Patternity

Posted by Alex Bec, Thursday 22 April 2010

If you care to take a stroll up Kingsland Road in east London this weekend, you’ll encounter any number of revellers as it’s Dalston’s own annual Land of Kings festival. Aside from the music and festivities, Patternity have curated a show of work celebrating east London’s native creatives and aptly dubbed it A Tapestry of Dalston. Intriguingly as the light fades the show doesn’t, and the UV inks used to print the artwork take centre stage. Pictured is a piece by the magnificent Dan Has Potential, and there are 11 more where that came from.

Posted by Alex Bec

Alex is one of the directors of It’s Nice That who now oversees our sister creative agency INT Works. For several years he oversaw the Monday Morning Music Video feature until it came to an end in 2014.

ab@itsnicethat.com •

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Graphic Design
Modular typography runs riot at the Royal College of Art

Billie Muraben • 19 January 2015

Designed by Minna Sakaria, Carolina Dahl and Maria Ines Gul, this great identity for the upcoming Royal College of Art’s School of Communication Work-in-Progress show is a modular representation of the works in progress that’ll be exhibited. Made up of a set of parts, the typeface allows for each element to contribute to any number of letterforms or abstract shapes. As well as existing online and in print, the specially-designed typeface has been printed on stickers with the intention of interrupting the RCA’s corporate identity in a playful and productive way.
Animation
Tearjerking animation explores our unhealthy relationship with technology

Liv Siddall • 20 January 2015

Maybe it’s because it’s January and yesterday was officially the most suicidal day of the year, but something about this animation really threw me. It was something to do with the throbbing pain in my thumbs from playing too much Candy Crush Soda Saga (in bed, on the train, in the bath) and that numb-eyed sensation that comes from scrolling through Twitter like a dead person, and refreshing Facebook without even knowing I’m doing it. Technology, as much affection we have for it, is a barrage of information that we don’t know how to handle – and the amount of time we engage with it is spiralling out of control.
Graphic Design
Odd Future designer Chris Burnett on his nuts work for the hip-hop collective

Emily Gosling • 19 January 2015

“Designing for Odd Future was a little bit like working for a bunch of slightly familiar homies, who have ridiculously awesome ideas for apparel and a lot more money than you,” says Chris Burnett, a Portland, Oregon-based designer who got in touch recently to show off his rather awesome site.
Photography
Arthur Drooker's photographs of an American mermaid convention, Merfest

Liv Siddall • 22 January 2015

Cool Hunting used to be a place of current art and design, expensive watches, exclusive booze bottles, leather mountaineering accessories and cars you will never be able to afford. Nowadays it’s a place of exotic content nestled snugly in a brand new redesign that’s pretty ahead of the game. Recently it’s been championing the work of an American photographer called Arthur Drooker, largely focusing on his series entitled Conventional Wisdom. Arthur is something of a curiosity-lover, and his wild, weird series are the visual result of him being unable to resist the pull of “Bronies,” ventriloquists, clowns, re-enactors and taxidermists.
Graphic Design
Wonderful head shots of hand models in M.G.T-designed book

Emily Gosling • 14 January 2015

From the dainty digits that show off wedding rings to the Marigold-clad hands that demonstrate the power of toilet cleaners to the precious paws that poke at futuristic gadgets, it’s easy to forget that the hands that advertise are attached to bodies and heads we seldom see.

Weekender
The pot of gold at the end of your rainbow? Nah, it's just the Weekender

Maisie Skidmore • 23 January 2015

If you’ve been waiting all week for Friday evening like a shipwrecked sailor eagerly watches the horizon for the first sign of a rescue mission, then the Weekender is that hazy pink flare in the distance – the sign that you’re almost there! This week we’ve got an animation about our dependence on technology; a deluge of interviews with super talented artists, designers, photographers and printmakers; a smattering of erotica; a collection of photographs of people who want to be mermaids and a round-up of what’s happened in the world this week, from a certain newspaper’s fascination with the humble nip to TLC’s hotly-anticipated comeback. Delve in!
Publication
Harvard Design Magazine talks us through its redesign

Billie Muraben • 23 January 2015

Harvard Design Magazine has relaunched with a design overhaul by With Projects, and editorial changes led by Jennifer Sigler. The magazine started life in 1997, and packed with scholarly articles on urban design, landscape architecture and sustainability, it acted as a kind of update for design school alumni. The new look intends to “overcome the insularity of design discourse,” framing each issue with themes like “Wet Matter” and “Do You Read Me?” Jennifer Sigler and associate editor Leah Whitman-Salkin have established a visually exciting and poetic space for “dialogue, speculation and surprise.” They’ve been kind enough to indulge our questions and tell all about their plans, processes and probing approach.
Photography
Asger Carlsen messes with resort fashion for New York Magazine's The Cut

Liv Siddall • 23 January 2015

The annually ubiquitous words “resort collection” evoke whiffs of Campari and orange, sunset-lit terraces in The Hamptons, a suitcase of freshly pressed, pastel daywear. That’s why we were rather surprised when New York Magazine’s fashion branch The Cut decided to commission Asger Carlsen to help show off 2015’s sartorial offerings. Asger is a Danish artist living and working in New York, and is the go-to man for distorted, nightmare-like monochromatic images that have the power to send bolts of nerves fleetingly through your teeth.
Graphic Design
More great, slick graphic design work from Mike Lemanski

