Wednesday 14 April 2010

Design in a Hailstorm #2: ilovedust

I absolutely love these guys. A multi-disciplinary design boutique, ilovedust specialises in creative solutions from graphic design and illustration to animation and trend prediction. The boutique is split across two studio spaces, one in exciting, hip, arty, and still-up-and-coming Shoreditch in East London, and one in a rustic former butcher's workshop in the Hampshire countryside. ilovedust claims that "the blend of both environments provides us with a unique and inspiring perspective," and as far as I can see, something must be working, because their portfolio site is fabulous. 

My favourite section is, of course, the illustration work, but some of the typography and graphic design is stunning too. I especially like the retro styling and soft, limited colour palette of the studio's re-branding of No.6 Cinema; and the amazing chaotic detailing and scale variation in the below editorial for Spread Magazine NYC and Colete.


Design in a Hailstorm #1: NEW! Post Daily!

The title to this post may seem a little strange - since one of the basic principles of blogging is to update little and often - but recently I've felt that my blog is getting a little neglected, what with all the illustration work, self-promotion, film watching and tea drinking I feel obligated to do daily. So from now on I'm going to make more of a concerted effort to update every single day with lovely, funny and/or interesting snippets of design miscellany.

Here's the first: Sam Potts' 'Tax Form for the Marginally Employed,' published by the New York Times today. To view full size, here it is at http://su.pr/1xROKv TARGET="_blank". This is very, very funny if you're a freelance designer, illustrator... or something. In the future my tax return will list all 'medical and dental expenses: naps, toothbrushes, prunes, garlic dill pickles, elixirs an tonics, etc.' as tax deductable. Wait, does 'elixirs and tonics' include alcohol?

Follow Sam Potts on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/sampotts, and view his graphic design work (he's currently in China 'in search of points unknown') here: http://www.sampottsinc.com.