She at the church.... She getting MARRIED!

Just an FYI for all our faithful readers, Kirsten and I are packing up and heading to the wilds of Connecticut for her impending nuptials. There will be much laughing and drinking and carousing and almost no talk of design... except maybe "Who made that gorgeous dress?"

I'll be back on job, posting about design-y stuff next week whil Kirsten is enjoying her honeymoon. I promise at least one picture of the fesitivities when I return. In the meantime, have a great week!

Finally— A Use for all those old lenses

This old lens coffee mug is a very clever example of reuse. Not sure I'd really want to drink coffee out of a nasty old lens, or how they'd survive the dishwasher, but one crafted out of porcelain would be awesome!

[From Gizmodo]

Write Like an Architect

Ever marveled at the tidy writing used by architects?

[Link thanks to the Font Feed as well]

ScreenFonts: Film Poster Font ID

The Font Feed provides some font identification from current film posters – as well as a little poster design critique as well.

Tasty Design Snacks!

Our friends Supermarket find the best and more unique designed things. Here are a few of Pica + Pixels' favorite finds.

Who wouldn't want to get a card of cute little things doing evil little things? Jesse Willmon, a designer/illustrator out of Queens (and fiance of pixel), created a smart-ass line of adorable animals doing questionable things. Gotta love a card with a puking cat or a stone pooping cinder blocks.



Besides cards, we were smitten with posters by Right Brain Terrain LLC who has some fun motivational design posters to keep anyone happy and working.



Finally, we were pleased to see Victore NYC offering some of his radical design wares. Snap up a handful of his design posters or spruce up your dinner parties one of the plates from his Dirty Plates collection.

BMW iSetta

We don't usually cover much in the way of industrial design but this was too cute to pass up. BMW just announced the new iSetta, a two-seater electric city car. Its designed was inspired by the original Isetta from the 50s. This new model ss still in the concept phases and has not passed all its crash testing so the design will probably change but there has clearly been efforts to maintain the look-and-feel made famous with the original. Plans are to have it available for sale to the public by 2010.


[Photos from Omolody]

Designer/Illustrator/Artist: Chris Capuozzo

Our good friend and talented designer/illustrator/artist Chris Capuozzo has just launched a new portfolio site and we are super excited. Chris was one of the founders and driving creative forces behind the web-design firm Funny Garbage. He is a master of multiple disciplines crossing from web design to graffiti to book design and he has this amazing ability to mix high and low design to create something new and engaging.



We love all of his work, but a couple of our favorites are his children book designs and the graffiti wall that he and his sons collaborate on. Pretty rad.

Tad Carpenter is making Mayhem, Mischief and Monsters in Seattle

One of Pica + Pixel's favorite artists, Tad Carpenter has some big news. He is currently the subject of a one-man show called Mayhem, Mischief And Monsters at the Blue Bottle Gallery in Seattle. The show includes 20 limited edition silkscreen posters Monster MixUp prints, sets of two prints can be selected to mix up a different monster top and bottom. Robot head with octopus bottoms for me, please!



Other work in the show include small prints on wood, small paintings and limited edition plates. I got a sneak peek at the works on wood and they are super cool! Congrats, Tad!

[For more information about purchasing pieces, visit Blue Bottle Gallery. For more information about Tad and his work, check out his web site.]

The sweetest Papercuts

Paper is an item that we encounter everyday and think nothing of it. Danish artist Peter Callesen sees paper a little differently. Callesen twists, cuts, folds, sculpts and transforms paper into mind-blowing and almost magical pieces of artwork.

Saul Bass on Film Titles

An interesting interview with Saul Bass on a few of his great film titles.

Darden Studios Type Design

Darden Studio is a type development studio located in Brooklyn, NY and run by Joshua Darden and his merry band of type designers. In a brilliant move to generate traffic and brand awareness, Darden is offering their new font Birra Stout free. I love a free font as much as the next person but seeing all the other work created by Darden and Co. is even more exciting. I'm particularly fond of the face Jubilat. Ooo, and Omnes... and.... yum!

