Huge Update over at League's website

One of my absolute favorite firms, League just updated their website with some stunning work. The above photo is titled "Discussing Water Colour Techniques", and that makes me that much more a fan of them. I placed some images below from the website, but obviously you need to go see all the work and quickly. I especially like the fact that they basically own, in an Yves Klein kind of way, that bizarre teal color that appears all over their website. They even posted some shots of a specimen book they did for their customized version of futura for gig posters. It's all a little overwhelming in the best way.

It's especially nice to see musicians like Ulver and Attila Csihar get a nice contrasting, yet intense clinically structured graphic treatment. Extreme music's visual language has been marred by the slumping ghost of punk's DIY aesthetic for too long. It's nice to see disciplined and sharp work done like this that completely refreshes the band's image and shines a new light on their work.

Considering the many directions design is moving in Europe, especially with this whole resurgence of "The Cult of Ugly", well documented in the zeitgeist capturing book "Turning Pages", League fits in an interesting slot. Thankfully, I would argue, this second wave of anarchic design is fronted by an avant-garde that is fully aware of the history it is helping shape. Obviously for every 032c magazine we get this bastardized commodified version, but the discourse remains valid and exciting to watch. League's work obviously has foundations in the International Typographic Style, but I think they stray away from rote & predictable solutions time and time again, consistently injecting an element of bizarre whimsy. They have a style entirely their own and I would not be surprised if we see more and more people trying to replicate the elegantly subversive work of these Swiss folk.

Great work, I can't stress that enough, take a look.

The Captivating World of Katja Gretzinger

There is something entrancing about Katja Gretzinger's work that has been with me for a while now. I first saw the "FAZ Wissen und Bedenken" poster/publication on aisleone many months ago and have since found myself at her website studying what exactly it is that I am obsessed with. Her masterful use of typography is fresh and well informed. I find the rather colorful posters the three people are holding (I think that is her on the left) extremely interesting. They manage to combine a strict grid with playful elements that recall the ill-advised typographic (in my opinion) experimentation the 90's brought us...but here we have a very refined and mature approach to modular grid use and humanistic flourishes.












An utterly fascinating talent in the field. Keep an eye out for her.


Record spinning: Department of Eagles-"In Ear Park", Beach House-"Teen Dream", Blut Aus Nord-"Dialogue with the Stars", Funeral Mist-"Maranatha", and Lindstrom and Christobelle-"Real life is No Cool"

This is League

Oh, ok you guys...this firm's work is simply astounding. Obviously, they, like me, enjoy modernism. The interesting thing is though, is that they take a completely new spin on it, creating a unique style in itself. They are swiss designers...so let's add another tally to the chart for the Swiss, they just get it right.

2:30 Am Design Heart Attack

Well I'll be damned. I have seen Mark Weaver's stuff
before courtesy the perma-excited Robyn Baker and
always found myself enjoying his work. The above
images take that enjoyment all the way to home base.
His work is simply stunning. It has a weird Text-book-
by-way-of-retro-modernist-sepia vibe that I'm really
into. Just check it out NOW.

That state poster blows my heart out of it's steel cage
and explodes in my face. real talk.

Orbiting: Katatonia-"Forsaker", Broadcast-"Noise Made
by People", saltine crackers, drawing letters, Deathspell
Omega, and Fuji Apple Pear Lifewater.

Im 21 years old therefore I like French new wave cinema.

The above being stated, I had the pleasure of seeing this film in theaters for the first time along with a couple other lucky folks, as it was never released in the US until recently. The movie itself is Godard at his most obscure and deconstructed, at least I think so. Names and conversations disappear under the din seemingly arbitrarily placed sounds and silence. Anna Karina looks stunning as she did, and the cinematography is simply perfect, awash in red, white and blue almost comically.

Also, I really enjoy the packaging, designed by John Hardy. It is a simply approach but one that really captures the feeling and focus of this bizarre film. The use of the staggered image, as simple a device as it is, perfectly encapsulates the feeling you experience while watching this film. There is one scene specifically where Anna Karina is sitting at a table in a restaurant awaiting to be unhand-cuffed and the wallpaper behind her is askew, seemingly aligned by a blind man. This tiny architectural detail really struck me when I saw the movie originally, and I even wrote down a note about it, as I was considering using something like that in my Virginia Woolf Poster Project. So it is really neat to see that element used in the stellar packaging for this challenging film. Once again the Criterion Collection wows with it's discerning in packaging. Great work all around.