Thursday, April 30, 2009


April 30th 7:00 p.m. at The Urban Gallery (beside Swipe Books),
401 Richmond St. $10.00 All Welcome.

Type designer Nick Shinn is speaking tonight at TYPE club. Should be a great talk for anyone interested in typography.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Data recording on steroids: The Feltron Annual Report



Detail

Listened to a Spark podcast tonight and discovered The Feltron report:
a data based "portrait of a year" produced annually by Graphic designer Nicholas Feltron. Personal statistics in the report include number of books read, miles travelled and "Least kosher meal eaten".
In the interview Nora explored, among other things, the question of why we have become so obsessed with self reporting and cataloguing all our data and whether it actually serves a purpose. One point I thought particularly interesting: Feltron feels the reports become more + more interesting as the years go on and predicts they will one day serve as heirlooms. hmmm.
I love the idea of data collection as story telling.
Great interview. Highly recommended.

Hillman Curtis: Pentagram film


Watched Hillman Curtis' short film on the history of Pentagram today.
It's narrated by Paula Scher speaking very quickly.
(I think Hillman actually sped up the tape) Her zippy fast voice over combined with quickie diagrams jetting about the screen somehow made the entire history seem terribly funny.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Timex military watch



Timex recently joined forces with J. Crew to create this fetching new military watch . The design was inspired by iconic styles from the 1940s. (My favorite fashion period.The black face has been distressed to look vintage which is abit well.. distressing! but i will admit -I still want it.
Love the ribbed nylon strap and bright red second hand for that "camping chic" feel.

ps. This post is the first in a new feature I'm beginning called Wrist Watch Wednesdays Each week I'll feature one watch in depth. I'll also have posts which celebrate both the watch and it's owner. It's a way to explore my love of time pieces and also an excuse to contact interesting people. Stay tuned.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lessons from Paul Rand: Cutting paper is fun




My immersion in all things Paul Rand continues.
I am too rushed today to summarize all the work + theories that I find inspiring (Plus I am starting to think that most people don't read illustrator blogs anyway- they just look at the pictures!) so for now will just focus on one of his strengths: Collage.
Rand loved the spontaneity of collage and used it through his career.
I've been looking for ways to move my style forward in a more immediate and minimal direction and I believe collage is the ticket.
Looking for a starting off point I decided to create a little 'homage collage'.
I began by colouring paper with pastels in quick strokes. I then cut out pieces quickly and glued onto a piece of cardboard.
*Note: The shape + colour of the flowers are taken directly from Rand's children's book titled I know alot of things.
This IS an homage. Ahem.
It was very refreshing to cut the letters out rather than draw them.
The technique ensures the piece has a fresh look that is not overworked.
This is definitely the direction I'd like to take with my illustration.
Studying Paul Rand's oeuvre and reading about his theories is like finding the brilliant, curmudgeonly design teacher I never had.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

i love Google Analytics

Boy do they know how to slice data.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Dress Code Design form

Through Grain Edit discovered dress code design firm. Dress code = young whipper snappers Andre Andreev and G. Dan Covert.
Great design and copy writing.



A page from their recently released book Never Sleep (an advice guide for young designers)






Business cards designed for Van Toeffler President of MTV.
Really unpretentious. Great.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

My website is live


alannacavanagh.com is finally live
Would love you to visit and send feedback. Don't be shy.
Many thanks.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Textiles: Lucinenne Day


Calyx


Dandelion Clock

Am reading Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneer's of Modern Design
Very inspired by Lucinenne's textiles from the 1950s which were groundbreaking at the time.
They are sophisticated with a wonderful spontaneity about them.
Shown above are Calyx and Dandelion clock.

Monday, April 6, 2009

New Work: Lettering



Am working on some new lettering samples. This font is loosey based on a 'circusy' font called Romantiques No. 3. Because Martha Wainwright is an earthy gal I tried to make the letters look like they are kinda sproating out from the ground.

Books: Paul Rand by Steven Heller


So my latest obsession is Paul Rand. After seeing so much of his great design in New York I'm determined to know everything about him. Am starting with Steven Heller's big survey book. So far am very impressed with the disciplined self education he carried out in his early years.
I love the image of him coming in from Brooklyn and "consoling himself behind the large doors of Room 313 at the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue." :-)
Also loved the quote "When I was doing the covers for Direction I was trying to compete with the Bauhaus, not Norman Rockwell". Love it. Also didn't know his real name was Peretz Rosenbaum.

Friday, April 3, 2009

More Needlepoint




My eye glass case with the Victorian hand is almost completed.
Above is my pillow 'Checkered socks' which I also designed and stitched.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The Website continues



Changed the homepage.
Comments most welcome.