German publisher, Die Gestalten Verlag, continues to pour out innovative and highly spirited books with anime, which contains a showcase of motion in Web design and goes beyond the limits of the Web by including a DVD of videos created by talented international designers. The high quality book that’s neither officially hardcover or paperback fits snuggly into its transparent plastic case with a DVD in its own holder.
The book stands alone as a techno-collection of still shots of design, but couple it with the DVD and it takes you away into the diverse world of motion accompanyed by sound created with Web technology that leaves you in awe. Think of the best music video mixed with superb art and that’s what you get from the DVD.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with artistic styles, you’ll recognize many of the presentations because they’re found in today’s media: television, movies, online, art, and music. The influences come from the Beatles, Bubbleheads (think PowerPuff Girls and Super Mario Bros. video game), Japanese manga and anime (comics style like Sailor Moon), and artists like Dali and Mondrian. To experts, these are comprised of grunge, Gothic, transformer robot, duotone, geometrical, and pixelated styles.
There are a handful of interviews with the designers including Hi-Res’ Alexandra Jugovic and Florian Schmitt, creators of Requiem for a Dream, Jean Paul Leonard of Angry Monkey, and Matt Anderson of Konstruktiv Politburo.
The DVD has a collection of vector presentations, interactive art, linear storytelling sequences, and motion graphics, and movie clips. The Quick Check Reference card lists all of the projects and their codes to make it easier to find and view on the DVD.
The pages in the book indicate the creator and the title of the artwork, but it would’ve been nice if it also included the influence or style with a description to educate readers new to these styles.
However, Golan Levin of FLONG / M.I.T. makes a good point explaining, “I hope that my work will not be thought of as conforming to any commonly understood style… I’d much prefer that someone could look at one of my pieces and somehow detect the unique mark of my own “hand” in it.” In this case, perhaps the editor could have included a brief explanation of the design.
The back of the book lists all the contributors, the location of the work (page numbers for the book and chapter numbers for the DVD), contact and Web site information, designer’s location, project description, development platform and software information, and other tidbits. Joshua Davis of Praystation, DesignerShock, and WDDG are some of the talents whose works appear in the compilation.
Admittedly, I don’t have an artistic eye and could not begin to properly describe the kind of works found in anime. Students of design and designers will appreciate the journey through the virtual gallery.
View samples from anime.
VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: anime
AUTHORS: Robert Klanten (Editor), Hendrik Hellige
(Editor), Birga Meyer
(Editor), Mons Nyman (Editor)
PUBLISHER: Die Gestalten Verlag
PUBLICATION DATE: November 2001
ISBN: 3931126722
FORMAT: Hardcover & DVD
PAGES: 192
PRICE: US$70
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