New Stuff at Empax

Free money

kathleen — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:55:39 +0000

Imagine if every time you went to look up a movie time online it earned your organization money. Like most (all?!?) non profits our there our clients are always looking for ways to access funding. One resource we recommend to increase the cash flow...

is Goodsearch.com. Every time someone uses Goodsearch.com they have the option to choose an organization they want Goodsearch to donate money to. It is only a few pennies for each search but if people who support your cause start to use it there is potential to generate a few thousand dollars a year! 500 people searching four times a day yields around $7,300 in a year.

It might be hard to break the Google addiction at first but we've found that it does a pretty good job as a search engine. Search and earn!

Great resource for non profits

kathleen — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:58:56 +0000

It takes a lot to run a non profit and many questions come up on a day to day basis. If you have ever wished you could reach out to other progressive/liberal minded causes for advice you are in luck. The Progressive Exchange is a great email list with many people in the non profit world subscribed. Need advice on how to best manage your donor email list? Ever wonder the pros or cons of using Twitter to speak to your audience? Maybe you are looking for a company to redo your website (well, Empax can handle that one but you get the point). The email list is a great way for almost instant feedback on a new campaign, questions of all sorts and tips about how other organizations are handling issues that come up from being a not for profit. Due to the volume of people on the list is best to create a filter so they don't clog your inbox. All in all a very helpful email list for non profits.

New Addition to the Family

emily — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:58:24 +0000

Empax is expanding! Check out our new bundle of joy!

We just got a new Xerox Phaser 7760 the other week! Now we print mock ups and comps and fake Empire Bagel coupons lightning fast!

Hunts Point Alliance for Children Update

emily — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:52:08 +0000

Recently, a few of us at Empax took a trip up to Hunts Point. We were guided by Hunts Point Alliance for Children’s Maryann Hedaa and learned a lot about Hunts Point’s history, culture and current state. This eye opening and insightful tour provided us with a lot of intimate details and research for our rebranding and website project.

We can’t show you what we’ve done so far; you’ll just have to wait for the debut! For now, here are select photos from the tour:

A beautiful wild style graffiti wall mural along the Bronx Charter School for the Arts.

The recently developed Baretto Point Park along the Bronx River. It houses the floating pool! Unfortunately, the park is surrounded by industrial buildings and a sewage plant.

A more traditional mural also at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts.

Looking out from the inside of Studio 889 - HPAC’s office.

A Quiet Victory

martin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:31:45 +0000

We’ve been fighting for stem cells for a long long time here.

Today, President Obama will rid us one more dark cloud hanging over American science by lifting the ban on federal funding and approval of embryonic stem cell research.

Having spent the past 8 years in a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury and a “fundamentalist” in the White House, I don’t feel anything yet, so accustomed have I become to deaf ears in Washington.

When Bush announced his Solomonic decision about stem cell research in 2001, (in this case, he actually DID cut the baby in half), I felt compelled to take action. I gathered a group of 5 fellow paraplegics and we “hung” ourselves in Washington. I started a stem cell advocacy group within Empax, the 9th Floor Project. I tried to reach out to my representatives to no avail. Christopher Reeve, American hero, died in the middle of his campaign to lift the research ban. What a frustrating time it had been to be a disabled American.

I don’t think my own efforts accomplished anything. On second thought, that’s not quite true. I did vote for Barack Obama. And that, above all, did the trick.

As one of the many millions of Americans who will be helped by this now-freed research, President Obama’s message of hope has never been more concrete.

Mr. Obama, the disabled, the chronically ill, the angels who tend to us day after day salute you.

Australian Stimulus Freebies

jessica — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:02:12 +0000

A few days ago the Architectural Record reported that

"When it comes to ending this recession, the U.S. isn’t the only country banking on a federal economic stimulus plan…In mid-February, the Australian government passed a $42 billion (US $27 billion) stimulus bill…The government intends to pump about US $19 billion into schools, housing and roads over the next four years…"

And here's the interesting thing:

"Architects have signed up to work for free, at least in the initial stages of plan. Under a partnership between the Australian Institute of Architects and the Australia Local Government Association…

'Good design does not need to be thrown out the window when spending money quickly is the priority,' said Geoff Lake, ALGA president, in an official statement. 'This partnership assists councils to deliver well-designed and functional community facilities while meeting the Government’s immediate spending targets.' "

The Record asks a few questions, among them, "Would architects in the U.S. be willing to work for free to stimulate the economy?"

