Just an off-topic post, but essential info for us graphic designers. The American Society of Magazine Editors has just chosen their
Monday, October 17, 2005
ASME Top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years
Just an off-topic post, but essential info for us graphic designers. The American Society of Magazine Editors has just chosen their
Sunday, October 16, 2005
What Filipino Design Should Be
In looking for more resources on the web for Filipino Graphic Design (believe me it's like looking for a needle in haystack but you have to look for the haystack first), I came across a blog from another discipline of design. The post was made by Dylan Yap Gozum, chief design consultant for Vatel Manila, an events production company for weddings, debuts and other formal gatherings. Though interiors and events design is different from graphic design, the principles of design written is similar to the things we are trying to achieve.
According to the post, the goal is "understated elegance." The guiding principles of their design are "1) Simple and tasteful; 2) conversation-friendly and comfortable arrangements; and 3) Magical and dreamy but not over-the-top."
I agree with some of the points Gozum has raised and we can apply to graphic design. He mentions that Filipinos love to fill up our homes with things in every nook and cranny. In my advertising years, I have seen different clients trying to fill up every space of print ads with as much info as possible. To them, negative space is not a counterpoint, it is wasted space. The "production number act" can be applied to young designers as well, using all the cool tools available that the communication strategy is lost.
Click here for more of "our guiding principles of design" in detail.
According to the post, the goal is "understated elegance." The guiding principles of their design are "1) Simple and tasteful; 2) conversation-friendly and comfortable arrangements; and 3) Magical and dreamy but not over-the-top."
I agree with some of the points Gozum has raised and we can apply to graphic design. He mentions that Filipinos love to fill up our homes with things in every nook and cranny. In my advertising years, I have seen different clients trying to fill up every space of print ads with as much info as possible. To them, negative space is not a counterpoint, it is wasted space. The "production number act" can be applied to young designers as well, using all the cool tools available that the communication strategy is lost.
Click here for more of "our guiding principles of design" in detail.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Weaving the Web
Ask any Filipino web designer, and they know or are somehow connected to the Philweavers, the largest bunch of organized Filipino designers anywhere. How come I've never heard of Filipino Graphic Designers Guild or Art Directors Guild (maybe there is... and I'm not a part of it, heheheh)? In the short time, the internet has been up, Filipinos have quickly adapted to this fast growing medium (adapation is one trait of Filipino Design, I will write more on this, stay tuned).
According to their site:
"PhilWeavers (PW) was created in October of 1999. Over the years it has evolved into what is now the Philippines' unofficial non-governmental, non-political representative for web design and webcentric visual communication. Today, it serves a worldwide community of Filipino Web Designers and in doing so, it aims to:
* Raise the standards of web design, professional practice, and ethics raise the professional status of the Filipino web designer.
* Further the appreciation of Filipino web designer's professional achievements.
* Extend web design's contribution to understanding among people.
* Promote the exchange of information, views, and research contribute to design education - theory, practice and research coordinate matters of professional practice and conduct.
* Establish philippine web design standards and procedures.
* Protect and improve web design professional fees to protect the livelihood of its practitioners.
Philweavers is an online global network of Filipino web designers. There are more than 300 active members in a number of countries that share common concerns, commitments, and standards."
You guys are an inspiration, mabuhay!
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Get Lost in a Mosaic of Philippine Fine Art
PhilippineArtists.com
This is an extensive virtual fine art gallery put up by DRW Networks of Toronto, Canada to design and host websites for Filipino artists, collectors and galleries. It is sponsored by the PNB Remittance Company of Canada. It's so full of button links, artists aim for your attention and sponsors scream "see me!"
It also features links to accalimed artists Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Bencab
There's a lot of artwork to see on this site, even works from Fernando Amorsolo.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Announce your gigs
PilDesign's P2:Independence Planning Meeting (L-R) Al, Spike, Karyn, Alberic. (And on speaker phone in Boston) Bren. (Al's House. San Francisco, July 2004)
Announce your upcoming gigs on this site. If we can reach your event by car, mass transit or by foot, we will make it!
Lucille Tenazas
You can't do a site on Filipino Design without mentioning Lucille Tenazas, the one of the biggest names in the graphic design field.
