Perspective.

You have to check this out.  Seriously.  I came across this on Behance, a website for design professionals to post & share creative works.  This particular project was created for the Berlin Philharmonic -- and the perspective photography is simply stunning. Click here to see more images.

via Behance.net

Who needs basketball? It's art madness!

Check out this timely social media push from the Columbus Museum of Art...

via Columbus Museum of Art

Bracket details here.  Daily Facebook postings of matchup winners here.

My pick? Schokko with a Red Hat by Alexaj Jawlensky - in honor of one of the most challenging photo editing projects I've ever done during my college years. We were to pick out an image from our ginormous art history textbook, and without scanning, recreate the image using only Photoshop.  Most people went for the Jackson Pollock (so easy!); I thought it would be a good idea to use the brush tool and layer, layer, layer to my little heart's content to get the desired expressionist look.   I've never been able to look at the brush tool the same way again.  :)

Inspiration at the Philadelphia International Flower Show

I was lucky enough to be visiting some amazing friends a couple weekends ago - on the agenda for our fun Philly weekend was a stop at the Philadelphia International Flower Show late Saturday night.  Trust me, this wasn't your ordinary flower show... if you catch the website URL for the event, you'll notice it is THE FLOWER SHOW.  Word.

The theme was "Hawaii" and seriously - the designs (arrangements?) were insane.  I only had my little point and shoot camera, so the images aren't the best.  (Although looking back, the prevalence of people with DSLRs set on "auto" made me glad I had my trusty little Canon Powershot).

Top image - my dream table centerpiece! Who needs room for food when you have well-lit glass with cascading white flowers?
Second image - I die for hot pink plants.  A flower waterfall.  A spiderweb/origami/flower construction.
Third image - little itty bitty shadowboxes.  There was a line 20 deep to see these things.
Bottom image - it's make-your-own-Hawaiian-print night!  The artist, who my friends knew, created these panels attached to chains at the top (not pictured) - you could crank the panels left and right to create your own personalized Hawaiian print... genius!

Your move, Cincinnati Flower Show.

Graphic Designers Say...

A funny for a Monday morning.

You want me to scan that where?

This whole QR thing ("quick response" code) seemed pretty cool at first - "hey, you, consumer - use your smartphone to scan me and learn more information!" - but the overall rollout and explanation of those little black + white squares didn't quite reach critical mass.

As all marketing trends come and go, you can bet there's a website/blog/tumblr/flickr stream/whatever to give it the proverbial kick in the pants on the way out the door.  Enter WTF QR CODES.  Seriously, you have to check it out.

"Crawl down here and scan this code, but for the love of Pete, mind the gap! TRAIN!!!"

Image via WTF QR CODES.

In theory, this was a good idea:



"Load the app. Scan the code. Oh, and did we mention run alongside the bus? Yeah. That too."

Image via WTF QR CODES.

Gallery Opening | Manifest

For all you Cincinnati artsy folks... 

Our next door neighbors are a few of the main forces behind the wonderful MANIFEST gallery in East Walnut Hills.  The urban space on Woodburn Avenue is constantly rotating with different exhibitions - and this latest one (well, three actually) has really caught my eye!

From their press release:

MANIFEST opens three new exhibits this Friday!
TEXTUALITY, INK and AIR, and PROCESS: A Solo Exhibit of Drawings by David Kassan

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, March 9, 6-9 p.m. 
(refreshments will be served, sponsored by the Echo Restaurant and What's for Dinner?)


DAVID KASSAN PUBLIC DEMO: Friday, March 16, 6-10p.m. at the Drawing Center

DATE NIGHT: Saturday, March 31, 5-7p.m.
(Special after-hours free public event offering 25% off dinner at Suzie Wong's post-visit to the gallery)

MANIFEST DRAWING CENTER PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE: Saturday, March 31, 7-9p.m.

____________________________________________

The abstract about the one I'm most interested in seeing, TEXTUALITY (works pictured above), reads:

Not long after humanity began drawing, drawings evolved into writing. Pictures became symbols, abstraction blossomed, and language became visual. Two branches, sharing one root, carried forward people's ideas, feelings, and plans. The visual and the verbal arts shared the role of encapsulating civilization's data. And they continue to do so today, in so many wondrous and varied ways. TEXTUALITY is an exhibit that inquires into the overlap of these two branches, seeking examples of where the verbal is made visual, where language returns into image.

Submissions to this competitive exhibit were expected to range from the straightforward, to works that were abstract, fragmented, or in other ways surprising or significantly processed away from recognition. Manifest was eager to see just how artists make work of any media or genre using text or letter forms as a significant element. The artists of TEXTUALITY have satisfied our curiosity, and their exhibit promises to engage visitors to the gallery in unusual and delightful ways. 

For this exhibit 331 artists from 41 states and 13 countries submitted 835 works for consideration. Fifteen works by the following 13 artists from Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Canada, and Germany were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

More information about MANIFEST and it's current and upcoming exhibitions at:
http://www.manifestgallery.org.

We Heart Easyslider

Our new favorite website tool is a widget called Easyslider.  It's the absolute best for website index pages because it allows a neat & tidy slideshow WITHOUT USING FLASH*.

Check out our latest implementation of the wonderful and amazing Easyslider at Tri-State Running Company's website:

*In our opinion, Flash is still cool for some applications, but is not cool for websites.  It's large, takes time to load and is not compatible with any Apple products (iphone, ipad).  And full websites built in flash?  They make look fancy and cost a lot of money and take a long time to build, but you're totally alienating a large percentage of the internet-viewing public.  So stop with the Flash already.

Link Roundup

• A graphic take on Sesame Street's Bert + Ernie: http://omgposters.com/2012/02/29/the-streets-art-prints-by-thomas-pastrano/
• Coca-Cola really has this Facebook timeline layout thing down: http://www.facebook.com/cocacola
• What?  No Comic Sans?: http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Periodic-Table-of-Typefaces/193759
• Speaking of Cominc Sans...: http://comicsansproject.tumblr.com/