Intersting TED video with photographer Miru Kim. Kim photographs herself nude against the stark industrial underground of New York and other cities to show "to bring these massive, dangerous, hidden spaces into sharp focus." The work is thoughtful, disturbing and beautiful. 
[Image from Engadget]
For all those relentlessly tied to their digital camera, cell phone camera or web-cam, it can come as no surprise that just as Polaroid killed their instant film line, Kodak would inevitably start to pare down its film offerings as fewer and fewer people use it. Even loyal film users had been lured away from Kodachrome by E100SW and E100VS which was faster and easier to process.
[© Steve McCurry. Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, at Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984.]
Steve McCurry, whose picture of a young Afghan girl captured the hearts of millions of people around the world as she peered hauntingly from the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985, offered these words:[Quote from Kodak's A Thousand Words]
"The early part of my career was dominated by KODACHROME, and I reached for that film to shoot some of my most memorable images," said McCurry. "While KODACHROME Film was very good to me, I have since moved on to other films and digital to create my images. In fact, when I returned to shoot the 'Afghan Girl' 17 years later, I used Kodak's E100VS film to create that image, rather than KODACHROME Film as with the original."
AIGA is looking for a seven young and talented designers for their Command X: Season 2 to compete at the AIGA Design Conference in October. Seven designers will tackle various design problems over a 24 hour period to win cash, prizes and the attention of judges like Michael Bierut, Chip Kid and Bonnie Bonnie Siegler. To enter, you need to be an AIGA member, under 26 and have a college degree. Just submit your 5 best pieces, a short essay on why you should go to the conference and get it in by July 15. Good luck!
[1. 3D Fail Whale, 2. Fail Wallpaper, 3. Man, why do I keep getting this error?, 4. Fail Whale, 5. Fail Whale Mobile, 6. Fail Whale o' Lantern, 7. Pumpkin Carving Gathering, 8. fail whale!, 9. Fail Whale Easter Egg]
A whole web site has been dedicated to the iconic Fail Whale, the friendly little message visitors receive when Twitter's servers get overloaded. The artwork was originally created by Australian designer, Yiying Lu.
Now that I've seen Yiying in her Fail Whale dress, I like the illustration even more. Where can I get the dress?
[Photo credit: Nick Cubbin - Australian award winning photographer.]
More info: Yiying Lu's Flickr, How Fail Whale became a hit, What is Fail Whale, Fail Whale Merchandise
The New York Times published an interesting and disturbing article on Sunday about Google asking dozens of well-knowing illustrators to contribute their artwork for a new Google browser for free. Google seemed to think the exposure would be enough for the illustrators, but they were wrong. Most of the illustrators turned them down and launched a fire-storm against Google on the illustrator blog Drawger. Shame on Google for thinking they could scam some great art out of some illustrators in such a harsh economic environment!
Digital Slaves [RT Virtual Calligraphy] from Digital Slaves on Vimeo.
Amazing set of images from vintage Olivetti typewriter ads including the work of one of my favorite designers, Giovanni Pintori.
[Tip from Douglas Wilson, On Paper Wings. Thanks!]
The folks over at Retinart collected various covers of the George Orwell classic 1984. Their view was that not all of these accurately represented the subject matter contained inside so they created their own version. I was smitten with all the different interpretations over the years from the classic Penguin to the pulp cover (top right corner) and all the typographic variations. Some have withstood the test of time while others create a different perspective based on the cover design alone.
While perusing the 20x200 blog today, I ran across some beautiful, hand-drawn letterforms and illustrations by British artist Linzie Hunter. Thought you all will dig it.
Two inspirational videos of talks at TED given by designer Stefan Sagemeister. The first one is about happy design and the second deals with what Sagemeister has learned.
[Art from H+FJ news page]
The powerhouse team of Hoefler and Frere-Jones took the classic slab serif look of Clarendon and improved it. They took it to the next level. They knocked it out of the park. They polished a diamond. (Okay, enough with the analogies!)
With Sentinel, they added weights and italics to create an infinitely usable slab family that will quickly replace Clarendon in my permanent font load. Thank you, H+FJ! Thank you thank you thank you!
I want to live the world of Jonathan Alder. Everything that he makes just fills me with giggles and happiness. Earlier this week, he showed of his new napkins rings and his placecard holders letting your dinner parties become a menagerie of cuteness. 
For those of your looking to do something awesome on Tuesday, June 16, go check out the book release for Seymour Chwast. Steven Heller and Chwast will peruse Chwast's new respective book that looks at his 50+ years of illustrations, animations, comics and his years at Push-pin Studios. If you go, be sure to pick up one of the books to take home and treasure. RSVP through the AIGA/NY website.
[Images of the catalog from DesignWorkLife]
For the June catalog, Anthropologie teamed up with Hatch Show Print to create a different look for their mail order catalog. The interior photos have a casual, Southern flair and snippets of various posters. View an interactive version of the catalog here.
I would hate to have this guy as a client. My favorite line, "My card is die-cut. My card is foil-stamped. My card is embossed." Now it just needs flocking and flitter and we are set.
We love Milton Glaser here at Pica + Pixel so we are super excited to see a new documentary dedicated to the man, his life and his work called Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight. The documentary focuses on his design, his breath-taking illustration and captures "everyday moments of Glaser's personal life and capture his immense warmth, humanity and the boundless depth of his intelligence and creativity."
For those of you in NYC, the documentary is playing at Cinema Village in Manhattan until Thursday.
