Pancake People?

So Nichaolas Carr's quote in the july adbusters hit a chord. Personally i feel
my intellectual abilities have suffered at the hands of technology. Should I be worried?

"We used to have an intellectual ideal that we could contain within ourselves the whole
of civilization...through wide reading and study, you could have a depth of knowledge
and could make unique intellectual connections among the pieces of information stored
within your memory. Richard Forman suggests that we might be replacing that model for
both intelligence and culture- with a much more superficial relationship to information
in which the connections are made outside of our own minds through search engines and
hyperlinks. We'll become pancake people, with wide access to information but no
intellectual depth, because there's little need to contain information within our heads
when it's so easy to find it with a mouse click or two."

So Far So Goude

I scored today with this retrospective tome of Goude's work. He's always been one of my favorites. A graphic designer and all around creative renaissance man. His brain has been on fire for so many years. As grace jone's svengali and ex-husband some of his best stuff was coming out in the late 70's early 80's. Really primitive and elegant.

You Came Out

This video for We Have a Band's "You Came OUT" just caught my eye. Seems to be borrowing
from Corbijin and Bjork but does a nice job finding its own aesthetic thanks to the
mother daughter illustration team that worked on it. What's really interesting is this
was spearheaded by W+K london. Digital is really challenging everything. It's
interesting seeing an agency maneuver like this in a space that would have belonged to a
production comapny.

Hauschka - Morgenrot

Hauschka - Morgenrot from Jeff Desom on Vimeo.

love the feel of this video that's been making the rounds lately. Really nice job of storytelling with minimal narrative.

Link Magazine

I just finished creating a Link Magazine. It was a nice opportunity for the brand to find muscles it never knew it had through a print format. It was also a good experiment as a value add-on for Link subscribers, as well as just being a creative new vehicle for the brand's story.

HIll House

I always find los angeles so interesting for residential architecture and interiors. This Hill House uses its location replete with very strict zoning rules to define its shape. It's a nice example of being inspired by restrictions to create something new. Check out the interiors here.

Goooaaaaaalllllll!!!!!

Here are some frame grabs of some professional soccer players I shot at a sports complex
in Livermore. It was a great shoot with some talented athletes in motion.

Beautiful House at Jardin del Sol

I love residential architecture. I'm always amazed by the will (and cash) it takes to get something amazing built. This house in the canary Islands sits at the edge of a 300foot cliff where the infinity pool blends into the Mediterranean. Visually its so simple. A great reminder that with the right palette there is absolutely no need to overwork design. This space really delivers. You can check out the interiors here.

Keen's Hybrid Life

I've just started posting a keen branded video project on
their new hybrid life positioning. Principal agencies involved
are Forty Forty and Buder Engel. More information soon
as this project evolves.

The Golden Age of Cannes

The Telegraph.co.uk did a wonderful pictorial on the golden age of Cannes. A few of the
shots. Top left a young Keith Richards next to Picasso and Bridgette Bardot.
Bottom is Hitchock next to some unknown revelers. The sense of place and aesthetic
is impeccable. It just blows me away. Film is such a fantasy world and here
for a couple of weeks a year this small town becomes a playground of archetypes.
It all feels so spontaneous, pure during this time period. You can see the pictorial here.

Nudge

I've been helping my friends (two talented photographers James Chiang and Paul Trapani)
with a video they are directing for the Chicago band Nudge, via the record label Audraglint.
The above pics of Sydney from Look were shot by James in preparation for the video.
We shot for two good days, and I'm now whipping the footage into shape.
I'll post a link when the project is complete.

More Black and White photography

I've really been getting into the tones of black and white photography. Here are a couple of test shots I took recently. I will be gearing up for more of a fashion take on this soon.

Link TV On-air redesign

I'm spearheading a redesign of national cable network Link TV.
Link is a national cable channel with a world perspective on film, music,
and documentaries. Because its content is so diverse, it’s been critical
to find a strong simple design system to handle its wildly disparate
programming. With global imagery, the picture is king for this brand.
My graphic focus is on the bold, colorful evocation of place.

Dreams

This is one of my favorite snaps. I took this of a young man laying on the steps
of church in San Francisco. His posture is so dramatic. Aside from the compassion of
seeing someone so utterly spent, their is so much nuance. Is he damned or enlightened?
To strike such a defenseless posture in public is the ultimate gesture in an urban
environment. For me, there is something transcendent about dreaming in public.

Light Brite

Some photographs I recently took exploring the structural elements of light.

What Change Looks Like

A graphic opening I created for Link TV for its recent coverage of
the Democratic National Convention.

Halou- Morse Code

A music video I directed for the talented electronica band Halou from their “Wholeness & Separation” album.

On the left is a storyboard for the project and on the right a final composite. Despite the simple aesthetic, this project was incredibly complicated. But it was a joy to work with the band and the talented visual artists Darren Culley and Amit Murkerjee.

West Coast Landscape

I've really been getting into landscape photography lately. It's such a nice break from moving film, so zen and rejuvenating. Above is a shot
from Marin California. The other is a view of a cheerful little San Francisco smokestack as seen from the roof of my flat.

Bathtub IV

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

I'm especially liking the tilt shift look of this spot by keith loutit. Alot of the work i do with Link TV is based around the tag "The World is Tiny...Know Your Neighbor". It's no wonder this style caught my eye.

Simple

This is from a television campaign I directed for Link TV. Aimed at the heart of the Link TV funder, these simple and direct spots eschewed razzle-dazzle for honest and authentic engagement. With an intimate feel and an appreciation for the personality of the interviewees, I let Link’s most passionate supporters become ambassadors for the brand.

I created a special camera rig for this shoot (ala Erol Morris) and paired everything down into a visual aesthetic of engagement. This was a lot of fun and a great exercise in letting the brand be more authentic and generous in its messaging.