A little bio on Josh from the About page on his site:

Maine native Josh Brill graduated Maine College of Art with a degree in New Media Design and has since worked as an New Media Art Director, balancing work between corporate clients and fine art. His artwork has been exhibited at Addo Novo, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Art, Fabrica’s Annex and May 1st Reboot 2005.

Lumadessa by Josh Brill.

Here’s a bio I found at Chicago Magazine:

Don Bronstein (1926-68): In June 1963, in the midst of a three-week gig at Mister Kelly’s, the legendary Rush Street nightclub, Barbra Streisand traveled to the Lake Michigan shoreline with the photographer Don Bronstein. The first staff photographer for Playboy, where he shot covers and centerfolds before embarking on a freelance career in 1963, Bronstein shot Streisand in a radical pose-with her back to the camera. That photo graced the cover of Streisand’s classic fourth album, People, and both singer and cover won Grammys.

Here’s some of his work that I’ve dug up:

And I know I can’t possibly give Don the credit he deserves without including this, although fairly tame considered against today’s standards.

He originally joined Total Design, Holland’s first multidisciplinary design studio (yes first) where he would work for nearly 30 years. Today, this amount of time spent at a single studio is virtually unheard of. His story at Total is not all happy, as his book describes challenges balancing his work as a creative visionary with the day to day realities of financial and office management. But I’ll let you read the book and avoid any spoilers here, but certainly this book is worth more of your time than a “flip for nice pictures”. This actually in a way reminded me of the fine book on Tibor Kalman’s life’s work and professional life in its honesty and frankness, as there are many contributions and reflections on Bos’ work life from co-workers.

In looking at his work, much like Wim Crouwell (his “great example”) he was a master of the simple form made expressive and unique. And his approach was very wholesome, originally a copywriter and journalist, who fell in love with design a little later in his life, his approach is extremely well rounded, and his ability to see the big picture I believe is what gifted him with the ability to create such broad identity programs, crossing brand identity, collateral, packaging, and interior design. The most amazing thing about Bos’ work though, is it’s timelessness. Looking through this book, much like Crouwell’s work, his artistry is both visionary and crosses the lines of time and trends. You’ll notice below an illustration that looks strikingly like the work of Eboy, yet, this is before the constraints of the pixel defined that style. To me this is unbelievable.

Here’s some images from my book, and following below I’ve posted some links for you to continue to enjoy both his work, the work of Total Design and the work of Bos’ Dutch contemporaries. I highly recommend this book, it’s hard to find but I came across this link for the book for sale:

Counter-Print.co.uk

More on Ben Bos and his important work:

Total Identity’s website, telling their story, you see Ben’s fro peeking out in the back.

A sampling of Graphic design books on Flickr that include samples from this book and Bos’ and Crowell’s Dutch contemporaries.

A great Dutch graphic design collection on Flickr.

This juxtaposition between loving human connection and fearsome beasts seemed to capture the strange sense that Sendak’s characters don’t really fall easily into any one black or white space in our minds, but rather a blur across that spectrum of love and hate.

This morning I came across the paintings of Austin Power on the Behance Network. Specifically, his new series, titled “21 Portraits of People I Miss“. There’s a longing and sadness to his work that’s obvious, but also a serious and controlled discipline in these seemingly unfinished works, and a use of colors that really strike a chord with me as entirely contemporary and modern. Wonderful work and even more wonderful because they’re watercolors.

His show is opening tomorrow at Satsko, 245 Eldridge St., New York, NY 10002. 6-9pm.

View a selection of his work from this particular show.
View his portfolio online.

Good design is innovative
Good design makes a product useful
Good design is aesthetic
Good design helps us to understand a product
Good design is unobtrusive
Good design is honest
Good design is long-lasting
Good design is consequent to the last detail
Good design is concerned with the environment
Good design is as little design as possible

All available works at Arkitip: http://arkitip.com/printed-matter/hecox/

Here’s what I take away from his speech…

Tell Emotional Stories

When you’re discussing your brand, your product, service, the thing you do-do, maybe just a story to your friends about conquering a section of the Appalachian Trail, make it emotional. Tap into the natural passion and emotion that comes from something you love–or is close to your heart–or caused you fear. If you find it hard to do this then you need to look short and hard at whether you believe in this thing. If you do it will be easy, if you don’t get out, move on, don’t force it. Find something you can tear your heart out for.

