[art_director]

Anyone here check it out yet? Looks like another strong year for the design community.

[godzookie2k]

I just got it, great articles....ehhh decent work, but not blow my mind work. there are some blow my mind pieces, but as a whole, I preferred the illustration annual, stronger stuff.

[Adam Betts]

What's CA Design? Is it a magazine, internet URL or ...?

Sorry if I'm too dumb for not knowing about it

[godzookie2k]

Communication Arts. http://www.commarts.com/CA/


Quarterly (i think) magazine consisting of the Illustration Annual, Design Annual, Interactive Annual, and Photo Annual, as well as a few other issues thrown in there for good measure. its a great sampling of the kind/style/quality of work going on in the "communication" arts world. Its like christmas when one of those comes into our office, cause I know mine is sitting at home waiting for me.

Founded in 1959, Communication Arts is the leading trade journal for visual communications. It's the largest design magazine in the world and showcases the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design. Each year includes eight issues of creative excellence. The magazine has an audited paid circulation of 74,834.

p.s. after getting a longer/closer look at it while I was on the pooper last it looks much better than my initial breeze-through, my opinion above is a bit out of date. Now the Official Godzookie CA Work Rating has now been upgraded to:
"reeaallllyyy niiicccee::head nod::"

[art_director]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
What's CA Design? Is it a magazine, internet URL or ...?

Sorry if I'm too dumb for not knowing about it

Adam: That's not a dumb question. CA is Communication Arts magazine. They put out five annuals every year -- Photography, Illustration, Design, Interactive and Advertising. The annuals are a collection of the world's best in each of those disciplines. By many these shows are considered the pinnacle of the creative community. Being an interactive guru, you should buy the Interactive annual. You may even want a subscription which is much cheaper than buying them one at a time.

Every year when the annuals come out there is conversation / debate about the pieces that got in. For example, I said I thought the annual is full of great work. Godzookie2k feels the work is just decent. From there discussions about the work and trends in the field ensue. It also works as inspiration.

godzookie2k: What pieces did you like? What did you think should have been ommitted? I was happy to see Duffy held to a minimum and CSA not appearing. I think it's time to move on from their "styles".

I feel the Anti-Drug posters from Ogilvy New York are nice but they shouldn't be in CA. I also feel the logos are rather weak this year. That said I think there are some great pieces in the book and I feel inspired.

[art_director]

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
Communication Arts. http://www.commarts.com/CA/


Now the Official Godzookie CA Work Rating has now been upgraded to:
"reeaallllyyy niiicccee::head nod::"

I read all the new annuals and show books on the pooper. Fewer distractions that way.

What piece(s) do you like best godzookie2k?

[::maroma::]

I dig the piece on Page 101. Only because I helped work on that campaign though. Not enough to get a credit, but what are ya gonna do?

[art_director]

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
I dig the piece on Page 101. Only because I helped work on that campaign though. Not enough to get a credit, but what are ya gonna do?

That's definetly a beautiful piece. That's the great thing about a client like Nike, they get it. Not only do they get it but they expect good work. I admire most of the advertising and design they put out, from their in house group or otherwise.

[godzookie2k]

pardon the delay, wanted to do one more detailed poke through of the issue. Granted I fell asleep on top of it today, only on page 132, but hell.

Design style I tend to like most of the gamut, I do have a penchant for 'dirty' work though. Strong photography always gets me, and vector "illustration" annoys the crap out of me. That being said Stuff I Like:

1) page 9, annual report. I love the photography, not sure about the rounded corners.

2) page 11 annual report. solid concept

3)page 18 annual report. love the typography.

4) nice typography on page 21, what the hell is page 24 doing there? yuck, same applies for page 25.

5) page 27 makes my shorts wet.

6)nice photography on page 29.

ok I'm gonna skip ahead a few pages.

7) the cooper mini presskit cdrom packaging on 63 is great.

8)page 72--YUCK.

9)peg layer letterhead on page 76 is nice, by one of your minneapolis bretherin.

