Alex Schlegel’s Terrific Typography

Oh, experimental typography… how we love thee. Perhaps it’s a case of design envy, or we’re just taken with pretty things in general, but when done well, experimental typography can stand on its own, out of context. This is definitely the case with the work of Hamburg, Germany-based motion designer/illustrator Alex Schlegel. Schlegel’s visual explorations…

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Creative Contrast: Disney Fan Art by Dada

We feature fan art (here and here and here) from time to time… we are all about equal opportunity, and certainly feel there’s a place for such creativity. While some in the art community discount fan art because it is based on someone else’s original content, we are from the camp that believes fan art,…

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Meticulous Movie Director Portraits

Movie buffs rejoice! While we certainly love movies, we are more excited about this incredible series of posters from a design and conceptual perspective. German multidisciplinary design studio Stellavie, in collaboration with illustrator/artist Julian Rentzsch, hit the mark with this superb series of prints paying homage to some of the foremost movie directors in history.…

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Mind Blowing Celebrity Composites

Prepare to have your mind blown as we dive into a sea of celebrity mashups. German digital artist and Photoshop whiz simply known as Gesichtermix is a master of photo manipulation. We’re not talking Franken-celebrities here. His careful attention to detail, and keen eye for creating very believable composites of two highly recognizable faces is…

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The Work of Illustration Playmaker Daniel Nyari

Romania-born, New York City-based illustrator/designer/art director Daniel Nyari employs a distinct style of bulbous shapes and bold colors in a geometric and cubist sort of way. And we love it, as do his impressive roster of clients, which includes ESPN, Wired, GQ, Adidas, National Geographic, Microsoft, Men’s Health, among others. Nyari says he wants “to…

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Mosaic Master

Exercises in typographic and mosaic compositions bring us back to our early studies as designers. Not because they are novice or effortless, but because they touch on the fundamentals of good design. Italian artist/designer known as Antonio Village9991 is quite adept at both, as exhibited by this sampling of his impressive body of work. For…

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Ivan Hoo’s Hyper-realistic Drawings

Whatever you prefer to call it – hyper-realistic, super-realistic, photo-realistic – what’s real is the remarkable level of skill involved. We’re so taken with this type of art, we’ve featured it several times before (here and here and here and here). This time, it’s the work of Singapore-based artist Ivan Hoo. What makes his work…

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Taking a Walk with Mitch Goldstein

In keeping with our (hopefully) weeklong theme of Create Upstate 2015 (other posts here and here), we turn the spotlight on fellow Rochester-based designer (and educator/writer) Mitch Goldstein. Those behind the planning of Create Upstate clearly made a deliberate decision to have Goldstein kick off the main event. Goldstein is the perfect blend of adept designer…

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A Book About A-holes

Continuing the theme of our fantastic experience at Create Upstate last week in Syracuse (previous post here), we’d like to introduce you to Curtis Canham of CSA Creative Studio. Canham is an art director/designer/educator based in the Albany area with an impressive and diverse portfolio, from sophisticated packaging to illustration-driven infographics to consumer-facing web design.…

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Lettering Work of the Incomparable Dana Tanamachi

A couple members of the Barbour team had the honor of witnessing a speaking engagement by the incomparable Dana Tanamachi at Create Upstate in Syracuse last week. The event itself was terrific, from the impressive venue (great food, btw), awesome vendors, and stellar lineup of speakers. One highlight was undoubtedly the inspirational work and philosophy…

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