Pluspurple

Something to see

2012-01-04T15:41:00.001Z

We have been looking around for pimping our Macs. After a little research we came past this lovely and simple website. We particularly liked the way they have presented the only few 'very small' products. The Website still feels exiting and makes you wish for more little eye catchers. If you want to see it better please look around here. O^O

Colour and White

2012-01-02T15:16:00.000Z

Some times the most simple opjects nicely photographed and presented are just pure beauty. This colourful duct tape tower is a good example of just that. For some more lovely design see

2011-12-06T14:39:00.002Z

Having just had a meeting at the Urania Observatory in Zürich - Switzerland, we played around with Google Earth to compare the view. Not bad, indeed. Although the bridge would be quite an exciting ride on Google Earth.

Moodboards

2011-09-26T10:56:00.001+01:00

The Pluspurple office needed a redesign. So, as good web designers we looked up for some digital mood boards to have some fun before taking a paint brush in hand. We came past some fun mood board tools to test our nerves. One from mydeco or an entire website just on the subject. Olioboard

Website interaction

2011-09-12T14:45:00.001+01:00

Playing around with code and seeing what comes out when you change one or more parameters has always fascinated us here at the Pluspurple headquarters. Originally it was Flash, now there other alternatives on the market to play around with code and form. The above design was created with paperjs.

Booky site

2011-08-12T12:37:00.002+01:00

Not too long ago Pluspurple was able to launch the Walde + Graf website. During our research for the project, we were surprised to find so few nicely designed publisher websites. We did however stumble across the Magma website. It's not a publisher website, per se, but more of an ecommerce site. However, they still managed to create a feel and uniqueness which lots of publishing or ecommerce websites lack. You must also check out their brick and mortor stores, which we would also give a big thumbs up to.

Arigato

2011-07-25T14:46:00.001+01:00

A lovely clean and simple website. It's from designers to designers to support the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The website is built in a simple scroll down fashion, however still feels fresh. It even reminds us a little of the Japanese paper scrolls with the big red stamp at the end. If you want to help or just have a look click here.

Clean Website

2011-07-18T13:04:00.000+01:00

With the re-brand of this well established company dating back to the 1920's, a simple but striking visual language has been expertly crafted. We particularly enjoy the clean and reduced website design which echoes the similarly plain product packaging. With beautiful photos and well balanced logo, the website design steps back and lets the product do all the talking. Less is definitely more.

www.falconenamelware.com/

Paper Paper Colour

2011-06-13T12:27:00.002+01:00

A simple letter A - 180 sheets of 80gsm paper at the size of 18.5 x 24cm. It is astounding what one can do with the most simple of products. We always enjoy work executed in subtly but brilliant manner. Jen Stark with her paper creations is another favourite of ours, indeed.

We feel Felt

2011-04-28T14:00:00.000+01:00

Great to see one of our favourite illustrator/designer/artist Jon Burgerman's creations in Felt. Take a look at these rather loud pillows or these more country oriented ones here. Not enough? - here are some more colour extravaganza designs we liked too.

A small type

2011-04-27T12:55:00.000+01:00

We are still always surprised to find novel ways of representing type. Here is a little crazy idea and undoubtedly a rather labour intensive method of making a typeface. (and some more work of the artist). Here we thought making lead coast type was fiddly. But then there's always something that goes that one step further. Surely the smallest art pieces in the world.

I hear colour

2011-04-07T13:41:00.000+01:00

With coming of spring it is surely the best time to get some cool coloured headphones, find a sunny spot and enjoy some good music. We especially loved the way they are presented, shame we cannot read any of the words though.

Statistic design and function

2011-01-07T11:51:00.000Z

It's interessting how a smiple layout of a few colours can communicate more then a thousand words. It is as always difficult to design of course, but it allows then the user to show the information in a short amount of time with out much explanation.
For more interaction click here or this one for video rental patterns in the US.

And here a great but rather sad statistic from 1869.

Colours R'US

2010-09-30T16:31:00.000+01:00

Coming past Sarah Applebaum's work we were struck by how she uses colours in abundance.
There is so much of it in one space that they sort of blend together to form a beautiful unit of pure joy. For even more pics and colours hier...

Design by Committee

2010-09-07T12:50:00.001+01:00

For anyone who hasn't seen this video, it humorously bemoans the painful reality that is design by committee. As for our own experiences of this, we couldn't possibly comment!

Lego Store Opens In New York City

2010-06-29T11:20:00.000+01:00

We love LEGO here in the office. We even have a LEGO brick tower when things get tricky. So it is no big surprise that we are just that wee excited to hear from the new LEGO store opening in New York. LEGO Store
And since this should be a design blog check this out.

In the WM Football spirit

2010-06-23T15:08:00.000+01:00

England vs. America: 1 - 1
It has taken some time but we have at last come into the WM football spirit.

After a couple of pints even this game looked fairly interesting, even more so when replayed with Lego men. www.legofussball.eu

What If...? | A film by the Wellcome Trust

2010-06-01T11:16:00.000+01:00

Whilst researching a project relating to 'life sciences' we came past the Welcome Trust.

They have worked with some great London based designers to investigate the relationship between design and science. This short film nicely illustrates how design can fascinate and teach people about the world of science.

Shape My Language

2010-04-21T12:49:00.000+01:00

Bruno Haag a friend of ours and one of the brains behind Dalton Maag is showing some of his company’s lovely work at the Walking Chair Gallery in Vienna. We just love the simplicity of pure type which one can really immerge one self into. – Literally. For info and some more juicy pics please visit the Font Feed.

