Standard Design - I Think These Things Are Really Nice

Here's a random collection of things that I think are really nice, in a graphical sense, generally speaking. This is not meant to be any sort of design hall-of-fame or anything, just nice junk that catches my eye. This is America, after all, and opinion is pretty much everything. This is stuff from the last few decades, because if I allowed myself to go too far back, it'd just be a big collection of Blue Note albums and soviet propaganda posters.

REALLY NICE BOOK COVERS

MIDDLESEX - Cover design by Henry Sene Yee, Cover illustration by Olga Grlic, published by Picador I haven't read this book yet, but I look at it everytime I end up perusing Barnes and Noble. The black and white/matte finish is classy. Hell, even the gold-embossed Pulitzer badge - something usually slapped on long after the cover has been completed - looks great. The mix of photographic smoke-as-water combined with flat silhouette figures is awesome. The implication of cool naked chicks hanging around being naked while smoking cigarettes doesn't hurt anything, either. And now that I've read the credits and know the illustrator is named "Olga Grlic", well, I'm in love. This is a really nice looking book cover. C'mon!

RICHARD III - Pelican Shakespeare edition, illustration by Riccardo Vecchio - Not a great cover generally speaking, but the illustrations on this whole series are pretty fucking outstanding. Check the rad lion.

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION - Penguin Great Ideas edition, 2006 - Designer: David Pearson, Art Director: Jim Stoddart - This whole series is really sweet, nicely printed. I like this 'un best. In fact I lifted the text box design for the cover of Broken Lines. I'm an unimaginative prick sometimes.

THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE (2005) - by good ol' john hodgman, published by dutton, cover layout by Sam Potts - Great mix of flat blue and gloss orange. I really like covers that are filled with text and info... if you care, you take the time to read it (like a good Chris Ware cover). It helps that it's all extremely funny and sharply written, 'course.

THE COMPLETE PEANUTS SERIES - designed by Seth, published by fantagraphics - I'm psyched for this whole collection for the Charles Schultz goodness, of course. But I gotta say these books look pretty great. The color variations are dang pleasant, Seth's lettering (and occasional aping of Schultz's style for endpapers, etc) are top notch and really fit the project well. My only complaint was the decision to feature a different character on the cover/spine, which has already led to really lame useless characters beingh featured. Seems like an idea that sort of paints the publishers into a corner, but I suppose they have a master plan. Err, right?

GOOD FAITH - by Jane Smiley, cover layout by Gabriele Wilson - A fine example of using clip art in a non-stupid way. Simple, straightforward, great color choices. Jumps off the ol' store bookshelf, ya know?

THE VARIETIES OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE - by Carl Sagan, cover layout by Amanda Dewey - I can't tell if I like this cover, or if I just like the typeface. I mean, I appreciate the stark simplicity of it all. I like the two colors. I look at it everytime I walk by it in Barnes'n'Noble. So I guess that means.... I like it?

Semi-interesting sidenote: Google Image Search "sagan varieties" and you get photos of Kirsten Dunst in a bikini. Okay... that's not even semi-interesting. Sorry.

REALLY NICE TV/MOVIE TITLE SEQUENCES

SIX FEET UNDER (2001-2005) - Digital Kitchen, music by Whatsisname Newman - I love this sequence. I think it should so obviously be on this list of Really Nice Things, it almost seems like I should exclude it due to its obviousity, know what I mean? Great music, great editing cuts to the music, great imagery, great execution. Some of it could have come out corny (time lapse of flowers dying? Come ON!) but they pulled it off. It's pretty great. watch the sequence & stuff from the dvd.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (2006) - Shadowplay Studios - Awesome. I assume it was done in After Effects, and it's top-notch. No bullshit preset animation crap, no dumb effects, just good graphic design and typography, sliced up and animated in a classy way. The recreation of some of the packaging must have been a ball-buster, and it completely paid off. It rocks. watch the sequence.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002) - nexus productions, I think. - I liked this but didn't love it. The animation technique was nice, the colors were nice, the overall graphic treatment was nice. The extended lines off of the type (Helvetica or Coolvetica or whatever the hell it is) really didn't do it for me at all, which is tough nuts for me because the whole sequence is built around the gimmick. It all plays very well with the John Williams score. It's totally like, tons better than most crap movie titles, don't get me wrong. I mean, it's on this extremely important webpage, right? I mean, I made the effort. watch it on youtube

REALLY NICE DVD PACKAGING

BEASTIE BOYS VIDEO ANTHOLOGY (2000) - Menu and package design: Bill McMullen/The Orange Network, DVD production: Sean Wright-Anderson - The packaging has some above average illustration work on it and a nice lil' booklet, but my main target of praise are the DVD menus. They're all just really slick and spot-on. The Beastie Boys have a long history of having a really strong graphic presence. Sometimes the packaging outclasses the product itself (Intergalactic!). Anyhoo, this DVD collection is the shit and the menus are solid.

REALLY NICE MUSIC VIDEOS

MUSE - KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA (2006) - Directed by Joseph Kahn - Cowboys, kung-fu, sci-fi, 60s/70s execution. Superimposed hawks. A chrome-bikini-clad woman on a unicorn with a magical CD. Dirtbikes. Droids. Band-as-hologram. This thing is amazing. It's not too often I see a music video and actually get jealous that I didn't make it. Watch Knights of Cydonia on YouTube. There is an uncensored version on the director's website, but honestly his site has to much Flash-wankery for me to bother with.

