Gabriel Dawe Thread Installations

via COLOURlovers.com

“Using over 50 miles of string, Gabriel creates dramatic, almost other-worldly installations. . . ” I had previously had this posted on my older version of my blog, and when I saw it pop-up again on ColourLovers, I wanted to post it again.

Read the rest of this post here, explore more of his work here.

Revisiting “The Lottery”

via utne reader

“The cautionary tale of conformity in Shirley Jackson’s controversial short story is as relevant today as it was in 1948 . . . ”

Read the rest of the post here, and the short story here.

Earworm: Kashmir

Bond, an all-girl Australian/British classical crossover string quartet covers this song on their album Shine. Listen to their version here. Led Zeppelin’s 1975 version here. The riff has always reminded me of katydids on a warm summer evening singing to each other.

Geek A Week Trading Cards

via cnn

“Move over, baseball. The coolest new trading cards feature a Geek a Week. For the last 52 weeks, artist Len Peralta has been interviewing one geek hero a week, posting podcasts of his discussions online and designing the front and back of a trading card. (Comedic music duo Paul and Storm write the descriptions.) This week, nerdy retailer ThinkGeek debuts physical, collectible Geek a Week cards. The first installment features the first eight geeks in Peralta’s project.”

Read the rest here, purchase the cards here.

Business Cards: Page IX

[Top Row] Becky Ballato’s card—Love the idea of the free flowing shape of the two letter B’s and brush, hate the type treatment and font choice. The Cat’s Meow was a local florist that had a great shop to discover wonderful surprises in every nook and cranny of their location, but the downturn in the economy took its toll on them.

[Middle Row] Love the red shoes and use of negative space, hate the typeface and treatment. Bert Gries was probably my favorite teacher while I was a student at AIP. My class projects were just average, but he really made the process of package design inspiring. He also had one of the best classroom locations in the building; second floor looking out onto Penn Avenue. Joe Petrina was one of the best design students and classmates at AIP; he seemed to work so effortlessly and ideas just seemed to flow for him. If I remember correctly, he also had a great laugh.

[Bottom Row] A classic Mac in silver foil on black stock; this card just rocks. Ahh, Accu-Weather—I do not think I have every heard anything good about how graphic designers were treated when employed by them under a very confining contract. While at Graphics II, we did a bit of work from them, including cleaning up the [ugly] logo concept that was created by the owner’s mother. I think that billing issues eventually led to them leaving our fold of clients. AquaPenn’s card—nice blind embossing, the “non-photo” blue ink is just a tad too light for my liking.

As the Crow Flies Moving Announcement

via FPO

A smart die-cut chip board project that makes me smile. Fuszion’s office was moving five blocks down the street and needed a moving announcement that would stand out.

Read about this project and see more image here.

Homeland Security, c. 1942

via accidental mysteries

“The Second Word War, and the years leading up to it, was a time not unlike ours today. Just as our government today does it’s best to assure our safety from terrorists, the U.S. government 75 years ago was ever vigilant against Communist and German spies, or terrorist infiltrators trying to weasel their way into defense related businesses. So, they created these ‘100% foolproof’ ID badges, for surely anyone with a camera, pair of scissors and glue could not have faked one of these babies. And, I am not going to even mention the overwhelming pride and individuality an employee would feel wearing one. . . ”

Read the rest, and see more badges here.

Keep Fishing

via inHOWse by Sam Harrison

“I once heard author Ian Fraser tell of being on a fishing trip with fellow writers Mark Singer and John McPhee.

“It was a cold, rainy day, and we weren’t catching anything,” said Fraser. “After a few hours, Singer said, ‘You know, this is masochism.’ And McPhee laughed and said, ‘No, this is optimism.’”

I love Fraser’s story because it applies to the creative process.

Sometimes our luck seems to be running out when it comes to snagging a few fresh ideas. Or maybe we have ideas, but clients keep tossing them overboard.

In those sad times, it’s easy to feel a bit sorry for ourselves. To feel the world is against us. To feel we’re stuck in a masochistic business.

But if we let ourselves go there, we get bitter. And if we get bitter, we don’t get better. Instead, we become victims. And victims, by definition, are powerless.

“You have to believe in what you’re doing and not get bitter,” says Jakob Trollback, founder and creative director of Trollback + Company. “If you let it harden you, you’re going to just get old and dull.”

So the next time you find yourself planning a pity party, seek out some optimism. Take a break. Go for a walk. Visit an upbeat blog. Talk to a positive friend. Launch a new project. Start your day over.

