November 09: Crazy poster sales and typography


November has been pretty crazy, what with sorting out over the last few days selling posters of my awesomely popular International Year of Astronomy prints. I have also managed to fit in some interesting typography, poster designs and I have finally started using Twitter properly this month too (hello to my followers).

Poster Store

I have two poster not in the astronomy series for sale currently in the store.

  1. Cuben – Cubic Spine
  2. Cuben – Irregular sides (Winner of Digital Artist 2009 award)

Here are some images of them:

And of course I am also selling my International Year of Astronomy Prints.

These 2 are the latest prints released (with a final 2 for the end of year events).


Press Coverage

The Astronomy Prints have created a big stir with and have been featured on a number of awesome sites and magazines this month – a big thank you to everyone who posted their opinions of the posters I really appreciate them all, here are just a few of the top ones:

New York Times
“The result is a beautiful exercise in conceptual minimalism, with a clear geometric bent that betrays Page’s math-nerd origins. (He has a degree in applied mathematics and took up graphic design as a hobby two years ago.) It’s hard to choose which to like best, but I’m particularly fond of the deep blue poster, below, in which Page uses diagonal lines to create interstellar objects in relief — and calls to mind the gentle descent of a meteor shower.”

Wired
“With today’s artists’ renderings of space becoming increasingly detailed, realistic and flashy, these posters truly stand out. They are the nostalgic creations of artist Simon Page who says his inspiration came from old illustrations of gravitational forces and planetary motion in science books.”

Digital Arts Magazine (Interview)
“My main influence for this was looking in science books at old illustrations of gravitational forces and planetary motion.”

Neu Black
“Simon Page is an interesting character. He has a degree in applied mathematics (which may have led to his fascination with geometric designs). In just two years of studying design, he has made incredible strides like this series of posters”

Creative Review
“Initially designed as self-promotional pieces, the posters eventually caught the eye of the IYA 09 organisation – a global astronomical awareness effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO – which approached him a few months ago to see if they could use them in their own promotional work (which Page agreed to)”.

IYA 2009
“A series of stunning IYA2009 posters, designed by talented graphic designer Simon Page, are now available to purchase. There are nine to choose from and they can be delivered internationally.”

ISO50 Blog
“This series by Simon Page is great. I’m always a fan of this retro minimalist look. I think he does a great job making it feel aged without going overboard.”

Apartment Therapy
“The minimal retro aesthetic of mid century graphic designers has proven to be very popular — so popular, that the International Year of Astronomy is now using them for promotional material and they are available for purchase direct from Simon Page.”

Kitsune Noir
“I came across some work by Simon Page after rooting around Dropular but when I saw these posters I was absolutely blown away. Simon started out doing these posters as a personal project but when the International Year of Astronomy folks saw them the decided to use them as promotional pieces.”

The Design Observer
“Celebrate the end of 2009, The International Year of Astronomy, with exquisite retro posters by self-taught “math nerd” Simon Page”

Trendhunter Magazine
“It is one thing to be forward thinking, and to innovate and evolve; it is a whole other set of skills and talent that one must have to do all that and keep a retro vibe and feel to your work. These Simon Page illustrations do just that.”

This Modern House
“The posters like most of his work is brilliant in it’s simplicity and use of geometric form. The style reminds me of  that mid 60’s to mid 70’s period where international style had distilled itself down to basic elements and was being widely used in text book cover design. Seriously, these posters remind me so much of science book covers from Jr. Highschool. Page’s color pallet is refined and exquisite. There is an excellent sense of balance, and layout that is carried across every poster.He uses subtle textures in the backgrounds that gives an almost nostalgic sense of age and use. The typography treatments are understated, yet help to pull the entire composition together in each poster. These posters are really, really nice.”

Dinosaurs and Robots
“In a better world, being a design junkie married to a NASA astrophysicist who spent a good chunk of the International Year of Astronomy planning a huge International Year of Astronomy event would mean you don’t have to learn about Simon Page’s awesome series of retro-inspired IYA posters in the New York Freakin’ Times’ fashion blog. Just sayin’.”

Abduzeedo – Poster Competition
“Have you ever stopped to think about where we are in the universe? I mean, among all the planets and stars we are like a tiny little grain of sand, don’t you think? That is what The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is all about, and to celebrate this event a great artist called Simon Page created five beautiful posters inspired by the 60’s and 70’s. Now the best part, we’re giving away two of these beautiful posters, yeah I said 2.”

The prints have been much more popular than I thought they would be. Interestingly (or maybe not) these 3 are the top selling prints so far:

Typography Designs

This month I have done a fair number of one off typeface and typography designs. This first below is without doubt my favourite type design this month. It’s a tricky one to read but has a real appealing flow to it.

Underground Typography Design

Paperclip Typeface Design

Cobweb 2 Typeface

(see October 09 post for Cobweb 1)

Renaissance Typeface Design

Hangman Typeface Design

Superb Typography Design

Multi Pack Deal Typeface Design

Push the Envelope Typeface Design

Everything Must Go Typography Design

New Typography Years Series – 1969

Alphabattle Typography Designs

Alphabattle letter M

Alphabattle letter M

Alphabattle letter N

Alphabattle letter O

Alphabattle letter P

Geometric Poster Design

CUBEN / QUBE 2010 Calendar

Qube approached me, after seeing my CUBEN posters, to design them a Cube based calendar which could also be used as a poster afterwards and thought it was a great idea. I didn’t actually get commissioned for this as I get paid in calendars. I get 150 of them which I will be giving away.

For more info on this “I’m not a calendar”, calendar see the Creative Review featured post.

“This year we have produced a ‘I’m not a calendar’ calendar. Months were digitally illustrated by Simon Page as he played with geometric cubes. The pages are then folded in such a way that they are re-usable as posters or gift wrap once the month has past.”

Difficult to top all this for December…

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