A Walk Through Brooklyn

Since early February,  San Francisco-based artist Jennifer Maravillas has been collecting a piece of paper from every Brooklyn block she has walked on. Her plans are to have covered the entire borough by the end of March gathering each piece of paper into a unique, colorful grid of the borough.

Brooklyn’s urban landscape prints will be available in later this year, but the below represents Jennifer’s similar artistic cartography for Manhattan. Follow Jennifer’s progress at 71squaremiles and on Twitter. Check out past projects on San Francisco, Austin and Richmond here.

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Video: Jes Grew

I’m loving the “Jes Grew” video from visual artist Ali Santana for the Mishmash Music Video Remix competition.

The concept surrounding the piece came from Ishmael Reed’s acclaimed novel Mumbo Jumbo. Set in 1920s NYC, the novel depicts the struggles of “The Wallflower Order,” an international conspiracy dedicated to monotheism and control, against the “Jes Grew” virus, a personification of ragtime, jazz, polytheism, and freedom. The Wallflower Order is said to work in concert with the Knights Templar Order to prevent people from dancing, to end the dance crazes spreading among black people (who are referred to in the novel as “Jes Grew Carriers” or “J.G.C.s”).  The book mixes historical, social, and political events mingle freely with fictional inventions. I definitely want to give it a read.

The soundtrack “Give the Drummer Some” is by Black Milk and the titles and hieroglyphics were done by past Color Muse Stephanie Matthews.

Some cool shots from the piece.

The contest is now closed, but the judges will be using the public’s votes to help guide their decision. If you like it as much as I do, vote here!

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Music Inspiration: Illustrations by Ron Ackins

Sade and Black Thought illustrations by Brooklyn based illustrator Ron Ackins. Peruse through the archives of his blog to see other work as well as keep up with his daily musings.

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Worldly Beer

I’ve been seriously busy for the past week moving into my new apartment. My internet service is spotty too, so forgive me for the limited posts. I’ll try to get a few things up as I bum off my friends’ wifi connections.

I’m working on a really cool package design project at school. Designing a beer bottle for a Brooklyn brewery’s new product that targets young urban female professionals. Anyway, I was tweeting about this last week when Gabrielle from iamthenublack (one of my favorite blogs) shared an awesome link on some illustrations created for the 2010 World Cup. This 16 poster set represents the qualifying teams for the event. Each poster includes originally designed vintage-style beer labels refreshed with a contemporary spirit. The end result is pretty cool.

Check the rest of these out here.

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Suno Fall 2012

Flower power from the Suno Fall RTW 2012 collection.  Diggin’ the details down to the shoes.

Images via Vogue

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Current Hearts – 2/15

I’m on a brief sabbatical from the advertising grind I’ve been on for the past several years and taking some time to focus on my education. In this short time (a little over a week at this point), I’ve been a lot less stressed and had the opportunity to enjoy a little down time. I thought I’d share some of the things have been taking up room in my head.

  1. I’m trying to build my library and recently purchased Ellen Lupton’s latest book Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming. It’s really easy to read and is a comprehensive resource for students and professionals alike who are seeking fresh approach on attaining design solutions.
  2. I love this turntable from Urban Outfitters. Since getting it I’ve snagged a few old records and I’m  looking forward to doing some  more crate digging. Old records give a greater appreciation to today’s music (since 95% of it is sampled) and the album covers provide inspiration. You can find a lot of handmade typography on these.
  3. I’ve been rocking colored jeans for years now. I have pink, yellow, green and purple, so I think it’s only right that I pick up a pair of orange ones. Another goodie from UO.
  4. I don’t walk very well in heels – ok I’ll be honest I barely stand up in a pair of heels, but I’ve been seeing a lot of girls look amazing in these daring Jeffrey Campbell’s platforms.
  5. This month marks the 6 year anniversary of the death of one of greatest producers that ever lived. I’ve had J Dilla’s final album Donuts and previous work in heavy rotation celebrating his sounds.
  6. Nothing’s better than a pair of studs. Ditty Drops has a nice selection. Need these turquoise and black beauties in my life.
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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I love typography so I see no better way to celebrate today than to celebrate it in today’s post. Check out these lovely V-day inspired designsI found on Typeinspire.

Hope you enjoy the day! XOXO!

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Remembering Whitney Houston

The world lost an icon this past weekend. Whatever the cause of death, Whitney Houston will be remembered as having one of the most incredible voices of all time. Seems like it was just yesterday my sisters and I were sitting around the TV watching “I Will Always Love You” top the VH1 video countdown and passionately singing along with every word of the song.

R.I.P. Whitney

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Better Known as Brooklyn Alphabet

Alphabet illustrations by designer Max Vogel a.k.a. Razauno. These will fill plenty of pages in my visual diary for class next week. View the rest of the collection here.

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Music Video Inspiration: Jay-Z and Kanye West – N*ggas in Paris

The video for Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “N*ggas in Paris” came out yesterday and I’m really diggin’ the use of kaleidoscope imagery in the work. Directed by Yeezy himself, the video is pretty simple in the fact that it pretty much uses concert footage and the same on-stage effects from the tour (flashing lights, animal shots, etc). I had a chance to attend one of the shows in New Jersey a couple of months ago, so I really appreciate the way it all comes together.

Here are a few of my favorite artistic shots.

Kanye never lets me down. These are so beautiful. Check out the whole video for yourself.

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