According to Lilia.com and the Tenazas Design website:
"Her work is widely regarded for its unique approach to graphic design which is considered rigorous, thoughtful and provocative. Her design reflect an interest in the complexity of language and the overlapping relationship of meaning, form, and content. By merging the poetic and the pragmatic, Tenazas achieves a fluid and flexible approach to design, one that is human as well as critical."
She is widely respected in both Europe and America, both east and west coasts. She was chosen as one of the ID Forty, in ID Magazine's 1995 selection of the 40 leading design innovators. From 1996-1998, she was the national president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).
I was taking a typography class at the Academy of Art College when my instructor Mike Kohnke mentioned her during lecture on the history of type design. I mentioned it to my boss Lisa Yuchengco and asked if we ran an article on her in Filipinas Magazine. My boss said we featured her years ago back in 1994. She's well sought after and hard to get a hold of.
When I was laying out an article on Tony Robles and Carl Angel's book "Lakas and the Manilatown Fish", I had to get a picture of Lucille since she designed the book. I left word with an assistant if I can get Lucille's picture, he said he'll get back to me to see if they had any. A couple of days later, the phone rang "Is this the art director? This is Lucille Tenazas." The lids of my eyes pulled up to its apex as this strong woman's voice shot through the phone. As I listened to her concerns about the picture, one thing kept repeating in my mind "You are talking to Lucille Tenazas. Don't. Say. Anything. Stupid." The article just mentioned her as a designer but didn't talk about the design in detail, so she felt it's okay not to have a picture, if I needed a picture I can use the one on the jacket cover (but I used another photo instead).
http://www.tenazasdesign.com
According to Lilia.com and the Tenazas Design website:
"Her work is widely regarded for its unique approach to graphic design which is considered rigorous, thoughtful and provocative. Her design reflect an interest in the complexity of language and the overlapping relationship of meaning, form, and content. By merging the poetic and the pragmatic, Tenazas achieves a fluid and flexible approach to design, one that is human as well as critical."
She is widely respected in both Europe and America, both east and west coasts. She was chosen as one of the ID Forty, in ID Magazine's 1995 selection of the 40 leading design innovators. From 1996-1998, she was the national president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).
I was taking a typography class at the Academy of Art College when my instructor Mike Kohnke mentioned her during lecture on the history of type design. I mentioned it to my boss Lisa Yuchengco and asked if we ran an article on her in Filipinas Magazine. My boss said we featured her years ago back in 1994. She's well sought after and hard to get a hold of.
When I was laying out an article on Tony Robles and Carl Angel's book "Lakas and the Manilatown Fish", I had to get a picture of Lucille since she designed the book. I left word with an assistant if I can get Lucille's picture, he said he'll get back to me to see if they had any. A couple of days later, the phone rang "Is this the art director? This is Lucille Tenazas." The lids of my eyes pulled up to its apex as this strong woman's voice shot through the phone. As I listened to her concerns about the picture, one thing kept repeating in my mind "You are talking to Lucille Tenazas. Don't. Say. Anything. Stupid." The article just mentioned her as a designer but didn't talk about the design in detail, so she felt it's okay not to have a picture, if I needed a picture I can use the one on the jacket cover (but I used another photo instead).
http://www.tenazasdesign.com
The Mother of All Links
What I am putting now is the greatest resource for anything Filipino online.
Ken Ilio's Tanikalang Ginto (golden chain or links) or Filipinolinks.com
Since 1994, Ken has linked more than 23,000 Filipino websites and even categorized them, helping millions of countrymen worldwide finding things Filipino online.
Recently, Ken has been chosen as one of 50 Asian movers and shakers by Asia, Inc.
Congrats and thanks Ken, for adding my websites to your links!
Ken Ilio's Tanikalang Ginto (golden chain or links) or Filipinolinks.com
Since 1994, Ken has linked more than 23,000 Filipino websites and even categorized them, helping millions of countrymen worldwide finding things Filipino online.
Recently, Ken has been chosen as one of 50 Asian movers and shakers by Asia, Inc.
Congrats and thanks Ken, for adding my websites to your links!
From the AIGA site: what others think
The original article Southeast Asian Design Reflects Diversity is by William Harald-Wong, published on May 1, 2003.
