Spanish freelance designer Alex Trochut has been featured on the Some Type of Wonderful site with some of his typographic explorations. His work is over-the-top – in a good way. Complex, decorative and modern – his work has appeared in magazines like Beautiful Decay. Wow.
[Because nothing says advertising professional like yelling and untucked shirts.]
TNT just launched their new drama Trust Me about two buddies, an art director and a copywriter in a prestigious Chicago ad firm, who value their friendship and a good tagline. I can't say the first episode was Emmy award-winning but for anyone who works in the business of selling, there are certainly moments that ring true -- right down to the bookshelf covered with vinyl advertising spokes-characters.
As someone who has watched too many police procedurals, crime-fighters and lawyer shows, a peek into a Hollywood-ized version of the ad world is pretty darned entertaining. C'mon people! The main characters are an AD and a writer! I finally know how real CSIs feel when they see DNA analysis done in a commercial break (That never happens in real life!). If you're on a photo shoot, you're on a photo shoot; you don't get to blow it off and hang out by the hotel pool in the middle of the day!!! So its worth watching, if only to nitpick the details.
The occasional shot of the Chicago skyline is nice too.
Obama Art Report was set up to archive, document and promote art created about the 44th President of the United States. Items featured thus far include vinyl toys, street art and gallery exhibitions. I look forward to seeing future images!
These are just a few of the 3-dimensional type experiments that Peter Pavlov has posted. I recall many college projects that required this kind of thinking but seeing these in full color and completely rendered make me wonder how I would illustrate words today compared with what I did in my Intro to Design class oh-so-many years ago.
While catching up on my cartoon intake this weekend, I noticed that Cartoon Network rolled out eye-catching and smart interstitials and network bumps. Capacity, a design studio out of California, turns out to the be the creative force behind the new branding. Capacity partnered with Kidrobot to create cute, blank figures called Noods which then take on the colors, personalities and characteristics of various Cartoon Network stars. Check out their homepage for a great montage of all the branded bits.
Chris Piascik fills his web site with daily drawings from his Moleskine. Most of his drawings show his gift for hand lettering. His day job is with Alphabet Arm Design and he also creates product for Print Brigade. Dang! I'm lucky if I can dress myself and show up for work everyday, how does he do it all and maintain daily drawings too? Maybe if I check in on his blog regularly, I'll glean his secret?
This is the new poster from Jess Bachman at WallStats.com the creator of the Death & Taxes poster. Not quite available yet, he's using "crowdsourcing" for his proofreaders. We've come a long way. Makes you wonder if we can go as far in the next 389 years.
[Link from BoingBoing, via Madeline.]
Our dear friend and superior Mac-o-phile, Jake Fowler took time out of his busy schedule to give us his thoughts on the new font management software, Fontcase. Thanks, Jake!
I am by no means a designer yet I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with fonts. Some might call it an addiction. I know that having all of those fonts active all of the time on my computer is a bad thing, but it just seems easier than the alternative. I have tried most of the font management utilities out there but I have never liked the way they fight with the natural order of things in the Mac OS. Apple has made great progress with it's own font management solution - Fontbook. Fontbook will let you browse through your installed fonts with a variety of views. It even has automatic font loading - when an application requires a font which is installed but disabled, it asks politely but firmly if it can use that particular font. For an amateur font geek like me, it seems to work pretty well. The interface may not be the most appealing, but I don't spend hours gazing at typefaces, unlike some folks I know.
The talented developers at Bohemian Coding have given me a whole new appreciation for typography. The recently released Fontcase is a beautiful application which lets you view fonts in many new ways. Unlike other font management utilities, Fontcase actually integrates with the Mac OS way of dealing with fonts. It uses the same three folders that the system uses for active fonts. Upon first launch, it offers to import your fonts, searching in the standard locations. It then makes copies of them in a user-specified location. Don't worry about losing fonts, it won't move anything until you actually deactivate fonts.
The sidebar in Fontcase is one of the coolest features. It contains the typical views of your library, but you also have the ability to create smart libraries, based on any number of factors (designer, genre, foundry, user set tags, etc). It also contains a list of all of your fonts sorted by designer. The viewing windows are very nice as well. In the upper area you can see all of the fonts in the particular collection you have selected with the name of the font set in the font it represents. Below that you can preview the font in a variety of ways: Characters - all of the characters in the selected font, Waterfall - a sentence set in the selected font, and Body Text - several paragraphs set in the selected font.
