ALUMNI IN THE NEWS: The Art of Facebook

Steven Heller has a nice article in The Atlantic about Ben Barry and his work for Facebook.

What The Internet Is Doing to our Brains by Epipheo

This summer, find time to unplug from the digital world. You might learn something.

Massimo Vignelli Makes Books

Mohawk Paper, Michael Bierut, and Aron Fay present the latest "What Will You Make Today" video, featuring Mossimo Vignelli. “The grid is an integral part of book design, it’s not something that you see. It’s just like underwear: you wear it, but it’s not to be exposed. The grid is the underwear of the book.”

The Most Accurate Weather Forecast Available

I like this concept, but it comes up a bit flat. From the video, I question how readable the website is, and they could have taken it a bit further by integrating a digital display in the corner for temperature, humidity, or other useful information.
 

DSVC National Student Show

UNT had a strong showing Saturday night at the DSVC National Student Show awards gala, with our communication design students earning seven awards. There were over 1,000 entries from 40 schools across the country and the judges only accepted 177 for display in show and presented 34 awards across various categories. Congratulations to the following students:

Jordan Hill
Best Letterhead Program

Tara Thompson
Best Annual Report

Megan Anderson
Best Print Advertising

Whitney Smith
Best Public Service Print Advertising

Rachel Rostkowski
Judge's Choice Award + $250 prize

Jessica Martinez and Whitney Smith
Best Copywriting + $500 scholarship (sponsored by 1400 Words)

Megan Anderson
Best Concept  + $500 scholarship (sponsored by Creative Summit)

2013 Rebrand 100 Global Awards

Rebrand just came out with their annual Global Awards for branding projects. You can check out their award winners here. My favorite was the new identity for Orchestre Symphonique Genevois:

Orchestre Symphonique Genevois from KW43 BRANDDESIGN on Vimeo.

Seven Rules for Managing Creative People

The Harvard Business Review has posted a list of Seven Rules for Managing Creative People. It is an alternately fascinating and condescending read that I recommend mostly as anthropological research. Viewed from the perspective of a creative person, it offers insight into the mind of someone who is completely uncreative (and somewhat sociopathic). WARNING: That man might someday be your boss and/or client.

Alumni Spotlight

Barrett Fry's work with Pentagram/Austin was featured on Grain Edit a few days ago. Nice work Barrett!

Student spotlight

Last Maymester's illustration class addressed the topic of bullying in schools. The class focused on how to raise awareness and hopefully facilitate change in children's lives through targeted anti-bullying messages on posters, t-shirts and games, etc. After conducting research the class decided our messages should be directed toward victims of bullying, bullies or aggressive children and future mentors of bullies. Groups then brainstormed creative ways to design and deliver anti-bullying messages to their assigned group. Whitney Smith's (Junior) posters target cyberbullying. Nice work Whitney!

Users, Devices and Interaction

Connecting (Full Film) from Bassett & Partners on Vimeo.

2013 Ft. Worth Addys

UNT communication design students also performed well at the Ft. Worth Addys. Congratulations to all of them.

Gold Addy and Best of Show
Whitney Smith
Cyberbullying Hurts Poster Campaign

Silver Addy and Judge's Choice Award
Jena Pyle
Natalia Vargas
Carolina Bocanegra
Post It poster campaign

Silver Addy
Jena Pyle
MiO Print Campaign

UNT at the 2013 Dallas Addys

The 2013 Dallas Addy awards show was held on February 20th and UNT communication design students were well represented among the winners. Congratulations to you all! A list of the awards:

Gold Addy and Student Best of Show
Jordan Hill
Fed Pacheco
The Sixth Floor Museum Campaign

Silver Addy
Sony Kim
Rio Packaging

Silver Addy
Jennifer Reeves
Big Green Egg Poster Campaign

Silver Addy
Sarah Wright
Brookstone Non-Traditional Campaign

Silver Addy
Trevor Smith
Benchmade Knives Campaign

Silver Addy
Oscar Armstrong
United Service Organization Mobile App

Bronze Addy
Shana Hagemeyer
Pathfinders Non-Traditional Campaign

Bronze Addy
Nathan Hardy
Lodge Cast Iron Cookware Campaign

Bronze Addy
Stephen Miller
iLoveMountains.org Campaign

Bronze Addy
Natalia Vargas
Citizen Eco Drive Campaign

Bronze Addy
Katie Arani
National Scouting Museum Integrated Campaign

Bronze Addy
Natalia Vargas
Irwin Quick Grip Clamps Integrated Campaign

World Press Photo Awards

The winners of the World Press Photo Awards were announced on February 15th in Amsterdam. This gallery compiles the year's winners. It is an incredible range of powerful images.