This is what he wrote on the Philippines:
"The Philippines
The Philippines has always been, from the viewpoint of neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, slightly out of the radar screen. This is because of its perceived distant geographical location, and also because it occasionally announces itself to be the only Christian nation in Asia - somewhat out of synch with its largely Taoist/Buddhist/Muslim neighbours. (Philippines, of course, is quintessentially Asian, with many indigenous peoples and a large Muslim population in the south).
Again, the advertising industry reigns supreme. Because of the consumer-driven nature of its economic growth, shopping malls and consumer-based companies generate the most work for graphic designers. The most successful work incorporates strong emotional values (family relationships are important) and humour.
Jollibee, the biggest fast-food chain in the Philippines, has beaten multinationals such as McDonalds and Burger King at their own game by aggressively franchising and tailoring its food to the Filipino palate. It is successful in many parts of the world, especially where Filipinos are concentrated. Therein lies a lesson for the rest of the region.
Filipinos are known to be artistically and musically inclined and these inherent characteristics have produced excellence in the entertainment industry, performing arts, fine arts and crafts. Unfortunately, society has not given graphic design its due recognition. Many Filipino graphic designers, who have been educated in the USA or who are working in the Middle East, do not return home.
In recent years, the web design community has been highly active - there are many community websites and online magazines for Filipino designers, e.g. www.philweavers.net , www.halfproject.com , www.kakosa.com and others. One only need to look into these websites to realise that there is electrifying energy and creativity zapping around in the Philippines."
This is what he wrote on the Philippines:
"The Philippines
The Philippines has always been, from the viewpoint of neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, slightly out of the radar screen. This is because of its perceived distant geographical location, and also because it occasionally announces itself to be the only Christian nation in Asia - somewhat out of synch with its largely Taoist/Buddhist/Muslim neighbours. (Philippines, of course, is quintessentially Asian, with many indigenous peoples and a large Muslim population in the south).
Again, the advertising industry reigns supreme. Because of the consumer-driven nature of its economic growth, shopping malls and consumer-based companies generate the most work for graphic designers. The most successful work incorporates strong emotional values (family relationships are important) and humour.
Jollibee, the biggest fast-food chain in the Philippines, has beaten multinationals such as McDonalds and Burger King at their own game by aggressively franchising and tailoring its food to the Filipino palate. It is successful in many parts of the world, especially where Filipinos are concentrated. Therein lies a lesson for the rest of the region.
Filipinos are known to be artistically and musically inclined and these inherent characteristics have produced excellence in the entertainment industry, performing arts, fine arts and crafts. Unfortunately, society has not given graphic design its due recognition. Many Filipino graphic designers, who have been educated in the USA or who are working in the Middle East, do not return home.
In recent years, the web design community has been highly active - there are many community websites and online magazines for Filipino designers, e.g. www.philweavers.net , www.halfproject.com , www.kakosa.com and others. One only need to look into these websites to realise that there is electrifying energy and creativity zapping around in the Philippines."
Googling Filipino Design
The problem with looking for Filipino Design resources is that you have to be very specific. Filipino design not only encompasses the graphic arts, you also have architecture, furniture, fashion and a whole gamut of things with a jeepney, a fiesta, the national tricolor, lucky red or anything with people power yellow. Despite what you think, it's design. Design is art with a purpose.
I've been googling for content and emailing contacts who I've met over the years. I've already made a lineup of what I want to write. Just wait, this will be fun.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Pilipino Design Aesthetics By Bren Bataclan
I am taking on Tibor Kalman's challenge to widen the lens of design. Tibor asked designers to relearn what was taught to us in design schools and to look beyond design annuals for inspiration. Tibor felt that only a very small segment of designers' work gets highlighted and praised, while most work--which could be stronger, more important examples--is left out of design schools, shows, publications and, eventually, the design history. I want to take on Tibor's challenge because I would like work from hot, humid, tropical countries, like the Philippines, to become part of the mainstream design community. Pilipino designs should begin to win international design awards. Good design is good design and it should not come only from colder climates.
For more: www.bataclan.com
For more: www.bataclan.com
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Looking for Filipino Design
Hi folks,
I put this blog site up as a resource guide for Filipino Design. You can post your findings or links to sites discussing Filipino Design. I know there's a wealth of stuff out there. You can also post pictures.
Raymond
I put this blog site up as a resource guide for Filipino Design. You can post your findings or links to sites discussing Filipino Design. I know there's a wealth of stuff out there. You can also post pictures.
Raymond
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