The only criticisms I have of Fontcase are (unfortunately) not minor. First, Fontcase has no automatic activation of fonts. When a required font is deactivated, the system simply can't reach it from within Fontcase's tight grasp. Second, there is no way to activate fonts for all users on the computer. Plus, the default location of Fontcase's vault will not be accessible by other users. If you are the only user on the computer, this won't be an issue at all, but if there are multiple users, it could cause problems.
Download the demo and try it out for yourself! Fontcase is available at the discounted price of €35/$46 for a limited time.
Wandering through the grocery store the other day, I noticed that two huge brands had received a facelift – Pepsi and Tropicana. 
Pepsi traded in their swish red, white and blue globe for an eerily Obama-like globe which Pepsi claims to be reminiscent of a smile. Besides the weird updated globe, Pepsi gave up it's uppercase block letter logo type for a lowercase rounded hipster-ish font. Overall, the new packing disappointed and confused me. The packaging failed to grab my attention and I found it unsophisticated and generic looking. Unfortunately, the Mountain Dew packaging and Sierra Mist packaging were worse then Pepsi packaging.
The Tropicana packaging fared slightly better then the Pepsi repackaging, but barely. The type on the package looked cleaner and more timeless, but still falls on the blah side. The worst thing for me was the large glass of juice covering most of the container that looked like a cheap stock image which I found not appealing. Overall, both rebrands make Pepsi and Tropicana look like knock-off generics and not a quality product.
[Poster by Shepard Fairey, totally sold out. Check out his new inaugural print.]
Paste Magazine is hosting the ObamiconMe app which lets you upload a photo and convert it into the iconic style of Shepard Fairey's now notorious Obama Hope campaign poster. Here's the Obamicon poster I made:
Goofy but fun. Finished posters can be uploaded to Facebook and various other meme sites.
Hey, all you art school students out there!
Hallmark offers PAID summer internships. It sounds like one of the best internships out there and I speak from a place of authority as my internship consisted of grunt work and subservience.
To apply, you need to get your application in by March 16, 2009. This .pdf file will give you more information or you can go directly to Hallmark's Creative Careers site to apply. For more information about Hallmark and the Kansas City area, check out the Cre-a-tiv-i-ty blog.
At noon today even before Obama took his oath, whitehouse.gov switched from being Bush-ruled to Obama-centric. The new site incorporates much of the interactive and web savviness displayed on Obama campaign website. The site is all about functionality and clear design. It lets everyone find Obama's stance on everything from farms to the economy to healthcare in one click while allowing the American public to read his blog.
According to a Reuters article, the public can also has five days to comment on all executive orders and proclamations, as well as all non-emergency legislation, published on the website before Obama signs them. All that and a slide show about past presidential pets makes this one rockin' Whitehouse website.
[Thanks to my husband who pointed this out to me and showed me the AWESOME pet slideshow]
[Detail from the official presidential inauguration invitation, March, 1913.]
Quoted directly from The Citizen's Briefing Book on Change.gov on the power and affect that good design can play in the way our government is perceived by its citizens, how effectively it communicates and how efficiently it can disseminate information.
Change is good, good design is good, but change with good design is monumental.
As citizens, we deserve a government that’s efficient, effective, and respectful. Today it’s easy, even enjoyable, to buy an iPod, track a package, or bank online. In contrast, using our most vital public services – Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, and others – can be a time-consuming, humiliating nightmare. Americans design great products and service experiences in the private sector; it’s time to bring the same know-how to the public sector. Let’s start by passing legislation that requires professional communications design and writing in any activities that involve government communications with citizens.
Government must invest in quality graphic design and clear language for all its public communications. We need simple forms, easy-to-use websites, quality telephone support, and good signs and communications at public buildings. Well-designed communications can lower costs, reduce errors, encourage compliance, enhance understanding, and increase good will among citizens. Only when government serves the people effectively, with clarity and courtesy, do we achieve the goals of our inclusive democracy.
America has an extraordinary pool of design talent that is respected worldwide. For the benefit of citizens, to support American jobs, and to invest in the information infrastructure that will improve productivity over time, government should be committed to improving the way it communicates.
