The MVA: Ideas. Objects. Images.

Following directions

2010-01-28T23:54:00.003-06:00

A lot of designers don’t like being given direction at the start of a project. The party line is that you want to start every project with an objective or goal but a totally blank slate to work from. The idea is that you should be given free reign to come up with every aspect of the visual/conceptual direction. This is the way that design is typically taught and its the ideal state of practice for most designers.

We’ve started working on a new project with a friend whose got pretty clear direction and is quite opinionated. He knows what it is he’s looking for and what the end results should be. That’s totally fine by us. He and I were talking today about web stuff and looking at some sites while he shared his thoughts on basic navigation and architecture issues when he interrupted to say “Well, you guys are the designers and I trust you to do what you think is right.” I appreciated the acknowledgment of our talents but I ended up telling him that he has specific opinions and that unless we disagree with him about the direction we don’t see a need to get in the way. We’ve come to the conclusion that graphic design or making beautiful things isn’t really the point or the main thing we want to do. What we’re after is to work on and contribute to great projects in any way that we can. In this instance, the projects is an illustrator whose been out of the game for a minute and is re-starting his career
and needs our assistance to execute his vision. As long as we’re on the same page and share a similar opinion as to what good design is then who cares about creative vision? If he can take the work we do for him and get some new clients then we’re happy.

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DIY Album Art: book talk teaser

2009-07-28T00:44:00.004-05:00

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We just got this from our homie Isaac Gale at We Are Mpls. Its the teaser for our series of videos where Namdev gives some background and context on the record labels featured in "DIY Album Art: Paper Bags and Office Supplies". Enjoy!

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Cut It Out exhibition

2009-07-08T14:35:00.003-05:00

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CamoFlesh #001
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Last year, I was invited to create some work for Cut it Out, an exhibition of 2D art that was cut, ripped, glued, etc. I produced 2 pieces (shown below) for the show. "CamoFlesh #001" is the first of a series I have been planning to do for awhile. I'd actually made 2 but wasn't feeling the 2nd one, but I had this creepy left-over piece of Lance Armstrong so I put him on a black background and, voila, art. The show was curated by our homie Mike Perry and featured a ton of great artists including Justin Fines, Dan Funderburgh, Anna Wolf and our friends Dan Black and Hardland/Heartland
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Lance

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Library Volume 3

2009-07-03T15:06:00.004-05:00

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Library Volume 2, an on-going feature here at The MVA. Once a week or so, we'll posting highlights from our bookshelves, focusing on the obscure, beautiful books we've accumulated over the years.

This week: "Planning for Industry, Art & Education" a monograph by the criminally unknown dutch designer Pieter Brattinga (1931-2004).

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Library Volume 2

2009-06-26T17:33:00.004-05:00

Kimberlee Whaley: Drift

2009-06-24T11:55:00.005-05:00

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Drift, a project by MVA partner Kimberlee Whaley. To share this project on your website or blog, click the "share" button in the upper-right corner of the Flickr slideshow.

Links: kimberleewhaley.com; Photo Blog; Twitter.

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DIY Album Art cover

2009-06-24T11:10:00.005-05:00

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DIY Album Art: Paper Bags and Office Supplies is coming! Christopher at Mark Batty just sent us this paper dummy that they've been showing at the publishing expos. The interior is blank but the cover looks sick: embossed book board, tipped-in credits and a foil-stamped sleeve. Aw yeah.

The book drops for real next month. We'll have a pretty awesome pre-order deal up shortly, plus some related goodies.
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Library Volume 1

2009-06-17T15:32:00.007-05:00

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We're pleased to announce Library, an on-going feature here at The MVA. Once a week or so, we'll posting highlights from our bookshelves, focusing on the obscure, beautiful books we've accumulated over the years.

Enjoy.

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Best of Both Hoods

2009-06-08T15:14:00.010-05:00

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16-page collaborative zine of drawings, lettering, type and photography by The MVA and Mike Perry/Midwestisbest. Completed in 2007, published as an edition of 500 2-color offset zines.

