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Interview with Alexis Papageorgiou
In an interview with creative Alexis Papageorgiou, one of our very own first writers (you remember him as Aloa), he talks about the advantages of everyday life creativity and tells us about how he implements it in his life. Check it out! 1. It’s a pleasure to have you here. We would like you to introduce yourself. The pleasure is all mine. My name is Alexis Papageorgiou (the easiest name to spell) - I’m a director and producer from a country called Germany. I’m self employed and mostly work in projects that involve any of my passions in life as well as traveling. That mostly means documentaries in politics, economy, science and philosophy as well as more experimental work such as music videos, art & short movies. But that could include event & project management, youth and volunteer work. Basically the right balance between working for others and working for myself. A test to create fitting images to experimental audio files turned into a very short music video underlined with the music of artist “Soosh”. The artist wrote me a mail where he expressed his gratitude. He really liked the work, which turned into a collaboration for new projects. 2. Please tell us more about the “Everyday Project”. When and why did you start it? The “Everyday Project” is a challenge I set upon myself to stay creative every day, for initially 30 days. The task: Work on whatever you like and create a piece of art every day. For me that meant: photography, photo manipulation, music, film, animation. I started in 2013 as a 30 days challenge but kept going and just finished my 180th piece. The main idea emerged from Matt Cutts’ TED TALK: Try something new for 30 days. The idea is simple: Instead of spending a huge amount of time to learn something, reduce it to a small amount of time spread over a longer period. Human are much likely to lose motivation and energy when challenged with a huge task. You want to learn spanish? "Yeah, sure, somewhen. What? Now? Puh, well I have so much things to do right now. I’ll try when I finish what im working on right now.” It turns out that small steps are more sustainable and more likely to stick. If you want to invest an hour or two a day in experiencing or subtracting a habit from your life, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to do that. Every month is used for another 30 days challenge, while this everyday project turned out to be much more than just a limited undertaking I took this picture on a journey from the greek island Corfu to Igoumenitsa with the Rollei S35 analog camera from my grandmother. I was waiting on this spot for 15 min. for someone to take the place in the middle of the picture to complete the atmosphere. An image I printed a couple of times and gave to friends to hang on the wall. I shot a picture of a beautiful flower. Being heartbroken at the moment, I felt it misrepresented my current live situation, so I edited it into a darker, more melancholic piece of art. The review was surprisingly positive so It ended up as a piece in an art exhibition of the national gallery on Corfu, Greece. 3. What’s the importance of everyday creativity? Efficiency - The brain learns and perceives new information best during small and regular activation of your braincells. Executing a new hobby everyday for just 10 minutes is a very effective way to grow. Feedback - One of the most important learnings was that I did not have to have weeks of preparation to master a new technique. I just went out and tried it, published it and got valuable feedback by sharing it on a Facebook page. Low pressure - Trying something new or challenging for 30 min everyday sounds much more compelling than a 10 hour session. You will be much more open to confront your fears and realize soon that it’s easier than you thing (which will boost your self confidence). Commitment - You are more likely to continue a habit if you implement it in your daily routine and therefore make faster results. I was shooting a music video where I followed graffiti writers during the night. One of them asked me to join him the next day to the yard to take pictures of his piece he painted on a train a day earlier. I only had my very old iPhone with me, which has a poor sensor. The lack of dynamics increased the flare of the sun which turned out to be perfect. The blur of the head added a sense of anonymity. One of my every day challenges turned around taking a HDR image every day (HDR images are pictures that consist of 3 images taken with different light settings and fusing them into one). I partnered up with a fellow photographer and went out for 3 weeks every night. 4. How did it change your life? It positively influenced my life in various aspects. But I did not expect the amount of impact it makes on other peoples lives as well. When taking portraits I sometimes printed them and gave them away as presents. Sometimes I made small documentaries about people. The extent of happiness of people was just more than rewarding. One company liked my work and hired me for a summer to do architectural photographies on a greek island. Other than that I grew upon myself. I learned new techniques, methods of working, I got better in working in teams, I got to know new people, and visited places I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. An “Everyday Project” can be an important brick in the self development journey of becoming a better person. (I recommend others to take the challenge as well). This picture is my personal favorite from a recent trip to Norway. I went up north for a seminar on project management; it felt like I was catapulted to another world. The space, the air and the general sense for living with the nature just kept me speechless. With this image I wanted to capture this very unique spirit. This is another photo of my my trip to Norway. It was a different experience to never see darkness. No matter what time it was, it was bright. I had to give this picture an extra vignette to make it feel like it’s night. Follow Alexis Papageorgiou on his public Facebook page. Join him on his journey: Everyday Project.