[From the Citizen's Briefing Book]
Kirsten and I were talking about taking "good pictures" today and I immediately started extolling the virtues of Strobist. This is a blog and a Flickr group surrounding the idea that good lighting makes good pictures -- and the best lighting is "off-camera". Both Kirsten and I were trained in photography through fine art and journalistic techniques which both tend to poo-poo using a flash as the realms of Sears portrait studios and Glamourshots. A few years ago though, I discovered The Strobist and learned that in order to get the shot, sometimes you have to employ "any means necessary" and sometimes that means using a flash.
So, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm attaching the introductory video from Strobist's Lighting 101. Even if you never intend to purchase a flash, a shoot-through umbrella or a bounce, you will now have a better understanding about what is needed to take a good picture and might help next time you have to work with a photographer or wonder why someone else's photos look better than yours.
[Original digital photo and the aged image from Wanokoto Labs]
I cannot read a lick of Japanese but I got a link today for a site (Wanokoto Labs, if the URL is any indication) that allows you to either upload a photo or pop in a URL of an image and the software will age, degrade, scuff and tarnish a modern, digital photo to make it look like an old glass plate image. I saw no controls to adjust how much it aged or degraded the image but the results are pretty amazing.
[Original digital photo and the aged image from Wanokoto Labs]
While on the subject of instant gratification photo manipulation, I also acquired a copy Poladroid, a donation-ware application which lets you manipulate a digital image to create a Polaroid-like finished product. Since SX-70 film is gone forever, this is the next best thing. The application is drag and drop and you "shake" your pictures to watch them develop. With an option-click, you can save a version of the image in any of its development stages.
[Poladroid samples in various stages of development using the same original images as above]
[Left: Old logo designed in the 90s. Right: New logo designed by Louise Fili]
Today I stumbled across the new Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and I was pleased to see how well-designed and beautiful it looked compared to past logos. Digging around, I found that NYC typographic-guru Louise Fili redesigned the new seal in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the magazine.
Heavy-hitting interactive agency Big Spaceship culled together over 60 website preloaders from their collection and other agencies projects to create the ever-loading, never-ending, all inspiring mother of all preloaders.
A 9-minute video of the making of a Herman Miller Eames fiberglass chair made by the Eames Office in 1970. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is stunning. The music is pretty swinging too.
[Found via Poppytalk]
[Tattooed union arms carefully stack completed inauguration invitations.]
I suspect only designers would wonder who printed the invitations for President-Elect Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration, or the paper used, the printing technique, colors, or fonts. Thanks to a little article in the NYTimes, we know that the invites were printed by a Brookyln-based shop called Precise Continental that has been in business for over 26 years. The one million invites were engraved in black and gold on Neenah Classic Crest cream stock using modified versions of Shelley Allegro and Kuenstler.
The article did not provide details on who actually designed the invites so if anyone out there knows, please drop us a line!
If you are like us here at Pica + Pixel, we know you love Shepard Fairey's Obama Hope poster as much as we do. Sad you missed the first one? Now you can get your hands on a lovely limited edition Obama inauguration poster done by Shepard Fairey. Snap it up now for just $20.
Also a follow up our earlier post about the Smithsonian trying to acquire the original Fairey Obama Hope poster. They Smithsonian has obtained it and plans to display it soon.
[These are examples that show the theoretical original intent of Polyvore but the top example includes text from a rubber stamp sold on a stationery site and the photo of the model on the bottom example was pulled from a model directory site. I'm sure the model and/or the photographer had not intended the photo to be used for an uncredited fashion collage.]
Its come to our attention that the site Polyvore has started to infringe on many artists', photographers' and illustrators' rights. The site was originally designed to allow users to access the online photo editing software to build fashion- or home decor-based collages to create "trend boards." When I initially test drove the software, it was pulling images pretty exclusively from retail web sites like Gap, J.Crew and the like who, according to Polyvore spokespeople provide financial kickbacks for sales generated through these links.
Many of the images are now being pulled from personal Flickr pages via Flickr Hive Mind which does not actually link back to the original artist or photographer (Here's a link to any Polyvore collage with the keyword Flickr in it -- that's a lot of images! ). In other words, people are using artwork without permission and without any notification of use or any image credit. Even Polyvore's original intent seems to break an endless stream or permissions and copyright laws especially as Etsy sellers, small boutiques and other vendors are unknowingly providing images to the Polyvore users.
A petition has been started to shut down Polyvore. If this is an issue that's important to you, please sign it!
