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John Lewis - The Bear and Hare - 2013 Seasonal CGI Amazing coloured pencil drawings Tokyo City Symphony Luis Nieves - Baywood Red Light

23 January 2012

DC Comics gets overhauled


Brands don't get much more loved by their fans than DC Comics.  Fans don't get much more precious about their brands than DC Comics fans.


It was always going to a tough brief to realise, but see below Landon SF'sdesign for DC's recent re branding.

I must say I am loving the "duality" concept created by the layered typography. It really mirrors the secret powers beneath the skin of their most famous characters. The new mark really adds a wealth of adaptations and potential to the brand. It was always going to annoy the traditionalists, but we at SoVibrant applaud Landor for taking on a tough project and coming up with a great next generation brand identity for DC.

See some of the best bits below.








Rising Chair


I really like this chair design by Robert van Embricqs:


In the same way that Rietvelt's 1917 'Red and Blue Chair' uses standardised sections of timber, van Embricqs design utilises only one timber section, yet manages to create beautiful curves from the straight lines.


Incredibly, the Rising Chair also folds flat!


Design at SoVibrant www.SoVibrant.co.uk

20 January 2012

Twinnings... "gets you back to you"







For a long time I’ve been meaning to share this beautiful animation with you.

Believe it or not it’s for Twinnings tea!!  On first viewing some believe it’s an advertisement for a new song album or about mental health but in actual fact, it’s all about having a cup of Twinnings tea... that “gets you back to you”... It’s hard not to be impressed!

It’s a fantastic piece of animated art that many feel advertisers should be taking notice of.  No flying text or “catchy slogans”, just a simple refreshing style and slick execution to grab attention, and it certainly does that.

Take a look below and see what you think...

Twinnings advert











16 January 2012

Design Classic no. 412: The BMC Mini



Continuing our Design Classic Series, time has come to honour the BMC Mini. Designed in 1959 by Sir Alec Issigonis, the Mini was an instant success whose popularity lives on today. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T (Wikipedia).


The Mini's reputation was enhanced by a series of Cooper 'S', Monte Carlo rally victories in '64, '65 and '67 (dubiously disqualified in '66, having filled the entire podium).


The car went on to star in The Italian Job movie, cementing its place as a British icon of the 1960s.
 

Now maunufactured by BMW, the new 'Mini' is not so small, but equally popular...


SoVibrant Design Classics www.SoVibrant.co.uk

Related Links:


Design Classic No.007: Aston Martin DB5 
Design Classic No.28: The Triumph Bonneville
Design Classic No.38: AEC Routemaster Bus
Design Classic No.43 - Concorde
Design Classic No. 65: Penguin Book Covers
Design classic No. 74: The Telephone Box
Design Classic No.88 - The Egg Chair
Design Classic No. 111: The PH Artichoke pendant lightfitting
Design Classic No.122: The Sony Walkman
Design Classic No.145 - The London Underground Map
Design Classic No. 166: The Supermarine Spitfire 1936
Design Classic No.234: Sinclair C5
Design Classic No.243: The Anglepoise Lamp
Design Classic No.246: Ferrari Dino
Design Classic No.300: Mercedes 300SL Coupe
Design Classic No.325: Ferrari 512 S Modulo
Design Classic No.412: BMC Mini
British Design Classic Stamp collection...
Modern Design Classic No. 71: The Balzac Chair
Fords on Film/TV


13 January 2012

SoVibrant Exclusive! Interview with Kris Hardy


Good afternoon bloggers and welcome to another exclusive interview with one of my old friends Kris Hardy. Since Kris graduated from studying at the Royal College of Art in June 2002, Kris's canvas's have featured in various exhibitions, bars, show homes and salons worldwide.
Since 2003 Kris has been selling his exclusive artwork through John Lewis in over 22 of their stores nation wide.

Kris Painting for John Lewis

Not only is Kris doing what he loves on a daily basis but he is spreading his love of art to the next generation of young artists by occasionally dropping in to universities like Huddersfield as a visiting lecturer, which is where Kris and I first met. But let's get going and find out what makes Kris tick.


