colenielsen.com/blog

websites!

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:37:00 +0000

in spite of not publishing anything in a while, I’ve been relatively busy here at SquatterStudios. All my summer projects have wrapped up and I should have photos to post in the coming days/weeks.
Also, my website is up. It’s been up for quite a while (you may have noticed) but with no content. I’m actually working on changing that right now—as opposed to saying I’m doing it online, but really not even thinking about it. Currently, I have a good portion of three different projects up there. It may not be hot-off-the-press new work, but at least something is there.
And, last—for today—Jonathan Canlas has finally launched his updated site, wrapping up a summer-plus of grueling work for him, which we’re both very excited about. I hope to have some pictures of the books I designed for him by late next week. As for today, though, Just the website. Take a gander. Dane Hansen—as always—did the masterful flash work.

more korean design

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:23:00 +0000

These were the images I was intending to post a couple weeks ago. I found them today on an old backup, external hard drive. As far as I can understand, these guys below are some of the Micahel Beiruts and Stephan Sagmeisters of Korean design.

Min Byung-Geol

Chung Byoung-kyoo

Ahn Sang-Soo (again)

안상수

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:35:00 +0000

Some (dated) samples of Korean designer, Ahn Sang-Soo. I said I’d post some Korean design if I found some. Yeah, that was a while ago. Oh well, what with me isn’t just a bit late?

have a nice weekend

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:12:00 +0000

I’ve really been enjoying Adrian Johnson’s stuff recently.
And, speaking of recently, I’ve noticed a pretty widespread movement back to naïveté in design and illustration—’70s-inspired characters, paper cut-outs, and so on… Working on a cartoon that pulls a lot of inspiration from my/our childhood(s), I’m really having fun looking at all these different artists work.

hangul.

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:27:00 +0000

designed by Ahn Sang Soo— the gate is designed using all Hangul ‘letters’

Today (10.09.08) is Hangul Day in Korea—a day to celebrate their alphabet. This was brought to my attention by my favorite typography geek-out blog over at Hoefler & Frere-Jones. Jonathan Hoefler gives a pretty good, accurate, and interesting history/description of the language over there, so I won’t go into that here.
What I do want to talk about is this… I spent a couple years in Korea. I’ve been there three different times in three different capacities—missionary, friend, and student. Each visit gave me a different insight into the culture over there and I absolutely love it over there. One thing that did disappoint me to some degree, however, was the lack of really good design present in day-to-day. For quite a while I wasn’t overly smitten with the Hangul alphabet—it doesn’t have the flash of Japanese Hirogana or the “profound symbolism” of Kanji. Hangul is simple, geometric, practical… But, wait, isn’t that like the Swiss ideal? Isn’t that like every designers dream?
My perception of the lack of good design in Korea was not a very accurate reflection of reality. And it becomes less and less true every day. I was recently back in New York at the ADAA Awards show. I spent a couple days with a bunch of really talented, student designers from literally all over the world. Intersting to me, the country with the most represetation wasn’t the USA, it was Korea.
There were a couple Korean designers that really stood out to me, but unfortunately I can only find a link to this one’s site: bykyong.com. Check here work out. There’s some really creative, fun print and web work. She intermixes both Hangul and English in many of her designs—which I think is really reflective of the lifestyle of Korean 20–30-somethings.
I’m a little disappointed I don’t have more to show on a design blog right now, so I’m going to keep my eye out over the next couple days for some good Korean design and post some more. There is a lot of it out there.
Korea kind of feels like the forgotten little sybling of the über hip, ever-present, always on the top of pop and technology culture, Japan, and the growing world power, center of Asian-cinema, origin of Oriental culture, China. So, it’s cool for me to see them get a little attention.

bizarre…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:59:00 +0000

i love this!
from www.quinta-feira.org.

sneaker boom

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:47:00 +0000

(in case the watermark didn’t give it away, images taken from sneakerfreaker.com)

Most of the time I spend drooling over unobtainable product is spent looking at shoes—usually basketball shoes: NIKEs, Air Jordans, etc… Every once in a while I come across a pair of Vans or Adidas that are tempting, but I usually feel that the other companies that are trying to jump on this Sneaker Bandwagon are simply trying too hard.
And then I came across these PUMA beauties. Simple. Classic. A little old-school edge with the high-high top velcro.
Anyways… smitten. Great design.

typophilers UNITE!

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:07:00 +0000

The opening credits to the 4th annual Typophile Film Festival continue to rake in the awards. Currently it is a finalist for ADAA and an Honorable Mention in the I.D. Student Design Review.

