Category: Design

A Maximalist Mag That Uses Clever Ad Speak for Social Good

Unleash creatives from around the world into a white cube gallery. Give them a single theme to respond to. Flatten the result to a thin, roughly 7” x 7” magazine. This is kult: an 80-page visual feast oozing with illustrations, graphics, and photographs of all shapes, colors, and styles.

From “AIDS” to “Fortune,” and its upcoming issue on “Cars,” kult has been using the visual language of advertising to sell messages on social issues since 2009. It all started when designer Steve Lawler wanted to share works from an exhibition he curated a decade prior. Once he quit his job at Ogilvy’s Singapore outpost after becoming disillusioned with the industry, the interactive designer with a truly international calling card (born in Iran, raised in Hong Kong, studied and worked in Europe, and now based in Singapore) turned to making prints and curating art shows. For a 2006 group exhibition, he invited artists like American illustrator Andy Rementer and Singaporean artist Andy Yang to respond visually to the theme of “Trust.”

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design

Sharing Storied Designer Seymour Chwast with the Digital Generation

Seymour Chwast is a well-known name in American graphic design history, but how many people have seen the breadth of his over long (six decades and counting) career?

At the recently launched Seymour Chwast Archive, anyone around the world can now scroll and click into Chwast’s witty and provocative oeuvre in the comfort of their pajamas. From a 1940s illustrated book featuring protesting farm animals to a 2011 woodcut portrait of The Notorious B.I.G for Fader magazine, this digital-only archive features some 300 posters, books, identities, and paintings by Chwast, once described by former colleague Milton Glaser as a “brilliant typographer, terrific designer, unique illustrator” all rolled into one.

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design

A New Generation of Super Successful Singapore Brands All Have One Thing in Common

Brand guides have probably never appeared on a summer reading list, but after seeing Foreign Policy Design Group’s take on the genre, we’re telling everyone to move it to the top of their stack.

Brand Guide: Singapore Edition is the design studio’s 400-page dossier on the secrets to success of 17 contemporary brands from the Southeast Asian city-state. From boutique restauranteur and hotelier Unlisted Collection, to small independent bookstore BooksActually, this guide features a spectrum of Singapore lifestyle brands, including fashion, cultural, hospitality, retail, offices, and food and beverage.

➜ Read the rest at AIGA’s Eye on Design