Emma Brownson Design Blog

Loved this talk from Jonathan Adler about his road to success...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:50:00 -0400

Loved this talk from Jonathan Adler about his road to success and how failure at first and getting fired from a bunch of jobs didn’t hold him back!

He has built his homewares brand around the concept of optimism, irreverence, spirit and memorability, things which I think also ring true for aspects of my own work.

I was able to check out one of their cool stores in the Upper West Side when I was living in New York and it was so colourful and cool.

http://www.jonathanadler.com

Beautiful Patterns by Matthew Craven

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 04:44:00 -0500

Matthew Craven

March Inspiration

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:32:47 -0500

S&W New Identity

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:12:08 -0500

Sagmeister & Walsh have a new identity to signify their partnership. It’s pretty amazing for Jessica Walsh actually. I know she was very accomplished to start with, but to be partnering with arguably the most famous name in graphic design at the mere age of 25 is pretty inspiring.

The branding’s minimal black and white style is not unlike my own, so naturally I’m a bit fond of it. It’s funny how they have developed on Sagmeister’s design history, to create a humourous company brand. Many will know Sagmeister is pretty famous for not being shy when it comes to incorporating his own nudity into work. Their slogan ‘We will do anything for design’ is pretty believable really. The studio branding is minimal but also has a lot of personality, which is a nice mix and really allows the message to be king.

With a rather kinky take on stationery design, they have really taken their daring brand direction and run with it. Got to say I’m a bit fan of ampersands and it definitely communicates the new partnership in an effective way.

The new Sagmeister & Walsh website describes the project as: Stationery system for our new partnership, Sagmeister & Walsh. We printed 500 condoms with our logo on it, as well as 500 pencils that show accurate data relating to average penis size.

I really like the photo of their website on the iMac, iPad and iPhone, completed with the branded pot plant. How’s that for an shot.

How funny would it have been, to have to be the project manager in charge of looking around for a condom packaging manufacturer?

They also have a bunch of new staff photos. Some naked. Some completely dressed in space suits. They must be suggesting their are innovators and pioneers of sorts. Or maybe they just thought it would make for a pretty funny juxtaposition!

Jay Z claims he is a designer?

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:42:08 -0500

Hi all,

I was just on the Brand New blog today and they have a section on the best and worst identities of 2012. I was immediately drawn to number 12 on the list of the worst identities, The Brooklyn Nets basketball team rebrand, which was apparently designed by Jay Z of all people, a part owner in the team.

It seems like a lot of celebrities these days like the idea of being designers, but are forgetting that they don’t actually have the skills to discern the subtleties between good and bad design.

I’m all for simplicity but I think if anything it ended up taking a backwards step.

I loved Armin’s comment:

“Whether Jay Z opened up Adobe Illustrator and set the type on a curve himself or not remains a mystery but one thing is for sure: the logo family is technically worthless and embarrassing.”

The apparel is also looking really strange with a bunch of hip hop inspired designs which range from okay to just plain ugly.

You can read the article here: The Brooklyn Nets: I Call Technical Foul

If you are still not disputing his taste level, check out the logo he is apparently ‘universally recognised’ for.

To make matters worse, he’s being sued 7 million from the actual designer, for unpaid royalties dating back around 17 years. He also named his daughter ‘Blue Ivy’.

Enough Said?

Computer Arts Collection

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:01:23 -0500

I’ve really enjoyed reading the first magazine in the Computer Arts Collection (Volume 2): Graphic Design. I picked it up in NZ at this great Magazine Shop that I wish they had in Brisbane called Mag Nation. They have all sorts of magazines including a lot of art and design ones as well as a good collection of design books. It’s a bit pricey at $39, but it’s a UK magazine so it has to be shipped, and is definitely worth it.

Sadly I took it to the airport with me and it got a bit water damaged in my bag. I painstakingly divided each page with tissues and napkins I stole from this japanese food shop at the Airport, but the damage was pretty much already done at that stage! Anyway, it’s still readable so that’s the main thing.

What is so unique about this magazine, is how in-depth and insightful it is. It has a bunch of great case studies from interesting global projects, which was probably my favourite section. Some of the case studies included the Bardot ice cream brand, designed by Landor Associates and the redesign of USA Today (Newspaper) by Wolff Olins NY. You get to find out all sorts of interesting information, like the timeframe, what the brief was, their process, and who was involved. There is also a a5 booklet inside about branded apps which was very interesting, a section on design trends, an interview with Michael C Place of Build and a studio which documented their process through an entire project for this event they held across 46 pages, so it was very detailed.

