Design

Marcus Fairs is a journalist who became an entrepreneur or as he describes it: He is someone who thought he wanted to be a designer, wasn't very good at design, then discovered journalism and became an entrepreneur.

No followers, no likes, no ads – nothing but pure quality content curated by a transparent, open-source algorithm AND still somehow generating income. Sounds too good to be true? We did some research.

"Can you move a festival into digital space?" The University of Applied Arts Vienna's reply: "No." But it will be happening either way. Angewandte Festival 2020 is about to go alternate.mode, in digital and public space, from 23 to 26 June.

We asked our community on Instagram to share some accounts by talented BIPoC creatives to support in this time and in the future. Diversify your inspiration, follow them & we will be updating the list with your suggestions:

32 designers and artists joined forces and created a one-of-a-kind t-shirt for "Support Your Local Dealer".

The current crisis hits us on a global and on a very individual level simultaneously. While everyone is confronted with the same issue, it affects us on different levels, and we have our own ways of coping. We spoke to four talented women of the creative industries, asking them the same questions, gaining different perspectives. 

Humans crave their five basic senses. While sight and hearing get covered quite well in the digital world, smell, touch and taste are often left behind.

It always starts with a vision, a topic we want to explore. Very soon, we will find ourselves digging for information and being overwhelmed by our own thoughts. That's when we have to gather our inspiration.  This year, we saw shared idea documents and 400MB worth of pictures taken with our phone.

AR is becoming constantly more available through face filters on Social Media. What happens when you let people enhance their own reality?  

Can design save our planet? As the Amazon rainforests are still burning and other ugly things are happening on earth, designers may ask themselves: how can we have a positive impact through design? By choosing your clients wisely, designing smart disposable packaging and environmental or political campaigns, and thus generally promoting a healthier and happier Earth through design - there are thousands of ways. And more importantly: don't let your head down because of the disappearance of Banksy's Brexit mural in London.

The world-famous designer and artist has collected virtually every design award. As a product and graphic designer, Bregenz-born Stefan Sagmeister has worked his way up to the very top by mashing up typography and picture language in a fresh, unique and sometimes even provoking manner. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

If you are passionate about typography and design, there is no way around the name of Erik Spiekermann. The Berlin-based creator designed the famous classical font FF Meta and is the author of various typography literature. During his career, he worked on legendary projects like the graphic appearance of the city of Berlin, the control system of Düsseldorf Airport and the corporate design of Volkswagen and Audi. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

It’s pride month and EuroPride in Vienna is only a few days away. In celebration of all things pride and to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the retailer Everpress teamed up with artist agency Grand Matter curated a collection of t-shirts. Each t-shirt has been designed by another creative.

Stefan Sagmeister is certainly one of the most innovative and inspiring designers and graphic artists. Known as a "philosopher among designers", he not only designs covers for The Rolling Stones, Jay Z, David Byrne and OK Go but also initiates exciting communication projects. Together with his professional partner Jessica Walsh, he is among the leading agencies as SAGMEISTER & WALSH.

Milano Design Week - Austrian Exhibition turns Sala Reale into Design Pool: Over 40 top designers and manufacturers in the former imperial waiting room – ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA presents “Austrian Design – Pleasure & Treasure”.

Every month, the Forward Calendar brings you the most important events from our community. In contrast to regular event calendars, we don’t just collect an innumerable amount of exhibitions and conferences taking place in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Our calendar is a collection of the most inspiring events from the Forward universe. The kind of calendar that brings you forward.

The posters created by designer, illustrator and artist Kelli Anderson aim to educate people on how to document and report sexual harassment in the workplace. The poster is already hanging in several restaurants on the US West Coast and has been translated into Spanish and Chinese.

In honour of the 91st Oscars the design team of Shutterstock published their annual Oscar Pop! Poster Series. Every designer picked a Best Picture nominee and reimagined the movie poster in the style of a famous pop art artist that resonate with them. But what has Shutterstock to do with all of this? All the used material is from high-quality images, illustrations and vectors available on the platform. That way the artists demonstrate just how inspiring, and downright useful the Shutterstock collection is.

A hotel can never replace a proper home – it should be better, at least for a few days. According to André Saraiva a good hotel is an experience. André who made himself a name as a graffiti artist with numerous exhibitions and collaborations with fashion houses like Chanel and Louis Vuitton opened his first hotel Hotel Amour in Paris in 2011, followed by the Grand Amour in 2015.

Monday evening, end of October in Vienna. With some delay, autumn has arrived in the Austrian capital. Nobody is on the streets, because the cold keeps the people in the houses. The only companion on these days is the biting wind that runs over the woolen hats and scarves. But a building next to the Wienfluss in the center of the city is an exception. There, people of all ages are rushing into the large entrance area as if it were the final sale at Zara. However, their interest in this evening is not on fashion but on design. Because the most famous Austrian representative of this branch of industry is in the city. An event that electrifies the masses in Austria.

Intriguing lectures, inspiring artists, great networking opportunities: This year’s Forward Festival kickoff in April in Vienna was a full success. One of many highlights: The Adobe Stock Creative Jam event, a competition in which ten pre-selected teams had the chance to prove their creative skills.

Since the year 2014 the musician Kanye West has been unhappy. The Spanish creative art studio Cool Shit couldn't live with that anymore and made it their mission to change his state of mind. Therefore, they created a seven-meter-tall inflatable head of a grinning Kanye with the sole purpose of having you go inside and make him happy again.

Privacy-encouraging furniture is gaining popularity, as it provides complete isolation to the user in any room.

You probably have heard of hackathons, where IT-aficionados are competing against each other under time pressure. The team behind the Designathon took this paradigm and translated it into the world of design.