Badass 'Fall of Gods' Project by Rasmus Berggreen
It's great to see artists taking chances and making their own big projects, like 'Fall of Gods', a illustrated book by Danish artist Rasmus Berggreen. He came up with this project inspired in Norse mythology, which is pretty badass by itself, and made astonishing, action packed pieces. Here you can see some images from the book. For more information about it and more illustrations, please visit his portfolio at Behance! He'll definitely enjoy you showing him some love. I hope you enjoy these amazing images as much as I did! Cheers. ;)
City Silhouettes Project by Jasper James
We've seen here at Abduzeedo some fantastic double-exposure photography, and it's great to know that some photographers appreciate the idea enough to make a full project of it, like Jasper James. Jasper has captured some great examples of double-exposure pictures, featuring both people and landscapes. These are very nice, and I thought it would be nice to share them with you! For more of Jasper's work, you should really check out his personal portfolio. Also, if you got your own pictures like these, share with us! I hope you enjoy these! Cheers. ;)
Maddie The Coonhound Project
We love little projects, and even more when the subject is a cute dog like Maddie. She's a very obedient coonhound that will pose for any picture and stand cool. Indeed, what a cool dog! Also, Maddie is somewhat famous around the internet with the picture we used as the featured image of the post. It's a great possibility that you may have already seen her. The project consists in photographs of Maddie traveling around all 50 American states during 365 days. You may even buy prints, which is pretty awesome. Check some of the pictures here, and visit the project site for more information! Also, if you got any nice pictures of dogs, share it with us! Cheers. ;)
Web Design: Dribbble Redesign by Felipe Mendes
Here at Abduzeedo we really love a good rebrand / redesign project. We've seen the Varig redesign lately, but now it's time for a web design project, this one by Brazilian designer Felipe Mendes. He chose to take his chance redesigning Dribbble, which I must say turned out pretty awesome. Below you can see Felipe's redesign for Dribbble. What do you think about it? Would Dribbble take advantage by changing its design for something like this? I think so. Also, you can check this project in a much more beautiful way in Felipe's Behance portfolio. I hope you enjoy these! Cheers. ;)
Famous Robots Project by Daniel Nyari
We've seen some great projects here at Abduzeedo, and what's great about them is that you get too see amazing references through out good projects, such as pop culture, movies, and all those great sources. Daniel Nyari is a true fan of our mecha-friends (sometimes foes), the robots! So he illustrated some of the most famous robots out there and the result is a fine set of cool characters! Of course, these are only a handful of his pieces, but for more of it, please visit his personal portfolio. He'll definitely enjoy it. Cheers! ;) Awesome Extra: Famous Weapons
Stavronikita: A Underwater Design Project
We've seen some pretty unique art exhibitions here at Abduzeedo, like underwater sculptures, for one. But I would never guess I'd see a exhibition of images underwater. Great idea, great design. The "Stavronikita Project: The Life Above Refined Below" is super awesome exhibit done by the Staudinger Franke studio from Vienna. It consists in underwater pictures of the sunken Stavronikita, with a little spice: the nobles of the eighteenth century. The SS Stavronikita lies at the bottom of the ocean at 13.8 N, 59.38 W, right off the Caribbean island of Barbados. It is the spot Andreas Franke has discovered and chosen to stage a game full of overflowing decadence and exuberance. Three young ladies court gossip during a lavish picnic, accompanied by eminently trimmed and trained poodles. A woman in a blue dress obliviously indulges in a piece of cake, surrounded by an extravagant amount of overelaborate pastries and confectionaries. It is a typical image of Rococo: disgraceful, self-indulgent and immoderate. Andreas Franke presents you with one of the most flashing and flamboyant epochs of European style and cultural history in the midst of a scenery, in which nature displays all of its own abundance and prodigality. A great vision and execution by these guys. For more of their work, please visit their portfolio at Behance. Cheers! ;) Underwater exhibition on SS Stavronikita / Barbados
