Hello i'm brooks

Beardlands, a wonderful chart created by Kerry Thomas showing the many paths a man can take from fully bearded to clean shaven. Kerry has also created a handy Venn Diagam of Beards.

Shared by Brooks
Hey Western....

Formerly known as Polytechnic South West until 1992, Plymouth University is the ninth largest university in the UK, with a student body reaching just over 30,000 students along with 3,000 faculty and staff members. In June of this year, Plymouth University launched its new identity, "With Plymouth University," designed jointly by here design and Buddy.

The agencies pitched two approaches. The first was an evolutionary approach which took the most memorable elements of the existing brand and created a refreshed identity. Solution two was the revolution, and took to its heart the aim of the University: For people to say they are proud to be associated with such an enterprising and forward-thinking institution. From that, the importance of the word with was evident. How much better, how much more inclusive would the sentence 'I am studying mathematics at the University of Plymouth' become if it read 'I am studying mathematics with Plymouth University'?!
— Branding Journey [PDF] (Worth a read)

The previous logo was nothing more than an uninspiring and abstract dot. With poor typography, there was little support for a school that The Guardian reported as "Delivering a first class campus." The new, comprehensive, and mobile "With Plymouth University" brand is a fresh revamp for a public university. The branding feels more personalized, letting the university be whatever it needs to be for each individual student.

The clean, crisp, and rounded custom typeface does a nice job of feeling friendly while also being neutral enough that the brand can become tailored — to an extent — to each student and staff. The calm and clean color palette supports the brand neutrality but adds some youthfulness with its brighter secondary color palette.

The idea of a mobile identity is nothing new, and the "With Plymouth University" concept walks a fine line in regards to the identity created for the New Museum by Wolff Olins, even if a bit divergent aesthetically and conceptually. Overall, having a brand that lives with you and transforms for you is an easy and smart sell for a client and a consumer but not too original. Nevertheless, this identity is something that I would be intrigued by as a potential student, and that is something Plymouth University can embrace.

Formerly known as Polytechnic South West until 1992, Plymouth University is the ninth largest university in the UK, with a student body reaching just over 30,000 students along with 3,000 faculty and staff members. In June of this year, Plymouth University launched its new identity, "With Plymouth University," designed jointly by here design and Buddy.

The agencies pitched two approaches. The first was an evolutionary approach which took the most memorable elements of the existing brand and created a refreshed identity. Solution two was the revolution, and took to its heart the aim of the University: For people to say they are proud to be associated with such an enterprising and forward-thinking institution. From that, the importance of the word with was evident. How much better, how much more inclusive would the sentence 'I am studying mathematics at the University of Plymouth' become if it read 'I am studying mathematics with Plymouth University'?!
— Branding Journey [PDF] (Worth a read)

The previous logo was nothing more than an uninspiring and abstract dot. With poor typography, there was little support for a school that The Guardian reported as "Delivering a first class campus." The new, comprehensive, and mobile "With Plymouth University" brand is a fresh revamp for a public university. The branding feels more personalized, letting the university be whatever it needs to be for each individual student.

The clean, crisp, and rounded custom typeface does a nice job of feeling friendly while also being neutral enough that the brand can become tailored — to an extent — to each student and staff. The calm and clean color palette supports the brand neutrality but adds some youthfulness with its brighter secondary color palette.

The idea of a mobile identity is nothing new, and the "With Plymouth University" concept walks a fine line in regards to the identity created for the New Museum by Wolff Olins, even if a bit divergent aesthetically and conceptually. Overall, having a brand that lives with you and transforms for you is an easy and smart sell for a client and a consumer but not too original. Nevertheless, this identity is something that I would be intrigued by as a potential student, and that is something Plymouth University can embrace.

Woodblock poster, edition of 200, signed in pencil, 51x76cm.
Printed by Adams of Rye onto 100% recycled paper using traditional woodblock printing techniques.
£75.00 + P&P

Established in 1989, Alzheimer's Australia, a federation of State and Territory member associations, is a "charity providing support and advocacy for Australians leaving with dementia." Earlier this month Alzheimer's Australia introduced a new identity designed by Interbrand Australia with the goal of making their "first move in a step change towards the way the organisation voices the issues surrounding dementia and the lives it affects." The identity was launched on October 13 with a march at Parliament House, to demand $500 million over five years to address the dementia epidemic.

