Indice dei contenuti per August 2015 in Computer Arts

Increasingly spatial design is being used to facilitate a new experience or set of interactions. Incorporating a sense of ‘play’ or productive discomfort within physical environments requires us to let go and trust our senses, challenging and subverting our perceptions of reality. The Brutalist Playground is a brand new commission by artist Simon Terrill and Turner Prize nominees Assemble at the RIBA Architectural Gallery, London. The conceptual installation encourages visitors to experience the world of Brutalist design of the mid-20th Century from another perspective. Full-size replicas of defunct Brutalist-style playgrounds fill the entire gallery space. However, there is no concrete to be found here. Sculptural forms that would have been originally constructed from concrete have been playfully re-interpreted into a climbable landscape of reconstituted foam. Large-scale geometric shapes, in various…

“Having built up the credibility to work with these amazing brands has been the biggest thrill for us—there’s days when we still have to pinch ourselves. There’s no other course that delivers the full-on practical skills that Shillington provides you with—and in such a compact and timely manner. Being taught by working professionals gives you such a unique insight into life outside of college and prepares you for the challenges that the industry presents. Just do it!” FAST-TRACK YOUR CREATIVE CAREER AT SHILLINGTONCOLLEGE.CO.UK shillington College of graphic design shillingtoncollege.co.uk F shillington.fb T @shillington_ SYDNEY • MELBOURNE • BRISBANE NEW YORK • LONDON • MANCHESTER…

KEY INFO LOCATION Old Spitalfields Market, London www.dandad.org/newblood WHEN 1–2 July 2015 Computer Arts’ presence at this year’s D&AD New Blood festival provided a great opportunity for the team to check out the abundance of exciting work on show at the two-day Shoreditch exhibition. But it was also a chance to exhibit the final shortlist in our New Talent cover contest and reveal the overall winner. Current students and recent graduates (within the last two years) were invited to create an illustration revolving around the themes of ‘fresh talent’, ‘rising stars’ or ‘getting noticed’, but with plenty of scope to explore more abstract and conceptual ideas. Creative suggestions for print treatments were encouraged, as were interactive elements for the iPad edition, and there was certainly no lack of brilliantly executed…

The UK animation tax credit, and our history of creating global super-franchises like Peppa Pig and Shaun The Sheep, means that UK producers have credibility in the kids’ show market. Globally there is an over-supply of pre-school shows, and an under-supply in animation for kids between the ages of six to 11, so remaking classics like Super Ted or getting the rights to a successful publishing property increases the chances of getting a series off the ground. In this climate, learning about co-production and finance is a must. Selling an idea to a UK kids’ broadcaster equates to a licence fee of less than 25 per cent of the budget – it takes a further two years to pull the rest together. In the US, networks fully fund and own…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF Spanish design studio Noho was asked to create a visual identity for the new Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, The Cotton House in Barcelona. Inspired by the building’s grand past, and its iconic cotton flower emblem, the identity needed to feel Spanish, with a nod to Victorian design elements, but maintain the hotel’s contemporary and masculine vibe. STUDIO Noho www.noho.es CREATIVES Miguel Cano www.miguelcanodesign.com Kevin Cantrell www.kevincantrell.com PROJECT DURATION 8 months LIVE DATE March 2015 MIGUEL CANO FREELANCE ART DIRECTOR Miguel Cano is a freelance art director and designer based in Madrid, Spain, whose clients include fashion and lifestyle brands and cultural institutions. Miguel hopes to “make the world a more beautiful place”, and was head of creative for the Cotton House project. THE DESIGN BRIEF Miguel Cano…

The tried and tested route from freshly minted creative graduate to paid junior professional usually involves a pit-stop as a studio intern. To scramble onto the first rung of the creative career ladder, paying your dues on a placement is pretty much a prerequisite – and can involve making copious cups of tea. But how do you secure that perfect internship, that placement of your dreams that’s challenging and inspiring, nurturing and fun in equal measure? And how do you make an impression once you get it? There are plenty of places to look for opportunities. You can start close to home, by taking advantage of your university’s alumni connections. Many creatives send news of internships to their alma mater, so make sure you receive any listings – they might…

