As a designer that does commercial work, I gotta love Paula Scher:

“Many talented young designers today have abandoned their roles as improvers of the general visual environment. Many only want to work on cultural work, or not-for-profit work, or on projects they perceive as “good-for-society” which may have a high profile within the design milieu, but don’t really reach ordinary people. These designers are afraid to get involved in mainstream packaging, promotion or corporate work. They forget that these are the products and messages that most people really encounter in their daily lives, that these products and services are at the heart of the American condition, and that there is responsibility for us as designers, always, to raise the expectation of what design can be. We are responsible for that daily experience. These “ivory tower designers” leave the job to others (ad agencies, schlock shops, etc.) who are simply doing it for the money, and are often cynical about the outcome.”

Check out her full interview on interesting design blog PrttyShtty.

How do you feel about the news today? Now you can let everyone know. NBC has launched something similar to a tag cloud, with percentages on opinions on the article. In the drop down, you have the following options: intrigued, thrilled, furious, sad, bored, laughing. If your feelings can’t fit into those categories then you’re out of luck. Now at least we won’t need to worry about flamers overrunning the news with feelings like “roflcopter”.

Found via BrandFlakesForBreakfast

Its always interesting to find products that are designed with both form and function in mind.. Oooms Puzzle board is just that allowing you to connect more than one together to create a larger area or use a single one as a serving board.. check it outt HERE

I found this art director/illustrative designer, Zeptonn, through the wonderful blog Doodlers Anonymous. Browsing his portfolio you will see how his characters sneak onto any item and make it exciting, whether it be a mural, apparel, print collateral. The bottom line is: Cute, fun, strong “vectorish” graphics that all make me giggle with joy. Sold!

Clients from hell is a wonderful site sharing some of the great things that can come from working with clients as a creative.

some of my favorites are

“Can you take the bottle out of her hand, we don’t want to make it seem like we are against breast feeding.”

“You can take off $1289.86 of what I owe you. We’ll call it a finders fee, since I found you guys and am helping you out. Sound good?”

“Let’s negotiate on the price. Don’t forget, my wife can do this for free.”

“Well I’m a bit of a designer too. I have a Myspace.”

“I need someone that can take everything in here (client points to head with both hands), and put it on the internet.”

DC LiFE celebrates the 7th season of the ADMIRAL.
Inspired by colors experienced during a Western Americana road trip.
Check out the detail in the indigenous prints and patterns infused by the natives.

“For this offering we partnered with “NATIONAL FOREST” for a custom “Indigenous Modern” pattern featured on the sublimated satin lining interior. The upper consists of Full Grain illusion Leather, DC custom Allen Key Head® eyelets. The foot bed is molded in a soft latex supported by a EVA insert cup sole construction for extra comfort. Sticky Rubber Outsole bottom technology featuring the engineered design of DC’s Trademarked Pill Pattern™ for abrasion resistance. ”

go on get cha some at DC

Last fall I started teaching. My first class was History of Visual Communications, one of my favorites as a student. When I was in school I loved learning about the rich visual history of graphic design, feeling as though maybe there was some way my own career could contribute to the great succession of work we studied. What I found was that being able to retain the knowledge imparted in that class would allow me the opportunity to create a much stronger vocabulary of my own, both visually and verbally.

To this day I love coming across a designer’s work that maybe we didn’t cover in that class, but still holds an important place in the larger design timeline. I really can’t recall where I came across the work done by Stefan Kanchev, but I know I will be sharing it with my students come this fall when I teach that course again. Kanchev was a Bulgarian-born designer whose catalogue of symbols, trademarks and logos find their place easily amongst the corporate identity invasion of the Swiss International Style. These clean, modern marks are everything I’ve come to love about the 1960s visual communication era.

-WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
Born and raised in Queens, NY. My parents are from the Dominican Republic.
I guess that is why some people might think DC initials stand for Dominican Conquistador, LOL.

-WHAT DOES YOUR WORK CONSIST OF?
Global Product Line Merchandising.
In other words using colors and materials to conceptualize footwear stories.
My efforts are applied to exclusive footwear models that make up the limited distribution collection of DC LiFE.

-HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
I discovered a skateboard in 1988 and couldn’t seem to let it go until I tore my ACL in 2007 and then again in 2008. The ware and tare of a few decades caught up to me I guess. I think about getting surgery again everyday just so that I can kick flip and 360 flip a gap or something with no fear.

Early on, skateboarding influenced my appreciation for the diversity of art and music from all the different cultures surrounding me. Which then encouraged me to pursue a bachelors degree in Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, NYC. Naturally along the way through the years I met many people who are now doing big things. And they all remembered me, I have my given name to thank for that! With that said I’d like to thank Sneaker Steve Patino for putting me on to the inner workings of the footwear industry.

-WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Due to the nature of the beast. I work in an environment where I learn something new everyday from my colleagues while traveling the world. Followed by seeing my creative become a reality from 2D to 3D form. Its like my birthday every 30 days when samples arrive.

-WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
It takes a minimum of 90 days to produce a line and then ship it. On top of the 90 days of design and development. I guess the worse thing about what I do, is seeing another brand beat me to the press with a similar idea that was coincidentally conceptualized and already in the development process.

-IF YOU WEREN’T FOR DC SHOES, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?
I guess I would still be putting my creative touch on something within my reach!

-WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Doing something I did yesterday better today!

-WHERE DOES CREATIVITY COME FROM?
All my past experiences from skating to music, art and design!

-WHO’S WORK DO YOU LOOK UP TO? (Either currently or in the past)
Currently: Peter Beard, Jose Parla, Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive
Past: Too many names to mention, and this interview is way over due!

-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY?
Hopefully an industry that begins coloring outside the lines again!

-WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU NEXT?
Breaking the rules within my surroundings!

-WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD ASPIRING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?
Don’t be scared to dare and be yourself! If you feel the need to double dribble in order to score, make it happen. If someone blows the whistle trying to play ref, say Fuck you. That’s point, so check the ball. There is no official rules to all this shit!

-ONE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR.
Working with Ken Block (DC co-founder and Pro Rally Racer) on his new shoe in collaboration with Huck Gee. Good times with this project! Huck reinterpreted his evil skull logo into a block head skull logo for Ken aka #43! Why number 43, because D is the 4th and C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet. Be on the look out for this offering this summer during X-Games.

-WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Red Café – “I Wanna Rock (Freestyle).. cause I’m ill, Ya Tu Sabe…. Dimelo…….
The Breaks Over!

I can’t honestly remember who led me to this, but I remember them saying something about wishing this was their new summer home. I can’t agree more. The Paraty House, in Paraty, Brazil, was designed by Marcio Kogan Architects.

It’s “two reinforced concrete boxes, sit atop each other, connected on the mountainside of one of the islands of the colonial city of Paraty and Angra dos Reis (between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), like two modern prisms between the large colossal stones of the Brazilian coast.

The building projects outward from the mountain, almost onto the beach, in an 8m cantilever. The house finds balance in the topography of the land, creating an extensive open doorway and living space in the practically untouched nature. Paraty House features a furniture collection showcasing 20thcentury design, including works by many well-known artists.

The residents arrive by boat. After stepping out onto the sand a metallic bridge positioned over a crystal-lined reflecting pool leads to a set of stairs connecting to the lower volume. This volume contains the living room, kitchen and service area. The continual internal area has a 27m span and huge glass windows to take advantage of the view of the sea.

The same entrance stairs also lead to the upper volume that houses the bedrooms. In the front part of the house, retractile panels of eucalyptus sticks protect the bedrooms from the sun. The areas that face the mountain have small internal patios with zenithal lighting, and use exposed reinforced concrete, which grants a striking texture to the walls.

The entire top of the house is covered with terraces, used as observation decks for the residents, and as a garden for sculptures, medicinal plants and edible herbs.” [Via Contemporist]

I’ve always loved these experimental covers for Faber & Faber done by MIchael Kosmicki. The covers have recently made their way around the book design blog circuit, always catching my attention. It appears that Kosmicki (based in London) has a really great portfolio to go along with them.

The new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, comes out next Tuesday. A lot of people have been waiting a good 5 years for this album, you can hear it in its entirety over at NPR right now! There are some amazing collaborations on the album, including Mos Def, Lou Reed and De La Soul.

New York Magazine’s article on Kate and Andy Spade has been making the rounds in the blogosphere and for good reason. Their story reveals how despite their success, they are way more concerned with their life journey than getting caught up in the business. A particular excerpt I like:

“Someone said to me, what about your legacy?” Andy said a few weeks ago, a look of extreme incredulity on his round kewpie face, “and I said, what about my life?” He held up his hands at the obviousness of the thing. “You know,” he said, “there are a lot of interesting things going on in the world.”

Read the full article on New York Magazine

A few years back I had the pleasure of hearing Deborah Adler speak at the Thinking Creatively design conference while I was a student. She was riding high on the recent success of her redesign for prescription medication packaging, specifically the bottle of pills you get when you fill a prescription at a local pharmacy. Target picked up the idea and worked with Deborah collaboratively to bring the system to market. It was an instant success.

