Virtual Water

This site is all about water conservation and has a really cool poster illustrating how much water is used to produce everyday things. The other side of the poster illustrates several countries' water footprint. Check it out at http://www.traumkrieger.de/virtualwater/.

Turn This UP

What I'm listening to this morning to get me going ... click here and turn up your volume.

What Winter Means to Me by Rebekka

My Design Hero

Chip Kidd is at the top of my inspiration list.

I have been following his career since (I'm embarrassed to admit) the mid-80's when, wandering around my favorite bookstore, I began to realize that every new book jacket design I admired was credited to Kidd. Over the next few years, I paid close attention as a revolution unfolded. Book cover designs enjoyed a much needed overhaul. They became intelligent, bold and masterfully creative. But it all began with Chip. He led the way then, as he continues to now, and raises the bar for our profession.


I had the opportunity to hear him speak yesterday evening (for only the second time) at the New Haven Lawn Club in Connecticut. He read from his hot-off-the-press newly released (February 19, 2008) second novel The Learners, which ironically takes place in New Haven and its central character is a graphic designer named Happy. And I am a very happy New Haven graphic designer able to report to you that I am now the proud owner of an author's signed copy of The Learners.

Kidd must not have thought himself busy enough working his day job (designing book jackets at Knopf) while writing a novel. In addition to also taking on freelance gigs and editing other design publications, has now added to his ever-expanding resume the formation of an alternative rock band called Artbreak Wonderground for whom he writes and plays percussion. For all of this and more, he has my admiration and utmost respect. Rock on, Chip.

Here is the short bio from the book jacket: "CHIP KIDD is credited for revolutionizing the way modern books are packaged. "The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after." says Time Out New York. Kidd has also written about graphic design and popular culture for McSweeney's Vogue, The New York Times, The New York Observer, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Post and I.D. Kidd's first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was a national bestseller, as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year."

Credits | quote: Simon & Schuster; photo: Tim Davis, The Day

Troy Is Brave

I love this CADC invite! It arrived in the mail last week as a huge, over-sized, full-on glossy postcard with rounded corners. And that pic of Troy is hysterical. Love the socks, Troy.

Aside from all that, this event looks rather interesting and is exactly what this blog is all about. Sitter pending, Sean and J, I'm going to try to attend. Care to join me? It's February 28th at the Wood-n-Tap in Hartford. Check it out and let me know. Looks like a good one.

Think You Know Your Fonts?

Test your font prowess on this quick 10 question Fontastic Quiz!

Dancing Color

I came across this cover design for the University of Minnesota Dance in CA magazine and was impressed by its originality. The use of color along with the image of a dancer has a strong dynamic presence that is both memorable and compelling.

It was created by Spunk Design Machine in Minneapolis.

Playmate of the Month

The Argentine branch of global agency giant Grey Advertising launched this brilliant campaign for Playboy Magazine during the summer to search for Playmates. To encourage women to participate, they gave away these beach towels for them to sunbathe on as if they were posing for the cover.

Candy Wrapper Museum

The Candy Wrapper Museum - what a find. You can spend some time checking out all the interesting retro wrappers from your favorite childhood sweets along with some really obscure and truly bizarre items.

My clear winner is the "Devil Girl" candy packages by famous illustrator R. Crumb. They are hysterical! Love the ballsy copy: "7 Evils in One!", "It's BAD for you!", "Eat Me!" and "Have Yourself a Sweet N' Hot Little Suck!" (my personal favorite).

Genius.

Classic Chair

An unexpected and melding of two ideas - Classic Chair meets tattoo. I can see this on the set of the Adams Family.

Lick Me. Seriously.

I might actually have to buy People's Magazine this month. Welch's has a lickable ad. Here's the link to the article in the Wall Street Journal.

I'll just have to check the mag first before I buy it to make sure no one beat me to it and licked it first. Ick!

Happy Valentine's Day

This is a "found" note from Found Magazine which is a collection of discovered love letters, post-it notes, shopping lists, doodles on a napkin or anything that allows us to glimpse into someone else's world. Voyeuristic fun for the whole family!

The creators of Found have even ventured into to the dark side with Dirty Found for those of us who have found Polaroids in our co-workers trench coat pockets and don't know what to do with them ....?

This is Fresh

What a brilliant use of a die-cut.n Check it out here.

Photographer: Sarah Small

I'm not sure how to describe this photographer's work. It's strange and unsettling. I looked at all 53 pieces in her online portfolio.

Check it out

Sand Man

Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand. At low tide on wide beaches Jim searches the shore for a wave tossed stick. After finding a good stick and composing himself in the near and far environment Jim draws-- laboring up to 7 hours and walking as many as 30 miles. The resulting sand drawing is made entirely freehand w/ no measuring aids whatsoever. From the ground, these drawn environments are experienced as places. Places to explore and be, and to see relation and distance. For a time these tangible specific places exist in the indeterminate environment of ocean shore. From high above the marks are seen as isolated phenomena, much like clouds, rivers or buildings. Soon after Jim's motions and marks are completed water moves over and through, leaving nothing.

