Alberto Seveso

Alberto Seveso is a graphic designer and illustrator from Italy who has simply created a fantastic style by mixing colourful vectors with black and white photos known as “sperm shaping”. It’s very hard to look at his work and not say WOW.
Can you tell us  how you started and discovered that you wanted be a designer?

I was born in Milan 30 years ago, but I have lived for more than 20 in the marvellous Sardinia Island; today I live in Rome, where I work with some agencies.

I did not study design, and I had no classes; I think this job doesn’t require a degree, even if design schools are very important.

My passion for graphics was born about 15 years ago, when I had an Amiga 1200 and Delux Paint, that I loved so much, but I switched to PC when a friend showed me the potentials of Photoshop: I was astonished and I understood the power of that software (I know what you’re thinking right now, but no, this is not a commercial, I actually switched to PC due to photoshop). From that moment on, I started to go in for my today’s job.

More

Graphic Design Icons - Lestor Beall

Pioneering American designer in modernist graphic design, Lester Beall believed that designer’s creativity should be present at every step of the process. Beall said, “the designer’s role in the development, application and protection of the trademark may be described as pre-creative, creative and post-creative.” Born in Kansas, Missouri at the beginning of the 20th century, Lester Beall grew up to succeed in a dazzling design career that lasted 44 years.

More

andy Warhol (1928-1987) - Bio

No other artist is as much identified with Pop Art as Andy Warhol. The media called him the Prince of Pop. Warhol made his way from a Pittsburgh working class family to an American legend.

Born in Pittsburgh
Andy was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh as the son of Slovak immigrants. His original name was Andrew Warhola. His father was as a construction worker and died in an accident when Andy was 13 years old.

Andy showed an early talent in drawing and painting. After high school he studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Warhol graduated in 1949 and went to New York where he worked as an illustrator for magazines like Vogue and Harpar's Bazaar and for commercial advertising. He soon became one of New York's most sought of and successful commercial illustrators.

The Pop Icon
In 1952 Andy Warhol had his first one-man show exhibition at the Hugo Gallery in New York. In 1956 he had an important group exhibition at the renowned Museum of Modern Art.

In the sixties Warhol started painting daily objects of mass production like Campbell Soup cans and Coke bottles. Soon he became a famous figure in the New York art scene. From 1962 on he started making silkscreen prints of famous personalities like Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor.

The quintessence of Andy Warhol art was to remove the difference between fine arts and the commercial arts used for magazine illustrations, comic books, record albums or advertising campaigns. Warhol once expressed his philosophy in one poignant sentence:

"When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums".

The Factory
The pop artist not only depicted mass products but he also wanted to mass produce his own works of pop art. Consequently he founded The Factory in 1962. It was an art studio where he employed in a rather chaotic way "art workers" to mass produce mainly prints and posters but also other items like shoes designed by the artist. The first location of the Factory was in 231 E. 47th Street, 5th Floor (between 1st & 2nd Ave).

Warhol's favorite printmaking technique was silkscreen. It came closest to his idea of proliferation of art. Apart from being an Art Producing Machine, the Factory served as a filmmaking studio. Warhol made over 300 experimental underground films - most rather bizarre and some rather pornographic. His first one was called Sleep and showed nothing else but a man sleeping over six hours.

Nearly Murdered
In July of 1968 the pop artist was shot two to three times into his chest by a woman named Valerie Solanis. Andy was seriously wounded and only narrowly escaped death. Valerie Solanis had worked occasionally for the artist in the Factory. Solanis had founded a group named SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) and she was its sole member. When Valerie Solanis was arrested the day after, her words were "He had too much control over my life".
Warhol never recovered completely from his wounds and had to wear a bandage around his waist for the rest of his life.

Andy Warhol Art in the Seventies
After this assassination attempt the pop artist made a radical turn in his process of producing art. The philosopher of art mass production now spent most of his time making individual portraits of the rich and affluent of his time like Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson or Brigitte Bardot.

Warhol's activities became more and more entrepreneurial. He started the magazine Interview and even a night-club. In 1974 the Factory was moved to 860 Broadway. In 1975 Warhol published THE philosophy of Andy Warhol. In this book he describes what art is:
"Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."
A Bizarre Personality

Warhol was a homosexual with a slightly bizarre personality. In the fifties he dyed his hair straw-blond. Later he replaced his real hair by blond and silver-grey wigs.

