PEN Canada, for Freedom of Expression - freedom of expression, is something that most of us tend to take for granted (at least until we lose it), yet it's a central, and critically defining aspect of any functioning democracy, and certainly an elemental part of an individual's personal freedoms.

Pen Canada, is a remarkable resource, and one which both eloquently and sadly reminds us, of how precarious freedom of expression is, and how constantly under threat it remains worldwide. Remember Thoreau's dictum that "civil disobedience is civil defence" .. visit the site

Extended Evening Lab Hours

starting next week, until the end of the semester, the lab will be open

Monday 6-8
Wednesday 5-7
Thursday 4:30-6:30
Friday 4:30-6:30

groovy

the great web page debate of 2009 - recently, our
design students have commented on how poorly our web
site design compares with other, comparable colleges'
web sites. (especially Dawson's site above)

I'd like to know what you think .. , visit the sites linked
below, and consider the design and compare the sites.

Does each site design articulate the personality and values of the
representative institution in a creative, interesting and efficient
way ? If so how, and if not why ?

Consider the often "complicated" relationship between data
and design, between functionality and aesthetics.

It can be very difficult to find a balance between the two,
wherein both needs are met. Informatics, traditionally the
design and presentation of information, is an evolving practise,
which has become more and more commonly a part in a designers
sphere of activity.

Are some sites better than others ? If so, how ? What has the
designer done to ensure that the school is seen in its best
and most irresistible light ?

What needs to be done to improve the design ? Remember,
the designer, presumably, doesn't have a lot of time for upkeep,
or a big budget. It's probably a one person job, hampered by
the slow grinding glacial nature of committees.

That's the challenge, how do you work within those constraints ?
What advice or criticism would you give ? Hold your comments
until class please.

























http://www.cvm.qc.ca/Pages/index.aspx

http://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/

http://www.marianopolis.edu/

http://www.johnabbott.qc.ca/

http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/

have a good, safe holiday or I'll smack you. 

FYI ( courtesy of Sean Yendroid )
click it good !

Thursday's D1 class, here's a short listing of ( mostly graphic) designers for your blog to get you started, but remember that there are, thousands more out there. This design art thingy is strangely enough,  a world wide phenomenon, so do some research you monkeys, and explore a little.... extra marks for those adventurous souls who step off the beaten track .... If you see something you like, do it. 

This is an evolving project, I don't expect anything finished next class, but I do expect, at least, a preliminary phase, which illustrates progress towards a final project. 

If you are in Monday's class this notice doesn't effect you yet , but it will. But wait, until class for your questions etc.

http://www.davidcarsondesign.com/?dcdc=top/t

http://www.sagmeister.com/index.html

http://www.aiga.com

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-tiborkalman

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-saulbass

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-michaelbierut

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-alexeybrodovitch

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-gailanderson

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-seymourchwast

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-beafeitler

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-sheilalevrantdebretteville

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-ivanchermayeffandtomgeismar

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-aprilgreiman

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-paulascher

D2, vis a vis the movie Helvetica we were watching. I bring to your
attention an wonderful absurdity, situated clearly in the department
of "I have no idea why".

It seems that the Helvetica version of the moleskin notebook, the
notebooks are small, ubiquitous, and rather useful hardbound notebooks
found everywhere for around 20$.

It seems, inexplicably, that they've have become a real collectors item.
So much so, that there are, entire websites and exhibits devoted to its
celebration, the simple little tome, has become an object of desire, a
kind of Dita Von Tesse liber. The sites and it's acolytes, chronicle its
collection and undertake a weird kind of the cultural analysis of the little
red, but completely empty book.

Will we become a civilization of microscopic obssessors ? Soon to be
collecting sub-atomic particles. I imagine the owners walking them, in
little tartan sweaters on little diamond leashes. I mean the Moleskins
are nice and everything, but who collects an empty book ?

Jeez ... What does that say ?

D2, a digital layout system , pre-press, and then proofing the plating process,
then proofing the output, developing the inks etc. As it is .. certainly arduous, but
rewarding. The proofing, adjusting and failing, are all an essential part of creating,
nothing is finished the first time - not here, nor anywhere else.

Alvin Lustig's contributions to the design of books and book jackets, magazines, interiors, and textiles as well as his teachings would have made him a credible candidate for the AIGA Lifetime Achievement award when he was alive.

By the time he died at the age of forty in 1955, he had already introduced principles of Modern art to graphic design that have had a long-term influence on contemporary practice. He was in the vanguard of a relatively small group who fervently, indeed religiously, believed in the curative power of good design when applied to all aspects of American life.


He was a generalist, and yet in the specific media in which he excelled he established standards that are viable today. If one were to reconstruct, based on photographs, Lustig's 1949 exhibition at The Composing Room Gallery in New York, the exhibits on view and the installation would be remarkably fresh, particularly in terms of the current trends in art-based imagery.

Lustig created monuments of ingenuity and objects of aesthetic pleasure. Whereas graphic design history is replete with artifacts that define certain disciplines and are also works of art, for a design to be so considered it must overcome the vicissitudes of fashion and be accepted as an integral part of the visual language.

Though Lustig would consider it a small part of his overall output, no single project is more significant in this sense than his 1949 paperback cover for Lorca: 3 Tragedies. It is a masterpiece of symbolic acuity, compositional strength and typographic craft that appears to be, consciously or not, the basis for a great many contemporary book jackets and paperback covers.

things most remarkable No.12 - for extra marks - what is it ? ... exactly.

One guess per customer, and remember
if you get it, you get to take the marks
off of someone who bugs you, or smells.

to all my favorito gellheads - big tina, louie louie, and
Mr.Fabio, this is what happens if you use too much gellatino.
Truth in advertising, veritas .

An innovative hoarding for Berger Paints where a live painter appeared
to be extending the blue of the sky on to the hoarding itself. This was done
by creating dramatic cut outs in the hoarding in the actual shape of the
roller strokes.

Advertising Agency: JWT, Mumbai, India
Copywriter / Art Director: Minal Phatak

D2 product/package design due in two weeks:
1.concept, 2.materials, 3.preperation, 4.execution
.... click image to supersize

some new graphics for Volkswagen in Europe, symbolic of their
new, enviromentally more sensitive technologies. aka BLUE MOTION

design one and two, please visit the website of Pascal
Trembley of Montreal. A young freelance graphic
designer living here in MTL with a wide, and international commercial experience.
This personal work is extraordinary; the subtle layers of image and story, the evocative textures, the compressed yet elegant colour palate, the studied position of all the elements.  Powerfully atmospheric, irresistibly secret. Brilliant,
brilliant work. click image to big it up

a "personal project" by young designer Ritxi Ostariz from Bilbao Spain,
check out his design work, paper engineering and short animation. Really
superb work, full of whit, charm and first class technical execution. Wow !

dont forget, don't forget, dunt firgit, huh ?


D!, design one ! don't forget !, your CD project is due this week !,
at the beginning of your class ! finished !, done !, tout garni !


check out this site http://www.invisiblecreature.com/main.php