This Isn't England

Ben Terrett, a Graphic Designer in London, has spent the last two years taking pictures of maps of Britain. Not accurate maps, but drawings and illustrations of maps. Here are the results.

The New Keep Calm Gallery

Lucas and Hayley have launched a completely new website for Keep Calm Gallery - and it is all bright and shiny! Along with a new print of mine (well, a old print that I am finally selling) they have some great new prints and a super-slick way to checkout - yea!

Tim Fishlock

Tim Fishlock seems to be a very clever guy. He is a very talented designer and creator of many different things. The above alphabet is one great example.


Another example is called Dapper - a visual/audio game that allows you to create your own music using different simple visual blocks and objects. It is great fun and I suggest you taking the time to traverse through his whole website (personally, I am not a fan of Flash websites) to find it under "Moving Images."

Via iLT.

Vintage Cookbooks

As a collector of them, I get overly excited about this amazing Flickr set of vintage cookbooks.

There's a &%*^$#@ Word For That!

H&FJ has a post explaining the universally recognized symbols used in place of cursing - it is called grawlix and then term was coined by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker around 1964.

Alex Ostrowski

Alex Ostrowski has moved beyond the difficulty of his last name to create some really great work. His work focuses on happiness - which makes me so happy. I know that sounds a bit silly, but I get so tired of overly-serious, overly-self-conscience design. Nice!

Thanks to Frank for showing me his work!

Penguin Great Ideas Volume III Covers

I know this has been all over the internet, but Penguin's set of "Great Ideas Volume III" books are now out with some really fantastic covers. The above is my favourite by far but this one is really good as well.

I'm Shoot Gunner!

I'm not fully sure what is going on here, but I believe it involves 8-bit video games and mis-translations...

Save Polaroid!

"On February 8, 2008, Polaroid Corporation announced that it will discontinue production of all instant film. This site will document the aftermath of this announcement and will serve as a home-base for the effort to convince another company to begin producing the cherished technology that Polaroid has so carelessly abandoned."

Save Polaroid!

Typographers and Their Handwriting

Have you ever wondered what the handwriting of some leading typographers looks like? No? Well, someone did and here are the results.

Human Mirror

Improv Everwhere (of Frozen Grand Central Station fame) created a human mirror in a NYC subway car using identical twins. Great stuff!

Lack of Typographic Imagination

Need a typeface for Hotel Broadway? How about using Broadway? Here is a great Flickr pool dedicated to the Lack of Typographic Imagination.

Advertising Images

Flickr member Lemarde has some great sets of advertising images and posters.

The History of DIN 1451

Germany's official typeface of all road signage is DIN 1451. Ralf Hermann goes into great detail about the history and usage of the face on his great blog.

Ralf has also written really good articles about the traffic signage of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

Vernacular Typography Polaroids

I have been documenting hand-painted signs and vernacular typography for the past six years using my Polaroid camera. I realized this week that I had never uploaded them to Flickr. Now I have.

Shaving Blades

Here is a nice small set of old shaving blades and boxes on Flickr.

Charley Harper

The fantastic modernist illustrator and artist, Charles Harper, is one of my most favorite artists of the era. Beautiful work. Fantastic abstraction. Wonderful colors. I love it all!

If you have a coffee table looking for a friend, you should purchase this amazing/giant book edited by Todd Oldham.

The Boys and the Subway

Brilliant illustrated story by Christoph Niemann about how much his sons love the NYC Subway System.

via D.O.

Restaurant Florent

Restaurant Florent in New York City is now closed. This follows probably the best designer/client relationship ever between Tibor Kalman of M&Co and Florent Morellet.

Kalman made quirky advertisements for Restaurant Florent and Morellet fed the designers of M&Co four days a week from 1985 to 1993. Not a bad setup if you ask me!

via P+P

Luba Lukova: Social Justice 2008

About four years ago, the university that I was studying to receive my BFA in Graphic Design hosted a show of design work by Luba Lukova. As a young designer, I was impressed with her brilliant images, intelligent restraint, and strong approach to difficult issues. I still am impressed with Lukova today.

She has a new book/portfolio of 12 loose posters entitled "Social Justice 2008" that has recently been published. I purchased my own set, especially for her "Peace" poster (one of my all-time favourite posters ever) and I am incredibly happy with all of the posters in the set.

SynthEastwood - Flags & Anthems

I recently contributed some film/motion work to SynthEastwood, a visual exhibition featuring submissions from over 60 international artists in Dublin, Ireland.

I did not get to make it to the opening/party (which was held on the ominous Friday the 13th), but the Flickr photos look like it was a great time!

Otl Aicher: An Expanded, Abridged Story

Armin Vit has written a great story/bio about the German designer Otl Aicher at SpeakUp.

Otl is most famous for his design of the Lufthansa identity as well as the amazing design for the 1972 Munich Olympics. I was fortunate enough to get to see some Otl's work recently at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and I can attest to its brilliance and directness.

See more of Otl's work here.

