It’s not often that design gets the level of press coverage that it truly deserves, and when it does, it’s usually negative– as is the case with the hub-bub surrounding the recently announced identity for the 2012 London Olympics. Almost 50,000 people have signed an online petition to have the logo– designed by Wolf Ollins at a cost of $800,000– changed, and there have been reports of animated versions of it causing epileptic seizures.

Personally, I think the brand is atrocious. Not only does it not evoke ‘London,’ but it also fails to convey anything but clashing colors and meaningless abstraction. But I’m just a lowly design student, so let’s see what other people are saying.

Love it:
Coudal Partners – Just like you, our first reaction was shock. But we talked about it all morning. By 3pm, we decided we love it. And here are ten reasons why you should, too:

The Serif – It’s got that Marmite factor. But we find that even with things that people start off disliking, they get used to them. & …it’s incredibly noticable, brave and confrontational.

Hate it:
Seth Godin – A great logo doesn’t mean anything until the brand makes it worth something.

Design Observer – The London 2012 logo is a solid gold stinker.

Ambivalent:
Speak Up – I believe, despite any ensuing boo’s, that this is some of the most innovative and daring identity work we have seen in this new millennium, and the lack of cheesy and imagination-impairing gradients gives me hope that identity work can still be resurrected on a larger scale.

It was only when discussing the image with my mother was I able to glean some meaning from the spilled tangrams.

At least this shows that there was some reasoning behind the brand other than abstract PR nonsense.

While the awards go a long way in recognizing exceptional design across America, they do leave something to be desired when compared to international awards such as those given out by I.D.

In celebration of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, I have decided to make public the work of which I am most proud, a 2007 calendar featuring the skylines of 6 beautiful international cities.

About IPSTD:

On this day, everyone who wants to should give away professional quality work online. It doesn’t matter if it’s a novel, a story or a poem, it doesn’t matter if it’s already been published or if it hasn’t, the point is it should be disseminated online to celebrate our technopeasanthood.

The calendar is a 9″x15″ PDF, but it should scale pretty well to 11″x17″, and really should be printed in full color on good paper to get the most out of the work.

Download it here. (Now a ZIP archive of JPG images.)

[via InfoDesign]

Larger version here.

I had the chance this evening to attend a talk by renowned designer David Carson— part of AIGA Colorado’s “Design Icon” series of lectures. David is a talented public speaker and had many insightful, interesting, and humorous things say about his work and the philosophy of design.

Readability has a lot to do with what you are interested in reading.

Everyone has intuition; you just have to learn to trust it.

Helvetica is the choice of corporations and war and mothers, and sometimes, lazy designers.

Find the thing that gets you excited and run with it.

If you can’t design, you can always become an information architect.

Nobody can re-create who you are, your background. Those things make your work special. Your personality must come through in your work!

While I’m personally not such a huge fan of Carson’s distinctive chaotic style, nor do I agree with everything he said, it’s hard to deny his massive skill and success.

For more information about David Carson and his work, take a look at his new book, Trek.

Savannah College of Art and Design student Jarratt Moody produced this fantastic motion piece featuring dialogue from Pulp Fiction for his “Time-Based Typography” class taught by Motionographer editor Jared Cone.

[via How]

My first impression of this book– sitting on the shelf of the campus bookstore where I had gone to purchase books for my very first design class– wasn’t great. The cover was dated and ugly, and a quick flip through the pages didn’t show anything all that exciting. Little did I know that by the end of the semester, Typographic Design: Form and Communication would have a permanent place on my design bookshelf next to such classics as Stop Stealing Sheep & Learn How Type Works and my old moleskine sketchbooks.

The fourth edition of this seminal text features a spiffy new cover, full color throughout the book (something previous editions are sorely lacking), two new chapters, and a fantastic new companion website. At a mere $50 from Amazon.com, I’m tempted to sell off my old copy and pick up the shiny yellow book for myself.

[via Design Observer]

“Now I’m gonna ask you a bunch of quick questions I’ve come up with that more of less tell me what kind of person I’m having dinner with. My theory is that when it comes to important subjects, there’s only two ways a person can answer. For instance, there’s two kinds of people in this world, Elvis people and Beatles people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis. And Elvis people can like The Beatles. But nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere you have to make a choice. And that choice tells me who you are.”

This famous line from Pulp Fiction got Donovan over at Be A Design Group thinking; what equivalent questions would one designer ask of another? Here’s what he came up with, as well as my answers and justifications for why I answered the way I did.

Sans or Serif? – Sans in almost all situations unless serif is required for stylistic reasons, or in the case of long body copy.

Coated or Uncoated? – Uncoated. I’m a huge fan of the aesthetic achieved by the reflective ink on a matte paper.

Gray or Grey? – Grey. My spelling of this colour is most likely a product of my British colonial (South African) upbringing.

Nano or Shuffle? – Shuffle (2G). The Nano is nice and all, but to be honest I very rarely listen to music in any way other than shuffle mode. This combined with the Shuffle’s diminutive size and sexy looks make it the clear winner in my book.

InDesign or Quark? – InDesign. People still use Quark?

Photograph or Illustration? – Photograph. While both have their uses in different situations, I’m a much better photographer than illustrator.

Justified or Ragged? – Ragged, ideally carefully done to ensure minimal variation between line length.

Symmetry? – Asymmetry, but balanced. Symmetry is boring.

Emboss or Deboss? – Emboss. Not too pronounced though; something along the lines of the letter-pressed look.

RGB or CMYK? – CMYK. This is kind of a silly question, as both are used for very different purposes. However, I work with print more often than working with on-screen stuf

Note: To try and keep with the idea that, “nobody likes them both equally,” I limited myself to answering either one way or the other. In reality though, to be a good designer, one has to be able to adapt to the situation and use all possible tools to accomplish the task at hand.