An interview with Von
Illustrator Von’s latest solo exhibition, Elsewhere, opens at KK Outlet in London next week. We spoke to the artist about the show, his creative influences and balancing commercial and personal work…
Record sleeves of the month
This month’s pick of the finest album artwork we’ve spotted in the past few weeks features an animated cover for Bombay Bicycle Club, script generated work by Atyp and some intriguing photo collage work for Black Devil Disco Club.
Fontsmith’s FS Emeric launch campaign
London type design studio Fontsmith has launched its latest font family, FS Emeric, with a specimen book designed by Blair Thomson of Believe in – plus a set of type posters designed by eleven top studios…
Nice publications
This month we’ve got five new publications for your discerning eyes: the latest from both Victionary and Nobrow, issue two of Fourth & Main Journal, issue eight of Popshot magazine, and a look at new magazine, Perdiz…
Press play: the future of music magazines
Mainstream music magazines may no longer be as vital to fans as they once were, but a new wave of independent titles is keeping the relationship alive
Nokia’s new Pure type
To celebrate the launch of a brand new bespoke typeface created by Dalton Maag for Nokia, branding and communications agency DesignStudio has commissioned a raft of new posters by the likes of Build, Cartlidge Levene, Hello Von, North and Alex Trochut…
A Honda full of hipsters, and two new music videos
Hipsters in Hondas, forced smile weirdness, and animal photofit. All in one blog post!
The everyday airbrush we take for granted
Photoshop is 20, but has the creative industry gained, or lost, from its ubiquity?
Penguin Classics team up with (RED) for typographic covers
Penguin has collaborated with AIDS awareness fund (RED) and a team of designers to produce new covers for eight Penguin Classics. Each cover replaces the usual black band with red, employing a quote from the text of the book as the visual hit (covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith shown left and Non-Format, right)
Salford students’ CR covers
Students from Pendleton College in Salford design their own covers for CR
Art Vinyl’s sleeves of 2008
1st place: Fleet Foxes’ Fleet Foxes. Design: Dusty Summers, Sasha Barr and Robin Pecknold (original painting: Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559)
Art Vinyl, the London-based gallery (and purveyor of the Play and Display sleeve frame), has revealed the results of their competition to find the best vinyl sleeve of 2008. With all online votes counted, Fleet Foxes’ debut album emerged as the winner. Interestingly, both it and third placer, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida, make use of historic paintings. Click through for highlights from AV’s list and a few of our favourites that didn’t quite make their top 20…
How I Got Here: Brian Rea
Modern Love illustrator Brian Rea recounts a childhood filled with stories, shares the struggles of embracing his style and tells CR why words have gained a new importance for him later in his career
The BakeKing’s hyperrealistic cake creations
Ben Cullen has built up a cult following for his mesmerising illusion cakes, which have appeared everywhere from Slowthai’s recent music video to Jurgen Klopp’s birthday party. He talks about how his career journey took him from graphic design to tattooing to cake artistry
Oxford Circus’s tube signs are now PlayStation-themed
TfL’s hallowed roundel has been transformed into the iconic PlayStation symbols, as part of a stunt to celebrate the launch of Sony’s latest console
Teenagers dress for proms that never happened in Alys Tomlinson’s Lost Summer
The photographer’s portraits of teenagers, taken after the cancellation of milestone events such as proms and graduations, emphasise the impact of 2020’s summer lockdown
Can an algorithm unpick gender bias in storytelling?
A new illustrated book of classic fairytales uses technology to illuminate gender bias by reversing the gender of the characters and narratives
Irvine Welsh on creativity and cancel culture
The author explores the rise of cancel culture in new documentary Offended by Irvine Welsh, where he discusses the threat that the phenomenon poses to the creative industries and why he thinks Trainspotting wouldn’t be published today
Stanley Donwood takes uplifting new artworks to the streets
The artist and long-time Radiohead collaborator has left his “depressing flyposters” behind in favour of new artworks designed to spread joy in ten cities across the UK
The theatrics of Lucy Prebble
Following the release of her explosive phone-hack series I Hate Suzie, Lucy Prebble talks about her belief that every story benefits from a little drama, and how an ongoing infatuation with tech inspired her to write for video games
Logos are losing their taches for Movember
Julius Pringles and Colonel Sanders have both been subjected to a shave to celebrate the month-long Movember challenge
Sunil Gupta on 45 years of making pictures
As a new exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery in London brings together over four decades of his work, we speak to photographer Sunil Gupta about how his work straddles the world of activism, documentary and art
Life through an iPhone lens
Ghanaian visual artist Prince Gyasi creates striking, vivid imagery photographed with an iPhone. CR talks to him about his unconventional practice and how it helps local children get an education
Inside the surreal world of Hiro Murai
Hiro Murai’s dream-like vision has produced unforgettable imagery for artists including Childish Gambino and FKA twigs. Here, the filmmaker discusses the joys of collaboration, exploring the realm of television with the series Atlanta, and why This is America is an anomaly in music videos
Has game advertising gone soft?
With new Sony and Microsoft ad campaigns out, CR explores whether game advertising has lost its edge, and what the future holds for console makers operating in a more complicated market than ever before
Immerse yourself in the world of Accidentally Wes Anderson
The cult Instagram account celebrating real-life Anderson-esque moments has been reimagined in book form – complete with a foreword written by the director himself
Behind the scenes at Spitting Image
Satirical puppet show Spitting Image is back after a 24-year hiatus, and features everyone from President Trump’s tweeting anus to a James Corden-Cats hybrid. Here, we speak to the creatives behind the programme’s unique brand of public service satire
Creative Collaborators: How Burger King’s award-winning work gets made
Continuing our series on creative partnerships, RBI global CMO Fernando Machado and Pancho Cassis, global CCO at agency David, reveal how 5am WhatsApp chats, lawyers and healthy arguments go into Burger King’s award-winning work
Bond Redesigned: Reimagining the classic 007 film poster
Cardiff-based illustrator and graphic designer Matt Needle has spent the last seven months putting his own spin on all 25 of the original posters from the cult James Bond film franchise
Meet The Cevallos Brothers: 40 years of hand-painted signs
The Cevallos Brothers have been creating signs for the small businesses of New York City for over 40 years, but only recently have reached wider acclaim via Instagram. Here, CR gets an insight into their creative journey
A joyous celebration of America’s queer cowboy community
Photographer Luke Gilford revisits his childhood love of rodeo in new photo book National Anthem, based on his four-year project documenting the vibrant community behind the International Gay Rodeo Association
Photographer Paul Graham and the Great North Road
Originally published in 1983, Graham’s first photography book A1: The Great North Road is being republished by Mack. Here he reflects on the project nearly 40 years later
How I Work: Animator Will Child
Director, animator and claymation artist Will Child has transformed football managers, hip hop stars and pop culture figures into irreverent plasticine models. He talks to us about his “janky” animations
My Breakthrough Moment: Kevin Cummins
Having shot some of the biggest bands in the world and worked as the NME’s chief photographer for a decade, Kevin Cummins reflects on why his 2009 book Manchester: Looking For The Light Through The Pouring Rain marked a distinct turning point in his career
