Work, rest and Playboy

December 5th, 2012 by Mat Dolphin

Don’t ask us how or why but recently, we stumbled upon this (obviously NSFW) online archive of Playboy back issues. The collection spans from the first ever issue all the way back in December 1953 to the present day. The early days of the magazine show some great examples of inventive and well considered editorial design. Creative, elegant and much better than most of the tat that fills newsagent’s shelves these days — Top shelf or not. We love them. So we thought we’d share some of the best we came across. Fnar.

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Adrian Shaughnessy already said it better than us…

October 4th, 2012 by Mat Dolphin

We’ve spoken in the past about the importance of the message. The purpose of graphic design, in our minds, should be to communicate a distinct message to the right audience in the most appropriate way possible. We recently came across the following quote by Adrian Shaughnessy who, in his usual succinct and intelligent way, uses a simple and easy to understand analogy to completely hit the nail on the head. The substance taking precedent over the style is something we feel is hugely important and easily forgotten in today’s fast moving and trend-driven design world.

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Ten Questions 027 – Patrick Burgoyne

April 18th, 2012 by Mat Dolphin

Like practically every designer working in the UK in the past 30 years, Creative Review magazine has played a huge role in our development as designers. For many people it’s their first peek into the elusive inner workings of ‘the industry’ and has always been a brilliant source of news, well written opinion and information. This was especially true before the internet changed the way we consume information, but even now, getting hold of a new printed copy is as much of a thrill as it was back when we first discovered it. That’s not to say CR haven’t moved with the times, their blog is a lively platform for debate and one of the best in the business for design news and gossip. Their new iPad app (unveiled this week!) is as stonking as we knew it would be. In our opinion, they’re the best, most useful and most established industry magazine around. Over the last few years, we’ve become friendly with the CR crew and thought it would a good idea to get them involved with our Ten Questions series.

Editor Patrick Burgoyne was kind enough to take the time to give us his answers. Covering a range of topics from bilge tanks to idiotic maths teachers, here’s what he has to say…

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Five Things 015

December 8th, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

We realised recently that it’s been AGES since we last posted a Five Things. For the uninitiated, it’s a regular series in our blog in which we share five interesting, creative things that we’ve spotted on the world wide internet over the course of the last week or so. It’s always a mixed bag, and this post in no different. Jelly hand grenades, flying dogs, sitting on Hercules’ face and festive booze are just a few of the things you can expect to see this time round. Take two minutes out of your day, put your feet up and have a look at what we’ve found for you.

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Sound & Vision 03 – Special NME Edition – Our 100th post!

October 25th, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

Welcome to Blog post number 100! Since July 2009 we’ve been updating this little blog on a fairly regular basis with our random musings, showcasing the work of those we admire and letting you know what we’ve been up to. We wanted to do something a bit special for the hundredth post and the perfect opportunity came up just at the right moment. Iconic UK music mag, the one and only NME, got in touch after seeing the first two posts in our Sound & Vision series, asking if we’d be interested in writing a bit of a ‘Special Edition’ post for their blog. Being long time fans, we immediately agreed and are now pleased to present Sound & Vision 03 – The NME edition.

See it live on their site here or read on below…

There are so many amazing album covers out there that choosing favourites seems like an unachievable task. Like the albums themselves, the way I feel about the artwork they’re wrapped in changes on a regular basis. That said, there are some which, for various reasons, I’ve always loved. Some of them are considered classic and some of them are barely known but all of them are, in my eyes, brilliant examples of what an album cover should be. A visual partner to the music on the record, something that can encapsulate the sounds in a way that you can’t always put your finger on but somehow just works…

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Ten Questions 020 – John Paul Thurlow

September 14th, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

A retreat to Japan in an attempt to escape London for a while was the starting point for John Paul Thurlow’s best known work. Whilst drawing the contents of his room he came across a travel sized copy of British Elle and recreated the cover as a pencil drawing (amending the title to read ‘Hell’ as an expression of his mood). From that point on John Paul has made it his mission to ‘recreate cover art for every great magazine and record’ he owns. The meticulously intricate drawings are far from perfect reproductions – they are filled with his own additional scrawlings, notes, thoughts, feelings and scribbles to make them a one of a kind piece of art based on a mass produced piece of media.

