Qoo

Aqui Uzumaki

2006-05-02T02:51:00.000-07:00

** watch this video from the show **
http://www.friendswithyou.com/gallery2/aquiuzumaki.html

This is an art show that was done by a collaboration of artists from Friendswithyou, Mumbleboy, and Gaga Inc. "Aqui" is a Spanish word that translates as "here" and "Uzumaki" is a japanese word that translates as "the Vortex." This show creates an imaginary world, its like walking into a two-year-old's imagination, that is filled with bright colors, crayon drawings, playful music, and unusual creatures all swarming around together.

The process of creating this show is what really interested me. They sat on the ground and used crayons, pens, color pencils to draw on pieces of paper to be pasted on the walls, or they just drew directly onto the walls. The plush animals are hand sewn so there are no two alike. Some of the plush animals were directly drawn on with pens. The whole process is very hands on.

I would have loved to walk into this room. You can really sense the energy and passion that went into the creation. It is like walking into a vortex that immediately sucks you into a different world at the moment that you walk through the entrance. You become mesmerized by this other world; getting lost in the drawings on the walls, walking pass white tree branches with imaginary creatures hanging from them, listening to the music. ...i wish i could have been there......

Brian Andreas

2006-04-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

Brian Andreas is an illustrator, fiber artist, sculptor, and story teller. He uses traditional media from the fine arts, theater, and storytelling, as well as electronic media, to explore new ways of being an artist. He also likes to "put things together with the rustiest stuff he can find." In his sculptures, he uses only recycled materials, such as scrap wood, scraps of barn tin and wire, etc.

I was attracted to a book that he wrote and illustrated entitled "Trusting Soul." This book is about moments or lessons in life that we experience, but don't really think about. The content is simple enough for a child to read and enjoy, but it is also mature enough for an adult audience to appreciate. The illustrations look like they were drawn by a child. His forms are very imaginative, and they suggest just enough information so that the audience can understand what the image is conveying while still leaving room for the audience to interpret it in their own way. I also like the two different kinds of type that he used. The childish hand drawn type that goes with his illustrations really help to narrate the drawings, and the main type nicely contrasts with the hand drawn type to set the different stories apart. The main type is all hand-stamped one letter at a time!

Nagi Noda (revisited): "Sentimental Journey"

2006-04-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

*watch the music video!!!
http://www.dandad.org/awards2005/qt.asp?entry_id=V_11442&f=000L&title=Sentimental%20Journey

This is a poster that Nagi Noda created for a music album by a popular japanese singer named Yuki. The music album is entitled "Commune" and the featured song is entitled "Sentimental Journey." This music poster is a photograph of the music video that was done for the "Sentimental Journey" song. This song sums up the concept of the music album which is about her interpretation about the "sentimental journey" of the changes that one goes through in life. She is inhabiting a surreal world in which she is dancing, jumping over a puddle, falling, passing by a golfer, eating an apple, watching someone die, then that person's spirit rises from their body and goes to the after-life world, while Yuki changes clothes and exits the house as a changed person.

This piece of artwork effectively serves individually as both a photograph and a music video. It is such a beautiful, creative, unusual way to represent one's journey through changes in life. Did you notice that the entire photograph/video takes place in a single curved-wall room with painted walls? The paintings on the walls of the buildings, landscape and sky along with the carefully changing ground are so well crafted that the viewer's eyes just flow through her journey seamlessly. Also, each figure is a different girl that is posing very still. The music video/photograph begins with Yuki in the pink dress, and then similar looking girls form her multiplied self thoughout the scenes. Even the golfer is made up of five different men. In order to make it look like Yuki is jumping in the air, the girls are attached to clear strings to hold them up off the ground. And in order to make it look like her dress or hair is blowing in the wind, they stiffened the girl's hair/dress in that position to make it look like each figure is frozen in time. There are no camera tricks, so if you look closely when you watch the video, you can see the girls blinking their eyes or slightly moving.

