The work in Micah Lidberg’s portfolio is abundantly colorful and frequently inspired by nature and dream-like worlds. His star has been steadily shining as his exposure grows in the gallery, product and editorial worlds. Nearly every drawing looks like it’s out of the playbook of Where the Wild Things Are, only infused with colorful, random twists that push the genre 10 leaps forward. When asked by Jessica Goldfond, of The Shiny Squirrel, what inspires him, Lidberg’s answer reminds us why you should trust your creative gut, “I’ve only had one memorable epiphany. A professor I had in England, Japser Goodall, told a bunch of us students to draw whatever we wanted to draw. It sounds silly that that sparked my epiphany, but it did the trick. I’ve been drawing furry dinosaurs and deranged clouds ever since.”
Carrie Ruby
A true a graphic jack of all trades, native Houstonian and current Manhattanite Carrie Ruby has been a part of the creative team at Future Brand, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, The Brand Union and MBLM. For anyone who’s familiar with the world of branding, they’ll understand that a brand must represent quality, consistency and a good degree of uniqueness. All of these qualities are evident in Ruby’s pattern work. Be it sharp vector repeats or organic negative space, each and every layout is distinctively fresh. Check out our Q+A for a glimpse into Ruby’s daily routine!
Book Review: D&AD 2011
As 2011 heads steadily toward the New Year, people start to think about the holidays and review the past twelve months. With that in mind, for this week’s book review we have up for offer D&AD 2011, which feature’s the year’s best creative work. The D&AD awards panel judges over 20,000 works from design studios, ad agencies, branding consultancies, film production agencies, digital media pioneers, and other creative firms from all over the globe. Winners receive the legendary D&AD Yellow Pencil Award—or in the case of exceptional and outstanding work, the rare Black Pencil Award. This review of the winners serves as a one-stop-shop for everything that’s hot in the field. Anyone interested in creativity, communication, design, or advertising would love to have D&AD Annual for their coffee tables and book shelves.
The Essence of Contemporary Illustration
In recent years, illustration has evolved from a purely service-oriented trade to an expressive, poetic, and esteemed voice in contemporary visual culture. Even today, it continues to flourish and grow as a creative discipline––especially in its more artistic forms. Editorial design increasingly uses illustration in place of photography because of the way it depicts and enriches content in a manner that offers an expanded dimension of communication. Illustrators Unlimited presents the work of the latest cutting-edge illustration talents scouted from around the world.
Book Review: Digital Textile Design
Digital Textile Design is a practical and inspiring book written for fabric designers and those looking to learn more about the burgeoning world of digital printing. Filled with more than 300 photographs and screen-grabs, this book offers 23 tutorials presented in an easy to follow, step-by-step format that guides the reader through the process of creating designs suitable for traditional and digital textile production.
Against the backdrop of the development of digital print, the book discusses how designers can access this new technique, looks at the work of those currently exploring it’s possibilities and has profiles of designers currently excelling in this form of design.
The book also features the growing movement of combining digital textile design skills with those of surface design to bring hand-rendered touches that offset the apparent flatness of print. Digital Textile Design is an excellent resource for anyone looking for the skills to translate their ideas into digital textile art.
Book Review: Graphic Design Thinking
A good part of creativity may be an inborn talent, but it’s also a hard-earned skill that improves with time and practice. Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming centers on how to define problems, get ideas and create form.
These concepts are explored through a variety of informal techniques ranging from quick, seat-of-the-pants approaches to more formal research methods for stimulating fresh thinking, and ultimately arriving at compelling and viable solutions. As a designer, writer, curator, and educator, author Ellen Lupton is well suited for the task of extolling the virtues and vices of creative research that includs focus groups, interviewing, brand mapping, and co-design.
Cover image via Anny Mary Liu