English National Ballet Design Competition

So there isn't long left on this (just under 2 weeks) but if you are into ballet and like to draw, design, paint, crosstitch, photograph etc. etc. etc. then it could be for you.

The globally renowned English National Ballet is inviting artists to get creative and design the visual identity for ‘My First Sleeping Beauty’, the first in a series of classic ballets for children. The selected artwork will be displayed at the world premiere of ‘My First Sleeping Beauty’ in April 2012 and on marketing and promotional materials in the United Kingdom.

Participants may submit one design in JPEG or PNG format but must retain their original artwork should they be chosen as the winner. Designs submitted must incorporate the following:

• Title ‘My First Sleeping Beauty’
• Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) with dark hair
• A strong reference to ballet

The selected artwork will be produced and featured on 500,000 marketing and promotional materials, press advertisements in the United Kingdom and theatre websites for the ‘My First’ tour.

The winner will receive $2000 and will earn global exposure by having their artwork featured on English National Ballet’s website, their social media platforms and on CultureCritic.co.uk. The winner will also have the opportunity to design the visual identity for future ballets in the ‘My First’ series.

The winner (and one guest) will be invited to the world premiere of ‘My First Sleeping Beauty’ at the London Peacock Theatre in April 2012 (travel and accommodation in London are the responsibility of the winner).

Three runners up (as selected by English National Ballet and Gerald Scarfe) in addition to the highest voted artist will receive:

• Global exposure by having their designs featured on English National Ballet’s website, their social media platforms and on CultureCritic.co.uk
• $300 each

• Two tickets each to the world premiere performance of ‘My First Sleeping Beauty’ in London in April 2012 (travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the runners up and the highest voted artist)

So yeah, draw the picture, you might win a prize.

More details here.

Lee - Package Design

I am almost tempted to buy something from LEE to get my hands on this re-usable bag, in which every scrap of paper can be-recycled after use and turned into this board-game and activity set. It's like a Happy Meal box on steroids.

Product Design - Sushi iPhone Cases

I have been after a smoked haddock iPhone case for ages. Obviously. Now my dreams can become reality thanks to these guys.

Coffee Mugs - Product Design

I posted some cool tea cups a while back, but I am more of a coffee girl myself so I had to post some more appropriate LOVELY MUGS.

The first helps you mix your favourite brew to just how you like it by matching the colour guide on the inside.

The second is designed for people who share a kitchen at work. The mug has a hole which can only be plugged by the owners unique key; in effect preventing other people from using it.

This sounds kind of anal to me and I probably wouldn't want to be your friend if you bought one. But I understand office life can get pretty hardcore so perhaps it is necessary after all.

Just click above if you want to purchase either of them.

Xavier Barrade for Dry the River

One of my favourite things about writing this blog is coming across things that I genuinely think are brilliantly creative and yet don't take a massive bank balance or a lot of resources to achieve -just some imagination and willingness to put in the hours.

So I loved discovering Xavier Barrade’s 3D posters for rock band Dry The River. Xavier spent over 35 hours creating each 3d poster, hand cutting all the pieces and gluing them together.

The finished result is an ad campaign that sticks out (ha!) from the rest. The video of people's reactions to the posters is great too.

DKNG - Design

I always get worried when I am producing my own design work that I am doing it wrong, taking influences from the wrong sources or overcomplicating the process. So when I found these videos from Los Angeles based design studio DKNG (it makes me sick too, where is my Los Angeles based design studio?) I was so pleased that I was actually designing pretty normally and although everyone has different processes it is always interesting to see how others work.

DKNG focus on the music and entertainment industries so their body of work is pretty amazing, have a look!

Poster Process - The Black Keys from DKNG Studios on Vimeo.

Poster Process - Phish (Blossom Music Center) from DKNG Studios on Vimeo.

Poster Process - The Adam Carolla Show Live! from DKNG Studios on Vimeo.

Travis Hopkins - Art Direction

This video created by Travis Hopkins for Buck 65 is comprised of over 60 fictional movie title cards which spell out the lyrics from the first verse of 'Superstars Don't Love'.

It works so brilliantly because the title design is spot on and the attention to detail is perfect. I particularly love the sequel titles for any line that repeats and the tracking at the beginning that took me right back to being a kid and having a VHS player

BUCK 65 "Superstars Don't Love" from Travis Hopkins on Vimeo.

Coralie Bickford-Smith - Cover Designer

Coralie Bickford-Smith studied typography at Reading university and is now a senior cover designer at Penguin Books where she has created some of the most beautifully designed covers I have seen in ages.

Her simplistic approach to pattern and spot-on use of colour, make me want to buy all of these sets just to display them

2001 Rethink Scholarship at Langara - Competition

I wish I was amazing enough to apply for this.

2011 Rethink Scholarship at Langara Call for Entries from Rethink Canada on Vimeo.

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan on Vimeo.

Cosafina Raw - Jewelry Design

I am totally in love with the new Raw Jewelry range from CosaFina which mixes modern precious metal jewelry peppered with gorgeous, glittery, gemstones.

Under1Roof - Colour

Under1roof have reached 86,000+ images on their colour indexing site. Check it out if you haven't already. It really is invaluable when trying to find any type of images with the same colour palette. You can even create your own feed with your favourite images. LOVELY.

Papervore Coffe Table Shredder - Product Design

You would think that writing this blog would help me keep an nice online record of everything I am inspired by, tucked away neatly online and accessible only via the click of a button.

But this sadly is not the way it works, instead, every time I see something remotely interesting; a flyer with an interesting print quality, a sandwich wrapper with a perfect colour green, a magazine tear out of a dress with amazing feather detail (the list goes on) I hoard it. This leads to a very messy studio, full of 'inspiration boxes' and piles of magazine several years old.

I have had some of this stuff for years and the emotional attachment is too much!! However the solution might lie here in papervore coffee table which combines a hand cranked paper shredder with a unique coffee table design. All, I need to do is convince myself that if it is still in the room (albeit in shredded form) then it isn't lost for ever and I can still absorb it's inspirational powers...hmmmm.

The Papervore from Pigeontail Design on Vimeo.

Edible Pen - Product Design

Dave Hakkens has finally come up with a pen it is ok to chew on; this one is made entirely of candied sweets.

The type of sweets used have the same texture of candy bracelets and do not stick on anything or melt while in your hands. The pen contains 22 pieces and is filled with edible ink. The only thing which is not edible is the small point where you write with. When finished you throw it away or put in in a new re-fill pen.

I might do more work now I can combine it with snack time.