Too see more go to: http://www.jimdenevan.com/

Tattoo

My first thought - Ouch! Secondary reaction - that is cool!
A 1998 photograph by Hans Neleman is featured in “Body Politics, Maori Tattoo Today,” running February 23-February 1, 2009 at the Peabody Essex Museum in MA.

Sand Man

Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand. At low tide on wide beaches Jim searches the shore for a wave tossed stick. After finding a good stick and composing himself in the near and far environment Jim draws—laboring up to 7 hours and walking as many as 30 miles. The resulting sand drawing is made entirely freehand w/ no measuring aids whatsoever. From the ground, these drawn environments are experienced as places. Places to explore and be, and to see relation and distance. For a time these tangible specific places exist in the indeterminate environment of ocean shore. From high above the marks are seen as isolated phenomena, much like clouds, rivers or buildings. Soon after Jim's motions and marks are completed water moves over and through, leaving nothing.

To see more go to:
http://www.jimdenevan.com/

Spam Studio

This studio has some really interesting stuff. I particularly like their hand drawn proposal for the festival called Rock en Seine. Check them out at www.spamstudio.com/.

Eat My Words

For a graphic designer with a chocolate fetish, is there any better gift than the alphabet in chocolate? Hours of tasty fun.

Slinkachu

Slinkachu is an anonymous street artist who uses miniature figurines on the streets of London. He creates these installations, photographs them and collects them on his blog http://little-people.blogspot.com/.

The photos on the left are the installations, the ones on the right are where the scenes were set.

Friends with Benefits

One of the benefits of having creative friends is receiving spectacular holiday cards, announcements and invitations. They do not accept the norm or do they send the usual off-the-shelf items. Whatever the occasion the card is over the top from a design sense. One of the most recent cards, I received was a birth announcement from my friend Amy. The design, illustration, photography and copy are all well thought out and compliment each other to make this wonderful card. Cards like these make it to my favorites drawer, but not before viewing it repeatedly over a few weeks and showing it off to all colleagues/friends & family that stop by.

The End

I always appreciate really well done theatrical end-credit sequence art. This movie, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, was a disappointment. But the end-credit sequence was the best I have ever seen. It seems to draw its inspiration from Indonesian puppets. I am fasinated by how the animation transforms and unfolds scene-by-scene. Notice all the thoughtful subtleties that eerily harken back to the movie's plot - for example, trees will look like hands, hills will have eyes appear and the children are constantly being put in peril. I can't believe I made it to the end of this movie, but I'm glad I did.

Its just brilliant. And beautiful. You can watch it here: http://www.spike.com/movie/11874

BMX freestyle

Recently I was watching the X-Games on ESPN. Its pretty amazing the limits that are pushed in each individual sport. One sport, BMX freestyle is like a moving art form like a ballet, gymnastics or dance. Here is a link to one of the top notch Freestylers Dave Mirra. He started out at the young age of 13 when freestyle competitions where in there infancy. He did bikes tricks out of passion, rather than a means to make money. He is very successful and is a testament to do what you love.

http://www.fuel.tv/Firsthand/videos/view/302?type=Video

This is An Experiment

"The 1000 Journals Project is an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal is to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers."

The website: http://www.1000journals.com/

The book: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0811858561

New Mountain Goats Video

This new Mountain Goats video for Sax Rohmer #1 embraces handwritten type as the main focus. I particularly appreciate the variety of styles that they captured as well as the playfulness of where the type is located. Also, this is a fabulous song off of their new album Heretic Pride. If you don't have the leak already, you should seriously look into getting it. Or you can wait until February 19th to buy the real deal. 

Mother Nature - Dangerous and Beautiful

I found these images online today. Evidently, China has been experiencing over a week of wild weather. According to the report "the coldest weather in 100 years" in some regions. Obviously, the cold weather has not stopped a few photographers from taking a few beautiful shots.

Instructoart

Matthew Vescovo's website and book feature painfully obvious step-by-steps for some of the slightly more hilarious and/or completely unimportant aspects of life. The simplicity and complete lack of usefulness, combined with the familiar, pamphlet-style illustration, is what makes these diagrams so interesting. For instance, the hokey pokey shown above is a rather simple dance made for kids, which makes it all the more funny to be seen in the context of an elaborate diagram. Go here to see his website. 

What I Really Want

Will someone please let my husband that instead of roses for Valentine's Day, I'd rather have this book?

I could spend hours (not getting my work done, ignoring my children, not stopping to eat) just engrossed in this book.

To see more pages, click here to link to American Modern Books website. There is a link from the home page to view more pages. Oh, and honey, if you're reading this, there is also a link to purchase.

Signs in China

A friend of mine recently spent two weeks traveling through China. He took a few good shots of some interesting signage.

Lie-Ins and Tigers

Three clearly quirky guys. Experimental drawings, video, photos and animations. Not particularly great illustration or design, yet countless hours of partial-smiles and maybe even a chuckle awaits you. I personally recommend Walter's animation called Dancing Bulb Guys.

Check out http://lie-insandtigers.com/front_page.html.

Like a Rabbit Hopping Through the Snow

Permafrost, a Norwegian design studio, makes a rug that looks like a rabbit has just made tracks in the snow. www.permafrost.no