Art in Film

This blog is about featured artwork in films. Its curator Martin Cole keeps the site fresh with the ability to connect with his audience and accept submissions online, I do hope it grows so much more. The artwork could be anything really from a sketch, photograph, sculpture, cartoon or tattoo. Sometimes these are from films where one of the characters is known as an artist, others are gallery scenes and homely spaces and everything in-between. Be sure to check out The Art in Film site as I’m sure you’ll have your own personal journey and may want to submit or at least keep your eyes peeled whilst viewing the nuances of film. It’s interesting seeing how aptly the art fits within the scenes and the unspoken messages that the art piece conveys about the character or film narrative. Finally, it’s hilarious seeing the ‘film stills’ illustrate the character’s engagement with the art as a defining moment, it’s out of context in the way that there’s no story, moving picture or sound. But as they are—they made me smile.

All film stills referenced are mentioned on Art of Film online.

Design Quotes

Chip Kidd Quotes

“A book cover is a distillation. It is a haiku of the story.” 

“Design is a response to a specific problem. You are given a problem to solve, and then you let the problem itself tell you what your solution is.” 

“I wouldn’t buy a book simply because I like the cover. I would pick it up. The jacket can call your attention to it. But in that sense, Oprah Winfrey is worth all the jackets in the world. A jacket is basically trying to do what she does all on her own.”

“You know, it sounds really corny to say it, but since most of my projects are book jackets, for the most part I’m inspired by whatever the book is, or by the manuscript itself. And while there aren’t a lot of graphic design ‘rules’ that I adhere to, certainly one of them is…somewhere within the problem lies the solution. I do truly believe that. I think the inspiration comes from the text, and then you sort of take it from there. A really good book cover has to work regardless of what it’s about, on a visceral and emotional level.”

Paul Rand Quotes

“Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.”

“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.”

“A logo doesn’t sell, it identifies. A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important than what it looks like.”

Neville Brody Quotes

“Typography is a hidden tool of manipulation within society.”

“People think that digital language is a fixed language, but it’s not: it’s very fluid. It’s like I’m doing a painting where the paint refuses to dry.”

“Design is more than just a few tricks to the eye. It’s a few tricks to the brain.”

Stefan Sagmeister Quotes

“My granddad wanted to become a sign painter and designer, but was stopped; my dad would have had a real talent for language, but was stopped. When I expressed a desire to become a graphic designer, I was not stopped.”

“I don’t think there is a particular responsibility on designers that is not on other professions… I think there’s a responsibility for all of us to engage on all levels.”

“Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.”

“It is very important to embrace failure and to do a lot of stuff – as much stuff as possible – with as little fear as possible. It’s much, much better to wind up with a lot of crap having tried it than to overthink in the beginning and not do it.”

“Hobbies are for people that don’t like what they’re doing.”

“You can have an art experience in front of a Rembrandt… or in front of a piece of graphic design.”

“…I think it’s ultimately inhuman to only see things for their functionality. We want things to be more than that. The desire for beauty is something that’s in us, and it’s not trivial.”

Paula Scher Quotes

“Another thing they don’t teach you in design school is what you get paid for… Mostly, designers get paid to negotiate the difficult terrain of individual egos, expectations, tastes, and aspirations of various individuals in an organization or corporation, against business needs, and constraints of the marketplace… Getting a large, diverse group of people to agree on a single new methodology for all of their corporate communications means the designer has to be a strategist,psychiatrist, diplomat, showman, and even a Svengali. The complicated process is worth money.That’s what clients pay for.”

“Find out what the next thing is that you can push, that you can invent, that you can be ignorant about, that you can be arrogant about, that you can fail with, and that you can be a fool with. Because in the end, that’s how you grow.”

“Be culturally literate, because if you don’t have any understanding of the world you live in and the culture you live in, you’re not going to express anything to anybody else.”

“It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds.”

“The work needs to get out of your head and on to the table, and it needs to be done from the heart.”

“A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense.” ~ Bruno Munari

“You are what you are seen to be.” ~ Erik Spiekermann

“Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.” ~ Dieter Rams

“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.” ~ Coco Chanel

“A shoe is not only a design, but it’s a part of your body language, the way you walk. The way you’re going to mauve is quite dictated by your shoes.” ~ Christian Louboutin

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” ~ Walt Disney

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It take a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Interesting things never happen to me. I happen to them.” ~  Bernard Shaw

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” ~ Leonard Bernstein

“There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence.” ~ Massimo Vignelli

“You can’t do better design with a computer, but you can speed up your work enormously.” ~ Wim Crouwel

“Design must seduce, shape, and perhaps more importantly, evoke an emotional response.” ~ April Greiman

“Think outside the box.” ~ Unknown

“The difference between good design and great design is intelligence.” ~ Tibor Kalman

“The details are not the details.they make the design.” ~ Charles Eames

“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.” ~ Milton Glaser

“Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.” ~ David Carson

“I’ve never had a problem with a dumb client. There is no such thing as a bad client. Part of our job is to do good work and get the client to accept it.” ~ Bob Gill

“If you do good work for good clients, it will lead to other good work for other good clients. If you do bad work for bad clients, it will lead to other bad work for other bad clients.” ~ Michael Bierut

“Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare” ~ Japanese Proverb

“Good design is good business.” ~ Thomas J. Watson Jr

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

“Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual.” ~ Edward Tufte

“Design is intelligence made visible.” ~ Alina Wheeler

“Invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.” ~ Thomas Edison

“Nothing’s impossible.” ~ The Doorknob (Alice in Wonderland)

Saul Bass Quotes

“Design is Thinking Made Visual.”