Pictured above (L–R, row x row):
Joshua Kessie, designer; Ashley Mackay, designer; Chris Crosby, designer; Micah Anderson, music composer; Sam Gray, designer; Archie Sessions, writer & designer; Me, art director & designer; Matthew Chrislip, writer; Jeremy Ames, writer & lead designer.

the children kids blog is up

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:19:00 +0000

I’ve talked on here some about Children Kids, but now there’s another forum for that. Introducing: Children Kids, the blog. Spread it around. ~!

spécimen général

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:21:00 +0000

This is a French type specimen book filled with beautifully amazing type and ornamental borders. I borrowed it from my friend Sam, who borrowed it from the BYU Library. To give someone the benefit of the doubt, someone then in turned borrowed it from me. The problem is that I’m not sure who that someone is or when (or if) someone intends to return it. I imagine sharing a few samples here would only make others want to “borrow” it more than ever before. But… if you borrowed it—or know who borrowed it—if you would unborrow it, me and Sam and the Harold B Lee Library would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Otherwise, just enjoy the samples that I scanned from the book before it’s disappearance.

things (Sagmeister has) learned…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:07:00 +0000

Recently I have been smitten by Stefan Sagmeister. I know it’s a little late, I know! And it’s not that I haven’t liked him or his work before (aside from his Rolling Stone’s album cover). I really like most of his work. I guess the thing that I regret is that I didn’t jump on his book, Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far before now. But after seeing it at the MOMA bookstore and at Bardhi’s house this past week, I can’t believe I don’t own it. But—like the shoes below—I hope to own it soon.

Here’s a video that documents a bit about his installation at the Dietch Project, based around the same themes as his book.

brand jordan

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:46:00 +0000

This isn’t typically the blog I use to talk about basketball related topics, but this one is less about the sport and more about the design—and specifically the design of brand Jordan.
Recently I’ve been reading Driven From Within—a pretty nice book in terms of photography, typography, and the philosophy that drives both Michael Jordan and his brand (and you can get the book at Borders for like five bucks right now; it’s a good buy). MJ’s story is told first person by Michael himself, with a ton of insights from close friends and family, including Tinker Hatfield, the famed designer at Nike and the genius behind the majority of the Air Jordan shoes.
Excerpts from the book…

“The shoes we created over the years were not contrived from a temporary fad of flavor-of-the-month thing. There is a pure foundation. I am most critical of the design work when I see someone throwing elements onto shoes just to make them look cool. There has to be a soul to the process. There has to be a real story.” — Tinker Hatfield.

“The products, companies and people who stay true to who they are usually end up being around for a long time.… If you are trying to make your way through a maze, and your decisions come from the inside, from your gut, nine times out of ten you won’t find yourself running into a wall.… As long as we stay true, stay honest, stay stylish, stay innovative, stay focused on quality over quantity, then no one will catch us because we’re always going to be leading. Fads are fads; they come and go. That’s not what brand jordan is about. And that’s not who I am.” — Michael Jordan.

This past week in New York, I spent a good chunk of my free time eyeing/drooling over the plethora of beautiful basketball shoes in the midtown athletic shoe stores and the Soho sneaker boutiques. But there’s something magical about the Air Jordans. Something that makes my gut churn and my mind warn me: If you don’t get these now, you’ll regret it. I never got the XXIs and I regret it. I didn’t get them, fyi. Maybe someday…
I think it’s interesting that the same icon that inspired me as a kid on the basketball court is the same one that inspires me today as a designer.

For amazing images of Jordans 1 through 23, click here. Enjoy. But a word of caution: If you’re a shoe person, be careful; you may not come out for quite a while.

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:05:00 +0000

I know I said I wouldn’t talk about this anymore and I want to hold to that, but I can’t stop other people from talking about it, right? Here’s a pretty cool article from Font Shop’s “Unzipped” blog about the piece.

do more.

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:23:00 +0000

I head back to Utah on Saturday, so the New York trip is quickly coming to an end. I’ve met with six studios and possibly a seventh tomorrow and have received a lot of positive reactions as well as some “You better step up your game if you plan to play with the big boys” type reactions. I’m most thankful for the latter; it gets me excited to get back home and get to work on some of the pieces that have been kind of sitting in limbo for the past year-plus.
And with that, I’ll sign off with the co-slogan of the Provo Care Center project and my favorite model in larger-than-life size:

one show…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:50:00 +0000

A couple nights ago Jeremy Ames, Micah Anderson, and I went to the Design One Show at the Chelsea Art Museum to receive a “Silver Pencil” for ours and other’s work on the Typophile Film Festival Opening Credits.
To see all the winner’s work, click here.
To view the piece and to see details about our piece, click here.
I want to thank Punchcut/Typophile, Brent Barson, Eric Gillett, and Linda Sullivan for providing both the opportunity to work on the piece as well as creative direction throughout.
And also thank you’s to everyone else who spent long, long, long and often frustrating hours working on it: Sam Gray, Chris Crosby, Ashley Mackay, Archie Sessions, Joshua Kessie, and Adam Johnson.
And now, I think I am officially sick of talking about this piece. But thanks for listening to everything up to this point.