My question is this: Would–and indeed should–graphic designers be willing to work for free to stimulate the economy?

"Left Coast" Political Graphics

jessica — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:02:40 +0000

Next time you're in LA, check out the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, home to a huge collection of political graphics–over 50,000 posters–dating from the Russian Revolution to the present. You can also see much of the Center's archive online here. What's incredible is the range of styles and media, from works by design professionals like the great Tomi Ungerer, to those by passionate amateurs

As one might expect, the posters reflect largely left or progressive points of view, but no matter what your politics, it's impossible to deny that "…there has never been a movement for social change without the arts—music, poetry, theater, posters--being central to that movement. Political posters in particular are powerful living reminders of struggles worldwide for peace and justice. Communication, exhortation, persuasion, instruction, celebration, warning: graphic art broadcasts its messages through bold images and striking designs."

The CSPG's graphics reflect a huge array of social and political causes.

Objectified

gwen — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:25:44 +0000

Film maker Gary Hustwit, director of Helvetica has just released the trailer for his new film Objectified, a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It takes a look at the creativity behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets and the people who create our manufactured. It examines the personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability and our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. The film focuses on what we can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves.

Due to be released in the spring.

http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/objectified-trailer/

Can You Keep a Secret?

emily — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:22:12 +0000

The other day as I was making my way from the R train to the A underground at Times Square station, I noticed a series of ads along the corridor. Now I usually don’t stop and stare at ads amidst a dense walking crowd during rush hour, but what really caught my eye were two friends huddling over an ad together sharing a headphone. So I stopped, took my ear buds out of my iPhone and plugged into one of the audio jacks on an ad. What did I hear? It’s a secret.

Secrets have been making some money for sometime. And I’m not just talking blackmail. Think about the ridiculous, endless amount of gossip magazines, blogs and TV shows out there. Unnecessary? I think so, but conspicuous? Always.

The whole theme of this ad campaign is secrets – “Everyone has something to hide.” These series of advertisements are part of HBO’s Big Love, a series about a polygamous family and their day-to-day lives. The ads were created by BBDO and don’t feature any of the cast members, but rather a photo of an everyday metropolitan intersection. Each person in the photograph has an audio jack above their heads and when you plug in, you hear each person revealing a secret – from low self-esteem to perverse thoughts. This is a very new and interesting level of interaction to add to one’s commute. It definitely got my curiosity and made me want (and attempt) to listen to each person’s secret.

So at first it was the extra element of interaction of an ad that pulled me in, but secrets that kept me there. Also, the secrets don’t end with these ads, when you go to the URL provided on the ad, it takes you to an interactive website, Web of Secrets, where you can read the characters’ secrets as well as submit your own anonymous ones. However HBO and BBDO was not the first to invent the “secrets” industry.

The theme of secrets seems to pull a community together. Ironic right? Especially since one should always keep a secret to his or herself, to the grave, or at most, to your local religious figure.

Big Love’s Web of Secrets is very similar to seasoned sites like Post Secret and Group Hug. These sites invite anyone to anonymously submit secrets for everyone, everywhere to witness. And if being anonymous wasn’t good enough, there are sites that let you reveal your deepest darkest matters with the options of leaving your name, contact info, rating systems, and comment options (e.g. Dear God, F*** My Life) .

It’s inevitable; secrets bring people together. They give us basis to relate to a common feeling, to associate with the rich and famous, and of course to have something to follow. And with these website sites of anonymous and semi-anonymous confessions, it is easy to find judgment without actually feeling out casted by anyone but yourself.

So, what’s a secret if everyone knows?

I Know It When I See It

jessica — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:31:52 +0000

Shepard Fairey, designer of the now iconic red and blue Obama imagery, is in the news this week, raising some age-old questions:

IN GENERAL NEWS

Fairey was arrested in Boston yesterday, en route to the opening party for his one-man show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Boston Globe reports. Police say that warrants for Fairey's arrest were issued on Jan. 24, for damage to property due to graffiti. When Fairey returned recently to Boston for his show at the ICA, he allegedly "victimized new properties while defiantly stating in media outlets that he will not stop his unauthorized posting of his tag."

Fairey mainta

ins that the timing of his arrest makes clear the motivations behind it:

"I'm making art that not everybody likes," Fairey told reporters outside Roxbury Municipal Court.