You’ve done it before and you can do it again. Ideas are swimming around in your mind and in the world around you. You can catch them. And you can sell them.

Keep fishing.”

Original post here.

Who is Bozo Texino?

via imprint


“Who is Bozo Texino? is a beautiful black and white film by Bill Daniels. Made over 16 years during Daniels’ sporadic boxcar riding (or train hopping) adventures across North America, the film focuses on the men (vagabonds, hobos, nomads, pick a name) who live (or once lived) this increasingly difficult life. Most pointedly, the film focuses on the marks they leave on train cars in chalk or paint pen.”


Read the rest here, watch the trailer here.

10 line Kabel

via letterpress daily

This capital Q by Hamilton Manufacturing Company just makes me smile.

Apple Memorabilia Loupe Mystery

via cultofmac


Read about the mystery behind this Apple memorabilia loupe here.

In the early 80s, I remember popping the clear plastic back off of a similar size and style of loupe and then inserting a customized round paper disk in it so that the loupe was clearly recognizable as mine. I'd change the artwork as the mood struck me.

Earworm: Genki Sudo’s World Order

via very short list


“ Genki Sudo is an overachiever: a kickboxer, Greco-Roman wrestler, and retired mixed-martial-arts star who was known for his splashy entrances and flashy moves. He’s also an accomplished actor, essayist, and calligrapher, and the leader of a pop group called World Order. And in this excellent music video, he’s taking New York by storm. Like many other overachievers, Sudo has a personal motto—in his case, a motto (“we are all one”) that didn’t make sense in the ring but sits quite comfortably with his career as a song-and-dance man. Among other things, this is one of the most carefully synced videos we’ve seen. (Did we mention that Sudo is also the group’s choreographer?) And yet it’s interesting to compare World Order’s New York video with a similar one they filmed in Japan: If you think New Yorkers are jaded, check out the (non-)reactions of Tokyo’s passersby.”


Watch Genki Sudo’s World Order in New York City here, other links can be found here for the Tokyo video, and more.

Business Cards: Page VIII

[Top Row] The warm grey on Tawn Chi’s card is spot on; the type treatment for the word CHI and the positioning of the type in the the lower right corner is lacking finesse. Brad Bean’s slide frames and string bean image makes this card memorable and always makes me smile.

[Middle Row] Rabbits, always a sucker for rabbits. I was given a gift of one of Jeanne Stevens-Sollman’s sculptures many years ago, and I treasure it to this day. Even though the next card is a sample, the hairline constructed letter using grey and wine inks is classic. Last card in the row looks a bit dated, but the design uses embossing and foil stamping to make the constructed shape ‘pop’.

[Bottom Row] First card, love the reversed signature in red, hate the type treatment below it. Anni Matsick’s card perfectly sums up her business, and makes me smile. 

Earworm: The Air That I Breathe

When our cat Birbanto decides to “shnub” his food, he channels part of this Hollies song:

“...Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you.”

k.d. lang’s excellent version is here.

Serif Tote

seen in HOW


Perfect for type geeks—the serif tote bag from Little Company. Makes me smile.

Visit their site here.

Type and Music

via The FontShop FontFeed


Always a good read, Yves Peters writes about type treatments on the covers of recent releases in his My Type of Music posts.


Read the rest here.

Producing a book, the analog way

via boingboing
A nostalgic look at what a it took to produce a book in the era before digital typesetting and printing.

Variations on a Theme

The latest in a collection of variations of my name sent by companies and corporations.

They have no idea who I am since they do not get my name correct; all they know is that this is a “valid mailing address.” [Oh, the things that one learns working in a print and mailing facility.] What becomes even more interesting is when your misspelled name is sold to a list, and suddenly there are mailings from multiple companies that bought that particular list. It is almost viral, since lists are constantly complied, bought, and sold by companies trying to capture segments of a specific marketing demographic.

Business Cards: Page VII

For the most part, the designs of the cards on this page utilize the white space very well — lots of breathing room around the logos and type treatments.

Two nice ampersands found on the Fish & DiRocco [why a swan image?] and Patz & Hall cards.

I've always loved the T.C. Lynch card [top row, middle]; great use of a perfect green spot color on the leaves. The illustration reminds my of an old woodcut design.

Ghosting: Mechanical Ghosts

via printersting


“A printing ghost is an unwanted image resulting from the printing system itself. There are basically two kinds: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical ghosts are usually visible as soon as the press sheet lands in the delivery section of the press. There are three types of mechanical ghosts: starvation, blanket, and plate.”


Read the rest of the post here. Part Two on Chemical Ghosts can be found here.