Design Brief

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Mick Jagger's letter commissioning Andy Warhol to create an album cover for the Rolling Stones. Via ffffound.

Teen artist is really pissing off Damien Hirst

A 17-year-old graffiti artist was bailed out of jail after picking a legal fight with Damien Hirst, the millionaire British artist whose work exhibited recently at MCA Denver.

In November, Hirst pounced his legal team on on the graffiti artist, whose alias is Cartrain, for making collages that used photos of Hirst's $83 million diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God – including the above portrait of Hirst.

Hirst's legal claim against the collages was probably weak (copyright infringement), but the emerging artist's gallery knew it didn't have much of a chance fighting a rich guy's lawyers and they turned over the works to Hirst.

But the younger artist wanted his stuff back.

In July, Cartrain decided to retaliate with a little mischief. He visited the Tate Britian where Hirst's installation Pharmacy was on display. The work, valued at $826,000, included a box of pencils that Cartrain pocketed. Later, he created a "wanted" style poster with the following text:

For the safe return of Damien Hirst's pencils I would like my artworks back that ... Hirst took off me in November. It's not a large demand... Hirst has until the end of this month to resolve this or on 31 July the pencils will be sharpened. He has been warned.

Cartrain told The Independent, "A few weeks later I went out and I returned home to find out the art and antiques squad from New Scotland Yard had called round with a warrant for my arrest."

This is such a fantastic story, I can't help but wonder if Hirst is orchestrating all of it.

• Cartrain's blog
• Previously: "One of the richest and most famous artists in the world." Damien Hirst exhibition opens at MCA Denver Oct. 7. Sept. 23, 2008

outside the box

outside the box from joseph Pelling on Vimeo.

AIGA's new (Re)designAwards promote social responsibility and sustainable design

AIGA's first green competition will recognize graphic design projects that support sustainability. Awards will be given in three categories:

• Projects created for socially conscious clients.
• Corporate projects featuring materials and design that apply consideration for environmental impact.
• Forward-thinking businesses.

Although a national competition, props to AIGA Colorado for spearheading program. Call for entries June 1 – July 31.

• AIGA (Re)designAwards 09

Intel celebrates nerd rock stars

Ajay Bhatt, one of the brains behind USB technology, is featured (though played by an actor) in Intel's new "Sponsors of Tomorrow" campaign.

Via Laughing Squid.

AIGA Voice: How the Web Made Me a Better Copywriter

Stripped of big words, complex phrases and unnecessary adjectives, copy becomes increasingly transparent—spare and frill-free. Lacking the distracting imposition of a writer’s ego, copy becomes a more powerful tool of persuasion.

AIGA Voice: How the Web Made Me a Better Copywriter. By Cathy Curtis of Textual, Mar. 31, 2009

Somebody finally beats The Matress King

If you live in Colorado, you've seen the horrible commercials where an awkward pre-teen boy screams about his family's mattress business, "Nobody beats The King! Nobody!"

In this YouTube spoof, somebody goes beyond giving him a beating.

Final Edition: Beautiful video about The Rocky and its demise

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.


Like a lot commentary online, I'm surprised at how deeply sad I am about the loss of The Rocky Mountain News.

When I looked at the full list of reporters in yesterday's final edition, I found myself stopping at names I knew and feeling a real sense of loss.

Over my nearly five years in Denver, I've done a lot of work as an activist with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. I lobbied political reporters Lynn Bartles and Ed Sealover (when he was at the Gazette), and religion reporter Gene Torkleson. And who could forget Fernando Quintero, who covered the murder of Kevin Hale. There were so many reporters who had heard from me and my quest for fair and inclusive coverage of LGBT issues.

And then there was Mary Chandler, who covered art and architecture. As someone who subscribed to both papers, the contrast between the things she chose to cover and those covered by her counterpart, Kyle MacMillan at the Denver Post, is a perfect example of how more journalists, even when covering the same beat, enrich the entire media landscape.

When it came to general news, I almost always looked to both papers to see how they covered stories that interested me most. I can't tell you how many times one paper did a much better job than the other.

The Rocky, and the diversity it brought, will definitely be missed.

Without newspapers, what will bloggers blog?