The pop artist loved cats, and images of them can be found on quite a few of his art works. One of Andy's friends described him as a true workaholic. Warhol was obsessed by the ambition to become famous and wealthy. And he knew he could achieve the American dream only by hard work.

In his last years Warhol promoted other artists like Keith Haring or Robert Mapplethorpe.
Andy Warhol died February 22, 1987 from complications after a gall bladder operation. More than 2000 people attended the memorial mass at St.Patrick's Cathedral. The pop art icon Warhol was also a religious man - a little known fact.

Two years later, in May 1994 the Andy Warhol Museum opened in his home town Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

Source: http://www.artelino.com/

David Carson - Bio

David Carson is principal and chief designer of David Carson Design, Inc. with offices in New York City and Charleston, SC.

Carson graduated with "honors and distinction" from San Diego state university, where he received a BFA degree in sociology. A former professional surfer, he was ranked #9 in the world during his college days. Numerous groups including the New York Type Directors Club, American Center for Design and I.D. magazine have recognized his studio's work with a wide range of clients in both the business and arts worlds. Carson and his work have been featured in over 180 magazine and newspaper articles around the world, including a feature in Newsweek magazine, and a front page article in the new york times . London-based Creative Review magazine dubbed Carson "Art Director of the Era." The American Center for Design (Chicago) called his work on Ray Gun magazine "the most important work coming out of America." His work on Beach Culture magazine won "Best Overall Design" and "Cover of the Year" from the Society of Publication Designers in New York.

Carson's first book, with Lewis Blackwell, The End of Print, (forward by David Byrne) is the top selling graphic design book of all time, selling over 200,000 copies, and printed in 5 different languages. The work featured in The End of Print is the subject of various one-man exhibitions throughout Europe and Latin America, Asia and Australia. Carson's other titles include 2nd Sight, Fotografiks (with design historian Philip Meggs). He has two recently released books, TREK and The Book of Probes with Marshall McLuhan. David is also art director for the Mcluhan estate("the medium is the message").

Carson lectures extensively throughout the world, as well as at colleges throughout the U.S., including Cranbrook, ARTcenter, Notre dame, RISD and Cal Arts. he has had numerous one man exhibitions of his work worldwide, and has spoken at over 100professional symposiums, including "Designer As Editor" at the Design Institute in Amsterdam. He teaches a week long workshop at the school of visual arts in NYC each summer.

The International Center for Photography (NY) singled out Carson as the "Designer of the Year" for his use of photography and design. Print Magazine proclaimed his work "Brilliant," while USA Today described it as "visually stunning," adding that his design of Ray Gun Magazine "may actually get young people reading again.

"Typography, a title published by Graphis magazine (NY), lists Carson as a "Master of Typography." I.D. magazine chose Carson for their list of "America's most innovative designers". A feature in Newsweek magazine said of Carson "he changed the public face of graphic design". The graphic design publication Emigre devoted an entire issue to Carson, the only American designer to be so honored in the magazine's history. And in April 2004, London based creative review magazine calls David, "the most famous graphic designer on the planet". David recently picked up 4 gold awards at the Charleston ADDY awards, including a "special judges award" for "professionalism".

In the past few years, Carson has branched out into film and television to direct commercials and videos. He directed the launch commercials for Lucent technologies and teamed up with William Burroughs in Carson's short film, "The End of Print". He also collaborated with Harvard Business School professor John Kao on a documentary entitled "The Art and Discipline of Creativity." David designed the worldwide branding campaign for Microsoft in 1998, as well as the worldwide advertising for Giorgio Armani (Milan). He has appeared in advertisements endorsing Apple Computers, Samsung monitors and various paper companies. Carson has art directed and designed Surfer, twSkateboarding, twSnowboarding, Beach Culture, and Ray Gun magazines. He has an extensive list of international clients: Nine Inch nails, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Bank of Montreal, Microsoft, Quiksilver, Meg Ryan, David Byrne, Bush, Pepsi, and Xerox.

David is featured in both "The History of Graphic Design" by Philip Meggs, as well as"The Encyclopedia of Surfing" by Matt Warsaw.

He currently serves as Creative Director for the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, and recently designed a special issue of Surfing Magazine titled "Explorations" which came out in July of '04. He also recently directed a television commercial for the progressive UMPQUA Bank in Seattle, Washington.

David's work continues to be subjective and largely driven by intuition, with an emphasis on reading material before designing it, and experimenting with ways to communicate in a variety of mediums. Carson remains a hands on designer, keeping his studio small and mobile.

Source: http://www.davidcarsondesign.com