It features some great studios including Toko, Heydays, Hey Studio and Lundgren + Lindqvist.

Other issues in the collection include Typography, Branding, Advertising, Photography and Illustration. You can buy online here

Karen Walker

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:47:36 -0500

I was really taken by the branding and store fit out of a Karen Walker store on a recent trip to Auckland over Christmas. She is a New Zealand fashion designer, with a number of boutiques around Auckland. While being a high end label it has a distinctly vintage and kitsch look to their brand and I really like this kind of juxtaposition of high and low elements. These days it’s definitely not enough to just design beautiful clothes, you need a consistent brand covering all touch points and it has to tell an interesting story. Karen Walker does a great job at this.

Below is a personal photo I took of the Ponsonby store. Things like the neon sign, seal lamp and swan pot plant give the store a quirky, kitsch look but it is overall balanced by a minimal and considered layout.

The Jewellery look book features old black and white photos with the jewellery superimposed in, once again creating an interesting contrast and a fun feel.

Some other images:

Some Exciting MTV Stationery

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 02:56:20 -0500

Motherbird, a fabulous Melbourne Studio ‘refreshed’ MTV’s corporate stationery recently. They were given an open brief and an obviously large budget (what a dream project). What resulted was some very on brand design, featuring a youthfully florescent colour palette, fun hand-drawn typography and brand language and some funny photocopied faces.

Photos from the Motherbird website, see more at: http://motherbird.com.au/selected-work/mtv-stationery/

In Paper Love

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 05:17:36 -0500

I’ve been loving the stationery company Rifle Paper Co ever since I discovered them in Melbourne earlier this year. The designs are by Designer/Illustrator Anna Bond based in Florida. I’m also a sucker for anything map related to this 2013 Cities Calendar is definitely on my To Buy list! It’s sure to have you dreaming of all the wonderful places you could visit all year!

What a cute little logo too.

Rifle Paper Co Cards

Anna Bond in her Studio

French Themed!

And lastly, the most adorable collection of dogs.

Thing's I'm Loving at the Moment

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:52:21 -0500

The Hungry Workshop’s Rituals Letterpress

Watercolour Typography

White on White

Type cut out of food

Dinosaur Designs

Moonrise Kingdom

Gelato Pictures

Workspaces

Hand-Drawn Maps

Summer Time

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:54:53 -0400

Amazing Beach Photos. So ready for summer to begin.

Bondi Beach

St Tropez

souvenirs de paris

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:50:17 -0400

Some really nice juxtaposition between the old post cards of Paris and abstract blobs painted on top by French graphic designer Leslie David.

Craig & Karl Illustrations

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 22:26:00 -0400

Loving the work of Craig & Karl, two designers who collaborate to make really dynamic and colourful illustrations. You may recognise their celebrity illustrations which juxtapose different patterns. They also created The Thousands identity.

See more here: http://www.craigandkarl.com.

Beautiful, Surreal Photographs by the Talented Mr Rodney Smith

Sun, 27 May 2012 17:49:00 -0400

Rodney Smith is an Amazing photographer from New York. There is a great Biography on his website:

“Rodney Smith is a modest man. With eclectic sensibilities. He can wear an ascot with appearing pretentious. He proclaims himself to be a closet optimist. He believes Modernism took a wrong turn at the wrong time. He thinks Freud saved his life. He graduated Yale. He lives in a wooded enclave in Snedens Landing, just close enough to Manhattan to meet an editor for lunch at a moment’s notice, but far enough away to mollify his disdain for city living. He loves books. Paper. And printed matter. He wrestles with Big Ideas and references Wittgenstein and Pato as if he saw them just yesterday. He’s tweedy. Never needy. Proud. Not loud. He’s a perfectionist. Workaholic. Worry wart and fuss budget. He won’t stop what he’s done until he’s satisfied that it couldn’t be done any better. He’s adamantly analog. Only shoots film. Never uses special effects. And knows the darkroom like the back of his hand. His work is outside of time. He creates worlds whose logic is his own. He’s old school with a twist. A landscape photographer. Who places people in landscapes. A realist who puts dreams onto paper. A man who is kind, generous and humorous. Who has a great wife. A lovely daughter. A successful son who’s made Rodney a proud grandfather. A thinking man’s man in a bespoke suit with an eye that sees the world in a way you or I will only see it if it’s in the form of one of his photographs.”

