I was 14 back then with no local skate shop so getting my hands on a copy took a bit of work each month and usually involved a train journey. Commercially, the mid nineties skate industry was in a slump but the lo-fi D.I.Y ethic of the (mostly skater owned) companies just added authenticity to the whole thing.

When people are doing something for love rather than money, those scenes quickly attract and assimilate like minded individuals, equally interested in and open to doing their own thing. That attitude combined with the lack of any significant corporate presence made certain skate magazines of the era a hot bed of interesting graphic design, photography and art in general.

I want to share this Ari Marcopoulos feature in particular because it inspired me to purchase my first SLR and go on to study photography at College a few years later, but also because of the way it basically sums up a lot of what felt so visceral to me at the time… people just doing their own thing.

You can click on each of the images above for a bigger version but if you’re struggling to read the text or would like a better look at the photos, I’ve uploaded some slightly higher resolution scans here.

Really enjoyed this, always motivating to hear from high profile people who’s feet remain firmly on the ground.

Under the Strictly Kev pseudonym, Foakes was part of the original DJ Food line up alongside Patrick Carpenter (PC) and Coldcut’s Matt Black and Jonathan More. A friend of mine picked up Refried Food sometime in 97 and it was following up on the remixers there that led me to the likes of Autechre, Fila Brazillia, Luke Vibert and Mathew Herbert. Shortly after, I discovered the Blech II mix that he and PC had put together, which for me still stands as one of the best examples of what you can make of a mixtape (look at that tracklist!).

Alongside the music and DJing, Foakes has delivered some seriously tasteful artwork as graphic designer at Ninja Tune. Over the years, he’s created a visual profile that only long term realtionships like this or The Designers Republic & Warp seem to yield.

I recommend you spend some time exploring the history of projects on his site. If you’re into digging for good stuff you may have missed, the connections to be found there are certainly worthy of investigation.

www.djfood.org

From their site…

“NEWWORK magazine is a large-format arts publication for Connoisseur of fresh ideas. Designed and published biannually by studio NEWWORK, each issue features new work from a wide range of artists and creators in the worlds of fine art, design, high fashion, culture, and politics. From art directors to business leaders, design students to curators, NEWWORK’s contributors are united in their passion to push the boundaries of their disciplines. Among the magazine’s special features are bold, custom-designed typefaces and a twist on the traditional newspaper format, offering a stimulating juxtaposition of striking design and everyday simplicity. Since pages can be separated, each layout can be hung on the wall as an individual art piece.”

visit www.newworkmag.com

From the Gestalten website…

“The application of diagrams extends beyond its classical field of use today. Data Flow charts this development, introduces the expansive scope of innovatively designed diagrams and presents an abundant range of possibilities in visualising data and information. These range from chart-like diagrams such as bar, plot, line diagrams and spider charts, graph-based diagrams including line, matrix, process flow, and molecular diagrams to extremely complex three-dimensional diagrams. Data Flow is an up-to-date survey providing cutting-edge aesthetics and inspirational solutions for designers, and at the same time unlocks a new field of visual codes…”

More details an images here.

Tasteful short film interviewing the books creators here.

“Non-Format is a creative team comprising Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss. They work together (often remotely) on a range of projects including art direction, design and illustration for music industry, arts & culture, fashion and advertising clients. They also art direct Varoom: the journal of illustration and made images.”

Non-Format website

Machine Molle is the Paris based motion and graphic design agency responsible for the crazy good ‘DVNO’ video doing the rounds at the moment. See how many of the visuals you recognise from the last 30 years.

Check their site for various other motion graphics work (the air one is tidy too) alongside some real tasteful Design and Illustration.

website: http://machinemolle.com/

Born in France 1976, Stephane Tartelin start mixing traditional drawings with computer graphics at 15 years old. After 5 years of professional visual communication school, he fulfilled his childhood dream and started working for various video games development studios in Paris.

Operating as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and motion designer since January 2000, he now works for a range of international advertising, broadcast and publishing clients and continues to explore all facets of graphic design, animation, 3D, photography and illustration .

www.tartelin.com

Hydro 74 is Joshua M Smith, a real visual force to be reckoned with. It’s not easy to carve out anything resembling a truly original style in regards to vector illustration but this guy seems to hit the nail on the head every time. A constant source of inspiration, his type treatments are some of the best reference material for logo design I’ve seen in a while. Interview/showcase in the upcoming issue maybe?

Hydro74 website

A name that gets less than it’s fair share of recognition is Natas Kaupas. To me, one of Skateboarding’s greatest strengths as a culture is its ability to be different things to different people and Natas really personifies what it’s meant to me over the years. The guy got involved on his own terms and carved his own route, that’s what it’s all about. Later, he would use that same personalized passion and drive as he began to get involved in related business ventures. Eventually finding himself as an art director he continued to turn his dedication and love for what he was involved with into some seriously fresh, original and influential styles.

Below is a 4 part ‘On Video’ biography on his career from pioneering skate legend of the 80’s to his post injury art direction of the 90’s. Don’t sleep on this if you’re feeling it’s not an area of interest to you, the cultural significance of this guys attitude and approach goes way beyond the context of skateboarding…

Hard Format is a design blog that catalogues interesting examples of music packaging…

“It seems like everybody’s talking about the end of physical music media. Who knows whether they’re right or not, but Hard Format is a little place we’ve set up to celebrate our love of brilliant music-related design. That means we’re going to focus on records, CDs, cassettes and their like. However, Hard Format isn’t intended to become a dusty museum devoted exclusively to past glories, though there’ll certainly be some of that, we also want to highlight the brilliant new design work being produced right now.”

Great inspirational resource, especially if you work in this area.

Pixel Notes is a project by Duncan Wilson and Sirkka Hammer.

“A wallpaper consisting of four layers of varying grey tones on a bright primary backing. Each layer is perforated in a grid format and backed with a tacky adhesive similar to ‘post-it’ notes. Pixelnotes is inspired by the way we work within a space. The walls become functional, an integrated noticeboard that documents our activity within the room. Pixelated formations and shapes develop according to our patterns of use.”

Very nice!