I remember her lecture very vividly, she was then working at Milton Glaser Inc., and it became clear to me then as a student that designers could really do something valuable with their ideas. Looks like Ms. Adler is now running her own operation in NYC, Deborah Adler Design, and doing some nice work too.

If you care to see an eclectic collection of illustrators, I cannot recommend Jacky Winter Group more. They are an Australian based agency and boast that they represent “Australia’s Finest”. Going through the work of artists and seeing their roster of clients, it’s hard to argue that point. There is fine rendered typography, collaged imagery, digital illustration combined with photography and simplified vector graphics. I’m sure that is part of their success – no matter your taste, you’ll find something you like.

I’m a sucker for handwriting, beautiful photography, creative inspiration and clothes. So when I discovered J.Crew’s latest web campaign “Who’s That Girl”, which features ladies from their March catalog, I was instantly engaged. I don’t receive the J. Crew catalog and now I will probably subscribe to it since they are offering some interesting content. I found out about the project from an eblast and when I browsed to the site I saw the round up of New York City creatives. The site delves into their personal styles, work life and of course, their involvement with J. Crew.

Kanye launched his new blog a few days back, go check it out. I’m always glad to see someone doing something different.

The only thing I can say about these images is that you need to see them for yourself. Amazing stuff…that’s all I got.

Some people just like to have fun.

In the coming weeks we’ll be adding some new contributors to our operation here at The Takeover. We’ll be looking to add to the quantity, quality and variety of topics that we make available to our readers. We’re also hoping to generate a greater amount of our own specific content with articles and interviews by designers, artists, and creative professionals. Here to kick it off we’re happy to announce our first new contributor, Fiona Clark.

Fiona Clark (aka Wee Fi) is an artist working and living in New York City. Fiona graduated in 2007 from Hartford Art School with a major in Visual Communication Design and minors in Photography and Art History. Fiona has done freelance and full time studio work in both print and web design. A few of her clients have included: Victoria’s Secret, Bath&Body Works, Fendi, Garnet Hill and BBC America. She currently works at Coach as a full time web designer. Outside of work she enjoys her pet turtle, doodling, drinking ridiculous amounts of tea, traveling and the colour red.

We’re thrilled to have Fiona become a part of The Takeover, she has a bunch of good posts for you guys in coming days. be on the look out for her posts and make sure to say hi.

Recently found out about Areaware, a design company in NYC that manufacturers and distributes some really nice products. The artwork and goods are designed by pretty nice roster of industrial designers. The wooden flashlight above really caught my attention.

Post Typography is one of those amazing studios that is capable of doing just about any kind of project conceivable. They’re located in Baltimore and get to work on custom typography, posters, books, illustration, packaging, clothing, logos & identities and web/digital projects.

UK illustrator Nicholas Saunders is a lucky guy. He was given the opportunity to work for 4 months on the graphics and packaging that were used in the “Weasley Joke Shop” scene for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He was able to come up with names for the products and all of the artwork that was then produced by hand into packaging for the production.

Check out the video special about the process below.

Illustrator Alex Nabaum has created some amazing editorial illustrations for TIME, Newsweek, NY Times, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and a score of other major publications. I could look at these all day.

“Candy Chang is a designer, urban planner and artist in Helsinki. She likes to make the city more accessible and engaging through research, design, and the creative use of public space.”

There are some really interesting projects over at her site that cross disciplines between community awareness/advocacy, technology, urban planning and design/art. I wish more designers thought along these lines, it makes for some very exciting results. I think some of these same projects could make for some interesting assignments in design schools.

Bike helmets aren’t exactly lauded for their fashion-forwardness. (Hello, helmet hair!) For a noggin protector that doesn’t make you look like a sweaty quarterback or someone who’s making a grab for the Tour de France championship title, take a gander at designer Kyle J. Ferguson’s eco-friendly concept helmet for Lacoste.

Comprising sustainable materials like organic wool, thermoformed bio-plastic, low-density cork and soy-based foam, Ferguson’s helmet is, in his own words, “well-suited to leisurely rides around town, running errands, or commuting.”

Female urban professionals between the ages of 19 and 40 are Ferguson’s target demographic, since research by the Snell Memorial Foundation notes a higher incidence of injury among cyclists in that bracket.

Meanwhile, Granta Material Intelligence’s findings that cork has comparable energy-absorption properties to expanded polystyrene foam inspired his use of the renewable material for the helmet’s inner shell.

To create a “less-technical” appearance and conceal the hardshell’s interior vents, Ferguson clad his helmet with breathable organic wool in a fetching herringbone tweed.

