Changethethought

Ill Studio is a very talented group of individuals comprised of Léonard Vernhet, Thomas Subreville, Nicolas Malinowsky, Thierry Audurand, Sébastien Michelini, Pierre Dixsaut, Harold Urcun, Artus de Lavilléon, David Luraschi and Fred Mortagne. The French group collaborates on projects together combining their strengths in graphic design, photography, typography, illustration, video and motion design. The studio offers an environment where the member’s complementary influences converge where they can share influences and work collectively or individually.

I was pretty excited about how much completely random awesomeness is in their collective portfolio. Click on every single button to view every single page because all of their work is cool. Cool is the proper word here too.

written by Christopher | tags: France, Graphic Design, Ill Studio, Photography, Typography

Not a lot I can tell you about Klas Ernflo because his ‘about’ section lists a phone number and nothing else. I can’t really even figure out if his name is Klas Herbert or Klas Ernflo. His rejected book covers offer up some beautifully simple iconic typography that was too good not to share. He also has all manner of interesting things happening at his Flickr account.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Klas Ernflo, Typography

Melbourne-based Co-op has an amazing cache of work at their site. It’s clean and beautiful. Every piece. They work across mediums in branding, art direction, print collateral, packaging, environmental and publication design. They have a very classic sense of contemporary design. Enjoy.

written by Christopher | tags: Australia, Co-op, Graphic Design, Melbourne, Typography

I can’t really tell you much about Darren Booth because there isn’t really any personal information about him at his brass tacks website. There is however, a lot of great work there. He has created illustrations for clients like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, ESPN, Billboard Magazine and The Chicago Tribune. He has also received awards and recognition from The Society of Illustrators New York, The Society of Illustrators LA, Applied Arts, Communication Arts and The Type Directors Club.

His hand generated typography is definitely worth a browse.

written by Christopher | tags: Darren Booth, Illustration, Typography

It’s obvious by their website that Amsterdam-based graphic designers Richard Niessen & Esther de Vries don’t really design websites. What they do is create really great print work with an especially notable amount of attention given to typography and color. Their site is tough to look at and a little daunting at first to try to figure out where to click but once you start, you will be rewarded by some really stunning layouts.

written by Christopher | tags: Amsterdam, Graphic Design, Niessen and de Vries, Typography

Douglas Wilson keeps it old school fluttering On Paper Wings with fantastic letterpress prints. Wilson is a multi-disciplinary graphic designer, photographer, art director and instructor living in Springfield Missouri. He loves the tactile nature of paper, paint and photographs. He loves travel, culture and color. He has visited 19 countries on 5 continents in the past year. He is a graduate of Missouri State University where he received a BFA in Graphic Design and a minor in Art History.

He also wishes graphic design was easier to explain to his mother. I share that sentiment with one exception, it’s my father who doesn’t quite understand what I do.

written by Christopher | tags: Douglas Wilson, Graphic Design, Letterpress, Typography

Christoffer Hald is a 29 year old Graphic Designer from Copenhagen. My grandmother immigrated from Copenhagen to Denmark when she was 13. I still have several relatives there that I have never visited. It makes me sad as I hear it is one of the most wonderful cities in the world.

I digress. Hald currently works at Re-Public where he is very happy. He loves Photography, music, belgian ales, coding in Flash, typography, art and the nostalgia of his Commodore 64.

You can see his loves in his work and the interesting way it is displayed at his site. He has a lot of clean and inspiring typography in his portfolio and you get to see it all large and in color.

written by Christopher | tags: Christoffer Hald, Copenhagen, Graphic Design, Typography

How do you choose typography when asked to solve a design problem? It’s a tough question that plagues a lot of young designers and usually takes some time and experience to begin developing a sense of what is appropriate and what isn’t. Personally, I either custom create or modify a lot of the typography that I use. I do have my stock of favorites though that changes based on time and trends but there are a few permanent residents including the obvious like Futura, Helvetica and Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk.

I Love Typography ran an interesting article titled, ‘On Choosing Type’ on the subject here. I found some of it very useful and think it is an article that offers up some great pointers for aspiring designers on a difficult-to-master topic.

written by Christopher | tags: I Love Typography, On Choosing Type, Typography

Fonstruct is apparently still in beta mode but it is an exiting new idea that I am sure will quickly gain popularity amongst the design and typography crowd. The site offers an online application that allows users to construct their own font. After building your font you can then save and download it in a zip file. The application allows you to preview and tweak the kerning of the letters as well. It looks like it could be really cool. I have wanted to work with a font application for some time now and have never gotten around to purchasing one so I may give this a try. It’s a great resource for any designer and probably a good study in typography in terms of the experience. You can also view and download the creations of other users.

