visual design

nendo Gets an Exhibit.

If you happen to be in Israel in the next 5 months you might want to swing by the Design Museum Holon because they are hosting the first exhibit for Japanese design firm nendo. The exhibit chronicles nendo’s work from the studio’s inception in 2002, looking not only at the object they have created, but the creative process and design thinking that goes into them as well.

The exhibition will stretch from the interior to the exterior of the Design Museum Holon’s grounds, to provide an overall thought-provoking and immersive experience. A museum-first, the show will deal with the challenges and the related solutions that nendo – a studio led by one of the most prominent talents of this generation, Oki Sato -has encountered while interacting with the different typologies of objects and their unexplored areas. “This presentation investigates the only space in which Sato could not intervene, the space in between but on which he actually powerfully does: what is in-between, what is un-design and the carefully calculated operative-area left to light and air.

10b

More Than Just a Tire.

This Sunday marks the 100th running of the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and to commemorate the event, Firestone has produced a special tire. Firestone announced this version of the Firehawk racing tire back on February 19th of this year, at the 100-day mark prior to the Indy 500.

The special edition tire has bright red sidewall markings of the brand-name and logo, as well as every driver’s name who has won the 500 using Firestone tires. In all, that number stands at 66 spanning back to Ray Harroun in the first 500 in 1911 and up to the current champion Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015. The tire’s visual design is visually refined by the inclusion of red “F-shield” logos at 90 degree offsets to the red Firestone name, and the 100th Running logo created by the Speedway to commemorate the century mark. The winners’ names are listed in chronological order from Harroun forward, along the sidewall in high-contrast white ink and stand out from the black sidewalls with great definition.

It’s this kind of thing that makes me love graphic design. Yes I know this is a splendid piece of promotional marketing, but in the end someone had to design this. A graphic designer, and an art director for sure. Probably a committee had some say in the final executed result. It doesn’t matter how we got here, its the fact that someone thought about this little detail, and executed it so well. I can’t wait to see every car lined up wearing these shoes tomorrow.

Lead Belly.

Boston based design firm Visual Dialogue has designed the art for the new Lead Belly box set. Similar to their work for the Woody Guthrie box set “Woody at 100” the design work here captures the enigma that epitomizes Huddie Ledbetter – better known as Lead Belly. There is a wonderful blend of typography and vintage photos of the artist, along with letters written by the artist and images of the original releases. Working closely with the Smithsonian Institutes Folkways label, Visual Dialogue has created a definitive box set featuring 108 songs on five discs. While digital music has made a huge dent in the sale of records and CD’s, it is this kind of design work that keeps me coming back to buy physical products.

Send Massimo Vignelli a Letter.

Massimo Vignelli, the legendary Italian graphic designer, is very ill and spending his last days at home with his family. Over the last week a number of sites have been asking for fans, designers, and everyone to send Vignelli a card or a hand written letter. You may not know who he is, if you don’t work in the field of design. You do however know who he is, because his work is everywhere. Vignelli has had a massive impact on the field of visual design since he arrived in the United States in the 1960’s, and his work will have an impact for decades to come. Luca Vignelli put out the call to the internet last Friday on The Creative Review, asking that anyone for whom Vignelli was an influence or an inspiration to write him a letter. Yes a real physical snail mail letter. I dropped mine in the post last Saturday. Below are a couple of videos of Vignelli talking about his work. The first was produced by Mohawk Paper about a year ago. The second, if you have time to watch it, is from VCU and is 23 minutes of Vignelli talking about design, theory, practice and principal. Both are worth watching. Both show why Vignelli is a true master of design.

You can send him a note at the following address.

Massimo Vignelli
130 East 67 Street
New York, New York 10021