1 ALERNATIVE AESTHETICS www.alternativeaesthetics.co.uk Alternative Aesthetics is the alias of Cardiff-based creative Colin Kersley, who creates tattoo designs, murals, T-shirts and more. This particular design showcases the logo of his personal studio. Price: £30 2 YELLOW BIRD PROJECT #1 www.yellowbirdproject.com The Yellow Bird Project is a Montreal-based organisation that gets your favourite bands to design T-shirts for its chosen charity. This number was created for Little Boots by her go-to illustrator Chrissie Abbott. Price: $25 3 TIM EASLEY #1 www.timeasley.com London-based illustrator Tim Easley loves all things weird and wonderful. This T-shirt design sees him brightly illustrate the anatomy of a skull, which is firstly hand-drawn and then scanned and coloured in Photoshop. Price: £10 4 YELLOW BIRD PROJECT #2 www.yellowbirdproject.com Dabbling mostly in indie rockstars, the Yellow Bird Project…

Cheerful, colourful characters residing in cities, with no detail left to chance: a description of Dutch duo LouLou & Tummie’s ever-expanding design and illustration empire could just as easily apply to the pair’s studio space, situated in the centre of Tilburg, the Netherlands. Previously a primary school, the building has 12 spacious classrooms and still includes a blackboard that today is used to keep score of an ongoing Carrom contest between Loulou and Sander from Spread, a Dutch motion design studio that shares the space. “They’re very competitive and often shout fanatically when trying to win, so they’re not allowed to play more then once a day,” laughs Tummie. When the pair moved in, they stripped the “ugly” dropped panel ceiling to remove the office-like aesthetic and painted the exposed…

Visitors to CA’s D&AD New Blood stand on Wednesday were treated to a live drawing demo from Radim Malinic, aka Brand Nu, as he created this issue’s Design Matters illustration on the spot – check it out on page three. Here, he shares more about the experience... How did you find the live drawing at D&AD New Blood? What were the highlights and lowlights of the process? The lowlight is easy to pinpoint – it was the heat on the hottest day of the year, when the gear was just about coping. But the highlights were many; I liked people coming by again and again to check on the progress and asking questions. It was a really fun learning experience. This is the first time we’ve created a Design Matters…

CLASSY MADNESS POLA FOSTER IDENTITY by Futura www.byfutura.com Dominant, brave and loud – but in control. That’s how independent design studio Futura describes the aesthetic of its branding for Latin American handmade shoe company Pola Foster. The Mexico-based studio looked to the personality of its entrepreneurial owner for inspiration when coming up with the design concept. “She is young, cheerful, empathic and brave,” says co-founder Vicky González. “She is the perfect mix of someone classy, but with a little bit of madness (in a good way).” Targeting young Latin Americans between the ages of 15 and 35 who dare to dress differently, Pola Foster was the perfect chance to mix things up across branding, packaging, typography and web design, admits González: “The logo represents dedication, but it also has a…

This year, Airbnb set a D&AD New Blood brief to explore how the brand can empower its existing community and extend the feeling of ‘belonging’ to a new audience. Hamish Gardner’s solution was to create a series of communal journals, or Post Books, one for each city. What gave you the idea for the Post Books? D&AD tasked us with expanding Airbnb’s idea of belonging, that through them you can belong anywhere in the world. A Post Book is a physical communal journal that travels around by post between hosts and travellers within one city. Hosts and guests are each given a page in the book to document anything about the city, something they would want to pass on to the next recipient. What was your favourite part of the…

The hotel opened in March. Some of the elements of the identity ended up being more toned back in their implementation. Had Kevin and I had our say, we would have probably incorporated a little bit more of the beauty of the guilloche pattern into different things. But it also would have taken a lot more time, and we didn’t have that. There is a reality that you’re paid to do something, and you can only do so much. Nonetheless, I feel the pattern has become a part of the brand, an iconic element of it. Hopefully, people will associate it with the hotel. It’s one of the things that gives the brand life. The identity is applied inside the building, on printed collateral and digital mediums. We also had…