To cut through the clutter of the charity landscape, we put a fighting spirit and strong tone of voice at the heart of the new brand. It is designed to create a national movement, not just another campaign. It features a flexible logo that changes and evolves to communicate different messaging. The identity is bold, simple and clear, and deliberately very cost effective to implement. Using two colours and often, just four words.
— Mike Rigby and Chris Maclean, Creative Directors of Interbrand Australia

The old logo was exactly what you would expect from a health-focused charity: humane, swooshy, okay. It's actually not a bad logo. But as far as being something that rallies a country or generates a sense of urgency it fails. The new scheme from Interbrand is both smart and aggressive with a logo that doubles as tagline that clearly, and without softening the blow, establishes what needs to happen: Fight, to save. No other way around it. Some of the copy variations are a little dopey — Poke/Facebook and Beat/Tweet — but most of them are great, mini calls to action. The typography is bold, energetic, and it's not Gotham, giving it its own distinct flavor. Choosing bright teal as the key color also establishes a new color that could potentially make it as equitable as breast cancer's pink or AIDS's red.

The rest of the identity extends the energy of the logo quite nicely with big fields of black and teal and big typography. Although there are a few icons that were developed, the hand/heart seems to be the most popular and liked in the organization and it's indeed the strongest. Hard to tell what roles the other icons play, but there are some interesting visuals and concepts there. Overall, this is the kind of visual attitude that organizations looking to make public changes need to adopt. Just look at that very last picture: Black, teal, fist. Instant movement.

L’artista spagnolo Lorenzo Duran si avvale delle foglie come tela per le sue incisioni. Dopo il lavaggio e l’essiccazione, rimuove con precisione chirurgica ed estrema cura i segmenti in eccesso, usando una tecnica simile a quella del tradizionale paper cutting. Quest’ultimo passo è ovviamente il più difficile vista la fragilità del materiale scelto, il risultatò di questo processo è una serie di affascinanti disegni geometrici incredibilmente belli e dilicati.

Grazie a Francesca per il suggerimento.
via: illusion.scene360.com

Welcome to the wonderful world of work from Adam Hill (aka Velcro Suit). Aside from having a cool working moniker (Velcro Suit!), Adam’s work is a real pleasure to look at. He gets a lot of mileage from great color palettes and nice, tight typography.

I love the mixture of rough and tidy elements throughout his work. Specifically, his branding for Mad Brew is fantastic. There’s a nice melding of worlds between the illustration and detailed type happening in this piece, and it works quite nicely as a system.

Between his site and his flickr, he’s got quite a lot of interesting work on display.

Also for your viewing pleasure…
Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch
Owen Gatley
Micah Lidberg

Like what you see?
Sign up for our Grain Edit RSS feed. It’s free and yummy! YUM!

Share This

©2011 Grain Edit - catch us on Facebook and twitter

Shared by Brooks
wolff olins – always killing it. always.

First opened in 1966 as a wing of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum, now in its own building, is currently one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian Art, housing a collection of over 17,000 artworks. It was also one of the most financially troubled museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian Art with a $120 million debt, which was recently announced would be solved, setting the museum up for a much needed reinvention: "Our new brand," explains Jay Xu, Director of the Asian Art Museum "promises to awaken the past and inspire the next. It means we'll unlock the past for visitors and bring it to life by sparking connections. We'll also be a catalyst for new art, new creativity and new thinking." To help turn things around, literally, the Asian Art Museum worked with Wolff Olins to design its new identity.

International brand consultancy Wolff Olins helped to redefine the brand and designed a new logo to directly reflect the museum's bold vision and new perspective. Its graphic, upside down A mark, accompanied by the word "Asian," also communicates the museum's desire to engage all: in mathematics, an upside down A denotes "for all."
— Press Release

David Perry of David Perry and Associates, the PR firm for the museum, on why we should be excited about the new look.