I can definitely see some references to Rene Magritte, like the reoccuring hat and the people with covered faces.

Carl Klenier's Minimalist Photography Perfection

Sun, 27 May 2012 02:05:00 -0400

I recently came across the work of Carl Klenier an amazingly talented photographer from Stockholm with a very distinctive, colourful, geometric, minimal style. In the fabulous style of “things arranged neatly” Klenier creates simplistic but innovative arrangements with everything from food to fashion inspired by Japanese minimalism and high fashion.

He photographed a beautiful Ikea cookbook called “Hembakat är Bäst (Homemade is Best)”. The book shows all the ingredients in appropriate quantities laid out in creative arrangements.

Every minute of every day, I need to be thinking and feeling and producing. And it’s wonderful, but incredibly exhausting, and I keep looking at the little planet disappearing under my feet and wonder whether I can ever go back and maybe visit normalcy some time.

Carl Kleiner

Homemade is Best

It was great to learn more about traditional Swedish desserts through this beautiful cookbook. Apparently they love almond desserts as much as me! I went through and translated the Swedish dessert names where I could. The cook book photography breaks each recipe into the ingredients and the baked item. Yum Yum Yum. It’s a bit ironic that often the ingredients photograph looks better than the finished baking. If I had to choose my favourites, I think it would be Schwarzwaldtårta: Swedish Black Forest Cake & Prinsesstårta: Princess Cake / Green Cake.

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Bondkakor — Almond Cookie. One of the most common biscuits in Sweden

Chokladjitterbugg — Chocolate Biscuit

Hallongrottor — ”Raspberry Cave”. A Swedish Pastry

Fina kanelbullar — Cinnamon Buns

Klenäter — A Sweedish fried pastry

Kolakakor — Syrup Cakes / Toffee Cookies

Lingonpepparkaka — Cranberry Bread

Mandelkubb — Swedish Almond Pastry

Mandelmusslor — ”Almond Mussel”. A traditional Swedish Christmas pastry

Spröda maränger — Meringue

Mazariner — Oval shaped tarts topped with a white icing glaze

Morbrors chokladcigarrer — Chocolate Cigars

Napoleonbakelser — Napoleon Pastry

Nationaldagsbakelser — Almond Fruit Cake. A National Pastry

Pepparkakor — Ginger Thins

Prinsesstårta — Princess Cake / Green Cake

A traditional Swedish cake consisting of alternating layers of airy sponge cake, whipped cream and thick pastry cream all topped with a 2-3 mm thick layer of marzipan. The marzipan overlay is normally green, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and often decorated with a pink marzipan rose. Rename from Green Cake to Princess Cake because Princesses were said to have been particularly fond of the cake.

Radiokaka — Radio Cake

Invented in the 1920’s, launched with the advantage that it can be eaten silently, without nibbling, which was an advantage when you listened to the radio. Made in an oblong baking dish and sliced like a cake or loaf of bread.

Rulltårta — Swiss Roll. The filing can be jam, cream, butter cream, puree such as applesauce, or chocolate.

Schackrutor — Chess Squares

Schwarzwaldtårta — Swedish Black Forest Cake

A Swedish cake called Schwarzwaldtårta is related to the traditional Black Forest cake only by name. It consists of layers of meringue with whipped cream in between. The whole cake is also covered with whipped cream and decorated with chocolate.

Semlor — Cream Buns

A humble bun stuffed with almond paste and whipped cream has become one of Sweden’s most revered foods, with annual competitions, an academy - and even its own legislation. It is a Swedish tradition that dates back to the 16th Century

Sommartårta med bär — Summer Cake with Berries

Vaniljhorn — Vanilla Crescent Cookies

Lou Peters — 50's Illustrations

Sun, 06 May 2012 01:23:00 -0400

Relatively unknown Lou Peters illustrated a series of Good Housekeeping cook books published by the Culinary Institution in the 1950’s. Excellent inspiration for 50’s visual tropes, fashion, hairstyles, typography and colour. Also some illustrations are based on a colonial style time period.

Some of the cook books featuring these illustrations

Little White Lies

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:18:00 -0400

Little White Lies is one of the most creative and interestingly designed magazines I have come across. It is a bi-monthly, British movie magazine published by London-based creative agency The Church of London. They are proudly independent with sayings such as “subscribe to the truth” and “honest, passionate and uncommercial”.

