Image via Wrath of Gnon

Literally translating to platform cedar, daisugi is a 14th- or 15th-century technique that offers an efficient, sustainable, and visually stunning approach to forestry. The method originated in Kyoto and involves pruning the branches of Kitayama cedar so that the remaining shoots grow straight upward from a platform. Rather than harvesting the entire tree for lumber, loggers can fell just the upper portions, leaving the base and root structure intact.

Although daisugi mostly is used in gardens or bonsai today, it originally was developed to combat a seedling shortage when the demand for taruki, a type of impeccably straight and knot-free lumber, was high. Because the upper shoots of Kitayama cedar can be felled every 20 years, which is far sooner than with other methods, the technique grew in popularity.

To see daisugi up close, watch this video chronicling pruning, felling, and transplanting processes. (via Kottke)

Courtesy of H.Tanaka/Shutterstock

Image via Komori Zouen

A scroll depicting daisugi by Housen Higashihara, courtesy of the auction house

 

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Available for download at Adobe Stock, this beautifully designed portfolio template is fully customizable and comes in two basic sizes: A4 and US Letter.

Graphic designer and Adobe Stock contributor @bourjart has created this beautiful portfolio template. It consists of 24 pages in the size of A4 and US Letter. The layout is completely editable in Adobe InDesign. Furthermore, the template is totally print ready but you can also save it as a low-resolution PDF file to send it via email to clients or colleagues. Any sample text is for display only and may not be included in the end-use. You can add your own text or images with just a few simple clicks.

As mentioned before, this graphic design asset requires Adobe InDesign. You can get the latest version from the Adobe Creative Cloud website, just have a look here. Feel free to learn more about this new portfolio template by clicking on the following link or have a look at the images below.

You can find even more graphic stock items in our recommended Templates category. The section includes countless reviews of diverse graphic design resources.

The post Portfolio Adobe InDesign Template appeared first on WE AND THE COLOR.

Felicia Murray, “Our Dying Reefs,” felted COVID mask, 2020. All photos shared with permission.

There is perhaps no symbol more representative of contemporary life than the humble face mask. A simple health device crucial to saving millions of lives around the world from a deadly COVID-19 pandemic spread by invisible airborne pathogens, and yet an object that’s been quixotically politicized at the callous expense of humanity for the gain of an elite few. A new exhibition at the University of Denver’s Vicki Myhren Gallery approaches the lighter side of face coverings: the ancient tradition of masks as self-expression.

Arranged on mannequins lining the gallery space, over 40 artists present interpretations of protective face wear in MASK, currently on view by appointment through December 1, 2020. The collection of whimsical, grotesque, quirky, and beautiful masks are medically non-functional but guaranteed to provoke a reaction through their novel construction. Several designs mimic natural filtration systems like foliage or a coral reef, while others use repurposed objects like zippers or pipes to create wholly unusual face sculptures.

“Through this project, we hope to call attention to the significance and signification of masking as an issue of public health and demonstration of civic responsibility,” the gallery shares in a statement. “As the selected artists show, masking is also a mode of outward self-expression and opportunity for creativity. In turns utilitarian and fantastical, the wearable artworks shown demonstrate how makers and thinkers are engaging with the pandemic and applying their skills and individual styles to a newly important medium.”

As part of the exhibition, Vicki Myhren Gallery has partnered with Denver’s RedLine Contemporary Art Center to fabricate free masks for distribution for those in need. (via Hyperallergic)

Scottie Burgess, “Mask for Our Unseen Smiles” (2020)

Serge Clottey, “Mask for Our Times” (2020) (photo by Nii Odzenma)

Elizabeth Morisette, “Beak” (2020)

Liz Sexton, Porcupinefish, 2020.

Freyja Sewell, “Food” from Key Worker Series (2020)

Matt Harris, “Hope” (2020); Cristina Rodo, “Covidus,” wet and needle-felted wool, 2020. Photo courtesy Emma Hunt.

