Michael Bierut

Well, in case you are available, you should order your tickets for his presentation next Thursday at the Downtown Independent Theater – AIGA student members: $15 and non-student members: $30 – ASAP, because as of this writing, they’re almost all sold out.

But whether or not you see him on the 19th, you have another chance the next morning, at my Loyola Marymount University class. The format is laid back and conversational. It starts at 11, so crosstown traffic should be a breeze. No reservations are necessary, and admission and parking are free!

You’ll find details on the above flyer or here on the AIGA events page.

Before Shepard Fairey went on stage at the Ahmanson a few weeks ago – details here – he told me that his Subliminal Projects gallery in Silver Lake was currently showing Jamie Reid’s work. Since I cover punk’s bad boy of graphics in my “Design History 2″ class I checked it out and was impressed enough to feature it in my weekly imPrint column.

You can read that story and sample the graphics here. And you can see Jamie’s exhibit in person up until the end of this week.

Hear stories from three pioneers who have created reality from their dreams and gone on to influence design, culture, art, technology and fashion worldwide.

Thursday, March 22nd, 7:30 to 9:30 pm, Ahmanson Auditorium at Art Center’s Hillside Campus, 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena, CA 9110. FREE!
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Lynda Weinman, co-founder and executive chair of lynda.com, is a self-taught computer expert, author, educator, and entrepreneur. Before launching lynda.com, she was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design and worked as an animator and motion graphics director in the film special effects industry. Lynda has also been a consultant for Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft, and has conducted workshops at those organizations in addition to Disney. She, along with her husband and co-founder Bruce Heavin, evolved lynda.com from its original concept as a free web resource for her students, to the site for her books on Web design, to the registration hub for physical classrooms and conferences, to a highly successful online training library.
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Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, SC in 1970. He received his B.F.A. at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. While at R.I.S.D. he created the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker that transformed into the OBEY GIANT art campaign with imagery that has changed the way people see art and the urban landscape. His work has evolved into an acclaimed body of art which includes the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama which can be found in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait gallery. Since the beginning of his career in 1989 he has exhibited in galleries and museums around the around the world, indoor and outdoor. His works are in the permanent collections of the MOMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Boston ICA, and many others.
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Spencer Nikosey launched his premium bag and luggage brand KILLSPENCER at his Art Center grad-show in 2008. Handcrafting functional Weekender Bags, Backpacks, and Messenger Bags out of used in combat military truck tarp and vintage Korean War Era fabrics caught the attention of bloggers and instantly kickstarted and online following and customer base. Soon, demand increased and local production became problematic. Frustrated with the lack of quality and attention to detail in local factories, Spencer decided to assemble a team of master craftsmen and build his own Workshop in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District. Today, Spencer and his team of passionate creatives designs, develops, manufactures, and ships their products globally, proudly made in U.S.A.
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* Read my 2000 Print magazine feature on Shepard here.

The Debris Project is a Tumblr blog featuring “the failed design explorations pushed off to the side of our layouts and sitting on the pasteboard. Layering and accumulating over days. Layering…… and accumulating…… over days.” This totally makes me want to start collecting screen caps of the edges of my projects. Exciting, inadvertent design.

(Tumblr from Todd Albertson (@toddalbertson) and Tom Brown (@TBAandD))

Beautiful tilt shift / time lapse of the Carnaval party in Rio de Janeiro by Keith Loutit and Jarbas Agnelli.

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

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This annual report for Austria Solar by German agency Serviceplan can only be read in sunlight when the ink reacts to the sun and becomes visible. While the design itself does not blow me away, this is an excellent example of technology supporting an interesting concept.

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Being big fans of anagrams over here at teachevil/vilecheat/leaveitch, I just had to share these interlocking type “Anamonograms” by Gerren Lamson.

See more, and the story behind it all here.

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What happens when [swissmiss] studiomate Frank Chimero takes a break from writing his book? This. A brand new personal site. His new site is a scrollable firework: Frank’s brilliant mind visualized. (Book lovers, make sure to check out his library section!)

In his own words: “Each invention shows that the world is malleable, from the simplest stone tool to the screen you’re using to read this. We make what we want, break things in the process, collect what we like, and connect what we discover to get us closer to where we want to be.”

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I absolutely love these unconventionally typographic wine labels. Designer László Mihály Naske explains his process:

“Handmade’ still confers an air of high esteem on objects, which is why I was pleased that, when Péter Wetzer commissioned me to design labels for his craft wines, he wanted a calligraphed theme.”

“And when he gave me carte blanche to choose the shape of the letters as I saw fit, I was thrilled. I find the match between the wine and its label very pleasing; substance is truly aligned with style in this case, since what could fit a handcrafted wine more than a label drawn by hand? I started out with some quite bold arrangements but the client’s preferences won out to yield a more straightforward label which actually makes much more sense: A winemaker’s philosophy is better served by a more traditional composition that nevertheless manages to incorporate novel elements.”

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There’s something funny about Design History. And Michael Gross will be visiting my class in the LAT Media Center this Thursday evening at 7:30 to tell us a thing or two about it.

Michael is best known for his art direction – and most notoriously, his “Kill This Dog” cover – for the National Lampoon. Earlier, he was senior designer for the 1968 Mexican Olympics. He’s worked as John Lennon’s personal designer, Muppets consultant, Esquire art director, and producer for films such as Ghostbusters, for which he designed the “no ghosts” logo. He’s also an illustrator, photographer, and museum curator.

If you miss Michael here at Art Center, he’ll be giving a repeat performance at my Loyola Marymount University Design History class on the West Side Friday morning at 11, in room 211 of the Burns building. Both events are, of course, free.

Here’s a preview of a few Lampoon covers Michael will discuss…