Hitchcock

This clever imagining of Hitchcock film posters is by Matt Needle. Bold and memorable work, (almost) to rival Saul Bass.

Plans

For a long time it has seemed poor to feature interesting architecture in the media whilst assuming that the public would be 'confused' by floorplans.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find that Wallpaper has been publishing interactive drawings for some time, allowing you to alternate between an orthogonal drawing and photographs of the building concerned. It makes for an easier understanding of the project, whether you're an architect or not. Well done everyone.

Layering

Manhattan Transformations provides a visualisation of urban development on Manhattan Island. The highlight is the layered map, with the original settlements and farm patterns. It is limited in scale and scope, which is a shame as there is some interesting research within.

Wes

Just spotted this graphic project for Wes Anderson's Film Festival this year. Some of it is a little self-consciously whimsical (much like his films, actually), but there are some really fun ideas in there. Find it referred to at Behance, here.

GUI

A breathtaking yet gimmick-free re-imagining of the computer user interface by R Clayton Miller, all lovingly explained in this video. It's long, but worth watching in full for a glimpse of what we can hope is our mouseless future. Fingers at the ready - all of them.

(via)

Day

One of the best examples of interactive data presentation, as published by the New York Times. It compresses a vast array of data on how people use their day into a visually rich graph, which clicking allows you isolate and explore. Take a look at the comparison between black and white eating through the day, for example - and how having one child means you work more, it seems. Fascinating stuff.

Covers

Over at Flickr is a really well produced set of CD artwork by Littlepixel reimagined as 'Pelican' book covers. Proof that good graphic design, like a great piece of songwriting, can be reinterpreted and retain the key qualities that make it great.

A favourite? Probably Unknown Pleasures.

Data

From Flowing Data comes an innovative and beautiful way of representing complex data. Like all graphs, it works because it converts the information from the numbers into visual form. The difference in the ribbon diagrams is in the ability to present multi-dimensional numeric values clearly. The example of hair colour preference is a good example, and all is clearly explained. Very clever.

Retro

The redesigned Architectural Review is available for pre-publication inspection over at Dezeen. I was immediately transported back by its masthead to the RIBA Library and browsing through mid-seventies (I think it was) editions of the magazine - probably looking for a brick housing scheme, or something by Peter Eisenman.

I have a worry that clean well-composed pictures will be disturbed by overlapping tabs and text blocks, though its generally retro feel paradoxically lent the spreads previewed a freshness.

Tickets II

So here it is. After complaining about the incredibly poor ticket design which UK train travellers (and staff) have to put up with, here is a re-imagining of it. Taking the original orange-and-white format as a starting point, there are a number of key features which should improve the ticket in use.

Importantly, the destination is the most prominent information, enabling people to see at a glance where the ticket is valid for. Underneath is the permitted route. In this case, the ticket is a return for two adults, one full-price child, and one concession child, and incorporates a seat reservation (coach and seat numbers). Using the inspiration of the timeless British Rail logo, the ticket is reversible depending on whether it is to be used for the outbound or return journey. The orange bands remain the location for the punchhole check by the guard.

The departure time and date are also shown, with an analogue clock to help make the time more memorable. In this way, all of the information on the current ticket design is preserved, reorganised into a user-friendly format, and anything distracting discarded or diminished.

Rubbing

Rub-down Letraset people are now in the 'vintage' section of eBay, and I remember just how precious each person was on that thin sheet of plastic.

Taking a biro and laying the sheet over the drawing, we would rub over the image, then tentatively lift the sheet hoping that we did not amputate, de-hat or otherwise emasculate the individual concerned. By the time we were porting the last person into drafting immortality, we had a shrivelled and curled mess, from which it was frankly unlikely the character would transfer unscathed.

Happy days.

Cards II

The business card is to graphic design what the chair is to the product designer, or the house extension is to the architect: a testbed for new ideas. This site neatly condenses innovations as they arise and publishes them in a simple unfussy manner. Worth a detour if you are considering ways to catch someone's eye within the restriction of an 85x55mm rectangle.

Optimism

From an abandoned property in Wood Street, Liverpool, a strangely satisfying graph, complete with X- and Y-axis subdivisions.

The person who was given the job of boarding up the windows it seems couldn't be bothered to cut the timbers to the right length, especially as they were so close to being right. The job they are doing is simple - to make bill-posting too awkward to be worthwhile. Graffiti is erased in white to the extent of the highest batten.

Anyhow, the good news is that the graph appears to be based on an optimistic dataset, despite economic, empirical and visual evidence to the contrary. I guess that's Liverpool.

Tickets

UK train tickets seem logical from the viewpoint of an engineer or the ticket machine. A consistent watermarked, orange-bordered strip is printed in black ink of three font sizes.

As a traveller however, you have to identify the correct ticket as you walk towards the inspector, or they walk towards you. This is impossible to do quickly and efficiently since they are nearly indistinguishable.

Applying a simple hatch to, say, every 'outward portion' or using a supersize font and generally better hierarchy of information would solve this very easily. Of course the engineer might protest that it will use more ink...

Perhaps I'll give it a go.

Motorways

Here is a nice Beck-inspired representation of the UK Mainland motorway network. Very neat and tidy.

Cards

Just in time for (next) Christmas, this creative approach to card sending - a universal card for all occasions. The card consists of microdots which can be removed to form a dotmatrix message appropriate to the great day. Nice to see a card design that makes you want to send it in preference to something easier. Like an email.

Poland

Follow this to a startling piece of research, demonstrating the persistence of prejudice and national characteristics.

Complexity, drawn

Visual Complexity is a collection of maps and graphical representations of complex statistical data and systems. Look out for the transportation section, which includes a map of the US composed of every single road represented by a line. Utterly brilliant.