[Thanks to Michael Surtees of Design Notes for the tip-off]

Beautifool TYPE

Satoru of BeautifoolTYPE is creating some very intriguing typographical studies. Using monoweight vector drawing tools gives a very contemporary feel. The work is clearly influenced by Marian Bantjes but Satoru shows an eye for composition and character form. I look forward to seeing the work develop.

Threadless Loves Drawing

In combination with Print Magazine, Threadless is hosting a contest focussed on drawing, Threadless Loves Drawing. The idea is that some of the best ideas are just drawings and wouldn't it be cool if that drawing was on a t-shirt? The winner of the contest will get a Wacom Cintiq, their design featured in an upcoming issue of Print Magazine, gift certificates for House Industries and Utrecht and a bunch of other cool goodies. The contest ends on September 15, 2008 so get those submissions delivered soon and don't forget to vote for your favorites!

Color Stripes Reposes in Watercolor

Awhile ago we mentioned Kris's Color Stripes, a site devoted to pulling color palettes out of photography. While on holiday this summer, she used her travels to paint in her sketchbook and collect her colors on paper rathe than digitally. Thankfully, she has saved them online for all to enjoy.

Vintage Cigarette Packaging

Even when its cigarettes, I can't let good design get past so here are some super cool vintage cigarette packs from Design Boom.

100 Design Book Covers

Visual Invasion has collected 100 of its favorite design book covers and put them all in one post. What a great way to get inspired (and maybe add a few books to your Amazon wishlist)!

Collage Art by Tsilli

Using simple materials of paper and thread and a limited palette of red, black and white – the colors of accounting – artist Tsilli creates a series of images called The Figures. A stunning, understated collection of pieces that explore the world of numbers that inhabit our lives.



As a special treat, check out the collection of desktops Tsilli provides and liven up your Monday.

Behind the Scenes Video from NY Magazine

New York Magazine has a short video feature that shows behind-the-scenes of the photo shoot for the Fall Fashion Guide. The images for the article were shot all over New York in iconic locations like Coney Island with the models dressed in vintage styled dresses and suits to create a storybook romance. Beautiful photography and beautiful clothes. Nicely done.




Photography by Rodney Smith, direction by Harriet Mays Powell.

Font-of-the-Week: Trixie HD

[Desktop wallpaper design from FontFont to celebrate the newest version of Trixie]

Font Font has released a new version of Erik van Blokland's face Trixie, best known as the X in the X-Files logo and any other place where the digital world needed the mystery and intrigue of a good lo-tech type solution. The newest version, Trixie OT HD, offers more variations and utilizes the power of OpenType to provide several alternate versions of each character to more realistically simulate an old typewriter. Additional options allow for the censor feature, erratic baselines and fake Cyrillic.

Cue eery music now.

Another Miyazaki film! (yay!)

Pica + Pixel are huge fans of the animator/director/writter Hayao Miyazaki films so we are excited to find a trailer to his new movie, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, that was released in Japan this past July. The story is about goldfish who wants to be a human and it will hopefully come to America in 2009.

Illustrator: Paul Hoppe

Paul Hoppe is an illustrator that I admire and I am glad to call him a friend. Paul and I met in graduate school and I was struck with the emotional vibrancy of his illustrations. It has been great to see his work progress over the years and see how he has advanced as an artist.

He has worked for many publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Playboy, Adidas, IMB and many more. Besides publication work, Paul is also the co-founder of the comic arts magazine Rabid Rabbit and just released a new kids book called Metal Man for which he did all the illustrations.

Image Search Application: TinEye

Ever wished you could find a particular image on the web and found it nearly impossible? Now there is TinEye. Just plug in the image you want to find into the application and TinEye will find out where and how it is used on the web along with finding the edited versions of the image.