Inspired By Others #6_ Guilherme Marconi

Today I'll bring here a brasilian illustrator that has a work rich in colors and elements.

He has in his portfolio Havainas and Vodafone like clients.

I highly suggested that you go to this website here.

Smashing Magazine Send Us a Challenge

Smashing Magazine always come with very interesting post, I just love it this one: is a challenge to us, designers to create everyday something new. As Jad Limcaco sad: "As someone once said "Practice makes perfect." While that statement might not be completely true, I do believe that practice makes you better." I couln'd agree more with him!

So after giving you some tips and showing some histories, he suggest that we tweet along with #daily365, we not give a shot!

So I do suggest you read the post here and got exited with this challenge!!

Photoshop Tip#1

I’m still new in the graphic design area. And I know that technology nowadays is really important in the business and not just that, it can be an essential friend when you’re doing a project, Photoshop seems to be one of those friends…

So, I’m always looking for information, and, seem that is always more than one solution to do something, I want to share here what I’ve been discovering about Photoshop.

First thing that I’m going to share here is the Color Setting pallet, sorry if it sounds to simple…but since I’m in the area, it doesn’t seem to be something that people care so much about, or worst, some don’t even know much about it….

So the Color Setting will be responsible for the line “what you see is what you get”! Have you ever get a print that looks different to what you expected of?

It sounds really important to me!!

Let’s jump to it!

I'm going to share here the best configuration to print.

WORKING SPACE:

Is responsible for the right look on your screen of the colors (in our case, CMYK)

RGB: Adobe RGB

CMYK: responsible for the conversion RGB-CMYK. Is recomended to talk with the print house first. But I leave here the sugested one: Coated FOGRA39.

GRAY: import the CMYC profile, on the pop-up menu, choose "Load..."located the profile and click OK.

SPOT: same as gray.

COLOR MANAGEMENT POLICIES:

Here you indicate what photoshop wil do with the images that have a different color profile.

Use "Preserve Embedded Profiles". When you choose this one, you will see a * next to the color setting mode (ex: RGB/8*)

CHECK THE OBSERVATION ABOUT THIS CHOICE IN THE END OF THE POST.

CONVERSION OPTIONS:

Intent: here you can indicate the transition."Relative Colormetric" is considerable by many the best one to photography.

Last thing to do after that is save, so you can use it in future projects!

OBSERVATION: (Color Management Policies)

So you open an image with with a different Color Setting and, according with our set up, this image will "preserve the embbeded profiles"Ok about that, but to get a better work we still have to convert the image to the photoshop profile that we are using.

To do that:

1) Edit>Convert to profile

2) Choose in destination space sRGB

3)In Coversion Options> Engene>Adobe (ACE)

Intent>Relative Colormetric

4) Select "Use Black PointCompensation" and "Use Dither".

Doing that the photoshop is going to compensate the color differences, and as a result you see no big changes in thecolors.

As I told before, I still have lots to learn about photoshop, so, feedbacks are very welcome!

Inspired By Others #5_Intro1.be

A few weeks ago I find out this studio and I loved the work of this guys. I find j]because they add me in their circle at Behance.

In his own words " nto1 is a creative studio focused on graphic design. We offer a wide range of services from illustration through web design up to corporate products. We believe in good communication to provide the best results and build up trust to establish long term relationships with our customers."

With a very inspiring portifolio, Tim & Bram Vanhaeren ( yes, they are brothers!), they use tools like Photoshop and Illustrator to create projects that can be use in multiple medias, witch was something that I really apreciated, and reading about them is makes sence, since one of them had a degree in Cross-Media design.

Check out them to at Behance and also visit the Intro1.de website that you can find there too.

Abduzeedo 3rd Year Anniversary

Abduzeedo is an amazing blog! If you need to fuel you creativity, I guarantee you that you’ll find great inspiration there!

They are in their third year of existence! And to celebrate they are inviting us to participate with them this big achievement, yes! Abduzeedo started as a consequence of a robbery of their studio in 2006…and today they have followers from all around the world.

And as a way of gratitude they are giving away some really cool gift!

All you need to do is to go to their site and check the three simple rules to participle!

Below is the link:

Abduzeedo Anniversary 3 Inspiring Years Giveaway

Graphic Design History #3

Graphic design has always been in our society in a way of express the values and culture in a certain moment.

In the twienties it wans't different. In this decade the optimism and hope that emerge after the end of the First World War were the main tools to rebuild lifes and cities still with a painful memory of the war.