**watch some of her other videos!!!

1. Gekkeikan Sake: (Hanpanda Commercial)
http://www.partizan.com/partizan/directors/video.php?id=408

2. Laforet: "The Ribbon"
http://www.partizan.com/partizan/directors/video.php?id=409

3. Mariko Takahashi: "Ex-Fat Girl"
http://www.partizan.com/partizan/directors/video.php?id=376

4. Ogiyahgi: "Must Be"
http://www.partizan.com/partizan/directors/video.php?id=407

Expo 2005 Aichi

2006-04-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

These series of designs were created by the Hara Design Institute and Nippon Design Center under the art direction of Kenya Hara. The client was "Expo 2005 Aichi," which is the Japanese branch of an annual world exposition that Japan participates in. The main theme of the 2005 World Expo was "Beyond Development: Rediscovering Nature's Wisdom."

These posters were designed for an exhibition examining the ecology and the future relationship between humankind and nature. The design of these exhibition posters are really beautiful and elegant. The illustrations, which are the main focus, are large and powerful with their placement in an empty white space, yet they are not overpowering or too "in your face" because they are delicately drawn with tiny details, soft colors, and fine lines. The large images actually feel very subtle and non-threatening. The line, form, and color qualities really work together to convey a peaceful, harmonious relationship between humankind and nature.

I really like the calendars that were designed for this expo. The combination of the simplicity of the lines, colors, and space on the paper, and the complexity of the illustrated nature forms, work together to communicate the balance of simplicity and complexity in nature. I also like the typography in the calendars; its detailed and elegant, but it doesn't overpower the delicateness of the images.

They even designed a packaging tape especially for this Japan expo. Like the other designs, this packaging tape also communicates complexity and simplicity. This packaging tape is an extra special touch to the whole design series for Expo 2005 Aichi.

Nagi Noda

2006-04-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

Nagi Noda is a artist/designer/director from Japan. Her world of creativity is both whimsical and strange. Her work "offers a twist" on the Japanese fascination with "kawaii," or cuteness. Nagi Noda says, "A lot of people call my work 'kowa kawaii.' It means cute, but a little bit weird. But I can make lots of styles: kowa kawaii, just kawaii, beautiful kawaii, fashion kawaii..." Among other things, Nagi Noda has designed stuffed animals, book jackets, and shopping bags. She is known for her line of half-panda creatures, called Hanpanda. Hanpanda is so cute!! but when several life-size Hanpandas are dancing around with eachother in a sake (japanese alcohol) commercial, these extremely cute Hanpandas create an unusual disturbing atmosphere.

Through her own company, Uchu Country, she has directed short films and commercials for companies such as Nike and Laforet. the "fashion-forward" shopping mall in Japan's Harajuku district. I found her work for Laforet to be really interesting. In these sequence of posters, Noda gives the viewer a glimpse into bizarre and otherworldly scenarios. These posters immediately capture my attention, and their strange, open-ended scenes, draw the viewer in to get lost in both Nagi Noda's and your own imagination.

I also found her exercise video piece to be interesting. It consists of poodles doing aerobics led by a poodle-like human instructor. At first glance, the video just seems to be a poor attempt to create a fun exercise video for children, but then you take a second look and you see that the lady instructor has bulges under her skin on her arms and legs which match the bulges of hair on the poodles. Im not sure if it holds any deep meaning, but it sure entertains my mind and its really funny in an unusual way.

The concepts and humor in Nagi Noda's works are a mixture of the simplicity and innocence that we had when we were kids, and the darkness and maturity of the adult world. Her work is described as "fresh and unexpected, and her execution is organic, which makes it more emotional. She doesn't rely on heavy post effects to get her point across."

Yoshitomo Nara

2006-03-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Yoshitomo Nara is one of my favorite artists. He is best known for his unusually cute childlike forms. Nara once said, "I want people to feel the commotion beneath the surface of my pictures." His artwork really comes alive, especially in his illustrations which display his spontaneous use of his materials, such as pen, colored pencil, crayon, and watercolor.

I am really attracted to Nara's unrestrained technique and simplicity of his forms and colors. Im especially attracted to his unique delicate sense of color, texture, and lines, which give his artwork a non-threatening, non-aggressive first impression, but as take a closer look, you see a darker, more serious side to the images.