Woka Lamps Vienna stands for timeless design, elegant yet characterized by formal simplicity.

His characters are smooth, soft-hued and sometimes weirdly sexual, an aesthetic niche he’s cleverly carved to make them instantly recognisable.

At this year’s Forward Festivals our attendants were able to join the #ModularLettering workshop presented by Adobe. In this interactive workshop everyone was working collaboratively on an illustrated alphabet, using photos and flat graphics.

Creative directors Ill-Studio and fashion label Pigalle together with sport brand Nike have redesigned a basketball court sandwiched into a row of buildings in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.

An idea begins with curiosity. With being on the move, seeking inspiration. Sometimes we need time to reflect on an idea for it to sink in, hit another idea and become something bigger. In searching for the new, our imaginations become tangible.

She came into the world in 1995, and was soon featured in fashion and lifestyle magazines, loved by photographers and readers alike. A film career followed, including appearances in “Sex & the city”, “Spiderman” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”.

Good design needs no explanation. Quite the opposite in fact. Tests at the Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics have found that as soon as a subject needs to be told why he or she likes something its rating falls.

For almost two years SUPERSENSE has worked on realizing a common dream together with the 25hours hotel group: Developing the most analog hotel in the world!

Shanghai studio X+Living has designed a new hotel targeting a younger crowd with artwork and modern interior design. The Wheat Youth Arts Hotel is located on the seventh floor of a shopping mall in the Binjiang district of Hangzhou.

Huge fabric balloons invade concrete buildings and abandoned landscapes in this series of images by French artist Charles Pétillon. The artist took several spherical balloons, in different sizes, and wrapped them in an variety of fabrics.

Colophon Foundry has re-released its typeface Montefiore, which was first created in 2009 and created a new specimen to sit alongside the launch. “Montefiore was originally drawn in our student days at Brighton University. The road signage in Hove, East Sussex was unlike standardised UK road signage,” explains Colophon.

Lausanne-based designer Nizar Kazan sees his work as similar to that of an engineer tackling projects as problems to be solved and using materials to compose a solution. “Since I was young I’ve been passionate about things to do with the aeronautics, rail and automotive industry, engineering and philosophy,” explains Nizar.

The Nike Air Max was launched in 1987 and has gone on to become one of the most famous sneaker designs of all time. For Air Max Day 2017, ManvsMachine was commissioned to celebrate 30 years of Air Max with a huge campaign.

“Working at the magazine is a constant collaborative process, between the various departments or between the range of artists, illustrations and photographers we work with each week,” says Ben on his practice. “My day to day routine varies from designing feature stories and front-of-book pages, commissioning illustrators and conceptualising approaches for upcoming stories or issues.”

The British-Israeli designer has teamed up with Italian coffee brand illy to redesign its iconic coffee cups as part of the illy Art Collection. Usually known for his rough, metal-based, industrial designs Ron Arad takes on a different stance for this special collection.

For the March edition of the German design magazine “novum”, more than 12,500 individual cover versions were created in an elaborate procedure. This was made possible through a unique collaboration between Studio Marcus Kraft and J.E. Wolfensberger AG – both located in Zurich.

After the shock comes the realization that "whether we like it or not, Brexit is going to happen. So it's time to start thinking about what image the UK wants to project and trying to create a positive vision for the future.

LA-based animator Sean Solomon is only 24, but has been the lead designer on Fox show Lucas Bros. Moving Co. and animated an episode of Viceland’s Party Legends. In between these jobs, he’s also been creating some trippy gifs.

Swedish design agency and Forward ‘17 speaker Snask has created an eye-catching identity for Norwegian eyewear brand Kaibosh. The project is comprehensive encompassing a new brand identity, store design and a campaign for the launch.

Outstanding posters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are awarded at the yearly competition „100 beste Plakate“ (100 best posters). The design competition started in 1966 in Germany and from 2002 on designers from Austria and Switzerland could participate as well.

New York-based animator and illustrator Joel Plosz has created illustrations and more for brands like Snapchat and MTV. His unique style is characterized by well-observed and blocky figures that seem as if “Pokémon and Sesame Street had a crossover and then Lego started making sets of it”.

Online music platform Boiler Room not only has an ear for the newest trends in the music industry, but also produces cutting-edge artwork, as seen in their new zine. The team behind the brand’s designs are art director of two years Joe Prytherch and designer Caterina Bianchini, who joined Joe after a year.

Australian agency Universal Favourite created a series of mix-and-match colourful chocolates in a modular system. The Complements chocolates were designed by the agency in collaboration with the Bakedown Cakery in Sydney.

Forward ‘16 speaker Natalia Stuyk has released a couple of new projects recently that showcase her characteristic style: vivid, hypnotizing and a bit trippy. One of the projects is called ‘Touch’, a series of 3D video collages with a tropical tinge.

Swiss design studio Studio Feixen has launched a new website displaying its recent projects and other amusing features. The redesign celebrates the studio's expansion: founder Felix Pfäffli has joined forces with Raphael Leutenegger and Daniel Peter.

Based in Brooklyn, illustrator Cute Brute creates delightfully risqué images with characters often in seductive poses or in offbeat situations. Mainly male-focused, the illustrator’s clean cut figures navigate a world that’s both familiar and surreal.

Opening on the 22nd October 2016 until 8th January 2017, Vitra Design Museum will showcase an exhibit of work from the iconic design school, in ECAL Graphic Design. Type, Print, Digital, Stories.

From an outside view, people might not even think that Stefan Sagmeister is questioning happiness. He lives in his dream city New York and has achieved anything that a graphic designer could dream of.