JoshSpear.com pal MWM Graphics (Matt W. Moore) is finishing up a month-long stint of work and play in Sao Paulo, putting the final touches on spray painted pieces for tomorrow’s kickoff of his first-ever solo show in South America, Parallel Universe, at Rojo Magazine’s Artspace. The graphic design wunderkind arrived with no materials and created everything in the show from scratch in a studio in boho Pinheiros. The results are canvas versions of his famous vector illustrations, and they interestingly blur the line between digital and literal handiwork. Check out an in-depth interview with him on TotalSPGuide.com in which a writer takes him out for forro dancing and drinks, and in the midst of it all that mental lubrication, Moore reveals some great (and inspirational) insights into his work process.  Looks fantastic.

“Sure we've never been bears, but that doesn't mean we've never loved one,” says Luke Chueh, the man behind some of today's more recognizable pop-surrealist paintings. That's one way that the SF-based artist tries to explain the world's growing affinity for his toy-inspired work, and it may very well be the most significant. Of course, the fact that our eyes are so readily drawn to these paintings has as much to do with the subject’s masochistically demolished appendages as it’s place in our childhoods, but maybe that's why we owe Luke so much credit. Yes, the plots are dismal, but it's the familiar characters that catch our attention — and whether it's the blood or the bunnies that keep it, the fact remains that the canvases of Chueh might represent a unexpected truth. Read on as we chat with Luke about revelations, evolutions, and all the beheadings in between.

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As creator and all-around genius behind UK design shop Universal Everything, Matt Pyke serves up some of the most eye-catching and jaw-dropping digital design on the planet. His client list includes heavy hitters like Apple, Adidas, MTV, Coke, Nokia, Nike and a little shindig called the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

The anticipation for his latest project is keeping me up at night: Advanced Beauty is a series of “sound sculptures” curated by Universal Everything with sound design by frequent collaborator Freeform, the music project led by Matt's brother, Simon Pyke. Each segment is visually and sonically unique and directed by groundbreaking designers from around the world – including visionaries like Marc Kremers, Karsten Schmidt, Thomas Traum, Alex Peverett, Tom Scholefield, Paul Simpson, and Jonathan Garin.

If the awe-inspiring trailer and lushly color-filled first segment by New York-based designer and SpearTalks Alum Mate Steinforth are any indication, then we're in for a total breakthrough when Advanced Beauty finally drops in Spring 2008. I think it’s pretty safe to say right now: Advanced Beauty will be the shit.

If you consider yourself a graphic designer, you’ve probably heard of Joshua Davis. As one of the first adopters of Flash, a significant new media artist, an author, and one of the design world's weightiest members, Joshua Davis is a name that rolls off many tongues during discussions regarding progression, experimentation, and development. A pioneer in the word's most technological sense, Joshua has never been one to find a niche and stick with it, instead choosing to find what's next — or in what's often his case, to create it. We chatted with Joshua about things like Praystation, philosophy, and his plans for the future, and wound up feeling a little bit like we do when we look at one of his mathematically composed graphics. In other words: utterly enthralled.

Joshspear.com: For our readers who aren't as familiar with your background, can you give us a brief rundown of your life up until today?

Joshua Davis: My name is Joshua Davis, born 1971 in San Diego, California, moved to Littleton, Colorado where I pretty much grew up. I had always been interested in art and in high school I entered a statewide competition and took second place in the state for painting. After spending ‘89, ‘90 in Huntington Beach, California skateboarding and ‘91, ‘92 moving back to Colorado living in Frisco to do some snowboarding, I moved to New York in November 1992 and eventually attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. At Pratt I worked on Design and Illustration and through fellow classmates got into working on the web in 1995 (Netscape 1.1). When Netscape 3 was released (at the end of 1996) I had a moment of clarity to use technology and the web to create my work. 13 years later I run Joshua Davis Studios where I use design and technology to create work for corporate clients, private collectors, galleries, museums, and personal exploration.

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Federico Slivka Lederer is well-traveled and well-worded. He is a graphic designer (with whom you may be acquainted with, particularly if you’ve been to a little site called TreeHugger), an art director, and an interaction designer. He is also an amazing photographer — a skill he won’t mention himself, but one that is easily discernable after glancing over only a few of his penetrating snapshots. However, after talking with Federico about all the things that he so decidedly is, one of his occupations seems to fit the young Barcelona resident more than any other: Federico Slivka Lederer is a teacher. I say this only in partial reference to his actual position teaching students at the Barcelona Film School, because the ways in which he fills that definition seep well through the walls of his classroom. In this interview, you will notice exactly what I did: Slivka Lederer is the type of person that is nice to listen to; the type that should be teaching, because he says what is worth hearing. Or, in this case, reading (and hopefully more than once).