The magazine was started by Danny Miller & Matthew Bochenski, childhood friends who dreamed of creating the magazine since age 17. Miller created issue zero as a final project for his degree. Both then went on to get their first jobs out of uni with independent skate and snowboard magazine Adrenalin. When the magazine collapsed they decided to officially start Little White Lies and the first issue was released in 2005.

Everyone knows what the covers look like but what about the interior pages? You can view all the issues online for free here

What is unique about the magazine is that they choose a movie to feature in the issue and then design the whole issue around it, from custom typefaces, to illustrations, to relevant layouts. They even theme the credits page with a little image above everyone’s name relevant to the issue.

The magazine is broken up into six chapters, which they name: “Chapter 1 in which we review [feature movie], Chapter 2 in which we introduce ourselves, Chapter 3 in which we discuss themes of uncommon interest inspired by our feature film, Chapter 4 in which we discuss the latest film releases , Chapter 5 in which we explore the mesmerising minutiae of movie culture (also known as “The Back Section”), Chapter 6 in which we track future releases on the LWLies radar.

I flicked through all 40 issues last night fueled by that excited high you get when you find great design. I have included the design highlights below:

Issue # 40 : The Pirates

Issue #39 : Shame

Issue # 38 : Another Earth

Issue #37 : Drive

Issue #35: Apocalypse Now

Issue # 34 : Attack of the Block — Futuristic Theme

Issue # 33 : Black Swan

Issue # 32 : Tron

Issue # 31 : Carlos

Issue # 30 : Future

Issue # 29 : Tetro

Issue # 28 — Kick Ass

‘

Issue # 27 : The Road

Issue # 26 — Where the Wild Things Are

Issue # 25 — An Education

Issue # 24 — Mesrine

Issue # 23 — Star Trek

Issue # 22 — Let the Right One In

Issue # 21 — Che

Issue 19 — Gomorrah

Issue # 17 — Gone Baby Gone

Issue # 16 Persepolis

Issue # 15 — Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Issue # 14 — The Darjeeling Limited

Issue # 13 — The Control

Issue # 11 — This is England

Issue # 8 — Marie Antoinette

"in the end, the cities you keep dreaming about are New York and Paris.”

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:57:00 -0400

I fell in love with this little book which graphically compared different aspects of the culture of Paris & New York. I found it at Urban Outfitters. Despite the fact that one side is written in French, it fun and easy to figure out what it might mean. The design is a really simplistic, info graphic style but makes comparisons in a whimsical, charming and colourful way. They were created by Vahram Muratyan, an talented Paris Born Art Director who splits his time between the two cities.

The project started off on his blog - a travel journal “Paris versus New York”. It quickly became on of the most talked about sites on the internet and received over million and a half page views in a few months. From there the blog’s illustrations were complied into a book.

Muratyan was living in New York and starting to miss Paris. He tried to analyse what was missing from each city that was in the other city.

I think this book is excellent if you have been to one city and plan to go to the other. It’s a really simplistic guide book, giving you a really clear comparison and makes it easy to know what is great to see and do in that country.

“Paris and New York are like two magnets, opposed but somehow united by the same patterns,” says Muratyan. “That’s why there is such a mutual fascination. We often say that Parisians are obsessed with New York, but it is also true on the other side. It’s no surprise that the Sex and the City series ends up in Paris for its big finale. But there’s also tremendous rivalry: the Empire State Building was meant to surpass the Eiffel Tower! I don’t think there is any such rivalry now between New York and London, or Shanghai. You could endlessly list the best cities for quality of life—say, Vancouver or Stockholm or Munich—but in the end, the cities you keep dreaming about are New York and Paris.”

“New Yorkers are obsessed with going to Paris, Parisians dream of going to New York, so this was my way of showing that it works both ways. Ameilie’s father’s gnome visits New York, and at the end of Sex and the City, Carrie goes to Paris”

“The cupcake and macaroon reference fashions in food. They contrast with the classics, like pastrami and patisserie”

I Love New York City Illustrations Part 2

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:36:00 -0400

Another Illustrator I love is Ruben Toldeo. He was born in Cuba and now lives in America and is famous for his fashion illustrations. His collaboration with Louis Vuitton was where I first found out about him.

I was shopping at the Louis Vuitton Store on 5th Avenue, wondering what the least expensive thing in the store was and whether I could even afford that when I came across the book. It is part of a series of illustrations of different cities in the world and it comes in the form of a spiral bound “scrapbook” as they call it, but it’s so beautiful that I don’t really feel the name does it justice. The illustrations cover all of manhattan from the seaport to harlem and there are about 100 pages of beautiful watercolour illustrations. It was a little pricey at $90 but I fell in love and had to buy it.

