real life at work

In honor of Labor Day, I give you Real Life At Work, a project executed by graphic artist Emily Forgot and installation designer Laurie D for the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy (W+K).

Real Life At Work is a wonderful example of what can happen when lots of talented people work together on a project that everyone is clearly excited about. As part of their Hello Neighbor initiative, W+K commissioned the Pop art-inspired, monochromatic window installation where, for the month of August, employees took turns working, passer-by could have a look, and the world could follow along by webcam. Can you even imagine working in such a unique space? I'm not sure that it would make me very productive to work in such a public way, but it would certainly be fun to be surrounded by such a wonderfully surreal environment for the day.


(Via The Fox is Black)

bike like a new yorker

As both a New Yorker who loves her bike and has come to increasingly rely on it to get around town over the past few years, and as an appreciator of good graphic design, I absolutely love Mother New York's Bike Like a New Yorker ad campaign.

Created for BikeNYC in partnership with Transportation Alternatives, the campaign was created in order to stay ahead of the debate on the upcoming bike share program by drawing attention to cyclists in the city. And as you can see by the end product, it's a job very well accomplished. You can check out the rest of the designs on the Mother New York website, and learn more about biking in the city at BikeNYC.org.

green pedestrian crossing

The China Environmental Protection Foundation teamed up with the DDB China Group for what has to be one of the coolest interactive, visually compelling environmental campaigns ever. The idea behind the Green Pedestrian Crossings was to get people thinking about the environmental benefits of walking versus driving, with these massive, gorgeous trees as the end result.

The campaign worked like this: canvases with the image of a bare tree were placed across 132 crosswalks in 15 Chinese cities. With green paint placed on either side, as pedestrians crossed, their shoes picked up the green, creating a trail of leaf-like footprints on the canvas. The resulting images of leafy green trees were hung as billboards in several urban locations, but what's truly incredible to think about is that DDB estimates that nearly 3,920,000 people passed through the installations while they were up. That's an enormous amount of people not only viewing the trees and their message, but contributing to their creation as well.

(Via Colossal)

Designer of the Month: Alphonse Mucha

I have often had a hard time remembering names and dates. Images come to me easily; faces are only a problem so far as recalling the names of the people attached to them (which can prove to be difficult), and I've pretty much given up on all but a few really key dates in history ( among them are a few of the American history biggies, both World Wars - 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, respectively - and a few favorite World's Fairs, including Chicago in 1893 and 1936 in New York). So when I was trying to describe the work of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1839) to Patrick, it wasn't a surprise that I initially blanked on the name. Let's not get into the shameful fact that I have a degree in decorative arts and design history, and that this should have been a piece of cake for me. The salient feature about said designer that I could recall was the Art Nouveau movement. In fact, Mucha and Art Nouveau are inextricably linked in my mind, and for good reason.

Alphonse Mucha, half-length portrait, facing right,  c1906. Copyright by Geo. K. Lawrence Co., Chicago. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Mucha was one the most noted artists of the period, with his work tied to Art Nouveau to such an extent that the entire movement was at one time referred to as 'Style Mucha'.[1] Made famous by his poster design for Parisian actress Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha found success through his designs for her productions. This led to a commercial career designing advertising and art posters, helping to popularize the Art Nouveau style and allowing it to reach a wide, international audience. Although almost totally forgotten within a few years of his death, with the style he helped popularize considered outdated, Mucha's legacy was revived after the post-war years, with his work achieving a level of fame and recognition that would have been unimaginable during his lifetime.[2] And so, for the month of June, we'll take a look at the life and career of Czech painter and Art Nouveau master, Alphonse Mucha. I hope you'll join me.



[1] Victor Arwas, Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985), 7.


[2] Ibid., 7.
 

Brock Davis

Brock Davis' work makes me smile. The Minneapolis-based artist and musician not only serves as creative director at the advertising agency Carmichael Lynch, but his awesome sense of humor and talent has earned him some major recognition from all over. Check out his website and flickr page for more.

(Via pitch design union)

become someone else

Don't you just love these print ads? Appropriately, they're for the Mint Vinetu bookstore, by the Lithuanian agency Love. As they explain of their inspiration:

When one reads books, he/she starts living it and identifies (or not) with main hero. These print ads for the Mint Vinetu bookstore, which sells lots of classics, focuses on the idea of becoming someone else. And provokes people to try on different personas.

Very cool concept.

(Via Black*Eiffel)

giant wooden xylophone

A giant wooden xylophone totally makes my day, and I figured that they just might make yours as well.

(Via swissmiss)

Daniel Freytag - BERG

For your Wednesday morning viewing pleasure, I give you some examples of the stellar graphic design and branding work of Daniel Freytag, who runs the UK-based interdisciplinary design studio BERG.

It's not every day that you find someone who can pull off so many different design concepts as nicely as Freytag, whose design ethos is to craft solutions which are considered, engaging and effective. All I can say is that if you've got the BBC, Nokia, V&A, London College of Fashion, and TATE Gallery, among many others, as clients, you're definitely doing something right. Very nicely done.

(Via pitch design union)

life is too short for the wrong job

Berlin-based Scholz & Friends' advertising campaign for jobsintown, a German employment website, is absolutely brilliant. Featuring human workers powering everyday machines, it's a very clever idea that perfectly matches the jobsintown slogan of "life is too short for the wrong job."

And while I don't understand German, the television spot that was created as part of this campaign, which features a fisherman whose true vocation lies elsewhere, is pretty great as well.



(Via designboom)

Sara Illenberger

I've definitely seen examples of Berlin-based art director Sara Illenberger's work before, but it wasn't until I saw a group of these images together on Public School's site that I was finally able to connect a name to the work, and realized that I was even more familiar with her creations than I had originally thought. Illenberger's ability to combine objects and utilize materials in inventive, eye-catching campaigns is pure genius. The above images represent some of my favorites, but if you have some time to spare, I would definitely recommend looking through all of the great stuff in her portfolio for yourself.

kindle commercial

Since I know that so many of you enjoyed lost things, the short video by Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths that I posted here a few weeks ago, when I saw their 2nd Amazon Kindle ad on Angela's blog yesterday, I knew I had to share it with you all as well. With so many bad commercials out there, it's always refreshing to see something new and fun, and as always, these guys did an amazing job. If you missed it, check out their first Kindle ad here. Happy Friday everybody!

billboards

Very Short List's daily email from yesterday showcased a collection of 50 extraordinary and attractive billboards from around the world. There certainly are a lot of great ones on this list, which you can view here, but these are some of my personal favorites:

Denver Water

Coops Paints

Law & Order

Play Station Portable

Cingular