Alvin Lustig Book Jackets

Can you ever look at too many Alvin Lustig book covers? The answer is no.

The Family Tree of the Mortarboard

Ever wonder why you wear a mortarboard hat when you graduate from University? Yale University Magazine has a great family tree of all things hat.

Andy Warhol Rejection Letter

Need more proof that committees get nothing done right? The Museum of Modern Art sent this letter to Andy Warhol in 1956 rejecting his gift of one of his early drawings. I am guessing they have regretted this decision for at least 40 years...

(click the photo to make it big enough to read)

Global Rich List

How rich are you? You may be surprised...

A Forest Inside of the Sydney Opera House

French artist Pierre Huyghe unveiled his large-scale masterpiece for the Biennale of Sydney - an indoor rain forest - open to the public for only 24 hours.

I Want to be a Coal Miner

Being an avid collector of mid-century childrens books, I instantly fell in love with "I Want to be a Coal Miner."

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.