Comments on the Globe's website range from:

"This is not art. this is crap. this is grafitti. too bad he wasn't arrested in Singapore."

"God forbi

d someone post art in public without permission. Welcome to the Soviet States of America."

So, is Fairey's work merely vandalism, or is it valuable public art? The answer is probably, "it depends".

IN DESIGN NEWS

Print magazine's blog talked to the venerable Milton Glaser this week, about the line between inspiration and plagiarism, contrasting Fairey's Obama image with his own, totally brilliant, Bob Dylan poster (disclosure: Jess = huge fan of this poster).

"The process of looking back at the past is very accepted in our business—the difference is when you take something without adding anything to the conversation…I find the relationship between Fairey’s work and his sources discomforting. Nothing substantial has been added. In my own case, when I did the Dylan poster, I acknowledged using Duchamp’s profile as an influence. I think unless you’re modifying it and making it your own, you’re on very tenuous ground…Simply reproducing the work of others robs you of your imagination and form-making abilities."

Glaser's piece IS more inventive. Many of us designer folk look at Fairey's work and say "It's cool, but it looks like he just took a photo and ran it through the Live Trace filter in Illustrator". But has Fairey ever claimed to be original? Is his message more important that its delivery? Is it wrong to just make a nice poster out of a great photo? Many would say in the case of Fairey's work, the ends justify the means. More food for thought.

Black Tuesday is the new pink.

kathleen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:13:29 +0000

I worked in advertising for a few years so every now and again I peruse an industry pub to see what shop got what client some incredible ROI on some incredibly expensive campaign (I am not a geek I just play one on this blog). The other day a story caught my eye in AdWeek titled, "Depression Chic". It was about how consumers are showing an interest in the Great Depression and how this trend is being leveraged as a successful marketing theme. Huh, so Black Tuesday is the new pink. Admittedly, I have gotten an Evite or two featuring a picture of a very sad looking breadline and even felt some goose bumps the first time I watched the latest Allstate ad, but when Andrew Shaffer was quoted in the article as saying, "Every other decade of the 20th century has been plundered. The Great Depression is actually something fresh", I was, well, for lack of a better term, depressed. No longer able to stomach reading about fashion designers titling this seasons line, "American Gothic" or finding their inspiration from "a weather-beaten farmer's hat" I sought solace from our friends at trendwatching.com . They told me all about "Generation G". That is G for generosity. People are giving back. People want to pay it forward. Now this is a trend I can follow. Corporations are letting consumers decide where they should put their big donation dollars, some are even offering incentives to get involved in their community (think Starbucks). Open source code is hip, people are giving their stuff away and Marketwatch recently advised its readers to volunteer (ok, so it was for the sake of staying professionally relevant while taking time off from work but still). I'm still pretty drunk on Obama's cool aid, maybe even feeling a wee bit brazen. So, dare I say that I will see their trend and raise them a movement. That's right, I think we got a movement on our hands. What do you think?

New work for Hunts Point Alliance for Children

kathleen — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:43:42 +0000

Here at Empax we love our chocolate. Seriously, the snacks in our kitchen are enough to make even Willy Wonka jealous. Of course we appreciate healthy food too. And we thought it was pretty cool that Heather Mills donated one million dollars in food (some fruits and veggies, some from her vegan food line) to the kids up in the south Bronx via the organization Hunts Point Alliance for Children . Recently Hunts Point Alliance for Children asked that we enable their site to receive donations and give their website a quick cleanup. Heather Mills was about to promote the organization on the Today Show so we had no time to waste. We will be completely redoing the website in February and we can't wait. Stay tuned for a healthy new homepage.

Beyond MultiTouch, and Designer as Futurist

fred — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:56:20 +0000

Here are two technologies that seem to be on a collision course (or even as linear predecessor and successor). The first, multi-touch track pads or screens (as featured on the newest generation of apple notebooks and the iPhone) that respond not only to "clicks" of a mouse, but also to human gestures on the given surface. This allows a more interactive and engaging experience.

Take this concept a step further and you have an interface that is responding based purely on gestures by removing the surface with which you come into contact.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

The implications of the second seem to be profound. Most interestingly to me, is that while watching the demo of g-speak by oblong industries I thought to myself "I've seen this before... this isn't new." Well, not exactly. I had seen a similar technology, but it was in a movie.