When You Love What You’re Doing Hardships Are Significantly Less Painful

Staying up all night to nail that inspired design? Haven’t eaten in 14 hours because you can’t tear yourself away from this awesome thing you’re so excited about finishing and sharing with the world/clients/friends/customers? It should feel like this. This is the secret that productive and successful people know, if it’s painful and feels like work, keep looking, it’s not your calling.

Typography Was One of Steve Job’s Original Intellectual and Artistic Inspirations

I giggled to myself when I saw this part of the talk again. We’re always talking about how good design is “good business”, it’s almost a cliche now to even say that. I’m guilty of throwing it into a presentation or proposal or two–But this is what defined the Mac’s inception. I love it. Jobs confidently describes the first Mac mission being to make the first computer with beautiful typography. All without the self loathing snarkiness of a seasoned designer who always knew this was huge.

You Can’t Connect the Dots Forwards Only Backwards

You must believe that the dots will connect down the road when you follow your heart. This is about intentionally directed naivete. This is about the secret to controlled coincidences, to riding a wave of connected successes. The business world frowns on idealism. You can’t optimize your life and professional process to the point where it’s perfect. Chaos is required for discovery. This is the tragedy of many growing organizations, they lose their idealism as their size (supposedly) demands structure and all is lost as they optimize free and tangential (read different) thinking out of the process. Hence the explosion of fantastically talented small agencies willing to take risks and are winning at it. God speed.

Don’t Love Objects or Things, Love the Process

There’s a lyric by Deep Purple in their song “Knocking at Your Door”, a high school favorite of mine, it goes:

“It’s not the kill, it’s the thrill of the chase…”

While I admit this song is about the reckless pursuit of the fiery carnal kind, it really sums it up. Love what you’re doing when you’re doing it, if you think the pain you’re experiencing now is a means to an end it will never end and this will haunt you, like a man on a treadmill snacking on cookies–because there is no end. You’re there right now. John Kabbat Zinn talks about this in his wonderful book “Wherever You Go, There You Are”. Focus on the “how” as much as the “what”. It’s important they both excite you.

Keep Looking, Don’t Settle Until You Find It

This is the easiest advice to hear and the hardest to follow. We as human beings are genius at our ability to rationalize ourselves out of any situation. We naturally want to tell ourselves our decisions and thinking is correct, so we do everything in our power to make it seem like we’re OK even when deep down inside we know something’s missing. Don’t settle, you’re too good.

Live Your Life Like Every Day is Your Last

This is advice I’ve heard before but love to ignore. When young the end is so far away. Have children and suddenly you’re thinking about this, but then we may dismiss it again. If today was going to be your last day, what would you do? Are you putting off something? I think about this now every night I put my daughter to sleep.

Don’t Be Trapped by Other People’s Dogma

You’re smart, your friends are smart. That doesn’t mean they’re right about you and the decisions you’re making or need to make. If it feels right to you, go for it. Why? Because the ideas that other people are telling you won’t succeed, are too weird, too difficult, too expensive, will freak out your investors, your boss, your lover–will likely be the ones that win. Zag, your ideas are the expressions of your original thinking and individuality. If you dumb down your ideas your dumbing yourself down, and for what? So that you can get some kind of pier consensus? We all know consensus thinking is generic. So don’t be generic, be different and don’t stress, in the end people want to be around the people daring and fearless enough to be themselves. If your friends and coworkers don’t support your crazy ideas because they don’t understand your thinking then hell yes, you’re probably onto something great. By the time they do get it, you’ll be succeeding at it while they realize they need to catch up.

Follow Your Heart And Intuition, Everything Else is Secondary

Your brain is very much like a computer. Your processor–your conscious mind, your hard drive–your subconscious mind. Your conscious mind often makes the decisions you should be letting your subconscious mind make. The giant relational database that is your subconscious mind will come to genius conclusions your conscious mind will fear, because the conscious mind is worried about the now, the how, the why, all the details that get in your way of just doing it. Listen to the fear, that which you fear is often the thing that you need to address most.

I’ll leave you with this quote from the end of the speech…

“Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there”.

This really struck a chord with me. Life is just a project timeline. You start and you finish. What’s the most important things to get done during this project? Start putting the things that are important to your brand, project, business, family on that timeline and you’ll start to see what’s important. Do those things and only those things.

Thanks Steve, glad to hear you’re going to be with us for a while longer.