Hospitals for The Empire and a Light that Doesn't End??

Helen DeVos Children's Hospital

While I was visiting Grand Rapids, I noticed an incredible building downtown. It's the city's brand new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital; and it is a very pretty building. All of the exterior glass is tinted in shades of dark blue. They are not all the same shade, which makes it look like a stained glass window, but since all the shades of blue are in the same close family, it looks very classy. The building itself is in the shape of an oval. And the reason for this type of shape and the blue color is a cultural thing that Grand Rapids is doing with their new architecture, mimicking nature and the flow of water, as the city is based on a river. 
Several new buildings, like their convention center and airport have followed this style of smooth, flowy architecture in their new construction. The best part about this building, however, is the sky-bridge connecting it to an older portion of the hospital and multi-business building across the street. It was very cool to go by this hospital and pass under the sky-bridge. Interestingly, the bridge flows from a smooth funnel-type look at the new end, to a hard-edged square and triangle type look on the other side of the street. It makes for a very dynamic design!



Actions

I found this little design on Instagram the other day. Yeah, hold your snarky remarks till the end, okay... But I tracked down the name of the author and a close-to-the-original-post. This little graphic was created by designer, John Tibbott and it is a design that SPEAKS. 
We all know the phrase, "Actions speak louder than words". Well this design takes that somewhat abstract phrase and turns it into a concrete visual. Notice that the speech bubble comes FROM the "words" as if to say, your words can talk all they want, but the actions, even of your words, will speak so much louder. This design is incredibly simplistic and very very clever. That tiny little shadow underneath really gives the elements a sense of space and 3D, which is a nice touch for a 2-dimensional design. The use of simple textures and light color brings the focus to the message and not the design itself. 


Infinity Light

Let me just start this by saying I WANT THIS LIGHT. This hanging lamp/light was designed by New York artist/designer, Taras Kravtchouk, the same gentleman who designed those "Tarform Refined Knives".
The impossible triangle, the infinity knot, both of these being cool design concepts for prints web, but never really feasible as physical objects...right? False. This lamp takes the infinity knot and turns it into a physical object; quite beautifully, I might add. The thing that captures me the most is the simple use of the line as a a shaping tool and as an edge at the same time. There are a few other photos on Taras' website, one of which is from a 90 degree angle. It's SO BRILLIANT. Simple, simple circle and lines being used in beautiful togetherness to create this modern, contemporary lamp.
I want practically EVERYTHING this guy has designed. He is a truly inspired designer who has "Simple" down to a science.




Star Wars Faux Ad

One of the keys to good design is simplicity. This little number takes simple to a whole new level! The Death Star and Star Destroyers have become iconic designs in the years following the Star Wars saga. This artist, named Szoki, took those iconic designs and boiled them down to their most basic level. There is little detail here that does not need to be, yet the shapes are still a givaway to what the objects are. Furthermore, there is INCREDIBLE contrast among the use of colors. It's almost like a spin off of negatives. The line down the middle, separating the colors, I think does another thing- adds a 3-dimensional look to the star destroyer. A very clever way to make such a simple design appear to be in 3 dimensions. I love the font choice and the alignment to that center line. Use of the rules of CRAP at work.