Quote: Salvador Dali

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. SALVADOR DALI

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Quote: Henri Matisse

After a half-century of hard work and reflection the wall is still there. HENRI MATISSE

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey, the artist who was initially known for his 'Obey' guerrilla street art featuring Andre the Giant was behind the infamous 'HOPE' artwork created for the Obama campaign. Little did we know, but his artwork caused quite a stir with AP who claimed that the image was property to the news organization and breached copyright laws.

Fairey sued the AP claiming the image used was not AP property but in fact was public domain. He went on to say he never used the image the AP claimed is rightfully theirs.

This week we found out that Fairey misled his lawyers and did use the image in question. You can read about it here.

My question is why would someone who has one of the highest reputations in the art and design world risk it for some pointless lie?

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Candle Tag

My wife brought home a candle the other day. It looked a lot like most candles: colored wax in a rounded glass container with a matching glass lid.

However, I immediately spied the hang tag around it's neck. Upon closer inspection, I realized the tag is made out of a thin shaving of wood and tied to the candle with a fibrous twine. The graphics are well designed and presented. It was small and beautiful.

Lots of companies think you have to pay a fortune to get great packaging design. I would venture to guess that this tag cost mere pennies to produce. Equating quality design work with a high expense is a myth. In fact, a limited budget can often times force an effective creative outcome like this one.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Quote: Frank Capra

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. FRANK CAPRA

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Cosmic's experiment with product design

We were just got hired to design a series of very fun Christmas tree ornaments plus the packaging. This is beginning to become a commonplace occurrence for Cosmic: packaging and product design, which is funny because it isn't what we've studied. That's not to say we aren't experienced with it.

There's a shift in the marketplace for businesses. Those that start have the tools available to them to create advertising and design work for themselves. We don't recommend this route and yet, it is something we are seeing a lot of.

The other side of it is we are seeing a shift in what clients are requesting. We just finished project work on the design of a software interface for a custom website application. It was a combination between web design and product design and proved to be a very interesting and rewarding learning experience.

For the future, Cosmic is looking towards new aspects of design beyond print collateral and website design to accommodate our customer's needs.

What new unexpected shifts have you seen in your industry?

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Quote: Erich Fromm

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. ERICH FROMM

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\