SoVibrant: " How did you get started and what inspired you to become a traditional canvas artist ? "

Kris: "I have always loved painting and drawing, it is something I have done in my spare time for as long as I can remember. My granddad was a really good oil painter so I grew up watching him paint. looking back at when I did my A-levels even on top of all the work for those I still managed to paint about an extra 3 hours a day. I was massively into Manga and Anime in the mid '90s and motorbikes, so all I wanted to paint and draw was, Japanese comic characters and bikes."


"I was basically doing my A-levels and didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, art was always the only thing I loved and felt at home doing so I thought, right, I might as well do an art foundation course at a local college, it would be great to do a course where I can just draw all day. "

"Once on the course, the main push for the year was to get you to university, so I decided to have a look at the new transport design course at Huddersfield university, as my main passions were drawing/painting and motorbikes."


"After completing the course. I went onto the MA course at the Royal College of Art. When I left there I went to work at Lotus Cars, but while waiting for the project to come up, due to setbacks, it took nearly a year before I started I decided to get back into painting, which had taken a back seat during my car design years."

"I then decided I wanted to do this full time as it opened lots of different possibilities I had not thought about and also it just felt right, I felt at home painting. I started to supply John Lewis stores with originals and it basically went from there."


SoVibrant: " So what would you say is your favourite aspect of painting on canvas ? "

Kris: "I just love being able to do something every day that I love, painting is just so rewarding, especially when you paint a piece as a commission that is so personal to someone and they love it."


SoVibrant: " Who is your biggest inspiration right now and why ? "

Kris: "My main inspiration at the moment is Caravaggio, I love his use of light and shadow, but other influences are concept artist (and old student Jon McCoy, for his digital brush strokes and scale in his environments, as cityscapes are a subject I love to paint) Rolf Harris, again for his use of a brush, and ability to capture something in a couple of strokes, Jack Vettriano, for how he captures feelings in his work, Ian Mckeever, for his amazing depth and simplicity."

"Outside of artists, I am constantly inspired by contemporary architecture and beautiful women."


SoVibrant: " Out of everything you have created in the past what would you say is your favourite piece ? "

Kris: "They all mean a lot, and it constantly changes, but my current favourite painting is ‘How did I get here?’ it means a lot because not only do I like it as a painting, but it is of my wife and was just a random idea we had in a hotel while on a short weekend away at the hotel du vin in Newcastle."


SoVibrant: " Now I know that painting on canvas can take a hell of a lot longer than painting in Photoshop, but what do you do with any spare time you have ? "

Kris: "If I'm not painting I really only do two things, I am either walking my dog, Alfie, or I am at the gym, constantly pushing myself to be a better me, I think if you want to be the best you can, it has to apply to every aspect in your life, we only get one go at this, so i think we should make the most of it


SoVibrant: " And finally, Were would you love to be in 10 years time? "

Kris: "Ideally, I would love my work to be seen and known by as many people as possible."

Kris With Alfie
 
SoVibrant / An interview with...

Microsoft Office Vision of the Future


In a follow up to their 2009 Future of Productivity video Microsoft's Office Division have recently released an updated vision that carries on from where the last left off. The technology predictions on show are simply breathtaking. If this is the future I cant wait to live in it! Both the 2009 and 2011 vision videos are shown below and more videos predicting the future of manufacturing, health and banking can be found at Microsoft Office's Youtube channel



12 January 2012

The Obliteration Room


As part of an installation for the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Yayoi Kuasma recently constructed a large domestic scene painted completely white and over the course of two weeks handed out small coloured stickers to the any child visitors. The amazing results are shown below.







11 January 2012

The new beauty secret taking the world by storm - Fotoshop, by Adobe...



Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.


Absolutely brilliant satirical comment on the artificial world of beauty and unrealistic ideals delivered by our favourite image editing software. Enjoy.