Another lovely flickr set from Joe Kral inspired this post (the last two can be seen here & here). This time we're taking a look at the premiere issues of some of the best design magazines.

*editor's note 7/12/2011 | We didn't include the name or any information about the stylist involved in this shoot, Edward Enninful, who rightfully deserves much credit. Thanks to COLOURlover LIZAR for setting us straight. The original article is still below.

Last year, Vogue Italy asked Steve Meisel, known for his work with both U.S. and Italian Vogue and his collaboration with Madonna in "sex," to do something crazy. I don't know if that was the actual art direction but from the results of the shoot it very well could have been. The idiosyncrasies of Meisel created a complete sensory overload: overlapping colors and patterns scattered randomly across the frame pulled together by models sprawled across wearing similar or complimentary patterns to those underneath them, giving the appearance that they too, are a part of the aberrant fashion quilt. And within these seas of color there are a great number of palette possibilities.

I found this great post at DEVKICK with a nice selection of posters and other artwork from the golden ages (1950-1970) of European graphic design. And, of course, great design means great color... check out the inspiring work below, and click over to the original post for more.

Cirque du Soleil™, the world famous “Modern Circus”, performs their Big Top shows on every continent. Their live music, incredible performers and colorful sets make them one of the most recognized shows in the world. Since 1984 they’ve put on more than 21 different shows, each with it’s own unique theme.

Cirque du Soleil™

This poster is from the troop’s first successful tour in 1984.

Le Magie Continue™

Cirque du Soleil created a new tour in 1986, titled La Magie Continue.

Cirque Reinvente™

Le Cirque Réinventé was an Emmy award-winning film in 1989, capturing the extraordinary Cirque du Soleil show of the same name that played for sold-out audiences in 1987.

Another lovely flickr set from Joe Kral inspired this post (the last one can be seen here). This time we're taking a look at classic book design from his Penguin & Pelican Collection set.

From the outset, design was essential to the success of the Penguin brand. Eschewing the illustrated gaudiness of other paperback publishers, Penguin opted for the simple appearance of three horizontal bands, the upper and lower of which were colour coded according to which series the title belonged to; this is sometimes referred to as the horizontal grid. In the central white panel, the author and title were printed in Eric Gill's sans serif and in the upper band was a cartouche with the legend "Penguin Books". The initial design was created by the then twenty-one-year-old office junior Edward Young, who also drew the first version of the Penguin logo.

The color schemes included: orange and white for general fiction, green and white for crime fiction, red and white for travel and adventure, blue and white for biographies; and the rarer purple and white for essays and belles lettres and grey and white for world affairs. Lane actively resisted the introduction of cover images for several years. Some recent publications of literature from that time have duplicated the original look.

Often when we think of commercial design work, we imagine 3 color logos and simple illustrations... but not all commercial work is so plain. Here are 20 commercial designers who create stunningly colorful work.

Matthew Curry | Imagefed

imagefed.com

I came across a lovely little 'Atari Game Manuals' flickr set from Joe Kral the other day and thought it would be a perfect addition to the wonderful collection of nostalgia inducing color palettes.

While technology may have limited the color palettes of some of the first, and most popular, video games, their colors are no less influential on modern game design and culture as a whole, and an important part to any design is its packaging. The game manual art on many Atari games may have been a bit exaggerated and deceiving leaving the gamer wishing the game looked more like the picture on the box, but are nonetheless full of classic color palettes.

Another sports title from Activision, Boxing presents a top-down view of a boxing arena, pitting you one-on-one against another boxer. You have two minutes to either score 100 points and win the fight or finish with the highest score at the end of the round. Your goal is to target your opponent's nose with either a left or right jab, and a successful hit causes your opponent's face to reel back. You can choose to fight against a computer opponent for a single player game or against a friend for a two player bout. This is old school boxing with no white towel and no referee, so keep your guard up and your wits about you and never give up!

