This week we welcome Dave Smith to guest post. Having run the hugely successful GraficCache for just over two years Dave decided seize posting last month. Since then he’s gone on to provide weekly content for Grafik and last week announced he’d be posting for Process. When he’s not blogging he designs at Belfast design studio Sort.
Having only got him for five days Dave’s plan is to post some highlights of the two years of posts from the GrafikCache archive.
This week, alongside working on brand projects at Sort, I will be compiling my weekly post for Grafik mag and hopefully helping out with the launch of Process, a new venture by Hunt Studio of Australia on their blog side of things. Process Journal is a new quarterly released design publication that showcases the very best of Australian and International design.
They know I am a designer, but I’m not sure they know what form that takes. I am pretty sure I never explained this fully to my parents.
A few friends say I look like Lex Luther from the TV series Smallville. Although I am not bald in any way. Facial features only.
Sight.
I share my name with American expressionist sculptor David Smith.
I think my education counted in the fact that it steered me in the direction of a design career path, although for me I felt University lacked a good bit in my own personal development, as everything I really learnt as a designer was during my time after university in the studio environment.
Sounds silly but I always spelt Wednesday wrong when I was at school. I always liked to think it was spelt ‘Wedensday’.
Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
Continuing with the Grafik mag blog spot, but also hopefully hatching a new personal project in the realm of zines.
I don’t have a Plan B. I always think Plan B is a compromise. So Plan A had better work.
Product design often had its place on the Grafikcache, and Italian-based Ewo was one of them. Ewo develops and produces high quality individual lighting systems for public spaces. Their products are primarily technology-led but always have a strong design aesthetic and feel. Something which I feel we need more of in civic design. Their most recent project entitled the ‘PA’ light is based upon highly-efficient LED system modules.
Art Director Kashiwa Sato has an impressive body of work which spans a wide range of media and disciplines. Most renowned for his work for fashion label Uniqlo, Sato always demonstrates a great sense of control in every project he has worked on, offering not just a brand, but an experience whereby everything has been carefully considered whether it be the architecture, product design, promotion and launch of a brand. The complete package.
Created by designer/observer Michael Bojkowski, The Nation Magazine Cover Archive (NMCA) is a non-commercial ‘hobbysite’ devoted to helping keep inspirational magazine design alive. Although it hasn’t been updated for a while now, it still acts as a great resource for magazine cover design looking at some of the best loved titles and independents around, including Grafik/The Wire/Frame/Good for Nothing/LWL and Emigre to name a few.
Rarely during my time posting on the Grafikcache did I ever concentrate on some of the masters of the Graphic Design world, but the work of Helmut Schmid for me was one exception. I was particularly fond of his packaging work for Otsuka Pharmaceutical, information design and clarity at its best.
There is a great online archive of all his works to be found here.
In the two years of curating the Grafikcache, I featured many great photographers and their work, but for me the shots of New York based Art Director Jason Koxvold are something special. Some of his landscapes are absolutely stunning in both composition and colour. The shot pictured entitled Chiba, Japan 2009 is one of my favourites.