Versus/Heart Project by Dan Matutina
Time for more great projects! This time I've checked a super cool idea by illustrator Dan Matutina, from Philippines. He's come up with a simple, yet witty project called Versus/Heart, in which he features famous rivals in pop culture. It goes from comics, to games and all of them are pretty awesome. These are only a handful of Dan's work. For much more of it, please visit his portfolio at Behance! He'll definitely appreciate it! Cheers! ;) The Spy & The Spy The Genius Monkey & The Angry Cute Kid The Demon & The Samurai The Joke & the Bat Ol' Metalhead & The Turle The Skeleton & The Man! The Student & The Master The Geniuses Red & Blue The Egg & The Spike The Pig & The Bird The Snake & The Lightning The Doc & The Rock Ganon & Link The Bomb & The Dove Venom & Spidey The Street Fighters Cat & Mouse The Big Bad Monster & The Plumber
Marvelous Lumen Type by Ruslan Khasanov
I really enjoy seeing designers taking on typography projects. Even though there are plenty type styles out there, the creativity of some people still amazes me. Creativity that inspires projects such as these, by Ruslan Khasanov. Ruslan, a Russian designer, came up with this marvelous typography. Types made out of light! That's simply amazing. I wish Ruslan could have shown us a little of the process behind the making of these. Anyways, for you to see the full set, his whole alphabet, please, visit his portfolio at Behance. He'll definitely appreciate your visit. Cheers! ;)
Number of the Day Project
I love little design projects! Find a good subject and curate good content for that. It's a great way to have a good database of awesome pieces of design and people will love it. Today, it's all about numbers, from the Number of the Day gallery at tumblr. The amount of typography styles found in this gallery is simply amazing. For all of you typo-freaks out there, this is a great source for inspiration. Here I've selected a few examples of great typographic numbers they got there... Number of the Day is a project co-curated by Craig Hazan and Randi Hazan. For more great images, visit the gallery at Number of the Day. Cheers. ;)
Adorable Photography Project: Feet First
I'm a sucker for travel photography, mainly because it usually features amazing landscapes, and I'm totally crazy for beautiful sceneries. But, how about adding the "adorable factor" to it? That's exactly what Tom Robinson did. Tom is an English photographer that, along with his wife, has traveled beautiful places around the world. From these trips the Feet First project was born (but it didn't stop there). Here you'll see some amazing pictures of their trips, but the best is for last, and it's quite heart-warming surprise. I'll leave that for you to find out. For the complete project set you should really visit Tom's portfolio. It's totally worth the visit. I hope you enjoy and find these as adorable as I did. Cheers. ;) The very first picture. Brighton beach, England. Dugi Otok, Croatia. Krka National Park, Croatia. Skiing. Zell Am See, Austria. Bâlea Lake, Romania. Holkham sand dunes. Norfolk, England. Wat Ratchaburana, Thailand. Elephant ride. Chaing Mai, Thailand. Maekok river, Chang Rai, Thailand. Whit Sundays, Australia. Sun set. Blue Mountains, Australia. Cable car ride. Tongariro National Park, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand. Climbing Volcanoe Villarrica (2847m). Pucon, Chile. Autumn leaves. Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Argentina. Rio de las Conchas, also known as Quebrada de Cafayate, Argentina. Kollpa Laguna, Bolivia. Arbol de Piedra, Bolivia. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. Isla de la Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. Machu Picchu, Peru. White sand. Tulum, Mexico. Watching the sunset. Glastonbury 2010. Waiting for our flight at Delhi airport, India. Baby begins. Matilda Robinson rises. Born 04.03.11. St.Georges Hospital, London. The view from the top of the hill. Cotswolds, England. Watching their first sunset together. Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal.
