Secret Still

What are you doing for the next 27 years? Probably having a family, working, replacing a couple of water heaters in your house. Designer Nicole Meyer will be creating brands for the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota, one a day, every day. It’s a daunting task to be sure, but she seems in pretty good spirits about it, and so far all of her designs are fantastic. This is a good thing for those of you out there in the design world, because someone that talented and prolific has focused on something other than stealing all of your clients by just being better. Breathe easy, guys.

Branding 10,000 Lakes

Designer and printmaster Justin Kamerer, aka Angryblue, just made my little printmaking heart skip a beat. That is some detailed, intricate, and provocative shit he’s making. I’d be green with envy if I weren’t already mauve with afternoon food coma.

Justin Kamerer

As more and more people are starting to Tumbl, there’s actually some variation in the content away from animated dancing gifs and pictures of Suicide Girls. People are starting to use it in newer, more interesting ways. William Matthew Valle is a 19-year old culinary school grad, and he takes pictures of food. Great, so does almost every bubbly, hungry chick in a big city who refers to herself as a “foodie.”

Tangent: I was once in a class where the instructor was making small talk with us before we got started. She was from Minneapolis, and flew out California a few times a year for this class. The conversation turned to food. When asked where she liked to eat here in the Bay Area, she responded, “Nowhere really. I’m kind of a foodie, so I have really high standards when it comes to food. The Bay Area doesn’t really have that much to offer.” I’m not a foodie. I love good food, and I celebrate both eating and making it, and all the aspects of that artform, however, I eat taco bell and frozen pizzas and whatever the hell else I can get my hands on when I’m hungry. I also like the Bay Area, plenty of good things here, but it’s not really my ideal for a place to live. I don’t celebrate its majesty or anything. All that being said, if you genuinely enjoy food as an art and derive enjoyment from it tasting delicious, there are not a lot of places that beat the Bay Area. The point being, that woman is a moron. I saw her eat two bags of sun chips and a drumstick ice cream cone for breakfast. This illustrates why I hate people who call themselves foodies.

Back to my main point: William Matthew Valle has a Tumblr called French Cuisse in which he exhibits photos of dishes he’s made next to photos of the ingredients organized neatly. It’s simple, colorful and beautiful, just like his dishes, and it makes my hands and mind want to be cooking. Since what I’m concerned with most is beauty and inspiration, I’d say Valle’s site is a winner. And what’s more, I would enjoy eating his food, which is a damn good compliment from anyone to a chef.

French Cuisse

I’ve always just assumed that when people say something “shows promise,” they’re saying that it “isn’t good enough.” I mean, yeah, it includes that unsaid addendum that whatever it is has the potential to be great, but it says first and foremost that it isn’t great right now. At the same time, I find myself thinking that things “show promise” all the time, even though I think it’s kind of a dick thing to say. I look at tons of portfolios and only a few of them are any good, but a few more are almost good, they have some good ideas, and some interesting methods of execution, but the artist just hasn’t gotten to the point where what’s in their head is coming out clearly in their medium. All that being said, Conor Whelan’s recent work is fantastic, professional, clean and simple. But if you go back a ways into his portfolio you’ll see some work that “shows promise.” His portfolio, then to now, is a good example of how that promise can turn into perfection given time and diligence. That’s a whole other kind of inspiration for you. And if not, well that’s only because as a writer, I still only “show promise.”

Conor Whelan

This dude is so clever and so sharp, that if you did cut yourself on his sharpness, he would be clever enough to figure out a way to turn it into some kind of plastic surgery so you’d come out looking better than ever. Once again proving: don’t fuck with the Swedish when it comes to design.

Hampus Jageland

Maybe there’s a reason that Philadelphia was the home of the American Revolution, maybe there’s a reason that I’ve become friends with everyone I’ve ever met from Philly, that reason is unknown to me. I just know that good things come from Philly, PA. Daniel Blackman further proves this rule with his simple, somewhat folksy, somewhat modern graphic design work. I devoured his entire portfolio without stopping. Curse you, Philadelphia, why do you make things so awesome?

Daniel Blackman

Neo-Deco, shape-filled madness for you from Belgian artist Sam Vanallemeersch, AKA Kolchoz. The powerful colors and beautiful geometry of this work can get added to the list of things I know and love about Belgium. Other items on that list: waffles. End of list.

Kolchoz

I could’ve sworn a blood oath that I had mentioned Kilian Eng on here before, but none of my searches turn him up. Possibly I’m more devious than I thought? Either way I’m just glad I don’t have to fight myself to the death now, because I would’ve seriously kicked my ass. And then you would all miss out on seeing the dark disco-revival that is the work of Kilian Eng. The geometry, the blur, the colors, it’s all reminiscent of the only HBO original programming intro that I remember from my childhood, this one:

God, it’s beautifully stupid. They’re taking you to space, for fuck’s sake, because they’re content is so out of this world awesome. If there was a knock-down, drag-out brawl between that intro, Daft Punk, and The Knife, then Kilian Eng is the one they would pick to illustrate the fight for whatever crazy French magazine covered it. I know the 80’s revival is pretty big right now, and mostly with people who weren’t alive in the 80’s, but trust me when I say that most of the 80’s really, really sucked ass. Especially in America. But Kilian Eng manages to take the few grains of things that were pretty great and distill them into an original style of visual art. That’s some serious fucking alchemy if you ask me.

Kilian Eng

Clean, considered, and prolific. I don’t know why I haven’t heard of him before, but Andreas Neophytou is a damn fine graphic designer. Well played, sir.

Andreas Neophytou

I read a lot. Like to the point where the people around me know not to take me into a bookstore, because I will spend too much without blinking an eye, and then there’s the inevitable cold truth stage where I feel sick for having spent that much. Then I’m reading and everything is ok…until I finish all those books. I am the reading equivalent of the fat guy with indigestion and diabetes. All that is just to say that I’m as qualified as the next guy to say “this is a good looking book.” Well, in the case of Studio8 Design’s Wonders of the Solar System, I can say that “this is a good looking book.” Well organized, perfect design, great information architecture, and full of cool information. If you don’t think that our solar system is cool, then you came to the wrong place. The wrong place being this solar system. I was gonna make a “go back to the Horsehead Nebula” joke, but you know what? I’m not gonna bother. Space is fucking rad, including the Horsehead Nebula. This book just proves that it can be even better when presented with some beautiful design to back it up. Studio8 Design, that is a good looking book, and I’ll be sure to buy it if I can ever convince my friends to let go into a bookstore again.

Studio8 Design