update… nyc

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:56:00 +0000

I’m heading to New York in the morning to attend the One Show this Tuesday. A piece that I worked on last year is up for a pencil—more on that after the event. Last week, the same piece—the opening credits to the Fourth Typophile Film Festival—won a silver cube at the Art Director’s Club. Bardhi, Ashley, and Matthew were there to receive that award. I honestly don’t fully understand exactly what these recognitions mean, but I hear it’s something to be proud of.
For a higher-res version of the video, click here (and wait for download):

Anyways…
In preparation I put together a little portfolio book to show around. I’ll post some more images of it in the near future, but for now just this sheet, pre-cut, of some of the personal work I’ve done with the New Orleans Hornets brand:

There’s a million other things I could post, but I’ll keep it brief and leave some stuff to talk about during the week. For now, I’ll just leave you with this cool shot from my last stay in the Big Apple.

portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Finally finished a rough book of my stuff. Here are a few samples. Check out the rest here.

new orleans hornets

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:18:00 +0000

Perhaps one of my favorite projects that I undertook during school was a rebrand of the New Orleans Hornets. I’ve been working on it for well over a year (with huge gaps of time between productivity, for sure… but over a year, nonetheless). I just barely finished this jersey mock. I thought I’d share. Hopefully I’ll have more to share soon—as in, less than a year from now.

U—leave me a Alone!—NiQLO

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:49:00 +0000

(p—as in pre—s: if you’re reading this in google Reader you’re missing stuff. Either go to the real blog or be sure to check the links below…)

UNiqlo has a pretty sweet, creative, and fun site up right now. I know that alternate forms of advertising and interactive media on the web is the new thing right now, but rarely do I get too caught up in them. This one, I really like. Check it out for yourself. Enjoy.

oh, yeah. And this is amazing, too.

I just think UNiqlo gets it, y’know?

HTF Didot Letterforms…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:55:00 +0000

I was working on a wordmark for a client today using the HTF Didot type family and I got sidetracked because I was so incredibly mesmerized by its letterforms. I started turning them on end, backwards, and upside down to take them out of the expected so that my eyes could better appreciate the shapes and the lines. Take the lightest set of letters, for example: at first glance, it almost looks Arabic or Thai or something. Really crazy. Crazy beautiful.

NEWWORK magazine

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:13:00 +0000

I love the posi/nega-tive interplay in these grabs from NEWWORK magazine.

we do, it's true.

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:19:00 +0000

come August, we’re moving to NYC from Utah. More details to come…

children kids…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:08:00 +0000

This is Zack, of the Chilren Kids.
Get familiar with him. More to come later.
You may recognize some of the “graffiti” on the lockers from this book—a local favorite for scrap collectors.

circles, squares, triangles…

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:37:00 +0000

This piece from Wyeth Hansen reminds me a bit of this piece I did one day playing around with letter shapes and lines. Hansen’s piece has great play of shape and color.

Hendrik Werkman

noreply@blogger.com (cole) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Back in college—my first year in the design program at BYU—I discovered Hendrik Werkman. I totally and completely fell in love with his work. At the time I was working on a project in class where we were designing a trilogy book jackets. I was doing mine on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, and Slapstick. Something about Werkman’s prints and Vonnegut’s disjointed, (black-) humorous writing style seemed to me to be the perfect marriage of art and literature. So I sampled some of Werkman’s prints to produce these:

I was extremely proud of these pieces. I felt that I had really nailed the look I was conceptually hoping for. And then someone brought up the point of plagiarism. They questioned whether my use of Werkman’s prints was ethical. I argued that it was, that it was like being an art director and hiring an illustrator (that line is often fuzzy as a student). For the most part, I altered or added to everything I found, and on the back covers I attempted my own Werkman-styled illustrations. They turned out ok.
Looking back now, though—and realizing that Hendrik Werkman’s work was not some diamond in the rough that I thought I discovered, but rather an extremely influential designer in European Avant Garde design—I do feel that using his prints as I did may not have been the right thing to do. Maybe not as much on an ethical level because I wasn’t attempting to cut corners on the project or trying to pass someone else’s work off as my own. But, something about it doesn’t sit so well with me now. I should have played with wood blocks and ink of my own.
At any rate. That’s the story. I love Hendrik Werkman’s prints. I love Kurt Vonnegut’s books. And I really like the pieces that I coordinated. Vonnegut and Werkman make a good couple.