Garage Project by IdeaFixa
IdeaFixa is a super cool Brazilian project based on collaboration of visual artists to promote ideas, talents, initiatives and professionals for all the creative fields: Photography, Design, Arts, Illustration, animation, 3D and others. So, IdeaFixa and Inesplorato are launching a new project called Garage Project. About the Project Garage Project is really cool initiative to encourage us, artists and designers, to do and promote our personal projects. Pretty much all ideas or sketches that are authentic and innovative will be accepted. For more information visit http://www.projetosdegaragem.com/ IdeaFixa inspiration
Very Creative Art Projects by Luke Jerram
One of the reasons that I like art and its projects is that there is no 'formal explanation' to art... every person can take it and interpret it as they want! So in my opinion artists are free to create what they want and in the format they want. Browsing around I found some very creative art projects from Luke Jerram and decided to show them here for you. Luke Jerram's multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations, live arts projects and gifts. Since his professional career as an artist began in 1997 Luke has created a number of extraordinary art projects which excite and inspire people around him. Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art So whatever your art concept is, sit back and enjoy some very nice art projects. Going from some glass sculptures representing microbiology to a live art project where a searchlight projects up into the night sky, you will see that Luke has some very nice ideas to show. In my opinion, besides being able to work with several forms of art, Luke is very talented and creative. To check out further details and concepts behind these and other projects, visit Luke's website. I hope you like it! :) Glass Microbiology These transparent glass sculptures were created to contemplate the global impact of each disease and to consider how the artificial coloring of scientific imagery affects our understanding of phenomena. Sculptural and Perceptual studies Jerram’s ongoing research of perception is fueled by the fact that he is colour-blind. These small perceptual experiments and sculptural studies inspire his larger scale artworks. Placing himself in unusual locations, be it in microgravity aboard a parabolic flight or in an anechoic chamber, Jerram explores the edges of perception to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of his senses. Installation: Dream Director The Dream Director is a new immersive installation created by Luke Jerram and his team of specialists at the Watershed Media Centre, Bristol 2007. Over a duration of 2-3 nights members of the public can sleep over in the gallery in specially constructed 'pods'. There are spaces for 20 participants each night. The Dream Director is also a new tool for sleep science and clinical applications which raises questions about the rules of interaction and boundaries of science and art. Installation: Aeolius Aeolius is an investigation into acoustics, wind and architecture. One output from the research will be a specially designed architectural space that will resonate and sing with the wind. The artwork will tour the UK travelling from one wind swept rural location to another before finding a permanent home. Installation: Tide As the earth and moon move through space and time around the sun, our position also changes within this shifting triangle of spheres. Tide is a live installation controlled by the altering gravitational field of the Earth caused by this spatial relationship. Live Art: First Breath First breath (in development for presentation in 2010) celebrates each new life with a searchlight projecting up into the night sky. The lights are sited next to the homes of families where a new baby has just been born.
Outstanding Typography Projects
There were the days that a typography project was only made of typo and that was enough to make everyone happy, but a lot of things changed and if you want to really stand out from the crowd you must bring something special to the table. That's what make these projects outstanding, check them out! SKATE OR DIE 2009 Poster and Typeface From: Hassan Haider No Lies Just Love Type experiment inspired by the Bright Eyes song of the same name From: Jordan Metcalf A Tribute to Yulia Brodskaya I love her incredible work and this is my little tribute to Brodskaya From: Adolfo Correa 5-A-Day Type I was interested in how 5-a-day could become less lecturing. I responded initially with a font based around this, which then grew to become a whole list of recipes established by the NHS. I wanted the font to become light hearted but still maintain its authority, which is why i chose to base the font on Times. This stopped the font from becoming too jokey. I also considered how i could make each recipe seem interesting through the layout. From: Jimmy Smith CHANGE During this past election year, I had never been so moved, inspired, and driven by politics that did come true. The possibility of Barack Obama becoming President