JoshSpear.com: Tell us about your upbringing…

FS: I was born (hyperactive) in Buenos Aires in 1974, the same year the Football World Cup was played (and won!) in Argentina.

I was raised with joy and health in a small medium-class family. Nine months of school, three months of holydays… what else could I ask for?

My Czech grandfather used to visit us every weekend, and brought us a little Matchbox car; one for me and one for my brother. While my brother played with them and broke them after five minutes, I took them carefully out of their boxes, arranged them and exhibited them with accuracy. READ MORE…

Not too long ago, we told you about the design competition Cut&Paste, a timed tournament currently cruising through 11 international cities. Last week, Cut&Paste found its way to NYC, where eight local designers were pitted against one another in an edge-of-your-seat battle for first place. We scored big time when we landed an interview with the future winner of the competition. We then scored even bigger-time when time (and talent) placed the gold medal in the hands of a certain Mate Steinforth. Not only had we (Dan Steckenberg) previously posted on some of Mate’s awesome work, but our collective drool actually drowned Dan’s computer, leaving us with a sort of slimy metal spitwad.

…OK, maybe not. But needless to say we were impressed. And with good reason; Mate has one hell of a background leading up to his current ‘07 Cut&Paste victory. A traveler, a computer nerd, an ardent user of emoticons, Mate has earned his position among the design elite with all the work and fervor that one would expect from a guy of his caliber.

Mate currently works for PSYOP, a New York production company that will turn reading this interview into a 45-minute affair (given you click on that link). I say that truly hoping you do click on over, because watching every single one of their brilliant productions just added about that much time to writing this interview, and it was totally worth it. However, if you’d rather invest your time in 100% pure Mate, you can always check out his portfolio at mateuniverse, the site where he keeps a running collection of both personal projects and work he’s done for PSYOP.

In closing (and beginning), I’d like to remind you that Cut&Paste judges its contestants on three things: Originality, Technique, and Overall Dopeness. As you can tell from the posted pictures of Mate’s winning design (more of which can be found here), we are clearly dealing with a man who eats dope for breakfast (and by that I clearly mean “dope” in its context as the noun form of dopeness, not as in “Mate eats pot every morning”). So, read on knowing that you are in the internet presence of a man who can probably teach you a thing or two, who is also incredibly nice, and who — BOOYAH! — just won Cut&Paste NYC.

Joshspear.com: Tell us about Demoscene. How did this throw you into graphic design?

Mate Steinforth: In 1985, when I was 9 years old, I got my first computer, which was pretty early for my generation. So I was interested in technology from an early age on. This naturally led to using the computer as a tool for making images. In my teen years I became active in the computer art subculture called Demoscene. READ MORE…

There’s a good chance that “psyop” doesn’t necessarily mean anything to you, but maybe it’ll help if I write it like this: psy-op, as in psychological operations; as in some spooky government stuff that you don’t really want to know about. Their slogan is “[p]ersuade, change and influence.”

I’m telling you about this because PSYOP is also that name of an advertising agency which seeks to “win the hearts and minds of the public through creative content.” They make really pretty animations, you see, for companies like Target, Adidas, Toyota and others. In their employ is Cut & Paste-participating designer Mate Steinforth, who recently re-launched his site, and it’s quite nice. You can browse through his whole portfolio and see what he’s up to, but the most rewarding way to use mateuniverse — as it’s called — might be to look at his PSYOP slides, such as this one for Mastercard, and then to watch the full, prepared video on the PSYOP site; it’s a little like watching the entire creative process itself unfold. Also, watch this and tell me you wouldn’t give MTV another shot…I guess I have some episodes of The Hills to catch up on now. Damn.

TED was not only described to me as inspirational, passionate and unique, but also as mind boggling– sometimes almost exhaustively so. Today started early, I attended the pre-conference breakfast where TED Prize winners from last year updated attendees on their progress, issues and steps towards ultimate success– I encourage you to check out some of their wishes and how far they have come, it’s quite amazing. Not long after the breakfast, the real conference kicked off with one of the most passionate, heart-felt, and moving presentations I’ve seen in a very, very long time by none other than John Doerr, one of the, if not THE most well-known venture capitalist. His speech was about how scared he was for the future of the world– how his generation had put his children, and his children’s children in such jeopardy. He spoke about how despite all the positive work on eliminating CO2 and harmful emissions in places like Brazil, and around the world– it still was not enough, and the current efforts were not even close to what’s needed. I met him later in the afternoon to thank him and he said simply, we must do something now to change this or we’re not going to last much longer on the earth. I look forward to re-watching his presentation when it’s available online– it’s not to be missed.

