Monday, February 28, 2011
Image of the Day: Tavern on the Green Man
Earworm of the Day: You’re The Storm
I originally heard this song by The Cardigans on Pandora. I like the sound quality that they create, especially on the refrain.
. . . cause you’re the storm that I've been needing
and all this peace has been deceiving
I need some wind to get me sailing
so it's the storm that I believe in
you fill my heart, you keep me breathing
'cause you're the storm that I believe in
The rest of the lyrics can be found here. Not much into the video, but the music created.
. . . cause you’re the storm that I've been needing
and all this peace has been deceiving
I need some wind to get me sailing
so it's the storm that I believe in
you fill my heart, you keep me breathing
'cause you're the storm that I believe in
The rest of the lyrics can be found here. Not much into the video, but the music created.
Electric Sheep
via electricsheepElectric Sheep is a collaborative abstract artwork founded by Scott Draves. It’s run by thousands of people all over the world, and can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers ‘sleep,’ the Electric Sheep comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as ‘sheep.’ The result is a collective ‘android dream,’ an homage to Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Another post resurrected for my previous blog, I forgot about it until I saw it running on my son’s Mac. Explore, download, and create electric sheep for dreaming androids here.
Business Cards: Page XII
[Top Row] The first card in this row is a sample — the embossed paper with a page curl is a nice treatment. I really like the next two cards artwork -- big and bold. The color “pops” on the Janae Berry card, and I like how the leaves break out of the black box on Susan Alexander’s card, On both of these though, I feel the type below the art is just too close to the bottom edge of the card.
[Middle Row] First colum: I really like the muted colors of the periwinkle and tangerine inks on this sample card; but dislike the overall text placement.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wood Type: 8 line Rugged
via letterpress dailyThe abstract quality of the magenta dimples against the woodgrain is breathtaking. Find more great letters here.
Business Cards: Page XI
[Middle Row] Middle card: Though this card is a sample, it shares the name of a former employer of mine. This card is so 1980s in type and art treatment. And Graphics II in State College will need to be covered in a future post.
[Bottom Row] Third column: Another sample card, clean, crisp, but ultimately a generic design treatment.
Earworm: The Wayouts
Season 6, Episode 11 Summary:
For his costume for the Water Buffalos’ masquerade party, Fred Flintstone picks a spaceman's uniform. Unfortunately, he goes out on a night when a local radio station has launched a publicity stunt about an invasion by space aliens, a stunt that backfires and creates a panic in the city. This episode is a remake of The Honeymooners episode entitled 'The Man from Space' from Dec. 31, 1955.
Lyrics can be found here.
For his costume for the Water Buffalos’ masquerade party, Fred Flintstone picks a spaceman's uniform. Unfortunately, he goes out on a night when a local radio station has launched a publicity stunt about an invasion by space aliens, a stunt that backfires and creates a panic in the city. This episode is a remake of The Honeymooners episode entitled 'The Man from Space' from Dec. 31, 1955.
Lyrics can be found here.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Paul Octavious’ S6 Minutes: Indigo
via swissmiss
A beautiful experimental short by Paul Octavious
S6 Minutes: Indigo from Paul Octavious on Vimeo.
A beautiful experimental short by Paul Octavious
S6 Minutes: Indigo from Paul Octavious on Vimeo.
Earworm: O Fortuna
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| The original text of "O Fortuna", from the Carmina Burana |
O Fortuna is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the thirteenth century, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about fate, and Fortuna, a goddess in Roman mythology and personification of luck.
The misheard lyrics here make me smile. You can find out more about O Fortuna here, including the actual lyrics and translation.
Queen Victoria’s Ten Ingredients
Friday, February 25, 2011
Chromatic: The Crossroads Between Color and Music
via COLOURlovers.com“At nearly 400 pages of full-color artwork and editorial, Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music, is a dynamic print presentation of independent musicians and artists who are using or exploring color in unorthodox ways. . . ”
Read the rest here, visit the Alarm Press page here.
Image of the Day: Desktop Amersands
Typography Deconstructed Letterpress Poster
“The Typography Deconstructed letterpress poster is the result of several months of research both on the subjects of the Anatomy of Type and Type Glossary. Inspired by the craft of letterpress printing and a love for typography, Typography Deconstructed aims at providing a resource for educating those interested in what makes type… well, type. Each poster has a comprehensive list of typographical terms with each term being represented by the anatomy of the letter that best describes it visually.”
Read the rest here, and visit the Type Deconstructed site here to learn more about the anatomy of type and their type glossary.
The Daft Punk / Coke Connection
via creativity“Coke is taking its inspiration from French synthpop act Daft Punk with these new limited edition bottles designed to mimic the helmets worn by the duo. From next month, the gold and silver bottles will be released at clubs and will also be packaged in a collector's box as a set, made available exclusively through Colette in Paris. A website, at Daftcoke.com, will also go live.”
Business Cards: Page X
[Middle row] Michael Fedorko was fellow student from AIP; I really liked the serif lettering arrangement of the last name. Tie One On has a cute name, but I guess the printer wasn’t able to center Avis Johnson’s name on the card — things like that just drive me a little crazy.