of the United States of America made me believe that greater change and progress are possible. This piece is a typographical representation of WILL.I.AM's Yes We Can, from Obama's speeches. My main goal was to show the grass roots and coming together that Obama is inspiring each day. From: Jonathan Bobrow Sequences This project is a collaboration between me, Siggi Odds, Sven and Mundi. Sequences is a real-time art festival in Reykjavík, Iceland hosted annually by the Living Arts Museum. The final product consists of an idea of milk captured in time, hinting at the festival's real-time focus. We spent way to much money on buying to many liters of milk. But we had alot of fun while the milk supplies lasted. We couldn't stand the temptation of pouring milk all over Mundi. The posters were printed in two colous offset, black and a bright PMS 605 by an environmental friendly printer. From: Jónas Valtýsson The Weather This was for my Final Major Project at University. Using the theories of Multi-Modal Communication, 'en plein air' and 'the pathetic fallacy' I intended to show a relationship between the weather, the artist and the viewer. These installations were used to enforce the above themes in an exhibition catalogue for a hypothetical exhibition held at the Tate St Ives. From: Tom McLean
Lovely Package Design Projects
Once again I made a selection of package designs but this time I went a little deeper and got a lovely selection of great package design projects, so you can get a lot of views of each project and also find out more each design. For more stuff you can look up on lovelypackage.com I also found some from behance.net Furry Utopia Create a new brand called furry utopia selling conceptual design merchandise by: http://www.undoboy.com/ Cassette Badge Sets Being a child of the eighties I have fond memories of cassettes and I have created these limited edition badge sets as a reminder of this past format. There is currently 12 different cassette types by some of the mainstream tape manufacturers that I remember having in my childhood. Each set consists of 6, 25mm button badges which are created as circular crops of the actual cassette artwork. These are attached to a printed cassette back board and sealed in a classic cassette box with a custom inlay card giving a brief history of the cassette format. by: http://www.effektivedesign.co.uk Puerto Despertar (cd packaging) A folded and stitched poster becomes an envelope that keeps a jewel-box inside. The title of the cd is "Puerto Despertar" (Port Awakening), hence a bundle of light rays on the front cover. by: http://www.benditagloria.com/ Weatherbey's Fine Tobacco by: http://www.arecraft.net Vitamin Packaging A Series of Vitamin packages: working on typographic hierarchy and the 3D form. by: http://www.robferrell.com FYS (Finish Your Self) Puzzle your own chair together (with a little help from mama) using a large part of the packaging. The chair is made from corrugated cardboard and is 100% recyclable. by: http://www.davidgraas.nl/ Malibu Pop & Street Series La MJC came up with this idea of re-designing Malibu bottles in “pop” interpretations by legendary Europe artists So-Me, James Jarvis and Delta. Only 100 numbered bottles of each are available, a colette exclusive. by: http://www.lamjc.com/ Basic Shapes A family of animal characters were created by combining the square, circle and triangle. The characters were silk-screened to a 1680 X 500mm modernist growth chart for kids. by: http://www.co-oponline.net.au/ Zuny A simple, genial and creative design of leather-made home accessories, which is made out of the designers’ creativity and imagination. Zuny enriches the peoples’ life and provides a perfect gateway for releasing annoyances and pressures from work and frustration. Such prospection motivates Zuny to achieve its goal - “Make your life funny and easy". by: http://www.bonanzadesign.com/ 479º Popcorn by: http://www.theengineroom.cc/ Nupo by: http://www.muggieramadani.com/ Tango Transforming a chip-shop brand into a hero brand - and making 14 year-old boys feel like 18-year old - by telling a story about ‘rebellion'. by: http://www.brandhouse.co.uk Flowessence by http://www.romulocastilho.com/ CLOT x Nike Air Force 1 The Nike Clot Air Force 1 comes in a special ‘Chinese Candy Box’ packaging set. Traditionally, Lunar New Year celebrations include offering sweets and other edible treats from a red lacquer box to ensure a ’sweet’ year. Honoring this custom, the Nike Clot Air Force 1 packaging is a hexagonal red box with a partitioned tray layer, to hold shoe accessories, and matching lid. The box’s exterior is adorned with Clot graphics in black. Pucko Input: Pucko is the classic chocolate drink brand in Sweden with an iconic glass bottle. Arla Foods wanted to refine the brand identity that it would work on additional packaging types and sizes. by: http://www.neumeister.se/ Colors In Motion This is a press kit for a printing house that produces packaging projects. We made it as a cardboard box with innovative construction trying to present all the technical possibilities of the printing house.