As I said, it appears to still be in beta mode but if you consider yourself an early adopter, you can go to Fontsruct now and try it out.

written by Christopher | tags: Fontstruct, Typography

There is some exceptional typographical work in the portfolio of recent University of Arts, Bremen graduate Rasmus Giesel. He has studied design for a very long time and it shows in his work. Hints of Bauhaus, Brockmann and Bayer abound. His posters promoting speaking engagements for other designers are classic and timeless. His studies involved Graphic Design and Environmental Design which involves combining three-dimensional design, graphic design and architecture.

To bring it down to the American level, good stuff in there man.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Rasumus Giesel, Typography

Superexpresso is the work of Michele Angelo. Michele was born Italy. He studied painting originally which eventually gave way to visual and industrial design. Years later he moved to and still resides in the amazing city of Barcelona. He currently works as a freelance designer. He believes in a hand-crafted approach to design and loves the contrast between modern technology and more cut and paste hand-style techniques. He has worked for numerous clients and has also collaborated with another exceptional typographer, Alex Trochut.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Michele Angelo, Superexpresso, Typography

If you are like me and constantly on the lookout for effective typefaces, I came across a very enlightening post on Smash Magazine today featuring 60 brilliant typefaces for corporate design. It is an exceptional collection that I myself found very useful and will definitely be collecting in a library for future use in my daily work as an Art Director. It’s always nice to be able to group typefaces in clusters to help you get started on a project that might be in a particular vein. Corporate projects can be particularly difficult because the type needs to not only communicate literally but also exude personality that helps deliver the message in a one-two punch, especially when you are talking about advertising headlines. So, thank you Smash Magazine for making my job just a little easier. I’ll say a little prayer for you.

written by Christopher | tags: Smash Magazine, Typography

Paul Rand was arguably one of the greatest thinking designers of the last century. If you haven’t yet read up on him, experienced his works or partaken in his experienced wisdom on the subject of Graphic Design, then have no fear. Someone out there has kindly taken heart and built a resourceful website to enlighten anyone interested in all things Paul Rand.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Paul Rand, Typography

You know the internet is just amazing. It has brought everything out of the woodwork. I post something to this blog almost every single day and after a while you think for sure you must have seen it all by now. Well, today I discovered Ross MacDonald. All I can say is, “amazing”. The man does everything. He creates absolutely gorgeous spot-on letterpress posters. He paints, and draws smart, stylistic yet classic illustrations. His interests have even lead him to amass such a large quantity of vintage reference materials that his library has even been requested for use as movie props. He really has done a little bit of it all and his illustrations have graced the pages of almost every imaginable periodical.

So go, quickly, to his website and be inspired by something you definitely haven’t seen yet.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Illustration, Letterpress, Ross MacDonald, Typography

Siggi Oddsson is a young Graphic Designer who spent most of his youth in Vancouver, Canada. He graduated in 2005 with a B.A. in graphic design from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík. He loves music and typography. He has created some subtle and interesting work already in his burgeoning career. His posters are a particular standout in his portfolio.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Siggi Oddsson, Typography

According to Vandling’s website:
I’m a London based Swedish graphic designer/illustrator who recently finished my MA in Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art. I’m currently available for freelance commissions and/or full-time employment.

His typography work is really fantastic, particularly his Unfinished Body alphabet. The poster created for the font is something that I would love to have hanging on my wall. To see what all the hub-bub is about take a spin around his portfolio.

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Typography, Vandling

As you may or may not have noticed, I updated the Print section of my work portfolio today with another poster series I created for an art show a couple of weeks back. Unfortunately the show was canceled at the very last minute, after I had gone through all the trouble to create the posters. I created the entire series in only two days, both of which I stayed up until around 3 in the morning. I felt pretty good about how they turned out however and it was a great exercise in re-familiarizing myself with a side of Graphic Design that I love. It is always an interesting experiment to limit yourself to a certain amount of elements and see how creative you can get within the restrictions. I am always amazed at how complicated things can get when only using even the most sparing of elements. I usually and rather ironically, end up creating my best work this way.

Anyway, if you are interested in checking out how the series turned out, you can view them in the Print section.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, Graphic Design, Typography

Seth A. Ferris is a self-ascribed Type Nerd. He is a designer-for-hire living in L.A. His work is subtle and exceptional. I absolutely love that he actually owns the URL ‘typenerd.com‘. How could any good designer ever forget that web address?

written by Christopher | tags: Graphic Design, Los Angeles, Seth A. Ferris, Typography