Blow Out

I still cheer every time I see a logo successfully chip away at the tenets of traditional logo design. This trend is one such rebel. It stands up and proclaims, "To hell with vectored edges!" This group is beautifully crafted. The shape is formed, but then a 5,000-watt krypton bulb blows out the mark's critical edges. The nerve to build an implied aura in a flat world is rewarded when the design calls for it. Melbourne's FutureBrand Australia could have captured a continent with a bounding kangaroo and sun, but they sealed the deal for adventurers and sun worshippers worldwide by welding a solar flare right into the viewers mind.

1. FutureBrand Australia for Brand Australia 2. Gardner Design for Viziworx Enhanced Television 3. Cato Purnell Partners for Terry White Chemists 4. Creative Development Association for Third World Mission Association

CMYK

For years, cyan, magenta, yellow and black have been designer-speak in developing identities for printing and color houses. So when did these primary colors of the print world enter the vocabulary of the real world? When digital printers became cheaper than the inks you load in them. CMYK soon became the building blocks of a visually literate society. These base colors, spurned as long-time restrictions by designers, suddenly became the novel darlings of consumers. To explain a concept, knock it down to its basic elements: Suddenly, CMYK is a fresh tool that a savvy public understands.

1. Wolken communica for Bellevue Art Museum 2. Cato Purnell Partners for Infratil 3. Braue; Branding & Corporate Design for Druckhaus Wüst 4. Chase Design Group for First Light

Flames

Though tiresome to many, fire is one of the elements of nature, and flames aren't going away soon. Want to confirm this? Turn on your TV and count the number of custom biker/motor/auto/monster/pimp-my-ride-shows spread across networks as diverse as Discovery, MTV and ESPN. Customization has become an industry, and good pin-strippers sign autographs. These guys can tell us there are traditional flames, fast flames, California flames, tribal flames and more. We still associate flames with heat, speed and vanilla rebellion, and as long as there are fast bad-boy clients, designers will be painting their licks.

1. Davidson Design for Target 2. Fernandez Design for Global Chaos 3. Luce Beaulieu for Le Poulet Grillé 4. Modern Dog Communications for Experience Music Project