This atmospehre of reconstruction was responsible for a new point of view; witch was to look to the future with new eyes, with a modern look. Searching for practical ways of doing things, the simplification was the key at that moment. USA had a considerable development after war, but Europe had big difficulties to deal with.

And is in Europe were the main ideas of the decade started. Bauhaus in one of the greatest one. Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus School was known by its ways of experimentations and innovative ways of teaching. Rejecting ornamentations, they prime for funcionality, going on the opposite way of Art Deco.

In 1923, the Bauhaus exposition brought international recognition to the movement. And one of the visitour was going to be later, one of the biggests influences in the bauhaus's typography style, his name was Jan Tschichold. He was one of the first graphic designers to use Bauhaus' ideas.

Another movement that happened at this time was the De Stijl, founded in Holland, in 1917. This movement growth in an enviroment where the main goal was buil the order. The result is projects that prime for simple shapes, logic and use of primary color, like red and yellow Some names that represent this movement were the architect Theo Van Doesburg and the artist Piet Mondrian. Following the De Stijl, other movements existed in this moment, there are:

- Dadaism: influences the use of typography with images, in a way of express the relationship between word and image. It has no restrictions of shapes and social means, allowing a free way of expression. In this period that the collage starts to exists, happening first in Berlin.

- Russian Constructivism: characterized by dynamic compositions, created with geometric shapes arraged almoust mathematically. One of the main names of this moviment is El Lazar Lissitzky.

- Futurism: primes the technology of machines (speed). The italian Fillipo Tommaso Marietti was responsible for the start of this movement, when he publish hi manisfesto "Manifeste du futurisme".In the compositions, the designers used fragmented shapes, lines that represented the speed and repetion of word, to show dynamism. A strong characteristic of the movement is the use of different fonts, in variable directions and sizes.

In the end of the decade, in 1929, with the Wall Street crisis and Depression that comes next, those movements that at that moment were stablished, became a necessity more than any other choice.

Inspired By Others #4_Adhemas Batista

I love this guy! First time that I saw his work I just got stonish with the amazing combination of color and shapes that he does!

Every time that I look some of his works they always bring me an idea, an inspiration...so I really recomended you to check his personal website, I'm sure it will take you to some great idea, a solution or even a hole new project!
Adhemas Batista is a brasilian designer that has in his portifolio companies of international recognition, like Coca-Cola, Havaianas, Absolut Vodca...to name a few.

Clich here to go to Adhemas Batista website.

Free Libraries Symbols

If you not used to take a look in the site of Smashing Magazine, pleaase, I relally recommended you do!!

This week they just posted an article with 8 websites that provide free pictograms...is just owsome, just few weeks ago I really wish to know about them so easilly!!

Below is the link for this article!!

Smashing Magazine: 8 Free Pictogram Icon and Libraries and Collections

Hav a great week!!

"Toxic - Garbage Island" A Great Video To Watch

Not only as graphic designers but most than that, as human beings, we have to be concious that we are part of a hole system, an important one I should say, the planet Earth! And as part of it, we have to be responsible for our actions and reaction. By saying that I mean that we always have to question what is going to happen after we use or design something or if you could do something better in our rotine to give a better future to the next generations.

Watching MTV the other day, here in Brazil, I got to this amazing video called "Toxic - Garbage Island" that talks about the huge amount of plastic in our oceans and the sadly consequences that it can cause to the planet.

As we are aware of, has the wrong name...we have only 1/3 of earth here...anyway...the name is the least of the problems that we have to face in nowadays...

So, back to the video, after watching it, I serached in the web to know more about it and I'm not only found the video but a lot more of the crew that did it! Actually Toxic is made by VSB.TV, " an online broadcast network that streams free original content 24 hours a Day", in their words.

So I really recommend you guys to take a look. Garbage Island has 3 parts, where the crew of VBS.TV goes in a reserach boat to look for those huge plastic island that can be found in the middle of the ocean. And how it is damaging our enviroment. The first two part show the search for those islands...and its amazing how many trash they find along the way...very sad. The last part is the most interesing, is where they give an idea of the damage.

Check the video here and next time you design or even use something made of plastic, just rememeber this video and be aware where you put it...

In the end of this video that is a website that I also recommended you to check:

- Algalita Marine Research Foundation

Help to take care of our "Mother Earth"!

A Great Article For Those Who Want To Freelance Around The Globe

Couple of weeks ago, Smashing Magazine publish an amazing article from Danny Outlaw, that you can check here.

