StudioReview

Here's some milky fresh treats for you from Madrid's, Serial Cut. The use of pastel colour in a lot of the folio gives the work a really interesting point of difference. Im loving the concept for Addict Hair, with a card for each season. It's such a simple idea but it makes total sense for a business that revolves around seasonal trends to have an identity that goes with the flow and reflects these changes, this concept could work just a s well with a fashion label or even a restaurant. Also loving the explosive milky type work for the Channel 4 book, as shown below. It's a really tight folio on a simple to navigate site, there's nothing worse then finding a studio with great work and then not being able to figure how to view it, that's why I'm totally down for this bare-bones blog style website like Serial Cut's. Check it out.

Hola! Próspero Año Nuevo. To start off the year we're checking out Mexico City superstars Hula Hula. I'll be visiting Mexico in May-July so I thought I'd give props to the local talent. Hula Hula have a diverse folio of work but it all seems to have a common sense of dynamism and fun. There is such a great use of bold colour combinations throughout the folio that must be influenced in some way by the colourful city the studio resides in. I've put a few of my favorite samples below but check out the site as there's lots of gems in there. Also worth checking out is Kong, a low brow art store/gallery in Mexico City that Hula Hula and collaborators opened in 2006, I'll definitely be checking it out in person in May. If anyone knows of any other great studios of any discipline in Mexico let me know. Adiós.

As we all know It Began In Africa, so we're on the hunt for any quality creative talent coming out of this vast land. It's the only remaining continent on our map without any StudioReview's, so if anyone knows of any studios or individuals, please drop a comment below.

I wanted to give a shout out to some local talent (local for me anyway), Studio Binocular. Fresh outta' the back streets of Richmond, Studio Binocular are producing some interesting work for some biug name clients. I know from past experience RMIT University pain in the balls to work with, that's why I was super impressed with the posters (see below) Binocular created to promote specific universities degrees. A lot more intresting then the aspirational wank Melbourne University is producing at the moment. Also some nice product branding work (see below) for Kmart Australia, who aren't as adventurous as their American counterparts. It's always nice to see a small studio doing interesting work, check out Binocular's newly revamped website, (keep refreshing to see the alternate backgrounds) it's pretty minimal but it does the job.

We're not all about print and web design here at StudioReview, that's why our latest review happens to be on the Japanese product design outfit, 100%. A relatively new studio, 100% was launched in late 2006 and as the name suggests they except nothing less then perfection in the products they create. They only have five products to their name so far, but each is designed with the utmost consideration given to both form and function. The combination of simplicity, functionality and aesthetics reminds me of fellow Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, the man behind plusminuszero.

UFHO is a graphic design studio run by JUN, a guy with his finger in several other pies, including Ogilvy and Momorobo. I'm not going to bang on too much because I don't know a lot about UFHO, but I thought it was definitely worth showing some of this talented studio's work. I'm loving the photo montage/collage style that features strongly in UFHO's folio, check out the wallpaper created for the 'Under a Falling Moon' Campaign, it's really beautiful just as a stand-alone image. Thanks to Dr. Anonymous for the recommendation, if anyone else has news of kick-ass creative talent coming out of Asia, or anywhere else in the world, let us know and we'll check it out.

Hi there, StudioReview is back in action with a brilliant print artist to kick it off. I first encountered James' work in EMPTY Magazine, I instantly fell in love with his bold use of colour and hyper-active comic book style. "I have always dreamt of joining the X-men, or becoming Ultraman, or Dracula, or a Lucha Libre pro wrestler. These ambitions reflect themselves in my work.", says James. I think that quote sums up his work really nicely. I recently spoke to James and discovered a lot of his work is available for sale at a very reasonable price, so get in there before this recent graduate hits the big time. I've done just that, and my Luche Libre eating Nutri-Grain (Iron-man food! (It's an Aussie thing)) will take pride of place in the study of my apartment. Judging from James' blog he's feeling a little disillusioned due to a crappy part-time job selling DVD's in a carbon-copy mall, well I hope he escapes back to his fantasy world and creates some fresh prints for us all to enjoy. Be sure to check out his work here.

