Beautiful compositions and ambient sound design in Black Mandrews “Wolvesbreath”

Jakob Tröllback speaking in SF, Paul Matthaeus speaking in NY: May 16

And now some illustrations from Alberto Seveso

New from Ugly Pictures, the creators of Battle of the Album Covers, comes a hard-pumpin set of promo spots for the 2007 VH1 Rock Honors Awards Show. The raw retro stylings of these spots are beautiful and energetic. Each matches the tone of the band it illustrates.

These spots, directed by Ugly Pictures and designed and animated by Matt Smithson and Daniel Oeffinger, are apparently the result of a request from VH1 to recreate their famous “Battle of the Album Covers” animation for the awards show. Well, they’ve definately gone beyond that and taken it to the limit (one more time). The result is an amazingly illustrated 2.5D world that is so well executed it looks as if it exists somewhere between traditional 2d and 3d animation (outside of the realms of AE). Check em’ all out. Genesis, ZZtop, Heart, and Ozzy.

Castorini are Miyo Yoshida and Marco Ammannati. A site shared by a husband and wife, Miyo, a Japanese interior/production designer, and Marco, an Italian Broadcast design director. They work out of London on a myriad of different projects.

Marco’s side of the site has nice list of projects that he has directed, and in many cases he also wrote the spots, did the illustrations, animated them and did some sound design as well. Marco’s different projects showcase his range with how he can tailor fit his design approach to what the spot calls for, from the simplistic approach of Animal Planet to his pop illustrative approach for MTV.

I can’t speak too much about Miyo’s side of the site, as I have no real knowledge of what she does. Her work feels very fresh and young, she uses bold clean colors and even puts a touch of illustration in some of her work. I am personally drawn to the interiors she did for BBC, Identica Partnership and Bull & JWT.

There are only a few examples of work that the couple has collaborated on, but the thought of a high powered freelance couple out there is refreshing. Bringing back fond memories of Charles and Ray Eames, and what two great minds can do when working in unison.

Castorini

Felipe Vellasco and Pedro Gravena created this whimsical stop-motion piece for Brazilian logistics company Luft to explain how one design decision can create a design rut that lasts for thousands of years. It’s a good example of how a visual device—in this case, a transforming 3D object—can actually relate to the content.

Neil Duerden’s Illustrations

So I just got back from an amazing experience: my first Offf conference in Barcelona. Offf’s founder and captain, Hector Ayuso Ros, has been bringing creative people together from around the world for seven years now, and the eclectic mix of audio-visual stimuli in Barcelona this year was a testament to his skills as a curator and community-builder. Speakers included people like John Maeda, Joshua Davis, Neville Brody, Graffiti Research Lab and a slew of other rockstars from all sorts of design and music-related fields.

I did a panel with Orion Tait of Buck, Carlos El Asmar of ABC News and Hector Ayuso. I was truly humbled to share the stage with all of them, and I think my presentation went pretty well. Orion totally slam-dunked his portion by showing off some of Buck’s recent work and talking about the studio’s ethos. It was my first time to meet Orion, and his presentation proved what I already assumed about Buck: they have brains and they’re not afraid to use them.

The highlight of the panel for me, though, was the unveiling of the Offf title sequence at the end of our discussion. Federico Reano and Tomás Peña worked their asses off to create a clever and compelling trip through design history, from Mucha’s elaborate compositions in the late 19th century all the way up to the 3D-dominated glossiness of the present day. (Speaking of 3D, the piece is intended to be viewed with 3D glasses, which were handed out to the audience prior to the screening.)

Oh, and Eduardo Larez nailed the audio for the piece, which I’m sure was no easy task given the stylistic diversity that Tomás and Federico’s concept called for. Full credits on the Sintevision site.

Special thanks to Carlos El Asmar.

Music Videos by Perish Factory

Michel Gondry interview