Kate Marling, “Classical Sculpture Mask” (2020)

Analog Algorithm, a book by German illustrator and graphic designer Christoph Grünberger that serves as a tool kit to create new forms using grid-based design.

Written by German illustrator and graphic designer Christoph Grünberger, Analog Algorithm is a book that explains various techniques to develop new forms, fonts, logos, and patterns. The title may sound a little nerdy but the book is the perfect tool kit for everyone that wants to create source-related grid systems. Based on diverse case studies, all chapters contain detailed descriptions ranging from form analysis to setting up design rules and their application. Analog Algorithm: Source-Related Grid Systems is both a useful workbook as well as a great source of inspiration.

The English version of the book consists of 304 pages and has been published by Lars Müller Publishers. For those of you who want to learn more about this fine publication, just click on the following link.

If you are interested to explore more literature for students and creative professionals, we recommend you to browse through our popular Books category. In addition, you can find inspiring case studies in our extensive Graphic Design category.

The post Analog Algorithm: Source-Related Grid Systems appeared first on WE AND THE COLOR.

Available for download, Adobe Stock contributor Irina creates beautiful abstract backgrounds as fully editable vector graphics.

Those abstract or semi-abstract graphics are currently quite popular. No matter if you want to decorate your home with modern art or if you need some eye-catching graphics as backgrounds for covers, invitations, web banners, brochures, posters, cards, or flyers, Adobe Stock contributor @Irina has created a massive collection of fully editable vector files.

Please note, these files require professional graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. You can get their latest versions from the Adobe Creative Cloud website, just have a look here. Below you can see only a small selection of graphics. For more, just click on the following link to see more.

For those who want to discover more graphic design resources, we recommend you to browse through our extensive Templates category. The section includes a wide range of design assets for different needs.

The post Download Artistic Abstract Backgrounds at Adobe Stock appeared first on WE AND THE COLOR.

“Big Bang” in Pingjiaqiao Road 36, Pudong, Shanghai. All images © 100 Architects, shared with permission

Walk around Shanghai or Dubai, and you might stumble upon a bright, geometric playground amongst the concrete. The design studio 100 Architects installs bold interventions that transform typical urban spaces into colorful playgrounds. Each public structure, which boasts entertainment for both kids and adults, is conceptualized around a theme, whether a massive shower complete with ground-level waves or an illuminated castle with inner tunnels. Splashes of color, playground equipment like swings and slides, and towering structures frame the areas, while some spaces, like the “Sea Horse,” sprinkle water from a central spot.

100 Architects recently partnered with urban planning group Playgones to collaborate on a range of interventions throughout Europe in upcoming months, which you can follow on Instagram. (via Journal du Design)

“Creek Play” in Dubai Creek Harbor, Dubai, UAE

“Hang Out” in Pingjiaqiao Road 36, Pudong, Shanghai, China

“Paint Drop” in Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China

“Paint Drop” in Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China

“Seahorse” in Pingjiaqiao Road 36, Chongqing, China

“The Shower” in Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China

“The Shower” in Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China

“The Shower” in Daning Road, Jin’An District, Shanghai, China

“Secret Garden”

“Secret Garden”

All images © Mono Giraud, shared with permission

Through dreamy photographs, multi-disciplinary artist Mono Giraud accentuates the feathered fronds of wheat stalks and paper’s smooth curves. Based in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Giraud consistently strives for simplicity and a focus on humble items in her practice that spans design, photography, and fine art. “I’m interested in the conjunction of energy between objects and people, like in a dance,” she shares with Colossal.

Evoking sprawling sculptures, Giraud’s garments are often neutral-toned to maintain the integrity of the original material. Dresses flow down into pools of fabric that then form wrinkly backdrops, spools of twine are arranged to mimic a sash and headdress, and a woven basket pocked with straw perches on a subject’s head.

