Edits is a poster series curated by Edit. Each designer that participated was asked to represent a musical genre using one shape and one piece of type stating a musical genre. I have to say, it’s an honor to be included in this incredibly talented line-up. These minimal posters are A1 size and very limited.

Pre–order yours now.

Participants:
Bas Koopmans
Collective Approach
Duane King
Hey Studio
Manual Creative
Mark Boyce
Leterme Dowling
Nitzan — Edit
Sane & Able
Studio Makgill
Toko
Trevor Jackson
This Studio

Malcolm McLaren was a performer, impresario, self-publicist and former manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls. In 1971, McLaren and his girlfriend, designer Vivienne Westwood, opened a London clothing shop called SEX on the Kings Road. And in 1977 he achieved widespread notoriety for his part in the Sex Pistols release of God Save The Queen during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

“To be bad is good…to be good is simply boring.” Malcolm McLaren’s grandmother

In what seems to be a perfect blending of simplicity and performance, these Ceramic Speakers by Joey Roth are breathtaking. Made from porcelain, cork, and Baltic birch, each of the materials is minimally finished. San Francisco based designer Joey Roth is also the mastermind behind the Sorapot. Joey, if you can hear me, thanks for ensuring that my ‘want’ list (a list of barely attainable desires that seems to expand daily) has a new leader.

Counter-Objects.co.uk is a showcase for product design from some of the world’s most well known and regarded designers as well as emerging, young talent.

Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984. The US military rescued him and repurposed experimental lazers as prosthetic limbs. Since then Major Lazer has been a hired renegade soldier for a rogue government operating in secrecy underneath the watch of M5 and the CIA. His cover is that of a dancehall night club owner from Trinidad and he enlisted the help of long-time allies and uber-producers, Diplo and Switch, to produce his first LP. His true mission is to protect the world from the dark forces of evil that live just under the surface of a civilized society. He fights vampires and various monsters, parties hard, and has a rocket powered skateboard.

From the first images featured on rock and roll record sleeves through contemporary music videos and magazines, graphic design has played and integral role in visualizing music. In An Expression of the Inexpressible features contemporary international designers whose work showcases the current interactions of music and design. The show features art, graphic design and video works by Stefan Sagmeister, Non-Format, KarlssonWilker, Mike Mills, Trevor Jackson, Yokoland, Sara Haraigue, Mario Hugo, RD Granados, Stereotype Design, Standard Motion, Si Scott, Sonnenzimmer, Roger Bova, Shannon McGlothin, Jean Jullien, Hannah Waldron, Mike Little, Chris Rubino and Géraldine Georges.

Stockholm-based Teenage Engineering is a studio for future commercial products, communications and entertainment. Their mission is to create products with superior quality, functional design and top-class engineering. Teenage Engineering is Jesper Kouthoofd, Bengt Sjölén, David Eriksson and Jens Rudberg, four young visionaries in their thirties, with mixed backgrounds; from Atari/Amiga demo scene, hacking, programming, design, advertising and game development. In the Yellow Pages, Teenage Engineering is filed under Research & Development, but they also take on commercial projects as well as art. Currently, their portfolio includes electronics and hardware design, media art, game development, music production, product design, film production, sound software development and research.

Advanced Beauty is an ongoing exploration of digital artworks born and influenced by sound, an ever-growing collaboration between programmers, artists, musicians, animators and architects.

The first collection is a series of audio-reactive ‘video sound sculptures’. Inspired by synasthesia, the rare, sensory experience of seeing sound or tasting colours, these videos are physical manifestations of sound, sculpted by volume, pitch or structure of the soundtrack.

The films embrace unusual video making processes, the visual programming language Processing, high-end audio analysis and fluid dynamic simulations alongside intuitive responses in traditional cell animation. Each artist was given the same set of parameters to work within; to start, finish and exist within a white space, creating a seamless coherence, all sculptures sharing the same white environment.

Using 5:1 surround sound, the films transform the screen into a digital canvas, how the minimalism of a single, floating pixel can be as engaging as the maximalism of an intense multicoloured explosion.

Curated by design studio Universal Everything, with a soundtrack by Freefarm, the music studio of Simon Pyke (formerly recording as Freeform on Warp, Nonplace and Skam) Advanced Beauty is an international collaboration, taking in a family of artists from London, Russia, New York, Japan, Buenos Aires, Glasgow to San Francisco.

This collection of films in the first in a series of exhibitions, with upcoming commissions for the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and galleries in Europe, USA and Japan.

Running with the Beast is the latest album by zZz, a Dutch band from Amsterdam. Roel Wouters created a music video, the artwork and a series of posters that are mindblowingly cool. The project is about two artists who have created the conditions to capture rage in a systematic way – and capture it they did. Two colored cocks print their fight on a sheet of paper while making for an extremely satisfying visual in the video itself. Fantastic.

Recommended listening via the always watchful Jauretsi of Starworks fame. Chances With Wolves Radio Show: A Good Reason To Stay in on Thursday Nights.

I highly recommend viewing this clip of Bill Evans on creativity and self-teaching that was taken from a 1966 documentary entitled The Universal Mind of Bill Evans. In the clip, the brilliantly original jazz pianist has an intense conversation with his composer brother, Harry, on the nature of creativity in jazz. It’s amazing how his lessons on improvisation within musical frameworks applies to the craft of graphic design.

On a related note, in this session from Webstock 08, Liz Danzico explores what it means to design in the age of frameworks and investigates their governing principles – learning from existing models as diverse as jazz music and oral cultures. Emphasis has shifted from editor to reader, stories have gone from individual to social, people are relying on patterns rather than interfaces. But as we move from designing artifacts to designing systems, are there new guidelines at work? We want users to be able to control their own experiences, but how do we ensure they have the right tools to do so?