Kollector's Blog

14 Nov

Movie posters that look strangely like...

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design, movie industry

Ever wondered where you saw that movie poster before ? Sometimes, differences between two movie posters from two different movies are very few and far between indeed. This said, it's obvious the message has to be clear and directly touch the targeted audience: there's not much room for doubts and wandering toughts. But sometimes the lack of difference is...uncanny at best !

Let us take you to http://www.ufunk.net/insolite/les-affiches-de-films-se-ressemblent-toutes/ when Christophe Courtois has assembled together movies posters that look so much like each other one wonder why they just didn't use the original poster and just changed the title....

12 Sep

Less is More !

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design

Once in a while, we just find videos or musics that are just self-explanatory and beautiful...
Craig Shimala is a talented young multimedia artist from Chicago and some of his work is rather incredible, profound yet simple and evocative.

his website: http://www.craigshimala.com
an incredible vision of Chicago, still using that mirror effect to its best: http://vimeo.com/18203555
more videos from him: http://vimeo.com/cshimala

01 Sep

Dazed, thoughts provoking and...

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design

It's not everyday one find a commercial website dedicated to make things move a little bit further than the usual mainstream and I suppose the longtail theory (and the fact that it does make "smaller niche" shine more) counts a lot and allow us to stumble on interesting things...

Dazed Digital is a very clever and exciting online mag (outburst from its sister mag Dazed And Confused) mixing up and mashing out videos, fashion, music and blogging. Launched by a famous UK photographer, it has making its goal to be thought provoking and we can only agree on the idea and enjoy its application.

http://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/just-tell-the-truth/ allows you to enter/confess your actual frame of mind and expose it to the world. Sounds familiar ? Not when it's put aside other entries, it starts to form a never ending work of art about your and their feelings....

29 Aug

From heavy metal way to great pictures...

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design

We often take heavy-metal for the musical equivalence of frontal lobotomy, and most of the times it does fit the description, even for the people loving that musical genre. But we shouldn't take for granted the people behind the instruments and think they are plain dumbed by the sheer ferocity of their music. Look at Nikki Sixx, bassist of Mötley Crüe, the legendary heavy rock outfit: behind the bandana and the make-up stands a real artist and a great photographer.
And a serious one-liner addict too: "I have a wonderful assistant," Sixx said during his talk with journalist Kristine McKenna, as his pictures flashed on a digital screen. "I tell her I need four amputees and a midget and she finds them."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/nikki-sixx-addiction-softened-my-...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KOLLECTOR: track your songs on radios in real time. worldwide.
register for the free beta version on...

26 Aug

The ten worst record covers EVER.

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

albums, graphic design

Seems like graphics are a pit without an end when it comes to album covers.

Oh, wait, most of today's music is bought without a cover as such ! Ask the old ones, they will all tell you the pleasure of looking an album cover for hours, deciphering what the band really meant by putting the bass player in front of the singer, or why they used bright orange with gold for the title fonts...
And then came the CD, this little piece of plastic that had an 8 pages booklet that was sold with glasses so you could read the tiny tiny tiny lettering.
And now mp3s: you don't need eyes no more, the cover is gone most of the time, and to think of it, most of the times you don't need ears cos they aren't no more trebles, the bass is gone and it's all compressed anyway :)

Naah, just kidding. We at Kollector we love album cover and we can only share with you this unique link to Record Cover Purgatory :)

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9374

03 Aug

Amon Tobin injects a new dimension into...

Published by antoine,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design

We need to bring back the experience factor in music, and playing live is one moment to do so.
Amon Tobin (www.amontobin.com), a legendary electronic music artist on a legendary label (Ninja Tune) has take the live gig to yet another level. This is no more a simple reddition of an album or a physical presence on a stage, this is far beyond...well, words, really.

Amon has been working with Chicago based Leviathan studioand VJ Vello Virkhaus to provide a trully stunning live experience.

A more detailled video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrt7-kIgIM and because we can't stop looking at it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeBuEPFf_SM
More insights about the artist in this interview:http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/features/amon-tobin-interview-0611.html

21 Jul

Hommage to Alex Steinwess

Published by jean-marc,

0 comment(s)

General

graphic design, music industry

Alex Steinwess just passed away, aged 94. He is credited as the inventor of the record sleeve as, before he joined Columbia Records in 1939, vynils only had plain brown paper sleeves. By illustrating record sleeves, he successfully grabbed the crowd and Columbia saw a 800% jump in sales in a mere few months. In 1948, again a genious idea: he started using cardboard sleeve and the modern record sleeve was born!

Coming from the Parsons School of Art and Design, Alex Steinwess was inspired by Bauhaus allemand, russian constructivism but also surrealism and even psychedelia later on. He wasn't stubborn and loved to surprise and came up with some legendary record covers.

Let's celebrate this visionnary artist who changed for ever the way music was perceived.

http://www.hardformat.org/designers/alex-steinweiss2/
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/
Alex Steinweiss, The Inventor of the Moderne Album Cover, 422 pp., 49,99 €. Collector edition 500 € (Taschen, 2009)