Vans and the Places They Were

Vans and the Places They Were by filmmaker and photographer Joe Stevens. Nice.

Life on a Cargo Ship

Sure to spark wonder and wanderlust, see pictures and read about life on a cargo ship.

Boxcar Logos

LIFE on the rails: Boxcar Logos.

Probably linked from the DDC.

Feltron 2009 Annual Report

Even though pretty much every blog has posted this, I must re-post because it is always so good:

Every year, the master of data visualization, Nicholas Felton, creates an annual report for himself. This year he has raised the bar yet again (with letterpress!).

Letterpress Reprints

Part of the reason this blog has been quiet recently is that I have been feverishly printing in my new home studio. I am happy to say that the fruits of my labor are now available. Both of these prints sold out their first editions quite quickly, so I have printed new prints with (in my opinion) improved paper and colors.

"When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" is now printed on bright yellow French "Lemon Drop" Pop-Tone 100 lb. cover-weight paper with green ink. I have always been fond of this phrase and I'm happy that others like it as well.


"All You Need is Love" is now printed on light blue French "Sno Cone" Pop-Tone 100 lb. cover-weight paper with a burgundy/wine colored ink. Although I know that love isn't the only thing you need, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have more of it in our lives.

I have uploaded a few photos of the printing process on my Flickr.

Communist Era Storefront Windows

Between 1986 and 1990, David Hlynsky made approximately 8,000 color, Hasselblad images of storefront windows on the streets of Communist Europe. He purposely avoided dramatic moments and newsworthy events. Brilliant!

via Coudal.

A Few New Polaroids

"Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible." - Edwin Land

I am making a new concerted effort to continue my Vernacular Typography Polaroids series. I just purchased a boatload of expired film and I hope to start shooting like crazy soon.

The Intricate Art of the Banknote

Combining two things that I can't seem to get enough of: printing and foreign currency - The Intricate Art of the Banknote.

via Coudal.

I Have A Printing Press - INSIDE MY HOUSE!

I finally moved my Vandercook SP-20 Proof Printing Press into our house last weekend. I am super excited to have the press close and I hope to get it up and printing soon.

If you want to see moving photos (we took a ton to help anyone else that is planning to move similar presses), visit this Flickr set.

Tungsten - A New Typeface from H&FJ

Hoefler & Frere-Jones have created yet another great typeface: Tungsten.

It is a square-sided sans serif that is “more Steve McQueen than Steven Seagal" and “whiskey highball, not a martini.” It has a nice association with Alternate Gothic No. 3 but they created some nice contemporary design elements to give it a fresh look.

Sydney International Food Festival Ads

Great concept and nicely executed: flags made out of food!

via Coudal.

City of Melbourne Identity

Even though it was designed by a Sydney design firm (which is sadly ironic) I am very impressed with Melbourne, Australia's new city identity. Fresh, flexible, and very Australian.

Fordlandia

I have been doing a great deal of reading this summer and I am currently reading the fascinating Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City. Recommended by my wife after she heard this NPR Story, it chronicles Henry Ford's attempt to establish his own rubber plantation and suburban American city in the heart of the Amazon forest.

It shows what happens when unlimited money collides with raw nature and I highly recommend the book.

Two New Prints

Well, it is back to the shameless self-promotion part of this blog. But I suppose if I don't do then, then nobody will...

I have two new letterpressed prints available for purchase from Keep Calm Gallery. "Do What You Love, Love What You Do" reminds me that following your passion always seems to work out while "Practice Makes Perfect" reminds me that nothing comes without working diligently.


If the self-promotion part of this post is making you gag, you really should check out Keep Calm Gallery's new website. It has been refreshed and redesigned and now has much greater usability. I find the ability to change to your favorite local currency especially useful.

Basel Summer Type Design Workshop 2009

I am back home from my fantastic workshop at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. It was a great time of meeting friends from all over the world, nerding-out on type, and learning from some of the most knowledgeable designers in the world.

It is difficult to write about an intense week of type design in a foreign land, so I have chronicled some of my time there in a Flickr set for your enjoyment.

Summer Hiatus

As some of you may have noticed, my posts have been becoming infrequent here. Because of a very busy summer, I have decided to take a summer hiatus from posting on my blog. I have enjoyed posting links to things that I like, but it also requires a time commitment that I cannot maintain through the summer.

