Munro House in Leeds, England, are commissioning a rather exciting new public art project. They’re looking for applicants to create something on the exterior of this 1930s warehouse turned creative hub – the building gets great public exposure (being on all of the main transport links) so whatever goes on there will be seen by a lot of people.

“We want you to create something that grabs passersby, car drivers and train passengers by the short and curlies, generates some chat, enlivens the surroundings and makes the residents proud.  We want to put Munro House on the map and we believe the talent is out there to do it.”

There’s an initial budget of £10k and the deadline for responses is 3rd March, so get your skates on if you fancy entering. There are no restrictions (geographical or otherwise) on who can enter. I’m on the judging panel representing FFF and am pretty darn excited to see what people put forward.

Interested applicants are invited to come and check out the venue on Weds 15th Feb to discover more about the venue and its residents.

More details and RSVP info can be seen on the Culture Vulture website.

Advertise here with BSA

Well travelled Italian Scots designer Pete Rossi has spent some time this year working at the fantastic Studio Astrid Stavro in Majorca, where he had a chance to work on some great publishing projects. The Spanish Advertising Annual 2011 ‘Club de Creativos’ is well worth a look; it features exquisite pencil drawn illustrations on uncoated paper stock in the annual’s ‘Ideas’ section, contrasted beautifully with full colour reproductions on coated paper for the ‘Execution’ section.
Pete has also recently returned from a visit stateside, where he was bestowed with the honour of Young Gun 2011 by the Art Directors Club of New York. A truly impressive achievement, doing Scottish design proud — congratulations Pete.

Advertise here with BSA

To celebrate the release of director/designer Mike Mills’ new film Beginners, in cinemas July 22nd, we’re are offering two lucky winners the chance to win a pair of tickets each to an exclusive preview screening of the film plus Q&A with Mike Mills on Monday 11th July.

From writer/director Mike Mills comes Beginners, a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) only months after his father Hal Fields (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away.

Director Mike Mills is also an established graphic designer/illustrator who has worked with some of the world’s largest brands on their advertising campaigns, as well creating album covers and music videos for music artists such as Moby, Beastie Boys, Beck Sonic Youth and Yoko Ono.

To be in with the chance of winning a pair of tickets to this exclusive screening + Q&A, simply tell us what Arthur (the dog) is thinking in this still from the film. The two wittiest answers will win!

Answer by email to submissions[at]formfiftyfive.com, making the subject BEGINNERS.

Terms and Conditions
• Competition open to UK residents only
• No cash alternative is available
• Screening + Q&A will be taking place in London on 11th July, winners must be available to attend on that day

A Universal Picture © 2011 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved

Advertise here with BSA

Daniel from Graphical House got in touch to tell us about the new Scotland Can Make It initiative which they have designed the identity and website for. Initiated by Creative Scotland and inspired by London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, Scotland Can Make It! aims to celebrate Scottish creativity and stimulate the relationship between the country’s creative and manufacturing sectors. Against the backdrop of these two major sporting events, Scotland Can Make It! will present six new, limited edition souvenirs, designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland and leaving a lasting material legacy from Scotland’s dynamic and imaginative cultural landscape.

The project has been designed to enable relationships and collaborations between Scotland’s creative practitioners and our manufacturing industries. As the name suggests, all the souvenirs will be produced in Scotland and applicants are asked to suggest a manufacturing company they could work with. The six winning entrants will each work closely with Panel on the research and development of their designs. Each successful commission will receive a £1000 fee and a maximum budget of around £2000 will be allocated to the development and production of each souvenir prototype.

Scotland Can Make It! is not just open to designers and makers: music, textiles, accessories, books, stationery, clothing, prints and homewares are amongst the types of work the organisers would be interested in seeing submissions for, and proposals for inter-disciplinary collaborations involving writers, musicians, visual artists and designers are particularly welcome. Application packs can be downloaded at www.scotlandcanmakeit.com from Monday 6 June 2011, when the project will formally launch. Submissions are invited from established and emerging creative practitioners and will be judged by a panel of creative practitioners and industry experts, including current Turner Prize nominee Martin Boyce, leading design retailer Sheridan Coakley, Rob Young (Editor-at-large, The Wire), Christina Jansen (Curator, The Scottish Gallery), and Creative Scotland’s Leonie Bell (Creative Programmer: London 2012 and Glasgow 2014). All submissions must be received by 5pm on Monday 25 July.

In 2012, an exhibition featuring the souvenir prototypes and a behind-the-scenes look at all the design and manufacturing processes involved to date will tour Scotland.

Submission instructions
Download application packs from www.scotlandcanmakeit.com

Advertise here with BSA

FFF have teamed up with Uberminimall to giveaway 25 Piolo stands and Trickle apps. For you’re chance to win, just visit our Twitter and retweet the giveaway tweet.

Advertise here with BSA

There’s a nice selection of photos of the winning, highly commended and commended work from the Review 2010 on Antalis McNaughton’s Flickr page, including the fantastic Maybourne Papers from Construct, who were the overall winners. Congratulations to Construct, and all the other finalists.

Advertise here with BSA

Title: SNEAKER SPEAKERS

Artist: NASH

Sneaker customiser Nash responsed to the brief by transforming a pair of all-white Nike Air Force 1’s into a fully functional set of ‘Sneaker Speakers’. Nash was a perfect choice for as we see sneaker customisation as

its own form of Inspired Ingenuity. Read an interview with Nash here.

Title: INGREDIENTS

Artist: CEMAL OKTEN

Symbolising Cuba’s love of music, product designer Cemal Okten has used everyday objects to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The fully functional headphones are made from a tin can, a coat hanger, a piece of rope and two corks.

Title: PICNIC TABLE

Artist: I HAVE POP™

Founded by Jurjen Semeijn, Amsterdam-based I Have Pop™ is known for its innovative ideas and multi-dimensional projects. For this street art installation they appropriated the fences from a local roadworks site and constructed a picnic table in the park. See the video of the I Have Pop™ piece here.

The Identity:

Intercity also created the Inspired Ingenuity logo, using objects from around the studio including a ring-pull, polystyrene packaging, a fuse, a paperclip and a coat-hanger.

Advertise here with BSA

Cut&Paste today announced an extension to the US submission deadline for its 2010 brilliantly named Global Digital Design Tournament. The new deadline is September 17, providing one more week for designers to enter to compete. Designers around the world are invited to enter online. The 2010 Call for Competitors is open for entries in 2D, 3D, and Motion Design. US test rounds for New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles will begin the weekend of September 18-19.

Advertise here with BSA

Cardiff Design Festival is an annual celebration of design in October. There’s a programme of design related events that inform, inspire and provoke. And The Best of Welsh Design is showcase of design talent in Wales.

This years Cardiff Design Festival is running a public vote this year, to peruse the participants and vote for your choice, visit Cardiff Design Festival – Submissions

Advertise here with BSA

Introducing the new t-shirt design contest Little Help Project 2. Animated by Robert Wallace.

The Little Help project is more than just another t-shirt design contest; the first prize is a complete start up package for a new t-shirt label. Once again we are offering 400 of our popular AS5002 Paper and AS4002 Wafer t-shirts plus all printing and custom re-labelling costs.

Advertise here with BSA