Scott Hansen - ISO50

I am a San Francisco, California based musician (Tycho) and artist (ISO50). I created the ISO50 site originally to house my design work in a portfolio format but over the years it has grown to encompass a shop, clothing line, and blog. I have spent time as a freelance designer and worked for a few agencies, most notably, perhaps, Adobe. In the end I dropped my freelance practice and went solo to focus on my own design and music. This has given me the chance to delve into the style of design I truly enjoy creating and not be swayed by the various trends that seem to perennially filter the collective output of the design world. This is not to say that I don’t appreciate the freelance design game, to the contrary, this is where I received my education, the trenches of client work definitely played a large part in shaping the way I think about design today. But it was all of the work I did for free, for friends or for my self, that I always felt was the truest expression of my design ideals. It was these works that provided the impetus for creating ISO50 in the first place, and eventually for analyzing the origins of the ideals that are the foundation of my own design style; and finally, discussing them on this site.

Check it out

Scott Hansen (ISO50) is a designer who I am very fond of. When I am think about my own design style or process, I would say I keep things clean. I love vector, I love Bezier Curves, and I love "off" colours. Scott Hansen is sort of the anti-thesis of my own process. His work is dirty and clean all at the same time. It is layered, it is distinctive, and it is recognized for its unique look and feel amongst many other popular designers out there.

Hansen's website, iso50.com, is a both a portfolio and blog. He provides a look at his own inspirations and gives a lot of incite into the process of many other designers out there.

Make sure you CMD-D this site.

-Chad.

Dan Mumford

"Dan Mumford is a freelance illustrator/designer/screenprinter working out of Studio100 in central London, Kingsland road, and screenprint studio in Dalston." - dan-mumford.com

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A huge inspiration to my artwork over the past little while has been Dan Mumford. Based out of London, Dan is creating some of the most detailed, clean artwork I have seen in the past year or so.

Among some of the biggest draws to his work would have to be his line. If you really want to get an ideal of a guy with a strong line and an excellent grasp on curve and width, Dan is the guy. Most of his stuff is very guttural. It's dark. It's grimy. But above all else, each stroke in his work could easily stand on its own.

Please make sure to check out his portfolio, and also give him some votes on emptees.com.

-Chad.

Smashing Magazine

"Founded in September 2006, Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. We try to convince you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present. We hope that makes us different. Smashing Magazine is, and always has been, independent." - Smashingmagazine.com

Amongst one of my most frequented web spaces would be a little digital magazine called Smashing Magazine. For some strange reason, this site continually writes articles that are extremely pertinent to what I am doing on the web. For example, on two occasions when I was helping design a blog Smashing magazine posted articles on blog trends (best font-sizes, colours, widths, heights, how many columns, etcs.) that made setting up all the tideous stuff easier than its ever been for me (typesetting on the web is difficult... enough said).

The best part about this website though is its weekly round-ups. First of all, "what is a round up?" Well a round-up is a compilation of the best of a certain topic from sites across the net. Everything from, "the best hi-res icons," to "the best vertical navigation designs," these weekly posts bring me a lot of joy and also help guide me to some other great websites to start frequenting.

If you ever need help making some decisions about your web-design, and want to get a grasp on what the current trends are; smashing magazine is the site for you.

-Chad.

A True NHL 3rd Jersey

One of the best part about the new NHL(from a designers perspective) is the inclusion of something called a 3rd Jersey. A 3rd Jersey is basically a limited edition print that teams wear only on special occasions. But, often these jerseys are completely different and unique from a teams original home and away sweaters; it's something unique and fresh for long-times fans to see every year.

This jersey above is the current Toronto Maple Leafs 3rd jersey (or sweater). It's a heritage sweater, depicting the same design that would have been around during the heyday of leafs hockey (when they were winning stanley cups). However, this jersey has Always been the Leafs specialty, or 3rd jersey.
This is the Ottawa Senators 3rd sweater, by comparison it is completely different from both their home and away sweaters. When this jersey originally came out, people in Ottawa were repulsed by it, as were a lot of other critics around the league. But I would say that this jersey is the most original of any that I've seen. Nowhere on it does it have any reference to the original teams sweaters except for in the colours. That's it. When thinking about the Leafs third jersey, I am disappointed that year after year they continue with their heritage sweater (playing against an original 6 team I understand). Why not switch it up, why not use different colours and change the look completely. In comes the Toronto St.Pats.
This jersey is a mock-up created in reference to Toronto's first NHL team. The Toronto St. Patrick's, stanely cup winners in the 1922-21 season. My favourite part about this design is the colour. Green, to me, is a very distinctive colour when applied to a jersey. No other team is currently utilizing it as its main jersey colour (an accent yes - see the Dallas Stars); it's millitary, it's strong, it's Toronto of the past. For me, seeing these jerseys on our Toronto Maple Leafs would be very refreshing change to the ol' blue and white.

Here's hoping,

-Chad.