His Life in 6,697 Polaroids

"Jamie Livingston, a photographer and filmmaker, took a Polaroid photo every single day, starting when he was a student in 1979 up until he died of cancer at 41 on October 25, 1997. He called it “Photo of the Day” and for 18 years religiously used his Polaroid SX-70 camera to capture these unassuming, unposed, ordinary memories that eventually became the narrative to the last half of his life."

Magnetic Series by Justin Bennett

Although I don't know too much about this, artist Justin Bennett has created some very interesting work using graphite and maps visualizing magnetic energy.

Typeface: The Movie

Kartemquin films is currently editing a documentary simply entitled "Typeface." It is a film about the history of Hamilton Wood Type - from it's beginnings, to when it became the leading manufacturer of wood type in America, to now, as a living museum and the applications of letterpress and wood type in the 21st century.

I have been lucky enough to visit the Hamilton in Two Rivers, Wisconsin and I have massively high hopes for this film!

Also, visit Hamilton's website as well as Nick Sherman's Flickr set of his residency in Two Rivers.

Mechanical Digital Clock

UK product designer, Duncan Shotton has created a beautiful clock that appears to be digital but is in fact, wonderfully analog.

Swedish Furniture Name Generator

Pretty much great - The Swedish Furniture Name Generator.

Linecaster Documentary

If you have ever seen a Linotype machine, I am sure that you were fascinated by such a complex and amazing machine. You also were probably curious to learn how the thing works, seeing all of the wheels and gears and levers.

Even if you have no idea what I am talking about, you should check out this great 1960 documentary on linecasting machines that was created in Italy. The narration is in English, and it is well worth your time!

Security Patterns Flickr Set

Thanks to my good friend, Kunal Bhat, for finding this amazing Flickr set of envelope security patterns.

The Friendly Floatees

On January 10, 1992 a container ship leaving Hong Kong holding almost 29,000 plastic bath toys accidentally spilled its contents in the Pacific Ocean - including a whole lot of yellow rubber-duckies.

Because they are unsinkable, they started showing up all over the Pacific: Japan, Hawaii, North America and Australia. But a few were caught in the northern ocean currents and made the VERY long trek through the Arctic Sea and started landing on beaches in England in 2007.

Such a great story from Strange Maps!

Atlantropa - The Craziest Idea You Have Never Heard Of

Herman Sörgel, a renowned architect of the Bauhaus school, proposed the craziest, most megalomaniacal scheme of the 20th century you never heard of - damming the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea to create more land for Europe and to unite Africa with the European continent. Pure madness! You can read more on this Wikipedia page.

Signs of Switzerland Series

I am fond of taking pictures of signs. It is a bit obsessive, I admit, but it is what I like to do. I have started the Signs of Switzerland Series on my Flickr.

Swiss Impressions

This week I have started as an artist-in-residence at the Écomusée Voltaire at L’Association pour le Patrimoine Industriel (API - The Association of Industrial Heritage) in Geneva, Switzerland. I will be letterpressing from their collection of type and images collected from all over Switzerland this summer.

This paragraph sums up API really well: "The Association for Industrial Heritage (API) - Écomusée Voltaire aims to promote and restore the printing techniques now abandoned, putting them at the service of artistic creation, publishing, research and technical of teaching. The Écomusée Voltaire is active at the regional level and contributes to international influence of the tradition of printing. To achieve its goals, the Écomusée Voltaire has a collection of machines and tools to practice a variety of printing processes."

I have posted some photos up on my Flickr of API and I will be adding to it as prints roll off my FAG Control 525 Proof Press.

Las Vegas Sign Boneyard

The best reason to go to Las Vegas? No, not for the casinos - for the old casino signs photographed by Clinton Meyer. I just wish his website had larger pictures...

UPDATE: I have been informed of a Flickr Pool that has many more images of this fascinating place!

66 Drives by Andrew Bush

"Man continuing east at 67 mph on Interstate 10 near Palms Boulevard in Los Angeles at 4:14 p.m. in February 1991"

"Made In" Clothing Project

Luca Pizzaroni has an art project collecting clothing made in every country in the world and photographing their "Made In ..." tags and labels.

Type Analysis of Toronto Subway

Joe Clark has put his incredibly detailed presentation on the Typography of the Toronto Subway on the internet for all to see and it is really nice - especially the original typeface.

Magnetic Movie Magic

I understand very, very little of this, but it is mind-bogglingly amazing. (and yes, mind-bogglingly is a word...)

Frutiger Serif

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, we are getting settled into living in Geneva - good, but time consuming!

Linotype has released a companion to Frutiger - called, obviously, Frutiger Serif. It has been designed by Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi. It is an update of Meridien and I hope to be able to use it soon (as I am a huge fan of Frutiger - both the man and the typeface).

I Love My Life The Way It Is.

Ali Alvarez has started collecting non-scratched lottery tickets. He has entitled his project "I Love My Life The Way It Is." Crazy? Maybe. Interesting? Certainly.

via D.O.