Heroes and Heroines

Neville Brody

Neville Brody (born 23rd april 1957 in london) is an english graphic designer, typographer and art director. Studied at the London college of printing and is best known for his work on “The Face” magazine (1981 – 1986) and “Arena” magazine (1987 – 1990) Along with designing record sleeves whilst working for Fettish records (1980 – 1982) and designing a number of typefaces throughout his career such as Arcadia, Industria and insignia are some of the most well known.

 I reallylike Brodys magazine cover design for “Face” its a great example of layout. The Face logo dominating the top of the screen and then the extra information surrounding the face. I especially like the issue second down from the left. The Face logo is positioned vertically, i think this really makes a feature out of the “Face” of who is in the issue putting more emphasis upon the image.  This is one of Neville Brodys record sleeves. it is a three dimensional art work as the hands were made out of plaster and then photographed to give this effective idea that the hands are popping out of the image. One of Brodys main aims was not to be bound in by the margins and edge of the page or material in which you are working on. This piece of work explains just that theory. I dont really like this piece as i think the colours are abit bland and a bit boring to look at, although the fact that the hands produce the effect that they are three dimensional i think is clever and it is no wonder Brodys work is so memorable and eye catching.

Why Not Associates

Why Not Associates were established in 1987 by Andrew Altmann, David Ellis and Howard Greenhalgh. It is a brittish Graphic Design company. it works within a range of different medias such as digital design, motion graphics, television, commercial, advertising and branding, environmental design, publishing, web design and book design. The company has created and directed many well known campaigns for huge brands such as nike, virgin records and the bbc.

corporate identity, website and signage for london based post production facility.

Mesmerization is a book cover for Gee Thomsons new book designed by Why Not Associates. The book explores the media spells that bind us in the modern world.

Both of these images are from the nike campaign. on left are the in-store graphics including window designs. On the right is the official logo for shoe boxes and tags for the international launch of nike’s shox ‘more go’ campaign, designed by Why Not Associates. I really like this campaign right from the products such as shoe boxes to the window dressings. In the image above the trainer is literally bursting out of the window. The sharp jagged edges and speres of colour projecting from the trainer look amazing and would definately catch my eye if i where walkin past the window. It has energy and definately promotes the model perfectly in my opinion. this is definately one of my favourite campaigns done by Why Not Associates.

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes doesnt have a formal education in design and only went to art school of one year in 1982. She then worked as a book typesetter from 1983, where she was trained  in a very traditional and “classical” typesetting style. In 1993 I started and co-owned a design firm for 9 years until 2003. Marian Bantjes is no longer involved in the company and now works from home (an island off the west coast of Canada) as a “Graphic Artist”

Marian Bantjes claims she is inspired by the following artists: Josef Müller-Brockman, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, andJenny Holzer and many many more.

This is a pattern/design  made for the cover of The Women of Design by  Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit.  The design was made to fit in the negative space of the letterforms. The idea being that the women are there in design, we just often don’t see them. Because the letters force the faces into strange shapes.Bantjes said she relied a lot on hair to make it work wouldnt work with men’s faces! which just emphasises the actual purpose of the design. I think this design is really good in the way it draws your eye in with the confusing patterns and i really like the colour of the yellow text against the black background and pink outlines of the shapes.                                                          

This is a isometric patterned cover Bantjes designed for the “Signs, Symbols, Ornaments” issue of the German magazine “Slanted” The three dimensional properties of the back of the cover looks great like lots of building blocks stacked on each other to make this structure , it draws my eye especially the red blocks work very well with the grey and black, it really stands out. A very eyepopping pattern to say the least.

Stefan Sagmeister

Born 1962 in Austria and is a Graphic Designer and typographer currently living in Bali, Indonesia. He has his own design firm, Sagmeister Inc based in New York, which he started in 1994. Prior to this working for to years at the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Hong Kong and later for eight months at M&Co. in New York. Sagmeister has designed album covers for well known bands such as, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones. The stones cover demanded months of tiresom effort and research.

“Sagmeister builds his design on ideas that, although quirky and contentious, are very logical, ultimately producing work that grabs the eye and disrupts the senses while satisfiying his own atavistic need to agitate.” (source: Book, DEsign Literacy (continued) understanding design, author; Steven Heller, published 1999, by Allworth Press, p150)

Some may see Sagmeisters work as experimental he dismisses this idea and insists his designs and design solutions are built on intuition, play and the desire to rise above the mundane.