In the meantime, if you maintain a Flickr account, double check your settings to make sure your images are listed as "All Rights Reserved". Then go over to Hive Mind and at the bottom of the page you can authenticate your account and then banish yourself so your images will not be available to Hive Mind or Polyvore. While you're at it, send an angry email to Flickr/Yahoo and tell them how angry you are about Polyvore and maybe they'll send in the big gun lawyers if enough people threaten to not renew their accounts.
[This is a prime example of uncredited image use from Polyvore, the pink haired Blythe doll in the corner was pulled from Flickr via Flickr Hive Mind so the photographer received no credit nor is there any way for her/him to track down its use on Polyvore unless s/he happened to stumble across it like I did. The balloons were swiped from a company's site that actually sells latex balloons so I'm sure they hadn't intended their images to be used in someone's collage! Other images were pulled from the graphics directories of other web sites and Photobucket.]
Jessica Hische is a full-time designer for Louise Fili, who is one of my all-time favorite designers, and she also does freelance design and illustration on the side. Her web site is full of great examples of her awesome typographic chops, fantastic color sense and simply stunning illustrations. Drool.
[All designs, lettering and illustration in this post by Jessica Hische. Dig?]
New York Times photographer, Bill Cunningham, narrates a walking tour slideshow of the holiday windows around Fifth Ave. in New York City. There are some clever ideas, concepts and mechanics and some spectacular exhibits of excess in this five-minute piece. It provides a great opportunity to see these windows from the comfort of your warm office, and a chance to see outrageously expensive displays, the likes of which might not be seen again for some time if the ecomnomy keeps going the way it is.
[Venkman and Spengler trap a real nasty little bugger, from Dude-A-Day]
Andy Helms over at Atomictoy has tasked himself with creating a Dude-A-Day for a year. His illustrations are hysterical and feature sci-fi, fantasy, horror and film favorites as well as characters from his imagination. Check back with his project regularly!
Pop over to Gizmodo to see an exclusive trailer for the new film Objectified by Gary Hustwit, the creator of the film Helvetica. Objectified is a documentary look at industrial design and the impact of design in everyday object in our lives. Looks like it will be a great film!
I'm going to reveal one of my favorite shops, John Neal Booksellers. The shop specializes in materials for calligraphy and bookbinding. Their product range involves every aspect of hand lettering and book making but many of the items they carry may appeal to illustrators or designers as well.
If one of your New Year's resolutions involved learning a new skill, broadening your horizons or adding to your book collection, give this site a peek. Just remember not to buy all their left-handed nibs, leave a few for me, okay?
Thanks to Christina over at Twinklings, I'm completely smitten with this little fishy Flash gadget created by Adam Bowman. Its a charming, beautifully executed little bit of design and programming. Enjoy, and don't forget to feed the fish!
[ISBN: 978-2-35017-126-5. Photos from Marian Bantjes]
Pyramyd Editions from France published its 66th edition of the design&designer series about the beloved typography maven, Marian Bantjes. It is a small square book filled almost entirely with photos of her work, only a short introduction and then pictures, pictures, pictures! I particularly enjoyed having an up-close and personal experience with the sugar lettering Bantjes created since I'd only seen her work online in low rez.
Unfortunately, the book is only available from France. The link from Bantjes' site operates entirely in French which makes it a bit challenging to order if you're not a fluent speaker. The book can be purchased via Amazon.fr which might be a little easier to navigate.
While on the subject of Ms. Bantjes, there was a spectacular display font in the book called Restraint that she created with Ross Mills that is being distributed through Tiro Typeworks. It is built of highly decovative characters that link together with her signature twists, twirls and filgree. Each character in this OpenType face occupies a full grid square as well as a vast assortment of decorative and connective elements. The licensing agreement for this font is somewhat limited so make sure to read it before you use it.
Papercutdiecut runs a great Esty shop chocked full of beautiful and intricate papercut artwork at reasonable prices. The shop brims with paper masterpieces filled with forest wildlife, fantasy flowers, whimsical woman and even scampering squirrels. All the artwork is a 100% handmade with scissors, exacto and a creative mind.
We just had to share these titillating and eye-catching shopping bags for the erotic toy store Comdomi in Europe. We love how something as simple (and often overlooked) as a shopping bag can encapsulate an entire brand.
[Via Ads of the World]
