woah there, end of the semester

Sorry for the delay in posting. It's been quite a month with the end of the semester rolling around. So, now that I have all this spare time, maybe I could get back to all that blogging that I love, eh?

Awsome...

I know I've been on a video tangent as of late, but this is awsome:

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Uploaded by trendwhore

If you watch the video till the very end, what the guy screams out at the last second are my sentiments exactly.

Geo greetings

Powered by google earth, send your friends messages from the sky.
I would put a picture up, but I'd rather you just click mine to be a little more entertaining...

Love me some LOLcats

If you don't get it, then there's something wrong with you...

Just click here and have yourself a good chuckle.

Booking bands

The good folks at Coudal Partners really know how to kill time creatively. Their bathroom walls are all chalkboard, and it was someone's genius idea to math together two of my favorite things: books and bands. A couple examples include:

Courtney Love in the Time of Cholera
The Sun Also RZA
A Million Little Richards
A Tale of Two Bay City Rollers
Pride and PredJudas Priest
Horton Hears The Who
Fleetwood Macbeth
ect..

Too genius...

Is any other font acceptable for the word 'dounuts'?

New contender for best tagline ever...

RIP Robert Goulet

Five Holloween safety tips:

1. For large groups of trick-or-treaters, always set at least one child ablaze, ensuring enough light that other children won’t trip over uneven pavement.

2. Only separate shards of X-Acto blades from rodent poison once you get home; doing so in the dark will lead to inevitable mixups and tummyaches for youngsters with allergies.

3. If a home has its porch light off — but an expressionless face can be seen peering from a cellar window — consider limiting your child’s unattended visit with the resident to no more than four hours.

4. If a close-fitting mask causes your child to fall down a well, use fishing line and a paper clip to retrieve her goodie bag. Nobody likes wet candy.

5. Although children dressed as SS-Sturmbannführer Michael Lippert are not required to “pretend execute” children dressed as Ernst Röhm, many parents find this bit of theatricality kindles the spirit that makes Halloween such a delight.



via 5ives.

That's it! I'm moving to Europe...

Seriously?

Snooping Around

If going to McDonalds makes you feel bad about yourself, try looking in other people's fridges from around the world. The people at Fridgewatcher.com have people from all over the world send in pics of what's in their fridge.

You are what you eat.

Quick blog between homework...

Watch this Japanese commercial for Toyota, and see if you ever want to be touched again...

Fin

The 24fps Flickr set has a collection of closing frames from classic movies—"THE END" over and over in varying typefaces. Beautiful old typography and an interesting take on film.

On my to-do list...

Chris Cobb, a San Francisco artist, did something amazing to a bookshop called Adobe Books- he arranged every single one of the 20,000 books by color. He project is called "There is Nothing Wrong in This Whole Wide World" and is based on a simple idea:

"Even though there is so much to be unhappy about in this world, we should try to create something amazing and beautiful and interesting despite all of the problems."

This happened back in 2004, but the idea spread like wildfire. There is even a collection on Flickr of people who ended up doing the same thing in their own homes. What an amazing idea.

Now I just need some more book shelves...

Si Scott anyone?

So it's really cool to see what other designers my age are up to. Through GVSU I came across this alumni who's work is strikingly similar to an artist I adore. Jesse Hora does some really hip screen prints that are for sale as well.

PLAY

I found out through the grape vine that Grand Valley was having this typography showcase called de:(kon'strukt).
"de:(kŏn'strŭkt')™ will be presenting a collection emphasizing an appreciation for typography, more specifically the letterform and its use in communication through construction and deconstruction of both existing and personal typefaces."

uh, sweet, why doesn't my school do cool things like that?
(oh, maybe cause we can't even get people to participate in a type blog....)

But that is how I came across this site including a student at GVSU. "Rick Valicenti presents the Playground, curated by Robb Irrgang & Satoru Nihei - Our friends accepted the invitiation to create an alphabet of 26 characters illuminated not to start a sentence, but to begin a thought."

PLAY!

color like no other

Sony Bravia has added another fantastic commercial to their line-up. It's really fun to watch, and then you find out it's all stop montion animation...in Manhattan. If you havent seen any of their commercials yet, I suggest watching the paint and the bouncy ball video as well.
It took 40 animators three weeks and over 2.5 tons of plasticine to pull this off. there are some pretty cool shots of the sets from the locals on Flickr, mine via cybertect.

