Brand Union Logo

I haven't found a logo I like in a while, but this one is very clever - the way they've used negative space is pretty great. They're an identity design company, so I guess having a good logo and identity is pretty essential. No idea who did the actual designing though, it's a global company, which makes it tricky. But yes, a very clever logo, the way the colours can be changed and such is nice too - they have a little animation on their homepage. Which is here: http://www.thebrandunion.com/

Another beautiful illustration

I've found another example of Alberto Cerriteño's work that I thought was worth sharing. I'm not exactly sure what this one is called (I found it on a different site) but I love the depth created with the layering. I thought at first it was photoshop with drop shadows but looking at his site I found that he apparently creates these images actually using cut paper and photographing it. Pretty amazing.

Once again, his website is: www.albertocerriteno.com, and there's work for sale here: www.clickforart.com/artist/albertocerriteno

Take Me to the Kittens

'Take Me to the Kittens' and 'Why is the Rum Gone?' are by Mike Balakov. They just made me laugh, very cute/funny photography. He's got some more great stuff here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov

Love What You Do

I think this poster is really clever, I don't know if it's photoshopped or actually a straight photo (going to go with photoshopped-there's slight white edges) but it's nice all the same. It really gets your attention and (cut paper again) the cut paper-look is nice. It's by Nicole Lavelle (with Michael Eaton), who can be found here: http://makingstuffanddoingthings.com/ and is for the Portland State University Graphic Design Student Show.

Allison Cole

I mainly chose this image ('Bird in Tree' by Allison Cole) so I could motivate myself to do something over summer. I was at Semi-Permanent on Friday/Saturday and so I'm already feeling quite motivated to do design work, homework not included unfortunately. But not long now. Allison has a shop: http://www.bangbangyourethread.com/ where she sells notebooks, badges, original artwork and prints. They're all things I could easily be selling, and it gives me an idea on how I should price things too. Oh my poor dusty badge machine...

But about the image. I love cut paper, it can be so complicated or simplified down completely. The rawness and just the hand-made feeling is beautiful, you can't really replicate it on a computer. I might make my next illustration for uni a cut paper one... Allison's portfolio website is here: http://www.allisoncoleillustration.com/about.html

My Cardboard Life

This is a strip from the comic 'My Cardboard Life' by Phillipa Rice. This one is called 'Biscuit Brigade' and I think it is most amusing, though you may need to open it in a new window to see it clearly. The shadows and coloured backgrounds are lovely, and I just think it's a really innovative way to create a comic strip - it's so beautifully low-fi. The comic can be viewed here: http://mycardboardlife.com/ and her portfolio website here: http://www.philippajrice.com/

Poetry Flier

Another illustration by Ben Newman (http://www.bennewman.co.uk/), this one was for a flier advertising a poetry evening called '451' - the temperature in Fahrenheit at which paper catches fire, hence the flaming brain. He's put up his initial sketches and mock-ups on his blog as well: http://benhasapencil.blogspot.com/2009/09/451-flier-from-start-to-finish.html

I like the simple colours and the weathered effect, I think I'll have to try that some time. The background colour goes really well too.