One of the creators of g-speak served as a "science advisor" on the film Minority Report and based the interface in the movie on his research at MIT. From science fiction comes science fact.

While there are differing opinions on what technology has in store for us, (and not to be corny) I continue to be inspired in a positive way by the idea that we are living the lofty dreams of yore. However, do we as designers and communicators possess the ability, as scientist do, to conjure a future according to our vision?

Will Avatars Ever Have a Happy Ending?

emily — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:15:22 +0000

Who do you think about when you think about the upcoming holidays? Chances are you think about Santa Claus before you even think about your family. Although Saint Nicholas has his origins in religions, today he is the brand of a conspicuous consumerist holiday. Santa isn’t the only example of an evolved character. Here’s more on Father Christmas and another one of the most prolific commercialized avatars.

Santa Claus has a whole entanglement of origins – a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop, kidnapper of naughty children, a god from Norse paganism, even a wealthy generous sailor. Santa usually gave us holiday cheer; it was not until the end of the industrial revolution, when the reality of mass production became affluent in Western culture, that Santa began handing out commercial goodies and began appearing in commercial goodies as well! Since the end of the 19th century, he is seen widespread as a jolly bountiful man in his Coca-Cola red suit and decked out sleigh and reindeers.

Another great example of universal commercialized characters is Mickey Mouse. Mickey slightly beats Santa in Google results by a mere 700,000 pages. He has evolved from an anthropomorphic mouse to the symbol of one of the world’s largest media and entertainment corporation. This 80-year-old mouse has stretched beyond his cartoon medium into toys, clothing video games, and even on bootleg bags and foreign TV shows.

Can you think of any other examples of avatars that have evolved into a commercialized brand? Better yet, are there any that have progressed rather than evolve for the benefit of consumerism?

Chicago Biennial Poster Contest

kathleen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:15:55 +0000

From STEP Magazine

Building A Biennial: The Inaugural Chicago International Poster Biennial

by Tiffany Meyers

In the exhibition space of Crown Hall, Mies van der Rohe’s masterpiece on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a group of young women weave in and out of the crowd. It’s hard not to stare; they’re all wearing chic, vibrant mini-dresses whose similar A-line cuts can’t be coincidental. They look like a girl gang of fashionistas in coordinated party outfits.

In fact, they’re part of the exhibition, which is kicking off the first-ever Chicago International Poster Biennial (CIPB), a free-to- enter, open-call poster competition and exhibition. On the walls that evening: Award-winning posters designed by the biennial’s 11 jurors, some of the most celebrated designers in the world. On the models: Dresses made of fabric on which a different juror’s poster has been printed.

Here walks Michel Bouvet’s 2007 poster for the Arles photography festival. And there, in strappy heels, click-clacks John Massey’s famous 1978 Eames Soft Pad Group poster for Herman Miller. In all there are 12 dresses, the extra one representing a poster designed for the CIPB itself by Yann Legendre, who launched the biennial with designer and studio partner Lance Rutter. It’s hard to imagine how she pulled it off, but Rutter’s wife Miki Shim-Rutter made the dresses—a silent auction for them brought in just over $3600 that night—in two weeks.

But then, the CIPB itself begs the same question: How in the name of graphic design did these two practitioners, who have a fulltime staff of three (including themselves), manage to draw 1600 entries from 460 designers without a lick of marketing—and despite efforts from the angry gods of fundraising to thwart their goals? In no particular order: Tenacity, freshly forged connections and the kind of blind faith without which no one would ever undertake to do the impossible.

In their Chicago studio, surrounded by thick stacks of posters, the founding partners of the firm Legendre + Rutter explain they intend for the CIPB—the first competition of its kind in the U.S.—to do more than honor the best posters of the year. Where so many design events stay in the insular design world, CIPB is engaging the public.

In a city whose rich graphic design history is often eclipsed by the shadow of its architecture, the poster craft is getting down to the street level. This fall, 167 finalist posters—including a gold medalist, two silvers and two sponsored prizes—will hang in an outdoor exhibition at Daley Bicentennial Plaza, the space adjacent to Millennium Park. In the plaza, the exhibition will mingle among the Sunday strollers and type-A businesspeople, the babies and the bicyclists—just as posters are meant to do.