Circut Snacks

"Two of our favorite things in the world are playing with electronics and playing with food, and so it is about time that someone finally got around to combining the two. We begin by gathering up appropriate snack-food building blocks and making food-based models of electronic components. From these components, you can assemble “circuitry snacks”– edible models of functioning electronic circuits. You can make these for fun, for dessert, for your geek friends, for kids, and for teaching and learning electronics."

Mmmmm...electronics...

Ryan McGinley

New York based photographer Ryan McGinley takes some really haunting photographs.

Jonathan Calugi

I'm not really sure where he is from, but Jonathan Calugi had some all around great work on his site that is currently under construction. Everything his does has a sense of childhood fun and fancy. He bases his work around basic shapes and light colors. You can download some of the fonts he has made, just send him an email!

Banana Over Texas

No, this time I'm not trying to be witty with my title. Really imagine a banana over the Texas skyline both day and night. Hilarious and hopefully someday true. Why do they want to do this? I'm not really sure yet, but then again, why did scientists want to give elephants LSD...twice.
The website states, "Geostationary banana over Texas is an art intervention that places a giant banana over the Texas sky. The object will float between the high atmosphere and Earth's low orbit, being visible only from the state of Texas and its surroundings. From the ground the banana will be clearly recognizable day and night and will be up for one month."
So pretty much it's a giant (300 meters in length) banana blimp.
Launch date is expected to be around August 2008...anyone want to roadtrip?

Knock Knock

So I just found this design company based in California that creates witty and sarcastic books and stationary. As well as sleek magnets and clips that encourage you TO DO, TO FILE in a Rosewoody typeface... the checklist pads and sticky notes with snarky themes ("Things You Do That Really Piss Me Off", "Fashion Citation")... the Choose-Your-Relgion and Dial-an-Excuse wheels.
All designed for a good laugh in the workplace. Not that I have to experience that just yet, but at least I can have something to look foreword to.

Did Someone Get Told?

Yeah, I know this doesn't have anything to do with design, but it reminded me of my friend Jenn [who IS an amazing designer] who says that all the time, and I thought it was funny.

Doritos, Snickers, Bottled Water, + Bikes

Working at a bike shop really makes you appriciate having bikes around. There's something immensely pleasing about sailing past scores of traffic with little more than a push of a pedal. And at the same time, you're burning the calories, and doing your bit to stay green. But there's one thing we hate about this simple mode of transport. People like nothing more than stealing them, damaging them, or driving buses into them. While your safe at work crunching the numbers, who's looking after your ride home?

Cue the bike dispensing machine. Brought to you courtesy of bikedispenser.com, a small firm from Amsterdam, the idea is to help facilitate bike rentals in urban areas. Cyclists pay a small fee to hire a bike, and then they can take it where they please. Once they’ve finished, they can return it either to that machine, or another one across town. And because they’ve been fitted with RFID tags, they won’t all have been nicked before you can get one.

Now if they could just do something about the damned GR drivers...

Antique Furniture With A Twist

Neo Neon is furniture created by Lee Broom. He describes his work as 'art that is ultimatly functional.'

"Neon lighting haloes the deslicate lines of the traditional furniture whilst casting deep reflections in their richly lacquered surfaces. Each piece is created in three stages- they are hand carved in Mahogany, lacquered to a high gloss finish nd the adorned in neon."

You can actually purchase the furniture, but there is a limited release of 50 worldwide. Pretty cool looking, but I dont think I would want my dog lounging on it.

Apple Meets Old School

Yeah, I had to take a double-take too. This 15lb ghetto blaster made by lasonic should be on the market sometime soon. Oh yeah, did I fail to mention it holds your iPod? Hilarious.

Futura In 'Royal Tenenbaums"

This is kind of old, but a friend of mine just recently did a research project on a movie director I love and I happened upon this.Mark Simonson Studio takes a look at the use of Futura and other typefaces in Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. I've seen this movie many times, and never noticed the continuity of Futura use—am feeling like a chump. Futura is used for all direct Tenenbaum family associations, while typefaces like Helvetica are used for outsiders, as on the cover of Raleigh St. Clair's book Dudley's World.

New From Taschen: Logo Design

New from Taschen: Logo Design, an "exhaustive guide" that assembles logos from over 30 countries and presents a case study of each. Categories include media, retailers, events, regions, service and agencies, and info about the designer and company is provided. My favorite part of the marketing materials for the new book is this quote from scientist Linus Paulin: "In order to come up with one good idea, you must have lots of ideas."

