Having classic children’s tales as the subject matter, these posters lend themselves to a great exploration in typography, whether that typography has depth or computer generated textural notes to it, or whether it has been hand-rendered, each title is unique and specific to its subject matter.

The great use of background choices help solidly the concepts as do the unique and unconventional approach to cropping, whether it is an image or the title itself.  The non-standard size, a very long and slender format, helps to create a unique series here.

Great job over in Mesa, guys!  Keep up the award-winning work!

Highly imaginative and highly creative ad solutions.  Great job Yellow Shoes!

The reality is that there were only two that I felt were worth blogging about here, and in this case not because of design execution, but a creative concept and a strong design decision.

Blink

Now, why the main poster for this movie, about a blind lady who finds herself wrapped up in a plot of suspense, was pretty good, it was its advance teaser poster that I think is worth mentioning.  Here, concept is king. The poster is of a very familiar image, one that seems natural for us to see on a wall or marquee, but natural common enough that we stop to ponder why it is there or what it has to say.  The movie says everything, but nothing too literal.  A really creative concept to introduce the movie to its soon-to-be audience.

Forrest Gump

Yes, you may be saying “why?!”.  But here is a great example of how important every decision is in design execution.

The poster seems simply enough.  The very famous park bench with Forrest sitting on it… which becomes the context for the whole narration of the movie.  And type.  Simple lead-in copy.  The iconic actor’s name and the title of the film.

Now what I want to point out is that by not centering the text, but pushing it far to the right of the character, creates a huge amount of negative space that not only adds an asymmetrical layout, but there is concept to that negative space, as they have positioned the character of Forrest Gump in such a way that he is looking at that immense space that helps convey the wonderment, imagination, and innocence of the character.  It conveys his optimism, and also draws us in to wonder what he is thinking… Much of this concept would have been lost if the art director had simply instructed the designer to center the text over the image.  Great design is in the details.

Funny to think that was almost 20 years ago and where things have gone regarding design principles.

1993 didn’t have too bad of a crop of posters, with a just a few that are worth mentioning that push the envelope just a bit more with regards to visual direction, concept, or layout.

King of The Hill

I am going to start off the batch with my favorite of that particular year.  The first thing you will notice is that while designers were starting to move away from the day-glow color palette of the previous decade, the designer of this poster chose colors that were VERY forward-thinking.  Their beautiful low-saturated color scheme is surprisingly what has been “IN” and trendy of the last 4 or 5 years.  The beautiful vignetted tan for the background (whereas someone else might have just used white) gives this poster a richness to behold.

The typography is wonderfully mastered to not sit on any grid register and dances down the layout, playfully drawing the eye and reader down to the title.  The concept of the poster is highlighted by the obscure image at the very top that first is what catches our eye and takes us down through the design.  Minimalistic and simple, this poster was very much a standout from the pack.

Crush

Yes, it is funny that I would proclaim the greatness of a poster for its color choice and than move onto a poster whose color pays homage to the previous day, but one can not deny that use of bold and vibrant color was masterfully used to gain attention to this poster.  Beautiful use of negative space, strong visual concept with the reflection in her glasses and the use of a non-digital type treatment for the title.

Deception

The strength of this poster’s design comes from its strong angled layout.  From the purposefully distorted image and strong, dagger-like swash of color behind the actress against the all black background, all of the text adhering to the diagonal is fantastic.  Even the great choice of tall slender type for the title (which also has been rendered with a concept) was great to help support a very visual “long” layout within the confines of the space.

Rising Sun

Great movie.  Great poster. What makes this poster so good is the intense symmetry of its layout – from the half profiles of its two iconic actors, to the strong mid-section that naturally draws your eye down to the title treatment, made even stronger by the high contrast of the amber lines, down to the urban landscape.  One can not deny the strength and boldness of this design.

The Firm

I have always liked this poster for two reasons.  I love the dark, color duotone palette used.  It is rich, dark and mysterious.  It plays on the audience draw of its lead actor, but isn’t done overly pretentious.  More importantly, the design convention of the strong diagonal line that at first glance the eye wants to decipher it as his tie, but upon closer inspection it is revealed as a shadow.  The purpose of this design element is obvious… to draw the eye into the visage of the face to be taken inward in the design to reveal an inner scene that helps support the dark, ominous mood the rest of the poster conveys.  Nice job!

Needless to say, I finally got around to getting Limbo, and first independent game from Playdead Studios from Copenhagen.  Release in 2011, this game is a well polished side-scrolling platform game that is more about situational puzzle-solving. But what Limbo does differently from all of the other is keep it simple. So simple that there is no tutorial.  There are no instructions.  You are just a small boy that awakens in the forest and you are trying to find your way out.  There is a story, but it slowly evolves.

