10 Colors That Faded Away

Appealing to my fascination with color — this graphic is from Listomania: A World of Fascinating Facts in Graphic Detail .

Font Me Typography Mug

via the mehallo blog
I think my favorite part of this mug is the listing of terms for various point sizes, such as 3 pt Minkie, 5 pt. Pearl, and 6 pt. Nonpareil.
See three views of the mug here.

Mapersand!

My daughter-in-law knows my love of ampersands and sent me the link to this recently:
“From one design capital to another: This month the Amsterdam-based interior design magazine Eigen Huis & Interieur published a special ‘New York Design Guide’ issue that highlights landmarks of the New York City design scene. Pentagram’s Luke Hayman and his team recently redesigned EH&I and established the masthead’s ampersand as an icon of the brand. Each month a different designer is invited to interpret the ampersand for the opening of the ‘Interieur’ section, and for the New York issue, Hayman created an ampersand inspired by Massimo Vignelli’s classic 1972 map of the New York City subway system. In the new version, the lines of the ampersand playfully connect contemporary and historic New York designers, agencies and institutions, from Milton Glaser, George Lois, Ruth Ansel and the Museum of Modern Art to Karlssonwilker, Local Projects, Dror and Pentagram (of course).”
Learn more about it here, and download a PDF of the map here. Thanks, Amy!

Alison Bechdel’s Night Inking

via alison bechdel’s blog
Watch Alison Bechdel inking panels for her memoir, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, that she’s been working on for the past five years.



The creative process is one of my areas of interest, and watching this intimate look behind the scenes is inspiring. I look forward to her book being published in Spring.

Image of the Day: Peaceful Rest

Located on West 74th Street near Columbus

One of the many highlights of visiting my daughter-in-law and son in NYC is spotting old architectural details. As we make our way to a thrift shop or restaurant on foot, I am often simply amazed at the diversity of artistry that went into making buildings individual and unique in sometimes subtle and even humorous manners. Time and the elements have taken their toll on many, but a few, like this one, continue on gracefully. 

A big thank you to trueindigo for snapping this image through a gate for me.

Dan Piraro, Creative Processes, and Constraints

Meeting Dan Piraro at MoCCA.

One of the many highlights during the two hour talk given by Dan Piraro at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) was his reflection and discussion on the creative process with Mort Gerberg. I found it affirming to the way I approach creating publications during my workday.

In Wired, I had recently come across an article about creative constraints and their role in the process. In my job, I define it as parameters, which usually are the deadline, the budget, the method of reproducing the publication, prior design branding, color, etc. These constraints,, though limiting in nature, allow for the best that I can give creatively and try to push to get the most out of what I have to work with. Sometimes, it takes just slogging through the design and knowing that the groove will [hopefully] come with going through the process of formatting the text, working with the images, etc.; other times it takes putting the entire project aside for a few hours, or even a day and let it percolate unconsciously in my mind before I begin working on it. No tried and true formula, but the process is one that works for me. It was good hearing the personal insights of Dan Piraro.

After the talk, he generously took time to chat a bit with members of the audience and sign copies of his most recent book, Bizarro Heros. An unexpected bonus was this ampersand (here).

So, even though it was a miserable cold rain-filled evening outside, his honesty, humor, and candor had us forget that for a couple of hours, and hopefully we were a welcome distraction for him as well.

Wood Type of the Month: Caslon

Read this month’s wood-type column to learn what typeface is used for “United States of America” on the fuselage of Air Force One.

A version of Caslon [Caslon 224] is used for the WordMark identifying the division of Penn State where I work. A quick search turned this bit of trivia up:


“Caslon 224 was designed by Ed Benguiat of ITC, and released in 1983. The result of his efforts is a highly readable typeface, featuring a large x-height, smooth weight transitions, and careful structuring of hairline strokes, offered in four weights (book, medium, bold, and black) each with a matching italic.
In lectures, Benguiat has frequently said he chose the number 224 because it was the address of the building where he did most of his work...”
More about Caslon can be found here.

Images of the Day: Slip & Shudder

I’ve seen this local sign’s message pop-up over the years, and finally took the time to snap a photo of it. What most likely started out as a problem getting the 8" plastic letters to stay in their narrow track, has been cleverly turned to their advertising advantage. A simple, low-tech, but effective medium to promote their business.

The other side of the sign driving out of town.

The Cryin’ Lion

Since the story about the Sandusky sex scandal broke last Friday, a lot of Penn State employees — myself included — have found it difficult to sleep at night, wondering what new headline will greet us in the morning with ramifications reverberating throughout the entire campus community. Happy Valley is teaming with rabid reporters waiting for the perfect sound bite as paparazzi snap yet another unflattering image. All that and more, while we try to focus on our jobs, daily tasks, and deadlines. I suppose the best we can do is Keep Calm and Carry On — routine can be a calming, grounding force. That, along with a good pair of earbuds to help keep out the gossip, rumors, and conjecture, is about the best one can do. It is hard to believe it is only Tuesday evening . . .

