Images via AMMO Magazine.
Ammo is a printed magazine and website dedicated to finding and exposing the best illustrators in the world. In addition to the magazine, they plan to show contributors work in galleries, launch gift enriched competitions and work with others to produce some “darn fine products”.
They welcome submissions from any illustrators looking for an outlet so head over to the submissions page!
Images found on whatmakesus.
I’m enjoying the branding and website design for Liam Gallaghers mod fashion label, Pretty Green. (Brand created by Sane & Able)
The Cambrian House crowdsourcing model
“When Unilever wanted ideas for a new TV advertising campaign to sell its Peperami snack food, it decided to try something unusual. It dropped its ad agency of 15 years and turned instead to a little known internet site called IdeaBounty.com, an online marketplace trading in creative ideas. Companies or individuals post topics and then sit back and wait for surfers to send in their best shots. After the closing date, the client selects the best idea and pays the winner.” – Read more here.
Crowdsourcing, although I’m still unsure whether I agree with some of its real-world applications, is a very interesting business model. Wikipedia is a perfect example of how the masses can create great things by putting their heads together. No one person, except maybe Stephen Fry, knows everything. But it’s true that we all know something. It makes sense then for everyone to put everything we as individuals know in to one big shared pile and as a result, create a mass of knowledge that everyone can share.
In terms of business we can see this working well for sites like Threadless.com, a hugely successful T-Shirt company who take on designs from the public, which are then scrutinised and voted upon by the public, and then purchased by the public. Ultimately, the collective decide what the company sells because it’s what the majority wants.
Spec Work, however, is different. This involves a company throwing out a brief to an undetermined amount of creatives and asking them to come up with their best efforts of answering it. Whether it be copy writing or logo design, the individual will create work specific to the brief and therefore useless to anyone but the client. If the work is used, the creative gets paid, and if not, the work is wasted and they get nothing. You would think that because of the huge amount of competition (often there are over 100 creatives working on a brief) it would mean the work produced would be of a very high standard. In reality, the creatives submitting the spec work are usually amateurs desperate for work (who really has enough time to work for free?) or they’re students who are ‘giving it a go’. As a result, the creative suffers, the company suffers and industry suffers.
There is a ten minute video of “Is Spec Work Evil – The Online Community Speaks” over at thelogofactory.com. The panel was moderated by Jeff Howe (from Wired magazine) and featured Samson, Jeffrey Kalmikoff of Threadless, veteran designer David Carson of David Carson Design and Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research.
& is run by Darren Marshall of Design Marshall, his lovely wife Amber, and Garrett Galayda of The Royal Order. We are Designers of things web, print, and fabric, living in Chicago. We love good ideas, and love even more when we can bring them to life. More here…
Smug is a quirky lifestyle store in Camden Passage, Islington that sells gorgeous homeware accessories and apparel.
Local Islington girl, Lizzie Evans, is one of those types that are so often referred to as, ‘annoyingly talented’, it’s a turn of phrase that’s terribly easy to use in these circumstances, especially given the name of her shop…. the ‘annoying’ fact is, however, that interior and graphic designer Lizzie has every right to be…. ‘Smug‘, her Camden Passage boutique is a wonderfully retro hotpot of inspiration that just oozes class. Kitchenware, glassware, clothing, ceramics and handmade toys are just some of the terribly cool and retro bits and bobs on display alongside retro furniture, artworks, accessories and textiles… as fabulously curated as it is designed, Lizzie’s little emporium of cool would make any of us feel infinitely smug!
www.weheart.co.uk also has lots of other posts well worth a gander.
“Known throughout the world as a prolific type foundry, House Industries has made a considerable impact on the world of design. House Industries fonts scream from billboards, wish happy whatever from tens of thousands of greeting cards, serve as the basis for consumer product logos and add elements of style to a wide range of mainstream media.”
Not only does House Industries produce excellent fonts, it also sells clothing, stationery, prints, blocks, books and furnishings that any font addict would be proud to own.
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