Mattson Creative

Judging the 2012 HOW Poster Competition

I was honored to be asked by HOW Magazine to judge their 2012 Poster Competition. I reviewed hundreds of entries and saw a lot of really great work. It was hard to just choose 10 entries, but the posters below are the best of the best. Congratulations to the winners.

The Old Spice series of posters immediately stood out as the best in show. In my opinion, the best posters are the ones that do the most with the least, and this is a great example of that. No copy and one color with simple, unexpected and intriguing visuals. This is simply a brilliant series.

Designers: Landor, Cincinnati: Gerhard Koenderink, Joe Napier, Jay Hoffman, Jeff Maurer, Barbara Carlotta, Jens Martesen, Stacey Dunaway

This series was striking; a fantastic illustration that is bold and balanced. I couldn’t look away.

Designer: Graham Erwin Design, Columbus, OH

 

I thought this was genius. I loved that the designer took the environment into consideration when creating this poster. This print challenges your conception of how to see and what to look at. The result is astounding. A smart solution, that smacks of Saagmeister. Bravo.

Designer: Boyce McClellan

 

 

This print immediately caught my attention. Bold overlapping color and the graphic hand and eyes are striking and seem to play perfectly off of the title, “Beast in a Neon Cage.” As with many posters, all of the type creates an unnecessary distraction, but I loved the vibrant nature of the poster overall.

Designer: Jon Wong, Hillsborough, CA

 

There isn’t anything I don’t love about this print. Great illustration. Incredible use of two-colors. Amazing texture. Beautiful type. Perfect.

Designers: Camp Firebelly: Alysha Balog, Annabelle Choi, Arjun Harrison-Mann, Colin Denney, Jince Kuruvilla, Lindsay Kaser, Mandi Smith, Monica Ray, Raphael Alexander Cala, Skye McNeill

 

A great poster will make you stop in your tracks. The combination of bright colors, bold illustration, and clever text make this poster a print a success. I’d hang this in my office.

Designers: FAME: Bruce Edwards, Eric Weiss, Chelsea Brink, Chris Yocum

 

Loved this self-promotional piece from FAME exploring the mechanics of creativity. It’s hard to be smart and funny. This concept is both humorous and well executed. I love compilation illustrations like this that invite a viewer to engage and explore all of the creative details of the print.

Designers: FAME: Bruce Edwards, Erik Herberg, Kara Connolly

 

This is another great example of a poster solution that forces the viewer to engage, look harder, and “discover” the concept. A strong idea that is as smart as it is simple.

Designers: FAME: Bruce Edwards, Erik Herberg

 

A perfect balance of simple and complex, this print is intriguing.

Designers: Kate Thomas & Dave Whitley

Bold and bright, this series is eye-catching and fun.

Designers: Johnny Two Tone Club: Marcus Taylor, Ben Hagley, Leah Dent, Duncan Roylance, Angela Mitchell, Michelle Leslie, Brendan Hibbert, Dan McKeating, Bec McKeating

Mattson Creative in Visual Storytelling

With offices in Berlin, London, New York and Tokyo, Gestalten is renowned for publishing more than 400 books that document and anticipate vital movements in design, illustration, architecture, and typography as well as urban and contemporary art. We’re excited that they asked us to be a part of their new book, Visual Storytelling: Inspiring a New Visual Language. We just received a copy in the mail and it is really an inspiring collection of work. We feel very honored to be included!

A quick description of the book: Visual Storytelling uses graphic design, infographics, illustration and photography to convey information in the most elegant, entertaining and informative way. Today, a new generation of designers, illustrators, data journalists and graphic editors is expanding the creative scope of existing visual storytelling techniques – meeting the formidable challenge of extracting valuable news, surprising findings and relevant stories from a daily flood of data head on.

Pick up the book here.

Mattson Creative in LogoLounge 7

The winning entries have been announced and 6 of our logos will be featured in LogoLounge Volume 7! We’re honored to have these designs included in the best-selling series. The book will be out next year, but you can see the selected logos below.

Ty Mattson Guest Stars on Dexter Season 6

Okay, this is awesome.

So, if you haven’t been following my blog, here is a quick recap: Last year, I created a poster series inspired by the Showtime television series, Dexter. Each print represented an entire season of the show, highlighting the iconic moments from each episode. I designed the artwork as a fan and posted them here on this blog.

The next day Showtime called, which was the beginning of an exciting series of events:
We wound up releasing limited editions of the prints through a dedicated section of the Showtime website…
I had the opportunity to meet the amazingly talented people who write, produce and star on the show…
Target featured the artwork in every copy of the Season 5 DVD…
They filmed an interview with me as a DVD bonus feature…
The posters have been recognized in several design annuals including Communication Arts and Print Magazine.

…but of all the amazing things that have happened because of the artwork, I think this is the coolest:

Showtime asked if I’d like to be on DEXTER.

 

So last week I actually got to go to the set and film an episode of the show! They let me play a detective, so you will see me briefly in the background towards the end of Season 6. The entire experience was really incredible. It was amazing to actually see everything that goes into creating each scene of every episode of the show. The cast, crew, producers and writers of the show are unbelievably creative and talented – it was such a honor to get to see them work and to be a part of the show!

I can’t  begin to explain how surreal it is to suddenly find yourself on a show that you’re a fan of. When I designed the prints, I never imagined that they would land me a part on the program. So fun!

 

So what was the one question I asked Emmy-nominated actor and Executive Producer, Michael C. Hall?

 

“Will you record my voicemail greeting?”

 

His answer…

Dexter Season 5 DVD Features Ty Mattson

Lots of exciting news on the Dexter front! The 5th season of Dexter has just been released on DVD and the international version includes a bonus feature interview with me. Showtime came down and filmed the interview in my studio and we discussed the series of illustrations I created, that were inspired by the show. The whole thing was really fun and the piece turned out great. I’m honored to be featured on the DVD! Here are a couple still shots from the interview, below.

The interview is only featured on the international release, but domestically, another exciting announcement – Target is including a mini-art print that I designed in every copy of the Dexter Season 5 DVD. The print is a small version (about 5×7″) of the silkscreen Season 5 poster I created. You can see a large image of the print, and read about how I designed it here.

 

The mini-print is exclusively available at Target, when you buy the Season 5 DVD, but you can find the silkscreen version of the artwork, as well as other products that I’ve designed for Showtime in a dedicated section of their website: Sho.com/tymattson