Warp Records' Album Art

In design, we are presented a set of constraints and prompted to come up with solutions. One such example of a unique constraint set are those presented in album cover art. The designer must pick a representation that is cohesive with the track list and the mood that the band wants to convey, while also being memorable enough to make a splash in the industry. Warp Records' 2013 album releases are showcased here, and allow you the convenience of listening to songs from the albums without even opening a new tab! I encourage you to check them out, and see if the album cover provides a coherent face to the music contained therein. Here's an example by Clark, the cover of Feast/Beast. The artwork was a collaboration between the musician and Alma Haser.

Ram Dass: Teaching Through More Than Type

I discovered the work of mystic Ram Dass when I was recommended his seminal spiritual text, "Be Here Now". While originally only interested in what he had to say about Hindu-influenced spirituality and psychadelics, I quickly found that the Stanford-educated author's words were not in paragraph form, but rather accompanied by rich illustrations of his abstract concepts. The book is a trip through Dass' strange mind and teachings about metaphysics, but communicates through artwork. The intricate, geometric, fractal patterns on the cover of the book demonstrate the interconnectivity of the world and the delicacy of it's balance, and this theme characterizes most of the illustrations throughout the work. His "Ice Cream Cone" in the sky is one of his most famous concepts, and one of the ones I remember best. The ways he couples typography with drawings make his teachings more memorable for visually-geared learners, and are good examples of purposeful design.

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Paint Swatches?

Looking for something to do with all of those extra paint swatches from the color wheel and tertiary color scales? I decided to recycle them for holiday dorm decor.  The greens make for a nice Christmas Tree.  

--Amanda G. 

More Poster Design Inspiration

Ran into these korean posters, designed by "workroom", and thought I should share. I loved the feel, and there was a good mix of color and structure. Looks retro as well as modern - timeless design. Just overall great body of work. Definitely wish I ran into these before I finished up my NHM poster...

I included a few of my favorites below.

http://workroom.kr/works_2010.html

Future of GIFS

Using lenticular printing, Gifpop! is bringing digital gifs into the physical world [see first picture below]. Awesome, and pretty simple concept. I see a lot of opportunities for design work using this.

The Gifpop team is also working with a couple of really cool gif artists, including Mr Div and Davidope (I attached some of their work below).

Designing Gifs are definitely something I'd like to get into... I just don't know where to start. Enjoy!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sha/gifpop-custom-gif-cards-for-everyone

Inspiration - Santtu Mustonen

Hey Guys,

Just thought I'd share one of my favorite designers I've come across recently, Santtu Mustonen. His work is very unique. His use of 3D in his graphic designs with the help of abstract patterns and awesome color make his work striking and fun. In addition, he's able to create nice organic texture digitally that I have found really hard to do in my own experience - don't know how he does it! Below is some of my favorites of his work. Enjoy.

http://www.santtumustonen.com

Cool Poster Design

Just thought I'd share this cool this poster design I came across on one of my favorite website's to get inspiration from, butdoesitfloat.com. These posters are done by Felix Pfäffli, a.ka. Feixen. I love his style of incorporated a 3d touch to a flat looking simple design. 

visit for more: http://butdoesitfloat.com/When-I-haven-t-any-blue-I-use-red

Intro - Will Erwin

Hey Everyone!

I'm Will. I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and decided to come to USC because I could not resist the sunshine and the opportunities to expand my art education. I got in to the art school for my photography work - where most of my experience lies - but in the past couple years I have become really interested in graphic and 3D design and think that's what I want to major in, along with either applied math or economics. Along with design and photography, I am also very interested in street art and public installations. Below are a few pics of my work. You can see more at my website, williamerwinblog.com.

Collab Project

I really enjoyed the process of the collab project! My group worked on an art book, basically like a little portfolio of your own you could show employers. To make it our own, we added a few pieces of our art, but still managed to unify the photos, illustrations, and digital pieces by using the same color scheme, type, and similar layouts for each page. Our group worked really well together and the work was divided up very evenly. Through the process I learned a lot more about illustrator and indesign from our seniors. Overall, very fun and I was really proud of the finishedproduct :)

My very late introduction...

My name is Sam Alpert and I am a freshman studying to earn a BFA with an emphasis in photography and design. I was born in Livingston, New Jersey and was blessed with the opportunity to come all the way to the west coast to study at USC. Growing up with my mom in the fashion industry I always had a deep passion for fashion photography. I one day wish to be a fashion photographer for a magazine like Harpers Baazer or even strive to become an Art Director/Creative Director! Here are some of my photos that I have taken throughout the years! I hope you enjoy J

Collaboration Project : Samantha Alpert

For this collaborative project, our group decided to work with collaging and creating a fashion look book with the use of art. Throughout this project I learned a lot of skills that not only will make me a better designer, but also will help me when I enter the working world.

