Thinking For A Living

"Well done is better than well said." - Benjamin Franklin

The new Thinking For A Living 3.0 has launched by some good friends of mine.

Well done, boys.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Book Colophon Imprints

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

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.

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.

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!

We Love Typography

From the creator of one of the best type sites on the internet, ILoveTypography, comes another great site: WeLoveTypography.

Contributed to by some of the best type people on the net, think of it as FFFFound for all things type, typography, lettering, & signage.

A new daily source of typographic inspiration!

Visualizing the New York Times

Love info graphics? They you will love this really impressive visualization of the New York Times.

Type Specimen Books

Flickr user :Nike has a seriously enviable collection of Type Specimen Books.

The Periodic Table of Typefaces

The Periodic Table of Typefaces.

Keep Calm and Parody

Everyone seems to be making parodies of the classic British WWII poster "Keep Calm and Carry On" these days.

Honestly, it is getting a bit silly - as good friend Frank Chimero points out with his poster above.

Skylab Letterpress

Check out this great video of a Heidelberg Windmill in action at Skylab Letterpress in Kansas City, Missouri.

Japanese Gas Attack Posters

Amazing and a little scary: Japanese Gas Attack Posters.

StrongBad on Logos

Practically with every new logo that comes out, I am reminded of this StrongBad Email that sums up the new web 2.0 crappy, shiny, 3-D logo trends.

Grain Edit Interviews Frank!

My great friend just got interviewed by a great website..

Congrats Frank!

Harry Potter Book Cover Redesign

I'm not a fan of fantasy books, but these fictional book covers for Harry Potter might just make me want to read them!

Notgeld - Pre-Inflationary German Currency

When the German government could not stop inflation after World War One, towns and businesses started printing their own money because the official money was worthless.

A Flickr set of Notgeld: Emergency Currency.

El Al Playing Cards

The always good Grain Edit has a great feature on playing cards designed for El Al Airlines.

Flashy Letterpress

OutOfSorts Press has a fantastic flash intro to their website that shows the process of letterpress printing simply and quickly. Nice!

TDC 2009 Winners

Congratulations to all of the 2009 Type Directors Club winners!

Everything Old Is New Again

The giant cereal company, General Mills, has released a set of vintage designs for some of their popular cereals. The above Kix box has insanely awesome type! The DieLine has more information.

The Great War Book Jackets

Book jackets from World War One.

Lettering of Brooklyn

Paul Shaw has been documenting the commercial and residential lettering of Brooklyn and has written a great article with photos all about it!

Futurist Typography

Ace Jet 170 reminded me about the great typographic work done by Futurists.

Graphic Design for Olivetti

Giovanni Pintori made spectacular design for Olivetti Typewriters. So good it hurts!

Vintage German Illustration

The title says it all: Vintage German Illustration

Faux Mid-Century Disney Posters

Greg Maletic made some faux Disney mid-century posters for fun and Disney ended up hiring him - who says personal work doesn't pay?!

Westvaco Inspirations

Bradbury Thompson's work for Westvaco in the 1950's was seriously great.

But Does It Float?

Ambiguity lives! But does it float?

Vintage Soda Packaging

The Dieline has a nice post on vintage soda packaging - you should check it out.

Hi-Fi Literature

A great collection of Hi-Fi Stereo manuals and literature - Hi-Fi Lit.