The most exciting reason for my busy summer is that I am attending a Type Design Workshop at the Basel School of Design in Basel, Switzerland! I will be learning type design as well as getting a feel for the city of Basel.

Also, my wife and I are relocating to a new house that will have room for my Vandercook printing press! I am excited to get the press up and printing. And speaking of printing (and a little shameless promotion): make sure to keep your eye on my artist page at Keep Calm Gallery - I have a couple new prints in the works that will be up in the next few weeks.

I will leave you with a few links of websites that I visit for inspiration on a daily basis: Grain Edit, We Love Typography, Swiss Miss, Coudal, Draplin.

Enjoy your summer and all the best!

Build Your Own Letterpress

Want to get into letterpress printing without a huge investment? Try building your own press!

Travel Photochroms

The Library of Congress has started adding their collection of travel photochrom photographs to their Flickr account. So great!

via Coudal.

All-American Space Fleet

Skelly Gas company put out a set of cards in the 1950's about the soon-to-true
All-American Space Fleet. I love the imagination of this set and also the "helpful advice" telling children to be safe and never run with sharp objects from the trustworthy oil company...

via Coudal.

Restored Tempo Matador

If I had $110,000 laying around, I would seriously consider buying this beauty. What an amazing truck and what an amazing restoration!

Pulp Paperback Diorama Photographs

Thomas Allen constructs dioramas using figures cut from the covers of old pulp paperbacks and then photographs them. Great stuff!

Grafica Fidalga

Grafica Fidalga, a printing press in São Paulo, Brazil, makes posters on a 1929 German letterpress using hand-carved wooden letters. Seriously awesome!

via CoolHunting.

East Germany Up Close and Personal

West German photographer Karlheinz Jardner took fascinating photos during a trip through East Germany in the spring of 1990, capturing a world that would soon disappear forever.

Book Colophon Imprints

Aaron again links up a great set of imprint logos from the colophons of old paperback books.

Love is Sweet...

Wow. I wish I had the patience and skill to do something similar to this amazing piece by Julene Harrison.

Cold War Images

A truly strange and interesting set of images and advertisements from the Cold War Era.

Common Ground

A photographic essay showing farmland turning into suburbia and the connection between the people and the land: Common Ground.

Typographic World Map

I love maps. I love type. This Typographic World Map fulfills both quite nicely.

Nuclear Slide Rules

Such innocuous wheels that neatly compute death and destruction: Nuclear Slide Rules.

RIT Design Collections

Rochester Institute of Technology has an amazing collection of design work from the 1950's to the 1980's. I would LOVE to spend a day perusing through it all!

Airline Logos

Aaron tipped me off to a great collection of airline logos. I especially love the old Air France logo that is above.

Is This Your Luggage

A mysterious person buys long-lost luggage, photographs the contents, and then tries to find its owner.

Is this your luggage?

Type Nesting

See! Type is useful even to animals!

Type Nesting.

Venn Diagrams

Good buddy Frank Chimero has started a new series of Venn diagrams that you simply must check out.

Wood Type Web Museum

Unicorn Graphics has a very nice web museum of wood type and specimen books. See H&FJ review their favorites here.

Wall Street Journal Article on Comic Sans

Love it or hate it, the Wall Street Journal has written an article about Comic Sans. Learn about the history, the designer, and the backlash against the typeface.

Emily Haines on Writing in Buenos Aires

Emily Haines (of Broken Social Scene and Metric) talks about getting out of her environment and finding inspiration in Argentina. Really fantastic.

Tone Matrix

Andre Michelle has created (among many other awesome things) a great sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16-step sequencer called ToneMatrix.

What exactly that means, I couldn't tell you, but the music and fun that it creates is fantastic!

TypeCuts - Andrea Tinnes

I came across Andrea Tinnes type designs today via WeLoveTypography and I cannot contain my enthusiasm for her work! Her custom work for the Eastern Columbia building is most certainly my favorite as well as her design for a Optima replacement, Viceroy.

All of her work is brilliant and makes me so very jealous!

Continue to Make Your Own Path

Some shameless self-promotion here:

I just finished printing another big set of "Make Your Own Path" prints that are now for sale at Keep Calm Gallery!

Each print is hand letterpressed on a different topographic map making each print unique. I hope you like it!