The old logo was a little painful to watch, but it had good intentions and it sort of exuded Asian-ness with the red color and wispy type; it had an interesting play with the Asia/n structure, but mostly it was just a little weird. The new one, in contrast, exudes not a single bit of Asian-ness. On the contrary, it could probably be a logo for anything but an Asian museum and that seems to help the point the Asian Art Museum is trying to make, that they are not just a warehouse of old Asian clichés but a new kind of platform for Asian art and culture, both old and new. Obviously the biggest statement of the logo is the upside down "A". The press release mentions that in mathematics the inverted "A" represents "for all" and I wonder how many people will know that — I didn't, but I also use a calculator to sum two plus two sometimes. When I first saw the logo I tried to extract the meaning of the inverted "A" but other than a slightly corny "Think Different" I came up empty. It's a bold move, and it has the advantage that there are no other upside down logos out there, so it certainly stands out.

Like any logo thick enough to hold imagery, this one holds artifacts from the collection. It looks good, but it's far from new. Good thing the holding shape is upside down to give the trick a new spin. I do like the subtle gradient that gives the logo some dimension.

The rest of the materials are decent and support the direction of the logo. I like how the logo can be used big or small in different applications, showing a bit of versatility that, if lacking, would have made for a more stale range of applications. Overall, as a way of saying "this ain't your ancestors Asian Art Museum" this identity certainly achieves its goal.

First opened in 1966 as a wing of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum, now in its own building, is currently one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian Art, housing a collection of over 17,000 artworks. It was also one of the most financially troubled museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian Art with a $120 million debt, which was recently announced would be solved, setting the museum up for a much needed reinvention: "Our new brand," explains Jay Xu, Director of the Asian Art Museum "promises to awaken the past and inspire the next. It means we'll unlock the past for visitors and bring it to life by sparking connections. We'll also be a catalyst for new art, new creativity and new thinking." To help turn things around, literally, the Asian Art Museum worked with Wolff Olins to design its new identity.

International brand consultancy Wolff Olins helped to redefine the brand and designed a new logo to directly reflect the museum's bold vision and new perspective. Its graphic, upside down A mark, accompanied by the word "Asian," also communicates the museum's desire to engage all: in mathematics, an upside down A denotes "for all."
— Press Release

David Perry of David Perry and Associates, the PR firm for the museum, on why we should be excited about the new look.

The old logo was a little painful to watch, but it had good intentions and it sort of exuded Asian-ness with the red color and wispy type; it had an interesting play with the Asia/n structure, but mostly it was just a little weird. The new one, in contrast, exudes not a single bit of Asian-ness. On the contrary, it could probably be a logo for anything but an Asian museum and that seems to help the point the Asian Art Museum is trying to make, that they are not just a warehouse of old Asian clichés but a new kind of platform for Asian art and culture, both old and new. Obviously the biggest statement of the logo is the upside down "A". The press release mentions that in mathematics the inverted "A" represents "for all" and I wonder how many people will know that — I didn't, but I also use a calculator to sum two plus two sometimes. When I first saw the logo I tried to extract the meaning of the inverted "A" but other than a slightly corny "Think Different" I came up empty. It's a bold move, and it has the advantage that there are no other upside down logos out there, so it certainly stands out.

Like any logo thick enough to hold imagery, this one holds artifacts from the collection. It looks good, but it's far from new. Good thing the holding shape is upside down to give the trick a new spin. I do like the subtle gradient that gives the logo some dimension.

The rest of the materials are decent and support the direction of the logo. I like how the logo can be used big or small in different applications, showing a bit of versatility that, if lacking, would have made for a more stale range of applications. Overall, as a way of saying "this ain't your ancestors Asian Art Museum" this identity certainly achieves its goal.

Shared by Brooks
Yeah so Kim lives with these guys right now...

As much as I like to think of myself as a tireless advocate for all the filthy, thrashing rock n' roll that comes out of this city–after all, it is the best music to drink to–my ears get tired of the grit and grime. Sometimes, I just want music that glides through my brain, not something that barges its way in, fists flying, snarling, and tiring me out. Not to mention, when it's been as gloomy a summer as this, I need music that can bring me out of any major funk. Dominant Legs' sleek, 80s-tinged pop saved me this year.

