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NEW
DESIGN is an eye-opening collection of innovative graphic design
from the world's major design centers. This inspiring series explorers
firsthand the unique design challenges and the cultural and social
factors that have shaped the featured work.
NEW
DESIGN: LOS ANGELES takes in the eclectic variety of the
Los Angeles graphic design scene, from new media pioneers, whose
rule-bending experiments have had a resonant impact on print, advertising,
television, and motion graphics, to seasoned practioners whose style
has influenced the look and language of graphic design internationally.
Open these pages to a rich collection of graphic design work from
one of th world's most fascinating cities.
COLE
GERST
Firmly
rooted in the rich soil of pop-music packaging, Cole Gerst's work
nods knowingly at such anonymous, decidely unslick source material
as American print jobbers' commercial art of the 1950's and 1960's,
folk art, and outsider art. And although Gerst is keenly aware that
record-album and CD packaging must seize a consumer's attention
to help promote sales in a fiercely competitive field, his work
for the independent labels Ichiban Records (Atlanta) and Alias Records
(Burbank) has benefited from the assertive irreverence and deadpan
irony that have been the hallmarks of rock-music graphics-and youth-oriented
advertising in general-in the post-punk, MTV era. Counting the meticulous
box-art maker Joseph Cornell and outsider artist Howard Finster
among his influences, in his designs Gerst often uses drawn or painted-not
computer generated-artwork and hints at the touch of the hand. Extending
his music-genre range, this year Gerst has begun art directing for
House of Blues Entertainment, Inc.
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Gerst's
design for a 45-rpm single on the Let Down label uses an illustration
and, in the era of the digital CD, keeps alive the tradition
of the small vinyl record's collectible picture sleeve.
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Handsomely
stark and modern, Gerst's graphics for Barry Black's Tragic
Animal Stories (Alias Records) is as enigmatic as its
songs, with titles like "The Horrible Truth About Plankton." |
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A
techno logo for the band's name and a free-floating hodgepodge
of visual elements-an ambigous back ground photo: a futuristic
warrior toy; computer generated, topographic forms-capture
the trip-hop mood of Audio Active's self titled album for
Plus-Minus Records, a L.A. based label. |
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A
sense of postmodern irony, with touches of Liberace luxe,
rules in Gerst's promotional kit for Royaltone Studios, with
photography by Edward Glover. Highlights include an emphatically
elegant, cursive typeface, a fake-suede folder, and, inside,
faux gold-leaf headers atop each insert describing the features
of the recording facility.
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At
once a magazine and an expanded CD cover that contains a music-sampler
disc, Gerst's The Year of the Wagon mail-order catalog for
Alias Records packs a lot of fun and information into a small,
easily accessible package.
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Gerst
hung out in an airport-and literally hung from an airplane-to
shoot the dark runway photo on the cover of Archers of Loaf's
All the Nations Airports album (Alias Records) Boarding
passes, arrival/departure boards, and safety information cards
inspired Gerst's designs. |
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For
this folk-flavored Alias Records tour poster for the band
Trunk Federation, Gerst took his cue from the lead singer's
love for the circus. The found woodblock typeface evokes a
sense of old, hand-pulled broadsheets, and the poster's bright
inks are easy to see in dark clubs, where it is usually displayed. |
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Gerst's crisply silk-screened
poster for the band Archers of Loaf makes irreverent allusions
to clip art and the commercial art vernacular.
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Brushy
illustrations by Allen Yost and solid blocks of color create
a slight tension that quietly animates Gerst's designs for
Knapsack's Day Three of My New Life album and CD covers
(Alias Records) and related promotional items (a sticker and
a calendar).
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