Mopa is an illustration and graphic design studio, which was founded in 2006, in Brasília - Brazil. Consisting of 5 members who seem to share a common style and compliment one and other nicely. The collective produce lively colourful illustrative work which is fluid and organic (overused words perhaps, but fitting for these guys). They bridge corporate and fashion borders and tend to focus on youth market work. A nice spot for MTV, page in Curvy and work for Linotype put them high in the design credability stakes and I imagine they are well known in Brazil. Featured below are grabs of some type treatments and a poster from collective member Lionzo.

When people talk about great design studios unfortunately Latin America is rarely mentioned, but then along came MASA like a breath of sweet Venezuelan air with some of the freshest design skills around. Orignally a collective but now the solo work of Migeul Vasquez, MASA has some strong influences from their North American cousins and also form Latin American street culture, making for a playful style that exudes energy. The unique one-line illustration style (as seen below) seems to be a staple of the studio but is still used sparingly, as they have many other killer skills to showcase. I really like the fact that their folio is almost like a constant stream of thought that flows from job to job, with variations of graphic elements popping up in several different jobs. I don't think many studios could get away with that without looking like they're just being lazy, but for MASA it seems more like a natural process then anything to do with laziness. Anyway check out their latest work and extensive archive you won't be disappointed. By the way, if you know of any other great Latin American studios drop a comment below.

Accept & Proceed describe themselves as a design and art direction facility, providing print and interactive design for a wide range of sectors including the music, fashion and advertising industries. The folio isn't huge but every post is a winner with some really nice print pieces. Whats interesting about the A&P site is their open invite to designers to reinterpret their identity. The 'A&P by' section of the site asks for participation and looks like a great networking and PR tool for the studio, the invitation has received responses from some big name designers. The first image with this post shows a pair of posters/calenders screen printed with a glow in the dark ink depicting the daily hours of daylight and darkness. The second shows a response to the 'A&P by' brief by famed caligraphic illustrator Si Scott.

Hey and welcome me! StudioReviewer Agent 002. I Figured i would kick off a round of reviews by giving a shout out to my own home studio Igloo. Igloo have a strong environmental ethic and constantly evolve creative processes through self initiated projects. We recently marked a 12 year anniversary by publishing a solid resource for young designers, the Incubator. There is a strong focus on web and digital media at Igloo and the studios site is updated constantly.

OrdinaryKids are anything but ordinary, they possess an originality and passion for design that makes them freakishly bigger and stronger than all the other kids in the playground. I can just see them now, holding the other kids by their ankles while they shake them furiously to scavenge whatever lunch money they might be hiding. No, I'm sure they wouldn't do that, but they probably would be talking up their shit-hot skills, and rightly so. These guys don't really have any one particular style that they roll-out but they do show super-strength in photo-collage in a lot of their work. Anyway, I've added a couple of interesting pieces from there current site. I couldn't resist including this meat/vege image, have you ever seen anything so disgustingly beautiful? I'm looking forward to the launch of their new site which I imagine will be any day now, but until then be sure to check out their latest work. Oh yeh, also check out their effects reel...some cutting edge stuff.

Dead Wrong is an event showcasing a series of collaborative drawings from Matlok & Hank. Matlok & Hank met in hospital and quickly began exchanging and subverting each others drawings. Come and see them fully rehabilitated. They are strong! After having a sneak-peek at the duo's work, I can honestly say it's definitely worth checking out. So come along and see if you can score a few free Little Creatures while your at it. Its on Friday 23rd of March, 6.30pm at Robio, 73 Gertrude St, Fitzroy. See you there. If you have a studio-related event that you'd like to promote let us know at studioreview@gmail.com

This studio was recommended by one of its colloborators, the equally talented Musician/Sound Designer, Joel Pickard, check out his amazing collection of work at Hatfarm. Ok, the guys at Feel Good Anyway look like they're having a lot of fun; there is a definite sense of experimentation in their work, resulting in a folio that is funny, sharp and brilliantly simple. FGA have a strong sense of story telling in their motion work, which is probably wy I chose these two particular peices. The first is a TVC for a local take-away joint, "Burgerville", featuring a re-incarnation of a bear originally part of a series of motion experiments they completed while they were meant to be on vacation (now that's commitment). The second TVC shown below, Things on a Stick, was created for the Oregan Lottery. It utilises the illustration skills of Patrick Long. This ad is quite weird and funny, why can't Australian advertising be like this? Instead of a few quality ads amongst a sea of "Crazy Bargain Carpet Salesmen" and "Johnny Abdo Abdominator's"...sigh.