Not long ago, the band was just one person: Ryan Lynch (formerly of Magic Bullets and Girls), who's still the principal brain behind the music. It's since swelled to include synth mistress Hannah Hunt, guitarist Garett Godard (also formerly of Girls), bassist Andrew Connors and drummer Rene Solomon. Last year, they released an EP, Still Young At Love and Life, that earned the attention of music blogs and even NPR for their gorgeous twee harmonies and sleek marriage of Nile Rogers guitar and keyboards. It was just a slice that left listeners panting for more until their excellent debut, Invitation (Lefse), dropped last week.

It's rife with catchy earworms–a collection of songs whose warm, tumbling melodies belie the rollercoaster of emotions running throughout the album. Lynch's unique vocal style (the guy actually sings!) is low and peppered with quick vibrato, and sometimes charmingly out of key–but in that way, it's brilliantly juxtaposed with the super polished guitar and keyboards. It pushes the music beyond just a copy of its mega-glossy 80s prototypes. It sounds real–like you're inside Lynch's brain as he hatches his grandiose pop ideas and strums them for the first time. Lynch says he prefers that decade to current electronic music because people were focused more on writing pop songs, "rather than it be one-hundred percent electronic music that will only appeal to a dance-club crowd."

But they can't be pigeonholed as an 80s band, because there's a lot more going on behind the sheen of the synths. Yeah, there are moments when Kraftwerk jumps out, like on the breakdown of "Lady Is Sleek and So Petite," and Prince's cascading guitars can be heard on "Take A Bow." But, Belle & Sebastian also springs to mind on one of my favorite why-do-I-always-choose-the-wrong-people-to-fall-for track "Darling Girls," while the mid-tempo "Make Time For The Boy" manifests a slow-burning intimacy and a beautiful saxophone solo which evince Van Morrison's Astral Weeks era. "The One That You're With" almost sounds punk; it's the most angry song on the album. Yet it's all held together by the band's sense of hope and optimism: "I normally don't like to make aggressive music [like "The One That You're With"]," says Lynch. "I wanted the prevailing mood to be uplifting and euphoric."

That's why Invitation sounds so good taking over your speakers on any day–because in the vein of a band like Girls, Dominant Legs aren't afraid of wearing their hearts on their sleeves (whether in lyrics or the music itself), and that kind of honesty can never get old. Take a listen below:

Texas-based Sarah Churman was filmed by her husband Sloan while turning on her new Esteem hearing implant at Envoy Medical in Houston, Texas. She was born deaf and cried tears of joy as she first heard the sound of her own voice.

For you mothers out there…….it was like that moment where time stands still as your baby slips into this world…….I just started crying, then crying more because I could hear myself crying. Then laughing, then freaking out over my laugh. That lead to the shakes and partial hyperventillating. Sloan’s boisterous laugh and the grins from the docs was the icing on the cake. Then the tapping of the keys as the nurse lady did something on the computer, followed by the remote being set down on the counter…….I could HEAR it!!!

via reddit

The Earthscraper by BNKR Arquitectura is an architectural proposal for a massive inverted pyramid that would be built beneath Mexico City’s Zocalo square and would extend 65 stories underground.

The design is an inverted pyramid with a central void to allow all habitable spaces to enjoy natural lighting and ventilation. To conserve the numerous activities that take place on the city square year round (concerts, political manifestations, open-air exhibitions, cultural gatherings, military parades.), the massive hole will be covered with a glass floor that allows the life of the Earthscraper to blend with everything happening on top.

via ArchDaily

Shared by Brooks
This is how I aspire to design. One option. Take it or leave it.

Steve Jobs’ recent departure from Apple was met with sadness and nostalgia within the design community. And rightly so. Jobs had a unique appreciation for the value of design and allowed designers to flourish in a way that is rarely seen in business.

This mutual respect led to some of the most beautiful industrial design and revolutionary products in human history. Talented designers like Jonathan Ive and others, serendipitously met one of the most visionary CEOs in history. This allowed designers to create products, experiences, and interactions based on what was important to the people using them. It doesn’t seem revolutionary, but the trust and freedom offered by Apple stands apart in a world where designers are often forced to base their designs on what is important to a committee and to the fearful levels of corporate structure.

Apple’s case study is frequently cited by businesses who ask for “clean and modern, like Apple” only to turn around and request less white space or a bigger logo. Unsurprisingly, most CEOs are not visionaries. They don’t trust in the experts they hire, especially designers, who seem to beg for micromanagement with a built-in process of showing many options and requesting multiple rounds of revisions and approvals.