Galaxian expanded on the formula pioneered by Space Invaders. As in the earlier game, Galaxian featured a horde of attacking aliens that exchanged shots with the player. In contrast to Space Invaders, however, Galaxian added an element of drama by having the aliens periodically make kamikaze-like dives at the player's ship. The gameplay was relatively simple. Swarm after swarm of alien armies attacked the player's ship that moved left and right at the bottom of the screen. The ship could only fire sparingly by default, but rearmed instantly when an enemy was hit.

Started in 1934 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, DC Comics, then known as National Allied Publications has created some of the most colorful characters in Comics. The abbreviation "DC" came from their first popular illustrated series Detective Comics which introduced the darkly colored character Batman. Since then, DC Comics has become one of the largest publishers of English language comic books. Here are a few of their classic characters who have frequented the shelves of comic book stores throughout the years.

Classic DC Comic Characters

Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger (although only Kane receives official credit) and published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to physical and intellectual perfection and don a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime.

One of DCs "big three," Wonder Woman is the Emissary to Man's World, Champion of Themyscira, and possesses the Speed of Hermes, The Wisdom of Athena, Stronger than Heracles and as lovely as Aphrodite. Charles William Moulton Marston had created Wonder Woman during World War II as he saw that the DC Universe was dominated by male characters such as Superman and Batman and then came patriotic heroes such as Captain America who were to defeat the Axis. He wanted a superheroine, to create a strong and leading female character to even the odds. He thought up a new hero who would fight injustice not with brute strength or violence, but with love.

Superman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be one of the most famous and popular of such characters and an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book.

Today, more than ever, companies need to separate themselves from the others who share the same crowded marketplaces, and it is being done with branding and creating a unique and easily recognizable visual identity. The visual identity of a business can be one of its most valuable intangible assets, and big part of that visual identity is color.

Referring to Business Week's 'Best Global Brands 2007' (link to PDF) report, which ranks "brands which place high importance on managing the economic value of their intangible assets, and primary their brands, consistently out preform basic economic measures," we selected what may be the most easily identifiable logos in the corporate world today, then stripped them of every line and gradient to pullout just the color palettes. See if they are just as strong without the logo itself.

With more and more artists being commissioned to create original work for some of the largest skateboarding companies in the market, the skateboard deck is becoming a highly sought after medium by both artists and collectors. We thought we would take a look at some of the more colorful decks currently influencing both skateboards and art collectors. The images from Chocolate and Alien Workshop are accompanied by the writing of Sean Cliver as he talks about his life as a skateboard designer and his inspiration behind Disposable: A history of Skateboard Art, his current book highlighting over 1,000 skate board graphics from the last 30 years.

Alien Workshop

Disposable: A history of Skateboard Art: The Making Of

In my late teens and early twenties, my attitude was all piss and vinegar,
and the only time worth living or acknowledging was the present—
the classic attributes of any skateboarder, I guess. Then, without
even realizing it, 15 years passed and I found myself going, “Whoa,
how the hell did that happen?!” With this spatial wedge of time driven
between my insolent years of youthful abandon and present state of
being (which now includes a wife, son, and slightly more long-term perspective
on life), I fell into a pronounced period of reflection—mostly just
wondering how I made it out alive. Leafing through my catalog of memories—
an increasingly difficult thing to do living in California, where seasons
are nonexistent and the endless sunshine bleaches all recollections
to an indiscernible haze of months and years—I established the
one constant in all my prominent life experiences: skateboard graphics.

Alien Workshop

To make a long story short—at least for now, that is—I was just an
average kid from Wisconsin who first staked his claim in life on art and
then years later skateboarding. The combination of these two elements
ignited an unbelievable journey that would first and foremost involve
winning an “art contest” advertised by Powell Peralta in 1988, whereupon
I moved straight from the sticks of the Midwest to the spasmodic
heart of the skateboard industry in California. There I somehow managed
to live, thrive, and survive as an artist throughout one of the most
amazing and tumultuous eras in the history of skateboarding, when
graphics transformed into formidable marketing tools and pushed all
possible boundaries from sex, drugs, violence, race, religion, politics,
and copyright laws.