Posting Hiatus

My wife and I will be volunteering in the country of Haiti until the end of May, so posts are fairly unlikely.

If you are in need of inspiration, please visit Coudal, ItsNiceThat, and SwissMiss.

Airtoons

For anyone that has learned the fine art of ignoring everything announced over the airplane loudspeaker: Airtoons - Parody Airline Safety Procedures. Some a bit NSFW, but all very funny.

BLU

Artist Blu creates some pretty crazy drawings on public walls. His latest film "Blu: An Ambiguous Animation Painted on Public Walls," is drawn in Buenos Aires and Baden and is simply overwhelming and intriguing.

Check out his blog for more drawings and illustrations.

Every Person in NYC

Jason Polan (of the "Every Piece of Art in the Museum of Modern Art" book fame) is now trying to draw every person in New York City. Talk about some serious ambition!

Art of the Luggage Label

This is why Flickr is awesome. Tom Schifanella has a great collection of vintage luggage labels from around the world.

Valero Doval

The fine ladies over at Pica + Pixel have enlightened me to the work of Valero Doval. All of the work is great, but I especially love the "Haunted Houses" series.

Every Chair at the Visual Studies Workshop

Luke Strosnider has photographed every chair at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. Fantastic! There *was* a print up at 20x200, but we are too late!

Klaus Industries

Sometimes, there really isn't anything else to say.

May 1968: A Graphic Uprising

"Forty years ago next month, the streets of the French capital saw workers and students protesting against the increasing levels of unemployment and poverty that were all too apparent under Charles de Gaulle’s conservative government.

In Paris, on 16 May, students and faculty took over the Ecole des Beaux Arts to establish the Atelier Populaire (the Popular Workshop). The organisation went on to produce hundreds of silkscreen posters in an unprecedented outpouring of political graphic art."

A gallery show of these posters is now at The Hayward Project Space in the Southbank Centre in London.

Creative Review has an interview with the curator. Also, Keep Calm has a very limited number of these posters available for purchase and they are going fast!

The Ampersand.

As always, H&FJ have a nice type-related post showing off my favourite symbol, the ampersand.

A Good Thing to Remember.

via SwissMiss.

re:vision

Here is something I should have thought of long ago: really nice jewelry from old camera parts by re:vision.

Improved Helvetica?

In 1980, the Haas type foundry, birthplace of Helvetica, contracted André Gürtler and Team'77 to audit the Helvetica typeface and reissue an "improved" version. Their result is Haas Unica and it is quite an interesting challenge to the thought that Helvetica is the end-all of sans-serif typefaces.

Hotels in the Afterlife

Haubitz+Zoche have a series of photographs of abandoned resorts in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is featured on BLDGBLOG. These are hotels that will never be finished due to fear of terrorist bombings and corruption.

If you are in Vienna, you can visit their show.

Getting Real.

"Conventional wisdom says that to beat your competitors you need to one-up them. If they have four features, you need five (or 15, or 25). If they're spending x, you need to spend xx. If they have 20, you need 30.

This sort of one-upping Cold War mentality is a dead-end. It's an expensive, defensive, and paranoid way of building products. Defensive, paranoid companies can't think ahead, they can only think behind. They don't lead, they follow."

A few words of wisdom from 37 Signals.

Two Wheels of Power!

Whether you call it a velocipede, dandy horse, or simply a bicycle, it is finally spring here and time to ride!

Illustrator Hennie Haworth

Hennie Haworth illustrates book covers, type, people, food, drink, and many things in between. via INT.

Abandonded Vacation Homes in Taiwan

"These very crazy pod-tastic vacation homes were built as beach getaways for Taipei's middle-class in the 1960s. Each are said to have been abandoned not long after they were built because several mishaps during construction and typhons led inhabitants and locals to deem the sites cursed." Awesome! via Coudal.

Penguin Books + Nicholas Felton = Great New Work

SwissMiss has directed me to a great new book designed by Nicholas Felton. Nice information and beautiful type!

Amy Ross

The fantastic artist, Amy Ross, has joined the ranks at Keep Calm and her first offering is quite nice!

Walking Bike

If nothing else, this Walking Bike is interesting! via ItsNiceThat.

Shannon Rankin

You probably know that I have a massive love for maps, so I instantly fell in love with Shannon Rankin's work! Thanks to Frank for finding her Etsy page.

Sleevage

Like album covers? Then you will probably like Sleevage.

My First Stop-Motion Film Ever!

I am working on trying something completely new, stop-motion film. This is a test for a larger animation that I will be working on in the coming weeks. Enjoy!

: Two Points :

The website, style, and colors of the design firm Two Points reminds me of the great flavors of Barcelona - one of my favorite cities in Europe.

Oscar Diaz

London-based product designer, Oscar Diaz makes some really nice work.

Haiku by John Maeda

Written by John Maeda, via the Public Design Center.

Font Game

See if you can beat the typography teacher! I got a 32 out of 34, sadly - mainly because I don't know my old-school system fonts and phone book faces.

Zeichen Press

Zeichen Press (pronounced z-eye-shin) makes some nice and clever letterpressed materials. via swissmiss.

The Sinister History of Barber Poles

Have you ever wondered why there are the blue and white spinning poles outside of most barber shops? Well, neither did I until today - and I am quite surprised!

WPA Posters

For those who do not know, during the United State's great economic depression in the 1930's, the government created an organization called the Works Progress Administration. The WPA created jobs for millions of out-of-work Americans including a branch devoted to the fine arts.

Many posters were created to advertise different aspects of the WPA and here is a fantastic collection of them on Flickr.

Emmanuel Polanco

Some very nice work by Emmanuel Polanco can be seen here. Some may say too close to Ewardo Recife, but I think he has his own thing going on.

Airline Spoons of the World

Wow! This is a fantastic collection of spoons from different airlines all over the world! I used the above spoon on a Jet Airways flight from New Delhi to Kathmandu a few years ago trying to eat some really not-good yogurt type food...

"Get Lost" & "Live With Art!"

I am excited to announce a new print, "Get Lost" is now available for purchase at Keep Calm. It is printed over vintage maps from the United Kingdom and in a limited edition of 220. Each map is different and unique!

To accompany the print, I have made a short little film showing the process of making "Get Lost." If you are unfamiliar with the process of letterpress printing, this will help you understand how my prints are made.


Also, for a limited time, if you purchase any of my prints from Keep Calm, you will receive "Live With Art!" for free! It's my way of saying "thanks" for spending your hard-earned money on my prints and it's a good phrase to live by as well!

You can also see a lower-quality version of my film on my YouTube page. And as always, more images can be seen on my Flickr.

Printer's Ornaments

View a very nice collection of printer's ornaments here and read more about it here.

(Trophy) Size Matters.

Nice little graphic comparing the sizes of different trophies. via Coudal.

Elsa Chaves

It's Nice That has lead me to the very nice work of Elsa Chaves. Type, motion, colour, moustaches? What is there not to like?

Collections

Wow. I love collecting things, and this photoset by Glen Mullaly makes me want to keep it up! Also, check out his vintage book covers.

Via p+p.

New British Coins

The British Royal Mint has announced a brilliant new design for their coins by graphic designer Matt Dent. Yet another reason the United Kingdom is cooler than us...

It's Nice That

Thanks to the fine blog, It's Nice That for a nice little feature!