The Next Stage of User Interface Design?

via youtube.com

Google just released their latest video for Glass, their "augmented reality head-mounted display". Not sure how fast this will be adopted, but this is certainly a new setting that some designers are already beginning to work with and design for. I'm going to wait for the version where they embed the screen in your cornea.

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day! I loathe you.

Sometimes Valentine's Day is about professing love. Sometimes it's about professing disgust. Enjoy this collection of vintage vinegar valentines, cards intended to insult and reject a potential suitor.

Advertising and Human Experience

Wilhelm Deffke: Modern Mark Maker: Observatory: Design Observer

via observatory.designobserver.com

Steven Heller has a good post on Design Observer about Wilhelm Deffke and his role in the development of corporate trademarked logos. Worth a read.

The Shock of the Neue

Freelance copywriter Mike Bayfield's article The Shock of the Neue for the website I Have an Idea is a nice ode to the value of curiosity. An excerpt: "Curiosity about how the world works and what makes the people in it tick. As creatives, it’s what drives us and feeds our imagination. But you can only satisfy your curiosity so far on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. At some point you need to open yourself up to a different set of experiences, upset your status quo, shock your system..."

Hmm, sound familiar?

A commercial about a commercial about a film

FASHION FILM from Matthew Frost on Vimeo.
Let's not ruin this with too much talking. Just take a moment to turn down your Nico record, set aside your Holga camera, adjust your vintage tortoise shell glasses, and watch.

Student Spotlight

I'd like to share some work from last year's sophomore graphic design class as our new crop of sophomores are just beginning to produce thumbnails for their identity clients. I'll post photos of some of the collateral work next week. Happy thumbnailing sophomores... the first 100 are just for fun. In order from top to bottom: Rachel Felber, Lake Wine & Spirits; Katie Janes, Study Egg; Laura Bradford, My Dutch Bike; Ryan Breault, Theater Antiques. I know it's a little late in coming... but nice work! More to come.

Whistler's Mother, Redux

Artist Aline Smithson used a combination of ingenuity, garage sale finds and her own mother to produce this series of photographs based on James McNeill Whistler’s iconic painting “Arrangement in Grey and Black Portrait of the Artist’s Mother.” Slate presents a description of the Smithson's series on their Photo Blog here.

Extra Credit Opportunity

Hi all,

I'm working on a research project involving food recalls and would love your help in ti. We are offering extra credit to students that participate. Thanks for considering doing this. Below are the instructions.

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Drs. Whitney Peake, Clinton Carlson, and Joshua Detre are exploring how individuals respond to food recalls and would request that you please participate in our survey. You may access the survey at the following link: https://unt.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0B4MsmEvdFhk1ZH

We anticipate it will take you approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. Upon completion of the survey, please print two copies of the final page with your identification number, one for your records and one for your instructor. Please then submit it to your instructor in class. Upon receipt of the confirmation for study completion, the 5 extra credit points will be awarded to you.

Since participation in the study is voluntary, an alternate assignment likewise exists. Both instructions for the survey opportunity and alternate assignment are posted on the Blackboard homepage for the course. Please note that the non-research extra credit alternative is equivalent to the same amount of time and effort as participating in the research study.

Denver Illustrator Justin Renteria for the Village Voice - The Denver Egotist

via thedenveregotist.com

Lexus brings a Magazine to Life with CinePrint™ - YouTube

via youtube.com

Not sure you need to trademark and brand this, but it does make a pretty boring ad more interesting... if you're still reading a printed magazine, despite the iPad you have on the table next to you.