Sarah ESTEJE

© Sarah ESTEJE

On november 22d, I went to "les puces de l'illustration", an event at "La fonderie de l'image" in Bagnolet.It is one of those rare events not to be missed, where you meet and see many young and talented illustrators. Sarah ESTEJE caught my eye in particular. After majoring in photography at the school "les gobelins", she started drawing again with a ball point pen. Her work is so incredibly realistic that you could almost think her drawings are photographs. Two things struck me. First, how she packaged her postcards with but of course, a BIC ball point pen! The second, was she was so humble saying that when she was a student, she wasn't that good at drawing!!!! You've got to be kidding!!! Which pretty much goes to prove that you can learn if you put your mind to it, meaning if you put all your attention and efforts to learn!!!  

http://abadidabou.com

Type Connection

Aura Seltzer created  "Type Connection", a wonderful online game that teaches you how to pair typefaces, like a dating game!!! Users are the matchmakers. Since most student have trouble with that, I thought this might come in handy!

http://www.auraseltzer.com

Genis Carreras

© Genis Carreras

Genis Carreras, is a london based graphic designer, born in 1987 in Catalonia.
Check out his book: "Philographics" (big ideas in simple shapes).
The idea of translating difficult and complex philosophical questions with the simplest shapes possible, is so very clever. "Bravo"!

www.geniscarreras.com

François Avril

© François Avril


If you have a chance, go see François Avril's exhibit "KUNSTRUCTION" at La Galerie Huberty Breyne, 91 rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris.
It is open from 11AM to 7PM wednesday, thursday, friday, and saturday until october 11th 2014.
His line work is absolutely superb and his city and landscapes superb. He has a knack for simplifying with elegance and sensitivity, whatever the medium. 

http://www.francoisavril.com
http://lespassantsdavril.blogspot.fr
www.hubertybreyne.com

Typendium

Oh gosh it's been donkey's years since I posted anything; I hardly remember how to post an article!!! Oh well

So here goes: just downloaded a new free app on my iPhone called "Typendium" by William Robinson. It has interesting info for you to read about the history a several typefaces and interesting links and references. See for yourselves.

Crazy ones

It's back to school time and I believe that this is the perfect way to start it.

Here is the "Think different" speech by Steve Jobs posted on april 21st 2013, on the marketing and values website, which you can either read or watch by clicking on the following links.

So as "Nike" says it so well: "JUST DO IT!" and read or watch or both. It's an order!!!

http://marketingandvalues.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCwRdbwNQY

Aude Goalec & Nicole Jacobs

© Aude Goalec & Nicole Jacobs Aude Goalec & Nicole Jacobs are two self-taught artists and also sisters  who have been making among other animals, paper maché hens like this one,  for years. Aren't they great? What a nice use of typography! If you missed them,  place Saint-Sulpice in the heart of Paris, this past week-end... no problem, check  their blog to see where and when they will be showing their work in the near future. www.nicoleetaude.com http://nicoleetaude.over-blog.com

Scott Blake

© Scott Blake

Oh dear, it's been donkey's years since I last posted a message hasn't it? So here goes.
Is this Pop art or Op art? No neither or perhaps yes, both at the same time! Actually, it's Bar Code Art by Scott Blake, an american artist from Omaha. Barcodes come in different shades of grey, so that he uses them like pixels on a grid. What is really amazing is that he pushes the concept so as to use only barcodes related to the subject matter, which you realize when you scan them, thus making the work interactive. That's truly something!

http://www.barcodeart.com

Happy New Year

© Nelly Charbonneaux

Ten Dollar Fonts

© Ten Dollar Fonts


"Ten Dollar Fonts" is the name of a group of designers from around the world that does exactly that; sell fonts for ten dollars. What you may not know is that their experimental fonts are absolutely stunning!"WOW!" is right!

http://www.tendollarfonts.com

Shirotokuro

© Shirotokuro

Shiroi means white in Japanese and kuroi means black, so literally it means white and black not black and white!  Here is a very nice curated gallery of different forms of design all in B&W. Although color is an important element of design, I always think that it is best to think first without. If a design is to work it should first work in black and white otherwise if it doesn't, adding color won't help.

