For Those Looking for Design Inspiration: Two Projects to Share

TAKEAWAY: A new film poster book about movies made in Cuba after the revolution shows great ideas ALSO: In Spain, a new fashion magazine

For film poster enthusiasts

From time to time, if I have time in my hands and a big bookstore nearby, I will pass the the hours walking the aisles, particularly looking at art books, and, specifically, anything that has to do with poster design. For those of us in this business, inspiration comes in many different ways. Movie posters, in particular, and anything that has to do with the golden era of jazz in the US are of particular interest to me, although when trying to seek inspiration for vibrant sports pages, I turn to boxing posters of the 1930s and 40s.

Now a new book appears to have several things of interest to me, and probably to many of you: Cuba, movies and design.

Soy Cuba (I am Cuba) is the title of a book which is a collection of post-revolutionary Cuban cinema posters, spanning from the 1950s through the 1970s.

I must get the book and see if that film I was in as an actor, El Joven Rebelde (The Young Rebel) made the cut. I left Cuba before the film premiered, so I have no idea what the poster looks like for this, the second film made after the Cuban revolution came to power.

From what I see in the promotion, with an introduction by former New York Times art director, Steven Heller, there is plenty to look at and to study here. I am surprised by the number of films made, so many of which we never heard about.

For more information about the book, go here: http://www.artbook.com/blog-excerpt-soy-cuba.html

For those of you who wish to catch me as Mario the actor, go here:
http://cinecuba.blogspot.com/2008/03/el-joven-rebelde-1961.html

In Spain: S Moda launches this week

This Saturday, readers of Spain’s El Pais will get an extra in their package: the new S Moda.

S Moda, published by PRISA and Conde Naste, will be under the leadership of Oscar Becerra, a veteran magazine genius with whom I had the honor of working in France’s Paris Match. Oscar is that rare combination of the magazine creator with tremendous feelings for what audiences want at a particular time, a solid journalistic background (he knows that it is the stories that will make a magazine succeed), and a good eye for design and photography.

For the first issue, the cover girl is Sarah Jessica Parker, of Sex and the City fame, who appears dressed in a torero jacket, appropriate for the first issue of S Moda in Spain. The first edition will consist of 200 pages, all color, with emphasis on women’s fashion, interviews, analysis of social trends, travel, leisure and design.

The launch of S Moda is across platforms. You can see it online at http://www.smoda.es. In addition, there is an iPad app. S Moda’s editor in chief is Empar Prieto and art director Diego Areso.

In today’s editions, El Pais explains that “S Moda will attempt to go beyond just fashion shows, treating fashion like an attitude, and, in addition, as a cultural expression of the first level, for people who appreciate aesthetics and enjoy it.“