I want you!

Projects

30 Jul 2010 | no comments »

This poster is the result of my work for the final assignment in the first year graphic design class. The project consisted of developing and creating an advertising poster for myself, interrelating visual elements and text, which would represent me in terms of overall visual style and message. The choice of visual materials was completely free and left up to the students.
To do this I decided to go with the style of the classic propaganda poster. Having been born in the USSR, it was well suited to represent my background, while at the same time well integrating the message I wanted to convey. The imagery was created by applying a number of Photoshop filters to a real photograph of me in a tuxedo, inspired by a Bond’esque theme with a visual comic book feel to it. After that, the choice of fonts and background was obvious, producing a melange of Japanese wartime brochures, communist propaganda and the Barack Obama “Hope” poster by Shepard Fairey – also inspired by the classic “Uncle Sam wants you” series. Fairey’s example shows us just how much well designed graphic material can do to support a political of a commercial campaign.

Staircase

Victor Horta museum

Architecture

09 May 2010 | no comments »

So, today I have finally found the necessary time to visit the famous Belgian architect’s personal residence turned museum. It is located at rue Américaine number 25 of the Saint Gilles commune of Brussels. Here you can see the museum’s website. Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside, but I found this beautiful photo of the main staircase on UNESCO’s World Heritage website. It is a good example of the innovation that makes his architecture unique: having placed the stairs in the middle of the house rather than on the side as was commonly done in Brussels before, he divided the space in two distinct volumes, which could be well lit thanks to the combination of light coming from the windows in the facades and a soft light produced by the skylight above the staircase.

Tomb in the desert

Photos

16 Apr 2010 | no comments »

I noticed this tomb on the way to the Yssyk-Kul lake in the highland region of Kyrgyzstan. Even though it is not very old, the dramatic clouds in the sky and the horizon line defined by the jagged mountain tops help give this photo a sense of intensity. The dried grass in the foreground also works well with the overall composition. The landscape we see here is a steppe, typical in this region of central Asia. For their burial ceremonies they often construct grand house-shaped memorials out of clay. With time, as the local weather takes its toll these monuments slowly decay under the influence of winds and rain. This symbolizes an ancient belief of unity with nature and the passage to the spirit world after we leave the material world.

Russian dolls

Photos

16 Apr 2010 | no comments »

A beautiful photo my wife took on our trip to Moscow. The russian dolls (matryoshki) were on display at a souvenir vendor’s stand on the Vorobyovy gory. Those hills are famous for their panoramic view of the Moscow city and are adjacent to the Moscow State University (MGU). It is not surprising that many commerces were installed around that area offering fast food and souvenirs at much heftier prices than can be found elsewhere.

Serdgjan Markovic logo

Projects

08 Apr 2010 | no comments »

This is a set of two logos designed for Serdjan Markovic, a restaurant critic in Moscow. The client wanted a simple logo inspired by a stamp or a quality certificate comprised of maximum three colors, preferably including a combination of blue and white. The brand deals with food, service, restaurants and has a target audience of both B2B and B2C (final consumers as well as restaurant and small business owners). The client also required the basis for the logo to be his name – Serdjan Markovic in Latin and Серж Маркович in Cyrillic alphabet.
My design solution was two create two similar logos (or the same logo in two different languages) in order two avoid confusion between the alphabets. As a basis I took the restaurant pictogram often seen in public places and enhanced it with a stylized calligraphic transcription of the client’s name. The letter S (C in Russian) has become the blade of the knife and the letter M completed the formation of the fork. The blue outline represents the rim of the plate as well as the outside border of a medal or a stamp. The end result is a certificate of quality awarded to any restaurant in Moscow which following the client’s review accepts his suggestions for the menu and chooses to undergo a specifically elaborated training program for their staff.