Shillington College

Shillington student and graduate poster competition to HELP THOSE WHO HELP US.

 

Shillington College are running a competition to raise money for the State Emergency Service (SES) in QLD, VIC & NSW entitled 'I get by with a little help from my friends'. This competition is open to any current or ex-student of Shillington College or Shillington School worldwide.

I am sure every ex-student (Australian or otherwise) is aware of the severe floods that effected Queensland, Victoria and Northern New South Wales. All the staff at Shillington College would like to give back to those in the SES who have been truly heroic and selfless in their efforts across the country to save lives and help those most in need. Now again in the last 24 hours they have made great efforts to save and assist those adversely effected by Cyclone Yasi.

So if you are interested in flexing your creative muscle, and help those, who are helping us all the time. All you have to do is submit a poster design based on the title 'I get by with a little help from my friends'. We want to see the most original and striking artwork, it can be purely typographic, type and image, done by hand and photographed. It's completely open to interpretation, you can use the words in the title or choose your own inspired by the title.

The Lecturers at Shillington College will select the top 20 entries which will then be posted on 15th Feb on the Shillington facebook page for online voting.

Voting will close on the 28th Feb. The winning poster will be printed and sold online, with all profits going to SES in QLD, VIC and NSW.

The designer of the winning poster will receive a single print of there A1 poster, plus a $100 AU voucher for itunes.

Submission Deadline: 14th Feb
Poster Specs: (A1) 841mm x 594mm portrait, CMYK (no spots or pantones). Final artwork must be 300dpi.
For voting submit 72dpi file 427pixels x 604pixels to: info@shillingtoncollege.com.au
Please include your full name, which college you were enrolled, or are currently enrolled, at and the year of study.

We look forward to seeing all submissions and encourage you to put your design to a positive use, if not for this competition, for others who are in need across the world. 

Story Telling in packaging.

I recently discovered a small film about the Mast brothers in Brooklyn NY. These artisan chocolate makers ( as I hear it from the residents its awesome chocolate). What I found particularly interesting was how there philosophy manifests itself into the packaging, the solution is simple, elegant and says a great deal about the Mast Brothers. Very aspect of the product is considered. Check out the beautiful packs below and get a load of the crazy beard work on the brothers (all kinds of awesome).

The Magazine 'The Scout' wrote: The life of a mariner is one given over to wanderlust—the quest for adventure, crossing unseen horizons to secure precious goods—only to bring them back to their home port. This same love of adventure and curiosity defines the brotherhood of Rick and Michael Mast. They share a fiercely independent spirit, leaping into the unknown and trusting that they’ll find the answer through endurance and dedication to their craft.

They began their voyage in their apartment, using a homemade machine to process cacao beans. Over time they cultivated their creation, sourcing beans from family farms in Madagascar, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Each bar is handmade with incredible reverence for the process and history of chocolate. They are bound in ornamental papers and golden foil like a collection of rare books. Each bar offers its own story of flavors, and no two are exactly alike.

 

In a recent guest lecture by Tony Ibbotson of the Creative Method, Sydney he highlighted the emphasis or need for story telling in packaging, be it fictional, or factual, based on the product or its producers. This was just one of the valuable insights into the workings of a packaging project. Check out their packaging projects at thecreativemethod.com in particular Real McCoy and Saint Clair Pioneer Block.

 

Letterheady

Ever wondered what the letterheads of iconic figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Houdini & Charlie Chaplin looked like?  Check out LETTERHEADY — its an online archive of bygone stationery design. www.letterheady.com

Thanks Shannon in Melbourne FT for the Heads up :)

Stationery design inspiration

Its difficult to understand the challenges and limitations of stationery design until you actually try to do it. Its one area of design where I avidly look for new ideas and I'm always collecting examples of great business cards and letterheads to inspire me. This post called 83 Crazy/Beautiful Letterhead and Logo Designs on youthedesigner.com is hit and miss, but there are definitely some winners on there. Thanks to Adam in the Manchester class for showing it to me.

Information is Beautiful

Yes, another blog. No, it's not full of random inspiration... this one's especially for all you reporting nerds out there. Check out some beautifully and creatively designed info graphics. Look out for the 'Movie Monster Comparison Chart'!

Inkymole

Sarah Coleman is Inkymole, and Illustrator with a penchant for beautiful hand rendered typography. Sarah Says she is, 'Inspired by the penmanship of a more elegant era and with a muscular, if pedantic, grasp of the English language, I've wrapped these perma-stained fingers around words and pictures for advertising, identities, packaging,record sleeves and a trillion book covers.'

12 Common Photoshop Mistakes

A great quick read for anyone who has just started work in photoshop. The article was created to raise awareness and to educate new users of photoshop with a list of common mistakes and misuses often made. We've all been there and I find this guy cuts straight to the point explaining everything in context.

Click here to check it out.

Typedia – Like Wikipedia... but for Type!

Typedia is an awesome blog that acts like Wikipedia for Typography. A community website dedicated to typefaces, all things type related and educating people about type – anyone can join, add and edit pages to share the info that they come across. 

Click here to check it out! 

Polish Film Posters

I was recently introduced to the cool and crazy world of Polish film posters by Jeremy Saunders, who has designed posters for some of Australia's biggest films, as well as other well-known international movies.

Many are strikingly different to the typical 'Western' posters of the same film. By all accounts this is because the Polish designer might not have actually seen the movie they're designing the poster for, plus they are usually hand drawn. I think you'll agree that they're all unique, in most cases beautiful and, some, pretty obscure...

Check out this link

Art of the Arcade

No one ever goes the arcade anymore. In my day (a child of the late seventies and eighties) this is where everyone hung out, got into trouble and smoked cigarettes under age.  

This site has an awesome selection of arcade and early game console artwork including packaging, logos and ads from various sources featuring stuff like the atari logo and the pong console packaging. 

A great deal of designers today seem to revisit some of the styling from this period. I am sure it will pass.Remember when looking at this artwork this was done before the advent of the of the mac and applications like illustrator. Probably all of it was done by hand.

Interested? Check it out at 'The Art of the Arcade'.