It seems like the ephemeral nature of digital has only emphasized just how special and diverse print design can be. This week, we head to London for a marathon we won’t soon forget, join an art-book Kickstarter that sets a fantastic example for all future crowd-funding events, and find our photos are so much more meaningful when fed back to us on paper. (Previous Cool Designs of the Week can be found here.)
Nike Marathon Invitation Design
The great thing about doing work for a company like Nike is that money is seldom a problem. Take this inspiring laser-cut invitation for its London “We Run” event designed by Italian studio Happycentro, which includes six foldable layers, gold foil, and hand-mounted pieces.
‘The Art of Loish’ Book Design
Kickstarter and other crowd-funding sites are a big source of seed money for many creative endeavors today, yet crafting a successful Kickstarter campaign remains a huge challenge. When we saw the one that digital artist Loish put together for her art book, we were floored. THIS is how you do a Kickstarter campaign – particularly for a print design project. It includes a:
- Mockup of the book itself
- Friendly, detailed video that not only explains the goal but shows you the artist’s creative process
- Mention of the production partner for the project itself, demonstrating she’s really thought this through. (You’d be surprised how often Kickstarters don’t get this far.)
The campaign runs through Sept. 24th if you want to grab your own copy, but rest assured it has long since been funded. It reached its $32,000 goal…in two hours! (And we were so impressed by the project, we put our money where our mouth is on this one.) 🙂
Recently Magazine Design
There have been a few well-meaning offers to take your digital images and sell them back to you in print form (hmmm, maybe not so well meaning…). Perhaps the most appealing so far is BooksTo.Me, which does a snazzy job of packaging your Instagram images into a handsome book. Still, at $24 a month, it’s pretty steep. That’s why we’re intrigued by a monthly magazine format called Recently. For $9 a month, you receive an issue featuring 100 of the images you’ve taken, well, recently, printed on 100 lb. Mohawk uncoated paper. And yes – the magazine itself is indeed a “Cool Design of the Week.” We love how simple the template is, putting your images front and center without needless design elements cluttering up the process. (More on Recently here.)
This Nike invitation is truly amazing! Congratulations to all the people involved in its creation and execution.