Emily Gosling • 23 January 2015

It’s little surprise that Mike Lemanski’s graphic design work has been something of an It’s Nice That favourite, and since we last posted about him in 2013 he’s not let his style slip. Mike’s site boasts some beautiful, mature designs for Feuilleton magazine, which takes articles from various international publications such as The New York Times, translates them into French and publishes issues every quarter.
Design Indaba
Our pick of the talks from 2014's Design Indaba event in Cape Town

Media Partner Article • 23 January 2015

Last year’s excellent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town saw dozens of speakers take to the stage over the course of three days of creative insight and enlightenment. The videos of the talks are in the throes of being released over on the Design Indaba site which got us feeling all nostalgic about the raft of great stuff we saw. The conference was full of memorable moments – from Thomas Heatherwick announcing the opening of a new art museum in Cape Town to Stefan Sagmeister leading the hall in song – but this is a personal selection of some of our highlights.
Opinion
Studio Minerva co-founder Silas Amos on the cigarette packs that got him hooked

It's Nice That • 23 January 2015

Following this week’s news that plain cigarette packaging could be introduced in England as soon as next year, Studio Minerva co-founder and creative strategy lead Silas Amos tells us about the designs that made his relationship with smoking “always equally one with the branding.”
Web
Wesley Verhoeve's portraits of lesser-known American creative cities

Rob Alderson • 23 January 2015

I don’t mean to show off, but I’ve met quite a few Americans, and I often ask them about the creative scene in the USA. More specifically I’m interested in whether it’s possible to elucidate any recurring themes or general characteristics in such a huge, diverse country. Most of them, bluntly but politely, say that no, no it’s not. What a ridiculous question. Get out my car. So to study American creativity is actually to study its individual outposts, and that’s where Wesley Verhoeve’s One Of Many project comes in.
Illustration
Lots of wisdom from Christoph Niemann's brilliant Reddit AMA

Rob Alderson • 23 January 2015

Christoph Niemann is one of our creative heroes, an illustrator and artist whose talent, imagination and sense of humour puts him smack bang in the top drawer. So imagine our excitement when we found out he was doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit yesterday, where he held forth on all manner of topics, from serious illustration insight to his love of butter. Here’s some of the wit and wisdom he shared…
Art
Jason Murphy’s characters struggle through life, while his drawings soar

Billie Muraben • 23 January 2015

Me nut nut nut was one of Jason Murphy’s daughter’s first utterances, and is now the name for his drawings of awkward stories of fear and incompetence. Inspired by the physical comedy of The Young Ones and The Ren & Stimpy Show, Jason’s drawings rely on comic intuition and references to real-life moments, like dropping a potato on his cat.
Art
Is it art? Is it performance? Or is it just PJ Harvey being ace, in a box?

Emily Gosling • 23 January 2015

While we wait to take our turn to become a sort of strangely sanctioned voyeur as PJ Harvey records her ninth album, thinking about what’s ahead feels peculiar. Essentially, we’re going to see PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey, her band, producers Flood and John Parish, a photographer and two engineers making an album in a Something & Son-designed box, formed of glass that allows visitors to see in, while the musicians can’t see out.
Graphic Design
Bureau Hardy Seiler creates a jazzy identity for Hanover's free theatre

Maisie Skidmore • 23 January 2015

When Hanover-based designers Bureau Hardy Seiler and web design agency Created by Monkeys decided to pitch to design the identity for the Freies Theater Hannover, they found themselves faced with a dilemma. The theatre hosts every flavour of live performance going, from puppetry and musical shows to experimental dance, and all in one flexible and family-friendly space. How could they create a graphic language to match that?

Illustration
Lots of wisdom from Christoph Niemann's brilliant Reddit AMA

Rob Alderson • 23 January 2015

Christoph Niemann is one of our creative heroes, an illustrator and artist whose talent, imagination and sense of humour puts him smack bang in the top drawer. So imagine our excitement when we found out he was doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit yesterday, where he held forth on all manner of topics, from serious illustration insight to his love of butter. Here’s some of the wit and wisdom he shared…
Graphic Design
The invariably stylish work of art director and illustrator Charlotte Delarue

Maisie Skidmore • 22 January 2015

Illustrator and art director Charlotte Delarue’s varied work shows her to be an uncommonly talented illustrator, conjuring incredibly realistic portraits out of paper and pencil safe in the knowledge that she doesn’t need to do anything more to make them impressive. Her art direction is of another ilk entirely, however – she works with the likes of electro acts Chromeo, Justice and Kavinsky to draw up impactful logotypes and album artwork concepts that can be spotted from miles away, from the golden legs which reappear on almost every Chromeo album cover to Kavinsky’s mysterious blue-tinged scenes.
Illustration
Jiggling eyeballs, monsters and trousers populate Sophy Hollington's new work

