Appropriate Blogger Humor

Not that I've ever done this... thank you everythingontheinternetistrue.com ••••

Inspirational Design Posters

Designed by Frank Chimero,

"One of the perks of having a profession where you make things, is that you can
pretty much make your own version of anything to cater specifically to you and
your peers. I think this is what has happened with designers: we need our own
version of everything and want to be our own audience."••••

Spoiler Alert!

I don't like to be surprised. So I love this poster design that gives away the endings of popular movies. Great idea and perfect use of typography and graphic images. ••••

Double Oh Design

I am a sucker for a well designed book series, and in my opinion Penguin has again knocked one out of the park with their most recent collection of 007 covers. I love the mod, 70s feel to the illustrations (which are sometimes, I think, as deliberately awkward as they are provocative) and the way the type works with the images— plastered across the backs, chests, and stomachs of all those memorable Bond girls. ••••

Eye Clone Lamp

If you have ever wanted a glass blown lamp designed as an exact replica of your eyes? Send 5.5 Designers a photo of your eyes as well as the appropriate filled in form and your dream will materialize! ••••
 

Fonts for Thought

Futura, Franklin Gothic, Baskerville, Didot, Garamond, Century Gothic, Helvetica (despite my recent post), Trade Gothic, Rockwell, and Arial Narrow.  ••••

A Practical Post

Own a laptop? For those of you who do, I'm sure you are familiar with the pleasures and pitfalls of making your life portable. Perhaps one of the largest downfalls is security— it's terrific to be able to take your work with you wherever you go, but this is also what makes the laptop highly tempting to thieves! The Crew has seen it happen before to classmates and even professors, and there is no reason it should happen to you— introducing Adeona, the laptop tracker. It is a FREE program designed at the University of Washington that can track your stolen laptop— and even take a picture with your ICam of the thief in action. Read more and download it here to be worry free from now on! ••••

Check-in from Beijing

Hi guys!I'm still alive, just in Beijing for a while! Some sights from the one of the million malls...

Doodle Buzz

What: A new way to read the news through an experimental interface that allows you to create typographic maps of current news stories.

Why: To create an entirely new way of exploring information - one that allows for a kind of "quiet chaos" that gives people the opportunity to explore unthought of paths and connections along their news gathering journey. You may start at Iraq but end up finishing on Britney, whilst taking in The Catholic Church, Global Warming and 50 Cent.

DoodleBuzz is very interesting and worth a second of your time! ••••

Found in San Francisco: Indie Mart Street Fair

Tourists, fog, movies in the park, and weekend street fairs - all things that characterize summertime in San Francisco. On any given weekend street fairs filter the various neighborhoods in and around the city. Usually they consist of the same craft fair merchandise and cater more towards people that just want an excuse to drink beer and eat sausages before noon (umm, not that there's anything wrong with that). This weekend, however, I stumbled across something a bit different - the Indie Mart - a street fair devoted solely to independent artists selling truly unique products. Jewelry, sculptures, toys, clothing and accessories filled the booths and attracted hundreds of people, despite the less than desirable weather. Straying from conventional arts and crafts, the merchants at Indie Mart prove to be real artists selling highly crafted products. The above pictures show just a handful of the fun visual goodies at Indie Mart. My favorite of all the vendors had to be Andy of Sanfranpsycho. A great name for a great product. The amazing graphics on the silk screened clothing caught my attention and Andy in all his silk screening glory kept my attention. In the middle of the fair Andy was putting his craft to work by silk screening custom shirts, hoodies, and/or anything you could offer. The graphics are edgy, current and trendy enough to be in the windows of Urban Outfitters, but far cooler since they're not in the windows of UrbanOutfitters. ••••

The Top 40

I just discovered Design Charts-a website that generates data to compile a weekly list of the top 40 design oriented websites. It comes at no surprise that most of these sites have amazing web design and offer a new source inspiration for designers in all fields. ••••

The Process

Friday afternoons are just made for watching these— another great design-related video for your viewing pleasure! ••••

The Font Conference

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

GENIUS! ••••

Frida Kahlo at SFMOMA

This past weekend I finally made it over to the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SFMOMA. Expecting to see the collection of self-portraits which widely characterize her work, I was pleasantly surprised to find an exhibit full of expressive, surrealist paintings as well as a large collection of her personal photographs. The exhibit does an excellent job of showcasing the progression of her work throughout her life. Likewise, the collection honestly depicts the strong and passionate woman that she was and that gave her the motivation to create such powerful pieces. Influenced by her Mexican heritage, Kahlo used bold, vibrant colors in stark contrast to the dark and painful narratives. Having lead a tumultuous life full of heart-ache, and severe physical ailments, Kahlo was able to express herself through her work. As a result, Kahlo has become one of the most influential female artists of her time. Perhaps my favorite part of the exhibit was the collection of personal photographs. This photo (shown below) shows Kahlo with her family when she was only 16 in a time when this sort of behavior was far from acceptable. Most surprising of all, she is wearing her father's suit; Proving that even at a young age, Frida Kahlo defied convention and had the confidence and strong will to make a lasting impact on the world. ••••

The BENTLEY

I can't afford a Bentley automobile, but maybe I can afford a Bentley branded laptop. Wait...$19.943! No, No I can't. Is it worth it? ••••

On My Desk.com

I have a strange obsession with the contents of my desk. Not too messy but certainly not to clean, organization is a must, and inspirational things to look at (and no, that does not mean sappy quotes tapes to my bulletin board). I love the blog On My Desk, which gives you a sneak peak at different people's work space (real people and real work spaces...not the staged desks you see in magazines).••••

Is It Just Me?

