Pop vs. Soda vs. Coke

Whether you call it Pop, Soda, or Coke, chances are where you come from in the United States determines your choice of the noun.

via the always-interesting Strange Maps.

Random Got Beautiful

Nikki Farquharson started a public photo project in March 2007. She encourages people to submit photos according to their primary colors and she arranges them randomly on her website Random Got Beautiful.

Nikki Farquharson

Nikki Farquharson makes some really nice work. Especially (and I wish I could like to it directly) her book entitled "Cock. Bull. Story." She breaks down common idioms and phrases into three words, but somehow, you can still get the entire point of the phrase.

Truck Type Alphabet

Fitting in perfectly with my first assignment for my Advanced Typography class, is Eric Tabuchi's Truck Type Alphabet. More information can be found here.

Hand Dryers Around the World

I have uploaded my collection of photographs of electric hand dryers from all around the world to my Flickr account. After my recent trip to Europe, I now have 75 dryers in the collection. Enjoy!

Some of these have also been featured at Polar Inertia.

Bubble Calendar

What a clever idea - Bubble Calendar!

Vintage Postcards

I love Boring Vintage Postcards!

Leadholders Collection

Following in the footsteps of my previous post, Coudal has pointed me in the direction of another great online collection of drafting pencils - but apparently, if you want to be fancy, you call them "leadholders."

Seeing Faces

Maybe you have seen this, maybe you haven't, but there are a few nice collections on Flickr of inanimate objects that form the shape of faces. See them here, here,and here.

Carpark Interior Signage

I'm guessing you have seen this all over the internet, but I thought it was worth a post. Axel Peemöller designed the interior signage for Eureka Carpark in Melbourne, Australia and it is really well executed!

Wanderlust

GOOD Magazine (which, incidentally, is really good) has a really fantastic interactive map of the world's most famous travels. From "Around the World in 80 Days" to Amelia Earhart to Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" this maps follows some amazing treks and makes me want to keep traveling.

Disassembled Household Appliances

Brittany Badger created a series of photos of Disassembled Household Appliances for her Senior Thesis project at Hartford Art School. Really nice!

The Gashlycrumb Tinies

I just found my all-time favourite story by Edward Gorey - The Gashlycrumb Tinies - online!

Postman's Park

Anne from I like recently visited Postman's Park in London - a strange and beautiful place.

The park was the idea of the painter George Frederick Watts who wanted to celebrate the heroism of people who may otherwise have been forgotten. A wall in the park has 47 hand-painted tiles paying tribute to everyday people who sacrificed their lives helping others.

See Anne's Flickr set here. And read more about it here and here.

Strange. Haunting. Beautiful.

Brand Name Pencil Collection

Who knew there were so many different brands of pencils in the world? Bob Truby does and he collects them. With so many different type styles and letterforms packed into such a small area, they are definitely worth a look!

via H&FJ.

We're #1!

Have you ever wondered about the history of the "#1" Foam Hand? No? Well, read about it anyway!

via Coudal.

Inspirational Design Posters

Good friend and fellow type nerd, Frank Chimero, has put his inspirational design posters up for sale! This is good for people who have bare walls or (like me) an addiction to good posters. Collect them all!

Signs of Switzerland Series

I am back from my summer living in Geneva, Switzerland and I wanted to share with you my Signs of Switzerland Series. Take a look if you would like!

Cooking Up Characters From Old Grocery Lists

NPR has a great interview with Los Angeles based performance artist Hillary Carlip. She has dedicated her life to searching for and interpreting discarded grocery lists, then turning them into characters - which she then dresses up as and photographs herself with the items on the list.

Make sure to listen to the story and see the image slide show. Great stuff!

George Eastman House Collection

The George Eastman House is the oldest photography museum in the world, housed in the former home of Mr. George Eastman, the so-called father of modern photography and founder of Eastman Kodak company.

They have started to add their amazing collection of images on Flickr! So far they have amazing daguerreotype portraits and autochromes. I love Flickr!

The Manicule

Good friends, Lucas and Hayley (of Keep Calm fame) have opened a new online store called The Manicule. They are selling tea towels, coffee mugs, and other such lovely things. Check it out and enjoy their phrases in your home soon!

Vanarchiv Digital Type Foundry

Ricardo Santos of Vanarchiv based in Loures, Portugal makes some really amazing typefaces - especially Atlantica and Lisboa.

You can read an interview with Ricardo here.

Abstract Satellite Images of Earth

Wow. The 30 Most Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth.

Little Skyscraper on the Prairie

Who knew that Frank Lloyd Wright had his tallest building, The Price Tower, built in Bartlesville, Oklahoma? I certainly did not. Make sure to check out the narrated slide show as well.

Two New Swiss Prints For Sale!

As some of you may know, I have spent this summer living in Geneva, Switzerland and printing as an artist-in-residence at L’Association pour le Patrimoine Industriel (API - The Association of Industrial Heritage). My time is now over (we leave Geneva tomorrow for a week of travel and then back to the States) but I am happy to report that the two prints that I created during my time are now available for purchase!


The first print, "Typographie Mon Amour" is a two-color print using some of the great wooden type and borders at API. Printed on crisp white paper, the dark grey and red inks really pop out nicely.


The second print, "Dynamisme" is another two-color print utilizing every wooden typeface in API's collection. Dynamisme is French for dynamism - which means "the quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress." It is the second-biggest print I have ever made and the overprinting turned out quite well, if I can say so myself!

You can see more images of these prints on my Flickr.

Both of these prints are very limited and will never be printed again, so get them while they are hot!

IBM Slide Show

Square America has posted the images from an IBM slide presentation that they have entitled: It's 1975 And This Man Is About To Show You The Future.

Also, doesn't that guy look like Ira Glass?

Drawing Blind

In 1947, Life Magazine asked some famous comic strip artists to to draw their famous characters while wearing a blindfold. The results are quite interesting!