Via : BROC CITY

OK, so lately I’ve been on this kick for looking up the work of design studios with an obvious modern/minimalist aesthetic. Grids, Helvetica (or other sans), black & white only, you get the point. Extra points if they’re in the UK. I’m not really sure why, but as I’ve “matured” as a designer (who know maybe I’m lying to myself) I’ve been able to see a greater attention to detail and clarity in communication that is so often associated with designers who think/create in this manner.

My friend Andy turned me on to the work of Fraser Muggeridge Studio in London, and at first I thought the work was too generic. It made me feel numb in fact. I got it right away, don’t get me wrong, I just wasn’t sure if I liked it. But then, as I began to look through each of their projects, I felt intrigued by the subtlety of their work. I was drawn in to actually look at the pieces, their purpose and message. I think there’s something genius about it now, they are designers that are able to show a tremendous amount of restraint in allowing the content to shine forth.

PS-Make sure to refresh the homepage a few times, different work tends to come up.

Pijama makes soft fabric cases for a variety of electonic devices like Apple laptops, PC laptops, digital camcorders, digital cameras, iPhone, iPod, etc. The neoprene cases come in a wide variety of vintage fabrics and great patterns and are sewn locally in Milan, Italy.

Our good friends over at Thinking For a Living™ have just re-launched their site! The new site makes good use of some innovative navigational techniques and has a slew of great resources, articles, links and more. Make sure to check them out and visit often.

Music is a Manchester design studio whose work is not only brilliant, but also brilliantly displayed on their site.

There’s something really beautiful about the artwork of Cody Hoyt. It might be the juxtaposition of grit and texture against clean layers of line work, or maybe the dimensionality. Actually, it’s probably the type, yes the typography he incorporates into his pieces. I want one on my wall.

Were at it again! Teaming up with 4th Ward Heros to raise money for Doctors without boarders at Heroic Efforts :: Médecins Sans Frontières Edition Feb 25th 2010 9pm at the Star Bar.  We will be doing raffles for goods, selling shirts and of corse having great music with performances by Sealions, Moonlight Bride, the Zut Alors, Sunglasses.

Deke Smith has the good fortune of working as a designer at JDK Design, one of the first studios whose work I can remember as a design student. His portfolio has some really incredible illustration work and prints.

Rami Moghadam is a designer at Pentagram’s New York office under partner Luke Hayman. Rami’s site has some really great work on it like the above minimal identity design for Pont-Aven School for Contemporary Art.

Obits
Emerging from the ashes of Hot Snakes, Edsel, and Shortstack, Obits are veterans of garage punk. I happened to catch them at Cake Shop last weekend (coincidentally, the same place they played their first show 2 years prior) and they absolutely killed it. Their brand of straight-forward, catchy punk is so refreshing. It’s not as angry as Hot Snakes was, so if you’re looking for the second coming of Audit in Progress you won’t find it here, but their 2009 LP I Blame You is no worse for the lack of cynicism.

So Cow
I initially went to a show in Brooklyn last week to catch Blank Dog (for the record Blank Dog was awful) and managed to catch So Cow opening for them as well. I suppose it’s very similar to most bands attempting that noise-rock sound that seems to pile onto an L train out of Brooklyn on a daily basis, but I enjoy that So Cow doesn’t try to be something it’s not.
Singer, Brian Kelly, sings songs that everyone can relate to and writes them so simply so no one will miss what he’s trying to say to you. Not to mention they do a great cover of Runaway by Del Shannon that you should be listening to.

N.A.S.A.
Almost as impressive as some of the music on this record is the talent that managed to wrangle in to appear on it. N.A.S.A. (an acronym for North America South America) is a DJ collective featuring LA based Squeak E. Clean and Brazil native, DJ Zegon. Their album, The Spirit of Apollo, is largely based in Brazilian funk, which is a nice change pace from the spacey beats that generally go along with this type of album. Be sure to pick it up and say hi to RZA, Kanye, Chuck D, M.I.A.m Tom Waits, KRS-One, John Frusciante, Ghostface, and company on the way.

Peter McClelland’s portfolio (HLVTCA) is quite amazing, I happening to be a sucker for this sort of identity work. What makes it all the better is finding some street art in there too.

The UK studio which was known as Leterme/Dowling is now New Creative. Check out the new site they put up, you might have seen some it around before, especially over at Counter-Print.

Growing up in NJ with a family of union and industrial workers I have always had an interest and appreciation for hand work and manufacturing. I recently came across Martin Greenfield, a master tailor in Brooklyn with an amazing positive energy and spirit who tells his story of the years since he founded his company in 1977.

