Mazda

This is an ad for the Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe. I think its a very clever ad; really thinking outside of the square in the design. Fair enough this ad takes up two pages, which of course is more expensive then a one page ad. But i believe it is worth with the uniqueness and interactive qualities behind it. The ad is cleverly asking the viewer to get involved by folding the page to make it look like the car with a rooftop . The art of folding paper is Origami, which has been the main influence in Mazda's design of it's retracting rooftop due to its folding nature is like how a piece of paper would be folded in Origami. Having this ad would be quite successful because the viewer is asked to join in, which would mean it would sustained in their memory. I believe this is one of Mazda's more successful advertisements. The colours chosen are used through out the ad, all following the nice, dark blue used on the car. The first page of the ad is where the main "action" happens with two different ways to view the ad are possible, when turning the page it covers all the necessary information behind the design of the car, giving clear and precise diagrams of the folding process behind the cars roof retraction. The typography used in this ad has an asian type tang to it, which helps support the copywriting at the beginning of the ad stating "the Japanese art of folding paper is called origami." Mazda being a Japanese car also helps to support the Asian feel behind the typography.

Barack Obama

This is a poster advertising a speech by Barack Obama in Germany. I found it when I was researching modern posters which uses the Bauhaus style. As soon as i saw it I was amazed, still am amazed whenever I look at it. Its just so BEAUTIFUL! haha yeah its good. 

I believe Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is now without his design team. Even though the style of the Bauhaus used in this design is 90 years old when this poster was designed, i believe it still has a modern feel to it which is incorporated in the somewhat "shiney" typography which uses gradients quite successfully. 

It uses the American colours so successfully with the majority of the poster, the majority of the poster is blue, but with a splash of rich red which is very strong in the design of the poster. The red is emphasizing that to attend the speech its free for the public.

I believe with the angle and the view of Barack Obama's face really has an emotional and powerful feel with it. As I look at the picture I see Barack as a dominant and inspirational man, just by looking at his picture. I think the typography is fantastic, using different sizes and boldness of the same san serif typeface. 

I want to shake the hand of every member of the Barack Obama design team.

Unknown Pleasures

This is the cover for Joy Division's album Unknown Pleasures. It was designed by my favourite graphic designer Peter Saville. I have always loved this design from when I first saw the cd on the stands at a shop, then of course I bought it. The image originally comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, but the image was originally black on a white background. It represents 100 pulses from the first pulsar discovered, which is often referred to in the context of the album. Without knowing about the  true origins of the design it seems to have movement in the line which seems to represent sound in some sort of "beat" process which I think is a good way to incorporate sound into a visual artwork. I was attracted to the piece because at the time I was looking to purchase a Joy Division album and this was the one that stood out to me the most so I had to but it being a big fan of the band as what I am. 

I believe the design is of very high quality due to the representation of sound. It seems to have formed some form of trademark with Joy Division as many forms of merchandise have been using this design. I think this is one of Peter Saville's best pieces of work.

Solo

This is the packaging design for a Canadian mobile phone company known as Solo. I think its fantaaaaaaastic. I love the use of the broken orange lines which seems to support some form of movement which is incorporated into Solo's logo. The way the phone is situated in the plastic gives the impression that the phone is the centre of communication, communication that of that being represented by the broken orange line spread across the packaging. The packaging seem to follow the two thirds rule used in advertising with the phone in the top third and the description if the contents in the bottom third.

I saw the packaging in a book known as Logo Savvy which covers the developments behind large brands from across the world, being impressed by seeing how this company developed their logo, I though I would write a blog on my favourite packaging by them.

I believe it has strong typography in its logo which has worked well with being incorporated in other parts of the design.

I was attracted to the piece because of an ad which was for Solo but next to the packaging, after being obsessed with the ad for a while i soon became obsessed with the packaging. 

Sigur Ros - ( )

I know a lot of my blogs have been cd covers, but I cant help it when I have been seeing such fantastic design in some of the cds, so I feel i should mention them.

This is the cd cover and packaging for the the album ( ) by Sigur Ros. The name of the album has no letters but is represented on the front cover by the curved shapes. Sigur Ros are from Iceland, their music as beautiful, and sometimes quite haunting but with relaxing ambience. I believe their style of music is portrayed well in the design of the cover. The white and grays are very relaxing to look at, and also has a cold feel to it which is what the music of Sigur Ros makes me feel when I listen to it. Iceland, being a cold, isolated country it is, really is portrayed in both the music and the design. Sigur Ros sometimes make their instruments from organic things, for example, one band member of Sigur Ros found this different stones which when hit with a stick used to play with xylophones, made different sounds depending on the size and shape of the stones. Many of these stones where collected to make an instrument which sounds similar to a xylophone. This organic form of playing music is also influenced the design of the cover.

The typography used on the covers is nice with the "( )" is a die-cut to look at the cover underneath whereas the typography of the "Sigur Ros" is written as if someone wrote it with a pen. It think the design is of very high quality due to the perfect style of design to represent the style of music.

I originally saw it in a cd store, and my love for the band made me buy the cd.

Pixies - Doolittle

This is the cd cover for the album Doolittle by the Pixies. It was designed by Vaughan Oliver and photographer Simon Larbalestier. One of the songs on the album is called Monkey Gone to Heaven which is represented by the monkey with the halo. The numbers "5", "6", and "7" are included on the cover because the part of the lyrics included in Monkey Gone to Heaven say "If man is 5, and the devil is 6, then god is 7."

I first saw the cover years ago when I bought this album, ever since i have bought it, not only I have loved the music but also the photography through out the cd cover and the booklet. 

I really love the Grunge style used in the design, it has a real rusty feel to it. The use of typography for the "5", "6", and "7"is clever with using Helvetica printing blocks to represent the numbers. 

I believe this work is of high quality due to the clever photography and use of typography to represent songs. 

I was attracted to this piece because I love the band plus the style of the CD cover

The Deaths of Ian Stone

This is the heading for the movie "The Deaths of Ian Stone." It is a horror which seems to be emphasized in the typography. It has a very grunge look to it and somewhat looks like blood splatter, which is what I'm sure the designer is after. I saw it quite recently when my dad sent me the dvd in the post, and after enjoying watching the film I found the typography of the film's title very effective. The typeface as quite a tall sans serif which is emphasized by the grunge look and the contrasting colours. Even though the grungey look gives the typorgraphy a dirty look it still seems quite clean and precise, this supported by the san serifs and the contrast between the colours and  the white background. I was attracted to the piece because im a big fan of horror movies and grungey style of artwork, so i guess these two together seem to work really well and I think its just fantastic. I have always been a fan of red and black used together to represent anything dark and scary.