That's it. See you next year!


Well, what a year it's been! Seems to have flown by eerily quickly. Is the world spinning faster or are we all just busier? We can all ponder that one during what I hope will be a relaxing break. All the best, and here's to a brilliant new year!

Bunch 2010


I've been meaning to mention the good chaps at Bunch, who have a brand new site with new work to boot. Go take a look!

Julien Brisson


A few interesting plastic bits and bobs from Julien Brisson

Thanks to Xavier Bourdil

Esteve Padilla


A few nice projects to be found in Esteve Padilla's portfolio.

Via GrainEdit

Paper Tattoos


A rather novel technique from Danish artist, Jacob Dahlstrup.

Via CR Blog

Letter Specimens: Flickr


If like me, you like to seek out old lettering specimens, then you may want to take a look at Patricia's flickr page, which contains some lovely and very interesting type.

Via I love typography

Edward Hann


A rather impressive portfolio site containing some rather good work.
Meet Edward Hann

Via QBN

Sagmeister Inc.


Legendary purveyor of lateral, Stefan Sagmeister and his crew have their new voyeuristic site up and running. Take a peek!

SuperFamous: Folkert Gorter


The immensely talented Dutch designer, Folkert Gorter, has updated his site. Go take a look!


Via Cpluv

BERG


BERG is an independent ideas studio based in Edinburgh. Take a look!

Via Visuelle

Andreas Fischer: Egyptrixx


A crystalized and slightly hypnotic motion piece for David Psutka / Egyptrixx. Sent in and created by Andreas Fischer from
DATDATDAT.ORG.

Marque: Updates


David Corti, over at September Industry blog, can always be relied upon for quality creative content and eye popping images, and this time is no exception. David brings us part 2 of an in depth look at one of my favourite groups, Marque Creative. Go take a look!

Matthew Eades


Photographer, (and dear friend!) Matthew Eades, recently created this experimental fashion motion piece. Take a look.

Seb Lester typographic updates


It looks as if Seb has been rather busy lately; an updated site with lot's of new tasty typographical treats are the proof, including new commissions for clients including Cadbury, Macy's and Liberty, not to mention his latest prints,'Dreams', 'Stars' and 'So Much To Do'. Witness it all here.

SouthSouthWest: Updated


At last, a cracking update from the other side of the hemisphere, by design group, SouthSouthWest.

Mike Rigby


Good work from ex-True North designer, Mike Rigby.

Via FFF

Anoo: The clocks went back!?


Anoo Design thought they would create a poster in response to that age old question that pops up around this time of year; Do the clocks go backwards or forward? Well I was a little late on this one, so won't be as much use as it should have been for you guys and gals, but no matter, as it is worth going to see the rest of their work as well as this poster.


Submitted by Alex Normanton

Jim Tierney


Saw this student project, was impressed.
More super illustration work over at Jim Tierney's site.

Thanks to Ben Oliver

Smile for London


A new creative initiative called 'Smile for London' will be launching, on London Underground, just in time to tackle the January blues.
Platform screens will be taken over with a programme of film, art and animation, exhibiting the best of London’s emerging and established artistic talent.
This is a call for submissions, with a brief to create a twenty second silent piece of moving image with a view to pushing the boundaries of the medium. You can learn more here

Submitted by Jo Kotas

Ah&Oh Studio


An interesting perfume packaging design concept based on the darker side of literature classics by Polish based studio Ah&Oh.

Via TrendLand

Manual


Some good work coming out of San Francisco's Manual Creative.

Via Visuelle

Eliot Rausch: Last Minutes with ODEN


Vimeo's Winner for Best Video; Simple, beautiful, and incredibly heartbreaking.

Directed/Edited: Eliot Rausch
Director of Photography: Luke Korver, Matt B. Taylor

Essential reading. Expanded.