Yoshitomo Nara's art is often described as being in the style of "Hetauma," which is a graphic design trend translated as "Clumsy Skill." It refers to his "imperfect" forms and spontaneous use of lines, words and colors. Relating to graphic design, much of Nara's work includes text to convey a message. Nara's cute images, which often posess unexpected objects such as knives, matches, and cigarettes, include "scrawled exclamations" like "I'm Waiting Forever?" and "Fuck the Rotton World!" or more exclusive phrases such as "On the World in the Red Zone" and "Flying Nun." In some of his other drawings, empty cartoon bubbles suggest emotions that defy words. In these drawings, the narrowing of an eye, a tilted chin, or a curve of the lips can speak volumes instead. Yoshitomo Nara's artwork may seem cute and superficial at first, but you will soon discover the depth of emotions and important communication beneath the surface.

The Grand Hotel brochure

2006-03-13T23:38:00.000-08:00

I found this interesting hotel brochure in the April 2006 HOW magazine. This brochure is entitled "The Grand Directory," and it was designed for a tiny hotel at the edge of Africa called "The Grand Hotel." It does not look like the typical hotel brochure, I didnt even know it was a brochure until I read the article about it. The cover looks like it could be a front page of a sophisticated newsletter and the inside pages look like they could be the pages of a menu for a high class restaurant. When Lisa Greenberg, the art director for this project, described The Grand Hotel she said, "If you can imagine, its a mix between a monastery and a brothel. It's like no other hotel, so we didn't want the brochure to be anything like those glossy, spot-varnished, high-end hotel brochures out there. This is a rare jewel of a place, ripe with character and truly original like the owner."

This brochure really captures the unique spirit of this "unusual getaway." First of all the designers chose to juxtapose elegant typography with newsprint. This entire brochure is printed on newsprint to create a welcoming, familiar feeling to the viewer. The typefaces that they chose to use were Mrs. Eaves, Dalliance, and Hoefler. The combination of these three typefaces create a sophisticated look "reminiscent of a lost era." As for the text, the cover consists of the story about the history of this hotel, which was created by Gail Behr who created this hotel in response to the loneliness he felt when checking into most hotels. The inside of the brochure consists of a "Grand Directory" in which they came up with a surprising way to give information about their accommodations through a horoscope section. They list the horoscopes and describe which of the hotel's eight rooms would be most suitable for a person depending on their horoscope. i thought this was such a creative and unexpecting way to present information.

What do you think??

2006-03-06T23:41:00.000-08:00

I have recently been looking through some illustration books and there are some things that I find beautiful and fascinating, but there are some other things that I do not quite understand. Im sure that you have seen the type of drawings that look like it took a few seconds to draw or they look like a child could have drawn it. They consist of simplistic lines and shapes, awkward and imperfect forms, and a quick doodling quality. I find some of these sort of drawings to be interesting, but there are some that are just beyond me. What makes these drawings so great?? Anyone could have drawn these.

I found these images in a book called Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing, which is a well-respected art book, so I question why some artwork was important enough to be put into this book. These first set of drawings are done my Anne-Marie Schneider. I was attracted to some of her drawings, such as the top image (Untitled) because of its mysterious form and swashes of color, and the middle image entitled "Nos villes closes comme des oeufs (Our cities are as Closed as Eggs)" because of its simplistic way of making a statement. However, I am not too sure of the importance in the third and forth images. Where is the line drawn between "good" art and images that are just ridiculous? Anne-Marie Schneider says that drawing for her is like writing a journal entry everyday. She says, "It keeps me from writing only with words; these are daily images." But even with this said, I am still unsure as to the significance of the third and forth images.

The second set of images, which are also from the Vitamin D book, are done by David Shrigley. His artwork is described to have a "seemingly childlike, "artless" style. I was immediately attracted to some of his drawings such as the first and second images but Im not too sure why I find them interesting. Maybe because of his unusual human forms and imaginative quality. However, I question the significance of the third and forth images. Shrigley says, "I deliberately try to make my work as intuitive as possible, so in a sense it's about everything and nothing."

