Untitled - Designer Unknown

This is quite decorative, it has played on the religious saying "Ora et Labora" which means "Pray and Labor" but changed it to 'Flora' which means plant life... this has been visually translated into the pictures of the people and the flowers surrounding the type.
Clever...

Jesse Hora - 'When it rains it pours'

This is quite an illustrative piece of design. It looks like it has been screen-printed and has only one subtle colour, solid at the top where the umbrella is, and more broken up by lines down by the typography which gives a flowing feel.
I like this piece for its unique-ness and clarity.

Wojciech Majierski - Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials

This design has been based on a letter-press... using uppercase and lowercase, different weights and different fonts of type as well as a glyph for emphasis. Showing all the things that it can do.
They've used a lot of different images, photographs and shapes and a few different colours to show all the possibilities of screen-printing in a subliminal way.

Unknown Designer

This all about the over-lay of colours using a sarcastic tone in the message. This could be seen as a political message...

Unknown Artist... found on a tumblr blog

The artist has structured the piece as one picture which has had a single tone layer added on top with the type cut out.
I like this because it is an interesting way of working which i haven't considered doing before.

I like the way this looks as a piece, however it is not legible. It took me a good while to see what was written.... which is just a series of letters and icons.
There is too much included in the piece, and not enough differentiation between the colours and the different sections. They could have used a more efficient colour palletor different sizes of letters to make this work better... but i think that is the point.

Play and Fluo - The Balance Network

As a piece I really like this design. However when you look into it, the colours they have chosen on a black background make some of the type illegible. Maybe a brighter palette would have worked better in these areas?
Otherwise, I really like how the photograph and the type work together...

Old Love - The Balance Network

This is a very traditional piece with a nautical theme.
On first view the eyes are drawn to the colour... the roses, and then divert to the type. The other illustrations, which are very simply drawn seem more like a decoration to add to the piece.
I <3 this.

Urban Jungle - behance network

This is a three colour screen printed poster for a festival.
They have added tone to the print by changing the spacing between the strokes.
I like the clever way they have the word 'festiwal' hanging off the rest of the type.

Unknown Artist

This piece has a pretty dark message... "you & i" with skull imagery... gives it a bit of an ever-lasting feel. They are using the pyramid light-spectrum to add depth to the image.

It is very powerful.

'Caitlin'

The artist has simply manipulated the image using filters on photoshop.
It works.

Sweet little bird - Behance Network

This piece has clearly been hand-drawn and then scanned into illustrator to crispen the lines.
The text is very subtle, it is definitely emphasizing the imagery more than the typography.
The colour they have used is faded, almost un-noticeable.
I don't know why I love this piece, but it made me smile.

'Bang Bang Type' - Behance Network

This is all uppercase and very colourful. It looks almost childlike... the kind of writing you would see in a kid's book. It has an illustrative feel... hence the fox in the 'o'.
It has used a range of different typefaces and sizes of letterforms and the colour palette compliments the fact that it is child-based...

'Everybody knows' - Balance Network

The calligraphy seems too fancy, the tails and the kerning make this slightly illegible.
Very aesthetically pleasing however.

'Bar Number 3 Graphic Design'

This piece is solely based on typography. All the letterforms blend into one at the top of the word... making it flow. They have used a very simple typeface and textured colours.

'26 of the most awesome CMYK designs' - Long Beach Web

The CMYK paint splatters have been made to look like small butterflies and flowers in the background. I think it is good that each colour keeps to itself... they don't bleed into one another.
The typography itself seems quite hand-rendered and reasonably modern.
I like the way the colours and the type have been put on a simple beige background...

'26 of the most awesome CMYK designs' - Long Beach Web

I like the contrast between the old-school monochrome sea-diver and the bright coloured, modern forms coming out of his helmet.
The patterns and the skulls remind me a lot of 'candyskull' tattoo designs.

'26 of the most awesome CMYK designs' - Long beach web

The CMYK go in order from top to bottom. They have made a play on the word 'helvetica' turning it into 'helvertica' because it is typed vertically. The less clever among us just thought it was a typo....

The letters are crisp and 3D on a rough, hand-made paper-looking background... they've also added a shadow to emphasize the 3D effect.

I can not do it anymore

Dropular - Media Bookmarking

This has obviously not been made digitally, it is a 3D design with a typographic background.
I like the way it is structured quite roughly... but at the same time it has obviously been very well thought out.

Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies

Jesse Wright

This is a really clever piece. It makes you think... sit there for a while before you realize there are different words/phrases layered up rather than just one.
He's used cmyk and adjusted the pantone opacity so you can subtly see the words which are being covered up.

