Queens of the Stone Age Band Poster

Psychedelic Style

Designer:  Craig Phillips 

Workbook vol. 38 pg. 118

When I saw the typography in this design, it instantly reminded me of the typography that was used in many psychedelic styled band posters of the 60's.  It has the same style of form and arrangement.  Like psychedelic band posters, the typography is arranged around the main figure in the composition.
Aside from the typography, the patterns on the figure and the fabric also have psychedelic qualities to them.  The flowing, organic patterns and curvy lines closely mimic the patterns commonly seen in psychedelic styles of art.

"Leslie Ink Play"

Design Team: Leslie Ink

Arts and Crafts style

How Magazine Fall 2016, pg. 25

This design reminded me of William Morris's printed letter designs.  It uses scrolly, organic shapes and lines to form the letters of the alphabet. A few of the letters use plant-like designs similar to Morris's designs. Each letter is so intricately designed.  When it comes to doing designs on the alphabet, the font used for it is usually the same for each alphabet.  I noticed in this design that each letter seems to be different.  Some letters use thin, delicate lines, while others use heavier lines or are filled with more black on the inside.  

Each letter appears to have its own unique style.  Most of these letters use a good amount of ornaments either on inside or on the outside, creating a frame around them.  While some letters are heavily decorated, it is still identifiable (even though they're in alphabetical order).

I love this creative spin on the alphabet.  It has a wonderful use of shapes and lines to create interesting letter form illustrations.  

Black Acre Brewing Beer Cans

Plackatstil style

Design Firm:  Timber Design Co.  

Client:  Black Acre Brewing Company

How Magazine Fall 2016, pg 48

I came across this package design and it instantly reminded me of the Plackatstil style of the Pictorial Modernism movement.  This design uses a limited color pallet of black, white and the silver aluminum of the can itself.  The shapes used are bold and geometric.  The design of the figures uses a minimalist approach to show form.   The figures on the cans are simple, but you are still able to tell what they are.  The figures in the images are presented by themselves with no ornamentation or background imagery around, much like the Plackistil styled advertisements.  

"Medusa Olive Oil"

Artist: Thanh Nguyen

 How Magazine, Fall 2016

Art Nouveau Style

This is a package design for the Medusa Olive Oil brand.  I found this design as I was flipping through a magazine.  In a way, it reminded me of the Art Nouveau style we have been discussing in class.  In Medusa's face, flat black shapes are used to create form on her green skin.  The organic lines of the snakes twist and curve throughout the olive plants.  The snakes in Medusa's hair create a frame around her face and up around the sides, keeping your eyes moving throughout the design.  The olives themselves are used as decorative elements in the design, similar to the decorative floral pattern motifs used in Art Nouveau. This is an attractive design on the concept art of Medusa.  I enjoyed how the designer chose to incorporate olives as a part of Medusa's hair in addition to the snakes.  

Neil Duerden

Adidas Shoe Advertisement

Psychedelic

Workbook vol. 33 pg. 281

This is an advertisement for the Adidas company by Neil Duerden.  I thought that this was an interesting way to display an ad for a shoe.  For one thing, part of the shoe, what should be the main focus of the ad, is cropped out.  The shoe sits on the rising stream of shapes and swirls, as if it is rising up and outwards, away from our view.  The colors and patterns reminded me of the psychedelic art style.  The design is colorful, organic and full of movement, like psychedelia.  Normally, when I see ads for shoes or sneakers, they are usually associated with sports in some way.  This ad does not indicate sports or activity at all.  This design is very intricate and kinetic.  The diagonal direction of the shapes and the shoe keeps your eye moving from one side to the other.    

Moonstruck Forunato Chocolate Packaging

Kate Forrester

Psychedelic style

Workbook vol. 38

This is a package design by Kate Forrester for the Moonstruck Chocolate company.  I thought that this was a very fun and intriguing design! The design is full of movement, leading your eye around the package.  I love how the type flows around with the organic designs.  I also think that it's interesting that the designer used both the white and the negative space of purple to create the shapes in the design composition.  In my opinion, the design style chose has a kind of psychedelic appearance to it.  The way the shapes bend and curve seem to create movement the way a psychedelic pattern would.  I loved looking through the patterns and finding new shapes each time!

Alternate Book Covers
Reductionist style
Designer:  Brian Gartside
Workbook vol. 33 pg. 218

I found this image in an issue of Workbook.  These pieces are some alternate book cover ideas for the Harry Potter series done by Brian Gartside.
This image caught my interest.  I loved the Harry Potter books and was always so interested in looking through the illustrations on the book covers.  The front and the back were normally jam packed with pictures from scenes and characters from the story.  Here, the artist has chosen a fairly simple design for his version of the book covers.  He keeps the same style of typography for the Harry Potter title, but changes the typography for the title of the story (bold for Sorcerer's Stone, scrolly for Deathly Hollows)
On the back and the on the spines on the book covers, Gartside has included the number each book is in the series.  I thought that this was interesting to do.  There are no numbers used on the original book covers.
This design reminds me of the reductionist/minimalist style.  While the original Harry Potter book covers are filled with scenes and figures, these covers are simplified down to using the title and number of the book, and just one element from the story.  It gives you the information you are looking for (what book this is, what order of book this is, who wrote it)  without presenting you with too much artwork.

I also liked that Gartside included small images of things from the story (flying keys).  These were used to create a nice little pattern around the type.

The designer has also done the same with the back of the books.  He has used a simple design while tying in things from the story.