“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me. It’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”

“Sometimes when an idea flashes, you distrust it because it seems too easy. You qualify it with all kinds of evasive phrases because you’re timid about it. But often, this turns out to be the best idea of all.”

Alan Fletcher Quotes

“I like to reduce everything to its absolute essence because that is a way to avoid getting trapped in a style.”

“Design is not a thing you do. It’s a way of life.”

“Design is what happens between conceiving an idea and fashioning the means to carry it out.”

“A person without imagination is like a teabag without hot water.”

“Thinking is drawing in your head.”


Special Thanks Inkbot Design

Autumn morning

There’s something very cool and refreshing about pastel colours. Here’s an array of candy coloured art installations, photographic architectural details of every day, paintings, Wedgwood’s colour pallet and some rather odd looking cats. Text captions are from Another Magazine from the Good Things in art and design archive, to aid further research. Sometimes the nostalgic allure of pastels complements the sweet melancholy of an autumn morning.

Bert Danckaert has an eye for fantastic palettes in every day buildings.

Heather Carson chose light as her medium and in her installations, inspired by Josef Albers.

Matti Braun’s dyed silk panels in pastels and gradients.

Late 1800s Wedgwood colour pallet.

Olivia Boudet’s canvases depict the simplest silhouettes of rooftops, chimneys, towers.

A heady concoction of toxins by Louise Zhang she has produced this array of pastel delights. 

Tim Walker captures the recent craze for dyeing your pet a pastel colour.

Studies of Deco Architecture

These black and white photographs are detailed compositional studies beautifully showcasing the style and extravaganza of deco taken in and around New York. I greatly admire the way the photographer has captured the contrast between the softness of some of the brickwork and statuesque forms, to the geometric high key patterns and structural designs, they delightfully epitomise the glamour and sophistication.

It’s not surprising that I’m so inspired by these images tonight as I am watching Irving Berlin’s classic musical Top Hat staring the indomitable Fred Astaire.

Steven Heller Explains about more about the Deco period in America and Paris. In a piece titled Deco details in New York.

Faber Modern Classics

Faber Modern Classics of 1929 heritage will be launching ten new designs of their classic paperback books in April 2015, followed by another six in June, below are the first of the new designs. The series, “…Will bring together its different strands, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama.” explains FF online.

The grid structure though conveys information clearly I feel should have been devised with much more complexity. Enabling the designer to work with the different format images and the band of colour in a more unique fashion, using patterns, lines, borders and curved shapes reflecting the author, writing styles and the era, secondly, there’s the photographs, typographic designs and illustration to consider. Both aspects have to work in conjunction with each other. The typographic headings are set using the font Helvetica for the 2015 publication, though admitting it is a classic font, surely we are getting a little tired of it since the self-titled Gary Hustwit documentary film 2007. It is too overused whereas a classic book is accepted as exemplary and noteworthy. Therefore, not to be confused with the iconic font most known in New York’s subway. 

I do like the way the band of colour that has a translucence overlay on to each image that carefully references the brand’s heritage, and the author's previous printed editions. As I mentioned previously the layout could have been more creative and far less uniform. Faber and Faber’s very strong art deco identity combined with the heritage colours I feel would have produced enough design consistency throughout this series.

The mix of illustrations and photography is good, but the cropping of the images has made the images seem somewhat formulaic though undoubtedly they do reflect the spirit of the times, here the format works best with the Sylvia Plath and John Osborne covers. 

The pulled quotes are marvellous and are very well chosen. It’s surprising how well they fit with the images and yet the formatting feels a little detached from them. I think that I have mixed feelings towards this series because I love classic literature, and I also greatly admire other cover designs published by Faber and Faber. The Poetry Essentials box set is wonderful!

The first ten titles in the series are:

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes with introductions from Jeannette Winterson and T S Eliot
Ariel by Sylvia Plath (chosen by Edna O'Brien)
Pincher Martin by William Golding with an afterword by Phillipa Gregory
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi with an introduction by Zadie Smith
Self-Help by Lorrie Moore
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (selected by Barbara Kingsolver)
Venice by Jan Morris
Selected Poems by T S Eliot featuring an essay by Seamus Heaney
Look Back in Anger by John Osborne with an introduction from Michael Billington and an afterword by David Hare
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Faber Modern Classics