“The poster is one of the most basic forms of what we do as designers,” says CIPB board member Joseph Michael Essex, who organized the biennial’s judging with his wife and cofounding partner Nancy Denney Essex, both of the strategic communication firm Essex Two. “It’s the common denominator. And it’s the best opportunity to engage the general public in the value and importance of what we do. Because if you can understand this most basic form of expression, you can understand the group of men and women who dedicate their lives to making connections between clients and consumers.”

IF YOU BUILD IT
Like a lot of great projects, this one began with a designer feeling left out. Last June Legendre and Rutter attended an event in which the keynote speaker, Paul O’Conner, then the executive director of Chicago nonprofit economic development organization World Business Chicago, touted the city’s architecture, its public art and landscaping … and pretty much every design discipline but graphics. When Rutter approached O’Conner, the civic leader said he’d welcome any ideas to publicly showcase graphic design.

The next day, Legendre tossed out a suggestion: Why not do a poster biennial? Unbeknownst to the two partners, it would drive the course of their work for the next year and a half. Although Warsaw and Chaumont in France—see the September/October 2007 issue of STEP for coverage of the latter—hold two of the world’s most respected poster biennials, there are none of the same caliber in the U.S. There’s a well-regarded biennial in Fort Collins, Colo.—the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition— but that’s by invite only. This event would be free to enter— and open to anyone in the world.

“The more we talked about it, the more it seemed like a natural fit and opportunity,” says Rutter. “Chicago has such a strong design heritage, but one thing that’s missing is a public presence for graphic design, particularly design that informs people about cultural and arts events and institutions.”

DOWN TO THE STREETS
So a biennial was born. At every subsequent turn, the partners looked at the challenge as a kind of Field of Dreams scenario. “You know the line, ‘If you build it, they will come’?” Rutter says. “When we realized we were going to jump into this pot of boiling water, our purpose was to collect the entries and select the finalists. Once we had this collection of amazing work, we could show people exactly what we were talking about.” The rest, they reasoned, would follow.

And it has. World Business Chicago connected the partners with the right civic organizations, including the office of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. From the design community, ICOGRADA and Chicago’s Society of Typographic Arts (STA) endorsed the biennial enthusiastically and early, offering resources and volunteers.

THE DRIVE FOR BACKERS
Still, financial backing was hard to come by. The partners nearly called it quits when, after several rounds of presentations, key organizations declined to offer funding. That’s when Denney Essex stepped in, imploring Legendre and Rutter not to let the idea die. In a last-ditch effort, the team e-mailed 100 individual design professionals, 46 of whom responded with donations. Over the course of two days, the partners brought in $33,000 from these donors.

Like their fundraising activities, the CIPB board’s efforts to promote the competition and drum up quality submissions were similarly green with grass roots. They got online again, reaching out to their networks, as well as members of ICOGRADA and Rene Wanner’s poster site (www.posterpage.ch), an influential Swiss site covering information and news about poster design.

CRITICAL ELEMENT: POLISH POSTER DESIGNERS
The organizers also knew their venture would never be a world-class poster competition unless they had participation from Polish designers, who produce famously exquisite posters but don’t exactly publish their contact information in the Yellow Pages. So Rutter called the Polish consulate, where someone (as these things go) had a friend. That friend was planning a trip from Warsaw to Chicago: She delivered about 50 Polish posters straight from the airport. Meanwhile, the organizers learned that designers of some of the most exciting American posters also happen to view competitions with skepticism. The partners enlisted the help of Chicago poster design star Jay Ryan, a jury member. His outreach via message boards to designers of indie-music posters was the equivalent of a celebrity endorsement. “Generally, the community of rock poster makers isn’t very extroverted as far as getting into competitions or publications,” says Ryan. “They look for a little peer approval and some kind words from the band, but international poster competitions haven’t really been the norm.”

The inspiration for a wide-ranging discussion during the judging, this poster by Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski of Aesthetic Apparatus for singer/songwriter/ artist Daniel Johnston took a SILVER MEDAL.

The sweat equity paid off. Designers from the so-called underground responded to Ryan’s call to action. They’re well represented within a globally diverse collection of entries from 43 countries. In fact, CIPB received so many great entries from the music design community that Legendre and Rutter curated a separate show, featuring 100 American screen-printed gig posters, which will travel to Paris in the coming year.