Doerr was followed by Nogozi Okonjo-Iwela a surprise addition to the program for many. When she took the stage I had absolutely no idea who she was or what she was here to talk about– and that unexpectedness was greeted with a humbling look into Africa like I’d never seen before. Nogozi is the Former Nigerian Finance Minister, and her short 18 minute speech honestly left me with a different view of the financial situation in not only Nigeria, but Africa as a whole. Nigeria and much of Africa is further along in their economic growth than they’re given credit for. Her speech was packed full of interesting growth statistics and ended leaving me in thoughts about Africa as a place for entrepreneurs, and a place for immense positive change. She left saying Africa is Open For Business.

Other highlights from the first session included Zipcar founder Robin Chase talking about mesh networks, the poet Rives obsession with the phrase “4 in the morning” and how it repeats itself throughout history. The first session called ‘Open For Business’ ended with Lawrence Lessig– founder of the Creative Commons movement. His presentation was absolutely fantastic and really spoke to me. That’s going to be a fabulous TED talk when it’s up on the internet for everyone to view!

The second session of the day was much different, it was called Truth & Invention. Although Erin Mckean, Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford American Dictionary was fascinating, and Nano-technologist/author Ted Sargent equally so– A humble and passionate Artist and Designer by the name of Jonathan Harris stole the show for many. We covered his project WeFeelFine many moons ago and it’s not surprising he has been working full-force on his latest project called Universe, slated to be online sometime next week! Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft was also great. He spoke about penguins, photography, dinosaur hunting and much more– and in 18 minutes gave me both the realization and validation that knowing a little about a lot of things is okay, like becoming a mini-expert on everything that interests you.

The third session was called simplicity– presenters like designer John Maeda and illustrator/artist Maira Kalman spoke so passionately about what they do and why they do it. Alan Kay debuted new revelations about the $100 Laptop initiative. By this third session the mind-boggling feeling had fully kicked in for the day.

The final session was the most important of the whole conference, it’s the session called I Have a Dream, where three prize winners get to present their individual wishes. The three prize winners were photographer James Nachtwey, author and scientist EO Wilson, and former president Bill Clinton. What was so interesting to me was that on one hand each of these individuals do such drastically different work, while they’re very, very similar on the other. Nachtwey’s speech was very moving– the war time photographer in my eyes is likely the most important photographer of my lifetime, if not the entire 21st century. When he took the stage he admitted how difficult receiving this award in front of so many people would be, as he has spent a majority of his life being invisible–blending into crowds of people, troops, etc taking photographs on the front line. The best way to describe his speech is to give you a quote by him: “I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.” His wish was for us to help him break a a story that the world needs to know about in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age. He hasn’t yet shared the story he is working on– but I have my guesses. You can read more about his wish and what he needs to make it a reality here.

EO Wilson’s acceptance speech was very different, he said at first he stood on stage speaking on behalf of the ‘little things in the world’, the insects, bacteria, etc. His scientific studies have led him (and many other scholars) to believe that if we destroy the insects in the world, the rest of the world won’t function properly, and therefore will not continue and cease to exist. His wish was that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life. You can read more about his wish and what’s needed to make that happen here.

Last but certainly not least was a speech and wish by President Bill Clinton. His speech was fairly casual and refreshing– Every other time I’ve ever seen the former president, let alone any president speak it has been with a teleprompter in a suit and tie with an American Flag pin on their jacket. I think he obviously hit his stride with his Clinton Global Initiative momentum. He spoke about, no surprise to many, Rwanda– but what was most interesting is that while solving the major issues in Rwanda he wants to create a foot print and system that can be deployed in thousands of other places around the world in need. His wish was for us to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting his foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country. Clinton’s words resonated with me because I recently saw an interview where he was asked what, if anything, did he regret about his time in office– and he said he felt like he could have and should have intervened and stopped the genocide in Rwanda– but he didn’t. You can see more details about his wish here.

Presentations like these really put life, and what we spend our time doing throughout it into a serious perspective…

More TED to come tomorrow!

This tasty morsel of short film — entitled ‘Le Grand Content‘ — comes to us from digital designers Clemens Kogler and Karo Szmit, and was narrated by Andre Tschinder. I found it by browsing Jessica Hagy’s blog ‘Indexed,’ which is one of my favorite blogs in existence (as I’ve told you before). In a similar style to Indexed, which rationalizes life’s big and little issues with charts in graphs, ‘Le Grand Content’ adopts some of Jessica Hagy’s material and “examines the omnipresent Powerpoint-culture in search for its philosophical potential … which challenges itself to answer all questions of the universe and some more.” While the exercise fails to its desired end (which is to be expected I would say), it nevertheless touches on some interesting and nuanced topics. I enjoyed watching the film very much, and I think you will too.

Via Indexed