Last night, the AIGA National Design Center held an opening reception for two exhibitions: the 31st annual “365” competition, which highlights the best 125 pieces of graphic design from last year, and Milton Glaser’s “In Search of the Miraculous,” a three-part show that gives a peek into the mind and influence of the industry’s eminence grise.
Here are five favorites from 365:
PETER ARKLE NEWS
AIGA Design Archives
Peter Arkle News is packed with illustrated stories of everyday life presented in the format of something resembling a hand-drawn, hand-lettered version of a tabloid newspaper. The stories are not dramatic or sensational (or at least not usually) but they are all true.
Illustrator: Peter Arkle; editor: Amy Goldwasser; printer: Jae Kim Printing Co., Inc.; client: Peter Arkle.
NOT FOR TOURISTS
AIGA Design Archives
With beautiful custom maps and thousands of essential listings, Not for Tourists (NFT) applications will help you accomplish any task in just a few seconds, including: caffeinate, buy paint at 3:00 a.m., fix your bike, mail a late birthday card, chill out in a community garden, buy arugula from the nearest farmers’ market or find a hotel by the hour.
Design firm: Not For Tourists, Inc.; creative director: Jane Pirone; designers: Amanda Gross, Doug Kim, Robert Little; editors: Craig Nelson, Rob Tallia; producer: Espen Tuft; programmer: Anthony Picciano.
MATERIÉL
AIGA Design Archives
Matériel is a small-scale art and design journal intended as a venue to unearth and showcase emerging talent, while providing an opportunity for conversations around individuals’ and groups’ inspiration and process.
Creative directors: Michael Freimuth, Kyle Poff; designers: Catalogtree, Justin Fines, Fwis, Labour, Joe Marianek, Part & Parcel, Steven Reinmuth, Chris Ro, David Weik; illustrators: Rod Hunting, Seripop; photographers: James P. Morse, Joe Wigdahl; publisher: Ed Marszewski.
THE 20TH MACAO ARTS FESTIVAL
AIGA Design Archives
The 20th Macao Arts Festival was the largest integrated art event in Macao in 2009. As the central image of this festival, the heart represents our utmost dedication to and passion for the arts. Since colors and visual elements are weapons for graphic designers, four sweet and fluorescent colors were chosen to create a sugar coating for the bloody heart. This softens the concept of “bloody” for the public and portrays a conflict between innocent and bloody, sweet and painful, realistic and unrealistic.
Designers: Chong Ip Hong, Victor Hugo Marreiros; illustrators: Tin Cheong Ha, Chong Ip Hong; client: Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR government.
ANIMAL ESTATES
AIGA Design Archives
Animal Estates, an ongoing collaboration with artist and architect Fritz Haeg, is a traveling exhibition that creates model dwellings for animals in the urban landscape. PS New York developed a graphic system that gives an identity to each of the animal clients and cities where the projects occur.
Design firm: PS New York; creative director: Penny Hardy; designer: Elizabeth Oh; client: Fritz Haeg.
More information“365: AIGA Annual Design Competition 31”All 125 selections from this year’s “365: AIGA Annual Design Competition” are now on display at the AIGA National Design Center. Taking a cue from science, the exhibition design is inspired by the notion of “selection as an essential tool that enables nature to distill change.” If you’ll be in New York while the exhibition is on view through November 24, come visit and choose your personal favorites. Read more
“In Search of the Miraculous or One Thing Leads to Another”Milton Glaser, recipient of a 2009 National Medal of Arts and a 1972 AIGA Medal, never ceases to amaze and educate. “In Search of the Miraculous or One Thing Leads to Another” is a self-guided exhibition highlighting the unexpected connections between a wide array of Glaser’s work, from drawings to rugs, and is also on view through November 24 on the mezzanine at the AIGA National Design Center. Read more
See how you can spend an hour with Milton Glaser next Tuesday as part of Print‘s DesignCast series.