Giraud manages an atelier and shop in the Argentinian capital, where she sells many of the goods used in her photographs. Despite working across mediums, she describes her practice as cohesive and as a search “to express my personal views and emotions of the soul.” The artist expands on the idea:

My work is about living the process. And this process has to be healthy, the energy is renewed instead of running out… and simplicity must be felt in each step. I go across the process to finally get to discovery. The travel is about feeling, touching, smelling, breathing, and crossing boundaries. I focus on the journey more than to reach a goal or arrive (at) a destination.

Explore more of the elegant objects and garments highlighted in Giraud’s photography on her site and Instagram.

All images courtesy of DB Burkeman and Rich Browd, shared with permission

From plastic grocery bags to original emojis to household goods and paraphernalia, the yellow smiley face is an iconic mark of modern culture. A new book funding on Kickstarter celebrates the symbol’s decades-long history as it dives into the eclectic uses that range from fine art to graffiti to Hollywood. In 60 pages, The Sm;)e Book compiles work from 70 artists, including Banksy, the Chapman Brothers,  Alicia McCarthy, and James Joyce.

Despite the smiley’s well-known status throughout the mainstream culture, the book is particularly personal to co-creators DB Burkeman and Rich Browd. Burkeman shares with Colossal that his mother was fascinated by the hippie movement and plastered surfaces with smiley face stickers and adorned her clothing with grinning patches and pins. As he grew up and later became a DJ, he noticed the symbol flourishing in the punk and rave scenes as a new kind of countercultural mark. Browd had a similar childhood experience, growing fascinated by the icon in “graffiti, skate graphics, and the Pop Art collection of a wealthy friend’s parents.”

Today, the duo remains enamored with the evolution of the smiley face and its prevalence in seemingly contradictory spaces. “In the history of graphic design, I can think of no other symbol that has ever held such a duality—used simultaneously as both a positive mainstream driver and a counterculture subverter of that very mainstream,” Burkeman writes. He explains further:

Now retired from nightlife and mostly confused by a lot of today’s popular culture, I’ve watched the smiley return with a vengeance. Partly fueled by the prolific use of emojis, but also by the insatiable consumption and recycling of pop culture’s logos and tropes. Today’s youth love and reuse them, regardless of whether the new users know the logos’ origins or not: little girls and celebrities wearing the Thrasher logo who have never read the magazine or skated in their lives, hip-hop kids wearing hair-metal or post-punk band shirts. Does it even matter that they have no idea what these bands sounded like or represented? It’s all part of this strange cultural cannibalism.

Browd and Burkeman are sharing glimpses intoThe Sm;)e Book on Instagram, where you also can follow the collection’s funding progress during the next month. (via It’s Nice That)



Earlier this year, Malmo, Sweden-based game developer Oskar Stålberg launched Townscaper, a low-stakes video game that’s similar to Sim City without the threat of natural disaster or the need to maintain characters’ emotional wellbeing. Users only have the option to delete or build with a certain color, a function that’s controlled entirely by the algorithm. Simply drop a block and watch the system construct charming homes, towering cathedrals, and luxurious greenspaces. “No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That’s it,” Stålberg writes.

Townscaper is currently available to download for $6, although it isn’t finished quite yet. Watch this comprehensive tutorial to get a better sense of the user experience, and follow Stålberg on Twitter to keep up with the latest developments. (via Jeroen Apers)

All images © Wally Koval, shared with permission

Devotees of Wes Anderson’s films can spot the pastel architecture and simple signage synonymous with the American director’s aesthetic anywhere, a notion that’s proven in a newly released book by Wally Koval. Buoyed by an Instagram account with more than 1,200 images from all seven continents, Accidentally Wes Anderson showcases international destinations with the likeness of the Grand Budapest Hotel or the heavily wallpapered train cars of The Darjeeling Limited. The 368-page edition is teeming with charm, quirky compositions, and picturesque settings and even includes a foreword written by the famed director himself, who previously had no ties to the endeavor.

Based in Brooklyn, Koval began collecting photographs in 2017 and has since amassed an incredible archive, which he’s categorized by location, theme, and color palette on his site. Further explore the idiosyncratic locales by picking up a copy of Accidentally Wes Anderson on Bookshop. (via Fast Company)