Minneapolis-based Design Guys has an unexpected new indentity inspired by a paint-by-numbers picture of birds. The look carries through to their letterhead, which has a series of laser-cuts of a bird taking flight. The whole point is that their work is not typical—not what you'd expect. And who'd expect birds from a firm that used to have a retro-garage look?

I hadn't visited type designer Eduardo Recife's site in a couple of years, so I was thankful for the reminder from How About Orange. There are a bunch of great free fonts along with examples of each font in use.

As we've been wrapping up our August issue, which is all about the future of design, I've naturally had the FUTURE on my mind. So I was drawn to a story in today's Fast Company newsletter called "The Future is a Mixed Bag," all about the upsides and downsides of what's to come. It's certainly worth a read, plus the author looks like a young Bill Murray!

Josh Jeffryes just posted a lovely little essay on The Business of Design Online about becoming an employee after running your own business. Of course, it's a culture shock, but Jeffryes finds comfort in the power of the creative team.

So, I was just eating my lunch and re-watching a bit of Heroes from last night and this ad caught my eye. Kevin Carroll, author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, former catalyst for Nike and a favorite speaker of past HOW Design Conferences, now has another skill to add to his resume—spokesperson for BlackBerry. He's part of their Ask Someone Why They love Their Blackberry campaign and he's in good company with the likes of Nina Garcia and Adam Lowry.

There's a fun discussion on the HOW Forum about cool paper products. It's chock full of links including one to the new Martha Stewart Crafts store. Yum!

via Not Cot

The Dot Grid Book was developed as an alternative to traditional lines and boxes. The light geometric dot matrix serves as a subtle guide for your notations and sketches. ($14)