Swiss Army Knife

2010-02-19T16:57:00.000Z

Just having come back from a short stay in Switzerland, we once again admired the design and simplicity of the good old Swiss Army knife. Now in it's 125th year of making, it has lost nothing of its initial idea and usefulness. We feel it shows well, how a good idea, a quality execution and a strong brand can last for more then a life time. Here a nice audio slide show how they still get produced up to this day.

Apple's iWeb - a false economy

2009-11-05T15:12:00.000Z

Its no wonder that startups and small organisations look at the costs of using professionals to develop a website, and have second thoughts. There are countless solutions available that target this market with low cost or free solutions to allow customers on a budget to develop an online prescence themselves, with little or no knowledge of the web.

Apple's iWeb does just this, but the end results are disappointing when published to the web, or viewed on different browsers and operating systems. Problems include large file sizes, inconsistent layouts and poor performance when moving from page to page, due to the way that the website structure is generated by the software.

The draw of a cheap solution and self sufficiency going forward will remain tempting to small businesses, but as we have seen now in several of our clients cases, the diy route has proved to be a false economy.

Tilt-Shift Camera

2009-08-21T10:45:00.000+01:00

Tilt-Shift Camera lenses and have been around for quite a while now. But with the added twist in the use of Photoshop it still makes it a fascinating watching. If anybody out there fancies to get their hands dirty there are as usual plenty of sites to show you how.
Wikipeida, Ispiration, DIY build, Photoshop work. Finished.
Happy (shifted) snapping.

Picture by:
Nakayan's tilt-shift Sapporo 箱庭札幌駅前の交差点

The Movie Font

2009-07-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

Ever noticed how many films use classical looking caps serif fonts in their promotional artwork? Well it turns out its probably Trajan, a font derived from letters inscripted on the base of Trajan's column in Rome. Kirby Ferguson pokes fun at the graphic designers responsible for this phenomenon in this video clip. For those not put off by his plea to abandon such fonts take a look at this from FontFont.

The Nature's Silence - Richard Long

2009-07-10T18:47:00.000+01:00

Following an inspirational day in London, we wanted to share with you a picture of the habitual bought post card of the exhibition we visited. Richard Long’s major exhibition at the Tate Britain is his first survey in London for eighteen years - a unique opportunity to understand afresh the artist's radical rethinking of the relationship between art and landscape.

We especially loved the clever use of simple type, colour and kerning on this postcard and exhibition poster, giving the artist his own voice and consequently brand, helping to sell a beautiful range of merchandise to art and design lovers.

Trends in Logos

2009-07-10T17:18:00.000+01:00

Over the last few years we have seen logo trends come and go. See this article which documents some of the very latest trends of the last 12 months. These changes in trend and fashion provide the designer with new work, spinning the wheel of business.

Our experience, however, tells us that it is often the simplest of designs combined with strong ideas that will hold their ground and prove to be memorable in the eyes of the consumer or client. See this interesting article on Paul Rand, a master of corporate identity design.

We particularly like this description of what a logo is and should do:

A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon, a street sign.
A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies.
A logo is rarely a description of a business.
A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes,
not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it represents is more important than what it looks like.
The subject matter of a logo can be almost anything.

And lastly, to make your logo-mouth water, see here.

Deutsches Institut für Normung

2009-07-01T10:59:00.000+01:00

On the search as always for modern typefaces we came past this classic one. The DIN Typeface, still up to date. Simplicity at it's best. For a little more about it and how it came to be - the story so far or a little more background on all DIN see Wikipedia

Design Employment

2009-06-29T14:11:00.000+01:00

Continuing the theme from our last post, we would also recommend taking a look at the following website: http://www.graphic-design-employment.com/

From Job interview tips, to introductions to core skills, this site is worth a look.

What - after College

2009-06-27T18:07:00.000+01:00

We have had a lot of new graphic design and other graduates contact us over the last couple of weeks. Some good, some not so good. So we thought we'd have a look at what ideas and advice there is on the internet for graduates finding themselves in the job market for the first time.

We found these articles:
Here is one. click
Here is another one. click

Or to check out the competition, visiting Free Range is a good place to start.

Coke - long overdue

2009-06-26T12:11:00.001+01:00

We just came past another interesting article regarding the new look (not design) for Coca Cola. For little more detail click here.

New Reverse Designs

2009-06-25T01:20:00.000+01:00

D&Ad Winner 2009Graphic Design / Applied Print Graphics

We very much like.

Designer/Matt Dent
Sculptor/John Bergdhal
Production/The Royal Mint
Client/The Royal Mint
Brand/UK Definitive Circulating Coinage

The Ancient Way

2009-06-24T20:19:00.000+01:00

As the ancient Romens did it. Spotted on the 'Via dell'Amore'. (the Path of Love for all you non Italians out there).

Interesting that not much has changed in the last 2000 years when it comes to classic Serif Typefaces.

Coke recycles cans and poster in sculpture stunt

2009-06-20T20:19:00.000+01:00

Coca-Cola is celebrating Recycle Week with a 50-metre sculpture on the Sussex coast made from 200,000 used aluminium cans.

The 'Precious Metal' artwork is inspired by a Coca-Cola poster from 1949 that shows a lady sunbathing and the drinks giant hopes it will encourage people to recycle more this summer.

Coca-Cola citizenship manager Liz Lowe said: "We want to inspire people to think twice about binning their empty bottles and cans. An empty drinks can that you recycle today could be back on the shelf as a brand new on in just six weeks."

At the end of the week, all the cans will be recycled which will save enough energy to power a television constantly for 70 years, Coca-Cola said.

Coca-Cola commissioned artist Robert Bradford, production designer Paul Cross, aerial photographer Jason Hawkes and Norfolk Environmental Waste Services to create the artwork.