Tag Archive for typography

Artist of the Month: Stephen Wildish

03/01/2012 Graphic Design One comment
Stephen Wildish - Artist of the Month: March

Stephen Wildish - Artist of the Month (March)

As I was idly surfing through my Twitter feed on Tuesday evening, someone posted a link to a humourous info-graphic concerning Pancake Day. My first reaction upon seeing the info-graphic was “ooh, that’s a clever idea!”, which then piqued an interest in finding out more about the artist behind the work.

The artist is Stephen Wildish, an illustrator and designer based in the UK who’s worked with big brand names such as Canon, BBC and Orange. He’s worked on branding, packaging design, stationery design and even a spot of web design, so he has quite a diverse portfolio of work.

The main reason why I like his work is because of the simplicity of it. He has taken a simple idea or concept, picked out the key features and displayed it in a way that is instantly recognisable and easy to understand. He uses minimalist vector graphics combined with a hint of texture and beautifully rendered typography.

A feature on his website that I particularly enjoyed the Friday Project section – a section of quirky, fun graphics to enlighten a dull Friday afternoon. This is something I’ve never seen before on a portfolio website. It seems like a fun way to keep creative during a freelance dry-spell and as a means to expand your portfolio in a unique way. (Maybe I should try the “draw a monster every day for a month” challenge?)

As I’m quite fond of saying to my students, inspiration is everywhere. This portfolio has certainly inspired me to try out some minimalist design for myself, and given me some things to consider when designing for future projects.

If you’re interested in learning more about Stephen’s work or fancy a chuckle at some of the amusing flowcharts and info-graphics on his Friday Project page, check out his website: http://www.stephenwildish.co.uk/

5 Awesome Album Covers

02/15/2012 Graphic Design No comments

When I was a little girl, I would spend hours going through my Dad’s CD and vinyl collection to look at the album covers. I still find myself doing this whenever I’m on the iTunes store, and I’ve found that it’s a great source of inspiration, especially when you’re trying to capture a particular theme, mood or era.

These are some of my favourite album sleeves.

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds

When I was little (about 6 years old), this album used to terrify me. The shouts of “Ulla! Ulla!” from the Martian chorus used to fill me full of dread whenever my Dad put the record on. I always found the artwork intriguing. The scale of the Martian Tripod as it destroys the Thunder Child was an intimidating, frightening image, but also one that invoked curiousity. It didn’t matter that very time my Dad played the opening track of the album I ran and hid, the cover artwork enticed me to sneak a peek inside the inlay when my Dad wasn’t looking because I wanted to know what the story was all about.

The other thing I like about this album sleeve is the typography. It’s a very twisted piece of text with strong colours, loops and accents. It reminds me of an old-style circus poster, but instead of being place in horizontal or vertical lines, it’s been twisted to flow around the top of the Tripod.

Cheap Thrills – Big Brother and the Holding Company

I love this album cover because it tells the story of the album in comic form. Going from panel to panel and using bright colours and humorous characters, it tells you who was involved in the recording and gives you an insight into what each of the songs is about. The artist who created the comic was Robert Crumb, an underground cartoonist of whom lead singer Janis Joplin was a fan. The comic was originally intended for the back over of the LP, but Joplin insisted it become the front cover. It is listed as #9 on the Rolling Stones Greatest Album Covers, and quite rightly so.

Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys

My Dad was a huge fan of the Beach Boys and owned many of their albums. Out of all of the cover sleeves, this is my favourite. It’s a very simple design with a related photo of the band at a petting zoo and a banner of green at the top with some type. The reason why I like it is because of the typography. The characters of the band’s name and the album name are very close together that the letters almost touch. Yellow and white have been used to differentiate between the two and the text has be positioned into almost a dome shape. Alongside in a smaller font is the album track listing in neat lines following the shape of the title text.

Out of the Blue – Electric Light Orchestra

Bright colours and a space theme – what more could an inquisitive young tomboy want! Looking back at this album sleeve as an adult (and designer), it’s a cleverly adapted version of ELO’s logo, turning into a space station with a Concord-esque ship coming into dock. The typography is a little boring, but his is a good thing given the dominating image it has been placed beside.

The Early Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Vol. 1 – Led Zeppelin

This is an interesting adaptable of the Apollo Space Program insignias. The heads of the band members imposed onto the astronaut space suits, giving it collage effect. The images are quite grainy and grungy. There are no bright colours, just subdued tones.