“I make spaces that apprehend light for our perception, and in some ways gather it, or seem to hold it…my work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing.” — James Turrell
Wow. Hasn’t this month gone fast. It’s that time again. This month I introduce to you, James Turnell.
In the 1960’s, while other artists used paint, metal or clay, James Turrell manipulates light, introducing art that was not an object but and experience in perception. All of Turrell’s artworks showcase light - he explores the nature of seeing. “Rather than light being a thing that reveals something,” he says, “the light becomes the revelation.”
Turrell is perhaps best known for his work, Roden Crater. After spotting Roden Crater from a plane in 1974, he began to turn this natural cinder volcanic crater into a massive naked-eye observatory.
In the 1970’s, Turnell began a series of skypaces, enclosed spaces open to the sky through a hole (aperture) in the roof. Inside the skyspace the view sit on benches along the edge to view the sky through an opening in the roof. Turrell has built more than 80 Skyspaces all over the world. Hawaii and Tasmania are next. I was lucky enough to sit in one of these skyspaces at the National Gallery of Art in Canberra. Turrell ‘is exceptionally fond’ of the NGA’s permanent Skyspace, Within Without which opened in 2010. The design mimics Canberra’s native gardens, indigenous motifs and Parliament House.
In 2013, the Guggenheim in New York, The Los Angeles Country Museums of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston each held James Turrell retrospectives. In 2015 this retrospective came to Australia and I can honestly say it was the most breath taking exhibitions I have ever been too. The show surveys each phase of Turrell’s 50-year career of James Turrell. ‘It’s about perception. It’s using light as a material to influence or affect the medium of perception.’
James Turrell Respective, ends this Monday so for anyone living in Canberra or heading up this weekend I would jump off the plane and head straight there. It is an exhibition (experience) that will leave a lasting impression.
Once a month I will be writing about design legends, people we draw inspiration from and people we look up too.
Who better to kick this off with than Stefan Sagmeister. One of the most talked about Graphic Designers! And my hero.
Born in Bregenz, Austria in 1962, Sagmeister began his career at age 15 writing for Alphorn, an Austrian Youth magazine. He quickly realised that working on the layout was more enjoyable than writing articles. Sagmeister studied graphic design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna later receiving a Fulbright scholarship to study at Pratt Institute in New York. In 1991, he moved to Hong Kong to work with Leo Burnett's Hong Kong Design Group.
Returning to New York in 1993 he formed the New York based Sagmeister Inc. and has since been designing for a diverse range of clients including the Rolling Stones, HBO, the Guggenheim Museum and Time Warner.
During this time, Sagmeister began to specialise in CD cover design. I.D. magazine, in the late 90's wrote that his “CD package designs are what poetry is to prose: distilled, intense, cunning, evocative and utterly complete. His intentions have set a new standard.” Designing for musical heroes like Lou Reed, Mick Jagger,David Byrne and Jay-Z. He would push the boundaries of design and explore different techniques which included die-cuts, model building, 3D typography and laser cutting, winning two Grammy Awards for his cover design.
Lou Reed CD cover design by Sagmeister
After a one-year Sabbatical in 2003 Sagmeister started producing more text-based artwork, building letterforms that spell out quotes pulled from his own diary, “Trying to look good limits my life”, “Worry solves nothing,”. These have appeared in books, magazine, videos and commercials. Sagmeister wanted to broader the ‘impact of design, to change perceptions and behaviours.’
2012 was a big year for Sagmeister, he announced “Nineteen years after the founding of Sagmeister Inc.. We are renaming the company Sagmeister & Walsh.” New business partner 25-year-old Jessica Walsh was appointed, causing excitement in design world. “The Happy Show,” Sagmeister’s 2012 exhibition at the Institute of Cotemporary Art in Philadelphia, was a huge success. He offered visitors “walking into the designer’s mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via meditation, cognitive therapy and mood-altering pharmaceuticals” through interactive digital and analogue typographic investigations of his “rules to live by.”
Last month Stefan Sagmeister was in Melbourne for an exclusive Melbourne event by AGDA and Billy Blue College of Design. I was lucky enough to take the Friday afternoon to go along.
