The Look Book by Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio just won a Society of Illustrators award. It will be published in the 50th award annual and will be exhibited in the Sequential exhibit in the Society gallery in New York in the spring.

Posted by Megan

I love movies, so I saw several during my Christmas vacation. My favorite, by far, was Juno. It was sweet and heartwarming, but not icky or overdone. And one of the coolest things about it was the opening titles designed by Shadowplay Studio.

Posted by Megan

Our conference and new media colleagues worked overtime this holiday season to launch the website for this year's HOW Design Conference, May 18–21 in Boston.

It's got all the info you need to plot your course for the conference, including a complete lineup of sessions, workshops, speakers, extra events and more. About half the speakers are new to the conference (including John Bielenberg, Kevin Farnham, Von Glitschka, David Schimmel and Maggie Macnab), and you'll also find a few old faves like Sam Harrison, Perula Vrontikis, the Modern Dog kids and Jeff Fisher.

Whatever you're jonesin' for, we've got you covered: creative inspiration (don't miss Bill Strickland), business guidance (David Baker's the man), pricing strategies (hit the workshop with Peleg Top and Ilise Benun), advice for in-house designers (Michael Lejeune of L.A. Metro, which scored big in HOW's first annual In-HOWse Design Awards will be there).

Go. Choose. Register. Count the days.

See you in Boston!

FreelanceSwitch, a blog dedicated to helping freelancers improve their businesses, has an in-depth interview with Jeff Fisher, author of the HOW book Identity Crisis!.

Designers are constantly facing the challenges of recreating, revamping or re-energizing existing business or organization identities. The process can be much more intense than creating a new business image from scratch. When taking on such a redesign effort, I always suggest that designers consider the historical aspects of the existing logo; give thought to the emotional attachment of owners, employees and the customer base; and determine if existing design elements are appropriate to include in the new identity as part of a seemingly natural design evolution. The first thing I usually say to a designer about such projects is “Never tell your client their logo sucks.” If you make that statement you can be assured that the logo was created by the client, their spouse, their child, or the kid next door—and your potential business relationship with that client is already damaged.

Posted by Megan

The terrific Debbie Millman announced her lineup for the fifth season of her internet radio show "Design Matters." Among the episodes we'll be sure to download from iTunes:

Chip Kidd on January 18—we appreciate his sly sense of humor (not to mention his prodigious talents)

Vaughan Oliver on February 8—the man's a legend!

Stefan Bucher on February 29—in advance of his forthcoming HOW Book "100 Days of Monsters"

Robynne Raye on April 11—stay tuned for a killer Q&A with Robynne and her Modern Dog partner Michael Strassburger in the May/June issue

Michael Hodgson on April 18—Debbie promises an "all-music" show with this designer-slash-DJ
 

This year, The College of Saint Rose, in Albany, NY decided to do something different with its annual holiday greeting. The College's in-house creative team created its holiday greeting to be used as
wrapping paper, subtly imprinted with the three words that make up the College's tagline—passion, knowledge, purpose. A wrapper around the folded paper asks the recipient to "Wrap up your holidays with purpose" and to wrap a hat, mittens or gloves for a child or adult in need and donate them to a local shelter or to send them to the College which then would donate the items to an appropriate shelter.

Posted by Megan

San Antonio-based artist/illustrator Jason Limón creates original images with acrylic on canvas for publication and exhibition. A former graphic designer, Limón often incorporates hand-rendered text in his work. Original paintings can be purchased starting at $225.

Posted by Megan

“So long, farewell...” With less than 10 days left in the year, the HOW staff will be spending the rest of 2007 celebrating with family and friends. But come January 2, we’ll be back at the blog, catching you up on any industry news you might have missed. Till then, happy holidays!

Today's New York Times Thursday Styles section has an article about which of the year's interior design trends have passed from Hot to Not. Among the "outs": deer motifs (sorry, Carmen) and cowhide rugs (ewww).

When I first read this release from P22, I was a bit confused. But then I tried it. So cool!

P22 announces the P22 Music Text Composition Generator, a free online music utility that allows any text to be converted into a musical composition. This composition is displayed in musical notation and simultaneously generates a midi music file that is played back on your computer. The P22 MTCG was programmed by designer Colin Kahn from an idea conceived by P22 creative director Richard Kegler.

Posted by Megan

Here at HOW HQ, we're interested in the whole handmade, do-it-yourself thing: not just in design, though it's a huge trend here, but also more generally in pop culture. Several of the HOW gang are avid makers-of-stuff (baked goods, costumes, home decor, holiday gifts, whatever).

New York Times writer Rob Walker (whose "Consumed" column we follow regularly, and you should, too) had a lengthy piece in Sunday's magazine about the whole handmade movement. Interesting stuff. You can read it online via the Times website or, if you're not a registered Times user, you can get to it—plus a bunch of additional links and reference material—though Walker's "murketing" blog.

Walker interviews Etsy co-founder Robert Kalin, whose ideas on the handmade movement seem akin to the Slow Food philosophy: understanding where and from whom the stuff you buy (and eat) comes from. (Like, not from some sweatshop in China.) Walker writes:

If the marketplace today has become alienating and disconnected, then buying something handmade, from another individual, rolls back the clock to an era before factory labor and mass production.

If you love Amy Butler's fabric patterns (like me) but aren't into sewing (like me), she recently launched a new line of paper products through K&Company. Plus she's posted directions for some great paper projects on her site.







via Fly

Posted by Megan

Stop and Start Over, a website devoted to helping recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, began as a Thesis project by Lara McCormick for the School of Visual Arts 'Designer as Author' MFA Design program in 2007. Now that McCormick has won a Sappi Ideas That Matter grant, she'll be expanding her project by working with the non-profit NCADD (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency) to create a campaign based on the current graphics and content of the project. A series of brochures and posters will be produced, then distributed through NCADD’s network of affiliates.

Posted by Megan

Learn to seperate the myths from the realities of digital printing in a free webinar on Monday, December 17 at  2 p.m. (Reservation is required.)

Posted by Megan

This print by illustrator/artist Matte Stephens has a wonderful combination of colors. (It's for sale on Etsy for $35.)

Posted by Megan