Illustration Styles I like

I think I'm conflicted. I like two distinctly different illustration styles. Maps and infographics are so easy to understand with clean digital graphics, but I love the style of rough-drawn line drawings.

Illustrations by Lamosca from Monocle Magazine

Detail of a World Map poster by Japanese illustrator Satoshi Hashimoto

Detail from one of Paula Scher's unbelievably complex and detailed maps (one of which is hanging in Union Square Cafe I noticed a few weeks ago). Author Katharine Harmon may be someone more obsessed with maps than I am. She's written two books: You are Here and The Map as Art (where I scanned this image from) that contain the most creative and abstract maps in gorgeous styles.

This illustrative map by Stephen Walter looks like it was a fun project - a map of the imagination.

I went to the Renegade Craft fair in Brooklyn today, and between dust storms found illustrator Claudia Pearson. One of her childrens coloring books is titled Buy Local Eat Seasonal and it contains charming illustrations of the kinds of produce you would find in season each month. I love this style - reminds me a lot of Kate Bingaman-Burt (in the image below) from her Obsessive Consumption project.

Also today I started looking into sharing between individuals in a community - a service that doesn't require ownership of, for example a drill when you only need it for one thing and don't want to buy an entirely new one. This concept makes so much sense and would reduce consumption and environmental impact. I think it could be represented in this illustrative style in a screen print with each object that could be shared/rented between individuals in the community and the name and price next to it. This is something I would like to explore creating. NeighborGoods is one of the sites I've found that facilitates this service.

More inspiring work from Claudia Pearson. It looks like she created a portrait of many faces in her community and gives a little idea of what many of them would say.

Inspiration from this weekend/Observation Journal Part 3

1. I picked up this Monocle magazine yesterday and fell in love with the style, layout and infographics. It reminds me a lot of Good Magazine - this style of information design is such a happy and upbeat way to represent statistics. The clean lines and simple shapes probably appeal to the organized side of my personality.

2. This is a take-out bag from a recent trip to Chipotle. It made me start thinking that so much more can be done with packaging and takeaway items from local businesses and restaurants. There could be more of a connection to the community - for example, a picture and story of a child from a local school and their artwork or story.

3. I was so excited to get an email with a link to David Lynch's Interview project. His son Austin travelled around the country interviewing 121 people in their communities, which results in a soulful look into the essence of America. The focus is on the individuals and their stories, and the interviews are structured in a way that they are able to really speak their minds. It is a beautiful character study - of the people and of our country as a whole. This is an image from the article in Big Picture magazine that I grabbed from the blog of Julie Pepin - the still photographer for the project.

4. Observation Journal Part 3
I'm beginning to understand more what I'm trying to find with my observation journal. I'm very interested in way-finding systems and methods - maps, symbols and images that help people move around in the least confusing way possible. Or I also just like when they're for decoration too.

How gorgeous are those radishes? I couldn't eat them because they had bacon on them but Dean said they were really good.

I took the photos in the subway because I thought it was so interesting that there's this cold and unfriendly sign called 'Neighborhood Institutions' - they list AIGA on there because it's the 23rd street stop. Needless to say, this system could be improved to make people feel more welcomed into the neighborhood. Also the posters tacked on the wall contain line changes due to service and construction but there are a few that could be used for community programs and events! What a great place to introduce people to the neighborhood and give them ideas on where to go.

Bombs over Baghdad - an info-graphic

I don't usually write about war topics, but I came across an incredible (and morbid) info-graphic on WashingtonPost.com. I wanted to share because we hear about people dying in Iraq every day, and each time I hear that there was another car bomb, another attack, my heart sinks. I've never seen as clear and concise an account of bombing activity in Iraq, and it helps to see the big picture of this devastating situation.

The info-graphic includes four years - from 2006 through 2009. Each bombing has a tag which contains information on deaths and more details when you click on it. In the bottom left there are two filters that you can control. Slide the year tab over to filter by when the attacks occurred, slide the death tab over to filter by the level of destruction of the attack. Thousands of people have died in Iraq from violent attacks, and as sad as each separate news report is, seeing the totals in a graphic like this really conveys the level of devastation this country is experiencing. People need proper organization of information in order to get the true story, and this is a successful solution.