Computer Arts Gallery: March 2013

Alexandra Turban
Location: Nuremberg, Germany
Job: Designer

“A beautiful, simple and elegant idea.” This, Alexandra Turban says, is what she strives for in her work. Originally from Star City in Russia, Turban studied design at the University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, where she honed her skills in graphic design, illustration and CGI, and developed an impressive portfolio demonstrating equal talent in each of these mediums. In particular, she has a flair for branding – combining stylish, playful illustrations with striking typography.

For her university thesis, Turban created branding for a fictional fast food restaurant specialising in filled pastry from all over the world, including ravioli, pelmeni, pierogi and briouats. “I named the restaurant ‘The Inside’,” Turban explains. “The idea was to emphasise the common feature of all the food – which was super-hot and tasty fillings. That formed the basis for the entire concept and graphic style.”

Bauerdruck
Alexandra Turban designed the corporate identity and image brochure for Bauerdruck, a fictional print shop

Alexandra Turban
Location: Nuremberg, Germany
Job: Designer

“A beautiful, simple and elegant idea.” This, Alexandra Turban says, is what she strives for in her work. Originally from Star City in Russia, Turban studied design at the University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, where she honed her skills in graphic design, illustration and CGI, and developed an impressive portfolio demonstrating equal talent in each of these mediums. In particular, she has a flair for branding – combining stylish, playful illustrations with striking typography.

For her university thesis, Turban created branding for a fictional fast food restaurant specialising in filled pastry from all over the world, including ravioli, pelmeni, pierogi and briouats. “I named the restaurant ‘The Inside’,” Turban explains. “The idea was to emphasise the common feature of all the food – which was super-hot and tasty fillings. That formed the basis for the entire concept and graphic style.”

The Inside
As part of Turban’s bachelor thesis, she designed the branding for a fictional fast food restaurant named The Inside

Alexandra Turban
Location: Nuremberg, Germany
Job: Designer

“A beautiful, simple and elegant idea.” This, Alexandra Turban says, is what she strives for in her work. Originally from Star City in Russia, Turban studied design at the University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, where she honed her skills in graphic design, illustration and CGI, and developed an impressive portfolio demonstrating equal talent in each of these mediums. In particular, she has a flair for branding – combining stylish, playful illustrations with striking typography.

For her university thesis, Turban created branding for a fictional fast food restaurant specialising in filled pastry from all over the world, including ravioli, pelmeni, pierogi and briouats. “I named the restaurant ‘The Inside’,” Turban explains. “The idea was to emphasise the common feature of all the food – which was super-hot and tasty fillings. That formed the basis for the entire concept and graphic style.”

The Inside
The menu card for fictitious restaurant The Inside, which Turban designed for her university thesis

Alexandra Turban
Location: Nuremberg, Germany
Job: Designer

“A beautiful, simple and elegant idea.” This, Alexandra Turban says, is what she strives for in her work. Originally from Star City in Russia, Turban studied design at the University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg, where she honed her skills in graphic design, illustration and CGI, and developed an impressive portfolio demonstrating equal talent in each of these mediums. In particular, she has a flair for branding – combining stylish, playful illustrations with striking typography.

For her university thesis, Turban created branding for a fictional fast food restaurant specialising in filled pastry from all over the world, including ravioli, pelmeni, pierogi and briouats. “I named the restaurant ‘The Inside’,” Turban explains. “The idea was to emphasise the common feature of all the food – which was super-hot and tasty fillings. That formed the basis for the entire concept and graphic style.”

Book illustration
A screenprinted illustration for a book project during Turban’s course at the University of Applied Sciences

Stavros Kypraios
Location: Athens, Greece
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

For Stavros Kypraios, research is key. The Greek designer and illustrator is a stickler for detail, and believes that inspiration lies in the finer points of a brief. “I want to know as much as possible from the client,” he says. “I’m interested in finding out the small details that will help me come up with a story. Once I understand the brief, I start researching the various aspects of the project and ask myself questions: Who is this aimed at? What’s the product talking about? How do similar products communicate their message?”

Kypraios studied graphic and multimedia design at the Technological Education Institute of Piraeus. He spent two years working as an in-house graphic designer in the advertising industry, before beginning his freelance career under the name ‘Faze’. Kypraios is also a co-owner of Greek design studio Nevertheless.

His work has a narrative feel, incorporating references to history, culture and ancient civilisations. Geometry, repeat patterns and striking typography also inform his style. “It’s quite illustrative,” he says, “but I always want to challenge myself to try new forms and techniques. I’m influenced by the motives, symmetry and repetition in nature and everyday life. Inspiration is out there – and it’s everywhere.”