http://shirotokuro.com

Julien Priez

© Julien Priez

 Julien Priez finished his studies at l'Ecole Supérieure Estienne in Paris,  with more than deserved honors in june 2010. His resumé is already very impressive, and it's obviously just the beginning. As he says it so well, you had better know the rules before you start breaking them! This is definitely a "must-see" designer.

http://www.julienpriez.com
http://en.etapes.com/julien-priez

Links

Following are some very interesting typography links (in french or english) that you may want to check out! 

http://mashable.com/2011/12/08/typeface-font-history-infographic/
http://www.theoriedesigngraphique.org
http://www.typeworkshop.com/index.php?id1=type-basics&id2=&id3=&id4=&id5=&idpic=01#pictloader 
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/quick-guide-to-typography-learn-and-be-inspired/
http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/index.php 
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/typography-articles/a-beginners-guide-to-pairing-fonts/ 
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/ 
http://weddingphotography.com.ph/7427/guide-typefaces-life-quotes-creative-typography/
http://ruskhasanov.com/8719/395861/home/liquid-calligraphy
http://letyposcope.wordpress.com/ 
http://opentype.info/blog/ 
http://www.colourlovers.com/web/blog/2012/02/16/bold-justified-the-huge-world-of-typography-infographic
http://www.100besttypefaces.com/
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/
http://www.typographicposters.com/
http://typographyshop.com/ 

Les Puces

© Nelly Charbonneaux

These two pictures were taken somewhere in the Paris flea market porte de Clignancourt. They both look like art work, but actually the left one is a detail of a rusted pillar (not a painting!), and the one the right is a bunch of old stacked radiators (not a sculpture!). They both have someything in common. First the color harmony, and second something random about them. Nature and weather did their work on the first and some employees of the antique dealer must have stacked the radiators as well as possible, not thinking about making a work of art. My point is there is something about random accidents which can be most interesting in art and also design.

Le Bon Marché

Last month there was a very interesting exhibit at "Le Bon Marché", actually 2! The first was on Aristide Boucicaut who created what is considered the first department store 160 years ago. The second exhibit above, showed 160 years of graphic design done for the store, which I would say was characterized by amazing creativity and variety. Click to blow up!
Uh Oh... just checked and saw that the picture above was ridiculously tiny, sorry about that!
You can always drag the document on your desktop then click on cmd and + until it is big enough to see in detail.

A quote by Seymour Chwast

Oh my it's been donkey's years as they say in Great Britain!!!
Nothing to see today, but a quote to meditate from one of my favourite designers!

"If you dig a hole and it's in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn't going to help." (Seymour Chwast)

Emotions

© Nelly Charbonneaux

As it's been raining a lot lately, I noticed the gutter in front of my house was clogged; so I went upstairs to see what to do about it and this what I found! I usually don't post ugly things but this is the most disgusting thing I ever saw and wanted to share it with you! Yes this is a child's teddy bear! How it got up there, I do not know. Heavens! What I do know however is that usually such toys are cute, soft, and cuddly, which makes this one, that much more horrible. Communicating visually includes striking the viewers' emotions.

Mark Laita

© Mark Laita

Mark Laita is a commercial photographer originally from Detroit, who is based in L.A. His work is both straightforward and witty. His animals caught my eye, and when I saw these snakes posing in the most calligraphic positions I thought, "Oh! I absolutely have to show you these!" Look at the way they draw their beautiful curves like chinese and japanese calligraphers; truly wonderful!

http://marklaita.com/serpentine.html

http://www.marklaita.com

Nancy Fouts

© Nancy Fouts

Nancy Fouts is an American born-London based fine artist. Her visual puns are both whimsical and unexpected. She is a self-proclaimed hoarder, and her work reminds me of surrealists like Dali and his lobster telephone! You might think the recipe is easy, but it simply isn't! She really has a knack for marrying unrelated, ordinary objects. Absolutely astonishing!

http://www.nancyfouts.com

Why your passion is not enough

"Passion lights the spark; it's what keeps you going when times get hard but in the end of the day it's your skills, ideas, hard work and commitment that make you successful." says Maggie Doyne, a young extraordinary woman who got envolved in an incredible humanitarian project in Nepal. It's not often that I find something to post that has nothing to do with design and yet...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-elliott/why-your-passion-is-not-e_b_1256424.html

http://blinknow.org

... something else I'd like to quote from the article: "Starting small is surely no barrier to progressing professionally." Sound advice! Click on the first link to read the article that made me want to know more.