He shared his latest thinking on happiness — both the conscious and unconscious kind. His seven rules for life and design happiness can apply to everyone seeking more joy.
Image from the happy show exhibition
It was an afternoon I would never forget. If you were not lucky enough to go along, check out his talks on TED.
We were lucky enough to attend a breakfast talk last week held by K.W.Doggett, centred around a discussion on selling print and the return on investment this medium provides. The morning was backed by research and facts from the Value of Paper and Print (VoPP), which is an industry report about the effectiveness of print. Kellie Northword, the very inspiring woman behind (VoPP) and Executive Director of Two Sides, provided us with some really interesting case studies and inspired us again about the power of print in today's ever expanding online landscape.
Key facts that impressed us were:
93% of female magazine readers engage with print advertisements (YouGov, 2013)
Letterbox distribution reaches over 18.3 million Australians, five days a week (ACA, 2014)
67% of people believe paper to be more trustworthy than digital
Newspapers are read by more than 15 million Australian's every month, or 86% of the population aged 14+
20% of users remember an article better when ready on paper (Miratech, 2011)
Psychological and physiological studies demonstrate the human brain will retain and recall messages better when read from paper (Wolf, 2012)
Throughout the talk, we heard how print has had to defend itself over recent years, it has been criticised with headlines such as 'print is dead', 'the paperless office' etc, yet it remains one of the largest industries in Australia. As a country we spend $790 million a year on magazines, one of the highest per capita across the globe. Print still remains a strong industry and has the widest reach of any channel.
We loved this example of Microsoft who placed a WiFi enabled print advertisement in a special edition of Forbes to promote its Office 365 software, providing free internet to those who kept the magazine with them. Once activated, the router embedded within the pages provided users with 15 days of free internet, which could easily be used by up to five devices simultaneously.
In summary, which channel mix promises the best from print, TV, radio to newer and emerging channels such as the internet and digital? Which is the most cost effective and efficient combination? The answer isn't really one or the other, more a much-needed understanding of how each inter-relates and connects the audience. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses - digital offers instant connect, while print will hold our attention for longer. Television can be socially engaging, while magazines are selected and held onto.
We didn't need any more convincing (although the stats really surprised us), it just confirmed our love for all things printed!
Lastly we couldn't help but laugh at this tongue-in-cheek 'bookbook' from Ikea.
Thanks to K.W. Doggett for the opportunity to attend this talk and to the very inspiring Kelly Northwood. For more information check out www.valueofpaperandprint.com.au
What does Easter mean to you? Maybe your religious and spend most of Easter at church or maybe you just like the two days off (if you're lucky!). For me, the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and get creative with decorations, treasure hunts and a whole lot of good food and drink.
The creative mind of the Graphic Designer rarely sleeps and from my experience expands into event theming, interiors, crafts, kids parties, the odd invitation and so on and so forth. As with many of our graphic projects here at Adcore Creative a mood board to inspire ideas is an essential part of the design process. Pinterest has become such a useful tool when sourcing inspiration and creative ideas, no cutting and pasting required. See below a small selection from our Easter mood board, why not pop on over to our Pinterest page for a look into what inspires us at Adcore Creative.
It's
a busy time starting up a new business and it's is easy for business owners to
dismiss branding as unimportant. We live in a society where we are met with a
barrage of messages, as a new business you need to be able to stand out
from your competition. Great branding can go a long way in allowing you to shine
over your competition and ultimately grow your business.
Creating
a solid brand message is what will get new business knocking on your door, not
just a smart logo.
We've
put together a list of essential branding steps to ensure your brand message is
hitting the right mark.
1.
Define your brand's mission. Describe what your business hopes to accomplish
for your customer and why. Who are you and what makes you different? What are
your core values?
2.
Determine your target audience. Who is your customer? Where do they live, where
do they socialise, what products do they use etc.
3.
Who is your competition? Research them, what are they doing well? How can you
be different? What makes you different from them?
4.
Define your brand personality. If you were to describe your brand as a person
what would they be? Feminine or masculine? Build a profile of your ideal
client.
5.