HAULING OUT THE SUPERLATIVES
But the measure of the Chicago Biennial’s success is not just a matter of numbers. Jury members seem almost taken aback by the quality of the work. “It was tremendous,” says jury member Martin Venezky, principal of Appetite Engineers, San Francisco. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Rather, he assumed that this brand-new competition—like most other competitions, even the most esteemed ones—would present at least some percentage of simply posters with pretty pictures and centered type at the bottom. “We saw almost none of that,” he says. “When we walked into the judging space, where hundreds of posters were laid out on the floor, it was almost like the room was vibrating. There was a lot of optical excitement. People were using color, pattern and rhythm. They were paying attention to creating something that made you want to walk up to it purely for the joy of looking at it.”

Design luminary John Massey, chair of the jury, had a similarly powerful response. Arranged in tidy rows on the floor of the judging space, the body of work, taken as a whole, seemed to encompass what it means to be a sentient human being. “You could see hope, inspiration, despair, concern,” he says. “You could see order and chaos. You could see what almost amounted to hate. There were political, environmental, social and antiwar posters. There were theater posters and music posters. And if, in an abstract way, you could add up all those characteristics, you would have the human condition.”

THEY'RE JUST JEALOUS
Wouldn’t you know it? Just as the first open-call, free-to-enter poster biennial in America establishes itself, people are sounding the death knell for this particular form of expression. In part, that’s because U.S. cities don’t have the infrastructure for posters that Europe has. There, enormous kiosks display posters to announce cultural and arts events. The city of Chicago, for example, works with outdoor advertising corporation JCDecaux to manage its bus stop advertising systems. But bus shelters are costly platforms for advertising products and services, and poorly suited to arts institutions whose budgets are often too tight for such media buys.

This poster by Iranian designer Farad Fozouni won THE SOCIETY OF TYPOGRAPHIC ARTS PRIZE for Typographic Excellence. Judges admired the tension created between the typography—fluid and lyrical—and the surrounding, highly structured grid.

Some argue the internet has replaced the poster, which is sometimes seen as an antiquated form of expression in a digital age. That argument loses traction, however, when you consider U.S. indie-music posters. Even without a city-sanctioned platform for posters, one could argue, American designers refuse to let the genre die. They’ve invented a totally modern, quintessentially American category to keep the poster kicking.

“I cannot accept it when I hear people say posters are dead,” says Luba Lukova, celebrated designer/illustrator and CIPB juror (and designer of this issue’s cover). If the medium is dead, she wonders, why would Legendre and Rutter have received a massive number of entries from around the world? And if the poster is dead, why would normally law-abiding citizens so frequently steal them, tearing them greedily from the walls of theaters and clubs? “I sometimes feel that people who don’t design posters are a little bit jealous,” she says mischievously, “because posters live longer than other graphic design products. Beautiful logos are redesigned after 10 or 15 years, when trends and styles change. Websites—even well-designed websites—are frequently changed. But a beautiful poster can live for hundreds of years.”

For Lukova, posters reflect a human need to socialize, a need that hasn’t diminished as new media take hold. “Posters live where things happen,” she says. “So much culture comes to us through a screen—whether it’s movies, the internet or video games. But posters live in theaters and clubs and political rallies, places where real people meet other real people. And I believe our need to do so is even stronger now that we’re in such a virtual world.”

SQUARING THE CIRCLE
In the Innovation Center on the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, 11 judges fix their blurry eyes on a poster in question. Designed by Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski of Aesthetic Apparatus for indie singer/songwriter/artist Daniel Johnston, the imagery—a collage of an upside-down boxer whose head is kind of stuffed into an easy chair—isn’t exactly comfortable to view. About a quarter of the size of other entries, it’s also rough around the edges, particularly in comparison to some of the other entries’ lush production values.

After two days of intense judging, the panel has made it to the point of determining medalists. Lukova asks Massey, who seems to like this poster more than she does, if he knows what it means. No, Massey responds. Not fully. But that’s precisely why he likes it.

As Lukova sees it, a well-done poster provokes thought with a clear, strong concept. She’s not sure this poster is doing that. Ryan offers his input. He can’t pinpoint the designer, but the poster clearly comes from the gig poster community, which explains a lot. “America doesn’t have the same poster culture as that of Europe or other parts of the world,” he says. “There has been a resurgence of U.S. poster-making from the music scene, which I’m happy to be a part of, but these posters are made with different priorities.”

Designed to hang in clubs or bars, coffee houses and store windows, they’re smaller in scale by necessity. Like many gig posters, this one appears to have been printed in someone’s garage or on a kitchen table, after the kids have gone to bed. “It’s not the result of a professional photo shoot or a litho studio that’s been around for 100 years,” he says. “A lot of gig posters are made by 25-year-olds or by a band member, but that doesn’t make them any less exciting.”

