Design is Play

Recent Posts

Vivienne Flesher at Play

plog_07.09.10

“We had two weeks in Round Hill, a lavish and historic resort in Jamaica. While there I tried drawing and painting, but in the heat and humidity both seemed slow and complicated. On the third day I came across the fallen leaves of a Trumpet Tree. To me they resembled dresses by Issey Miyake, tossed in a heap. Over the rest of the vacation I photographed them hundreds of times. They were intrinsically elegant; shooting them the simplest way worked best.”

Vivienne Flesher is a San Francisco artist. We invited her to share a moment of play with us.

Ward Schumaker at Play

plog_06.09.10

“While creating a piece of calligraphy for Afar Magazine, I’d cut a mask out of cardboard for the Swedish word lagom (meaning just enough, the opposite of excessive and extravagant), intending to use the mask as part of an elaborate Photoshop file combined with other images. When I turned to sweep the scraps from the floor, however, the afternoon sun was shining on them and they looked so genuine and honest, and somehow so appropriate, that I straightened them and photographed them just like that, and that’s how the piece appeared in the magazine. Very lagom.”

Ward Schumaker is a San Francisco artist. We invited him to share a moment of play with us.

Bob Aufuldish at Play

plog_03.09.10

“With the poster I was trying to solve the formal problem of making type read on top of an image. One classic rule of typography is to never put a stroke on the type. But what happens if you specify a huge stroke? All kinds of interesting bumpy shapes result. I made the bumpy shapes silver and set them to partially overprint the image underneath so the silver acts as a connector between the image and the type.

“Photos of three speakers were superimposed to create the image. Each photo was assigned one process color: cyan, magenta, yellow. Usually there is an overall theme for the lecture series but this time there wasn’t. There was much discussion as to whether or not to show small versions of the individual photos as a way of explaining the source of the images on the poster, but I prefer not to explain anything. I like it much better when you’re not sure what you’re looking at rather than wondering briefly and then knowing exactly.

“I made the video literally just for fun. I like to make videos where nothing much seems to happen. In this case, there are four videos where nothing much seems to happen, but putting them in a sequence sparks a little narrative.”

Bob Aufuldish is a Bay Area designer and educator. We invited him to share a moment of play with us.

Bob Aufuldish on press (2:02)
Printing the Fall 2010 CCA Architecture Lecture Series poster at Howard Quinn in San Francisco.

Intel AppUp Center Identity

plog_23.08.10

We recently worked with Razorfish San Francisco to conceive a new identity for Intel’s AppUp center, a web initiative devoted to enhancing the functionality of Intel netbooks. Our identity features a star pattern and custom typography whose forms are based on the rounded square found in app icon silhouettes. The pattern is endlessly repeatable in a reference to the extensive range of apps available as well as to the idea of “cloud” computing.

Cengage Learning Book Cover

plog_09.08.10

We designed the cover for the latest edition of Concepts of Chemical Dependency, a text for undergraduate and graduate counseling classes. Prior cover designs for this title tended to be literal and almost encyclopedic in their attempt to illustrate myriad drugs. Our approach is metaphorical and minimal, and relies on our photograph of a single, iconic hook. The image is both seductive and dangerous, not unlike some addictive substances.

See more examples of recent cover designs for Cengage Learning under Design is Play Studio Covers.