I'm always on the lookout for different sources of inspiration to help keep my designs fresh. This book is pretty awesome. Its called 'New Masters of Poster Design' and is a collaboration of poster design from around the world.
First off, the designs are out of this world. Some of the designs have me wondering, "Woah - what client would ever say 'Yes!' to that!?! Its too crazy!" Its obvious that the designers hired to do this work were given 100% creative freedom.
Secondly, the creative influences in this book are global... and it shows. There's so much variety in the designs. The book exposes you to creative genius that you'd, otherwise, be hard pressed to experience.
Lastly, by nature of poster design, its a completely different format then web or corporate collateral design, at least in this book. Much of the strange formatting used in the posters (which work well for posters) can be used to influence new ideas in formatting web designs or corporate collateral.
All in all, its a great purchase. I purchased it just over 8 months ago and I still take a peak through it once or twice a month as a creative refresher.
Pick it up at Indigo - http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/New-Masters-Poster-Design-Poster-John-Foster/9781592532223-item.html.
Apr 25, 2009
Poster Design as Inspiration
May 17, 2008
Apr 22, 2008
300% Cotton - 100% Inspiration
A good friend of mine, Private Dave McDonald, hooked me up with a gift card to Indigo. I'm not a book guy - at all. But the gift card gave me an opportunity to do something I should have done years ago. I needed to expose myself to some new, fresh and creative design influences.
There's a difference between a designer and a creative designer - and I want to be the later. A designer may know how to pair colors or how to layout a page. They may also know how to pump out lifeless templates and designs. But a creative designer should have the ability to CREATE - hence CREATive. Each creation should be a unique manifestation of the design's purpose and should in turn induce emotion - exactly the same way music does. Although each design may contain a designer's common fingerprint elements, it should, for the most part, be a unique creation. And in order to be creative, you need inspiration.
For me, inspiration has come in the form of this book. I randomly grabbed this book off the shelf (one of many) at Indigo. Hats off to Helen Walters on publishing an excellent collection of graphic art. It's entitled 300% Cotton and features 934 color illustrations from some of the most creative graphic-tee designers from across the globe.
I'm making a commitment to pick up books similar to this on a regular basis. This one book alone has freed my creativity from the dreaded "plateau".
300% Cotton at Indigo.Chapters.ca
Apr 18, 2008
Easy HTML/CSS Color Picker
I was browsing the web for a really simple solution for RGB color selection in a form. But, every example I found seemed to require a ridiculous amount JS. Then I had a genius thought - why not just use CSS and HTML?
So here she is: (as I blog, you'll come to learn that all HTML elements are inherently female)
And here's the code:
Apr 17, 2008
Greatest SQL Manager
SQLManager.net has developed the greatest SQL Manager I've ever used. It kills the SQL IDE's that come with both SQL 2000 and 2005 (Enterprise Manager). One of the biggest features for me is that it lets you connect to both SQL Server 2000 and 2005. Best of all - there is a freeware version available! I'm not sure what features are missing in the freeware version as I'm using the 30 day free trial.
Anyhow - enjoy!
EMS SQL Manager for SQL Server
http://www.sqlmanager.net/en/products/mssql/manager