Five Frames

I found a Flickr group where people submit a sequence of up to five photos that should visually work to tell a story. You can associate a brief title with the sequence but the photographs should bring the story to life. Group members can then post their interpretations and critiques of the sequence.

Since a lot of information can be deduced from a single photograph, here are some general guidelines the group admin has suggested:

Photo 1: establish characters and location.
Photo 2: create a situation with possibilities of what might happen.
Photo 3: involve the characters in the situation.
Photo 4: build to probable outcomes.
Photo 5: have a logical, but surprising, end.

Flipping through many of the entries, it was neat to see such a broad range of ideas and vehicles for telling the stories. Take a look.

And, this is just one example entitled: Trust.

Music Video

This music video for the Avett Brothers "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" was made by thousands of slight alterations on a single painting. I can't even imagine the amount of patience it took to create this piece. Then again, I think about the amount of time I (we) spend agonizing over little details in our own design work, and I can at least begin to relate.

100 Classic Novels Re-Covered

Belgian graphic design studio, Beshart, brought together 100 artists from 28 countries to redesign the covers for "The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time." The mission of the project was to raise awareness for the problem of illiteracy. The collection was officially released in Antwerp City Hall in Belgium on International Literacy Day, Sept. 8. "Support Our Cause" -- the clear call to action. Check out the online gallery. There are so many novels on this list that I still want to read!

Donut Tree

In my brief "About Me" on my blog, I mention that donuts are my best friend/worst enemy, which holds true. Cupcakes are a close second. I'm a bit out of touch with standard children's party games these days, so when I came across this donut tree idea, it made me laugh.

Ginger Booth App

Yep ... an app that lets you see what you and your friends would look like as a Ginger. No different than the other apps that let you try out different hair colors and hair styles --  just a more focused, comical approach.

PUBLIC

PUBLIC, a San Francisco based bicycle company, asked 27 international designers to interpret the concept of “public” with a vision to reclaim urban streets, sidewalks and spaces for walking, biking and other social purposes -- their designs are part of the "PUBLIC WORKS" poster exhibition. I love the illustrations of each designer on the website. Here are a few of the featured posters:

 

Go With Your Own Glow

The Skin Cancer Foundation is responsible for the "Go With Your Own Glow" ad campaign. The series of ads directed towards women convey the message that tanning is unhealthy and going out of style. The images in each ad all have the same treatment -- hand drawings.

And, there are various tag lines:
-"Go ahead, be fabulous. Just protect yourself."
-"Want a killer tan? You might just get one."
-"Keep tanning you look great in leather."
-"Crows feet. Blotches. Spots. When you don't protect your skin, you're getting more than a tan."

The simple call to action: Protect yourself in the sun.

FLW

I love architecture. My dad is an engineer/project manager so we always had blue prints of various buildings lying around the house as I was growing up. A couple years ago, my family and I took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob houses. I love clean lines, open floor plans, a lot of light (windows), and hidden spaces. Architecture definitely inspires my design aesthetic.

Kentuck Knob

Kentuck Knob

Fallingwater

Fallingwater

Matchbook

Another blog I recently stumbled upon -- Matchbook: bikinis meet their match. The blogger matches bathing suits with book covers. Each image is clickable and takes you to Amazon to buy the respective book. Interesting way to draw a little more attention to book cover art.

A Few of My Favorite...Words.

Bigwig. Espionage. How cool is spying?! Flabbergasted. Free. duh ;) Ludicrous. My mom threw this word around a lot as I was growing up. Mellifluous. I love words that sound like what they mean. Tenacious. Thrifty. Tremendous. Serendipitous. Shady. Shenanigans. Sizzle. Snarky. Spelunking. This word makes me want to go cave diving. Then I quickly remember I'm terrified of tiny spaces. Swoon. Superfluous. Voodoo.

Everynone

Everynone is a film-making team responsible for creating many award-winning videos featured on Vimeo. I recently watched their Symmetry, Words and Losers videos, all of which depend heavily on images rather than words to convey their messages. I really loved seeing the juxtaposition of the images they chose in Symmetry.

The Compact Disc

Earlier this week, the compact disc turned 30. On Oct. 1, 1982, the first commercial CD, Billy Joel's 52nd Street, was released in Japan. This new format brought with it a covenience factor unlike vinyl LP and tape formats. I still remember spending hours recording songs from the radio to a tape via my boombox. When burning songs to a disk became possible, I couldn't believe I used to use tapes, and now, digital files are gradually overtaking the need for CDs.

I also remember choosing CDs to look at based on the album artwork. How memorable was Nirvana's Nevermind album cover? I loved reading the song lists, lyrics and messages from the artist that came along with the CD itself. But now, seeing album artwork is a rarity, unless I properly paid for and downloaded an album from iTunes and see the tiny album cover image appear on my iPod. Is album cover art a dying art?