Billie Muraben • 22 January 2015

Sophy Hollington has been busy making some sassy new printed matter. With fan art, band T-shirts, record sleeves and commissions from The New York Times and Japanese gallery Parades, Sophy’s detailed, lino-cut and Risograph printed work is gorgeous, varied and often rather strange.
Illustration
Brilliant New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator talks about his life and work

Liv Siddall • 20 January 2015

Interviewing cartoonist Joe Dator is a real honour, because he’s a total hero and also a spectacular interviewee. Listen to him talk about his working life: “Everything revolves around Tuesday. The New Yorker cartoon meeting is on Tuesday, so that’s the day we all submit our new ideas to the editor…I usually work over the weekend and by Monday night I’m in full-on lockdown to get my batch of ideas ready. Wednesday is a day off. If you ever want to socialise with a New Yorker cartoonist, Wednesday is the day to do it.”
Illustration
Wonderfully loopy comic collages from Adult Swim animator Ben Mendelewicz

Billie Muraben • 20 January 2015

New York-based illustrator Ben Mendelewicz draws comics, illustrates and animates for the likes of Adult Swim, Stussy and Funny or Die. He has contributed to Mouldmap, Happiness and Weird with comic horror stories of white collar jobs with fragmented scripts of bastardised professional jargon.
Illustration
New editorial work from London-based illustrator Rob Pybus

Liv Siddall • 19 January 2015

It’s great to see Rob Pybus’ work again after a little bit of a break. Like many illustrators at the moment, Rob has been unable to resist the allure of GIFs, and has clearly been spending a lot of his time recently turning his marvellous, perspective-skewing illustrations into mini films. Rob’s also been busy working for a whole bunch of exciting new clients such as Wired, The New York Times, Jacobin and Original Source, among others.
Illustration
Meet the founders of young, independent Scottish print studio Workhorse Press

Liv Siddall • 19 January 2015

When we were up at Graphic Design Festival Scotland last year we met two nice guys called Dominic Kesterton and Orlando Lloyd who were assisting people in their design dreams by showing them how to make their own riso prints. A fantastic illustrator and designer respectively, Dominic and Orlando started up a small printing press, Workhorse Press, during their time studying in Edinburgh. We wanted to talk to them about why they’re still at it, the difficulties they face, and why Scotland’s print, design and illustration scene would be lost without them. Here they are…
Illustration
Awesome new work from first-rate arranger of things, Rand Renfrow

Maisie Skidmore • 16 January 2015

Rand Renfrow is one of the illustrators we came across among the scores of upcoming artists and illustrators publishing with Clay Hickson’s independent project Tan & Loose yesterday, and seeing as how last time we featured him it was in our Introducing feature nearly two years ago, it seemed high time to check in.
Illustration
A tonne of terrific new work from prolific illustrator Graham Roumieu

Rob Alderson • 15 January 2015

Illustrator Graham Roumieu may be one of the most prolific creatives around. Already the 2015 tab on his website is populated with a load of work, less than two weeks into the year. And because it’s been nearly two years since we last featured him on the site, it’s no great surprise that there is a tonne of great imagery for us, and you, to enjoy. Regular clients include The Atlantic, New York Magazine and the Readers’ Questions feature in Popular Mechanics (where he brings to life such public puzzlers as “What do pilots talk about on long-haul flights?").
Illustration
Clay Hickson is back with a bunch of great new work

Maisie Skidmore • 15 January 2015

“All hail Hickson!” were the words with which we finished our last post about Chicago-based illustrator Clay Hickson back in 2012, and while it doesn’t give us much to improve on, the expression certainly still seems to fit our feelings for him. Since we last checked in, Clay has developed his practice immeasurably, stepping away from pencils to embrace Adobe Illustrator and printmaking all the more enthusiastically, and making a heap of new work in the process. He’s stuck to his old penchant for pop surrealist scenes and funny-shaped girl parts – he loves a boob and a sausage, does Clay – but the calibre of the work has improved in a striking way.
Illustration
We meet 12-year-old comics artist Orson to discuss his new book

James Cartwright • 14 January 2015

Orson is only 12 years old but has already achieved my unrealised childhood dream of publishing his own graphic novel. Last Saturday saw the launch of his latest title, The Adventures of Hal Dekenzin, at Orbital Comics in London – an event that included not only freshly printed comics, but also a plethora of live drawing by the author himself.
Graphic Design
Innovative editorial work by designer and illustrator Matt Chase

Maisie Skidmore • 14 January 2015

Presenting Matt Chase, the editorial illustrator living and working in Washington DC, who can transform a wishy-washy concept into a solid hunk of imagery with a snap of the fingers. You’ve likely seen his work already without knowing it – maybe in the New York Times, on the cover of one of Douglas Coupland’s novels, or perhaps in the Wall Street Journal if you’re that way inclined.
Illustration
Giulia Garbin's gorgeous new book pays homage to the typographers of Turin

Rob Alderson • 13 January 2015

Giulia Garbin is carving out a very particular niche for herself, as a creator of great-looking tributes to the graphic design days of old. Her graduation project from the Royal College of Art was a stunning book celebrating the last printers in London’s Fleet Street and her new offering is a visual homage to the typographers of Turin.