POSTED BY: Glenn Bolton

Top Five Flicks for Designers

24th Aug, 2018
illustration of a couple on a couch

Top Five Flicks for Designers

There comes a time when everyone burns the candle at both ends. A point where no matter how long you spend staring at a screen, nothing will happen. Every last bit of creative juice has been squeezed. There’s nothing you can do other than leave the desk, switch off and reboot.

Here are Neworld’s top 5 flicks to switch off to:

1) Abstract
If you want to get to know what us creatives are like, this is the perfect show. An insight into how well-renowned creatives work. The series interviews six like-minded creatives with different creative careers. Illustrators, Photographers, Graphic Designers, Shoe Designers.

2) The Happy Film
You don’t have to be a designer to enjoy this one. As a well renowned Austrian Graphic Designer, Stefan Sagmeister tries to find happiness through three possible avenues. He decides to turn himself into a design project. Can he redesign his personality to become a better person? Is it possible to train his mind to get happier? He pursues 3 controlled experiments of meditation, therapy and drugs grading himself along the way. But real life creeps in and confounds the process: art, sex, love and death prove impossible to disentangle. His unique designs and painfully personal experiences mark a journey that travels closer to himself than ever intended. The film whilst being endlessly entertaining also gets quite deep and philosophical. It goes in directions even Stefan hadn’t anticipated.

3) Exit Through the Gift Shop
The story of how an eccentric French shop-keeper and amateur film-maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work.

4) Objectified & Helvetica
Both of these films are staples for every design student. At some point or other, they will have seen it throughout the course of their college lives. However, the two documentaries could be easily taken in by non-designers. Yes, they are documentaries about typefaces, chairs and so on but framed with a greater question in mind.

5) Linotype: The Film
The Film is a feature-length documentary centred around the Linotype typecasting machine. Called the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ by Thomas Edison, it revolutionised printing and society. The film tells the surprisingly emotional story of the people connected to the Linotype and how it impacted the world. ….Nerdy we know, but the film is full of historical anecdotes, trivial facts and opens up a world you probably didn’t know about.

Honourable mention – Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production
Directed by Briar Levit, Graphic Means explores graphic design production of the 1950s through the 1990s. I haven’t seen this one yet, but I’m hoping for a possible screening here in Dublin to check it out!

 

So that’s your weekend on the couch sorted! Grab a beer and get watching!

Hero illustration by Thiago Steka

Glenn Bolton – Senior Graphic Designer
Glenn has been waving the flag for Neworld for 5 years now. Not so new to our design team anymore. He’s our resident craft beer aficionado, wannabe Michelin star chef,  photographer of yummy foods, maker of tiny things, Dublin tour guide and a proprietor of one of the swankiest single speed bikes around town.