You are right, the logos this year are downright BUNK.

10)page 86 food chain films, ID package is fantasticly humourous. good stuff.

11)Wink-dammit I knew I should have tried to get an interview with them when I was last out in minneapolis, page 98 looks fantastic.

12)hitman spread page 115 is incredible. I was very disappointed in the turn-out of the editorial design section, but this one stands out, even above mr. sagmeisters work.

13)p116 Russel Crowe spread is very weak, but considering most of the editorial design work I guess I'm not surprised by its inclusion.

14) I'm not a huge fan of ellen luptons work, (she was my head of dept at mica) but page 120's "skin" cover looks good.

15)page 115 sagmeisters book. I'm just getting tired of seeing this.

16)i've seen both of these before, but crank calls and the killing yard on page 142 and 143 are nice motion work. the six feet under sequence is good too. I'm getting bored with mtvs style lately.

ok I'm done, maybe more later. this post is long enough.

[art_director]

1) page 9, annual report. I love the photography, not sure about the rounded corners.

-- i like that piece. i also like the rounded corners.

-------

2) page 11 annual report. solid concept

-- the retro illustration is over. well, it shpould be over.

-------

3)page 18 annual report. love the typography.

-- it's solid but sorta stable / conservative / tasteful all at the same time.

-------

4) nice typography on page 21, what the hell is page 24 doing there? yuck, same applies for page 25.

-- p. 21: lovely, isn't it?
-- p. 24: i actually like that a lot. beats the hell out of the vector illustrations through out the book.
-- p. 25: huh? that's crap.

-------

5) page 27 makes my shorts wet.

-- it's well done. i get the impression you like clean, organized, tasteful design.

-------

6)nice photography on page 29.

-- the art director was the photographer???

-------

7) the cooper mini presskit cdrom packaging on 63 is great.

-- stunning package.

-------

8)page 72--YUCK.

-- yeah, the car went off the road.

-------

9)peg layer letterhead on page 76 is nice, by one of your minneapolis bretherin.

-- i'm over the use of crop marks and such as design elements. that said i do like this piece.

-------

You are right, the logos this year are downright BUNK.

-- yeah, what the hell happened?

-------

10)page 86 food chain films, ID package is fantasticly humourous. good stuff.

-- LOVE IT.

-------

11)Wink-dammit I knew I should have tried to get an interview with them when I was last out in minneapolis, page 98 looks fantastic.

-- yeah, richard boynton is very talented. did you see the stuff he did for the french abbey? my buddy wrote it. the piece is wonderful.

-------

12)hitman spread page 115 is incredible. I was very disappointed in the turn-out of the editorial design section, but this one stands out, even above mr. sagmeisters work.

-- very tasteful.

-------

13)p116 Russel Crowe spread is very weak, but considering most of the editorial design work I guess I'm not surprised by its inclusion.

-- hate only because rc is in it.

-------

14) I'm not a huge fan of ellen luptons work, (she was my head of dept at mica) but page 120's "skin" cover looks good.

-- striking, isn't it?

-------

15)page 115 sagmeisters book. I'm just getting tired of seeing this.

-- let it go...

16)i've seen both of these before, but crank calls and the killing yard on page 142 and 143 are nice motion work. the six feet under sequence is good too. I'm getting bored with mtvs style lately.

-- agreed.

[godzookie2k]

Ahhh, I see are tastes are similar. I'd like to see some other folks' favorites? As for clean tasteful design, yes I'm a big fan, though it wouldn't be apparent from my work.


hehe, Art_Director, you REALLY don't like chucky anderson do you? (we've been through this before)

[art_director]

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
hehe, Art_Director, you REALLY don't like chucky anderson do you? (we've been through this before)

quite the opposite, really. I like and respect his / their work but i get tired of the formula. he has but one style / voice. as a writer friend of mine once said, "if the only tool you have is a hammer all your problems start to look like nails."

yes, we need more opinions from others... perhaps adam bought a copy.