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They say that the best design is no design, and I can’t think of a better example than No Frills, a low-cost supermarket chain in Canada that since the late ’70s has been easily recognized for its iconic simple in-house branding. Operating on the premise that making graphic design decisions is a major unnecessary expense No Frills follows a strict style guide of Pantone Yellow C combined with large bold Helvetica Neue 75 for all its interiors and packaging: pickles, dark chocolate, hummus, evaporated milk, olive oil all get the same point-blank treatment. The closest I’ve ever seen to this aesthetic is on that TV show Lost where all the food comes from The Dharma Initiative. Walking down their aisles can feel dystopian and autistic but also timelessly chic - a ridiculous marketing concept leaned into with a commitment that I hope they never abandon.
Dec 21, 2021
Related Recs
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lemme just look at all the packaging and various products and vibe. i am not trying to get in and out, i am trying to observe
Jan 31, 2024
I just wanna scroll through ur recs so i can laugh at them before i clock in for work
Dec 2, 2024
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I’m sick of slick ads
Feb 18, 2024
Top Recs from @asher-penn
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Eugene Kotlyarenko’s debut film 0’s & 1’s is still my favorite - and it’s heartwarming to know that it’s only been a decade after its premiere at a tiny Brooklyn theater that it’s finally getting the big screen screenings that it truly deserves. The simple story of a guy retracing his steps trying to find his lost computer - Slacker meets Dude Where’s My Car for the first generation of terminally online. But it’s the film’s relentless art direction that truly sets it apart - a multicam extravaganza framed within dozens of custom interfaces that rival both Hackers and The Net in channeling and elevating the aesthetics of the moment with painstakingly detailed easter eggs to be found on every fleeting frame. I’d also like to give a shout-out to We Are, my second favorite film by Eugene. Self-released almost a year ago, We Are is a continuation of his romantic comedies about breakups A Wonderful Cloud (2015) and Wobble Palace (2018) starring hapless losers mired in technological detritus - in this case, the employee of a pathetic virtual reality arcade. But unlike its predecessors We Are is Eugene’s most casual film to date, made with a whimsical looseness echoed in the character Stick’s XL tourist t-shirts and the soft soothing pace of his fidget spinner. It’s a funny movie, but it’s also sad… when Eugene breaks the 4th wall and slates a scene with Dasha, there is a self-accepting effortlessness that really feels like letting go. We Are is just a movie and that’s all it needs to be.
Dec 21, 2021
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From what I can tell, artist Jeffrey Scudder is the only post-internet artist to figure out Tik-Tok, with his Whistelgraph project recently hitting 2 Million followers. Whistlegraphs are tiny songs that are performed through drawing, where the sonic and visual gestures synch up poetically - kind of like a haiku that you animate in real-time - that for the past two years have been performed in videos by Scudder alongside artists Camille Klein and Alex Freundlich. Pioneers in their own experimental artform, Whistlegraph seems to be channeling a lot of things at the same time - If I were to free-associate I’d say it feels spiritually connected to Brendan Fowler and Odwalla88 and Tori Kudo, but also Josh Smith and David O’Reilly and Susan Cianciolo - not that any of their devoted fans would know or care about that stuff. Their audience is predominantly between the ages of 8-17, and the most comprehensive interview with Whistlegraph to date was done by a 13-year-old superfan named Perry. Watching Perry perform “Butterfly Cosplayer” with glee makes me wonder if the current iteration of Whistlegraph is just the beginning and that the most exciting manifestations of this art form will be found in generations to come.
Dec 21, 2021
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Nymphet Alumni are a podcast devoted to analyzing the niche mainstream - cultural touchstones that didn’t necessarily die but instead morphed, rebranded, and shapeshifted into obsolescence, alongside contemporary trends that are almost too pervasive to identify. Sometimes these are brands (American Apparel, Oh Mighty), or platforms (Rookie, Tumblr), or social phenomena (Tik Tok Physiognomy, Nepotism Babies). Just because these subjects are massive in scale doesn’t make them easy to talk about, as the topics are so recent and fleeting that to subject them to thoughtful critical analysis feels too early or too late or just plain pointless- and maybe that’s the point. Listening to Alexi, Biz, and Sam’s compassionate and highly personal insights it’s clear that the ephemeral doesn’t arrive from - or exit into - the void.
Dec 21, 2021