Danny is a freelancer that has been working in different places around the world, like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Aruba.

In this post he give us lots of tips, specially if you want to go freelancing in a third-world country.

Is a short and direct article, and very inspired (at least I got here!), and there are many other links where you can get more about this subject.

Danny suggested one blog for those who would like to know more about it, wich is:

- Freelance Switch

And he also has his own blog about this life style, that in my opinian, and I'm sure I share with lots of others aroud the globe, is so exating! Below I linked some of his blogs:

- Outlaw Design Blog ;

- Freelance Abroad

So I hope you to get inspired as I did after reading this articles! Have a great Sunday!

A Book That You Should Have on Your Shelves

This week I got to this amazing book from Julius Wiedemann, the title is Illustraton Now.

Is a collection with 150 artists from all over the globe, excellent to have as a font of inspiration. And for our hapiness, Taschen has brought a second volume of Illustration Now, wich is as good as the first one, by the way, another excellent book to have on your shelve!

As if 150 artists wasn't already good enough, both volumes have informations about the tecnics used to produced the illustrations and also a small texts written by the artists about their works and ideas.

Below I'll pick five of the artists from the first volume, but i garantee you that this is just a tiny tiny little taste of what you can find in this book!

Melinda Beck
Kumiko Kitaoka
Matt Dineen Mateo
Simone Legno
Bo Lundberg

And here is just a website that have some of the images of the book.

Inspired By Others #3_Anna Anjos

Hi there, is been a while since my last post here.

Well, today I bring this fantastic graphic designer from São Paulo, Brazil.

Her works are full of colors and pattrens, wich I really like. Her work is very ludic and have an admirable quality.

Take a look at her personal website here. I'm sure you'll get inspired by her work too!

Inspired By Others #2_Jen Stark

This week I just discovered ( to be precize, just now!!) an amazing artist from USA, her name is Jen Stark. She works with layering papers in a way that they become amazing scultures !!

Take a look at her personal website here.

I'm also put an interview with her here.

Graphic Design History_Part #2

Here I am again, writing a bit of design history one more time. So, let's look for the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 2oth. That is the period of the Industrial Revolution. When man started to fast a bit in his daily routine. The advances in technology were responsible for changes in society organization. The cities got an increase of population, and with that, a big number of new consumers willing to pay for industrialized products and social events. The market was in expansion, so the seek of consumers! The consumers' attention was needed to be caught!

In print industry, new tecnologies allowed large scale of prints. And with that, the use of colors in the art works. The designers had a new tool in their hands. At that time, is good to mention, the design as a profession didn't exist, what was at that time was called "comercial artists", that were people hired to do the artwork of something, like posters, that were the main product of the artists in this period. Latelly, the print of magazines and books got the attention of the artists, so as the society.

Fist style that appears was the Victorian Style. It was full of ornaments with historical themes as the gothic and medieval era. The name Victorian was because of the queen of England of that time, that was a big fan of arts. The cities were floated by this kind of posters with the help of the new print technology.

Against to the Victorian Style, the moviment named as art and crafts emerged to protect the the attention that was given to manufactered work. It's main figure, William Morris, was going agains the Industrial Revolution.

Inspired by this idea, a new style emerged: the Art Nouveau. This moviment denies the historicism and search for inspiration in the nature. Art Nouveau is known by the use of curve lines, nature tons and a more simple drawing style.

More attention in fonts was given and new ones were created by this time. Letters, decoration and illustrations worked together in the artworks, giving every little attention to every detail.

In the end of 19th century, Art Nouveau was an international style.

Progressivelly, the curves of Art Nouveau become more simple and the use of non-impress spaces started to be use as an important part of the art. New technology were still emerging, giving more tools and a big inthusiasm to designers!

At this time, it can be seen an attention growth to the creation of visual communication by the big companies. And following that, the attention to those new professionals responsible for graphic design artworks.

Below I'll put a list of some of the more expressive artists (click on the names to see some of their works)

- William Morris

- Charles Rennie Mackintosh

- Gustav Klimt

- Peter Behrens

- Beggarstaffs

- Aubrey Beardsley

- Lucian Bernhard

- Ludwig Hohlwein

And bellow is a slideshow of Art Nouveau by Flickr:

- Art Noveau

Print Design Tutorials by Smashing Magazine

The website of Smashing Magazine post a very usefull post this week, is about print design. I haven't check all the tutorials yet, but they seem to be very very good. Some of them are about CMYK setup, use of textures to add deep to your art work, pdfs...and the list goes on...I recomend you to check it if your interested in print design.