I think people may be attracted to this type of art because it is very imaginative. They are drawings that the artist first visualizes in their minds, then lets the image from their mind flow out of their hand through a pencil and on to paper. Thats why the images often seem distorted, bizarre, abstract, which makes them interesting. HOWEVER, Im still confused on some images like the ones i mentioned above. What do you think?

http://www.friendswithyou.com/gallery2/

2006-02-27T23:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.friendswithyou.com/gallery2/

I really enjoy the imaginative style of the artwork in this website. It includes the artwork of various artists who all seem to be designing around the idea of childhood dreams and imagination, and how although they are filled with seemingly harmless and non-agressive images, there is a subtle underlying feeling of something disturbing or bizarre. I'm not sure if you get the same feeling, but it is kind of like the feeling you get when you look at little girls' dolls or when you go on a ride at Disneyland, such as "Peter Pan's Adventure" or "Alice in Wonderland," and you get kind of a creepy feeling. As a child, I never felt that creepy feeling, it was only when I got older that I began to look at these images differently. These artists are creating child-like materials for an adult audience. When you first look at their plush animals, books, short movies, etc, you automatically think that they are for a child audience, but then you look closer and realize that they do not all exactly function as children's toys, or at least not your typical child's toys. For example, one plush animal has unusually long arms, too long to be a cuddly child's stuffed animal, and another plush animal's feet are all attached by velcro so they can all be pulled off then put back on again. These artists are evoking an interesting feeling of "its so cute!!" (first thought), then "something about this seems very strange" (second thought).

I found this book to be very interesting. As you see, the outside cover is a cute little baby, and inside the book are pages of seperate compositions of the babie's dreams. Some dreams are pleasant and serene, and others look like monsters. The all create a similar feeling to the one I described above.

If you visit this website, these are my favorite categories that you can check out: "Uzumaki," "Toys," and "Book Friend"

Jonathan Barnbrook: Roppongi Hills typeface

2006-02-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

In typography 266, I had Jonathan Barnbrook's typface, Mason, as my subject for our typography poster project. Through researching about Jonathan Barnbrook's Mason typeface, I came across another typeface of his that really caught my interest. It looked strange and nothing like any typeface that I had seen before. I wasn't sure if i liked it or not, I just found it interesting. However, after looking more carefully at the typeface, I have come to really like it. It is the "Roppongi Hills" typeface which Jonathan Barnbrook created for the Roppongi Hills Company. Roppongi is a city in Japan that is infamous for its eccentric, bizarre, shocking styles and way of living. It is filled with prostitution, drugs, etc. It is known as the place where "all your fantasies come true." When I think of Roppongi, I think of a sleazy, dark underworld.

When I saw this "Roppongi Hills" typeface, I was surprised to see that a typeface for a company in Roppongi looked quite classy and clean with calm light blue and soft brown colors, yet it still gave a subtle feeling of something eccentric and never seen before. In this typeface, Jonathan Barnbrook demonstrates well that a classy and sophisticated typeface can be created for something that seems so unclassy and unsophisticated. The Roppongi Hills company has something to do with bringing in money to Roppongi through legal and professional methods, such as through tours and advertising their art museums and other attractions, so this typeface is perfect for their company.

Another layer to this typeface is the meaning behind the six circles that serve as the most dominant typographical element in this typeface. First of all, Roppongi is translated as "six trees." Then, in a traditional Japanese manner of creating letters/characters, the six trees are looked at literally and then transformed into symbols that represent the trees. Jonathan Barnbrook took these six "trees" and incorporated them into the type, and it fits perfectly! Then he created two main logos and four sub-logos around these six circles.

These are banners that Jonathan Barnbrook created with the Roppongi Hills typeface.

Sanrio

2006-02-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, it is my dream to work at the Sanrio Headquarters in San Francisco :) It might sound silly, but I can't completely explain or express my strong attraction for Sanrio design. Everytime I walk into the store, I want everything even if I dont need it. Why am I so deeply attracted to something that is so bluntly cute and happy? As I have been learning more about what is good design, I begin to question myself what exactly I love so much about Sanrio. I remember Lee saying that design that just looks nice is meaningless, design has to communicate something to the viewer. So in this blog I will try to explain what it is about Sanrio that captivates me.

