I would mention him in my blog and write a couple words about him.
I always like hearing other people in the art world talk about their work and experience in school and the real world and though he seemed a little scattered at the beginning he ended up giving quite an interesting and inspiring speech. He also showed an interesting selection of work that ranged from paintings that he did whiles still in school and directly after he graduated as well as collaborative book projects and shows.
He went to Cal Arts for both his undergrad and grad education. Though he is not a graphic designer I find most artists to be relevant and influential to my work and he is not an exception. I really like his use of color and his involvement in these collaborative projects that combine lots of different artists such as authors, illustrators, and musicians.
Here is some of his work...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I love Ketchup!


Ok so I know I’ll wear out the “travel as an influence” theme very quickly if I haven’t already been dismissed as a pretentious showoff for bringing it up in the first place but really it is a major influence in my life and no matter how close I stay to home or far a field I go travel plays a crucial role in me as a person and therefore my design.
I pay close attention to things around me and as an aspiring graphic designer I did my best to look at things that were relevant to my field, one of the things that is easiest to spot and there are more than plenty examples of are packaging and advertising.
It is interesting to see there take on a particular brand that we also have since then you can compare the differences between ours and theirs, an example of this I found on billboards in the form of Heinz Tomato Ketchup adds. Now first off I can only really compare it to Southern California since that is where I’ve been living but I haven’t seen a billboard for ketchup for as long as I can remember but in Dublin they were everywhere. As well as being everywhere I also hadn’t seen the billboards even in magazine advert form before and I quite liked the whole idea behind them. The had a photo of a ketchup spill with a stem in it to make it look like a tomato growing with the tag line “no one grows ketchup like Heinz.” Quite genius I thought.
Here are some other examples of packaging and advertising from Dublin.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

AND WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!






So after a brief hiatus I'm back
Well since this time I think we are allowed to include inspiration and influences I am going to blog about color as an influence or maybe since it is in the context of travel I should say I am blogging about travel as an influence but if I want to be the most accurate I guess I would say I am blogging about colors specific to locations. It is hard for me to pinpoint one color when it comes to a specific location but there are definite color themes when it comes to location. Sometimes it is more easily noticed when visiting somewhere unfamiliar to you.
So as I’m sure you could tell this is all leading up to my main point, though it was a long way to it. My point being I’m very influenced by the colors that surround me and everywhere I go different colors stand out for different reason. I was recently visiting Ireland and one of the things that I noticed first was the color of the doors of houses, apartments and businesses. A lot of the buildings are in drab neutral colors such as different hues and shades of browns and grays but more often than not the doors are painted in a vibrant bright color and not just the occasional red door you notice in California but almost all of them. The most common colors seem to be bright primary colors, sometimes all three will appear on the same building but even when on different buildings I noticed that they appear to be almost the exact same color like there is some standard for door color. Now that may begin to sound lame and unoriginal but trust me it’s not there are definitely variations on color and often the doors will be painted in any number of other colors such as vibrant purple or bright green. The combination of the dull colors of the structures paired with the bright door colors never ceases to wow me and as mundane as it sounds was one of my favorite aspects of my trip and therefore I believe it is fair to say it served/serves as inspiration. I have longed liked the effect of working with a combination of colors such as bright text on a dull background or even contrasting textures by working with a combination of different media to contrast not only color but texture and it was interesting to see this example in real life.