[Bottom row] Penn’s Farms card— very nice utilization of two colors on a white stock.
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.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
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
[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 FPOA 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.
Homeland Security, c. 1942
“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.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Keep Fishing
“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.
Apple Memorabilia Loupe Mystery
via cultofmacRead 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.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Business Cards: Page VIII
[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.
“...Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you.”
k.d. lang’s excellent version is here.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Serif Tote
seen in HOWPerfect for type geeks—the serif tote bag from Little Company. Makes me smile.
Visit their site here.
Type and Music
via The FontShop FontFeedAlways 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.
A nostalgic look at what a it took to produce a book in the era before digital typesetting and printing.
Variations on a Theme
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.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
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.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Highland Hall Moon Tree
This afternoon we decided to get out of the house for a bit, and go see if we could find the Moon sycamore tree in Hollidaysburg. It was sunny outside, but very windy when we located Highland Hall.
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| Highland Hall, now shuttered with a large “For Lease” sign on the property. |
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| Our camera was set-up on what was the base of the “Pioneer Family” statue. |
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| The Moon sycamore, now 35 years old, looks to be healthy. |
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| Base of the “Pioneer Family” statue on the left and Moon sycamore on the right. We discovered a trashy little geocache tucked under one corner of the base as we were leaving. Driving out of town to our next stop on our trip, we discovered where the statue has been moved to outside the court house, just a few blocks away from Highland Hall. |
American Ballet Theatre swings into action for London students
via YouTube“The American Ballet Theatre and U.S. Embassy London invited students from across London to watch them rehearse for their UK performances. Afterwards some of the students got to participate in a question and answer session with members of the production.”
Watch it here. Screen capture of my son, Arron Scott, in Tico Tico from Paul Taylor’s Company B.
The Mystery of the Missing Moon Trees
via wired
“15 years after NASA astronomer David Williams started searching for them, hundreds of trees grown from space-faring seeds are still missing. The moon trees, whose seeds circled the moon 34 times in Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa’s pocket, were welcomed back to Earth with great fanfare in 1971. One was planted in Washington Square in Philadelphia as part of the 1975 bicentennial celebrations. Another took root at the White House. Several found homes at state capitals and space-related sites around the country. Then-president Gerald Ford called the trees ‘living symbol[s] of our spectacular human and scientific achievements.’ And then, mysteriously, everyone seemed to forget about them.”
Read the rest here, visit his site here. Fascinating; a moon tree is less than an hour away in Hollidaysburg, PA.What is the Financial Times and Why is it Pink?
via the financial timesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 23 cities around the world. Its primary rival is New York City-based The Wall Street Journal. Since 1893, the Financial Times has used its distinctive salmon-pink newsprint as a distinguishing trademark to set itself apart from other daily news publications.
Friday, February 18, 2011
James Taylor
via james taylorWatch footage from James Taylor’s December 2010, BBC Interview from the Barn as part of The Lennon Legacy. If you want to cut to his intimate solo performance of his favorite Lennon tune In My Life, you can skip to: 28:47. Watch it here. This song is one of my favorites as well. It was quite moving hearing this Beatle’s song played at a memorial service a few years ago for a fellow graphic designer who died quite suddenly. The acoustics in the spiritual center were perfect that day as I sat listening among friends and aquaintances gathered that day.
James Taylor: I Met Lennon's Assassin
Singer-songwriter James Taylor tells BBC’s Tom Brook that he was accosted by Mark David Chapman the day before John Lennon’s murder. Watch the interview here.
You can also see James Taylor’s performance of Let It Be honoring Sir Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center Honors. Among the many artists joining him for the evening’s finale were Mavis Staples and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Watch it here.
Full Moon
Midget & Giant
via swissmiss“Ryuji Nakamura created this miniature paper model house to sit ontop of his iMac, in front of the iSight webcam. It transforms a webcam view into something straight of out of Alice in Wonderland. How can this not make you smile?”
Making Handmade Books
via feltandwire
“For those of you interested in bookmaking, you might want to pick up Alisa Golden’s Making Handmade Books. This comprehensive guide has instructions for the novice and professional. The book features 100 different types of bindings/structures, including folded books, glued books, accordion books and a lot of variations on each book type.”Read the rest of the post here.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Black History Month: Interview with Roy Eaton
via creativity online
Geoff Edwards, co-founder of DOJO, interviews one of the first ever African American creatives Roy Eaton. Eaton wrote the campaign line for Texaco: “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star,” Advertising Age named that Texaco jingle from 1962 as the foundation for one of the twentieth century’s top 100 creative campaigns.
Read the rest here, and visit his web site here.
Daily Drop Cap: Black Treacle E
via dailydropcap
yecatching. . . .Alison Carmichael’s drop cap has the perfect amount of whimsey and playfulness—she works in a multitude of styles and mediums for her lettering, including ketchup and black treacle.
More daily drop caps can be found here.
yecatching. . . .Alison Carmichael’s drop cap has the perfect amount of whimsey and playfulness—she works in a multitude of styles and mediums for her lettering, including ketchup and black treacle.More daily drop caps can be found here.
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