Big article about web design in China – Showcase Of Web Design In China: From Imitation To Innovation.
Looking through great graphic novel about Batman “Arkham Asylum”, illustrated by genious Dave McKean, I discovered how beautifully and witty McKean introduces characters of the novel, using creative callighraphy. I think this is especially suitable there because all the characters of the book are so beautifully and frightfully mad, and you can see this in what and how they write.
Here goes Chinese graffity and steet art from Beijing designer and illustrator Weestar.
Weestar – 魏星宇
Graphic designer, illustrator, partner of JOYN:VISCOM studio, now he is working and living in Beijing, focusing on the Iconographic, Typeface Design, Toys, Street Art. Specialized in Chinese graffiti typeface design and cooperated with a lot of big names like NIKE, MOTOROLA, ABSOLUT, BENETTON, CONVERSE, TIGER BEER, MOLESKINE, CASIO, EVISU, COCA-COLA etc.
Nod Young is Chinese graphic designer and illustrator based in Beijing, co-founder and creative director of Khaki Creative & Design. His works combine modern trends of design with traditional Chinese art.
More of Nod’s works at Flickr and my favorites are inside the post.
One of my favorite places at Flickr is a collection of posters from Amsterdam shared by Jarr Geerligs. This is a fantastic place with hours, megabytes and kilometers of inspiration. Thanks to Jarr Geerligs!
(+ Oslo posters)
In January I went to Shenzhen and found there an exhibition of GDC, the first global design competition in China, which is held every two years.
Here I share with you photos of some exhibits from there, mostly posters.
Also you can view this materials at my Flickr space.
At ICOGRADA Beijing I attended a master class of one Australian designer. The guy’s name is Andrew Ashton and he totally rocks=)
For the presentation he showed up in a koala costume, dancing, which absolutely stunted Chinese audience. And this is not the only thing he can do. Ashton has this wild and brave approach to design which is so appealing to me. But this are not just crazy and rebelion leaps but results of analytical and insightful thinking, and, of course, bravery.
As an example I show just a few posters but he’ve done the whole bunch of great branding projects, that usually are kind of special and dynamic, so Andrew showcase them with animated gifs.
So make sure you visit Studio Pip and Co. website for other projects!
As for me one of the most interesting and inspirational events of this ICOGRADA congress was an exhibition of the best fonts of Chinese Type Design Competition. I’m sure that even people who are not got used to Chinese characters can appreciate the beauty of this fonts and find inspiration there. And I feel that basic rules and principles are the same for Latin and Chinese type design.
To showcase the font designers use chosen poem with all different characters. They do not make all existing characters for the competition. Well, this is not just 26 letters of alphabet and obviously would take one person years and years to design font with thousands of characters. Usually this is a project for a design team.
Another interesting exhibition featured by ICOGRADA in Beijing was Beijing Typography Exhibition 2009. It showcases typographic works of international and Chinese designers (mostly posters, but also books, motion, light design etc.) in order to explore aproaches and trends in modern typography and embrase cultural diversity. You can read more about exhebition at Faces of Design. Personally, I discovered many interesting Southern Korean designers. Probably need to do some research on this country’s design.