After pairing up with our 402 partners and agreeing on the idea, we were begun figuring out a way to integrate everyone’s strengths and skill sets into the final project. Faye was very interested in the business and marketing aspect of the brand as she was responsible for creating the pitch and developing a marketing plan as to who are target audience would be. Marisa was very interested in learning about typography as she explored many different type -aces and fonts that would be good for our look back. Hemmie and I were both very interested in the fashion aspect of the book, as we wanted to be in charge of creative aspects such as the layout of each page, the collages, and the vision of the brand. After the first meeting I was extremely excited to work on this project but then things ended up taking a turn for the worst.

         When working on the project I felt as if the 402 students weren’t opposed to listening to mine and Marisa’s ideas. Throughout the entire project we were assigned busy work like coping and scanning pictures and searching for models while they took more charge in the overall project. Our ideas were always shut down and if they didn’t like they something they would simply say “no” and not explain what we could do to make it better. The end product was not at all what I visioned which not only was upsetting but somewhat embarrassing. No one wants to present a project that they aren’t proud of. The paper quality that they chose was cheap and sloppy looking and ending up looking like a prototype rather than a final product. As a result of this I decided to continue building this project and imputing my creative visions and ideas into the final look book, which I hope will look more successful.

          

A Thought and Experience

Hi again!

  I was just reflecting about my experience working in a collaborative project for Design 102. It was great to see what I would eventually be doing in higher devision classes and perhaps beyond this university and I learned some things along the way. The first is that if I have an idea, no matter if it's the first thought that comes to mind or something that I've drawn one hundred sketches for, it's worth mentioning. This was my first collab project and not to mention my first design class ever so I suppose it was natural that I was a little timid. However, once I became more comfortable with my group, I noticed I was able to speak out a little bit more and good thing because we ended up using a few of my ideas, even if they had to be tweaked but I liked that. I mean, that is the whole idea behind a collaboration. The second thing is that things aren't always going to work out. Compared to others, I wouldn't say my team had the easiest time getting things accomplished and I got the glimpse of rushing things to meet a deadline that people often talk about. No matter the situation, though, I learned I just have to do my best and be there for my team--even if it can be a bit frustrating. Along with that, I have to be happy with the end product because I don't want to put my name on something that I'm not completely happy with. Overall, it was a great experience and it showed me that this is something I might actually want to have a future in. I love the idea of creating and presenting work, I just have to make sure it's my best work always.

Marisa

Hello, I'm Marisa

Hi Everyone! My name is Marisa Alfaro and I am a freshman studying Fine Arts. I came in with an emphasis in photography (which I still plan to do) but I'm also looking to emphasize in design as well. I was born and raised in Southern California and I'm so happy I have the opportunity to study at USC. Since I did come in as a photographer, I wanted to share with you all one of my favorites. Her name is Vivian Maier and she takes beautiful portraits of those living in New York. I love her pictures because they are so raw and evoke so much emotion. They are so simple yet can tell an entire story of the subject which is what I hope to do with my own photos. Here are just a couple for you to see. Enjoy!

MFA Lecture Series - EXTRA CREDIT (Merlin Carpenter)

Merlin Carpenter, No Re-Entry, 2011

Today, I attended a lecture by artist, Merlin Carpenter. During the lecture, Carpenter talked about three of his recent exhibitions. The first exhibition featured a door barricading a room. In order to enter the exhibit and see the paintings within, one had to pay 5000 euros, or they could stay in the greeting area and pay nothing to see playing cards with the paintings on them. Through this exhibit, Carpenter plays with the idea of commodity. As an artist, one produces commodities of no value, but with regard to the capitalism system, art becomes of value. Thus, paying 5000 euros becomes alright in the minds of the consumer to view and purchase commodities. Furthermore, Carpenter criticizes how money plays a crucial role in the art world. In addition, another exhibit carpenter talked about was titled Tate Cafe. In the exhibit, Carpenter sent up the space to look like a cafe, furnished with pricing menus, chairs and an no re-entry door. The no re-entry door symbolized how the space was an organized thought out area, but when the viewer left the space, they would return to a world of chaos. Furthermore, the door symbolized how the artist can manipulate the viewer, like the manipulations of a capitalist society. As such, through this exhibit, Carpenter shows how the artist is a free person, but works within the constraint of capitalist realism. Moreover, the last set of slides Carpenter displayed to the audience was of his project with around 30 faux Burberry pattern paintings. Carpenter brought these Burberry paintings throughout Eastern Europe with him. Bringing these paintings throughout Europe with him allowed him to juxtapose the symbolic nature of the pattern of Burberry in that it has resulted from a capitalist society with the wildly capitalist society of Eastern Europe. While the Burberry paintings are seen as lavish, when set next to an rundown environment of Eastern Europe, it looks even more lavish. In a sense, while capitalism works for Burberry, Carpenter suggests that it may not be beneficial for everyone, such as Eastern Europe.

Merlin Carpenter, Burberry Paintings, 2010

Although Carpenter's work lacked artistic aesthetic value to my personal taste, it was interesting to learn of his ideas. Carpenter highlighted to me the importance of viewing art through the constraints of capitalism. Capitalism is prevalent in society, and as an artist, one must not completely avoid the system. While artists desire to be removed from the ideals of capitalism, without working within the constraints of capitalism, artists will be left out of the competition for influence.