Paul Rand

Rand understood the vitality and symbolic power of colour and shape, his poster promoting New York subway advertising, it is created from elements of geometric forms and colours that can be read as both an abstracted figure as well as a target. His arrangement of concentric circles in vibrant colours becomes both an illustrative image and a dynamic composition. 

David Carson

David Carson is famous for his uncommon arrangement of letters, words and sentences.  Since the early nineties he is the best known practitioner of innovative visual and graphic design, whose work is often described as the new typography, de-constructive typography, or digital typography, he has been dubbed the "Father of Grunge", due to his dirty, messy style. 

The style in which he works is very similar to how I like to work with a page and layout, I relate to his 'dirty, messy, haphazard' presentation. Although he works is very 'grimy' it is very aesthetically pleasing and you cant helped but be gripped by it.  

Alex Trochut

Alex Trochut has a stunning array of work, including his latest Rolling Stones album cover "Rolled Gold" as well as work for British Airways, Diesel and Nike. He typography is like nothing i've seen before, whilst looking at his work I realised I had been looking at the same website for an hour, I was hooked, suprised and sustained by his variety and intensity. He has invented his own complex, interlocking, sinuously sexy letter forms, for example his lettering for CHannel 4's 3 minute wonder...

It won't let me upload any of his work so check him out online at www.alextrochut.com

Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti's sculptures fascinate me. They look at a different aspect of the human body, his elongated sculptures represent the shadows that our bodies cast. By removing definition such as eyes, ears and nose...allows you to appreciate the sculpture firstly as a whole and then it allows to further look at the more defined markings. I admire his confidence to play around with scale, because the sculptures have large feet you start from the bottom and work your way up, which emphasises the the scale of the piece. He usually either chooses to make his sculpture really tall or very small, there is no in between as this would not attract the viewer I don't think, you are drawn to them because they are unusual and out of proportion.

Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham is another photographer whose work I admire. I am drawn by the roughness and rawness of his photo's, he sums up domesticity perfectly; Everyday people, with everyday lives, in everyday situations but they make a unique and striking pictures. I like the fact that none of his pictures are staged he lets the subjects of his work be natural, he captures the moments of "family life" which would normally be overlooked and ignored.  

Christian Boltanksi

Although I find Boltanski's work visually appealing, I find many of his pieces give off an erie presence which makes me feel slightly uncomfortable if I look at it for too long. His work has been considered a "disturbing archive of our social, cultural, ethnic and personal histories". Many of his pieces are death obsessed, he creates photos that are out of focus and blurred so the faces become more ghost like and emphasise the memories that lie behind these faces. I like his photos that are lit up with bulbs, the pictures become shrine like and celebratory of the lives of the people who feature in them. 

You can see an similarities and influences from Annette Messenger's style and presentation, who is his wife.

Milton Glaser

Im sure we all recognise this iconic logo and Bob Dylan cover by Milton Glaser; on a recent University trip to New York I had the chance to hear Glaser talk about his work. This inspired me to look at more of his stuff and I was not dissapointed. His work is often vibrant, fresh and modern, he seems to keep update with what is going on in his surroundings and uses them to create his next piece. I like his laid back attitude towards his designs, his designs are often simple and straight to the point to create maximum impact. For example his recent poster of 

George Bush and the oil crisis. It is visually funny and presents the message clearly that Bush is "oil hungry" with just a simple change to the original photo. This is the kind of design I love to look at, simple but clever.

Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti sculptures are fascinating to me, he has taken a different aspect of the human body to recreate. His elongated sculptures represent the shadows our bodies create, they start with big feet and grow taller and smaller towards the head.  What interests me most is his confidence to play around with scale, to draw emphasis to particular features on the sculptures. By not having much defined details such as eyes, ears, nose it allows you to study the sculpture firstly as a whole, then you can concentrate on individual markings.  

Nan Goldin

Andy Goldsworthy

Mario Testino

Mario Testino is widely recognised for his celebrity photography, what I love about Testino is that he manages to capture the feeling of fame and fortune within his pictures, they epitomise a certain kind of accessible, star- friendly, flashy and trashy glamour. I have seen pictures of his exhibition in The National Portrait Gallery in 2002, where he hung celebrity images all over the wall. Each photo as bright and captivating as the other, the images appear to be fighting with one another to grab your attention, much like reality. Testino manages to apply and encorporate high fashion photography for many different ad campaigns, for example his most recent photograph of Kate Moss for the London 2012 campaign "40 Artists,
40 Days"; the idea and execution of this photo only further highlights his creative energy.

You will notice throughout Testinos images although each and every photograph looks vibrant and unique, many of them have one thing in common-the use of primary colours. I think he likes to use these constraints to push his creativity and try to produce equally unique pictures within these confinements.

His work is often fun and playful, I love the art direction behind these "Working Girls" photographs. They remind of the traditional spot the difference pictures but with a modern, controversial, high end fashion twist.

The Starn Twins

I have admired and followed these photographers for a while now. Their work always manages to catch my eye, because of there distinct presentation and unique way of handling prints. Most of the work is done once they have printed their photo, they often manipulate them to create texture, depth and interesteing focal points. The manor in which they treat their work is very rough and may appear haphazard and careless but every mark is though out carefully. They scratch, rip, burn, tear, cut and tone, to mention a few ways of enhancing the original photo. Many of their photos are cut up and each section is dealt with in a different way, some toned longer than others, some toned a different colour, others ripped or scratched, then they are pieced back together again. It doesnt stop there, I have seen hem sewn, stapled, nailed and taped back together again. They push the boundaries of photography; combining it with the creativity of art. My favourite aspect of their work is that each piece is unique and can never be created again.