Put together a detailed creative brief. Get together with your designer, the
more information you can bring to us such as - who is your target market, whats
your unique selling point and what you would like your overall brand to look
like. A platform such as Pinterest is a great way to create a mood board of
images that you like, which shows us what you like and why you like it.
6.
Create your core branding. Partnering with a design studio that understands
your brand message will go along way in creating the best possible result for
your business. Begin with a logo and branding, making sure that it
aligns with what you have already determined above. Next develop a website,
this will most likely be where your customer gets their first impression of
your business. It will be a great tool for leads and will act as a
communication tool to a larger audience.
7.
Develop social media profiles. It's not necessary to be across all social media
channels, chose the platforms that are appropriate for your target audience and
business and pour your energy into them, instead of bits of each.
8.
Collateral. What do you need? Consistency across all of your marketing material is crucial, should you update all of your marketing material so that you have consistency
across it all? Work out what are your main forms of
interaction with your clients - is it your stationery? and work at getting them 100% right.
Megumi Miki is a Leadership and Culture Consultant based in Melbourne. Her objective is supporting organisations to unleash potential, performance and growth by developing leaders, teams and organisations. She has specialist skills in leadership development, team development and coaching, behaviours and mindset change, identifying and addressing systemic cultural changes.
Megumi approached Adcore Creative through 'word of mouth' (our best marketing asset) and engaged with the team to help build her brand.
The brief was to create a corporate but contemporary look and feel with the focus of utilising the meaning of her name. Megumi means - blessing and Miki mean - three trees in Japanese.
We created a simple and effective brand representative of the 'three tree element' with the suggestion of bringing people together and growth. The mark was also used in a repeat pattern format and features throughout her marketing material.
White Night Melbourne is a State Government of Victoria initiative created by the Victorian Major Events Company, and produced by White Night Melbourne Productions. The original concept for White Night (Nuit Blanche) was born in Paris in 2002, with the concept to make art and culture accessible to large audiences within public spaces. Paris’ Nuit Blanche (White Night) has inspired an international network of White Night events in over 20 cities globally, with each city adapting the event to reflect its unique artists and creativity.
White Night Melbourne joined the ranks of these global cities on Saturday 23 February 2013. Melbourne has embraced this unique opportunity to showcase local and international artists and provide a platform for their work. White Night Melbourne returned for its second year on Saturday 22 February 2014, increasing in popularity and quickly becoming Australia’s most celebrated major cultural event.
White Night Melbourne will again be held on Saturday 21 February 2015 and bigger than ever. With a programme of over 80+ free events, you may not be sure where to start your journey. Head over to the White Night Melbourne website and check out the suggested itineraries to guide you through the streets. Cultural highlights include music, film, interactive displays, light shows and international performances.
If you make it past 2:00am we recommend seeing our friends Total Giovanniat the Indie Music stage. They start at 2.15am. ‘Total Giovanni is an experience. It is a feeling.’ It is a must do. Also don’t miss I could have danced all night, presented by VicHealth. It returns for the third year and is another fun-filled dance extravaganza! It’s part of VicHealth’s Art Arts Strategy which encourages Victorians to get physically active and improve mental wellbeing.
We can’t wait to see what Melbourne has in store for us this year! See you there.
Image: 
Image: Florian Holzherr 
In the 1970’s, Turnell began a series of skypaces, enclosed spaces open to the sky through a hole (aperture) in the roof. Inside the skyspace the view sit on benches along the edge to view the sky through an opening in the roof. Turrell has built more than 80 Skyspaces all over the world. Hawaii and Tasmania are next. I was lucky enough to sit in one of these skyspaces at the National Gallery of Art in Canberra. Turrell ‘is exceptionally fond’ of the NGA’s permanent Skyspace, Within Without which opened in 2010. The design mimics Canberra’s native gardens, indigenous motifs and Parliament House.
In 2013, the Guggenheim in New York, The Los Angeles Country Museums of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston each held James Turrell retrospectives. In 2015 this retrospective came to Australia and I can honestly say it was the most breath taking exhibitions I have ever been too. The show surveys each phase of Turrell’s 50-year career of James Turrell. ‘It’s about perception. It’s using light as a material to influence or affect the medium of perception.’
Image: 
Image: Florian Holzherr 