Real Eyes
Real Lies
Realize

Dennis McNett

Dennis McNett is a print-maker who carves into wood and uses rubber cement to produce his prints.
He has become famous in America for his prints on skate-boards and clothing.
His work includes a lot of animals, usually warped into sinister images.





A bit like Dan Mumford... i really admire the use of lines in these pieces, and the way he has put his designs into different situations... they seem to work wherever he places them. I feel the minimalist use of colour really works.

Dan Mumford

Dan Mumford has always been an illustrator who has greatly inspired me. There has not been one piece which he has done which doesn't amaze me. There is so much precision and so much thought involved in his work, each line is meticulously placed and the colour is perfectly placed. And he produces so much so quickly.

He produces work for bands, cd covers, tshirt designs and web designs using all his own illustrations.
These are a few which stand out for me.

Synapse Design

Synapse is a design company who specialize in album covers.... and then incorporate this into web design for the specific artists.

They usually do designs for more alternative/metal/punk bands... like these for 'The Casino Brawl' and 'Four Letter Lie'

I really admire their work... probably because they incorporate a lot of photography in the designs. There hasn't been one bit of work by them i have seen without loving it.

As music is one of my most prominent influences, I always notice cover art... this is one that stuck in my memory. 'Four Letter Lie'...'A New Day'

Dirty Little Secrets

I got a few of these images off another blogging website called 'Tumblr'. I do not know who the designer of this piece was but i love the simplicity of it. Again with the use of photography, especially it being black&white which i love and the simple text... using all lower case. It stood out.

Pieter de Leeuw

Pieter de Leeuw produced this typographic bookshelf for his thesis in his Industrial Design course.

It is designed to be moved around to the user's choice... with enough space... this piece looks incredible... not too sure about practicality however...

Rob Ryan

Unknown Designer

I found this image on a blog and it immediately stood out to me. It is almost depicting a story with different subtexts. It is clearly a very personal piece due to the handmade media added to the series of photographs which makes it individual. I really like the colour scheme of this joiner as it uses a grey-scale palette in the majority of the photo.

Unknown Designer -

This piece is using clear typography to persuade people to do something.
The statement is split into two by changing the type colour into yellow... making it into two commands.
The black and white photograph depicts a bedroom... the scene of unconfidence... people who are afraid of going out and doing things generally stay in the comfort of their own bedroom.

Hope for the hopeless

Unknown designer.

I love this piece for the one-tone colour which has been used. I love the way they have made a photograph look like a screen-print and added a subtle message over the top.

Rosemary Travale

I saw this piece on a blog i follow... it's so simple, but that's why it works. Any more colours or detail added to the design would over-complicate it. Even the message is simple and clear.

It made me smile.

A Softer World - Emily Horne and Joey Comeau

'A Softer World' is a series of comic strips designed by Emily Horne and Joey Comeau.
Horne takes the photographs and designs.
Comeau writes.

Together, they produce some of my favourite work.

They have produced over 500 comic strips, each made up of a sequence of 3 small, square photographs, accompanied by a crude strip of typography stuck over the top to tell a message.
The type almost looks as if it has been produced by a dymo machine...like a label, the type being simple... as if from a typewriter. No uppercase letters.

The first comic strip i saw is still my favourite. Someone sent it to me as it made them think of me immediately... what with me being in a world of my own most of the time.
It is one of the less sarcastic/harsh of the comic strips...In contrast, many of them, have darker messages... however each is depicted in a rather light-hearted way...

I am still to get through all 500... but I will get there.

I found this piece of work on a flickr photostream which i could only find as being called 'thevoicethatsaid'.
All the work is fairly similar... very simple monochrome typography on a colour photograph... usually depicting natural scenes.
I love this piece for its simplicity... and the fact that it is using a typeface to portray perfection... and what a typeface!!

This would be the biggest compliment a graphic designer could receive...

It made me smile anyway.

'SO ME'

I found this video last year and watched it over and over again.
It was directed by 'So Me', 'Ed Banger Records' art director and another DJ on their books.
He's used 80's style gradient chrome typefaces inspired by logos of familiar companies, such as HBO, Universal studios and 20th Century Fox to name a Few.
The lyrics are typed up on screen in an inventive, smooth and very colourful way.

He also directed another Justice video...



The D.A.N.C.E video features colourful imagery and typography as a contrast to a black and white video.



'So Me' is a designer who has always really inspired me, I think he will feature quite a lot in this Design Context blog...