R Sloan's Design Experiences

The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.” Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.

The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. The OBEY sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer’s perception and attention to detail. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because OBEY has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.

Many people who are familiar with the sticker find the image itself amusing, recognizing it as nonsensical, and are able to derive straightforward visual pleasure without burdening themselves with an explanation. The PARANOID OR CONSERVATIVE VIEWER however may be confused by the sticker’s persistent presence and condemn it as an underground cult with subversive intentions. Many stickers have been peeled down by people who were annoyed by them, considering them an eye sore and an act of petty vandalism, which is ironic considering the number of commercial graphic images everyone in American society is assaulted with daily.

Another phenomenon the sticker has brought to light is the trendy and CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUMPTIVE nature of many members of society. For those who have been surrounded by the sticker, its familiarity and cultural resonance is comforting and owning a sticker provides a souvenir or keepsake, a memento. People have often demanded the sticker merely because they have seen it everywhere and possessing a sticker provides a sense of belonging. The Giant sticker seems mostly to be embraced by those who are (or at least want to seem to be) rebellious. Even though these people may not know the meaning of the sticker, they enjoy its slightly disruptive underground quality and wish to contribute to the furthering of its humorous and absurd presence which seems to somehow be antiestablishment/societal convention. Giant stickers are both embraced and rejected, the reason behind which, upon examination reflects the psyche of the viewer. Whether the reaction be positive or negative, the stickers existence is worthy as long as it causes people to consider the details and meanings of their surroundings. In the name of fun and observation.

Shepard Fairey, 1990

from abducted by design
by GisMullr

I was browsing around the web searching for my daily inspiration images, something that I do everyday, when I bumped into Bradley Sharp’s work and really liked it. The image that got my attention was the first one from this selection, which by the way is already my new desktop wallpaper. Since I liked the style and the idea from that one image I decided to check out his portfolio for more stuff and noticed that it was pretty cool to show here to you. His illustrations/vectors are really stylish. His lines, characters, E.T.s alike elements, colors and shapes are pretty cool and eye catching.

Hello all.. I’m Brad Sharp, a Graphic Designer from the UK. I spend a good amount of time on personal work and with my illustrations – beginning with sketchbooks from as early as I can remember. In the past 5 years I’ve been playing more and more with vectors, which I’m always learning. I often get inspiration from nature or technology and sometimes look at the interplay between the two.

Check out the selection we put together and don’t forget to visit his website for more. Hope you like it! Enjoy. =)

T-shirts

Wallpapers

To get the wallpapers go to his website and download the desktop wallpapers file at the bottom of the page. He also has some iPhone wallpapers at his page, so check it out.

Less is more? Many people might say it isn’t, but I’m pretty sure that when the subject is pictograms, it sure is! The best way to communicate something through an icon is often to make it as simple as possible, placing just the elements that really matter.

Here, we’ve got some great examples of pictograms. These are beautifully made, with attention to detail and crispy execution. Just to remind you that these are not freebies, but examples of good design… We would love to see some more works of these made by you people. So, do you got any icons/pictograms to show off? Drop us a comment! Don’t forget to check out each designer’s folio! I hope you all like it. Cheers. ;)

Rodrigo Müller

Rafael Nunjar

Sascha Elmers

Jason Hill

Sergey Punchev

David Galasse

Stefan Dziallas

About the author

via Brandon Schauer of Adaptive Path

There’s been a bit of chatter lately about the info graphic put together by barackobama.com to sell the idea that the Recovery Act is working.

I’m not trying to sell you on the graphic, because there are others that don’t see it that way. But I did want to point out the video that goes along with the graphic:

That video looks heavily influenced by, or created by, Brian Oakes, a talented graphic designer working in film and print, on such things as the I.O.U.S.A. video:

My point isn’t about politics at all. My point it that every once in a while I try to put together a snazzy presentation to persuade people to get behind an idea. Often I’d turn to Edward Tufte for some inspiration of how to present parts of my case. But much more often, I’ve been inspired by the work of Brian Oakes, who knows how to present data with storytelling to lay out a clear and compelling case, regardless of what that case is.