“May Mount Nittany ever rise above us as the Guardian before the gates of Old Penn State. May the strong maiden Princess Nit-A-Nee ever stand in our midst as breaker and shield against the destructive power of the winds of fate.”


The Cryin’ Lion images first was used here.

Today’s Fortune: 10/26

Funny how little things like fortunes, horoscopes, and other
ephemera can ring the truth that we need to take in.

Today’s fortune from Yogi Tea [Chai Black].

Image of the Day: Poison Ivy

Ghost Sign: Idwall Parry Printing

I wasn’t entirely sure of the name of the printer on this ghost sign, so I Googled “Idwall Parry + Scranton” and had it confirmed by this blog post by Frank H. Jump.

A couple of other images I captured can be found here and here. Frank H. Jump’s Fading Ad blog can be found here. More of his Scranton images here, and this interesting post on Scranton’s Capitol Pressing Plant.

Image of the Day: Paradise Wall

Sitting on a paper moon

via retronaut
More images here.  Listen to a recorded version of “It’s Only A Paper Moon” sung by Abbie Gardner and see more images here.

Photoseed.com

via art of the photogravure
“PhotoSeed is a labor of love by David Spencer, a passionate and leading collector of vintage fine-art photography. The site, comprised of his personal collection, was populated in his free time and includes his detailed backgrounds for many of the works. Defined by the depth of the collection and content, it’s a tool for new users and the curious, as well as scholarly researchers.”
Explore Photoseed here.

Music Typewriter

via Ministry of Type
“I’ve never seen one of these before, and I’ve never even heard of such a thing. A typewriter for music! I must admit it does seem like an obvious idea, but I’d had in mind the scene of a composer in some drafty garret, gripped by an urgent muse, scratching out notes on parchment with a tattered quill by feeble candlelight. Or is that just poets?…”
More on it here.

Image of the Day: Moss and Lichen

Best Flyer Ever

Wood Type of the Month: McCullagh

via International Printing Museum
“Read this month’s wood-type column here to learn how a wood-type column comes together and learn all about Gustav F. Schroeder’s McCullagh typeface...”

Image of the Day: Moss

Words of Wisdom by Seymour Chwast

via imprint
An inspirational message for today, #10.
Read more inspirational messages from Seymour Chwast.

The Rapture: Part II Oct 21st

Dan Piraro writes on his blog about Harold Camping and the end of the world today, October, 21st. More on the Rapture prediction here on NPR. And finally, a music video by R.E.M. performing It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

Bizarro: Comedy in the Computer Age

via Bizarro Blog!
More great Apple related comics by Dan Piraro can be found here.

Throwable panoramic ball camera

via designboom
“Containing 36 image sensor modules, the descriptively named prototype camera takes a single wide angle aerial panorama image when launched into the air...”
Read more here and here.

Jack Layton's Words by Stuart Thursby

via How About Orange
“Early on the morning of Monday, August 22, 2011, Jack Layton – the charismatic leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party – succumbed to his battle with cancer. Here are some of his words. They’re sized to be printable at 11x17.”
Download them here.

Image of the Day: The Three Pools

At Fisherman’s Paradise

10 line Gothic Condensed Octagon Shade

via letterpress daily
This just makes me smile.

Type-O-Matic

via letterology
“Tired of that same old forgettable e-mail message in Arial? Nostalgic for old technology and real postage stamps? Want to make a unique impression with your correspondence? Now you can with the new Type-O-Matic monospaced typewriter service. Just feed your text and mailing information into the official Type-O-Matic order form, and your lovingly hand-typed letter will arrive in your recipient's mailbox within days. For just £9.50 (approximately $15 US) your letter will be typewritten (up to 200 words) on white watermarked heavyweight writing paper with matching envelope and can be mailed anywhere (with appropriate Air Mail postage if necessary) to your recipient...”
Read the rest here, visit the Typo-O-Matic site here.

Lytro Light Field Camera

via cult of mac
“This is the Lytro, a bizarre and radical new concept in digital photography that lets you snap an image now, and worry about focusing it later. Pre-orders just opened today, and you can grab one for as little as $399. But before you click the order button, make sure you have a Mac – because Lytro doesn’t work with Windows computers yet.

How does the Lytro work? The official description sounds like something from the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy: The light field fully defines how a scene appears. It is the amount of light traveling in every direction through every point in space. Conventional cameras cannot record the light field…”

Read the rest here, and more on the Lytro here, here, and here.

