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.

Swiss Banknotes

Since arriving in Switzerland, I have noticed many differences from my home in the United States. One of the first things, besides the four different languages, that I noticed were the banknotes of Switzerland.

I am amazed that a country would put, not dead presidents, but artists, writers, and architects on their money - including one of my favourites, Alberto Giacometti on the 100 CHF note. They are beautiful, inspiring, and amazing pieces of printed art.

Think I am a bit strange for writing about money? Well so is Marian Bantjes.

Pictures from a Train

I have just come across the brilliant blog of James Danziger called "A Year In Pictures" and I must say it is one of the best photography blogs on the internet.

He features the photographs of Magnum photographer Paul Fusco shot from the train carrying the body of assassinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. It is a stunningly beautiful set of images that truly captures hope, despair, and America in such a succinct way. Also, check out the New York Times article about the photographs.

Letraset - How I Never Knew You...

Steven Heller writes a nice post on Design Observer about the joys and pains of Press-Type. Although I am not old enough to have used Press-Type, I recently used some old Letraset sheets at Kate Bingaman-Burt's workshop and it was a fun/ridiculous experience.

The local art store is still trying to sell these sheets for $1 each - I understand they were much more expensive back in their heyday, but seriously? I want to buy the entire box, but they won't budge on the price just yet...

Arrived in Switzerland!

My wife and I have arrived in Switzerland! We move into our apartment this weekend, and once settled in, I will be posting again regularly.

Swiss Summer

We leave tomorrow morning for Switzerland! We will be living in Geneva while my wife is doing an internship at the World Health Organization. I hope that we will have as much fun as the people in the photo above!

If any of you have suggestions of what to see or what to visit in Switzerland, please let me know!