Amsterdam | Milano

Good 50×70 was created in 2007 as an independent, non-profit initiative with the the aims of promoting the value of social communication in the creative community, providing charities with a (free) database of communication tools, and inspiring the public via graphic design. 2009 represents the third year of this annual design contest involving posters that address (or confront) seven of the critical issues affecting today’s world.

Some of my favorites this year: The Scream by Malgorzata Bedowsda, Poland; Guantánamo by Jose Rubio Malagón, Spain; Darkness (child labour) by Guowei Wu Wu, China; Extinction by Marco Valentini, Italy; HIV Positive by Giovanni Mastroeni, Italy. 

Montreal, Québec

Netdiver has always made a special effort to recognize the work of female creators. “There are so many talented women blazing trails in design, sometimes it’s easy to forget that women are still severely underrepresented in many areas of the industry,” writes Liz Wolfe in a new online piece, describing Netdiver’s Powagirrrls gallery which “helps target this inequity through its focus on ‘women who rock the design scene…with more than pink design!’” See more of Netdiver’s favorite female creators here. (At the  OFFF 2009 conference I attended in Portugal last week I was actually surprised to observe an almost equal split between male and female participants).

Images above: work by 25-year-old French illustrator/designer Mijn Schatje who “takes the conventions of wide-eyed doll art and elevates this genre to a whole new level of sophistication.”

What it is depends largely on the value one imbues it with (think memetics), often comes down to where you find it (context counts a lot), and how you choose to define its transitory relevance…

ephemera

1398, originally a medical term, from M.L. ephemera (febris) “(fever) lasting a day,” from fem. of ephemerus, from Gk. ephemeros “lasting only one day,” from epi “on” + hemerai, dat. of hemera “day…” Sense extended to short-lived insects and flowers; general sense of “transitory” is first attested c.1639. Ephemeral is from 1576. Ephemeris “table of astronomical calculations” is from 1551. (from Online Etymology Dictionary)

Images: a few bits of ephemera from a nice Flickr collection here. 

New York City

Today is the opening reception and portfolio signing of friend Luba Lukova’s exhibition Umbrellas, Social Justice & More at La MaMa La Galleria. The exhibition presents a wide range of work including an installation with Luba’s critically acclaimed Social Justice poster portfolio. The Health Coverage poster, which is a part of the collection, was recently in a prestigious exhibit during the Inauguration of President Obama in Washington, DC. The La MaMa show will also feature Lukova’s prints, original drawings and 3-d objects.

“Internationally recognized, New York based Luba Lukova is regarded as one of the most distinctive image-makers working today. Whether by using an economy of line, color, and text to pinpoint essential themes of the human condition or to succinctly illustrate social commentary, her work is undeniably powerful and thought provoking. A recent review in The Boston Globe observes: “Luba Lukova’s posters and illustrations have punch, and they are laced with such feeling that they often merit a second look. Her work doesn’t wrestle with the classic riddles of high art. It is, as graphic art should be, strong and pithy but its messages are not always simple.” (Cate McQuaid, When graphic art becomes high art)

Lukova has won many awards including Grand Prix Savignac at the International Poster Salon, Paris, France; the Golden Pencil Award at the One Club, New York; and Honor Laureate at the International Poster Exhibition in Fort Collins, CO. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at UNESCO, Paris; DDD Gallery, Osaka, Japan; and The Art Institute of Boston. She has received commissions for her work from the The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Adobe Systems, Sony Music, and Harvard University. Her evocative theatre posters have graced numerous stage productions in the US and Europe. Lukova’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and Bibliotheque Nationale de France. In 2009 publisher Clay & Gold will release Speaking with Images, a new book about her art. Later this month she will also receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from Lesley University.

Congratulations, Luba!

Images: six of the 12 posters from the Social Justice portfolio.

Cupertino, California

Artist Dylan Roscover has done a great job of recreating a famous Steve Jobs picture using a selection of Apple’s classic typefaces (used since its beginning in the 70s). The message contained in the portrait:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.

And while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

(found here)

San Francisco, California

“This is a relentless age we’re living in, a time when innovative solutions—or any solutions, for that matter—to our seemingly infinite problems seem in short supply… so how do we come up with new ideas? How do we learn to think outside of normal parameters? Are the processes in place for doing so flawed? Do we rely too much on computer models? On consultants? On big-idea gurus lauding the merits of tribes and crowds or of starfish and spiders? On Twitter?”

In today’s New York Times, Allison Arief suggests that “…we’re all so mired in it that we’ve forgotten how to get out of it—how to daydream, invent, engage with the absurd;” this is why she is so enamored with the work of inventor, author, cartoonist, and former urban planner Steven M. Johnson, “a sort of R. Crumb meets R. Buckminster Fuller. Johnson is a former urban planner, and his work tends toward the nodes where social issues intersect with design and urban planning issues.”

Worth a read, here.

Jenkintown, Pennsylvania

I was happy to stumble across some excellent posters here by Joe Scorsone and Alice Druedling.

Above: Alternatives to War; Fate.

New York

In today’s New York Times, the inimitable (and carefully observant) Maira Kalman has a poignantly illustrated Opinion piece on the importance of self confidence (among other things) entitled May It Please the Court—And the Pursuit of Happiness. Thanks, Maira.

Eastern Europe (a half century ago)

Jane (Maraid) McDevitt has compiled a remarkable Flickr collection of matchbox labels predominantly from 1950s and 1960s Eastern Europe. “Why did this area of the world embrace modern design and imagery when many countries, including Britain, still preferred the Victorian aesthetic?” she ponders. “As with advertisers, governments were quick to realise the potential of these far reaching messages. Propaganda was popular but so too were public service announcements including fire safety, hygiene, money saving, alcohol abuse and road safety—this combination of subject and design has left behind an invaluable archive of its time.”

I’ve posted on matchbooks, matchibako, and vintage matchbox labels before (here and here). What I find particularly compelling about this medium is its inherent viral quality—small images that communicated to a very large number of people, while also delivering an appropriate, value-added aesthetic quality (a vivid example of how design both shapes, and is shaped by, culture). Designers and illustrators today would do well to learn from the distilled palette (tiny canvas, bold line art, flat colours) that reproduction processes of the day imposed on the graphic artists of yore.

Images shown above: Matchbox covers from the Czech Republic, East Germany, Poland, and Russia. See over a thousand others here.

Vienna, Austria

Dr. Stefan Jellinek (1871-1968) produced numerous publications warning about the ill-considered and foolhardy use of electricity in the home, at work, and in leisure activities. Original illustrations by well-known graphic artists such as Josef Danilowatz, Franz Wacik, and Eduard Stella helped conveyed the (mostly hidden) dangers of electricity effectively. These drawings are from a 1931 book entitled Elektroschutz in Bildern (Electrical Protection in Pictures).

Above images: Electrocution as the result of urinating on power lines (while barefoot), multi-tasking with a hairdryer, and attempting to read outdoors at night (while barefoot)—who knew? Find many more shocking ways to off one’s self in a Flickr collection here compiled by Bre Pettis.

(thanks, Gregor)