...or is the Helvetica obsession getting a little old? (or maybe I am having a case of the Mondays). Anyone?••••

DIGO Brands

Ok, so perhaps I've just been watching too much Mad Men (which next to blogging is my new favorite pastime), but lately I've been captivated by strong advertising campaigns. The work of New York advertising and branding agency DIGO has been my recent obsession. Working to build brands as fast and effectively as possible these "brand advocates" have developed multiple campaigns that represent advertising at it's finest: simple, straight-forward, repetitive and memorable. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Plaza Hotel - based on the notion that travelers think of The Plaza Hotel as "a dream" rather than just a hotel, or a place to sleep a series of print ads were created. Drawing on the history of the Plaza Hotel and the rich, decadent connotations surrounding it beautiful photography paired with simple taglines help to reinforce the Plaza Hotel brand. (Check out their website to enlarge the images for full representation) I also love this clever idea uniting Crunch Fitness and JetBlue airlines - The two companies appear to have nothing in common - one being a gym and the other being an airline. However, DIGO was able to use both recognizable brands and unite them in a very interesting way. Again using a simple premise - flying is stressful and exercising relieves stress - they placed Crunch punching bags in airport terminals with a simple message reminding the already stressed out passenger why they might need to let out some steam. They also created airplane yoga cards which are humorous and helpful. ••••

Brian Ulrich

I have been feeling petty uninspired by design work lately (notice the lack of posts), so I have been compulsively looking at different photographers work. I love this retail themed series, by Brian Ulrich, a New York native. These photographs scream USA to me in a disturbing yet fascinating way. The are unapologetic and a little sad.

From Brian's statement: "In 2001 citizens were encouraged to take to the malls to boost the U.S. economy through shopping, thereby equating consumerism with patriotism. The Copia project, a direct response to that advice, is a long-term photographic examination of the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live. Through large scale photographs taken within both the big-box retail stores and the thrift shops that house our recycled goods, Copia explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising. By scrutinizing these rituals and their environments, I hope that viewers will evaluate the increasing complexities of the modern world and their own role within it."••••

Make Your Own Font

Don't mind if I do...

Sophisticated Tailgaters Rejoice!

Still a prototype...but amazing all the same. This sleek, single serving wine can was designed by by Jens Andersson and Jonas Forsman, two Swedish designers. I love the matte, black surface and subtle hint at a wine bottle's curves.
Imagine bringing this to a football game... Anyone fancy a Budweiser? Natty Light? Cabernet Sauvignon? ••••

Ping Mag; The Return of Black

A friend of mine was just written up in PingMag, a Tokyo based magazine. This post isn't about him (sorry)! They have this fun article about the return of black...and I am fully on board. To me, black means premium, so if course I would fly on plane with all black upholstery as opposed to woolly blue. I am the girl who buys products for the packaging...I know all 3 of us are! Black toilet paper will eventually make its way from Tokyo to the US...I can see it now. OK, also check out Patrick's interview.

Found Across the Globe: Mystic, Connecticut (with a short lesson on "nautical typography")

There is nothing like New England in the summer. My city of Boston comes to life after a very, very long winter and I remember again why it is I choose to live here. But one of the greatest advantages of the location is its proximity to so many amazing summer day trip destinations. The weekend comes and Bostonians flock to the Cape or the beaches of Rhode Island, and this past weekend I found myself in the lovely town of Mystic, Connecticut.

Mystic is a leading New England seaport with a history rooted in the whaling industry. It is also home to Mystic Seaport, a large maritime museum (Wikipedia refers to it as the world's largest, in fact) with some amazingly preserved ships. The museum is incredible, informative, and wonderfully kept up— and you'll see from the photos that the town is equally charming. Hand-painted signage, beach kitch, and bits of preserved history make Mystic well worth the visit.
In addition to learning all about the whaling industry, shipbuilding, scrimshaw, figureheads, and Mystic Pizza, I was given a short lesson on the "nautical alphabet." Before my sister clued me in, I never knew the meaning behind these small flags which you often see displayed on boats or used in preppy patterning. These flags can be used in combinations, just as letters are, to spell out messages between two ships or between ship and shore. Used singly, these each have individual meanings— for instance, the letter L alone means "Stop Instantly." For a full lesson on "nautical typography," visit this helpful site. ••••

Clever Campaign

I came across this clever campaign by the ad agency Lowe Worldwide for laundry detergent. Simple and effective, the box contains a sample of the detergent and is brilliantly wrapped in a plain white t-shirt. When sent through the mail, the shirt inevitably gets dirty, thus the laundry detergent sample is ready to be tested out. Rarely is a direct mailer this well thought out and able to incorporate every element from product to packaging to express the message of the campaign. ••••

TypeisArt.com

Type collages— designers have all done them in their college days, to varying degrees of success. In our program, we were given the restriction of using black and white only, and told that color could be added later but the design should not be dependent on it (much like designing a good logo). Well, if you are a designer and want to quickly try your hand at this again (or if you are a non-designer, perhaps for the first time), Print Magazine's latest issue gave me a tip I'll share with you now— visit TypeisArt.com to make your own typography creation without even opening up Illustrator. TypeisArt was created by Silo Design, a Brooklyn-based firm run by a husband and wife team. Designer Susanne Cerha created the lovely archival poster design shown above, illustrating the Parts of the Character— arm, ascender, bowl, serif, shoulder, etc, etc. Her friend Jose Rodriguez took the idea one step further, bringing the activity to the masses with the Flash website that allows users to combine the forms into their own composition, abstract or otherwise. ••••