SKAGGS

I was invited to be a guest teacher at the Myndlistaskolinn á Akureyrar (the Arts and Crafts Collage in Akureyri) for 2 weeks in January. Akureyri, is a town in Northern Iceland and sits at the end of a fjord called Eyjarfjordur, a very deep a beautiful fjord that can be very cold and is very dark during the winter months. Not far from Akureyri (less than 100 km) is a small island called Grimsey that touches the Arctic Circle. Therefore, the winter is very long and dark.

The light and weather were amazing during my stay and I experienced one of the most amazing thing. In the two weeks I was here, I could see a significant change in the amount of daylight each day. On my first day of school I walked to school at 8:45 am in the deepest dark, dark sky I can remember (close to Pantone 532). Two weeks later, the sky was starting to turn the most beautiful crisp light blues, like a Pantone Reflex blue. I was just in awe to see how fast the length of the day increased.

In a few days (February 4th) I’ll be back in NYC with information on the project I gave the student and what they came up with. Unil then…

Introducing a brand-spanking new regular feature: the SKAGGS FOCUS, your source for the low-down on the best and the brightest in the world of branding, art, design and anything else that takes our fancy. We’re kicking everything off with a focus on Kim-Van Dang, of KVD NYC.

A remarkable force of nature, Kim’s talent and energy shines through everything she does — whether it be working with children in South Africa, finding the perfect pair of Chloe pants, or skinny-dipping in Cannes with Pamela Anderson! And did we mention her fabulous work with SKAGGS on the Erno Lazlo, Lovenia and Scrumptious success stories? We sat down with Kim to find out just exactly what happened in Cannes with Pammy, the beauty tips she gave to Bill Clinton and of course more about KVD NYC
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One of the great things about doing what we do is the ring side seat we get watching our client’s companies grow and succeed. The Valley Produce Company is just one of many and today was a great day for Chef Chris Smith. Now known as the Chivalrous Chef, Chris was a guest on Good Day New York, WNYW Fox 5’s morning show.

We began working with Chris many years ago, updating the Valley Produce Company identity and designing new packaging for the small line of products he had back then. Today, VPC has grown and VPC’s products can be found around the globe!

Way to go, Chris!

An interesting article that Joe found today in the Boston Globe. The comments given about each logo are both excellent and insightful. The beginning of the article sums it all up perfectly:

Typography can subtly or boldly define a company, product, or person. Whether it is Best Buy’s big, bold, screaming signs or the sweet, elegant script on a wine label, the type talks to us, the reader. The logos of the presidential candidates are no exception.

(Oh and there is really is no preference as to why the logos are ordered the way they are )

I met and interviewed Marjane Satrapi in October of 2003, when her graphic-novel memoir Persepolis was already a bestseller in France. The comic, the first part of which had recently been translated into English and published as Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood, was the focus of my undergraduate dissertation.

At the time, a major exhibition of her original artwork opened in Ravenna, Italy, where she also taught a comic art workshop. There was a real sense that Persepolis had the potential to push quality comic art into the cultural and critical limelight in Britain and the United States.
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“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

There are many bad mistakes in design, some are unintentional and others are just poor judgment.
designpolice.org aims to highlight these mistakes and bring bad design to justice, with a handy little print out and stick kit, with alerts that include “Run The Spell Check” and Microsoft Word Is Not A Design Tool” you’ll be sure never to make the same mistake twice. Genius!

I came across Visionaire’s latest must have, a little late for Xmas but it’s a very cool gift for anybody that loves music. It’s basically a portable record player with over 100 minutes of sound on five 12” vinyl record picture discs and 2 CDs

Visionaire 53. SOUND will consist of five 12-inch vinyl records, imprinted with images (picture discs), containing approximately 100 minutes of sound content featuring audio experiments, unreleased songs, samples, and spoken word pieces. The 5 records are packaged inside a domed case that also houses a custom-made MINI Clubman “Vinyl Killer” Record Player: a battery-operated toy car containing speakers and a needle.

It’s also got a stellar contributers list made up of those in music, art and fashion: David Byrne, U2, Courtney Love, Cat Power, Yoko Ono, Helmut Lang, Christian Marclay, Doug Aitken, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff; Hiroshi Fujiwara; Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Stefano Pilati and many more.

Wow, what but not a better way to start off a design filled 2008 than to see that the US Postal Service is going to release a collection of stamps in honor of the great designers Charles and Ray Eames. They look beautiful and if you know anything about the work of the Eames, you’ll agree that this is a well deserved honor.

The full set of 16 stamps “celebrate the richness of Charles and Ray’s work” and includes the Eames House, La Chaise, the Lounge Chair, Crosspatch, House of Cards, the film Tops and more. Apparently, it has taken 10 years for this to happen, according to Eames Demetrios, grandson of the Eames and Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation.

Look for them at a post office near you this summer (or on a letter from SKAGGS).

I flew back to San Francisco last week and having flown Virgin America, I ended up in the new International Terminal at SFO (I guess it really isn’t so new anymore, but it still feels like it). Having sat on the plane for 7 hours, I was in need of making a trip to the restroom. That is when I first encountered the Dyson Airblade.

The Airblade is the air hand dryer from Dyson, the makers the most amazing vacuum ever. The Airblade, like all of Dyson’s products is the result of 3 years of development to create an entirely new type of hand dryer. The Airblade blows clean, unheated air through an aperture the width of an eyelash at over 400mph (640kmph) to hygienically wipe hands dry in just 12 seconds and it uses up to 80% less energy making it’s better for the environment.

Recently, an inspiring autobiography of James Dyson, called Against All Odds was published documenting the many struggles, failures and success he has encountered over the years. The book is also peppered with insight on how to take an idea and make turn it “into a household name”. It’s a must read for anyone looking for inspiration.