A ward-winning agency Vault49 is branching out. Born in Britain and then moving to the Big Apple, the team has created campaigns for the likes of Adobe, Fiat, Vodafone and Oreo. The agency’s next venture sees it heading south and opening up a new office in Brazil as well as going back to its roots with a new opening in London. Here, founder and creative executive director Jonathan Kenyon explains the reasoning behind the new studios and what it means for the future of Vault49. Why a new office in Brazil? Over the years we’ve met some very talented people in Rio and São Paulo and in true Vault49-fashion, we’ve established a partnership with people who make us smile, doing work we enjoy. A São Paulo office is the perfect…

WEAPONS OF MASS CREATION FEST 07-09 AUGUST Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave, OH 44102 www.wmcfest.com Promising ‘three days that will change your life’, WMC Fest is a community festival founded by Jeff Finley of the creative agency Go Media. Featuring 14 speakers and three panels, it’s been compared to SXSW or the 99% Conference, but with an indie/DIY flavour. TYPECON 2015: CONDENSED 12-16 AUGUST Denver, Colorado www.typecon.com An annual conference presented by the non-profit Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), an international organisation dedicated to the promotion, study, and support of typography and related arts. Subjects to be discussed include how culture affects typography and the history of non-Latin typeface development at Adobe. REASONS TO BE CREATIVE 07-09 SEPTEMBER The Dome, Brighton www.reasons.to Reasons is a three-day conference with a…

The degree show is over, so what’s next? You may already be busy replying to the business cards left at your degree show by studios you admire, but after that, then what? For every card I received, I followed it up. Privately I thought to myself, ‘I’m in here, I’m going to get a job!’ Did I? Unfortunately not. My own ambition made me think that I was going to get a job straight out of uni, so when I didn’t it was hard to not take personally. I’m not saying ambition is a bad thing – it’s vital to get you to where you want to go. However, it’s important to be realistic about what could be coming your way. This is where I went wrong upon my graduation…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF Design a distinctive logo for an adult-targeted alcohol and gourmet ice cream start-up called Mr Cooper, exploring implementation of the final identity on packaging, uniforms and merchandise. AGENCY johnson banks www.johnsonbanks.co.uk DESIGNER Kath Tudball STUDIO SKILLS • Communicate unconventional brand values through a logo • Craft a distinctive hand lettered mark using positive and negative space • Experiment with a variety of lettering styles to develop and refine the mark JOHNSON BANKS johnson banks is a London-based brand consultancy with a global reputation. For over 20 years the company has consistently shown that a small group of designers and thinkers can solve the thorniest problems with world-class solutions, whilst demonstrating wit, intelligence and humanity along the way. VIDEO CONTENT WATCH THE VIDEO AT bit.ly/CA 243-johnsonbanks OR IN…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF Inspired by NASA imagery, motion studio weareseventeen set itself a brief to create a short CGI film. The challenge? To illustrate the so-called ‘Overview Effect’ that astronauts experience when glimpsing Earth from space for the first time. PRODUCTION STUDIO weareseventeen www.weareseventeen.com PROJECT DURATION One year LIVE DATE June 2015 THE DESIGN BRIEF Steve Simmonds About a year ago, we were in the middle of a project that was a bit of a slow burner, and I was keen to get something new up on our website. It didn’t start with a desire to create a short film. It started more with some design style-frames. At the time, Channel 4 had a week of programming all about space and it reminded me of how interested I used to…

It’s also useful to be aware of your rights. Most creative agencies take their obligations towards interns seriously, and offer at least the national minimum wage. So don’t sell yourself short, no matter how tempting. In fact, many agencies feel that offering your services for free sends the wrong message – that your work isn’t worth anything. Sept Putra, who got a job at weareseventeen after a placement there and is now a freelance designer, was “super aware” of his rights while doing an internship. “I made sure there was a contract before I started,” he says. “My advice is to be crystal clear on the terms of the contract from the beginning”. Once you’ve signed on the dotted line, however, it’s up to you to make the most of…