You can see above the front cover, made out of reflective material. The inside front has a pocket with three postcards of illustrations inside the book.

These are the postcards

Illustration of the financial district. There are American flags everywhere.

Map of Manhattan

Lower Manhattan: The first place I went to on my first day in New York. I took the subway from the Upper West Side down to the further most point and walked my way up…. to Tribeca and then I got tired haha. Didn’t quite make it back home. This was also the point where we took our boat to see the statue of liberty.

Wall Street: I had to pick up some trimmings for a clothing line project we were working on at Art Zulu from a building in Wall Street. Managed to find it without getting lost. Bought my first bagel in New York but they put so much sun dried tomato spread on it that it was impossible to eat and walk.

Battery Park: A big tourist attraction because that’s where you go to get to the statue of liberty. Lots of Souvenirs, but not as much to rival Times Square of course.

View of the Statue of Liberty from the Battery Park Promenade. Lots of skateboarders.

“Quiet Sunday Morning on Nassau Street, view towards Wall Street”

“Broad Street and Water Street at Lunch Time”

“Louis Vuitton Handbag, Louis Vuitton Handbag, “

Had China Town Ice Cream Factory Ice Cream & a random massage in a little underground shop with friends on a bizarre but fun NYC night.

“Chinatown Buddhist Temple, Canal Street & Bowery”

“Fortune Telling in Columbus Park, Corner of Mulberry and Bayard Street”

“Roof Garden, Bayard Street and Mulberry Street”

“Vegetable Shops at Canal and Baxter Street”

Canal & Mott Street

“Restaurants on Mulberry Street”

“Mott Street Festival”

”Lieutenant Petrosino Square, Lafayette Street & Spring Street”

Lower East Side: It was cool in a run down way though. Loved Katz Delicatessen.

“It would not have been possible for Katz’s Delicatessen to survive three depressions, numerous recessions and two World Wars if Katz’s wasn’t the best deli in NYC”

“Around Tompkins Square Park”

Everything is expensive in Soho

“Soho Shoppers On Spring Street”

“West Broadway & Broome Street, in “Art Canyon”

“Shopping on Greene Street”

“Broome Street & West Broadway”

“Broadway Parking lot”

“Soho Streets”

“Quiet Minetta Lane”

“Skinnest House in New York”, Bedford Street & Commerce Street

“Gay Street”

“Washington Square Park”

“Christoper Street”

Best shop ever: Greenwich Letterpress . 39 Christopher Street. Bought so many beautiful things!!

“Barrow Street”

“Charlton Plaza 6th Avenue and Charlton Street”

Midtown: Where I worked. Best sandwich shop in NY: Pret A Manger , Me: Chicken, Sun dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Rocket Sandwich. Caroline: Turkey & Cheddar Sandwich. There are an infinite number of Pret stores in Midtown. Pretty much one on every corner. Easier to find than McDonalds?

Transport when you’re feeling lazy

“26th Street Flea Market, Avenue of the America’s”

Rainy Day in Madison Square Park, 5th Avenue & 23rd Street

“View from my Studio”

Chrysler Building

Bryant Park: After work hang out. Caroline getting us free sangrias at South West Porch

Duffy Square (Tickets for the Theater)

Some interesting details to the book

Theater District Billboards

“Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets” “Comedy Tickets”

Times Square - Midnight

Favourite Things in Times Square: M&M World Self serve M&M’s, you always over estimate how much M&M’s you’re going to want to eat, Hersey’s : They give you a free Hersey’s Kiss when you come through the door

My home away from home. Favourite places: Le Pain Quotidien for breakfast: the poached eggs & Brussels breakfast tea, 84th & Amsterdam. Hale & Hearty for a dinner you can get quickly, Broadway between 81/82. Zabars, for the real New York atmosphere and gourmet groceries, 80th and Broadway. Weekend GreenMarket, Columbus Avenue between W. 78th and W. 81th.

