curly wurly

http://www.inkymole.com

I came across the work of Sarah J Coleman in the June 09 issue of Creative Review. Her work is beautiful and fun, there's a joyful component thats bright and colourful. I can take alot from her work in that she combines her own typography, copy and illustrations in complete design finishes.

Her work includes advertising, package design, book cover designs and cd artwork, alongisde print work publication ... she truly is a diverse graphic designer. I like that you have to work at deciphering what some of her work is, working out what the typography says is part of discovering the design. The smooth curves and flowing nature of her pieces reminds me of a natural environment, similar to the intertwining branches of a tree and embellished flowers in the small details. Coleman tends to use solid colour rather than texture although I feel this is integral to her playful style.

A Series....

Of Unfortunate Events are a series of 12 children's books written by Lemony Snickett. They centre around the ' unfortunate events' that occur for the Baudelaire siblings in an incredibly dreary and dull world.

I feel here that Lemony Snickett has got it 100% right in every element of his work; literature, film, web design, illustration and overall representation of his own character as the writer. There is fantasy in the way he writes and also as the writer where he has developed his own character to be intertwined amongst the stories. As sad as it sounds, I frequently find myself on the website, to see what's new and to take in any additional material posted there. Snickett has adopted a fearful, nervous concept where he warns his readers that his stories will not make you happy but rather sad instead. I find it interesting that such negative literature can entice children so well, there is a great deal of sorrow in the stories where the characters try to overcome the terrible situations they are in.

The books are illustrated by Brett Helquist, who has a distinct pencilled illustrative style. I love his beautifully intricate work which seems to work entirely in sync with the concept.. the website has a whole section on Helquist.

This series was recently made into a film, where all twelve were condensed into one movie featuring Jim Carrey. Directed by Brad Silberling, the movie captures the style perfectly with its own eccentric influence. I like that you can't tell what time it is set in as there are many contradictions in place to throw you off a bit, for example the characters are dressed in victorian dress yet there are many mod-cons used in the set design etc. - this makes it truly imaginative.



http://www.countolaf.com/ an AMAZING website displaying the character Count Olaf; fully interactive and engaging.

http://www.lemonysnicket.com/ captures the whole concept, every detail considered.

Beevering : We ONLY care about hair

Beever is a new brand of hair styling products.



Where their website treatment is really effective, I feel the concept for their print work isn't so.

The website is interactive, interesting and eclectic with lots of details in non-linking objects in the visuals. I really like the room setting featured on the homepage, however when you move around the site it can become quite annoying having to wait for each page to load. I also quite like the personable tone of voice used across the brand campaign, it speaks to you as a mate offering advice - its cheeky and honest, its 'jack the lad' talking to you.

Whilst I like the visual element of the ads, especially the mixed media cut out graphics, I think the statements made in the copy are a bit weak. Their tag line, 'we only care about hair' is reiterated in the copy in that the moral aspect concerning animal testing is joked about.. I just don't find them funny or humorous because they are a bit near the mark on an extremely touchy subject. Yet I can see that the target audience, namely young(ish) males who take pride in their hair, would appreciate this form of humour.

http://www.beever.co.uk/

Trof

Trof : a collection of independent bars and restaurants in Manchester

In terms of quirky illustrative design, Trof has developed a representative tone-of-voice for which to use in their webdesign, interior design of their premises and menu/product design. It creates an impression of the kind of people who run Trof, who go to Trof and also invites a certain target market of like-minded people who appreciate the style implemented across all aspects of the business. Trof has commissioned several freelance illustrators across several projects in each of the three venues which allows diversity of original design.

www.trof.co.uk

http://www.thedeafinstitute.co.uk/

<3 Tim

without doubt one of the greatest directors and artists there is (in my opinion...)

a fountain of inspiration, imagination and originality

timburton.com

Su Blackwell : Paper Art

Su Blackwell creates art from the pages of books, effectively lifting the stories from out of the text into delicate, three dimensional scenes. I find her work inspirational and magical in that the scenes she creates from the paper alone are incredibly ornate and stylised - I feel that you can easily distinguish which book she is describing in the designs because she chooses such emotive and natural stories for which to tell in her pieces. She describes this on her website; "It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released." This concept has made an impression on me in that she is reworking something that is somewhat redundant and life-less on the outside, and releasing what is inside to visually reanimate the story.

www.sublackwell.co.uk