Oh CRIPES what were they thinking? They were absolute geniuses! That’s what you’re about to say like 50 times in this thread. This is World Famous Design Junkies first big retro thread of kitsch, inside is a collection of items that are not big enough to have their own thread, but much too big 2 b 4gotten. Most or ALL of them were made before the internet age, and are therefor just as good as new. That’s the rules of the internet. Discover for yourselves the wonders of the kitsch design universe.

To understand kitsch you must first understand the nature of the kitsch designer. This kitsch designer that’s being spoken about takes things to the next level of literal translation. They put puppies in human outfits, they bring a boom box when a tiny radio would be perfectly fine, and they wear an eyepatch. They’ve got everything in full color and they never let ink go to waste. They say, “man, the paint is here, and it’s gonna have to go somewhere, so if anyone is going to waste it, it’s going to be me.”

Then the kitsch designer splatters the paint all over the chia-pet canvas.

Please join me now on a limited journey through the insides of the kitsch design universe. The following designs are captured from a small but wonderful group of collectors who you should all meet. All of dis junk (or a lot of it) is from the following sources: RetroZone, Histoire Del Oeil, Graphik Addict, Arbito, Roadside Pictures, REBIRTH, probably Christian Montone, and illvisual, plus a couple other ones I might have lost.

Fear naught!

This post from the World Famous Design Junkies collection category.

If you can get all excited about this, thank a design teacher! Or thank your reading teacher. Did they have that? Reading class? I don’t even remember. Anyway I’m finding out that the people who do illustrations for magazines and periodicals using ink, paint, pencil, sculpture, whatever, are amongst the wildest thinkers. Their objects don’t have to work, so they’re free in a way a real-life Industrial Designer never can be. But it’s gotta look good. And this standardized test form looks ace.

This project was made by the clever hand of illustrator / designer Abi Huynh

New York Times Magazine
education / faculty evaluation illustration

I was asked to do an illustration in NYT Magazine’s college issue, the article was about the effect of faculty / instructor evaluations at Universities and Colleges in the US. I decided on a slightly subtle approach through an exaggerated take on the standardized test / survey. Whenever I was asked to evalulate my instructor, the specific categories (questions) the survey contained were pretty difficult to answer and it came down to the basic notion that some students that really liked the teacher … and some who really hated them. The tests strive to have an objective aura, and that is reflected in a systemic idea and measure of ‘good teaching’, with this illustration I wanted to show the subjective nature behind the evaluation surveys.

You know good and well these tests only showed who was good at taking the tests. Believe dat. This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bits category.

So you remember the cover of the New York Times where there were two giant fingers crushing a red gummy United States? That was made by none other than the artist we’ve got here today: Kevin Van Aelst. He’s got big ideas and he illustrates them teeny tiny or just basically small items he sees everyday. From a keyboard made out of children’s letter blocks to a USB video tape, here’s to QUITE the illustrator!

My color photographs consist of common artifacts and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged, assembled, and constructed into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between the ‘big picture’ and the ‘little things’ in life—the banalities of our daily lives, and the sublime notions of identity and existance. While the depictions of information–such as an EKG, fingerprint, map or anatomical model–are unconventional, the truth and accuracy to the illustrations are just as valid as more traditional depictions. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.

Splendid mathematical manifestations galore!

Below you will find a collection of peculiar objects, all illustrations by our man in question. You will see a ying-yang made of Oreo cookie: this is easy to understand. A little bit further down the specialized understanding map is the pumpkin carved with a Beta-Carotene Molecule, or the cake decorated with a dragon curve. But you don’t need any degree or specialized study to see the beauty in these objects, especially when you have such perfect splendidness as the logarithmic milk spill.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies gridwork category. Such weird prefection isn’t often found outside of nature, lemme tell ya that.

We’re on a digital-to-physical kick today, and this is something I physically want. If it’s not completely obvious: it’s a chart made by designer Nello Russo charting the relative space on each of the pictured medias. According to Russo, “Visual Data Storage” is only the first in a series which will go on to chart tapes and cartridges. And then, the rest of the world.

This poster is 700×1000 mm, laser print, and only 10 copies have been printed! Ask the dude to print a bunch more and send them to everyone.

Send them especially to “you-know-who.”