In this digital age of computer-generated graphics and typography, it's refreshing to discover designers and typographers who still believe in the advantages of working by hand to produce unique and innovative work. No longer relegated to designer's sketchbooks, illustration has emerged as a dynamic vehicle for visual communication and is being employed in a variety of industries including music, fashion, packaging and entertainment.
There is a difference, and the later seems to often be mistaken for the former. In all spheres of design, simplicity implies a level of functionality; that a problem has been responded to with a measured economy of elements. Minimalism often discards functionality for adherence to style.
So it went that Chanel, the Parisian fashion house, had a show around October last year. The models in the show had a flattering little detail drawn onto them in the form of a tattoo which they kept for show as they swaned around Paris after the event.
Garance Dore, fashion illustrator come blogger, found that the tattoos were going to be commercialised in Chanel boutiques – a touch of marketing genius, Garance opined. And it probably is. Something so simple and quite beautiful that resonates with a market.
New technologies are not only pushing design outcomes, they are better informing the design process. Advances in staple applications like InDesign, Photoshop and Flash, and emerging 3D rendering platforms, are shaping the way see design as the ever bloating array of search engines and browsing technologies are fashioning the way research is performed. These technologies can make your life as complicated as you let them make it. They also have the power to make it so much simpler.