A more cordial jury would be hard to find, so this discussion is nothing if not amicable. But famed Japanese designer and juror Shigeo Fukuda concurs with Lukova. Through gesticulation and his interpreter, he puts forth his view: Designers will be watching this first-ever Chicago biennial closely. Shouldn’t they take advantage of that opportunity by rewarding the most sophisticated conceptual thinking?

NES via LEGO

fred — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:46:42 +0000

These might be the most brilliant things I have ever seen. I grew up with the Nintendo Entertainment System, so when I came across these images (via Ffffound - which is a gift from ADHD heaven), I was instantly impressed.

Beyond this sense of nostalgia, these pieces remind of some important points. I think we, as graphic designers, have a tendancy to go about our business without realizing that the computer is a tool. It is a means, not an end. However, we too often abandon the sketching process in favor of a quick execution on a machine. I find that my process can be greatly enriched by taking the initiative (especially early in the process) to explore other mediums. Cross-training, if you will.

Now I'm not suggesting that I begin sketching in LEGO blocks, but these are great examples of how a two dimensional design can be demonstrated in a three dimensional space.

So, without further ado, please bask in their glory and ridiculousness. I give you LEGO interpretations of popular NES titles by skinny coder:

Recycle Election Tech Virtually!

martin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:11:36 +0000

OK, so the folks at CNN are clearly reading my posts, since they ultimately offered up a pretty good chunk of interactivity on their election site. Kudos, CNN, and I hope John King didn't break into any jealous rages when part of his puppy went public. Don't sweat it, John, we'll always love your newly-geeky self at the Magic Wall.

Speaking of which, why don't we carry over that interface and use it on the economy? We know the issue is more complex, but hey, there are suddenly lots of programming and design geniuses with nowhere to go. The thought of chawin' on some yummy Census, Commerce, and Labor Department jerky and mapping it in a way that's accessible to both the geek and non-geek public would work wonders to generate knowledge and empower an insecure populus. And oh yes, this would make CNN become not only the place for politics, but for the economy as well.

Google is sick!!

kathleen — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:31:49 +0000

Google is sick!! And now they are trying to track who else might be, too. Through the use of collective intelligence Google is attempting track the flu in the U.S . Searched keywords represent a users most immediate intentions. Based on this idea Google believes they can predict outbreaks of the flu. “We found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week,” Google said on their official blog.

Blog the Power

jessica — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:51:57 +0000

Much has already been written about the Obama campaign and its incredibly successful interaction with young voters via its online components, but the following quote, from this New York Yimes article, really struck me:

Chuck D., 48, the rapper and former lead of Public Enemy, said he has been amazed at the ease with which his 20-year-old daughter and her friends have interacted with politics this year. While he spent his youth shouting the message, “Fight the power,” his daughter fell in love with a candidate, voted for the first time and got exactly what she wanted.

He couldn't be more pleased. "She doesn’t bring the burden of history with her,” he said. “She’s not pigeonholed. She’s free to make a healthy decision for the future.”

Some may lament a loss of revolutionary spirit, or complain that this all means a joining of "the system" by a group of people who are supposed to buck it. But putting all that aside, Chuck's observations really sum up it up.

Done Voting? Game While You Wait!

emily — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:21:41 +0000

Happy Election Day! I hope everyone has or will cast their vote today. Most polls will be closing 9PM this evening and with this phenomena of time zones we could all be waiting up to anywhere between midnight to, well, December? (Remember Election 2000?) So what are we to do during the time other than lose hair and bite our nails and check the news every two minutes?

To ease your mind during the wait, there are plenty of flash games that will let you battle the election out on your computer. Here are our top three favorites:

Kung-Fu Election
by Starvingeyes Advergaming and Brandfirst Entertainment

Battle it out Mortal Kombat style! The presidential candidates, their wives, and their running mates are dressed in appropriate fighting attire and their attack moves and weapons are sure to give you a laugh!

Super Obama World
by Zensoft

An excellent remake of Super Mario World with an Obama theme. Coins are replaced by flag pins and Goombas by lipstick on pigs.

McCain VS Obama
by THUP

A really fun strategy game that mimics Risk! Conquer the electoral votes by moving your campaign staff to attack and fundraise!