But by keeping the mechanics simple, it allows the developers to amaze you with the sounds of the game, the visual aura and beautifully haunting surroundings.  The entire game has a monochromatic look to it with a fuzzy, murky feeling to it that just is astounding and makes you want to just keep continuing in the game.

Much of the puzzles are trial and error, but the game is very forgiving and you return just at the point of the next obstacle to try again. Mind you that the “deaths” of trial and error are not childish, but rather violent, but done in a way that isn’t necessarily for mature audiences…. but this is no Mario-Kart, that is for sure.

The game itself lasts about 5-6 continuous hours, which by most accounts would be considered a short game and would turn away many gamers.  However its list price of $9.99 – $14.99 makes a priced just right and I would rather play a short game of such tremendous value and production value, than play through a game that is much longer but just mediocre or the same as so many other games out there.

Whether you play the game on a Macintosh, PC, Xbox, or Playstation, go and download this game.  Now.  Without question.  There is a reason that this game won over 90 gaming awards last year.  It is that good.

View the Trailer

Today’s showcasing is something rather unique in my book.  How do you envision a new, creative way of inviting people to your upcoming wedding.  Usually wedding invites are elegant forms of paper, perhaps embossings, and are fairly minimalistic in their design approach.  You say the date, the time, the location and the RSVP info.

What if you wanted to give full details about the upcoming event, including the dinner menu? What if you wanted to include some bio information on the background of the so-to-be married couple regarding how they met and eventually decided to tie the knot?  What if you are a pair of goof-balls with a great sense of humor and want to do something very untraditional?

Well that is exactly what couple Steve and Jacqs decided to do when they partnered with web designer Stephen Oldham to come up with a fun, and quirky website to promote their wedding.

With a distinct eye for vintage typography and a homage to copy layout of the late 1800′s and some fun jQuery ScrollTo functionality for the website navigation, the couple and Stephen created a fantastically whimsical online communication.  From their back-story, to the directions, the wit and humor and inside jokes (only for family and dear friends to get I assume) the site is as fun to read and explore (be sure to roll over the pair of silhouette heads), the site is such a refreshing way of getting the info out there.  Obviously not for the stranger (They don’t even list their last names anywhere), this site was a fun project for those closest to the couple and who already know them, yet they take an approach that assumes complete strangers like myself (and very soon YOU) will peruse their site and be left wanting to know more about this couple, if not want to crash their wedding, which would, I’m sure, have been just as fun and inventive.

Hats off guys!  I know by now the date has come and gone and I wish you both very many happy years ahead!  Let’s hope they decided to do a website devoted to a baby announcement in the near future!….

Visit the website here:

www.steveandjacqs.com

The best part?  The deck only costs $6.95, so go and order yours today.  I may have to buy two decks; one to play with and one to gaze at in its pristine condition.  Wow!

The most troubling thing is, I have tried but can’t track down the talent behind this awesome painting.  If anyone stumbles across this, contact me and I will give them credit where credit is most certainly due.

I love the thought of a shark lurking in the murky depths of the ocean.  But to take that concept and render it as a coalition of murky ink and fluid watercolor to depict this very disturbing image of the predator and the hunted was sheer brilliance.  My creative hats off to whomever you are out there. Keep up the great work!

I am talking about the new, up-and-coming illustrator out of Berlin, Germany: 21 year-old Niklas Coskan.  Also know as the Dee Dee Kid, this youngster is proving himself a force to be reckoned with.

From his fabulous use of thick-and-thin ink lines, great vintage low-saturated color palette, and interesting compositions that have their own innate movement and visual direction, Niklas’s style is anything but mundane and ordinary.  This illustrations have a natural look that lends itself well to letterpress printing, with its gritty grain and imperfections, and have a simple enough color palette that they could easily be reproduced in that manner or large on shirts.

His twisted, yet charming subjects have a bit of that “rat fink” style that was the signature of illustrator Ed Roth, yet Niklas has made it his own, rather than a deliberate copy.

Niklas shows that kind of raw talent at a young age where you know that given time to more completely hone his craft, he will be a dominating illustrating force in the design world in the coming decades.

Check out his full portfolio…

This brilliantly creative solution is simple in execution, tastefully done, and allows the consumer to participate in the idea by removing one of the tabs to keep his contact information, while ummm… circumcising the poster in the process.  Nothing like a cutting-edge design to get the point across (sorry for the pun)!