Two books, that most of you may or should have come across, How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul (Adrian Shaughnessy) and Thinking with type (Ellen Lupton), landed on my desk recently, thanks to Princeton Architectural Press, except that these were the new expanded and updated versions of the books.
I had the original H.T.B.A.G.D.W.L.Y.S, and although I have only dipped in and out of the new version, I can say that the new interviews do make for interesting reading, the main content is incredibly grounded, and the book still has me looking up every now and then, with that frowned, deep in concentration look on my face. In short, good digestible stuff.
'Think with type' is simply a really good typographic reference, and although not exhaustive in any particular area, regardless of how experienced you are, this is something to be kept close by at all times.

The originals could certainly be listed as 'essential reading', however changing attitudes towards creative work as well as the ever changing landscape of technology, mean that these expanded versions are indeed very much worth having too.

Village Green: New Site


Village Green have a new site.

Via Collate

Studio Verse


Good work from Melborne based design group, Studio Verse.

Via Aisleone

Winner of the CG Graduate Design Awards


A quick word to congratulate Matt Radford, who took this year's Escape Studios Student CG title.

SHOWstudio: Joie de Vivre


More motion work, this time a ShowStudio, Gareth Pugh and director Ruth Hogben, have come together to 'encapsulate all the dark glamour, divine decadence and hedonistic joy of the roaring Twenties' to promote Gareth Pugh’s A/W 2010 collection.

Via Trendland

Shhive


Nice motion work from Kenneth Robin

Via Surfstation

Nathan Love



Haven't been to Nathan Love's site in a while, but this latest collaboration with NBC Artworks, which explores the origins of the NBC logo, was cause enough to explore it again.

Via Roger Darnell

Shotopop


Got a nice email from the folks at Shotopop, they have some interesting work to check out for sure. Also just so you know, they work inside a shipping container on the shore of the river Thames!

HippieHouse Studio: New Site


Chris O'Farrell from HippieHouse Studio emailed in to let us know they have a new site with fresh & new projects.

Kiosk: new site


Catching up on a few emails, headed firstly by a note from former DR designer, David Bailey, to let us know that Kiosk has a new site with some new work. Go take a look!

OCD: Girl Scouts


Interesting to see this update of a classic Saul Bass identity for the Girl Scouts, respectfully re-crafted by NY based studio, Original Champions of Design.

Via FFF

Andrew Kim


Some interesting bits and bobs from student Andrew Kim including this concept development for this HTC smartphone.

Via designlenta

Mister


Super clean work from Glasgow's very own Mister.

Eduardo del Fraile


A stack of good work by Eduardo del Fraile.

Via QBN

Bruno Maag: To Hell With Thee Helvetica


Meanwhile, when I had first heard of Bruno Maag's supposed 'Helvetica Killer', Aktiv Grotesk, at a recent visit to GF Smith's heritage exhibition, I was intrigued.
However, not much had come from it, that is until this entertaining interview, which I'm sure most of you have read about already, over at CR Blog was recently published.
The comments alone are great, and a raging and heated debate still burns on. From what I took out of it, Bruno has a few contradictions to deal with, as well as an army of Helvetica lovers. But you have to admire his strength of opinion and passion for typography, as well as his marketing shrewdness.
If you haven't read the interview then you can find it here.

So it's been a little quiet around here lately...

Yes, so you may have noticed a distinct lack of activity lately here at Linkage HQ. I can tell you this has simply been down to being incredibly busy with other projects, as well as the fact I took a rather nice break in Italy recently.
Anyway, this is just a quick note to firstly thank you for your submissions and to let you know that we will be back on track very soon!

Superstudio: Animax


Just saw this high paced branding spot for ANIMAX by SuperStudio.
Watch it here

SalutPublic


'Salut' was of course the greeting I got from Benoit Lemoine, from Brussels based studio, SalutPublic. Go say 'salut!' to their work now.

Binary & The Brain


Simon Dovar emailed us about his illustration and design studio, Binary & The Brain, which is based in London and LA.
Dig around the site and you'll find some good stuff.