Cadmium-Free Paint

Today I received a sample of paint from Liquitex.  They have a new Cadmium-Free acrylic paint out and are encouraging artists to test their paint and see if you can really tell the difference between the Cadmium-Free and the regular paint.  Some artists say that the Cadmium paints are more vibrant with better opacity but there is a health risk with Cadmium.  Here are my test samples below.   I don’t know which tube, A or B has the cadmium but will have to visit liquitex.com to learn the results of their artist challenge.  I really couldn’t tell the difference.   They both seem to function the same with the same coverage.   If you would like read more about it, go to https://www.liquitex.com/cadmium-free-challenge/

 

Web-Brutalism: Rebel Web Design

Design has always been an interest of mine, so when I read about web-brutalism design in my favorite graphics magazine, I knew I had to find out what it was.

Web-brutalists are digital designers that create raw, irreverent, ugly websites.  They are more concerned with simplicity and truth than comfort and frivolity.  The younger generation is designing this way as a reaction to the busy, lavish, opulent websites that are out there now.   Some designers claim the old design rules are causing the death of creativity and that Web-brutalism with its noncompliance encourages creativity and diversity.  Of course a good designer will know which rules to break and which to keep.

In the past two decades, we have moved from an information age to an innovation age.  Both need to work synchronously as technology becomes increasingly mobile.  Technology needs to be wearable, fashionable and fit seamlessly into our lives.  Standardization is a major factor for everyone.  New ideas need to coordinate with existing services to work.  Today we see that with some design, for example, a charging cable can be used by several electronic devices.  On the web you will see templates as another example, with users on WordPress blogs, etsy shops and eBay sellers using standardized designs.  Web-Brutalists are designing as a response to these templates and standardizations by using original designs that break out of the mold.  These brutalist websites tend to be more flat, text-heavy and simple sites (see examples below).

Pascal Deville, a Creative Director from Zurich wrote about the web-brutalism movement in 2014.    Deville had noticed some designers were using odd-looking work and wrote about it.  He started a website where designers could submit their websites.  With this movement growing, webbrutalism.com is receiving over 100 submissions a day from many different countries and industries.  This design style is growing in popularity today and is a new authentic voice reaching target audiences.

Check out some of the unique websites:

www.webbrutalism.com

www.awwwards.com/brutalism-brutalist-websites.html

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