From the newswire this week:

• Appleton Coated added a new matte finish and heavier cover weight to its Utopia Two:Extra Green line, which contains 30% postconsumer waste, is FSC certified and is produced with green power.

• A new, limited-edition CTI Paper promo titled "Pretty in Pearl" features the quirky Aunt Pearl oohing over Glama Natural translucents, ASPIRE Petallics, Bindakote, Currency and Splendorlux papers. The company also announced a new design competition for work on its papers (deadline is the end of the year) and released a new swatchbook for ASPIRE Petallics.



• Parsons The New School for Design recently dedicated the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, a nearly 33,000-square-foot facility that combines classrooms, public spaces and galleries.

• Wausau Paper released a new 36-page Sustainability Question & Answer Guide, with definitions and information about environmental issues surrounding paper use, printing and design.

• Neenah Digital papers now include larger sizes of CLASSIC Crest and CLASSIC Linen for HP, Kodak Nexpress and Xerox digital printers.

• Minneapolis design notable Tim Larsen was named an AIGA Fellow by the organization's local chapter, for his contributions in raising the standards of excellence in design. Larsen's eponymous firm is expanding its California operation with a move to a larger space and additional staff.

• Mohawk has revamped its linen-textured Beckett Cambric line with 15 new and current colors 3 duplex options, 5 papers made of 100% postconsumer waste and 12 shades that are 30% PCW; all are FSC certified. The company also relaunched its website with improved navigation and specification tools; Pentagram designed the site.

Illustrator Sherwin Schwartzrock (yeah, we love his name, too) sent art director Bridgid McCarren a little email promo today, with some cool icons he's done for SuperTarget. The project evolved to include 70-some of these little goodies.

A fascinating exhibit exploring color opens at MoMA this week. But don't worry if you can't make it to the show, the accompanying website captures the flavor of the show with a lovely, polychromatic interface designed by the MoMA team in cooperation with interactive firm Render Monkey.

Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today takes as its point of departure the commercial color chart, an item that openly attests to the status of paint as mass-produced and standardized. Midway through the twentieth century, long-held convictions regarding the spiritual aspects and scientific properties of color gave way to an acceptance and embrace of color as a commercial product. At the same time, many artists rejected traditional artistic pedagogy about the relationships between colors and instead adopted aesthetic approaches that relied on chance, readymade sources, or arbitrary systems. The first major exhibition devoted to this pivotal transformation, Color Chart will feature some 90 works of art—including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, digital art, videos, and films—by 44 artists, primarily ranging in date from the 1950s to the present.

Posted by Megan

Some of the can't-miss events that are taking place all over the country in the next couple weeks that you should know about:

March 11: Deadline for entering Communication Art’s annual photography and illustration competitions

March 11th, 13th, 18th: X-Rite’s “Color Control Freak” seminar will travel to Indianapolis, Houston, Nashville, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Miami 

March 13: AIGA Minnesota’s Design Show of Excellence highlights the region’s top works

March 14: Deadline to enter any projects integrating experimental typography for a new book coming out from publisher PageOne this fall, “TYPOMOFO”

March 21: Deadline to enter HOW’s Promotion Design Awards, where you can submit your best promotional efforts for a chance to win a trip to the 2009 HOW Design Conference.

There's no magic button to push to generate a new logo (despite what your clients may think), but Mohawk has developed a tongue-in-cheek widget guaranteed to create the most bland, weird or otherwise unsuitable logos out there. Just click on the edge of the yellow box to launch the Logo-Matic Machine. (And while you're there, be sure to check out Pentagram New York's new redesign of the Mohawk site.)

Posted by Megan

   
New York City-based artist couple Justin and Christine know exactly what they want so they paint the objects and sell them for what said items would retail for in the real world. They've just posted new March Wants like this one: "Drinks On Us" for $500.

Posted by Megan

From the graphics-industry trendwatchers at The Industry Measure comes another bit of news: The number of creative shops in the U.S. grew from 2006/2007 to 2007/2008. The group's "Design & Production Demographic Atlas" counted 52,513 total design and production establishments, a 0.9% increase (about 500 firms). That doesn't seem like whopping growth, but consider the rise in corporate design departments, the sluggish nature of the economy, and the trend toward consumer-generated/viral marketing efforts, and the data is notable.

Coroflot just released the results of its 2007 Design Salary Survey. You can dig through the data to see where you stack up or peruse a selection of helpfult charts like this one that shows a nice increase in salaries for web/interactive designers.

Posted by Megan

Veer, a producer and provider of visual elements and design-related products is now accepting applications for its internship program from design students across North America. Veer offers paid summer employment with its award-winning, in-house creative team. The successful applicant will spend the summer at Veer headquarters in Calgary, Canada. It is a two-month internship. Veer provides airfare and accommodation. The student intern is responsible for food and entertainment.Applications will be accepted until April 30, 2008. For more information and instructions, please visit www.veer.com/ideas/students/internships.

Posted by Megan

Debbie Millman will be interviewing Stefan Bucher today at noon on Design Matters. He'll be talking about his new book 100 Days of Monsters, among other things. Besides getting a mention in Wired earlier this week, the book was just reviewed in Communication Arts and got a nod from Very Short List. You can check out Stefan's creatures at DailyMonster.com.

Posted by Megan

To celebrate today, TypeTrust is offering 29% off of any fonts designed by Neil Summerour and Silas Dilworth, including gems like Donatora and Vandermark.

Posted by Megan

Henry Sene Yee, whose day job is designing gorgeous book covers, has a photoblog that captures the essence of being in New York City.

Posted by Megan

All you in-house designers who work in cubicles will love the book I just received as a belated birthday gift: Overheard in the Office, Conversations from Water Coolers, Conference Rooms and Cubicles.

Overheard in a HOW Books meeting today: "A journal is just like a book with nothing printed in it."

Posted by Megan

Amazing designer and friend of HOW Stefan Bucher just sent over the trailer for a new movie called "The Fall." Stefan created the titles for the trailer, including the exquisite "Fall" logo, based on previous work he did for a book promoting the film. "The Fall" is directed by Tarsem Singh, the man behind 2000's gorgeous "The Cell," but he's probably most famous for his work on R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video. After watching the trailer, I can't wait to see this movie, which is supposed to open in the U.S. this spring.

Posted by Megan

If you like Shepard Fairy's Obama Hope Poster that's been buzzing around the blogosphere, now you can get the design on a t-shirt from Upper Playground for $25.

Posted by Megan

Design*Sponge today points to a line of cute office supplies from Galison that features the designs of William Morris. What's really cool is that the Clover pattern supplies recently won a merit award in the HOW In-HOWse Design Awards. The pattern was reproduced from a wallpaper sample in the Brooklyn Museum of Art and can be found on file folders, journals, notepads and  more.

Posted by Megan

The judges for HOW's latest International Design Awards were mighty impressed with a collection of gig posters from north of the border. We've just posted an article about this Best of Show-winning project, as a sneak preview from our International Design Annual, on newsstands now.