A Cloud in the Night
Kypraios joined the Terra Nueva project at Terra Petra in 2011 with an installation called A Cloud In The Night. Inspired by the words of the Pavlos Pavlidis song ‘Theristes’, he created a cloud made of 700 ping-pong balls, surrounded by stencil wall graphics (pictured) in the venue’s food bar. “I wanted to point out the parallel between the travel of a cloud in the mysterious night sky and human nature, which is full of curiosity and paradoxes,” he explains.

Stavros Kypraios
Location: Athens, Greece
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

For Stavros Kypraios, research is key. The Greek designer and illustrator is a stickler for detail, and believes that inspiration lies in the finer points of a brief. “I want to know as much as possible from the client,” he says. “I’m interested in finding out the small details that will help me come up with a story. Once I understand the brief, I start researching the various aspects of the project and ask myself questions: Who is this aimed at? What’s the product talking about? How do similar products communicate their message?”

Kypraios studied graphic and multimedia design at the Technological Education Institute of Piraeus. He spent two years working as an in-house graphic designer in the advertising industry, before beginning his freelance career under the name ‘Faze’. Kypraios is also a co-owner of Greek design studio Nevertheless.

His work has a narrative feel, incorporating references to history, culture and ancient civilisations. Geometry, repeat patterns and striking typography also inform his style. “It’s quite illustrative,” he says, “but I always want to challenge myself to try new forms and techniques. I’m influenced by the motives, symmetry and repetition in nature and everyday life. Inspiration is out there – and it’s everywhere.”

Symbolsynthesis
Inspired by Maori tattoos, geometrical shapes and symbols, this vector piece was designed by Kypraios for use as a T-shirt graphic.

Laurène Boglio
Location: London, UK
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

Stefan Sagmeister is a big inspiration, and she admires Paul Rand’s audacity, but illustrator Laurène Boglio is perhaps most influenced by the work of graphic novelists Charles Burns and Chris Ware. “What all those artists have in common,” Boglio says, “is a very personal sense of humour and a strong mind of their own – two key qualities that I aspire to in my own work. I believe that good design talks by itself and doesn’t need explaining. When everybody gets it, that means it works.”

Boglio, from Annecy in France, studied graphic design and illustration at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, during which time she also set up publishing company La Femme à Barbe (The Bearded Lady) with friend Agathe Trémouille. She designed the brand’s graphic identity, logotype and business cards – which are as distinctive and eye-catching as the company’s name.

Boglio has now moved to London, where she works as a graphic designer. But she still finds time to work on her illustration projects.

La Femme à Barbe
Boglio set up her publishing company, La Femme à Barbe, with a friend four years ago. “We published six books and held a range of events to promote and sell them,” she says. “I designed the company’s identity and was in charge of communications. It was a great chance to learn before I started working professionally at a design agency.”

Laurène Boglio
Location: London, UK
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

Stefan Sagmeister is a big inspiration, and she admires Paul Rand’s audacity, but illustrator Laurène Boglio is perhaps most influenced by the work of graphic novelists Charles Burns and Chris Ware. “What all those artists have in common,” Boglio says, “is a very personal sense of humour and a strong mind of their own – two key qualities that I aspire to in my own work. I believe that good design talks by itself and doesn’t need explaining. When everybody gets it, that means it works.”

Boglio, from Annecy in France, studied graphic design and illustration at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, during which time she also set up publishing company La Femme à Barbe (The Bearded Lady) with friend Agathe Trémouille. She designed the brand’s graphic identity, logotype and business cards – which are as distinctive and eye-catching as the company’s name.

Boglio has now moved to London, where she works as a graphic designer. But she still finds time to work on her illustration projects.

Pixel Town
In an at attempt to quit smoking, Boglio swapped cigarettes for pixel art in this eBoy-inspired project. “I had to stop after a while,” she admits, “because, well, I smoke again now.”

Craig Pinto
Location: Buford, Georgia
Job: Digital designer

A digital designer at US advertising agency Razorfish, Craig Pinto takes diligence to extremes. While working on the identity design for Pére Juice, he spent two weeks finding a photo of a pear that he liked enough to model the drinks company’s glass containers on. It was four months before he was satisfied with the end result.

Pinto drew everywhere when he was younger; on the walls of his house, the pavement and even his clothes: He wanted to be an illustrator or an artist, but studied graphic design – thinking he would be “making cool graphics, like cartoons or something” – at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta, Georgia.

