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Fall/Winter 2019-20 Alexander McQueen

Photos: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com via Vogue

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Bitten By Witch Fever Book Review

I was immediately drawn to this book by its sophisticated cover design: a simple text box centric to a beautiful green pattern. The title itself is very much an attention grabber, and it does a great job summing up the contents of the book. The publication covers the history of arsenic, as well as its previous use in wallpapers to enhance pigments despite being highly poisonous. The layout design is very clever for its separation of the two main subjects: the text portion and the wallpaper portion. The wallpapers are divided into groups bearing similar color families as primary. Between these sectioned groups are halved pages of text covering the fascinating history of arsenic and arsenical wallpapers. The wallpaper samplers in their own are absolutely stunning and incredibly intricate. The Victorian aesthetics hits my design heart in all the right places; I really hope to incorporate some of the samples in my future work.

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Photography

As most of the photos I have picked may suggest, I am drawn to editorial fashion photography. Maybe it's partly the gorgeous models, but I find myself very attracted to vibrant use of colors (1 & 2), as well as creative and contrasting manipulation of lighting (1, 8, 9, & 10).

The rest of the photographs are chosen because they exhibit lovely compositions. Emma Pilkington (3 & 4) crops the model almost completely out of the frame, giving the focus to the advertised products, but still remaining beautifully arranged. The photos by Rachel Gulotta (5 & 6) are also prime examples of clever camera positioning. They highlight the primary subjects in unconventional ways, like by having another person hover over the model, or using architecture to frame the much smaller-scaled couple. Lastly, Ruby James isn't just skilled in her light usage, but also in creating an evocative scene full of depth that draws the eye in (7), using focus and creative framing.

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Gingerbread Helen Oyeyemi

Hamish Hamilton, 2019 Design: Helen Yentus

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Visit Vietnam 

https://vietnam.travel/home

Vietnam has a number of different tourist sites, some more contemporary than others. The one I have picked is definitely one of the more updated in terms of design layout. The elements are clean, as well as liberally and consistently spaced. The animations are smooth and not at all excessive. The site also incorporates many adorably illustrated icons throughout its content. The homepage greets the viewer with an almost fullscreen video which features incredibly well-shot footages of the sceneries and people. Each individual tabs also utilizes the down-scroll layout which is fluid and intuitive.

What drew me most to this site in comparison to others I have found, however, is the oriental theme echoed in each design component. The header typeface is unique yet very fitting with the red and gold palette used throughout. The small buttons on the homepage also features a lovely pattern, topped with a signature gold frame. I very much admire the designer(s)’ ability to combine such distinct elements of the culture with a polished, clean and contemporary style.

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Daryl Feril

Designer Spotlight #2

Daryl Feril has a treatment for his graphics the way I would love to implement in my own style (if I had the skill). His signature is the highly intricate watercolor foliage seen in almost all of his work. Feril is also very skilled in using collage and vibrant color to further activate his often centric compositions. I love his work for their fantastical but also structured beauty.

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Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories Erin McGraw

Counterpoint, 2019 Design: Nicole Caputo

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Martin Venezky

Designer Spotlight #1

I was not familiar with Venezky's work until I attended his lecture this past fall, but since then, I have been enamored with his style and work ethic. Echoing my earlier review of the lecture, Martin Venezky is highly notable for his experimental approach to design, especially in the way he involves collages of  scanned or photographed objects in his craft. This is very clearly shown through his typographic pieces, where he often breaks letter forms and arrange them in whimsical, innovative, yet cohesive ways. I also love his use of monochromatic elements on a solid but striking color background.

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The Barnes Foundation

This field trip provided a wonderful opportunity for me to actually visit the Barnes Foundation for the first time. The building is beautiful yet imposing on the outside, and the interior only complements the overall contemporary and secret-agent-esque aesthetic of the place. I did not get a chance to walk around much, but from the little I have seen of the space inside, I cannot wait to come back one day and fully admire the splendor of the galleries. The space was cast in a cozy, warm lighting, which highlights the numerous artworks on display along with the many eccentric decorations accompanying them. The room we were led into was a small but functional space, and there we got to meet two lovely and talented in-house designers — Olivia and Pauline.

It was an entire other experience to be able to listen to Olivia and Pauline's everyday experience as working graphic designers. I learned so much about their creative process and the collaborative nature of their job. What was most impressive and meaningful to me was hearing about their struggles, especially in communicating their ideas to people outside of their field. There are so many obstacles between their initial visions and the final product, like the multitudes of copyright laws, or having to completely shred a fully-developed design concept and recreate everything from scratch. They were very passionate about their work, and it was evident through the beautiful designs they have created and presented to us. This trip definitely increased my interest in potentially becoming an in-house designer in the future.