View
Download

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Contact

2009-06-05T20:29:00.001-05:00

We welcome your inquiries about our work, art or otherwise. Feel free to call or email.
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email:
jnh //at// the-mva.com

phone:
612-308-2279 (J. Namdev Hardisty) or 612-308-2010 (Kimberlee Whaley)

studio:
2205 California St NE, Suite 207B, Minneapolis MN 55418

Kimberlee Whaley: MonoWood

2009-06-04T15:15:00.020-05:00

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MonoWood, a project by MVA partner Kimberlee Whaley. Please leave a comment here or at Flickr if you dig this work. To share this project on your website or blog, click the "share" button in the upper-right corner of the Flickr slideshow.

Kimberlee Whaley's new personal site is in development now, should launch within a month. You can see another selection of work at kimberleewhaley.com, check her blog at ArtificialHorizons.net or follow her on Twitter.

The Penrose Annual

2009-06-02T16:17:00.009-05:00

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The Penrose Annual 1964. Uploaded by Insect54

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One of my student's came in last night with 7 or 8 issues of The Penrose Annual from the MCAD Library. I had never seen one in real life and they are absolutely stunning. From 1964 on, they were edited by Herbert Spencer (who designed the one above) and they show his influence. Essentially a printers' annual, they included full-size reproductions of maps, newspapers, advertising, plus amazing uses of spot colors. A lot of generous souls have documented them on Flickr:

Penrose Annual 1958 (Courtesy Uppercasyyc)
Penrose Annual 1972 (Courtesy Unit Editions)
Penrose Annual 1974 (Courtesy Unit Editions)

For more pictures try your luck. (Attention Flickr users: put your stuff in Sets, ok?).

More reading: For Printers By Printers
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New Skateboard Graphics updates

2009-06-01T16:03:00.010-05:00

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We did 2 big updates related to New Skateboard Graphics last week.
We uploaded a ton of new photography to Flickr, so you can see the book for real here: New Skateboard Graphics on Flickr. While you're there, there's also a new set "Selected Work" containing our favorite pieces re-photographed.

And then a big update to newskateboardgraphics.com including:
1. Recent reviews
2. 40 sample spreads
3. Interviews with Kelly D. Williams and Ben Horton.

We'll have more artist interviews coming soon, too!
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About J. Namdev Hardisty

2009-04-05T20:39:00.000-05:00

Namdev has been practicing graphic design in some form since the age of 15, when he was making punk zines by hand or on borrowed computer time.

In the 16 years following, he received a BFA in Graphic Design from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where his work was awarded with two merit scholarships and recognized by the AIGA, and gained experience working in a variety of settings: chief designer at Intermedia Arts, a non-profit art center in Minneapolis; in-house designer on Target’s brand team; and working with ad agencies.

In addition, he continues to produce art works and products that use the language and methodology of graphic design as their means.

He recently began teaching in the Continuing Studies department at MCAD and hopes to continue to teach and conduct workshops.
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Press/Publications:
Namdev’s hand-made typography and patterns have been featured in the books “Hand Job: A Catalog of Type”, which he also contributed an essay to, and “Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-drawn Patterns”, both from our friends Mike Perry and Princeton Architectural Press.

About Kimberlee Whaley

2009-04-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

Kimberlee received her BFA in Photography from MCAD in 2003 and has since followed a path that encompasses fine art, commercial photography and more. She was awarded a Jerome Travel Grant to travel to her hometown of New Bedford, Massachusetts and continue her final year project, “Fragments” and this year Kim received a State Arts Board grant to work on her winter landscape project “Plateau”.

Images from “Plateau”, as well as her projects “MonoWood” and “Drift” were exhibited in a number of group shows this year.

In addition to her work at The MVA, Kim works with food photography and shoots lifestyle and wedding photography when the opportunities are interesting.
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Press/Publications:
Kimberlee contributed photographs to Mike Perry’s book “Hand Job: A Catalog of Type”.

Under the art direction of Deb Littlejohn (Design Institute and TWO), Kim created a photographic taxonomy of mapping techniques and strategies for the book “If/Then: Mapping”, edited by Janet Abrams and Peter Hall, and published by the now defunct University of Minnesota Design Institute.