“I learned a lot about illustration and the foundation of the graphic arts,” he says, “as well as how to draw wicked-awesome naked people. I was committed to the course and eventually fell in love with design.”

Design should “grab your hand and take you on a journey,” says Pinto. “It should relay a message to you and be visually pleasing, but also needs to be functional and concrete – which, sometimes, is most important.”

Pére
Pinto wanted to make his Pére product packaging reflect the ethos of the client, who named his company after his father’s fever-quelling homemade pear juice. “The logo symbolises the process of the pear as it is converted into juice, and the use of the pear’s peel in the production of the drink,” Pinto explains. “The bottle was meant to follow the organic shape of the pear, emphasising its true root to keeping the integrity of the all-natural product.”

Mikha Makhoul
Location: Lebanon, Beirut
Job: Digital art director

A self-taught designer, Mikha Makhoul studied computer science at the American University of Science and Technology in Lebanon. But a passion for photography, design, fashion and digital advertising led him to experiment with Flash websites and Photoshop.

Makhoul co-founded Novium Collective, a Beirut-based digital media agency specialising in gamification that counts fashion brands like Pull & Bear, Stradivarius and Promod among its clients. “It’s an amazing experience,” he says, “combining diverse creative and technology skills to use advergaming to achieve the brand’s objectives.”

His style is “bohemian, urban and retro.” An example of this is his work on photographer Victoria Bolkina’s website, and Makhoul’s ongoing redesign of industrial chemical company Multichem’s site is similarly elegant. Surprisingly, it’s turned out to be one of the most interesting projects he’s worked on: “I’m taking their existing corporate, industrial website to another level, which is trendy and modern,” he explains. “Multichem has around 200 different products, so I had to be so accurate and focused and make some hard user-experience decisions to achieve their objective of showing all of their products on the homepage.”

Viktoria Bolkina (website design)
Makhoul designed the landing page for Ukraine-based professional photographer Viktoria Bolkina’s website. He went for a lean, minimal and trendy design to showcase her work. “I used a bit of low opacity orange overlay to reflect the vintage, classic style of her work,” he explains.

Mikha Makhoul
Location: Lebanon, Beirut
Job: Digital art director

A self-taught designer, Mikha Makhoul studied computer science at the American University of Science and Technology in Lebanon. But a passion for photography, design, fashion and digital advertising led him to experiment with Flash websites and Photoshop.

Makhoul co-founded Novium Collective, a Beirut-based digital media agency specialising in gamification that counts fashion brands like Pull & Bear, Stradivarius and Promod among its clients. “It’s an amazing experience,” he says, “combining diverse creative and technology skills to use advergaming to achieve the brand’s objectives.”

His style is “bohemian, urban and retro.” An example of this is his work on photographer Victoria Bolkina’s website, and Makhoul’s ongoing redesign of industrial chemical company Multichem’s site is similarly elegant. Surprisingly, it’s turned out to be one of the most interesting projects he’s worked on: “I’m taking their existing corporate, industrial website to another level, which is trendy and modern,” he explains. “Multichem has around 200 different products, so I had to be so accurate and focused and make some hard user-experience decisions to achieve their objective of showing all of their products on the homepage.”

Viktoria Bolkina (mobile version)
Bolkina’s site features a responsive design, meaning her work can be displayed on all screen sizes.

Mikha Makhoul
Location: Lebanon, Beirut
Job: Digital art director

A self-taught designer, Mikha Makhoul studied computer science at the American University of Science and Technology in Lebanon. But a passion for photography, design, fashion and digital advertising led him to experiment with Flash websites and Photoshop.

Makhoul co-founded Novium Collective, a Beirut-based digital media agency specialising in gamification that counts fashion brands like Pull & Bear, Stradivarius and Promod among its clients. “It’s an amazing experience,” he says, “combining diverse creative and technology skills to use advergaming to achieve the brand’s objectives.”

His style is “bohemian, urban and retro.” An example of this is his work on photographer Victoria Bolkina’s website, and Makhoul’s ongoing redesign of industrial chemical company Multichem’s site is similarly elegant. Surprisingly, it’s turned out to be one of the most interesting projects he’s worked on: “I’m taking their existing corporate, industrial website to another level, which is trendy and modern,” he explains. “Multichem has around 200 different products, so I had to be so accurate and focused and make some hard user-experience decisions to achieve their objective of showing all of their products on the homepage.”

Multichem Online
Makhoul’s website revamp for Multichem – a company that deals with raw materials and chemical manufacturers. “I had to solve the user experience problem of displaying the large diversity of their products on the homepage,” he explains.