Where should I begin?? Well, first of all, like I said in my Qoo blog, "I really enjoy the playful and imaginative designs of this product. From the bright, bold colors to the thickness of lines, Qoo is a perfect balance between cute and sophisticated. At first glance, Qoo designs may seem childish, however, if you take time to explore their websites and look closely at their products, you will begin to notice the intricate details that make this product full of little surprises." This is the same way I feel about Sanrio, but Sanrio takes it to a whole other level. Sanrio consists of dozens of characters, each complete with their own name, biography, birthday, and family/friends (who also are named). For example, this is "Pandapple's" biography:

"Pandapple is a panda boy who loves apples! You will always find him wearing his trademark apple hat, he loves sitting on his favorite apple chair and he is very proud of his bright red apple house! Pandapple and his twin sister were born in Shanghai, China but he then moved to a big fruit farm in Southern California. Here he spends his time playing with his caterpillar best friend, Imomushi, munching away on yummy fresh apples and collecting all sorts of apple goods. Born on June 2, Pandapple is cheerful, sweet and sometimes a bit mischievious. His dream is to one day enter the Guiness Book of World Records for growing the biggest apple in the world! Pandapple - he’s cute to the core!"

When I was in elementary school, I would always draw the Sanrio characters that liked. You would think that the simplicity of the Sanrio characters would be easy to replicate, and it is to an extent, but it is extremely difficult to capture the exact amount of cuteness that the Sanrio characters have. As a young child, I never really thought or cared about that, but in recent years I have realized that you can draw them over and over and never be able to quite get the same captivating effect of the Sanrio characters. Through looking really closely at Sanrio design and trying to reproduce their captivating effect, I think I might have an idea of what the secret is!! Its all about the proportions in the face. If the eyes are too close/far or too big/small, then it just won't work. With this in mind, I have been able to improve on my drawings and hopefully be on my way of perfecting the Sanrio effect in my own creations.

Another aspect to Sanrio that amazes me is their product lines. They have every product that you could possibly imagine, from stationary to toasters, surfboards, food products, clothing, digital cameras, fingernail clippers, hair flat irons, bed sheets, etc!! Each is designed specifically with the Sanrio style. In addition to this, their products are well made and actually function as sophisticated products for a mature consumer. Their wide variety of products makes Sanrio appropriate and attractive for a diverse audience. Also, Sanrio sells exclusve designs in their stores around the world. They have a Hawaiian line thats only sold in hawaii, a Japan line thats only sold in Japan, etc. Along with their enchanting design, they have an ingenious marketing strategy. They even have a Sanrio Land in Japan that is as equally elaborate and sensational as Disneyland.

Basically Sanrio has found a way to perfectly balance cute and sophisticated. Sanrio has become such a large and powerful company with such cute and passive "friends."

Lizzie Finn (Area, pgs 112-115)

2006-02-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Most designers today, including Lizzie Finn, do not work without a computer. However, the computer is one of the last tools that Lizzie Finn uses in her process of designing. She always begins with pencil and paper, then she moves on to using needle, thread, and sewing machine to incorporate her love for traditional household crafts. She has always had a passion for sewing, but she was "further inspired by 1970s feminists who adopted domestic stitching in their protest signs for equal rights."

In 2000, Finn designed a CD cover for a British band called Moloko (the first square is the CD cover that I am talking about, the other two are CD covers for promotional singles). The cover portrayed a colorful bunch of hand stitched animal rag dolls. The title was "Things to Make and Do." The band loved Finn's surprisingly appealing design and title. Inside the CD booklet, Finn included instructions for making your own hand stitched rag doll. These simple do-it-yourself instructions added a special touch to the presentation of the CD. It created another level of interaction between the viewer and the artist. It also created another purpose for this product; it not only provides you music from the musical artist, it also provides you with a surprising interaction with the graphic artist. "Things to make and do" became Finn's working philosophy.

I also found this second piece to be interesting. It is a magazine spread that she designed for a UK fashion brand. On the left, Finn's original artwork for this piece is depicted. It shows a wrinkled piece of cloth or paper with text and images that are stitched on it with black thread. Her sewing technique adds a unique quality to the design and is appropriate for the attitude of the company. If the same had been done on a computer, the whole feeling would have been completely different, and probably not as appropriate/effective. The actual magazine spread is depicted on the right. Although it is not the original, the qualities and texture of the original stitched piece still carries through.

