Sunday Safari - Bee Buzz

 Klaus Haapaniemi

 Alain Grée, 1967, thanks to Pour toujours...

Golly Bard, Swarm of honeybees

Paper sculpture by Elsa Mora

Illustrations by Janusz Grabianski and Joanna Zimowska-Kwak, 1989

thanks to Garaż ilustracji książkowych

Illustrations from The Honeybees by Colette Portal and Animals at home, The Bee by Iliane Roels, 

both published in 1967. Thanks to the amazing flickr gallery of Arthur Van Kruining

  Another illustration from the lovely Animals at home, The Bee,

 this time thanks to Joey's Dream Garden (click to enlarge!)

André Francois, ad from Graphis 1961, thanks to the wonderful Sandi Vincent

Seijiro Kubo

Illustration from Anne and Paul Rand's Little 1

I discovered Angie Renfro thanks to Hazel Terry, 

the lovely curator of The Art Room Plant

Sunday Safari - An Army of Claws

Chicken Billy, King Crab

Last night Seba and I watched the spectacular Oceans documentary by French directors 

Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud. The otherwordly beauty of aquatic life forms is so inspirig!

One of the most awesome sequences of the movie was the encounter between 

two immense and heavily armoured crab battalions; it reminded me of the

incredible battle scenes of the Lord of the RIngs...

Animalarium's army is small but larger than life!

Bruno Munari, from Gigi cerca il suo berretto

Van Gogh, Crab on its back, thanks to This Isn't Happiness

 Lester Beall, Scope magazine cover, 1948, thanks to Alki1

 Leonard Baskin, from A Little Book of Natural History

Elizabeth Berrien, Crab

 Karolin Schnoor, Lobster Heart

 Rachel Wilson on the Behance Network

 Edward Bawden, An old crab and a young at Fry Art Gallery

Eleanor Grosch, Blue Crab

Sebastiano Ranchetti, Orange Crab

Tom Kamfuji, from AIGA Graphic Design USA No.4

Paul Rand, cover of The Condemned of Altona, 

thanks to bookworship

Mad Men & Crazy Critters - 5th episode: Keeping it simple

Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated. Paul Rand

Yesterday was the end of spring semester at FIDI, and my turn to assign grades 

(my least favorite part of being a teacher) and say goodbye to my dear students, 

who are going back to their homes across four continents and moving on 

to new challenges and adventures. I know I am going to miss them, but on the bright side 

I will finally have some time to work on my art and garden, update my website and 

flickr and clear my backlog of emails... (btw, I am the one in the red raincoat)

Stafford Fabrics, 1942

Anton Maix Fabrics

I have come to really enjoy teaching, a work which among other wonderful things 

has inspired me to study and love more deeply graphic design, a field I entered many

 years ago mostly by accident. Doing research for the lectures also has the added bonus 

of giving me an extra chance to stumble upon interesting designs featuring animals...

Ohrbach's Department Store, 1940s

Today's finds are a series of ads designed and illustrated by Paul Rand 

in his classic playful and modern style. Most of the pictures come from 

the extensive and beautiful website dedicated to him, a very good place to start 

in case you are not familiar with this great and highly influential designer.

Architectural Forum, 1943

Robeson Cutlery Company, late 1940s

El Producto Cigar Company, 1952-57

Westinghouse, 1960s