Inspiration is Everything

More signage

2011-03-03T14:59:00.001+00:00

Beautiful gold-leaf lettering on a green background in Fitzrovia. Rather spoiled by the tacky plastic sign stuck beneath it.

The Ascent of Man

2011-03-03T14:55:00.002+00:00

Three screenshots from Dr Jacob Bronowski's 1974 BBC documentary 'The Ascent Of Man'. The sculpture is used to illustrate the different methods of perception, but I was struck by the hints of Symbolism and proto-Surrealism in the composition.

Shop signs

2011-03-02T22:38:00.003+00:00

Some assorted shop signage spotted recently, the top two are in Margate. There's something quite poignant about the Thanet Times building (the best for Thanet sport).

The bottom two were revealed when a shop near me was recently renovated. I snapped it just in time, as the old sign was painted over the next week. The Gill-esque lettering was hand-painted; a magnificent example of the almost lost art of sign painting.

Great Penguin cover

2010-09-15T13:04:00.001+01:00

Penguin can almost do no wrong in my eyes. This cover is from their new Central European Classics range. I'm afraid I didn't get the designer's name though.

Best of British

2010-09-15T13:00:00.001+01:00

Spotted in a shop window in Hampstead, London. I believe it's by the excellent Satoshi Hashimoto, but if you know otherwise, please let me know.

Lambretta

2010-09-15T12:50:00.001+01:00

A symphony in chrome, leather and steel. Just perfection.

Intriguing calligraphy

2010-09-15T12:43:00.001+01:00

Beautiful flowing script found in an antique shop in Bromyard, which reminds me of the work of the great Marian Bantjes.

Shop of delights

2010-09-15T12:40:00.001+01:00

From the window of a fascinating collectibles shop in London's West End.

Location:London

Baby and the Virgin

2010-09-15T12:29:00.005+01:00

Spotted at the Whittington Hospital, Archway. The fading and warping has lent this painting an eerie quality.

Location:Islington

Vintage at Goodwood

2010-06-25T15:53:00.004+01:00

Spotted these nice flyposters the other day. Apparently the design is by Red Or Dead, usually better known for their fashion work. It reminds me a little of Barnbrook's excellent new work for the Sydney Bienniale, which you can see here: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/may/17th-biennale-of-sydney-identity

1980's magazine design

2010-06-25T12:41:00.007+01:00

I picked up a copy of the SPD Annual from 1989 in a charity shop the other day. The eighties was such an overtly stylised decade that many of the spreads now look as incongruous as a Cyndi Lauper puffball skirt, so I can't pretend that much of the work has aged well, but nevertheless, in amongst the tics and tropes of the time—over-compressed and letterspaced capped serifs, leaderlines etc—there is some genuinely good stuff tucked away.

There's this for instance: remember the excitement when word began to spread about what David Carson was doing? Here he is, pre-Raygun, cutting through the crowd like a lightning bolt with Skateboard magazine from 1987. This is a clear statement of intent, and presaged much that was to come in the 1990s.

And here's another art director who was soon to become a household name: the late, great Tibor Kalman, pre-COLORS, with a powerful and witty pair of covers for Art Forum magazine, again from 1987.

And finally, from Life magazine and art directed by Charles Pates, an introduction to a certain young boxer, destined for great things…

London Life

2010-06-24T12:43:00.006+01:00

We featured this work last year in Creative Review, but I came across it again whilst tidying up, and it's so good that I think it really deserves another outing. London Life ran for eighteen months in the mid sixties, and was one of the first titles in which David Hillman—later to be known for Nova and his Guardian redesign—really came to attention.

That a magazine with such confident, bravura art direction and a creative team that included Duffy, Terence Donovan and Gerald Scarfe should sink without a trace can only give some idea of how fierce the competition must have been in those days.

Shown above are a selection of spreads and covers, plus the original, dummy cover, numbered 14th August.

Lifeforms by Buggy G Riphead

2010-06-24T09:43:00.003+01:00

For me, one of the defining images of the early '90's is that of the inscrutable, enigmatic girl who adorned the cover of Future Sound Of London's 1994 album 'Lifeforms'. The artwork was created by a digital artist cum designer called Mark McClean, alias Buggy G Riphead, and though a quick google reveals him to be still working today (hypersonique.com), I don't think anything he's done since quite matches the impact of that strange, hermetically sealed world, part 2001, part Dali, that he created for FSOL.

Falling Water

2010-06-22T15:37:00.002+01:00

Built in 1934 by Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennsylvania: the breathtaking Falling Water was a private residence.

Death Race 2000

2010-06-22T15:28:00.006+01:00

Poster from the 1975 SF film.

Society of the Spectacle

2010-06-22T13:41:00.006+01:00

Beneath the pavement lies the beach… Found this great cover of Debord's Situationist manifesto whist looking for something else the other day.

JR Walker and the All Stars

2010-06-21T17:13:00.005+01:00

Great band, and a great colour combination on this sleeve.

View from a window

2010-06-10T22:42:00.001+01:00

The view from Creative Review's window, looking down on to Oxford Street. Filtered using Tiltshift Generator on the iPhone.

Newspaper face

2010-06-10T22:40:00.000+01:00

From The Daily Mail. A horrible paper but a nice typeface. Does anyone recognise it?

Press

2010-06-10T22:36:00.000+01:00

Simple but charming.

House numbering

2010-06-10T22:35:00.000+01:00

A daringly tight piece of kerning on the numbering of this Belgravia residence.

Pub signage

2010-06-10T22:32:00.000+01:00

Some excellent raised signage above a London pub.

Funerary inscriptions

2010-06-10T22:25:00.000+01:00

I always enjoy looking at the inscriptions on tombstones. The styles vary greatly, not only from century to century, but also from area to area. These ones are from the north east of England.

Anderson tapes titles

2010-06-10T17:35:00.003+01:00

Came across this great computer-style font from the opening titles of Sidney Lumet's 'The Anderson Tapes' the other day. It's worth seeking out if you've not seen it.

Leaf shadows

2010-06-10T13:54:00.000+01:00

Leaf shadows falling on a blind in late afternoon.