Can Design Touch Someone's Heart?

Reaction video for Stefan Sagmeister's class Can Design Touch Someone's Heart 

"My approach was to touch the hearts of metro musicians by making posters for three of them, that I randomly picked on the L Train. Aim of the project is to touch a community's heart by usign the elements of design." - Ali Emre Doğramacı Shot by Sabri Akin & Qian Gao.

Music by CAN - Nineteenth Century Man

YES! I am obviously biased, but believe that design can touch someone's heart. What I like about this project is that the people the designer reached out to were performers at subway stations along the L train, New York City. People he probably saw on a regular basis and decided to not overlook them anymore. I love the work he makes, how it relates to each individual performer, and how it makes that individual feel. Not one is accepted without a smile. Point proven. 

WATCH IT HERE

EXPLORIN

My dad wanted me to see the house where he grew up, and on the way there walked past a sign for a ‘Vintage Emporium’. Ever the explorers we followed the trail to unearth a gypsy in a garage, full of vintage gems. Everything from dresses and birdcages to shot glasses and photo slides. I fell in love with a ouiji board from the 70’s, which I still regret not buying as I didn’t have a spare £30. I also found a crate of old tobacco tins, and being a sucker for dated packaging, bought one.

PATONE Rain Edition

I have an ever-expanding love for all things PATONE, and am a huge fan of their new campaign Rain Edition. Matteo Gallinelli and Giuliano Antonio Lo Re teamed up with the company to generate these beautiful photos for the edition. 

Take a peak at the full set!

Pantone Rain Edition

Morning at the MET

Friday morning we were assigned to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to aid our inspiration for our own branding range. Being so huge, we went to a couple of exhibitions which sparked out interest including, the modern and contemporary art, Egyptian art, arms and armour, 19th century photography as well as the PUNK fashion exhibition. 

I have been toying with the possibility of two pathways - one to brand an alcohol range, labels and boxes for spirits. Or album/music related set. So at the time, I kept an interest with ancient utensils and cutlery, in hope to extract an element I could use for bottle design. I also kept an eye out for colour schemes, photographing any composition which had a palette which I was particularly drawn to.

Colour Story Boards

I got a bit carried away with the eyedropper tool, and made multiple colour boards from my favourite pieces from the MET. From this, I can see that I am drawn to a cooler palette, a lot of swatches being based among the more blue and green hues - but often with the pop of a complementary colour. 

This kind of composition is one which I can explore for my final brand.

Graphic Design alongside Music

Yummy Logos

For this post I decided to only use logos which I have encountered today. All are ones which I have never seen before, stemming from our trip to Williamsburg.

AIAIAI

First up is this one, a company specialising in audio design and based in Copenhagen. I love most logos in a circle, I just do. What I love about this one is the pure element of the company's image, as it states on their blog that they design 'modern and minimalistic headphones which deliver clear and amplified sound'. This logo translates that, and is bold without being flashy, just white text within a black circle - genius. 

AWOKE VINTAGE

While researching our chosen area today (shopping!) I went into a store called AWOKE VINATGE. I loved the logo printed on the store's bag, a sketched whale with illuminated centre to show the beast's heart. The piece, Awoke on a Whale Heart by Jessyca Hutchens, was used for the shop, a good move by my standards. There is something very charming about this sketch, something about there being life inside. I love the link between this and the store's name, alongside the use of font, which I think generates a romantic feel - an emotion which gels with vintage clothing. 

FOOL'S GOLD

Finally, I saw this logo from a Brooklyn based record label painted on the store's window (in gold obviously). I love the use of image, a block recognised as brick of gold, but with rounded edges that corresponds to the text. There's something very tangible about this logo, and is one which can be mass marketed easily - an essential element for any company's brand. Yum.

GALLERY VISIT // MoMA

Abstract Generation Now in Print
Monoprint 1, Monoprint 2 and Monoprint 6: 2008

"This exhibition focuses on the print medium, highlighting ways in which abstraction has played a generative role in works of the past decade."

I'm a sucker for anything screenprinted, the exhibition is no exception. In my opinion, there's something very organic and tangible about screen printing, the process and kind of image it creates is something i find to be much more beautiful than anything digital. This piece by Cory Arcangel is printed on watercolour paper, and with no formal training, creates unevenly inked fields of red, yellow and blue without any concern for how the printing screens lined up. As a series, I think their abstract qualities work very harmoniously, yet up close shows the clash of coloured pixels.

Screenprint.. Yum.  

Graduate Shows from Across the Pond.

itsnicethat.com - I use this website all the time for inspiration. Today while thumbing through past entries to do with graphic design I found a post about the Art and Design Graduate shows in Britain. 

With entries from all the top universities (including my previous - Leeds, and my future degree - Kingston), It shows pamphlets advertising their degree shows. Some really beautiful crafted invitations to feast your eyes on, TAKE A PEEK

GALLERY VISIT // Jewish Museum

Sagmeister and Walsh: Six Things

The exhibition 'Six Things' marks the first of the newly founded design firm created by Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh. In five compelling short videos and sound-activated sculpture, Sagmeister and Walsh examines six things  culled from Sagmeister's diary that he believes have increased his personal happiness:

 If I Don't Ask I Won't get

 Keeping a Diary Supports Personal Development

 Be More Flexible

It's Pretty Much impossible to Please Everyone

Now Is Better

Feel Others Feel

My personal favourite being FEEL OTHERS FEEL. I say this because of the tangibility to the work, it was the only piece which didn't exist on a screen, and although some of the other work was breath-takingly executed, I can't helped but be drawn to the one piece in the room which you can walk around, examine, and question in a 3-dimensional manor. 

The piece composed of plaster cast letters filled with a cocktail of paint and water (which is topped up everyday due to evaporation) all connected to a sound system, which when was on, sends delicate ripples to individual letters or words. It was the connection between the word 'feel' and physical sense of the music which sold me. 

One thing which does make me twitch with this work is the wording of the piece. Obviously as viewers we understand that the phrase should read 'feel WHAT others feel', but in a tactical design move has been left out to create a balance between the words, a metaphorical type 'sandwich of equality'.

Despite the fact that this is what doesn't sit well with me within this piece, it is what makes it good design and the piece a success in my eyes. A combination of senses and visual balance is what made this piece stand out to me, making it my favourite from this particular exhibition.