We’ve recently been working with INK to develop their online identity and launch a CMS website to feature their latest work. INK are a London based studio that use digital illustration and animation to tell stories and bring ideas to life. Posted above is their recent CG film for Silverstone Race Circuit to promote the new pit, paddock and race facilities.

“We use digital illustration and animation to capture the atmosphere and emotion of an idea, space or event. INK is a digital workshop where what we create defines our studio.“

Visit: http://www.weareink.co.uk/

Images and video all copyright INK and respective clients. All rights reserved. Visit: http://www.weareink.co.uk/

Another beautiful design book by Gestalten. ‘Go Faster’ is a collection of over one hundred examples of racecar design that shows the carefree anarchy in which they were created. In the book, ‘colorful racing cars are featured next to blank, white models. Thanks to this juxtaposition, Go Faster not only takes its readers on a breakneck ride through images of racing history, but also shows them exactly how the graphics modulate the look of the vehicle.’ Gestalten Video in post.

Visit: http://www.gestalten.com/books/detail?id=ceafb21a24b0f7bc01250bdacde90085

All images and video copyright Gestalten: http://www.gestalten.com/

Derek Stenning creates great Sci-Fi illustrations for the likes of Endeavor Snowboards but with a really unusual angle. The artworks have evolved around research into ‘Entartete Kunst’ (Degenerate Art), a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art.

“I find these discriminating ideas absurd, but I have adopted the Judeo-Bolshevist theme in this work (the cosmonauts, the hexagram etc.) as a starting point to create these images. As mentioned in a previous post this project is about returning to a more expressive way of creating art (after 10 years as a production artist), and about overcoming my own discriminating views on expressive art.”

Visit: http://borninconcrete.blogspot.com/

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art

All images copyright Derek Stenning

We’ve been working on the Star Wars branding with Locutio Voice Technologies and Lucas Film for the Yoda voice product launch. To coincide with the product launch TomTom have created a new viral video deployed on YouTube. The video features Yoda in the recording studio delivering his lines for the GPS, quite funny. Dagobah!

Visit: http://www.voiceskins.com/celebrity/yoda.html

Unfortunately Grafik magazine is no more. ‘The current owners of Adventures in Publishing (the company which publishes Grafik) have decided to liquidate the company, so unfortunately we are unable to print the magazine for the foreseeable future.’  It’s a shame that the magazine has had to stop but hopefully it will return.

Visit: http://www.grafikmag.com/

These illustrations by Dan McPharlain take me back to the book jackets and record covers I used to find in the local library. I love the grainy airbrush style and flat compositional elements that are slightly like cell shading.

Homepage: http://www.danmcpharlin.com/

Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danmcp/

All images copyright Dan McPharlin.

I just caught up with the content on The 99% and enjoyed some of the videos I’d overlooked. If you’ve not visited the site before it’s a great source for inspiration, productivity and creativity from a very diverse group of professionals. The talk given by Michael Bierut last year was really interesting (video below the fold).

Visit: http://the99percent.com/videos/6056/michael-bierut-5-secrets-from-86-notebooks

Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut claims that he’s not creative. Instead, he likens his job to that of a doctor who tends to patients – “the sicker, the better.” Digging into the 86 notebooks he’s kept over the course of his career, Bierut walks us through 5 projects – from original conception to final execution – extracting a handful of simple lessons (e.g. the problem contains the solution; don’t avoid the obvious) at the foundation of brilliant design solutions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m loving these retro artworks by Spanish illustrator Gianmarco Magnani. Really beautiful combinations of technical manual style and evocative water painted scenes. Some of it’s very ‘Akiraesque’. You can also buy the prints in his online shop, very tempting!

“At first the series was just called ‘Riders’. But I decided to give it a focus of rivalry between good and bad, with another side: ‘Villains’.”

http://www.silencetv.com/work.html

All images copyright Gianmarco Magnani – go and buy some of the lovely prints in the shop!

Our project last year with the Queen’s Nursing Institute has won the Third Sector Excellence Award for Best Website alongside other short-listed entries from the likes of WWF, The Prince’s Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.

The District Nursing 150 website project involved exploring stories, galleries and films throughout the history of District Nursing to celebrate the vibrant one hundred and fifty year history of District Nursing in the UK. We’re very happy the project has been successful for the Queen’s Nursing Institute and look forward to collaborating in the future.

http://www.districtnursing150.org.uk/

The Third Sector Excellence Awards have rapidly gained pre-eminence as “the Awards to win” in this dynamic, challenging, yet hugely rewarding sector for registered charities, not-for-profits, social enterprises and campaigning groups.

The Awards aim to reward examples of outstanding campaigns, strategies, projects and performance, backed up by hard evidence of success. Winners receive their awards at an immaculately produced and staged dinner and ceremony in London each year. For 2009, the Awards dinner and ceremony will take place at Grosvenor House

Third year students at The University for the Creative Arts are holding an online auction titled Beg, Steal or Borrow. The auction includes a great collection of design goodies that have been sourced by the students from notable designers and illustrators.

The money raised from the auction, which begins on 21st March and lasts for 10 days, will go towards funding the students end of year Graphic Communication degree show at the University and the D&AD New Blood show.

A great way to help support this years graduating students get some much needed industry exposure. Get bidding! http://www.graphicsfarnham.org/auction/

Some samples of the lots:

http://www.graphicsfarnham.org/auction/