Hamza El-Falah

Refining Simplicity

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:34:00 -0400

Jared Lewandowski explores something that’s become very popular in design — simplicity. In the words of John Maeda, “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.”

Keeping it simple is not only a great way to ensure that you and those using your product don’t go crazy, it also inspires confidence in the user and shows that you trust them to make the obvious decisions.

The Forty Story Pentagram constructed a narrative based around a...

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:56:10 -0500

The Forty Story

Pentagram constructed a narrative based around a boy born on the day Pentagram opened, and how his life has paralleled forty years of Pentagram design. It’s a really engaging way to showcase an amazing portfolio.

Painting Coconuts: The Quattro Experience The Audi quattro...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:22:00 -0500

Painting Coconuts: The Quattro Experience

The Audi quattro Experience is a one-of-a-kind interactive installation that features a 20-foot by 7-foot, handcrafted raceway built by custom slot track builder David Beattie of Slot Mods USA. The scale model Audi A4 slot cars were made from scratch with in-car cameras that allow racers a first-person look as they zip around the track, through the world’s first iPad-enabled controllers. Here’s a behind-the-wheel look at how David and his team raced to get this project finished.

Maybe I’m a little biased as an Audi owner, but this is really awesome.

The Market Wants Apple to Unveil a Time Machine

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:58:00 -0500

Dan Pelotta at the Harvard Business Review:

The critics that are screaming right now are intellectually lazy. They’re throwing temper tantrums instead of looking at the big picture. Like two-year-olds, they don’t really know what they want. And they’re not happy when they get it, anyway. Apple could unveil a new car and they’d say Apple’s days are over because it’s just bet its future on an industry it knows nothing about. Not unlike, say, Apple’s entrance into the mobile phone industry. I bet that if Apple did unveil a time machine, they’d claim it wasn’t fast enough.

1984 This spot-on 1984 cover is a part of a recent series of...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

1984

This spot-on 1984 cover is a part of a recent series of George Orwell’s books being republished by Penguin. Designed by David Pearson. See other covers in the series.

Instagram Update: 2012 Wrap-up Edition Seriously slacking on the...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Instagram Update: 2012 Wrap-up Edition

Seriously slacking on the updates, so here are some of my favorites from the end of 2012.

100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0500

From Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, a book about 100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design. Maria Popova has a preview at The Atlantic.

From how rub-on lettering democratized design by fueling the DIY movement and engaging people who knew nothing about typography to how the concept of the “teenager” was invented after World War II as a new market for advertisers, many of the ideas are mother-of-invention parables. Together, they converge into a cohesive meditation on the fundamental mechanism of graphic design — to draw a narrative with a point of view, and then construct that narrative through the design process and experience.

DerbySF: Product Page Getting closer to a final design for the...

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400

DerbySF: Product Page

Getting closer to a final design for the upcoming DerbySF site. See previous sneak peek.

Creativity

Wed, 30 May 2012 21:45:00 -0400

Just stumbled upon this gem: Hemingway’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. You can easily replace “writing” with whatever creative task you do.

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.

Instagram Update: May 2012 My cousin climbing trees Hunger Games...

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Instagram Update: May 2012

My cousin climbing trees Hunger Games style, the best mocha I’ve had in years, water ballons, a tuna melt, my wife’s eyeball, and my nephew. (Click to enlarge.)

What I’m Working On: Derby SF A peek at a project...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

What I’m Working On: Derby SF

A peek at a project I’m working on right now. The legendary derby jacket is making a comeback.

The Design of a Signage Typeface

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The Design of a Signage Typeface:

Ralf Herrmann, on the design of his signage typeface Wayfinding Sans Pro:

So I set off, driving thousands of miles across Europe to explore the legibility of these signs and typefaces, first hand. Once I even ended up in a holding cell at the border crossing to Norway, because the customs officers just wouldn’t accept that someone would drive all over Europe simply to take photographs of traffic signs.

Typophile 5 Opening Credits A “visual typographic...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:47:00 -0400

Typophile 5 Opening Credits

A “visual typographic feast” indeed. The handcrafted opening titles to the 5th Typophile Film Festival.

The Internet is a Customer Service Medium

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The Internet is a Customer Service Medium:

Paul Ford:

“Why wasn’t I consulted,” which I abbreviate as WWIC, is the fundamental question of the web. It is the rule from which other rules are derived. Humans have a fundamental need to be consulted, engaged, to exercise their knowledge (and thus power), and no other medium that came before has been able to tap into that as effectively.

Avant Garde Promotional pieces for a documentary film about Herb...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:57:00 -0400

Avant Garde

Promotional pieces for a documentary film about Herb Lubalin’s typeface Avant Garde. (Click to enlarge.)

Carpoolers A new and ongoing set by photographer Alejandro...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Carpoolers

A new and ongoing set by photographer Alejandro Cartagena.

Five year-old wisdom

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Five year-old wisdom:

This is great test of how well a logo communicates it’s intended purpose. Plop it down in front of a five year-old. Designer Adam Ladd asked his five year-old daughter for her impressions of several well known logos, and this is the result.

Man With Axe Fun work by Liliana Porter. The man is 3 inches...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Man With Axe

Fun work by Liliana Porter. The man is 3 inches tall. The trail of destruction 12x12 feet:

The piece is the culmination of a series of works created in the last several years, in which porter positions a tiny, solitary character in front of a pile of material completely out-of-proportion to their size or ability. Faced with an impossibly overwhelming task, they seem to toil unceasingly.

(via Todd Hosfelt)

What I’m Working On: Bold Hatter Loyalty Members of the...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:42:00 -0400

What I’m Working On: Bold Hatter Loyalty

Members of the loyalty program will be automatically upgraded to new levels of membership at predefined thresholds. Everyone starts with the basic black and gold, and as they reach new heights, they receive special cards sent to them in the mail, or given to them by the associate alongside their free hat. When the customer gets their first free hat after the first ten purchases, they are given a level two card. After the next ten, a level three card, and so on. This rewards the customer at each level of commitment, and can even serve as additional incentive to friends or other customers who see them flash a uniquely designed card at checkout to get to the next level themselves. There could be additional benefits associated with each level of membership, ie. a free feather with every Heritage purchase, or a free hat box also included with subsequent free hats earned.

Download Photoshop CS6 Beta

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Download Photoshop CS6 Beta:

Adobe has just published a free public beta of Photoshop CS6 with a ton of new features, but the one that gets me the most excited is Layer Search. Finally. This is going to make so many designers lives easier.