Considering today's death of The Rocky Mountain News, this is timely:

Yesterday the CBS affiliate in San Francisco did a piece that looks at the trajectory of one story reported by the troubled SF Chronicle. Hours after it was published, the story ended up up on thousands of websites. Despite all of the exposure for the paper, the things that paid the journalist's salary -- classified ads, display ads, and paid subscribers -- have all but dried up. (Via Joe. My. God.)

Rocky Mountain News to close

Article | Video of announcement

Musuem of Contemporary Art Denver is about to get really fun

Today MCA Denver announced that it will acquire The Lab at Belmar, including Adam Lerner, the institution's innovative director. Check out my piece posted at Elevated Voices, the superlative blog from 5280 Magazine.

Tokyo Dance Trooper in Shibuya

Via Danny Choo who's guest blogging at BoingBoing

Obama flies, uses Speak & Spell

Daft Punk video by Adam Freeland

Steve Jobs on mortality and life choices

Steve Jobs, from a commencement address he gave at Stanford University on June 14, 2005, as he was recovering from surgery to remove cancer from his pancreas:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

• Daily Beast: Advice from Steve Jobs on Living and Dying
• Quote via: Towleroad
• Related: NYT: Apple Chief Takes Medical Leave. By BRAD STONE, January 14, 2009
  

The Vignelli Canon

Via AisleOne:

Massimo Vignelli has published an amazing 96 page book on better understanding typography in graphic design, according to him. The book gives specific details on Vignelli’s methodology and approach as well as how he decides on paper sizes, typefaces and other tangibles. There is also a nice section on grids.

It’s an excellent book that every designer should read. The book is available for free online in PDF format but I do hope they print this one out because it’s a masterpiece in my opinion.

• Vignelli.com Free Download: Canon.pdf
• Aisleone.net: The Vignelli Canon

Objectified: A new film about industrial design by Gary Hustwit

From the filmmaker who made Helvetica, Objectified is a documentary about the design of everyday objects. Industry pioneers and heavy hitters are among the interviewees: Dieter Rams (Braun), Karim Rashid (himself and Target), IDEO, and, of course, Jonathan Ive of Apple. Debuts in New York and London this spring.

• Official site: Objectified

Not So Funny: Adam Cayton-Holland laid off from Westword

One of my favorite lunchtime rituals is picking up the newest issue of Denver's alt-weekly and tracking down the "What's So Funny" column by Adam Cayton-Holland (who's also a local standup comic). But yesterday the paper announced that Cayton-Holland was among those hit in a round of layoffs.

I'll miss his musings.

Cayton-Holland's absence means that the first thing I look for in Westword will now be a toss up between Dan Savage's syndicated sex advice and the entertaining (though often effusive) restaurant coverage by the James Beard award-winning writer Jason Sheehan.

Speaking of newspapers, wasn't the deadline to sell the Rocky "mid January"? Unless I missed reports of a likely buyer coming forward, perhaps we'll soon be hearing of another wave of local newspaper layoffs.

• Westword Blog: Layoffs strike Westword. Michael Roberts, Mon Jan 05, 2009
• Westword Blog: Some required reading by Adam Cayton-Holland. Michael Roberts, Tue Jan 06, 2009
• Myspace: Adam Cayton-Holland
  

Check out my piece on Denver designer Rick Griffith in Sunday's Denver Post

• Denver Post: Denver's guru of letterpress design finds himself on museum walls. By Andy Bosselman, Special to The Denver Post. Sun. Dec. 14, 2008

Grace Jones in chocolate

From Creative Review:

Image has always been an integral part of Grace Jones’ music career, her visual identity being almost as important as her voice. The artwork for her latest album, Hurricane, designed and art directed by Tom Hingston Studio, knowingly works the conceit of the popstar as visual commodity: in this case featuring life-size versions of Jones made out of chocolate. Here’s how they did it…

• Related: Grace Jones sings Little Drummer Boy on Pee Wee's Playhouse. Monday, December 24, 2007

NYT: Cultivator's yuletide campaign for Cherry Creek North

From the New York Times:

The ads do not suggest gifts to buy but rather offer fun — and free — holiday-inspired activities to pursue, which are numbered as if on a to-do list. Some ideas are sensible, some silly, others offbeat.

• Agency: Cultivator Advertising and Design
• Client: Cherry Creek North
  
• New York Times: Shopping District Tries Soft Selling for Holidays. By Stuart Elliott, December 8, 2008