Where is Graphic Design?

Its on Lost, every single week. Be it in the background or emblazoned on food packaging. The entire six series has been a gradual unravelling of the shady happenings on an island and the 'corporations' that are connected. The 'Dharma Initiative' is a completely fictional company, however the viral campaign for Lost included websites, TV commercials and billboards. The logo even made a very brief cameo in the JJ Abrams film 'Cloverfield'.


The logos are featured on pretty much any item you can think of in regards to the programme. You can even play spot the logo when watching. Popular locations include: on the Dharma van, on food items, on school uniforms, on Dharma work suits and in orientation videos.

Where is Graphic Design?

Above are a small selection of portable, yet heavyweight 'speech bubbles' that were placed all over a Barcelona beach recently. I think the idea is incredibly clever and striking. The use of such bold, simplistic graphic designs reinforces the message the organisation was trying to communicate; clean up your rubbish. Speech bubbles were in both Spanish and English, yet even if I was to look at one in Spanish I would be drawn in and would want to investigate as to what its translation was.

Where is Graphic Design?

Graphic Design has become immensely popular in T-shirt design these days. They're available on practically every online clothes shop and even in the odd high street shop. They range in geeky-ness, for example the more colourful intricate designs, that may resemble graffiti in a small way, probably appeal to a wider audience and therefore are on sale in more places. Whereas a really simple design like a large ampersand or just the name of a typeface, e.g. Helvetica, aren't as publicly recognised or appreciated. However, if you get it, then you get it.

Where is Graphic Design?

These days its seems as though Graphic Design is everywhere. Whether it be subtle or so obvious it smacks you in the face its definitely out there. After doing a quick search on the the internet I came across a huge selection of purchasable objects that incorporate Graphics itself or an off shoot.

For example: an illustrator pillow. I think this one may be self made, but official ones are now available with all different applications sewn on.
A Mac necklace, showing the keyboard shortcut associated for back up.
Photoshop Coasters, very similar to the idea of pillows but a smaller, neater variation.
Glyph Key Tops. Available with all different types, ranging from sporting glyphs to emoticons and random images such as grenades.
Photoshop Magnets. I'm not entirely sure of the point but I'm sure theres a market out there for these.


Below are a few more examples of creative advertising and how the medium can be used to communicate the message. First is a set of stairs made to look like a pile of books. This was featured within a library and aimed at spreading the word that reading can be creative and fun.


Creative posters were designed to wrap around poles, campaigning for an end to the war in Iraq, pointing to Global Coalition for Peace website. Its ingenius and reinforces the message very clearly.


The first building has a cracked image in the shape of the running man, the second building has the actual Nike ad, creating the illusion that the runner run through the first building. Very Clever.


Ronald McDonald air ballon. A larger than life balloon for a larger than life corporation.

Where is Graphic Design?

Similar to Graphics in Film I also feel Graphics plays an important part of Television. In the very early stages of television there were only three channels run by two different networks. This meant they were in competition with each other and because not that many people watched TV they didn't feel it necessary to spend money on advertising and creating an individual identity, representing what they broadcast. However these days there are thousands of different channels broadcasting a wide variety of programming. Below are a few examples of TV logos that I feel represent that channel incredibly well.

Channel 4 has many different stations now, each one with a different target audience. I feel these work incredibly well, for example E4 is more youthful and therefore uses rounded edges and a bold purple colour. Whereas More4 is slightly more sophisticated and therefore uses a sleek, simple design.

Not many people know what the E! channel, but for those who do this symbol is incredibly representative of what they broadcast. Its a very flashy network, full of celebrity news and glamour. This simplistic colouring is striking, but when you add the large exclamation mark to the mix the logo works even better.

Above are a few more examples on Network idents that I feel are successful.

Where is Graphic Design?

Graphic Design is a far spanning complex machine seen pretty much everywhere these days. A place where I feel it features heavily but is not necessarily noticed is within Film and Television. An example of a person in the media who likes to integrate design and advertising, albeit subtlely, within his films is Quentin Tarantino. He creates fictional products and designs packaging and advertisements that feature in several of his productions. Its sort of a private joke for people who know a little bit too much.
Red Apple Cigarretes: a fictional brand that features in Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, Four Rooms, Kill Bill, Planet Terror and even his latest feature Inglourious Basterds. The brand has become so recognized that merchandise has been created in dedication to it.

Big Kahuna Burger: Another example of a fictional brand advertised in Tarantino movies is this particular Burger joint. The effort gone to convince people it was a real chain included setting up a website with a list of locations. This might not seem impressive now but when the website was first set up in the nineties it was seen as incredibly intriguing.

Its not just the fact I like Tarantino that made me put him up on this blog. He does something for the industry, and shows true dedication by going to great lengths to convince his audience to really 'believe' in his films.

David Brownings

David Brownings is an illustrator based in Bristol and is currently in his 2nd year at UWE doing illustration. He likes to doodle random objects and previous works include decorating a horse statue in a Size?. This piece led to a further opportunity to work with this particular shop, hand crafting several variations of paper Nike Airs.

Below is an image of Brownings hand crafted trainers. Interestingly enough he made them available to the public and you can still purchase a pair through his website.