This practice was frequently criticized by one of graphic design’s most legendary figures, Paul Rand, who wrote, “The designer who voluntarily presents his client with a batch of layouts does so not out prolificacy, but out of uncertainty or fear. He thus encourages the client to assume the role of referee.”

Paul Rand’s idea that the expert chooses the best solution was seen firsthand by Steve Jobs when he hired Rand to create the corporate identity for his company NeXT.

Later interviewed about their work together, Jobs recalled this exchange:

I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said, ‘No, I will solve your problem for you. And you will pay me.’

Video: An interview with Steve Jobs about working with Paul Rand, by Doug Evans and Alan Pottasch in 1993

Though taken aback, it is clear that Jobs came to respect Rand and rely on his decisions. It’s hard not to wonder if the shift in perspective didn’t stay with Steve Jobs in the ventures that followed. With a unique appreciation for graphic design (it is reported that he once lectured his staff on the importance of typography) Jobs also recognized great talent, calling Paul Rand “the greatest living graphic designer” before his death in 1996.

Paul Rand took issue with leaders who didn't step up to the plate.

…[it’s] the insecure client who depends on informal office surveys and pseudo-scientific research to deal with questions that are unanswerable and answers that are questionable.

But, he also blamed mediocrity on his own community of graphic designers, encouraging them to defend their role as experts and stand behind the solution they think is the right one.

Steve Jobs seemed to take both lessons with him as he journeyed forward. While he brought bold, visionary leadership to every product, he carefully chose designers and gave them the power to make choices.

Steve Jobs worked with many prodigious talents. These meeting of the minds were not by accident, but by careful design. A moment of impact between a legend of industry and a legend of graphic design stands as a marker of a collaboration that undoubtedly shaped the things to come.

Lest one gets misty eyed about the kismet of it all, let’s remind ourselves that visionary leaders don’t often accidentally ‘bump into’ great talent, but carefully seek it out.

Like any talent, you don't find a good designer by asking for the one who’ll do it the cheapest or the one who will do it in two weeks instead of four. You find the designer that you trust enough to call an ‘expert.’ A designer makes only the amount of impact as the confidence they are given.

Interviewer: “Was he the first designer that you approached?” 
Steve Jobs: “He was the only one we approached.”

Josh Smith is a graphic designer and co-founder of idsgn. He lives and works in NYC. You can follow him at @joshsmithnyc

There are so many beautiful pieces of work in Danielle Kroll’s portfolio that I just couldn’t choose only one to feature. Below you will see a selection of her design, illustration and lettering work, but I highly recommend an additional stop over to her portfolio to check out all the rest.

Riley Cran, everyone! Mr. Cran can be found in sunny Seattle, Washington, and has quite the handle on creating compelling logos and marks. I love his branding for Swallowed Sun Brewing Co. — it’s accessible, fun and to the point.

Throughout his portfolio, Riley maintains a keen eye toward typographic detailing and simplicity of form. His color choices and contrast in his work mix quite well with his reference to clean, classic identity design.

See Riley’s work!

Also worth viewing…

Spanish modern graphic design
Quadradão

Like what you see?
Sign up for our Grain Edit RSS feed. It’s free and yummy.

Share This

©2009 Grain Edit - catch us on Facebook and twitter

My Little Princess Leia

I come from the generation of My Little Pony so when I saw these sculptures by Mari Kasurinen, I knew that those of you who were also 80s children would understand.

My Little Storm Trooper

My Little Lady Gaga (#2)

My Little Edward Scissorhands

My Little Batman

My Little Spock

My Little Ironman

See the entire collection here.

New York City artist and manners enthusiast Jay Shells has posted a series of official-looking etiquette signs around Manhattan under the guise of the “Metropolitan Etiquette Authority.”

In Shells’ crusade to improve the manners of New Yorkers he has posted anti-dog poop and subway etiquette posters.

via Animal New York

images via Jay Shells

Shared by Brooks
truth in advertising.

To promote their new movie Contagion, Warner Brothers Canada had petrie dish billboards installed in Toronto that overnight grew bacteria and mold cultures forming the word “Contagion” (see their behind the scenes video).

via Brand Flakes for Breakfast

photos by Michael Takasaki