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This studio's site is simply one of the slickest presentations of a folio I've ever seen. Big Spaceship work with Big brands on Big budget Big campaigns. In fact, there isn't much about this company that isn't big. There is so much to explore on this site it's going to take you a while, I've just shown the first two projects I stumbled upon because they are both pretty solid. The reason Big Spaceship land the big clients is because they create content that is interactive, original, entertaining and engaging. So instead of looking at a pair of Nike sneakers, you're creating your own sci-fi scene for the Nike girl to run through. What is the purpose or meaning behind this Nike effect generator? I've got no idea, but the point is I spent 5 minutes playing around with the different effects. So this means I spent five minutes staring at a girl running in Nike sneakers, need I say more. The same goes for the Stranger than Fiction game that asked you to make your own unusual sentence from a jumble of words and submit it to the gallery. As more and more inpatient audiences begin to ignore traditional ads, it's becoming clear that engaging interactive content is clearly the key to the future of advertising. Big Spaceship, are at the forefront of this advertising revolution and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with as more and more studios/agencies realise this future.

Karin from Maräng was kind enough to let StudioReview know that they have ironed out any bugs in the site and added a few new jobs since they were StudioReviewed last November, such as the branding for luxury lingerie company Sexy by Sweden, part of which is shown below. Check out the new and improved website.

It's hard to know where to start when reviewing a studio like 3 Deep, it's a little overwhelming. They have a massive amount of great design works to their name, then you add to that a design conference entitled EverythinginBetween, a publishing wing, and a list of awards longer then your arm, and you've got yourself something more then a regular studio, 3 Deep is a design empire. I've chosen two projects that I thought we're quite interesting to show below. The first is a submission packaging for Buro Architects. It's a clever use of a theme, in this case topography, as a design element. The second piece I chose is an exhibition design for Laminex, a company that in recent years has experienced a fairly drastic design revival. I chose this because I find it both exciting and deeply satisfying that a client would agree to something so minimal and artistic to represent there consumer product/business, it looks great and is probably going to leave a longer lasting impression on someone then a traditional exhibition stand. Check out 3 Deep's site, explore and discover, they have some real gems in there. I'm pretty sure this is my last post for this year so thank you to all the StudioReview readers and all the great studios that make this blog possible, I'll be on the lookout over the break and back into it in 2007 with all the best studios for you to feast your eyes on. Merry XMA$!

Hey Hey Hey, I had a little break from StudioReview but I'm back at it for a last stint before the XMA$ holidays. I recently discovered the man behind the CD artwork for The Shins - Chutes too Narrow. It's a creative use of Illustration, folds and die-cut to create dimension in a 2D image. It really jumped off the shelf when I first saw it back in 2003. Anyway it turns out the Mayor of LeDouxville, the Honorable Mr. Jesse LeDoux has created some great CD artwork and posters for a bunch of killer musicians including, Death Cab for Cutie, Pedro the Lion and Elliot Smith, just to name a few. I'm a massive fan of screen printed band posters at the moment so I'm loving LeDoux's work, he has a really playful style that is distinctive but still quite eclectic. Check out the store and buy some of his vinyl toys or posters, it's all good stuff. Also check out KONG (poster for opening of store below) it looks like a super-cool design/art store/gallery in Mexico City, their currently holding an exhibition on the music poster veterans The Ames Bros. I'll definately be checking that out when I visit Mexico in 08.

Kozyndan are probably most well-known for their Hokusai inspired Giant Robot cover, "Uprisings", but what really drew me to their work was their amazing and bizarre panoramic street-scape illustrations. These illustrations are like a Where's Wally book on acid, with a bunch of bizarre situations and scenarios all happening within the one scene. Kozyndan were in Melbourne earlier this year for a show at Outre Gallery, I got my SARS inspired artwork (below) signed by both artists so I was very happy. Check out the rest of their work, like the cute and slightly disturbing Qee bear below that is a reference to one of their earlier pieces, and one of my favourite panoramics, "Kin-san's Business Trip".

