Clarity Through Abstraction

In an evolving world where boundaries between design and illustration seems to draw even closer, it is important to remember some of the fundamentals. Particularly in design where getting your message across with clarity is vital while still being really creative, therefore any image created for a brand needs to stand out, due to competition and over saturation of competitors. Which is why I have created this abstract piece out of very ordinary objects and images, to demonstrate you do not need a lot to in order to stand out from the crowd, all you need is just your own creativity and you are good to go.

On a final note I love the outcome that I have come to, and it would probably work really well as a music festival poster after applying some carefully placed text, in an appropriately chosen typeface that reflects the music of the event, I have decided to call this piece clarity through abstraction.

The Constructivist.

Lego-ify

Is it just me or does there seem to be a boom in Lego revival lately? I think it began when JCDC did it for fashion, and then it filtered into every other application of design, obviously architecture and furniture and many electronics that wanted the same iconic retro spin, but I think the most desirable of all has been the rise of Lego jewelry, which begs me to question is it love or just us being brand whores... I think its abit of both since Lego speaks to the inner child in all of us. There was even that Lego spin of TV show called James May Toy Stories where James May built a house completely out of Lego.

Anyway Lego is all about fun and fun is want they do well which is why I want to mention the Lego Iphone App (its how I made the above image) its very fun and a joy to see the application animating your images into Lego blocks, and well this has reminded me to keep in mind to have as much fun when I am designing, even if your bound by restrictions by a brief that your given. There's always a way inject some fun into the most boring of things and this is what Lego has done to so many things, below is the original image just so there is no confusion that I may look like Lego normally.

The Constructivist.

The World And It's Street Watchers

Well as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I wanted to share things other than design which have managed to find a way of influencing the ways on how I design. I think the phenomenon of photo blogs have made a huge impact on fashion, as the internet really allows for society to process culture therefore style and image at a pace faster than ever seen before, which before was only done by magazines. The reason I am mentioning this is because looking at the books that have been popping up at a very fast rate in the last twelve months have provided quite literally delicious visual candy for the designer all neat in one book.

If you look closer they are not just picture books, they force you to understand who these people are within visual culture, and quite frankly are modern day documentations of individuals and how they express themselves through colour use. I think the silhouettes they create from their clothing is very important also, as it can give you clues to how these individuals are and their lifestyles and rather than just fashion sense, and perhaps this is an important thing to keep in mind when designing, its all great to be creative and make something as cutting edge as possible but keep in mind that the product is not designed for you the designer but for a specific audience, I think design works at its best when it truly speak to individuals on a personal level and fits effortlessly into their own lifestyle.

The above book is called The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman, he documents style that is very effortless and chic, the colour combination's are always rich and classy and well I love looking at his book as inspiration for colour palettes that reflected this particular feel.

The book below I have just found out about and is not due out until March/April 2010 called The Face Hunter by Yvan Rodic, he documents style that is young, strong and very confident, while at the same time being quite modest about it, it definitely has an edge about it which is expressed through the colour palettes found worn by the individuals, which I absolutely love, and is a great source for colour inspiration.

I really am excited about getting my hand on The Face Hunter since, you can not rely on Pantone to provide inspiration every time, better to have several sources than just the one.

The Constructivist.

Cute Characters And Objects

Well above is an illustration I created as an opportunity to draw some cute and friendly characters and objects. I feel a lot of experiments produce a lot of waste until something deemed respectable happens to arise, therefore I decided to go with a waste theme, where all my characters and objects have been thrown into landfill, appropriately I have called this A Designer's Waste Ground.

The Constructivist.

Playful Typographic Treatments

Above is the result of another tutorial by Jessica Walsh which I have tried out from the same issue of Computer Arts issue170. This time experimenting and applying typographic treatments to simple shapes, in order to create interesting type. I must say this one was very fun to do as I really enjoy working within illustrator, before I used to be quite the rookie with illustrator, but through simply exploring the program more and understanding its fundamentals I really enjoy using it in all of my work.

The Constructivist.

High Impact Light Effects, and New Geometry

Well the image above is my first experiment I have done in this new year, its a computer arts tutorial called high impact light effects issue170, I must admit the tutorial does allow you to create lighting that appears to have some movement.

Below is another experiment I did a month or so ago, I think this is more my own style as I did not follow any tutorial, more rather choosing to simply experiment with a combination of Illustrator and photoshop. I think perhaps the composition of the work is better, as you start out not exactly knowing how it may end up, therefore your more likely to have fun doing it, The below image I have called New Geometry.

The Constructivist.