Lizzie Finn's artwork reminds us that there is so much more to design than what we can do on the computer. The computer is an extremely valuable and important tool, but we should not rely on it completely. In our high-technology world today we tend to overlook the possibilities of using non-technology techniques in our design processes, but we need to remember that although the computer seems to enable us to do "everything" and "anything," some things just can't be done on the computer and can only be achieved through traditional techniques.

Juli Gudehus: Mindestens Haltbar bis 31.12.99

2006-01-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

(Area book, pg. 131)

Mindestens Haltbar bis 31.12.99 is translated as "Best Before 12/31/99." It is a calendar designed by Juli Gudehus in which she uses nothing but photographs of expiration dates from food products to represent the date for each day. The printing techniques of the expiration dates range from embossed, debossed, stamped, letterpressed, flexi-printed, and ink-jetted. The viewer is able to see a wide variety of colors, textures, and typography that are combined differently within each card. This reminds me of the typeface journals that we made in 200 level typography.

Gudehus photographs seem quickly and randomly taken, however, she takes great consideration in making sure that the expiration date is the main focus while still giving the viewer enough information to guess what the food product is.

The presentation of the calendar adds another level to the design. Each date is printed on its own card, and all the cards are combined into a deck of cards which are then placed onto a green styrofoam food tray and then shrinkwrapped. Not only is this calendar fun to look at, it is fun to hold in your hands and flip through the deck of cards. It is kind of like a guessing game for the viewer. This interaction is what sets this calendar apart from ordinary calendars. It serves as more than a calendar, so after the year is over, you will most likely not throw it away.

Qoo

2006-01-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

www.qoo.com.sg/
(english website)

www.qoo.com.hk/
(japanese website)

"Qoo" is a popular drink from the Coca Cola Company which was introduced in Japan in 1999. It is now available in most of Asia and in Germany. "Qoo" is pronounced "koo," which is what the mascot always says after it takes a drink of Qoo.

I really enjoy the playful and imaginative designs of this product. From the bright, bold colors and thickness of lines to the soft, hand drawn typefaces, Qoo is a perfect balance between cute and sophisticated. At first glance, Qoo designs may seem childish, however, if you take time to explore their websites and look closely at their labels, you will begin to notice the intricate details that make this product full of little surprises.

I especially like their interactive websites. They are designed to be like mini "Qoo communities." In the English website, you can go to the "Qoo mall" and shop for Qoo products, go to the "Qoo Entertainment Center" and play games, etc. And if you look closely at the building with the clock on it, you will notice that it is an actual working clock with the correct time on it (I'm assuming that it adjusts to whichever time zone you are in too). In the Japanese website, you can make the Qoo mascot icon walk around and visit the various categories. In both these websites, the environment changes according to the time of day it is. During the day, the sun is shining and during the night, the stars and moon come out. All these little details keep you interested and make you want to keep searching for what else there might be.

As for their products, rather than just putting their company logo on their products, Qoo labels often consist of mini illustrated scenes which are designed with a particular flavor in mind. So each flavor has a differently designed label. Also, they make multiple designs for flavors and are frequently coming out with new designs, so it is likely that you will get a different Qoo can depending on when and where you buy it. I also like the design of their drink container. It looks like a cross between a soda can and a bottle.

*See Qoo dance! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1047052613450433741

2006-01-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

Radical Type Design (pgs. 37-38)
David Carson

When I think of David Carson, I think of very loose, abstract, and sometimes "illegible" designs. However, his Table of Contents designs from Surfer magazine (pg. 37) and Speak magazine (pg. 38) are different from the other David Carson designs that I have seen. I like these better. In these table of contents designs, Carson still sticks to his "experimental design" qualities, but he organizes the type into a orderly, legible pattern.

David Carson's table of contents designs go beyond its purpose. It is an artwork in itself. Through the contents pages, he is able to convey the attitude of the company which he is doing the work for.

"the table of contents should get somebody intrigued and in a way excited about what is to come- and, to not give it all away. Equally, to not allow them to simply read through the entire contents page." -David Carson

"It is more of a teaser than a road map" -David Carson