Design DriveThru

Vienna Calling: NY's Coolest Museum Store

If you’ve overdosed on mid-century modern but you’re not ready to bail on modernism altogether, check out the design store at the Neue Galerie, New York’s museum of early 20th century Austrian Art. The small store and its more complete online catalog carry housewares, textiles and seriously cool upholstered furniture in the Vienna Secessionist style. Post-Victorian but pre-Bauhaus, these early modernists (such as Josef Hoffman) hit the nail on the head by chucking the musty historicist baggage of their parents while still retaining the emotional warmth of ornament, tempered by a personality of urbane restraint. I think of it as a sort of grown-up Art Nouveau, minus the fireflies and forest nymphs. (More images after the jump.)

Illustrating Sideways: The Un-Movie Poster That Thinks Outside the Bottle

I am someone who loves both design and movies, and when I go into video rental stores I am struck by the cover art on the movie boxes—struck by how bland and derivative most of it is. Today’s movie poster seems to follow a strict formula: slick “glamour shots” of the film’s stars, a trendy typeface and maybe a Photoshop filter or two thrown in. Not a concept in sight, and very little originality or anything that expresses the voice of the movie.

A notable exception is the poster for Sideways, a 2004 low-budget indie release that became a surprise hit and went on to win major awards (including an Oscar and 2 Golden Globes) and became known as “the best reviewed movie of 2004.”

The understated comedy-drama was written and directed by Alexander Payne, and stars Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as two friends embarking on a bachelor-party road trip in California wine country that rapidly spirals out of control.

The movie poster itself violates all the conventions, featuring a quirky pen-and-ink illustration, copious negative space, and quiet sans-serif typography. In some ways it seems more like a book cover or an ad for a play. But its quiet charm and unexected wit perfectly express the film’s appeal and individuality. (Images of alternative poster designs after the jump.)

Identity Design: Milton Glaser Shapes Buddhist Art Museum

In 2004, the Rubin Museum opened in a former Barney's department store in New York, becoming the only museum of Himalayan art in the Western hemisphere. Milton Glaser developed an engaging identity system for the museum based on the geometric schematic of a square inside a circle, which is the spatial organizing plan of the Mandala, the primary painting form of the museum's art collection.

Alvin Lustig's Designs as Art

Alvin Lustig was a giant of mid-20th century design who brought principles of modern art to graphic design, textile and interior design. "He was in the vanguard of a relatively small group who fervently, indeed religiously, believed in the curative power of good design when applied to all aspects of American life." That description comes from AlvinLustig.org, an excellent on-line archive of his work. (I only wish there were more design biographical resources as well-thought out as this one.) The site is offering four of Alvin Lustig's book cover designs from the 1940s as limited edition prints, carefully screenprinted by hand on archival paper and available for $100 each. These look as fresh and innovative now is they did when they were created.

Identity Design: Minimalism in Montreal

“When it comes to building an image today, thinking big is the only way to go.” Or so claims the website belonging to Paprika, a Montreal design firm that creates elegantly minimalist identity systems for hotels, retaurants, and retailers. Paprika may be thinking big, but their work really shines because they’re also thinking small: they employ an economy of means that produces powerful results from the simplest of elements. This superb ability to create a lot from a little, combined with artfully typographic-focused designs, set them apart from the crowd on either side of the border. Pictured here are their identity designs for Baronet Silver, a mid-range furniture manufacturer that produces "soft modern" / transitional pieces that are sold in the U.S. at Crate and Barrel. More images after the jump.

New Font Release: Vibrant, Formal Script "Novia"

Originally designed by Cyrus Highsmith for Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, Novia is an elegant script based on eighteenth-century models. Novia offers a rich variety of alternative characters and ligatures, most notably initial and final characters in various combinations. The OpenType format allows the complete set to be stored and automatically selected, with no intervention from the operator. Novia’s two weights are intended for use at display sizes; the Light is most effective at two hundred point and larger. Highsmith has given unusual attention to the balance and dimensional implications of the forms: “the sculpture of the way that they carve into the page.” Delicacy of hairlines and the variety of joining strokes are particularly effective.

Cyrus Highsmith is a faculty member at Rhode Island School of Design; he is the Senior Designer at FontBureau, which sells a number of his popular faces, including Benton Sans, Dispatch, and Relay.

Betty and Veronica Get a Makeover

Archie, Jughead, and the gang at Archie Comics have existed in a state of cultural suspended animation since their inception in the 1940s. For decades, the squeaky-clean characters and innocent plotlines (Archie has two dates to the prom!) have fascinated young girls curious about the high-school dating adventures that await them in their teenage years. In the 1950s the comics were selling as many as a million books a month, but present-day sales are a fraction of that... around 50,000 copies monthly. In the era of Paris Hilton and internet hook-ups, Archie's chaste dates at the malt shop seem downright anachronistic — which some would say is part of his charm.

But that's about to change. The publishers of Archie Comics have announced that in May, the characters are getting a makeover in an effort to appeal to slightly older readers. The illustration style will be more "sophisticated" and realistic, and less cartoony. The stories will also be longer and deal with more emotionally complex themes, although the plot-lines will continue to avoid hot-button issues like sex or drug use. The modernized Archies will appear in "digest" comics and eventually in graphic novels, while the traditionally-drawn Archie will continue on in the monthly comics.

The images shown here are the first to be released that show the characters' new appearance, which has been described as hipper and more stylish. It's also striking how thin the characters have become... Betty and Veronica look downright waifish.

As with any branding, tampering with a franchise's success (albeit in this case dwindling success) is not without risk. "If they are updating them, they have to be careful they don't in the end lose some of the appeal that they have," said a Denver comic-store owner in a recent Wall Street Journal story on the Archies' transformation. Reactions on comic fan sites have been mixed. A number of people thought that the new Betty and Veronica look like the Olsen Twins. (I'm not sure if that's good or bad....)

Free Keith Haring Screensaver

Graffiti-influenced pop artist Keith Haring became world-famous for his child-like, cartoonish paintings and sculptures, and in the process became an icon of the 1980s. Shortly before his untimely death at the age of 31, Keith started a foundation to continue his charitable works for AIDS-related and children's charities, and to maintain his legacy and archives.

The Keith Haring Foundation has created an impressive website, which includes a vast catalog of Keith's powerful work, interviews with the artist, and essays on his art by other artists and scholars.

If you're a fan of the Keith Haring phenomenon, this site is a treasure trove of answers to questions you didn't know you had, like:
• What happened to Keith's innovative retail store, The Pop Shop? (It closed in 2005 but is now a traveling exhibit)
• Did Madonna once steal Keith Haring's boyfriend? (sort of)
• Was Keith inspired by drugs? (yes)

There are some great "extras," like free, downloadable screensavers (pictured above) built in Flash, made from flip-books Haring drew to look animated when you flipped through the pages. It's startling to think that when Haring died, not only was there was no Flash, there also was no internet. Aside from that, I'm not sure much else has changed.

Keith Haring Foundation
Keith Haring on Wikipedia
Keith Haring Kids' Activity Site

About the Blogger

Design Drive-Thru is written and published by Rob King, a graphic designer living and working in New York City. Rob recently completed the Graduate Communications Design program at Pratt Institute, and currently works with a Manahttan design firm that focuses on interactive projects.

Rob has several years experience designing identity systems and print communications. His work can be viewed at his online portfolio.

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