SIXINCH is a great furniture and design company located in Belgium, Portugal and Japan. They have some really interesting uses of material and combinations of style.. be sure to go check out their site for more work.

For Spring 2010 DC has collaborated once again with influential French store and brand Sixpack, featuring designs from graphic artist PMKFA. Sober and monochromatic, the designs by PMKFA lure you into its psychedelic insides. Patterns are based on both the obvious and the not-so-obvious elements of street culture. Turn the shoe upside down and get an insight in PMKFA’s vision of street-entrepreneurship, taking lessons from 90’s hip hop and the idea that life is like a chess game: creativity, the need to always stay sharp, and the goal of making your next move your best move.

Two distinctive DC silhouettes, the Admiral and Sector 7, were recruited for this collection and are accompanied by premium apparel consisting of two t-shirts labeled, Oneness and Marble & Ink, and a Six Years fitted New Era Cap.

Came across the work of Aaron Blatt while running through some snowboarding links. Aaron has some really great work spread through out “action” sports (i hate that name) and captures the beauty of them. A lot of people only see the tough ruggedness of skate boarding or the highflying risk of snowboarding but Aaron has captured the purity, heart, flowing beauty and elements of these sports.

Our good friend Steven Brower has a great write up on his blog about the state of Print . Brower looks back on his five-year tenure and gives some great insight about his time at Print and opinion on the future. check it out HERE

Its been a busy week for our friend Jake Troth who had a showcase last night (photos and video coming soon), released his first single today titled “Material Things” and will be dropping a video for the single shortly. Go get the single Here

“Material Things” is a love song. It’s about the love of the world Jake Troth grew up watching on television. The ridiculously expensive and lavish lives of those people he always wanted to be.  The songs short length is derived from the short attention spans of pop culture, and its melodies are as intoxicating as any cocktail.  Beneath the patent leather and rhinestones though, there is an honest confession of what it means to be truely overtaken by this beautifully destructive disease: materialism. 
I hope you like it.

Baron Davis is one of my favorite NBA players off the court because he seems to genuinely enjoy the game and embrace it. I watched a special on 60 mins about the Li-Ning which was pretty damn interesting, stating that they are the largest growing sports wear company in China and the history of their brand. In the episode they touched on how Li-Ning would try to break into the American market but they kind of avoided saying much of if they were actually going to attempt it.. I guess this the start of their American push.. although I think it could be shot better, I like the idea and that their taking a shot at it with Baron Davis, Common, jim jones, irv gotti, dj clue.. check it.

HBO recently released the pilot episode of its new series “How to Make it in America” on Youtube today. The show debuts This Sunday February 14th at 10PM. Im really interested in seeing how this show pans out, its another Mark Wahlberg show so it should be interesting.. check it out HERE

Yep, that’s us…we’re on Twitter now. Hit us up @TakeoverBlog to stay tuned for the latest and greatest.

Beach House
Beach House recently released their third LP, Teen Dream on the indie Holy Grail, Sub Pop. They’re previous two full lengths were fairly standard dream pop albums, floating had laid is still there, but they’ve built a much wider, diverse sound above it. Each lyric is around in whispered lyrics and drawn out keyboards. The foundation that Beach House intimately sung by Victoria Legrand in such a way that you hang on every heart breaking word.

Owen Pallett

To this point Pallett had gone by the name Final Fantasy (yes, taken from the video game). I imagine the name change is copyright related, but that’s the only thing he’s left behind. Pallett is an orchestral genius with strings being his primary forte, having also contributed arrangements to Arcade Fire among others. With Heartland he brings his classicist arrangements full circle with a much broader use of instruments and sounds. Despite this still being a solo act it finally sounds more like a full orchestra and might finally yield him the attention he’s been long overdue.

Vampire Weekend
At this point we all know what Vampire Weekend is. If you don’t like this band there is something inherent with their sound that you don’t like and Contra isn’t going to change that. Contra has, however, showed me that there is much more to the than simply catch pop songs. They take some steps into moderately experimental music, but it’s layered over the sound that we’ve come to love/hate and nothing in between. Haters are going to hate, but if there’s anything you like about this band Contra is not going to disappoint you.

We all know that the Birkin Bag is one of the premier luxury items. With a price tag ranging from $5,000 to six figures, what goes into making a product of that stature is something we should all see.

via:RSVP

via Revok1

Friend of The Takeover, Andy Chen, has a new article up on Design Observer. You must head over there and read it for yourself.

Andy has been keeping us up to date with the research he’s been doing at the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre. He’s currently working on some very exciting things and we’re excited to see his hard work continue to pay off.