The Andersonian 2007

After a few days of continuos work, I finally finished the cover design of Anderson high school's annual magazine. This may or may not be the final design. Throughout the years, we stuck with the normal looking, cluttered magazine where they used photos of the school as the front cover. However, last year's magazine cover was pretty well done.

This time, I introduced something different...the minimalist, straight forward and impactful concept. Hopefully people will go "WOW! something different". It is a modern approach to a pretty old school :) Supposely, this design will make the readers flip through the magazine.

Robert Lindström aka (DesignChapel)

* all images in this post belongs purely to Robert Lindström, Design Chapel

Robert Lindström, a well known artist/illustrator has influenced many people around the globe including myself. By observing his works, we can actually feel the depth of his illustrations and most of his works leave behind a very mysterious impact leaving you to think about the story behind it. Most of my inspiration came from this hyper-talented artist. And one of my favourite below,

He introduced a totally new genre in this field and had influenced many at that time. As observed, his illustrations are mostly serious but yet leaves behind a good vibe. Robert Lindström also keeps a blog at http://www.dchpl.blogspot.com/. There is more about this brilliant artist at his blog...

Details

Name: Robert Lindström Site: http://www.designchapel.com

Random pic...

Calmness lies in the shades of green

Looks can be deceiving...

Smoke, - black, filthy and hazardous. Read on and you'll see what i mean at the end

Looks can be deceiving. This topic goes hand in hand with the infamous saying, "never judge a book by its cover". There are times where we need to know the inside instead of judging by its outer appearance.

There are people who can potray a vast variety of personalities and characters. But if you know them personally, you can see the core which sometimes appear totally different from what you think they are. Don't be fooled by them as sooner or later you will realise their true colours.

Never thought smoke could actually look good? Well, if you don't know what the picture on the left is...let me tell you, its smoke. Surprise?

2012 Olympics logo - design disaster? The reason behind it...

From my humble point of view, the newly launched 2012 Olympics logo [as shown] is a design disaster without a shadow of doubt. Prior to receiving critics and detrimental comments, it is also defended by a panel of rhetoricians. As impactful as its design, the hideous logo received comments from forums [photoshopCAFE] such as "This is the most premitive design work I've seen since barney rubble decided to draw a dinasour for his kids."
Costing a preposterous amount of £400,000, Lord Coe stated this, "It’s not a logo, it’s a brand that will take us forward for the next five years," Why would such an established design team jeopardize its brand name by creating this "logo"?

It is not a blatant error. If you notice the secluded intention behind this "masterplan", it is more of a marketing strategy or a popularity act. Now I could understand why Lord Coe quoted "it's a brand that will take us forward for the next five years." Indeed it will. In the past, how many could actually remember the logo for the Olympics? If i showed you one, could u state the year and its location? But with this new strategy, it will be remembered not only for the coming five years, but also for decades to come as it topped up as the most hideous logo in history. And with all the turbulence that came in relative with it, I guess the strategy is working after all.

Everyone thought it is a horribly designed logo designed by a team who does'nt know heck about designing, but if you check out the comittee who designed it http://www.wolffolins.com/ ...They produce masterpieces for companies like unilever and such, why would they do this? To me, its nothing more than a master plot. If you did'nt realise it yet, now you just did. By me even writing about it is contributing to the success of their plan.

Phoenix

This was also done during the competition, if you can't figure out what this is image is, its actually the head of a phoenix, done in photoshop with the liquify tool.

Walks of life

Another piece of my artwork that i did during a photoshop competition at photoshopCAFE entitled "walks of life"

Design comes 1st

In this political era, people seem to forget the importance of design. How can I not agree further with the above title. The statement that design comes before logic cannot be proven wrong. To futher illustrate my point with detail, everything that we see and use revolves around one common thing, that is designs. Even a science student is taught to design an experiment before executing it.

When Leonardo da Vinci first designed something that looked rather much like a helicopter, everyone thought it was a joke. But if not because of him, we would not have what we have today. Design came first and then scientists applied logic and theory to that certain design.

Besides that, design plays a pivotal role in enhancing marketing strategies. Would you prefer to go to a dining which have mediocre looking furnitures lighted with white fluorescent lamps or another, with curvy chairs, finely furnished tables, picture perfect art adorning the warm colours of the walls and lighted with the warmest orange lights? Today, we have not really noticed how important is design to our perhaps interesting or mundane lives. In a nutshell, we should appreciate designs and be more innovative to ensure the sparkle of mankind.

Double sided

A while back, I did an illustration on this pic. Starting with a desaturation, then applying the zipper concept. In the inner section, I inverted the image to create a 'double side' to the illustration. Finally, added some fonts and this is what i get at the end of the process.