ADAA

Adobe has recently handed out its annual design achievement awards. This is the 10^th year that they have given these awards out to students who combine the creative arts with technology.  This is a worldwide competition and to date 52 countries have participated in this so far. For these awards Abode works in conjunction with Icograda which is the International Council of Graphic Design Associations. The student submitted designs are judged by a panel of judges made up of international design experts. There were twelve winners selected from different categories such interactive media, film and motion, and traditional media. The judges look for originality, how well the designed piece meets communication requirements, and how well the participants used Adobe’s products to design the pieces. The prizes for these awards are very attractive for any student because they include cash, Adobe products, and even mentorships for a year with an Icograda design leader. I only looked through some of the winners but I found all their projects interesting in one way or another. Though that doesn’t mean I actually liked all the projects I saw. I did think it was funny though that out of the winners I looked through almost all of them were German.

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto

The movie about the guy who had all these people design furniture for him, his name escapes me right now, made me curious to look up some other furniture designers. I found this man interesting although he was known for his buildings more than his furniture. Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto, who is sometimes known as the father or Nordic modernism, was an architect and designer that was born in Finland. He was an architecture student at the Helsinki Polytechnic Institute and graduated from there in 1921. His major debut as an architect came when he designed the Municipal Library at Viipuri, Russia. This building showcased his ideals in the humanitarian approach to architecture with involved using a lot of natural materials that were displayed inside the building as well as a large use of warm colors. In 1932 he created his very first chair which was made of a combination of metal and wood. Shortly after this he started producing furniture that was made up entirely of wood. Aalto’s designs were very well done and also they were very easy to mass produce which is always something companies are looking for. Aalto also designed Finland’s pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair. This brought him a lot of new attention from people outside of Finland and Frank Lloyd Wright even called it “A work of genius.” It doesn’t surprise me that Frank Lloyd Wright would love Aalto’s work as he always incorporated the landscape into his designs for buildings which Wright did himself at times. In an effort to enhance his buildings, Aalto often designed even the furniture that went inside his buildings to give a better feel to the building and a better flow to the space. He was always very concerned with how well each component worked with each other as well as how it worked as its individual function.

Hayao Miyazaki

There was an animated part to Kamikaze Girls so I’m using that to justify writing about one of my favorite animators. Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest animation directors of our time. His success has lead people to see him as Japan’s Walt Disney. He has directed many films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and many many more. His most recent film was Ponyo which was released in 2008. Many of Miyazaki’s films have won awards and many of them also have similar themes and other elements in common with each other. He often has nature being a spirit or spirits and the pollution of nature by man is something he likes to show in his films. He also typically has both a male and female main character and he likes to have flying come into play somehow. He also has a unique visual style because of his love for using watercolors in the production of the animation cells. Miyazaki started off working for Toei Animation and then ened up working in a few other studio’s until he started his own 1985, Studio Ghibli. All of Miyazaki’s films are released in the United States and most of them are put out under the Disney logo over here. Even in the modern age where most animators use computer animation Miyazaki has totally dissolved Studio Ghibli’s computer animation department because he believes that one of the fundamentals of animation is to have it be hand drawn.

Comic Sans

One of my favorite typefaces is Comic Sans. It has a nice fun feel to it and it can be easily read in most cases because of the weight of the typeface. Comic Sans was created by Vincent Connare. It was later released in 1994 by the Macintosh Corporation. It was designed to mimic the typefaces that were used in popular comic books which is where it got its name from. It was originally used on the covers of software packages designed for little kids. The typeface quickly became popular and was used in software such as Windows 95 and Internet Explorer.

Comic Sans became so widely used that a “Ban Comic Sans” movement was started by two graphic designers. The movement stated that the font should be used only in instances where a fun and childlike typeface should be used. People were using the font for serious things such as it being used in corporations and serious messages like exit signs and museums which is what the movement opposed. As time went by the movement gradually gained support. Even Vincent Connare has joined in support of the movement. A rather funny quote by Vincent Connare I found is, “If you love it [Comic Sans] you don’t know much about typography. If you hate it, you really don’t know much about typography either and you should get another hobby.” Mr. Connare also states that when he created Comic Sans he never intended it to be a font to be released to the public. He only intended it to be used in MS Bob.

Joker Poster

In the interview with Shepard Fairey a student mentioned the “Joker Poster” and I wasn’t familiar with it so I looked it up. The joker poster is a picture of Barack Obama that is altered to make him look like the Joker from the popular movie “The Dark Knight”. It also has the word “Socialism” written across the bottom. This poster has a rather odd source of origin as the image was created by Firas Alkhateeb, a 20 year old college student. He uploaded the image onto the internet and from there someone took the image and added the word “Socialism” at the bottom and then began spreading this new image as a poster in L.A. Since its introduction to the streets this poster has got the attention of the media over and over again and has spread all over the world. One of the most interesting things I read while researching this was the fact that President Obama personally wrote to Shepard Fairey thanking him for putting up the Obama Hope posters which were a form of street art but for these Joker poster’s the president is hysterically demanding that arrests be made. While this doesn’t surprise me it does make me laugh at the fact that street art is ok as long as it’s supporting him. 

The Joker poster has even been used by some people in anti-Obama protests with the phrase “Why so socialist?” as a play on the famous line from the movie “Why so serious?” that was said by the Joker. From all that I’ve read many agree that the actual message and thought process behind this poster is rather poor. Just one example is the fact that the poster has Obama labeled as “Socialism” instead of “Socialist”. Perhaps it is because of this fact that I’m so intrigued by this poster, it’s just is a good example of the power of images. By portraying Obama as the Joker, who is an evil villain, people relate Obama and the Joker together and since the Joker is evil then that must mean Obama is evil as well. The actual thought behind the poster is meaningless and people take this and use it as a symbol against Obama simply because it has a powerful image, not a powerful message.