Take a line for a walk

via communication arts
“Cengage Learning promotes exercise for the creative muscles with Take a line for a walk. Authored by Robin Landa and designed by Seattle’s Modern Dog Design Co., the journal is comprised of mostly blank pages coupled with varied prompts that cue people to respond to whatever creative action—sketch, design, conceive, write—is called for. The author collaborated with designers, artists, architects, and experts in a variety of disciplines to vary the exercises in order to address numerous ways of thinking and creating and to entice all types of students, visual arts (and non-art majors) to think creatively.”
Details can be found here.

Image of the Day: Circular Pool

At Fisherman’s Paradise

Jae Rhim Lee: The Infinity Burial Project

via TED Talks
“Here's a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally—using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms…”
Watch her talk here.  

The Infinity Burial Project can be found here, and the blog here.

Image of the Day: Rusted Gate

Psychologists Chase Down Sleep Demons

The Nightmare by John Henry Fuseli

via Penn State Daily Newswire
“What do Moby Dick, the Salem witch trials and alien abductions all have in common? They all circle back to sleep paralysis. Less than 8 percent of the general population experiences sleep paralysis, but it is more frequent in two groups -- students and psychiatric patients -- according to a new study by psychologists at Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania. Sleep paralysis is defined as "a discrete period of time during which voluntary muscle movement is inhibited, yet ocular and respiratory movements are intact," the researchers state in the current issue of Sleep Medicine Reviews. Hallucinations may also be present in these transitions to or from sleep...”
Read the full story on Live.

Image of the Day: Autumnal Pool

Image of the Day: Do Not Block

I found it humorous that this sign was blocked by another gate.

Wait. What Was the Question? A Series of Questions for Christopher Simmons

via neenahpaperblog
“The time I take to answer this question I'll never get back . . . Everything we do — create, love, mourn, worry, work, play, and so on — draws from a pool of nanoseconds into which no tributary flows. We can give away our time however we choose — just remember that you're not going to get any of it back.”
— Christopher Simmons


For the next 12 weeks Stefan G. Bucher  chooses questions
from his new book, 344 Questions: The Creative Person's Do-It-Yourself-Guide to Insight, Survival, and Artistic Fulfillment and asks some seriously smart and capable men and women for their answers.

Read the interview here, find 344 Questions here.

John Hilgart: 4 Color Process

Word Processor

via how
“John Hilgart is obsessed with vintage comic books and has several interesting image collections including 4CP, which features close-ups of vintage printing, Comic Book Cartography, a collection of maps and diagrams, and Super Type!, which features comic book mastheads with amazing typography…”
Visit 4CP here.

Irony & Sarcasm Marks, Part 3

via shady characters
“Ironics notwithstanding, the irony mark lay dormant for much of the latter part of the 20th century. As had been the case with many other previously obscure marks of punctuation, however, the click-to-publish ease of the web well and truly rescusitated its fortunes: more new irony marks appeared in the decade from 2001 to 2010 than in any period before. Ironically enough, the first digital irony mark was not intended to punctuate irony in a general sense but instead its laser-guided offspring, sarcasm…”
Read the rest here.

Julian Bialowas: Visual Thinking

via how
“Looking for some visual and mental inspiration? Check out 365Q from Canadian photographer and designer Julian Bialowas, who paired an inspirational quote with one of her images every day for a year...”

Ganesh: A Holy Holiday Leaves a Mess

via npr
“Ganesh is a Hindu festival that takes place at the end of each summer, particularly in Mumbai. Traditionally, clay statues of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of beginnings and remover of obstacles, are placed in homes and worshiped for the duration of the 10-day festival. At the end, the statues are immersed in water (such as a river) and left to float away. The festival has modest origins. First organized in the 1890s, the idea was to invoke Hindu symbolism to foster a sense of nationalism in India's struggle for independence from Britain…”
Read the rest, and see more images, here.

Image of the Day: The Greek

Spotted in State College, PA

Bookbinding Cigarette Trade Cards

via letterology
From a set of British cigarette trade cards (circa 1922-1939) on mending old books from the George Arents collection at the New York Public Library.
See others in the series here.

Touchscreen Braille Writer Lets the Blind Type on a Tablet

via wired
“One group of people has traditionally been left out of our modern tablet revolution: the visually impaired. Our slick, button-less touchscreens are essentially useless to those who rely on touch to navigate around a computer interface, unless voice-control features are built in to the device and its OS. But a Stanford team of three has helped change that. Tasked to create a character-recognition program that would turn pages of Braille into readable text on an Android tablet, student Adam Duran, with the help of two mentor-professors, ended up creating something even more useful than his original assignment: a touchscreen-based Braille writer…”
Read the rest here.

Image of the Day: No Dumping

Taken near Baltimore’s Riverside Park