A Look Back: Steven Heller on Designs for Obama

With the presidential election in full swing in the United States, I thought it would be good to take a look back at the groundbreaking graphic design during the 2008 Obama campaign. And who better to break it down that the greatest critic and champion of Graphic Design, Steven Heller?

Produced by Peter Camburn & Craig Schlanser for AIGA Philadelphia

Poster Design Workshop

I found this poster design workshop presented by Ward Andrew from Drawbackward Design on YouTube today. It’s pretty good if you can get past the crummy audio, but the content is fantastic! Andrew shares his thought process on the principles of good poster design. Also be aware,  the lessons in this video are interactive so have paper, pencil or PhotoShop ready!

My favorite part of the workshop is when Andrew discusses the idea of “plussing.” As a fan of Disneyland, I had read how Walt Disney used this as his guiding principle when building his park or producing his animations. As it turns out, it is also the secret to the success of any design trying to communicate an idea in an artful way. I love how Andrew cleverly describes it:

(plussing) is layering cool upon cool on top of cool.”

Yep, that sums it up nicely!

Design Something Everyday Day 2: Retro Rupert

Day two and here is  a retro styled poster for Rupert Boneham, a contestant on the CBS reality show Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor All Stars & the upcoming Survivor Heroes vs Villains.

Tools: Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop, Wacom Tablet.

Link: Rupert’s Kids, Survivor Contestant Rupert Boneham’s non-profit group to help at risk youth. A worthy cause.