Robin Velghe

I recently stumbled across Robin Velghe's work while browsing through Instagram and it instantly became my flavour for the month. This simple style of animation using flat colour illustration has been really trendy lately, and I've been following a lot of animators who have mastered the technique. I LOVE the kind of stuff Mark Magnusson does. Robin's animations has this beautiful grittiness to the artwork. It's like watching something printed animate and I just want to pick it up and touch the textures. Is that weird?

Check it out for yourself. 

http://instagram.com/rhymezlikedimez
https://www.robinvelghe.com/

The Palau Pledge

I must have missed the press release of this campaign when I was travelling through South America in December. But since coming back home, while catching up over things I missed I came across this brilliant work created by Host/Havas Australia - The Palau Pledge.

It's an initiative that helps the Pacific Island nation of Palau tackle the negative impacts on the environment of mass tourism. 

The idea is simple. Working together with The Palau Legacy Project team, they created a passport stamp that requires all visitors to sign - an agreement not to damage or exploit the natural resources. They also shot a film to be shown on every inbound flight, asking visitors to support Palau's tourism in a more conscious, sustainable way.

Check out the site here: https://palaupledge.com/

And just this morning I read it won the coveted Black Pencil at D&AD. So well deserved. Bravo. 

For full project information visit gustavovampre.com

Coming in Hot...and Spicy

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I don't even know if anyone reads it to be honest. 

Regardless, I thought I'd share these simple but very well executed print ads from Ogilvy Hong Kong for KFC Hot & Spicy. Not a single line of text or price point needed. It's a fine example of effective communication - do it in as few words as possible. 

Oh and my much more talented brother John Koay was the genius behind these. Enjoy.

Ken Taylor

So, the other day as I was visiting my favourite gallery in Sydney, Outré, they had Ken Taylor's print for Queens Of The Stone Age. Admittedly I was not familiar with his name, but upon looking up his body of work quickly realised I'd already pinned half a dozen of his work previously on Pinterest. I love love love super-crafted artwork and this is right up that alley. I could spend hours studying the layers of shading and the fluid shapes they take, the carefully selected limited colour palette, and the composition of type and visual. I feel a little embarrassed I hadn't known such a legend in the industry! Nevertheless, if there's any of you out there who hasn't seen his work check it out here - he's quickly become my new fav. 

Superbet

I normally write about other people's work, but here's one for my own passion project, 'Superbet'. So last night a French journalist from The Huffington Post emailed me asking to use my images for an article on my work. I was both surprised and over-the-moon they had somehow found my work as I haven't PR'd it too much. And to my surprise when I woke this morning I have seen it popping up all around the world in different blogs!

What started out as a humble project just for fun had grown into one of my favourite works. As a child up until now I've always been a quite the fan of Marvel and DC superheroes. I pretty much learnt how to draw by copying those collectible cards as a kid. And even nowday, I'm combining my love of type and graphic design with these characters.

If you'd like to purchase prints, they are available on Society 6. And until this Sunday (June 7) there is FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on art prints exclusively via this link!:
http://society6.com/simonkoay?promo=HBVJ49CKTQ9M

Here are a few more links covering the work:
Design Taxi
Huffington Post
Creative Market
Moviepilot
Paredro
Digital Lucie

Species in Pieces

This is hands-down the slickest, most beautiful website I have seen in a long time. Bryan James, a UK-based designer who already has multiple FWA awards under his belt, has just released his latest project tinkering with CSS Polygons. It is an interactive experience educating viewers of 30 of the most interesting, yet also endangered species around the world. Take a look yourself here, or check out more of Bryan James' work here.

Air Max Day

Over the past few weeks I’ve been honoured to work in collaboration with Nike Sportswear Hong Kong to celebrate Air Max Day, along with 4 other local artists.
Each illustrator was tasked with illustrating the Air Max model in the context of Hong Kong culture at the time. Luckily I got to illustrate the Air Max 1, the original model designed by Tinker Hatfield released in 1987.
If you're in Hong Kong, please come and check out the work at Kicks Lounge in Tsim Sha Tsui next Thursday (Mar 26)! I'll upload the work shortly after launch day.
‪#‎airmax‬ ‪#‎airmaxdayhk‬

Play with Oreo

As part of Oreo's latest 'Play with Oreo' campaign, 10 illustrators were tasked with bringing to life a word associated with the world's favourite cookie such as 'twist' and 'dunk'. Artists include some of my personal favourites such as McBess and Alex Trochut. What a dream brief to work on! Drool over the fantastic executions here.

Process - Tom Anders

I believe process is one of the most mesmerising things to see in design. As a designer, I go through many rounds of amends, redoing things and crafting them until I get it right. In the process, many things will be lost to the end audience. Sometimes I find it a little sad we see the simplest-looking output and have no idea about the amount of time and thinking spent to refine a design to that point.
Abduzeedo had written a post about designer/creative Tom Anders showing some of the process and thinking behind his animal logos. I love the geometry behind it all. Check it out.

http://abduzeedo.com/new-animal-logos-construction