Studies show that walking for thirty minutes improves your memory, but for me it makes you late for work. I don’t know how it works, but making yourself better is apparently a double-edged sword –it’s a choice between your well-being and your career. Anyway, that’s the dilemma of a trying-hard creative who’s always running late. Should you run out of ideas, inspiration, or you’ve run into boredom himself, we’re here to provide you with tasteful advice and inspiration about design-related things.
Last week’s Geek weekend was a blast, wasn’t it? I just kicked back and enjoyed some old video games and strolled the weekend in violence and blood, and read a thing or two about Mrs. (Dorothy) Parker.
This week’s You! Be Inspired! will cover High- and Low-brow art. Now, for the eye-candies and such, please scroll further down for some happiness.
Wyane White – Word Paintings
The fellas here at You the Designer are so addicted to type, that when they saw Wayne White’s Word Paintings they basically went “AWW”. It’s that amazing for our dear friends here – from the combination of 3D lettering and the use of different typefaces, to the type’s unique perspective with a romantic backdrop. Check out more of his work at Fecal Face!
Dimitri Drjuchin
Pop Art has simply been part of our daily life – from the stuff on our workstations to the mundane things that we browse online. We even featured two Pop Artists – Burton Morris and, much recently, JP Cuison. But far from the usual pop culture influences of these two artists is Dimitri Drjuchin’s work. He draws influences from different facets of society and culture – from religion and American superheroes, to unusual symbols and characters that were used in the past. Check out more of his work on his website.
Inkslingers
I find the experience of printing things in an offset press interesting and rewarding. For someone who spent a year in art school, the only time I had the chance to print something manually was when I sold t-shirt prints. After that, everything was either published online or was just doodled at the back of my notebook. The Inkslingers is an event for printmakers powered by Vermillion Editions. Offset printing is the same process poster prints and business cards undergo, check out the videos below for the process.
LandLand – Graphic Design and Illustration Studio
I know most graphic designers started out as poster and flyer designers, and that much of the designs used were just doodles and sketches of some of their favorite bands. Well that’s okay, and I think that’s normal. Speaking of posters and bands, Landland is a small graphic design and illustration studio based in Minneapolis that makes different stuff for bands and musicians – from your usual gig posters to album sleeves and other quirky stuff.
Erin Ruiz and So-called Illustration
A recurring theme around art galleries and groups is Lowbrow art. You can see influences of lowbrow in different publications and comics, especially in underground and independent publications. Another unique and especially hard-working illustrator is Erin Ruiz. Works show an influence drawn from comic books and other fantasy-styled works.
The Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Something that artists are looking for in a gallery is the freedom to do what they want to do with the space. The Jonathan LeVine Gallery offers just that to different artists and work. The gallery’s uniqueness stems from its founder’s ideal: “to feature the appeal of countercultural aesthetics – from punk flyers and comics, to graffiti and tattoos. “
Japanese Manhole Covers by MRSY
This unique documentation of Japan’s manholes just emphasizes Japanese creativity and imagination. Documented by Flickr user MRSY, these manholes have been geotagged on Flickr for your users to know where exactly these manholes are in Japan. The design and feel of the manholes are reminiscent of lithographs and the Japanese ukiyo-e.
If you’ve got inspiring, unique, or uber-creative projects that you’d want to feature on this side of You The Designer, just hit us up on
Facebook or
Twitter.