Bert Stern Mad Man
I just heard from Gregory Mcclatchy, the producer of Bert Stern: Original Madman, a feature length documentary film on the life and work of bad boy photographer Bert Stern. In addition to Stern, he told me, the film also features George Lois, Jerry Jerry Della Femina, Twiggy, and many others. Filmmaker Shannah Laumeister uncovers Stern—from his bad boy antics (including a liaison with Marilyn Monroe) to his iconic photography. Shockingly frank, it explores creativity, celebrity, and desire through the eyes of a man who got everything he wanted. Almost. After a year on the festival circuit, it will premiere in New York on April 5th at Cinema Village. Somewhat provocative, the film also contains much of Bert’s process and also the “Creative Evolution” that marked American advertising in the 60’s. Visit the website and order tickets here.
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Fellowship Ignites Change
A new program developed by Design Ignites Change and AIGA, the professional association for design, invite designers to apply for a “Design Ignites Change | AIGA Fellowship” by June 7, 2013. Award recipients will receive seed funding to get their projects started, but more importantly they will receive professional guidance and mentoring on how to turn concepts into reality, to support lasting change. The combined funding and mentoring for each recipient is valued at $10,000.
“Too often, even the best and most creative social design concepts fall flat at the implementation stage. In many cases the imagined impact is far greater than the actual impact,” said Mark Randall, principal of Worldstudio and co-founder of Design Ignites Change. “As creative professionals learn to transfer their skills from working in service of their clients to working as entrepreneurs or in direct partnership with non-profits and communities, we have found one of the greatest needs to be informed guidance from experienced advisers on how to make their concept a reality.”
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A Tee an Hour
Georgia Dixon helps to run a project called Made In The Now (MITN)—the latest venture from Brisbane and LA-based, design-led digital studio Josephmark. “We produce a [t-shirt] every week in response to a current news headline,” she wrote me. “MITN was created as an antidote to today’s fast, disposable fashion. We wanted to focus on thoughtful design and responsible production—make people think more about what they’re buying. We collaborate with a pool of handpicked designers and illustrators who are dotted across the globe. We also print all our t-shirts locally, only produce what has been ordered and use reusable packaging.”
Recently they celebrated their first anniversary and printed 30 of the most popular designs in a poster book. With a pad glue edge, each print can easily be shared, framed and hung, and the book also includes a catalogue of every design. The poster book has been printed on an Indigo Press on a 100% recycled 135gsm stock. All the images are on their online store, and the book is also stocked in-store at MONA and Beautiful Pages.
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Neurath Reborn
Otto Neurath sought to create a global visual lexicon using his ISOTYPE symbol system. Now, The Noun Project is building a global visual language “that everyone can understand,” its organizers say here. “We want to enable our users to visually communicate anything to anyone.” They add, “Humans have been using symbols to communicate for over 17,000 years because they are the one language everyone can understand. Symbols can transcend cultural and language barriers and deliver concise information effortlessly and instantaneously. They allow people to communicate quickly, effectively, and intuitively. And for the first time ever, this language is being combined with technology to create a social language that unites the world.” See “Building a Global Visual Language” video here.
For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.