PETER, BJORN & JOHN - YOUNG FOLKS (2006) - Directed by Ted Malmros - This video successfully compliments the song. Which, you know, should be the goal of all video makers, but most sorta miss the mark. But this works. It's cute and eye-catching and plain ol' apt. It fits, damn it. I think the limited animation approach mostly succeeds, though there a few times I feel like they're rehashing the same clips a few too many times. The art style itself is great. Simple, clean, good color palette. watch the young folks video on youtube.

GORILLAZ - CLINT EASTWOOD (2001) - Art by JC Hewlett - Christ, I think I could put the Gorillaz in like, every category I've made here. They're just awesome. Most everything they release is just so goddamned quality. But it all started with this video (maybe. I think. Right? I'm no goddamned Gorillaz historian.) and I think it still stands as one of the best animated videos I've ever seen. I mean, I'm still in love with the song, too. So that sure don't hurt. watch the clint eastwood video on youtube.

REALLY NICE CD/ALBUM COVER ART

ROBERT JOHNSON - KING OF THE DELTA BLUES (1961) - painting by Burt Goldblatt - Easily one of my favorite paintings for an album cover, ever. I've seen so many variations on the ONE photo of Robert Johnson, it just makes this unique angle all the more original. I just dig the shit out of it.

DJ SHADOW - ENTRODUCING (1996) - Photograph by B+ - I love this photo. And as a graphic designer dork who loves good type and layouts and negative space and all that crap, I love the fact that none of it is present here. It's a great pure photo of a store I'd love to be in. The full width photo with the nice record store kitty sitting on the bins is even better.

GORILLAZ - GORILLAZ (2001) - Art by JC Hewlett - An awesome mix of photo and animation-style artwork, smack in the middle of a plain white field. The lighting of the drawing is great, too. That yellowy green glow of gross flourescent banks. Somehow it says everything that needs to be said about this band. Understated and awesome.

SUGAR - FILE UNDER EASY LISTENING (1994) - Textile designs by Lou Kregel - Not the best example of type integration (the title is in that corny 50's font, the band name is rather out of place with its blocky, uh, blockiness) but I just love the textile designs so much I can't help but embrace the whole package. I have the promo version of this, which is a nice thick book (more like a file folder) with a LOT of textile design work like this on the inner cards (a different one for each song on the album). I would probably be much less impressed had I only ever seen the standard jewel case version. As a complete aside, I used to work at a used CD store, and dumb new workers really would file this under easy listening.

REM - UP (1998) - dunno who did the design - I don't think I've ever listened top this album, cos I'm not too crazy about REM. But it's totally sweet looking. Awesome color choices. If it isn't screenprinted, then it's a superb photoshop job to replicate the look.

REALLY NICE ANIMATION

THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD (2006) - Mike Mignola - Okay. Um, this is one of the best things ever. It makes me really like David Hyde Pierce, so it's gotta be pretty amazing, right? I mean, they put the word 'amazing' in the title. So it's probably pretty amazing. Let me tell you right now to your ugly little face: This is amazing. Putting aside the fact that it is brilliantly written and extremely well-performed vocally, this is just such an awesome translation of Mignola's style to animation. So much black! I originally saw this on the Sci Fi Network website last year, and I just now discovered that it came out on DVD. I am going to purchase a copy. You should, too.

THANK YOU MASK MAN (1971) - John Magnuson Associates / Lenny Bruce - I saw this a long long time ago on a TV show called Night Flight. The animation is not great, but it's so damned weird it becomes attractive to me. The use of the odd textured backgrounds is an interesting approach. The audio is so garbled, to this day there are still bits I don't understand. Lenny's voicework is super. It is a hoot and a holler and still considered pretty rude. Watch it on YouTube.

WHAT BARRY SAYS (2004) - Barry McNamara and Knife Party - I saw this a couple of years ago on the gigposters forums, and I just fell in love with it. Maybe if I paid more attention to what my contemporaries were doing I'd find more great stuff like this, but alas, I usually keep my head up my ass so it doesn't roll away. ANYWAY, the animation in this is great. The typography is great. The color palette is also great. The voiceover and the message the voiceover delivers and the mood and the execution are all... uh, great. Everything about this is just pretty great. You get the idea. I think I can say without reservation that this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on the internet. Watch it on YouTube.

THE FAT LIL ZOLOFT BLOBBY DUDE - I laugh at him because he looks squishy.

REALLY NICE PACKAGING

KNOB CREEK - I don't like whiskey. But I like this bottle, goddamnit. Nice type, nice color palette. One of the sharper looking labels at the liquor store.

SIMPLY ORANGE JUICE - I don't claim this is the flashiest package design in the world, but it's certainly the nicest orange juice container when compared to all the other orange juice containers. There's some nice solid typography going on on this little juicy bastard. IT CAUGHT MY EYE, OKAY???

DORITOS X-13D CHIPS - Putting aside the whole hamburger-flavored chip conversation for a sec, I'd just like to say that I like this bag. It makes me laugh. If I was about to board an extremely top-secret military aircraft while wearing an experimental spacesuit, then I would expect a seriously labcoated woman holding a clipboard to hand me this as an in-flight snack.