Thanks again to Reidar from Norway for another hot tip with Mogollon, If anyone has a studio they'd like to see on StudioReview please let me know. Don't be afraid to nominate your own studio if you think it's worth reviewing. Mogollon is collection of graphic design, production design, branding, illustration and motion graphics by a fresh, young duo who met while working on a film documentary for PS1/MoMa. They have a nice little collection of fonts that they've created (in merchandise section), one of which, entitled "Greatest Font", is featured below in the "Two Great Nations" Invite. But, besides their exceptional design, what really blew me away when visiting Mogollon's, site was Mogollon FM, hours and hours and hours of streaming music, great music, I'm hooked I've listened to three hours now and I see no sign of stopping, bookmark the page for a plethora of studio-friendly music. Mogollon obviously have strong ties with the music industry, with more record label identities then you can poke a stick at, and an appreciation of music that surpasses most studios pile of CD's sitting next to the stereo.

Round haven't been around for very long, but over the past few years they have cemented their position as one of Australia's leading studios. Since devloping the new NGV (National Gallery Victoria) identity in 2003, Round have primarily worked within the arts industry, but certainly not exclusively. The thing I like about this studio is that they can create something as lavish as the Engaged Exhibition promotion (below), using every printing embelishment known to man, but they can also create something beautiful using two colours like the Ginger Boy restaurant identity below. Check out the rest of their folio, they're a great studio, and they spend a lot of time helping out passionate students and graduates around Melbourne.

I'm on the hunt for some quality Asian studios. It's time for Asia to represent, from Japan to Indonesia. Whether it's design, photography, illustration, creative, whatever, drop a comment if you have any you think might be worth reviewing.

Big Active is a fairly accurate description of this studio/agency. They cater for all sorts of jobs with an army of Designers, Illustrators and Photographers ready to do their thing. Thanks to Shane from Igloo in Melbourne for pointing out this gem of a studio. Straight up, the standout for me would have to be the "Keane - Under the Iron Sea" branding, utilising the beautiful illustration work of Sanna Annukka. This is a CD that really caught my eye while perusing the shelves of JB HiFi, I didn't buy it but I did listen to the album, purely based on the fact that I loved the cover, I know you shouldn't judge a book (or album) by its cover but I couldn't resist. The other big winner in my books is another CD, Beck's new album "The Information" . Like the Arlo photographer identity , this CD has a blank cover and a bunch of stickers so you can mix and match to create your own unique Beck album cover. It's a great concept, you can rarely go wrong when you create interactive, engaging and playful design peices, I wish their was more of it.

Thanks to Reidar from Norway for suggesting this fine studio from his home land. I love the fact that Norwegian Domains are ".no", almost as cool as the Nathan Barley's infamous Cook Islands domain, www.trashbat.co.ck. Bleed have some great work on a cool site, their about page says they have a concept stroe called "One" which i find intruiging but they don't really eleborate on the subject. I'm a massive advocate of studios using their skills to start self-initiated projects, I don't think it's done enough. Anyway checkout the folio, they've got a great range of work, I picked out two that cauht my eye, I always appreciate when someone makes a simple little brochure look special, so thats why I included the Lone brochure. Is it just me or does everything look better when its shot with a polished wood background? It seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment.

Maräng seem to have some pieces in their folio that most designers only dream of. Like the Magnificent Book on football legend Pele, weighing 12kg and costing £1600/£4000. Or, the beautifully simple Brochure for Mexican beer, "Patrona" (meaning female boss). I couldn't get the image slideshows on the site to work, which was really frustrating because the work Maräng is creating deserves a closer look, so I hope they fix it soon but check it out anyway.

Wow, Arlo have been doing the rounds in the blog world at the moment, and for good reason, they have some really sweet work. But why is it that some studios greatest work is never produced? I know, I know, it's all about the cish cash but anyway I think Arlo's greatest work is the very innovative Identity for photographer Joe Wighdal (below). The collateral is accompanied by a large sticker poster of the photographers work and he can stick a different photo according to who he is giving it to, ingenious! Why wouldn't you produce that? And this super-cute logo (below) submitted for an intel dual processor comp, don't know if it was used but it's very cool. Anyway, they've got lots of great work that's actually been produced aswell so check it all out. I also discovered that they've created some custom blank CD's for a website called 5inch, interesting idea for a business and worth checking out too.

According to his site Josh is a self proclaimed 'citizen of the world', Josh spent his youth in Taiwan, indoors drawing and reading mystery novels. He went to school for Illustration at the Art Center College of Design. Currently, Josh lives in Los Angeles and works out of a studio space in nearby Koreatown, with his two small dogs, Cody and Porkchop. He's got a great style, it's definately worth checking out his folio and also have a look at his blog to see his latest work and thoughts.