HELVETICAAAA!!!

hello there sons and daughters,
this weeks assignment handed down to us by our fearless leader was to go out and find a sample of wild helvetica in its natural environment. which happens to be everywhere as it seems.

i found a few that were really quite effective, but this week I decided to follow an example of one that didn't work as well as it could have.

Here we have Sonys Playstation Move Sports Champions Bundle. Exciting new technology in a brand new setup just screaming for you to take it home and set up this astounding new piece of equipment.

I'm sure its a blast to use, but absolutely nothing on this package oozes excitement. The use of Helvetica for this text is just flat and rather lifeless. This could easily be packaging for some new antacid packaging. It's just that interesting.

We are learning that typography has to be expressive and engaging, now I'm not expecting to see something like a Trix cereal box, but at least Sony could have found a way to put some more oomph behind this....Tell me what you think.

Another way for Titans to clash

Hello again Internets,

This week we had to find a quote from a designer of our choice that we found to be inspiring or motivational, and incorporate it into a design influenced by either a Futurist/Dadaist mix or De Stijl/Bauhaus blend.

I am currently working on a term paper on the Art Nouveau movement and I decided to pull a quote from that period. One of the most recognizable artists of the genre was Alphonse Mucha, and I loved the quote I found. It seems like a rather smug or arrogant statement of a self perceived superiority, yet it also maybe gives us a window into his mind. Maybe this tropical place he speaks of is his minds eye where he pulled all of his wonderful illustrations from? Food for thought.

I used my own hand made font that resembles some of the poster work found in our text. It resembles text used on some of the De Stijl magazine covers. I also used the angular and off center motif used on some Bauhaus works along with bold use of black and red as we have seen in our text. I took one more component of from the De Stijl school with the added blocks of blue and yellow.

Tradition Meets Future

So, this weeks assignment was for us to do a second mash up of design schools. We had to drum up a poster for a new eco friendly energy efficient lightbulb done up in a style that incorporated the styles of both William Morris and Peter Behrens.

I looked through the Meggs text, found a really wonderful black and gold poster done by Behrens. Next I used the complicated and ornate stylings found in so many Arts & Crafts style wallpapers and fabrics using natural themes. I attempted to blend the two styles together making a busy poster with some natural components to the design. I then attempted to emulate the line work I saw on the original Behrens poster. I then did a quick google translate (probably wrong) to translate "eco friendly lightbulb" into German.

Now, critics, critic away!