Posted by Bryn

Posted by Bryn

I'm a regular reader of Eric Karjaluoto's ideasonideas blog and so I hopped right over this morning after Eric emailed me a heads-up about a new post.

My editor's note in the brand-spankin-new International Design Annual had me thinking about design competitions in general—and, more broadly, about design style vs. substance. So Eric's post —and its provocative title—really struck a chord:

The challenge here is that as we are bombarded by these styles, designers, by their own accord and that of their clients and peers, gravitate towards reiterating whatever the style-du-jour happens to be. (Think of the swoosh logos of the late 1990s.) It's easy to do, the pay-off is immediate, and for a short while, one's portfolio seems deceptively strong. Most times though, this work is void of the research, strategy, and logic that are necessary to do something effective. As a result, it's in fact a big pile of shiny bullshit.

Read more of Eric's post.

To support his recent project/book, Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far, Stefan Sagmeister created a blog where he posts cool type treatments created by other people about the things they've learned. This would make a great creative challenge for a snowy afternoon.

Posted by Megan

Posted by Bryn

From the slew of press announcements coming in this week:

• Adobe is discontinuing its royalty-free stock photo service; customers must make their final purchases by March 31 and download an uninstaller.

• Corel is now shipping its CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, with tools for page layout, illustration, photo editing and tracing.

• Mohawk announced the winners of its Strathmore Letterhead Contest for Q4 of 2007: Jenni Undis of Minneapolis printer Lunalux picked up the Gold (and also the 2007 Grand Prize) for her identity for Post-Luxury Accessories. Christine Mathison of Lindsay Hill Design won a Silver for her Lineplot Productions identity; Judy Kohn of JK Design scored the Bronze for her I.D. for High Meadows Fund. Entries for the Q1 2008 contest are being accepted now through March 31.

• CTI Paper has revamped its Splendorlux brand of cast-coated colored papers, with new heavier weights, new finishes and new colors. A new swatchbook is available; email samples@thepapermill.com.

• CreativeHub.com is a new online marketplace that connects freelance creatives and the companies who want to hire them.

• International Paper's Accent Opaque Smooth text and cover papers are now certified to run on HP Indigo and Kodak Nexpress printers.

• The Art Directors Guild and California State University, Long Beach, are teaming up on an October conference called 5D, which will explore visual storytelling and design technology across all media.

I didn't think a logo redesign could be more hated than the recent Xerox rebrand, but it looks like Animal Planet is garnering it's own share of loathing here and here.

I'm not convinced that it's a total failure. I feel like the subtle color shift and the varying width of the letters gives the logo more energy than it had before. Am I the only one who doesn't totally hate it?

Posted by Megan

via VeryShortList

Chris Vincze's short film about a couple finding each other in a bass-ackwards world is sweet, but not sugary, like a nice Valentine's Day treat.

Posted by Bryn

To find out what's going on in the wider world of design, check out Icograda's redesigned website.

A highlight of the new site is unifying all members in one searchable database, so that all Icograda members - design associations, promotional bodies, education institutions and individual Icograda Friends - can be located from one easy access point. "The ability to look across 67 countries and regions around the globe and find all the Icograda contacts in a single location with one simple search is a feature that responds to our users' input," says Brenda Sanderson, Icograda's Managing Director.