Found these parking tickets at Urban Outiftters today. They’re perfect for those times when you get some jackass that can’t park and forces you to an even tighter spot. Great design and execution!
So this morning I saw an odd thing. Odd to me at least, as I’ve never seen this done before during this particular activity. Well I drove past a guy stopped at a light in his car…pretty normal right…well the man just happened to be going to town playing his recorder. Yes, a recorder, as in an english flute.
Well as weird as it was, it got me thinking. We all need to do our own thing sometimes. It’s good to ignore what people think and just enjoy what you like to do. So more power to you trucking driving recorder playing man.
Sometimes all you need to make your design more interesting, is to use some kind of element or symbol to help draw the composition together. A resource is right at your finger tips. Your keyboard. Let’s take a business card for example. Maybe it’s something relevant to your email address like an “@”. An “@” that is oversized (it’s vector-based, so it won’t pixelate), maybe a contrasting color, can all help set off a certain part of your design that you want to emphasize.
A graphical element can be a very simple and powerful asset to a design. It’s something that catches the eye and can be very relevant and literal to the point you’re trying to get across or it can be a little something that ties it all together visually, or both. So, if you’re missing just a little something, don’t forget to look down.
Just caught this while watching last week’s episode of Lost on ABC. Honda has put together a series of short documentary films about the Honda’s own inspiration and future of cars and their effect on the environment, called Dream The Impossible.
Often times I turn to books, magazines, or anything else I happen to come across for ideas. Joey, from Wrecked Magazine, pointed out and poked fun a little bit at my taking of random pics with my blackberry’s camera. The truth of the matter is, you never know what or where inspiration may come from. It doesn’t have to come from one particular image or scene that you come across but… that one image or scene could just help add that missing element in a project you’ve been working on.
But other than pictures I take, one of the main sources I have been using lately to get creatively inspired is this series of books. I have two so far, 1000 Type Treatments and 1000 Graphical Elements, both put together by Wilson Harvey and published by Rockport Publishing. They offer such a diverse range of real world works that you’ll never have a creative dry spell again. Check them out.
While I was out in LA, I found this great shop that sold among other things “bombing” accessories. They had a great selection of books and magazines as well. One of the ones I picked up was a compilation of street art from Europe by european graffiti magazine StyleFile. This particular book was a “best of” from a series of ten books that have been published. The art contained with in is amazing to say the least, a true mastery of a medium. The typography and use of color is like a kick in the head from the norm and truly inspirational.
So if you’re looking for some new ideas or design stimulation, go order this book today. Here’s a link to amazons listing for it.
And some other links:
http://www.bombingscience.com/shop-tips.htm