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Krikor Jabotian spring 2019 couture

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“Urban Space” per Teatro nello Spazio 

Riccardo Guasco 2019

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Fashion Design

Many of the examples I picked of designs that caught my eye reflect my personal preference when it comes to exhibiting style. I find myself drawn to more masculine, or rather, androgynous influences in women clothing; this is most characteristic in the collections of For Restless Sleepers (1 & 2) and Kym Ellery (9). Patterns are another element of design that never fails to grab my attention; they are especially well-executed in, once again, For Restless Sleepers with the bold floral print, and also in Hussein Bazaza’s beautiful, orientally influenced designs (7 & 8). The material of the garment is also crucial in elevating the look of each piece. I tried to include a variety of differently textured fabric: from Meital Zano's delicate lace (5 & 6) to Kym Ellery's use of velvet (10). Lastly, I always look for the silhouette of the garment and the way it complements the body. Examples of this can be found in most of the designs I chose, but it is most elegantly displayed in Beaufille's modern and subtle pieces (2 & 3).

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Design & Explore

Ashley, Han, Saif and I went to Rittenhouse Square on a snowy day. The weather only seemed to illuminate the scenic, residential neighborhood in the heart of Philly's center city. People were still walking their dogs around the vicinity of the park, although it was significantly less busy compared to a normal day. We walked from the 15th station of the MFL towards the area, with none of us having in mind an exact plan of action. (What else is new?)

After wandering around aimlessly for a bit, we stumbled upon a lovely shop, popularly known as the Metropolitan Bakery. This store has a long history in the city, and that was evident through the sheer amount of customers who came in within the short time we were there. I bought myself a cup of hot chocolate, which turned out to be one of the best I have ever had. The store also features a beautiful, timeless branding example through its logo and menu.

We then continued our undirected search, and soon enough we found two different stores next to each other that caught our eyes. One was a small stationery store called Papyrus (they always seem to pop up on our exploring journeys). The other was a very established and elaborate kitchenware shop called Kitchen Kapers. What impressed me most in the entire display was their vintagey-illustrated and hilariously captioned oven gloves (pictured).

Having seen the bulk of what the neighborhood had to offer, we decided to find a place to eat. On our way back towards the busier streets of Center City, we were captured by a sudden, charming jazz tune coming out of an Italian restaurant named Pietro's. We went in merely because of that, but was pleasantly surprised by the spacious and cozy atmosphere and the classy interior design of the space. The food was also phenomenal, and most importantly, not too pricey. I managed to snap a shot of the intricately crafted blackboard menu on my way out, as another example of an interesting design.

Along the way, we found many other examples of notable graphic design work. One that especially resonated with me was the Philly Eyeworks poster stand pictured above. It was incredibly refreshing to see such a contemporary, clean, and colorful design in an area filled with older, more sophisticated-looking brandings.

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Time Management

I have never been good with managing my time. I have a major problem with procrastination that has been haunting me and my academic life ever since elementary school.

By some miracle, I managed to stay fairly on top of my things in the first quarter. I attribute this to the surge of enthusiasm most students have entering a new school year, like how people are often eager to set and follow their new year resolutions up until the second week. Lucky for me, this streak of productivity lasted for the entire term. During this time, I was constantly utilizing the classic but ever-effective method of keeping checklists. I used an app called School Planner in tandem with another one called Stuff, both to keep track of each homework assignment and project for all of my classes. I relied heavily on the satisfaction of crossing off each item after I am done with them, paired with the rational logic that if I get work done early, I will have the rest of the time to dedicate to my personal and social life.

That rationale seems to have left me entirely this term. I slowly crawled back into the unhealthy cycle of avoiding responsibilities until I have no other choice but to torture myself in dealing with them at the very last minute. However, seeing how well the aforementioned method served me last term, I will try to continue implementing it, and hopefully come out of this school year with no regrets.

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Best of 2018

Despite the majority of my list containing book covers, I will be talking extensively about the movie poster “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” What immediately caught my attention was the central elaborate typography with the distinct Western typeface. Not only that, but each swash extends to illustrate the path of a character in the film, as if to portray the intertwining of their fates. This is an excellent example of a promotional piece revealing just enough of the content of its product, all the while being completely aesthetically beautiful and innovative. I also am a big fan of the textured surface, creating an illusion of a leather-bound book cover (how meta).