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 Friday, February 08, 2008
Want to Play for a Living?
In the market for a new 9-to-5? These toy-geared job openings were recently posted on the HOWdesign.com Job Bank, and appeal to the inner kid in us all:
Industry News
2/8/2008 2:32:10 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) 
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Thursday, February 07, 2008
OK, Ewww ...
Or, This Is Why We've Foresworn Plastic Grocery Bags: We heard about this on NPR the other day, and now Core77 has a post about it: Out in the Pacific, about 500 nautical miles off the California coast, exists a "plastic stew" -- a rubbish swamp larger than the continental U.S., full of plastic trash that's just swirling away in the ocean. Read the full story here. Something to consider next time a client asks you to design some kind of plastic thingy.
Thought Provoking
2/7/2008 12:55:35 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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For Your Desk
Design Within Reach is selling a set of 12 moleskine notebooks to capture your thoughts and sketches for an entire year. Each black notebook is embossed with the phrase "One Year of White Pages," along with a hole to indicate the month (one for January, two for February, etc.).  Posted by Megan
Gifts and Goodies
2/7/2008 11:35:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Dear Future Me On NOTCOT
I never get tired of finding mentions of HOW books in the blogosphere. Today, Dear Future Me popped up on NOTCOT.org, one of my fave design blogs. If you haven't read about the book yet, you can find an exerpt here. It's a collection of letters people have written to be sent to their future selves. The book is strange, sad, funny and enlightening all at the same time.  Posted by Megan
HOW Books
2/6/2008 3:57:30 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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News this Week
A few news items coming in this week: envelope inspiration, carbon offsets, a nod for a design leader and a new paper. • Need info on envelopes? Go here.• The paper mills are WAY into FSC certification, carbon offsets and eco-friendly power these days. Here's another example: ThePaperMillStore.com now offers carbon-neutral shipping. So whatever pollution is generated by shipping that box of paper you just ordered is offset by carbon credits. (We're wondering if we can offset the calories in the three handfuls of M&Ms we just ate.) • Mary Pisarkiewicz, founder and CCO of Pisarkiewicz Mazur & Co. in NYC, received a "True Original" Business Award from Staples. Pisarkiewicz volunteers her marketing expertise to the Greenwich Village Middle School through the nonprofit PENCIL, which supports partnerships between business leaders and school principals. In a nice gesture, she donated the $1,500 Staples gift card back to the school. • Sappi just launched Tempo, a new paper that dries in the pressroom in half the time. What seems like an obvious benefit to printers also pays off for designers needing a sheet for a quick-turnaround job. 
Posted by Bryn
Industry News
2/6/2008 10:48:29 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Overheard On The Forum
What's your favorite font right now? One forum members offered this list: thesis
gotham
trade gothic
filosofia
bembo
rockwell
clarendon
Posted by Megan
Typography
2/6/2008 9:08:04 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Welcome To The New HOWdesign.com
Be sure to poke around our revamped site and let us know what you think. The goal of the project was to make content much easier to find (and to update).  Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
2/5/2008 1:53:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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CD Love
Just in time for your romantic Valentine's mix CDs, 5inch is offering the 3 CDR Love Bundle for $7.50. The catchy designs are sure to capture someone's heart.  Posted by Megan
Gifts and Goodies
2/5/2008 10:44:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, February 04, 2008
Advertising's Big Night
Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking that most of the over-hyped ads during last night's game pretty much stunk. Dear God, can we please get past the caveman schtick? And what was with all the cringe-inducing racial stereotype jokes? Carmen Electra and Richard Simmons … really? Ad Age has a full run-down (including Bob Garfield's postgame crit). If you want to relive the misery, feel free to watch the spots again.
Industry News
2/4/2008 10:20:03 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Identity Crisis! Interview
The Creative Group recently interviewed Jeff Fisher about his new book Identity Crisis! You can learn more about what goes into an identity redesign here. TCG: "What do you think are some of the greatest
benefits of an identity redesign - whether it's a lesson learned or
tangible result - as it pertains to an individual's career?" JF: "The greatest immediate advantage of a
redesign is the opportunity to reintroduce oneself - or one's business
- to the marketplace. Revamping one's image provides a reason to reach
out to past clients, those who may have expressed interest in possible
projects, a current client list, targeted potential clientele, vendors,
the media and anyone else who may need to be kept up-to-date on your
business activities."
