Artist Spotlight | Dana Tanamachi

In my opinion, typography is one of the most important parts of graphic design. You can have as many illustrations and photographs as you'd like, but nothing can quite be as effective as the proper usage of typography. For some, it comes almost naturally while for others it is a constant struggle. Dana Tanamachi has a hands-on approach to typography that I think would make my design professors proud. Her work shows careful thought in terms of stretching, skewing, and readability. I'm not a huge fan of her posters, but the hand-drawn type is great! For more about Dana, visit her site. 

All images via Dana Tanamachi's site

Artist Spotlight | Marian Bantjes

 Last night, I had the pleasure of listening to Marian Bantjes promote her newly released book titled I Wonder. In an almost comical statement, she said that she could hardly describe exactly what this work is about in less than two minutes. I agree. 

For a bit of background, Marian Bantjes is an artist/graphic designer/illustrator/writer. She dropped out of art school and began working at a printer where she developed a love of type and typography. After a 10 year career there, she and a friend started a business together. They worked together for quite some time and Ms. Bantjes eventually realized that it was not what she wanted to do. She gave her portion of the company to her friend and after four years, she discovered what it was that she wanted to do.

If you have ever seen her work, it is meticulously detailed with lots of subtle repetition and careful placement. She is inspired by illuminated texts, religious ornamentation, heraldry and more. I discovered her like a child discovers an artist from days past. Without knowing who she is, you might have seen her work. She has graced the covers of several magazines and even designed materials for Nieman Marcus. Surprisingly, she works with many American and international companies despite the fact that she is from—and lives—in Canada.

For more information about Marian, visit her website. She explains more about herself and her influences/inspiration/history/you name it. You can look at all of her beautifully executed pieces and maybe buy I Wonder so you can sit down and read through it (I thoroughly enjoyed it to be honest).


Image of Marian Bantjes via Computer Arts
 

Recoded

I was first turned on to "vanity barcodes™" from my friend when I was in college. Although the one I saw was not from Vanity Barcodes™, it followed the same principal: as long as the barcode can still be scanned, you can create a very stunning design for something often forgotten. The first vanity barcodes™ I ever saw were from Vincent Chow's blog. I thought the umbrella barcode (pictured above) was quite extraordinary and subtle. However, Vanity Barcodes has—so to speak—raised the bar. View their creations on their website and hit the jump to see some that I think are quite spectacular.

Images via vincentchow.net and Vanity Barcodes

Pop Goodness

I often browse people's art on Behance to see what's going on in the design community worldwide. I always see some very nice work and become inspired. One really creative group of graphic designers is Filter017. I like their style and I wanted to share it with you (in case you didn't already know). Filter 017 has been around since 2004 and I hope they continue making awesome work. They also have a blog, so check it out if you have the time.
Images via Filter017

Superpoked!

The best thing about illustration is that people have so many different styles. One studio whose illustration I admire is Poked Studio. Their work is playful yet somewhat creepy and eerie. I like how something that might be "cute" is given a bit of an ominous twist. Hit the jump for some more illustrations and check out their site!

Surprise, surprise! Images from Poked Studio

Designed from scratch

Do you know how you eat a processed, pre-packaged cookie and it feels like it is missing something? Well, what is missing is the love that comes in from homemade goodness. I feel that One Fast Buffalo brings love into their design. OFB is in the southwestern US and their work is clean, concise, authentic and fresh. Of course, words say nothing compared to actual work. Go to their site and look around. You can change their background as well, so customize it to your liking—I really like this option. The interface is really fun and unique as well, so it's exciting to explore. If you hit the jump you'll see some of their works that I really enjoyed.

Medium love

I love illustration. I always illustrate things in my spare time, but I'm always wowed by other people's artwork. I mean it too. I am very open to other people's work because they create something that I don't. It's always so refreshing to see someone else's style. It's also inspirational. So this huge intro (huge for me at least) is to showcase the work of Nicholas Di Genova. I came across information about him from Drifting Creatives—a group of designers that you should also check out (if you are on twitter, you can follow them @driftcreate). Still, didn't you see that opening image? Doesn't it make you crave more?

Timeless

Recently, I spoke with my sister about logos. We were talking about the Holiday Inn rebrand. I was saying that for many companies, routine brand updates are essential. However, one company that we both agreed looks good no matter what is Coca-Cola. Despite its age, it has such a fresh look. Of course, this can be attributed to their unique commercial and print ads, however, I believe that Frank Mason Robinson did something great with Coca-Cola's logo. I don't regularly like script typefaces, but this is one that I can get down with. Hit the jump for some classic and recent Coca-Cola advertising.

Vintage soda cans

As many of my readers are well aware, I have a slight obsession with the decision-making website hunch. Well, I'm making a new topic on hunch about breaking Guinness World Records. One of the current record holders has a vast collection of Pepsi soda cans. This made me think about vintage soda packaging which led me to a gallery that has a nice display of old soda cans. It's interesting how packaging changes over time, isn't it? Hit the jump for some more images.

2009 Pentawards

Truly gorgeous packaging design is difficult and challenging to create. Those who rise to the challenge deserve all the kudos and recognition they receive. One of the award ceremonies, the Pentawards, is the only worldwide packaging competitions. Those who win truly have created something innovative and noteworthy to be praised on a global scale. Look at some of my favorite winners after the jump.

High fives ARE great

I would totally do this if I saw this sign. Kudos to Telegraph for the info and Ryan Laughlin for the design.