Web First Steps For Print Designers

Over at Subtraction, Khoi Vinh has a nice post up about the basic steps print designers need to take in order to start working with design for the web. He recommends several good books, and also correctly pinpoints the first step as "embracing the medium as something different from print. Indeed, there’s no point in learning these skills unless as a print designer you’ve made a prior shift in your understanding of how design works in digital media." Definitely worth a read.

I am ster'damn!

Check out Amsterdam based illustrator Fidor Sumkin. She does some pretty cool old scool illustration mixed with hip type treatments.

HOLY HIATUS!

After a long summer of working at ye 'ol bike shop I'm back in action full throttle at Kendall. Posts to come soon...much to share!

It's A Helvetica World

A week ago, the Helvetica movie had a smash New York premiere. Michael Bierut, who stole the show, talks about the film. Just can't get enough Helvetica? Kottke recently held a Helvetica haiku contest. And the MoMA launches a Helvetica exhibition to celebrate the typeface's 50th anniversary and acquisition to the museum (hear that, it's modern art!).

i shot the serif / left him there full of leading / yearning for kerning

She misunderstood / When I said she was 'Grotesque' / Akzidenz happen

I am a sucker for puns.

Si Scott

The neverending swirls of illustrator Si Scott. Check out his amazing type treatments.

Style & Design 100

Time magazine lists their picks for the 100 standouts in current design, exploring interiors, green design, packaging, fashion, the web, and more. Some baffling selections, but overall quite an interesting range of people, products and places.

No One Belongs Here More Than You

Miranda July, who you might remember from her film Me and You and Everyone We Know, has a book coming out in May, a collection of stories called No One Belongs Here More Than You. The book has a web site that's one of the most effective and creative I've seen in a long time.
It works because the story pulls you along so well; July's using the site's narrative to sell a book that is, presumably, chock full of the same sort of narrative. If you think the site sucks and quickly click away, chances are you're not going to like the book either...it's the perfect self-selection mechanism. The No One Belongs Here More Than You site is a lesson for web designers: the point is not to make sites that follow all the rules but to make sites that will best accomplish the primary objectives of the site.

Strange and Hilarious

After the success of the 'Puppetry of the Penis' phenomenon, which involved the live stage show and later, a DIY book version, the penis is back in vogue. Apart from their obvious use, the willy can be employed as a comedy tool, as this brilliant book from Quirk Book publishing demonstrates.

PENIS POKEY is a fun book which has holes cut through the centre of it for ones willy to poke through. Once inserted into the hole, the willy interacts with the illustration on the page to create a very funny scene indeed. From monkeys to underpants, the pages unveil cute opportunities to create various stories with your Johnston as the main star. The only thing missing was a page with a politicians head on it with a hole through the forehead, although we don't necessarily need a demonstration.

Even this scares the crap out of me.

You would think my extreme fear of aquatic life wouldn't be affected by this...but it is.
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society have put a life size blue whale online (complete with underwater sound effects). Working with a thumbnail, you can move over the body of the 180 ton giant. Now, my question is, why don't we designers do stuff like this more often? A huge version of a design project would allow online viewers to interact with the work in a way that almost overcomes the distancing factor of a screen, to get up close and personal, to see texture, tiny flaws of personality, fine print... Anyone know of any design-related big projects conceptually similar to the whale? I'd love to know about them.

http://www.wdcs.co.uk/media/flash/whalebanner/content_pub_en.html

Jen Stark: Construction Paper Sculpture

Jen Stark has some amazing paper sculptures made out of constuction paper.

For the love of colour

COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews.

www.colourlovers.com

It's got to be good if it makes you laugh out loud.

I'm just really glad this exists.

www.quarkvsindesign.com

how are you feeling today?

I found this website that tracks users emotions. It's really interesting just how they make the data so interactive.

THIS IS MADNESS!



Literally. This is just one of the ways to preview emotions, this one being the most interactive.
My personal favorite is 'mounds,' they remind me of a combination of jello and the evil goo they find in the second Ghostbusters.

http://www.wefeelfine.org

route the reactionaries!

For a while now, I've been wanting to start a blog to document what's going in the design world [and anything else I think is cool] and to cut down on my bookmarking, which is a pain in itself. I want to cover all things design because I think it's important to know what other people are doing and finding inspiration from that. But more than likely there will be a hint of music and pop culture [because I love me some smut].

I want to share all the things I find in hopes that other peolpe think it's just as amazing.