John Paul was kind enough to take the time out to answer our Ten Questions.

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Five Things 013

May 6th, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

It’s Friday, it’s sunny and it’s time once again to let you know about Five Things we’ve seen this week which we like. Encompassing a number of areas including advertising, design, second hand shops, passport stamps, jelly and toys, there’s sure to be something for everyone.

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WIN a years subscription to Creative Review!

March 1st, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

Okay, a bit of a different post from us today but hey, variety is the spice… and all that.

Last Thursday we attended the excellent Not Networking™ Glug event at Cargo. We missed every talk they held and pretty much stood by the burger bar all night, but we did catch up with old friends and new and at least got out of the Dolphin Heights studio for five minutes.

Source personnel (who kindly sponsored the event) asked people to check-in to the event using Foursquare with the chance of winning a years subscription to Creative Review. Not bad for simply clicking three buttons on your phone, so we duly did and low and behold we WON! The bad news is that we’re already subscribed to Creative Review (bummer!), but the good news is we’ve decided to give our subscription away in a competition. Yay!

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Ten Questions 010 – Mario Hugo

January 13th, 2011 by Mat Dolphin

The new year sees the continuation of our Ten Questions series in which we ask fellow designers, illustrators, photographers, directors and other random creative folk the same set of questions. The answers always vary and always give an insight into the thought process behind the work. You can see the others in the series here.

I’ve been a fan of Mario Hugo‘s work for a long time. I came across his original site, the now defunct loveworn.com and found the beautiful illustrations and intricate, playful typography a constant source of inspiration. Since I first became aware of his work Mario has gone on to work with clients such as Dolce & Gabbana, Wired Magazine, Microsoft, Channel 4, Interscope Records and, most recently, Stella McCartney. His talent has also caught the attention of design agencies such as Non-Format and Spin, who have called upon his distinctive style for various projects. Somehow he’s also found the time to work on numerous personal projects and exhibitions.

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Ten Questions 006 – Roya Hamburger

September 21st, 2010 by Mat Dolphin

Roya Hamburger is an artist and illustrator based in Amsterdam. Her work is a mix of illustration, photography and typography which aims to cross the boundries between the worlds of commercial illustration and fine art. Since graduating from the esteemed Willem De Kooning Academy of Arts in Rotterdam, Roya has worked for a long list of international clients including Cosmopolitan, Elle, M Magazine, British Airways, Postbank, Deloitte and Martini.

Roya was kind enough to take some time out to join in with our Ten Questions series.

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Ten Questions 005 – Panda Yoghurt

August 26th, 2010 by Mat Dolphin

Douglas Bowden is a UK based illustrator and designer working under the name of Panda Yoghurt. His work for high profile clients including MTV, Computer Arts magazine, Wired magazine, Vodafone and Ninjatune has seen him develop his style into a unque blend of fluid illustrations and typography mixed with photography and collage. He was generous enough to take some time out to get involved with our ‘Ten Questions‘ blog series. Read on for his answers and some great examples of his work – more of which can be seen here.

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Five Things 005

August 3rd, 2010 by Mat Dolphin

Five Things part five! The next installment in our regular blog series. We’ve been super busy of late what with new client wins and a much needed overhaul of our site but a few things have come to our attention over the last week or so that we thought were worth sharing.

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Happy Twirthday

February 26th, 2010 by Mat Dolphin

Our friends over at Creative Review are celebrating their birthday this month. And it’s a biggie. The highly respected magazine has been keeping the design community updated with news, discussion and debate for 30 years.

To mark the occasion they’re including a replica section of the first ever issue – anyone old/geeky enough to have an original copy of CR No.1 lying around?

CR Spines

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