Metropolis cover

Lis Charman over at Portland State University teamed up with her husband Brad Trost to design the latest cover of Metropolis magazine.

This is so so excellent, not only the final solution but all of the iterations. This is called prolific! What an example to set for all her students in the design program.

While working on this Brad and Lis went through these gorgeous versions:

From Brad & Lis:

We were asked to come up with four different ideas. We gathered inspiration and researched systems thinking and sustainable product design. And, of course, we sketched and talked (and sketched and sketched).

There are more iterations, process, and commentary over at Command Save.

Thanks for sharing these with us, it is such a treat to see the process as a whole, and regard such excellence. PSU GD 4 EVA!

Department of Silly

Rummaging through DJ Bunny Ear’s tweets I came across Sir Paul Smith and his department of silly. What is even more lovely though is the look at some of his fabric books. If you’re a fabric fiend, you may need to buckle in for this one. There are some downright gorgeous swatches in this clip.

Brace yourself.

Sir Smith has been a muse of mine for years, his affordable cufflink dress shirts are always surprisingly elegant, expertly crafted, and literally joyous. Basically like the man himself. I like to think he considers each pattern before a line is produced, more of an artisan than a fashion designer.

Sword & Sworcery EP

I’m a sucker for a pixely 8-Bit flash video game. Might have something to do with the fact that I finally got a Sega Genesis about the same time that most of you were playing Golden Eye on your Nintendo64. Sword & Sworcery isn’t so much a game as a story that you can interact with which intrigues me. Friend of the Fort Vance Reeser who was kind enough to pass this along to me also pointed out that this is an interesting new direction that comic books might take in some cases. Either way this is going to be interesting to watch in the future. I’ll keep you all posted on what I think of the game when it comes out.

S:S&S EP: “sworcery” @ GDC 2010 from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery on Vimeo.

Metal in Iraq

Vice Magazine + VBS.tv just sent out their newsletter and in it was their documentary on Iraq’s only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda. If you’ve got 84 minutes, you’ll find cameos from Gideon Yago and a great perspective on youth culture in a violent setting.

Vice did such an excellent job here on several levels.

First of all the coverage of just getting into Iraq in 2006 was harrowing. I could tell they were excited by the threat and also terrified of the reality that faced them. They spoke of having to spiral on the aircraft so as not to get shot down by anti-aircraft weaponry. Then, having to swerve around on the 7 deadliest miles of highway on Earth.

Second, I love that Vice chose to cover these guys. There are some incredible things that come out of their mouths in response to the constant threat of violence, being young and angry, losing their country, and being told how to act. They seem quite apolitical, and interested in what helps them cope; heavy metal.

Most Americans should be able to relate. We all had that tumultuous time when we found music to be the soundtrack to our angst. Imagine being told that you can’t, while being shot at for wearing your band’s T-shirt, or perhaps, growing longer hair.

Halfway through the base guitarist talks about how wearing a Slipknot T-shirt was taking his life in his own hands, or that even speaking English on the street could get you sniped. His wife and he appear not to care. “I’m ready to die, destiny is in my own hands” he says.

These young men are much stronger then I’ll ever have to be. Respect, Acrassicauda, respect.

Full documentary

Almost but not at all

Earlier I asked some questions about what on earth we are designing.

It is so clear that there is a rift happening between XXth century rampant emptyness and a XXIst century realization that wait, I can participate in creating value for humans. It is not my position whatsoever to ridicule or undermine the creative talents of those individuals who are designing and directing for the consumer brands of today – and I would be remiss to do so.

It is excellent, though, to witness the tension and movement away from the meaningless chatter. I was encouraged and quite enjoyed this little music video called Sour, in which it appears a global group of strangers work together. It’s cute and small, but meaningful.

Imagine then, my surprise when I stumbled across this new Pepsi commercial.
They have made a few, some of the spots are screen-for-screen identical to the Sour video. One of the taglines reads “Can soda really save the planet?”

So here’s the deal. Pepsi gets it. They realize humans are hungry for meaning, often times even hungrier for a story. Someone sat in a room and considered the state of the collective, the ideals of a people, and came up with a strategy that considers collaboration, community, and the earth as a whole. Then, they applied it to a product that does not consider collaboration, community, or the earth as a whole, and used someone else’s creativity to execute it.

Almost guys, but really not at all.
Brown carbonated beverages with new lower calories will not save the planet.
Is this a step forward?
It’s probably good not to dwell on these products or continue to rail on the remnants of the XXth century. Instead, it will be good to work with people who get progress. Who get meaning. And who aren’t afraid to design for it. Awesome.

Maybe with all Pepsi’s publicity on how much money they are giving away, it will morph into a philanthropic enterprise. I’d drink a brown fizzy to that, like right now.