Thursday, July 30, 2009

charley harper

I have been a fan of Charley Harper's work for years. The love affair began when I happened upon some notecards with his bird illustrations on them at a little shop three or four years ago, and I have to say it was love at first sight. Relying on simplified, geometric shapes and a playful color palette, his work looks very fresh and contemporary today, while still retaining a 'mid-century' feel. He has inspired many creatives, notably fashion and interior designer Todd Oldham (who wrote a wonderful coffee table book about him a couple of years ago), and graphic designer and illustrator Eleanor Grosch (another favorite of mine - I have three of her prints as well as a pair of Keds she designed).

Thursday, July 23, 2009

leigh wells

I just stumbled upon these "Tangle" drawings by San Francisco-based artist Leigh Wells on The Beholder. I'm really digging her intricate line work and monochromatic color palette. The first 4 are drawings - either ink, graphite or gouache on paper - and the last two are etchings. You can see more here, and some pieces are available for purchase here.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

gala bent

I first came across Gala Bent's work on Joey Veltkamp's blog, Best Of. I just love her generous use of detail and sparing use of color. I believe these are all graphite and gouache on paper. You can see more here, and if you live in Seattle, you can see her work in person at the SAM Gallery from July 16 to August 14.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

sean p. morrissey

Gorgeous prints from printmaker Sean P. Morrissey. I love his use of overlapping lines and geometric forms. They appear to be mostly lithographs, with maybe some etching and silkscreen, but I can't quite tell from the digital images. I wish his website had some information about the media used. Oh well, they're still lovely.

via Pitch Design Union

Saturday, July 11, 2009

film the blanks

Film the Blanks is "an ongoing experiment to abstract and/or reduce film posters," according to its creator John Taylor. He takes movie posters, some iconic and some not, and reduces them to simple graphic elements. The result is often quite beautiful and it's fun to try to guess which movie they are, although I must admit my own movie knowledge is not always up to the challenge.

via Printeresting

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

eleanor wood

I just came across one of Eleanor Wood's collage illustrations on Share Some Candy and was intrigued by her use of vintage photographs to create a new narrative. Also, I just really like her color palette.

Monday, July 6, 2009

up & up

I was at Target yesterday for the first time since January or February and I noticed that they have rebranded the Target store brand as Up & Up. I always thought the old Target store brand packaging was a bit ahead of the curve in that it was very simple, relying heavily on solid color fields and the bulls eye logo. But the simplicity wasn't quite working for the brand, because it looked a bit dull, was very obviously a 'bargain' brand, and some of the packages still managed to look cluttered. The new Up & Up packaging is still simple, still uses solid colors, but feels much cleaner and more upscale, thanks in large part to the amount of white space employed. In addition, the bulls eye has been replaced with with a very simple arrow logo and fun photographic imagery. The typography feels a bit more elegant to me as well, and many of the packages incorporate some playful copy. The overall effect is an iconic, easy to recognize brand that looks both more fun and more upscale than a store brand. I like it.

Here's what the packaging used to look like:And here's the new Up & Up version:

Friday, July 3, 2009

nate lambdin

I'm really loving these marker drawings by Seattle artist Nate Lambdin. I can't remember how I first came across his work, but I'm glad I did. You can see more here.