Below is the link to the tutorials:

Smashin Magazine_Prind Design Tutorials

Inspired By Others #1_Evgeny Kiselev

I'll always searching for others designers work to get inspired. I'll try to bring some cool artists here every time I see something interesting!

The first that I going to show you here is an artist from Sant Petersburg, Russia. His name is Evgeny Kiselev, his is 27 years old and in his own words "is in the nature where I find beautifull things, from where I capture a static image and transform in something wonderfull."

Check his work is his personal website here:

www.ekiselev.com

Colors

Is well know that color can transmited a positive/negative connotation.

There are plenty of studies about it. Psychology, architecture, medice ( to name a few) and communication (sure).

The association with the connotation that the color can represent depends of the culture, oriental and ocidental have some differences. As an ocidental person, I more aware of the color in my society.

So, I'll list some of them here:

PINK
positive: sympathy, femininity, healthy, love
negative: weakness, inhibition

RED
positive: love, fire, pation, streight
negative: war, dangerous, agression

YELLOW
positive: sun light, creativity, trust, wealth
negative: false, dangerous, depression, anxiety

PURPLE
positive: luxury, qualitie, creativiy, wisdom
negative: arrogance, ostentation, inferiority

BROWN
positive: calm, trusty, nature, tradition, wealth
negative: dirty, boring, poverty

BLACK
positive: glamorous, secure, sofistication, wealth
negative: fear, opression

GREEN
positive: luck, ecologic, balance
negative: desease, jealousy, envy, corruption

BLUE
positive: peace, inteligence, calm, efficiency
negative: coldness, depression

WHITE
positive: pure, light, hope, simplicity
negative: empy, coldness

I'm also recomend you watch this video of Claudia Cortes. Is very funny and instructive. It shows in a funny way how color affected us.

http://www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/

Graphic Design History_Part #1

Since I remember I like to know about history, it makes us understand some reasons of why things are the way they are today.

As the blog is about graphic design, mostly, I'll try to bring periods of it's history, as a piece of knowledge and inspiration to your works.

As a short time ago I have decided to work fully with graphic design, and I'm trying to get this background because I know that this is essencial to any good piece of work. Saying that I don't mean that we don't have to be original, but remember the post about intuition? I do believe the knowlodge is a really important part of the process of creation.

I'll try to do this chronologically, and weekly. I would like to say that I'm far from being an expert of the subject, what I'm trying to do here is share my reading about graphic design history.

If you already read something about graphic design history, you probably know that the posters of the end of 19th century represent the beginnig of the press prodution in quantity. And the attention that was given to the comunication with the new consumers.

I'm going to look back a bit further in time: prehistory. The visual comunication is been in our society since that time, but not in a such a pre determinate thing. When the men looked to an animal footprint, they knew what specie was there before...this knowledge was essential for survival.

The writing is the most significant element of graphic design in the old times. Prehistorical societies has it. And they can be very inspiration I would say. I wish I could tell you more about, but one thing that I know is that some of this societies used it to talk with the gods.

But the thing is: we have always used shapes and color to comunicate ourselves, and they always reflected the culture and values of their times.

I'll search some sites with prehistorical symbols, here they are:

http://www.ancient-symbols.com/

http://karenswhimsy.com/ancient-egyptian-symbols.shtm

http://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/43828-ancient-elements ( you can download ector in this one)

99 Percent Intuition

I was reading an article the other day and I got to this line of Paul Rand:

"Design is 99 percent intuitive."

I can say that I agree with him. I would add that, not only in design, but in most of the time when we use our creativity.

Of couse that it doens't mean that you have to do things without think and analyze! But as you go designing and analyzing your work, some how, things start to show up.

Well, but first things first! Knowledge is necessary, always!! So always seek for it! Read book, magazines, go to musems...everyhting that can bring something new!! Don't see things as good or bad, learn to analyze them without a pre concept!

But, don't become a person that is just searching knowledge in theory! Experience thing. Don't be stuck just in front of a computer screen!

Live you life fully! Work, study, exercite, love, cry, listen to music, travel, dance, laugh..."intuition requires knowledge, and knowledge requires experience."

If you can, go for a walk now or a bit later(but try!!), take your music with you if you're a music lover as I am, and just "experience" the walk. How? Well, look at the detaisl aroud you, you may see amazing things that were always there!! This kind of thing is getting lost in rush of our times...