Artful Lettering

via letterology
“Using Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black fountain pen ink and a Soennecken 70# writing pad, we see graphic designer/calligrapher Frank Ortmann skillfully render some fine-looking letters for the the cover artwork for the record Max Goldt, L'Eglise des Crocodiles in 2011. First we look over his shoulder to see him pencil in some slanted guidelines for the letterforms with the use of a simple handmade guide. After he carefully pencils in each letter of his layout, he selects an antique extra fine pen nib used for copperplate writing and inks in his letters while applying various degrees of pressure to create the thickness of each stroke. Lastly he scans the image and does the final edit in Photoshop to create the lovely work of lettering seen on the album cover…”
Read the rest and watch the video here. Be sure to drop in to iampeth where you can find endless examples of rare penmanship books to peruse. 

Dropp

via imprint
“Finally, a social application worth looking into: Dropp untethers you from the website-as social-destination concept. This little app does something neat: lets you leave messages in real-world places, wherever you go, for others to find. You can leave your messages for everyone, or for specific people, and when their iPhones, also running Dropp, come near, they’ll get an an alert. You can leave behind little messages, pictures, prizes for a surprise contest, treasure hunt clues, the possibilities are pretty cool to consider. The app is brand new, and as such still feels kinda 1.0, but I would expect updates and additional functions to happen rapidly. It’s free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from the App Store.”
Find out more here.

Arem Bartholl’s Google Map Installations

Map at ‘Gateways,’ KUMU, Tallinn, Estonia, May 2011

via designobserver
“…Bartholl’s Map installations involved setting up a large physical version of the pin in several locales, at the exact spot where Google Maps assumes to be the center of the city.”
Find out more about the installations here.

Paul Rand: A Designer’s Words

via Steven Heller’s imprint
“On April 3, 1998 the School of Visual Arts held a Paul Rand Symposium in New York City. To commemorate the event Nathan Garland, Georgette Ballance and [Steven Heller] edited a keepsake titled Paul Rand: A Designer’s Words, a collection of many Rand quotes from various sources. It was printed by Rand’s favorite printer, Mossberg & Co., typeset by his favorite typesetters, PDR (A Division of AGT), and produced with his favorite paper, Mohawk Superfine. Nathan Garland’s design was true to Rand’s typographic aesthetic. Only 500 copies of the keepsake were printed, given free to the symposium participants and sold through Emigre, among other limited venues (only a few rarities remain)...”
Now, Steven Heller has made it available to all via PDF. If you would like to download go here or here.