“Central Park West”

Lincoln Center, 63rd street and Columbus Avenue

Pretzel & Hot Dog stand - Central Park

“Around the Upper West Side”

“Looking Down Central Park West”

“Professional Dog Walker”

“Sheep Meadow”

“The Plaza Hotel at 59th Street and 5th Avenue”

“Central Park South, 59th Street Looking Towards the Sherry Netherland”

“Around Central Park”

“Bethesda Fountain, Central Park”

“Boat House, View of the East Side”

Had a delicious breakfast with my friend Katelyn. Would definitely recommend the place. The view would be even better in summer, when people can actually go out in the boats. See their website here

Nothing beats the feeling of walking down 5th Avenue, designer shopping bags in tow, feeling like a celebrity for a day.

Amazing pretzel cart across from the Met steps, Sigmund’s Pretzels. I would recommend cinnamon & rasin and feta and olive. YUMM. Sit on the steps of the Met Gossip Girl style and people watch.

Looking up Third Avenue, Upper East Side.

The upper east side avenues are a bit confusing! from central park it is: 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, 3rd Avenue, 2nd Avenue, 1st Avenue.

The Guggenheim! Unfortunately I went there when most of it was under renovation. The good news was that tickets were only about $5. It’s all done now though.

“Madison Avenue Shoppers” . Everything is really expensive and fancy on Madison Avenue. That’s where the Laduree store is and pretty much every designer known to man.

I was told that it was really hard to walk from the upper west side to the upper east side so I spent 75% of the trip taking taxis! Turns out it is so easy, and contrary to popular opinion, you’re not going to get lost!! Just watch the land marks on the other side of the park and cross straight over! Good news is taxis are cheap AND you get a little tv in the back of the seat, even if they do repeat the same show over and over. Anyone get sick and tired of that Jimmy Kimmel Live! clip where they got some random lady to drop a milk shake or something on her husband from some tall building?

“Shopping on Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Boulevard”

I never ventured up further than about 90th

“View of George Washington Bridge, from Washington Heights”

“Uptown Girls”

“Apollo Theatre, Show Time”

All Illustrations by Ruben Toldeo, from his Louis Vuitton New York Scrapbook.

So what do you think? Pretty Amazing right? You should also check out his fashion illustrations because they are his real specialisation.

I Love New York City Illustrations

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:24:44 -0400

Is it just me, or is James Gulliver Hancock, aka the dude who is drawing all the buildings in New York, the coolest person ever?

I love all his illustrations because they aren’t trying too hard, in a good way. They really got me excited for my trip.

James is an Australian living in Brooklyn. You can find all his illustrations on his website: www.allthebuildingsinnewyork.com

That’s him above. What an eccentric dresser.

Apparently he’s going to have to draw 900,000 buildings. So far he’s done 500.

“This city is hectic and we all have places to go, so very few people stop and look up,” says Hancock. “We are crammed in here. It’s not like we have any perspective on these buildings we live with every day. They just get ignored.”

“My style is kind of cute and colorful, which keeps the drawings from ending up being monolithically scary,” he says, conceding that the sketches can take anywhere from five minutes to a few days to complete.

“I especially love drawing brownstones because they are all slightly different, even if they look the same. That’s what is so great about drawing these buildings over and over again. I start to notice subtleties that were lost on me before.”

“What’s unique about New York is that the buildings are all different,” he says. “It’s that juxtaposition between old and new, tall and small, residential and commercial, that is really cool. You’ll have an old six-story brownstone next to a modern one-story cafe next to a high-rise all in one block.”

“People say that it’s impossible to draw every building in New York, but nothing is impossible,” he says. “Even if I don’t draw every building, I still like the idea of the project. New Yorkers are so passionate about their city and where they live that they want other people to see their skyline. They are proud of the city and I am proud to draw it for them, building by building.”

He tries to focus on drawing “places where real New Yorkers live and work” but I do love the landmark ones as well. “People do recognize their building, and I think they find that kind of special. There’s plenty of people that draw those iconic buildings, but not everyone draws some no-name townhouse on a back street in Brooklyn, so I think it’s kind of nice in that respect.”

His ultimate inspiration comes from the city itself, he said. “To an Australian, it’s a pretty romantic place,” he said. “But the romance is a reality – the buildings are real, and not just seen on film. It’s a place where real people live, and now they’re asking me to draw their buildings.”

With his playful style and mix of drawing tools and techniques, from Sharpie-on-notebook to digital illustration to screenprints, Hancock offers a refreshing lens on the world’s most overexposed city, filling it with the kind of childlike wonder so easy to lose amidst New York’s chronic hurry.

See the Google Map of all the places he’s drawn here Look’s like he’s mostly drawn downtown. Hurry up and do West 85th Street between Amsterdam & Broadway James!!! That’s where I stayed.