Posted by Megan
HOW Books
2/4/2008 10:17:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Pantone's Fall 2008 Fashion Color Report
Pantone just announced it's Color Report for Fall fashions. Best described as a season of change, fall ’08 is defined by rich,
elegant hues that offer a vibrant selection. New York's fashion
designers emphasize cooler blues, greens and purples in the top five
tones used in their collections, followed by variations of warm red,
orange and yellow.
 Posted by Megan
Design Resources
2/4/2008 9:03:58 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, February 01, 2008
Say It Ain't So
Industry News
2/1/2008 1:57:56 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Slow Design
Readers of this blog know of our fondness for handmade things and our (OK, my) interest in eating locally. Turns out, the two concepts are converging in what today's NYTimes calls Slow Design. The story cites designers of everything from Tshirts to housewares, who are sourcing manufacturing from local artisans and—in the case of the clock pictured here by Icelandic designer Thorunn Arnadottir—encouraging people to literally slow down. I'm loving both the metaphor and the design of this clock, a string
of beads draped over a sprocket; one bead falls every five minutes. (As the Times article notes, "Remove the
beads, and you get to stop time.") 
Thought Provoking
1/31/2008 9:05:36 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Arts And Crap
If you like your posters (and other design) on the punky side, check out Feral Designers and their online store Arts and Crap.    Posted by Megan
Designers
1/30/2008 1:45:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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The Business Of Monsters
Business Week's Next blog just posted a great shout out to Stefan Bucher's Daily Monster project and soon-to-be relased book 100 Days of Monsters. What I really love about this story is the
network and community that formed around the monsters. People felt
personally attached to these little creatures, and bothered to write a
backstory for them. Stefan's creativity spawned the same from others—imagination begat imagination. That's fantastic.
Posted by Megan
HOW Books
1/30/2008 9:54:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monogram Mugs
I got over my Jonathan Adler mug obsession from last week when I came across these monogrammed mugs at Anthropologie for only $6. I liked the bird on the P better than the flowers on the M, so I went with the that. The store has plenty of type-centric products to choose from, including another series of monogram mugs and large metal letters to put on a shelf or hang on the wall. I never get tired of looking at letters!   Posted by Megan
Gifts and Goodies | Typography
1/29/2008 11:19:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, January 28, 2008
Such A Pretty Face
Hoefler & Frere-Jones just announced a new geometric slab serif face called Archer. Sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is a colorful new slab serif designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm. Romans and italics in eight weights each, including a delicate hairline, plus small caps, tabular figures, and fractions, to tackle the most demanding applications.
 I like that this face is friendly and trustworthy at the same time. It's little suprise that it was first developed for Martha Stewart Living. Posted by Megan
Typography
1/28/2008 3:36:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Office Space
A little inspiration for a Monday morning: a peek into the corporate headquarters of Urban Outfitters from Metropolis Magazine. (Download the PDF for the full story with lots of juicy images.)  via FlyPosted by Megan
Just for Fun
1/28/2008 11:51:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, January 25, 2008
OurType
If you're looking for contemporary fonts with strong roots in classic typography, check out the Belgium-based OurType.  via notcot Posted by Megan
Typography
1/25/2008 11:37:42 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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SXSW 2008
I just booked my flight to Austin and registered for the South by Southwest Interactive Conference this March. I had an amazing time last year and this year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Confirmed sessions in the design track include: A General Theory of Creative Relativity (Jim Coudal)
Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Great Design Hurts (Michael Lopp)
Data as Art: Musical, Visual Web APIs (Peter Kirn)
Design Control in a Digital World: Getting It and Losing It (Khoi Vinh)
Design Eye 2008 (Keith Robinson)
Design is in the Details (Naz Hamid)
Designing for Freedom (Gina Bianchini)
Does Tomorrow's World Need Designers? (Tim Leberecht)
Everyone's A Design Critic (Jason Santa Maria)
From Frustration to Elation: Getting Emotional by Design (Dan Rubin)
Logos: Why They’re Irrelevant and Can Actually Hurt Your Business (Bryan Zmijewski)
Magic and Mental Models: Using Illusion to Simplify Designs (Jared M. Spool)
Make It So: Learning From SciFi Interfaces (Nathan Shedroff)
Meet The Architects (Molly Wright Steenson)
Social Design Strategies (Emily Chang)
Tools for Enchantment: 20 Ways to Woo Users (Kathy Sierra)
Wireframing in a Web 2.0 World (Richard Rutter)  Posted by Megan
Events
1/25/2008 10:28:27 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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