Sign In


Subscribe | Renew | Give a Gift | HOWdesign.com
 Thursday, April 17, 2008
Most Unusual

This morning, I'm offering an unofficial award for most unusual entry. The winner is Lincoln, NE-based the minnow PROJECT for their Heat Activated Urinal Billboards for Spilker Ales. The "billboards" are stickered inside urinals. At first, it looks like there's a big black square in the middle. But add a warm stream, and a fire hydrant is revealed.

Posted by Megan


Designers | HOW Magazine
4/17/2008 8:42:09 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [5] 
 Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Promotion Design Awards

Live from the HOW Promotion Design Awards judging. Here's one of the largest categories, Client Promotions.

Posted by Megan


HOW Magazine
4/16/2008 8:42:36 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Young Guns

Are you a designer who's under 30? You have until June 2 to enter the ADC Young Guns competition.

ADC Young Guns exists to identify the vanguard of creative professionals who let loose their imaginations, shattering conventions and breaking boundaries with a dash of brilliance and personal flair. Those of you who’ve set your minds to making a name for yourself, raising new standards from within cubicles, conference rooms, cramped apartments, and studios across the world—this is your chance to put those battle cries in action. If you’re under the age of thirty and have two years of the working life under your belt, we’d like you to show us what it’s all about.

Posted by Megan


Call for Entries
4/15/2008 3:08:06 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Designer Chocolate

We're about to be inundated with entries in HOW's Promotion Design Awards (judging starts tomorrow), so I've got clever promos on the brain. I was delighted by San Francisco-based Coco-luxe Confections, which makes gourmet truffles that can be customized with logo or text. The yummy candies would make a delicious, memorable client gift.

Posted by Megan


Gifts and Goodies
4/15/2008 11:26:25 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [1] 
 Monday, April 14, 2008
A Poster You Can't Refuse

L.A. Pop Art creates and sells posters with images formed by handwritten letters. The Godfather poster, for example, includes the entire script of the film in the image.
Los Angeles Pop Art creates pop art images using the ancient technique of “micrography,” an art form that dates back millennia to the Egyptians, Jews, and Muslims. Micrography is the art of writing texts in very small letters to form the illusion of an image. Entire texts, such as a movie script or book, are used to form posters and other artwork.


via NOTCOT

Posted by Megan


Typography
4/14/2008 2:26:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Snail Mail Fun

Celebrate the lost art of letter writing with hillarious letterpress printed cards from Zeichen Press. The blank cards feature vintage illustrations and fun typography.





via Swissmiss

Posted by Megan


Gifts and Goodies
4/14/2008 12:47:07 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Talking Politics At Work

Who are you voting for? It’s a question that’s become a regular part of workplace conversations from Alaska to Maine as people speculate about who will become our next president. But are such discussions are appropriate in the workplace?

While talking about politics on the job used to be regarded as poor form, employees today are more likely to chat about this once-taboo topic. In a survey by The Creative Group, 67% of respondents said discussing political campaigns and candidates is acceptable as long as the debate isn’t too heated.

Read more.

Posted by Megan


Thought Provoking
4/14/2008 8:54:26 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [2] 
 Friday, April 11, 2008
Save $50 on the HOW Conference

If you're considering attending the HOW Design Conference in Boston next month, here are two reasons why you'll want to jump on that today:

• If you register by midnight tonight, you can still score 50 bucks off the registration price.

• Space in the conference hotels and in goodies like the Studio Tours is filling up fast.

Linkage:

See who's attending

Get scoop on all things conference-related

Check out the fantastic speaker lineup (Charles Anderson, Debbie Millman, Michael Bierut, Julieanne Kost, Katherine McCoy, Joe Duffy, etc., etc., etc.)

Find out about sessions, tours, workshops and more

Posted by Bryn

Events | HOW Magazine
4/11/2008 12:00:11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Cool Job Listing

Perusing the HOW Job Bank, I just came across a listing for an apparel graphic designer at Target in Minneapolis. They're looking for expertise in CAD illustration, print, and pattern design.

Posted by Megan


Industry News
4/11/2008 11:08:38 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
How's Business?

FOH David Baker, business consultant extraordinaire, sent an e-mail newsletter today reporting that he's seeing just a teeny slowdown in the design field due to the sluggish economy right now, mostly due to any softness in clients' markets. David just relaunched the website for his firm, ReCourses, and is offering a webinar on May 5 with smart strategies for preparing your design business for a tightening economy. Sign up for the ReCourses newsletter, and you'll capitalize on David's good advice.

Posted by Bryn

Design Resources
4/11/2008 9:20:05 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Creative Career

Apropos of nothing, really: My arts & design newsfeed from NYTimes.com this morning had this headline: Marvin Sylvor, a Designer of Carousels, Dies at 75. I thought to myself, Wow! Wouldn't it be wonderful if your life's work were creating carousel animals? I'd be pretty psyched to go to work every day.



Posted by Bryn

Thought Provoking
4/11/2008 8:51:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Creative Agency Workspaces

Need a little inspiration or just want to drool? Take a look at the collection of creative agency workspaces on This Ain't No Disco, a blog dedicated to providing a peek into the best offices in the world. Here's a look into San Francisco-based Chen Design:

Posted by Megan


Creativity
4/11/2008 8:31:49 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Thursday, April 10, 2008
Attractive Face

The very attractive 4-weight text face Adriane is on sale for $111.30 from the TypeTrust. Designed between 2006 and 2007 by Marconi Lima, it can be classified as a transitional typeface and recently won an award at Tipos Latinos 2008.

Posted by Megan


Typography
4/10/2008 3:09:23 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
The Very Secret Order

Veer is known for its well-designed promotions, but the latest one (called The Very Secret Order of Creatives Understanding) is interactive and fun. If you haven't received a handbook in the mail, you can download one here. Inside are seven riddles to solve. The answers can be used as coupon codes on future purchases to nab free merch like cool T-shirts.

Posted by Megan


Just for Fun
4/10/2008 8:31:06 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Hot Shipoopi

Just because it's fun to type the word 'shipoopi' -- and because Mike and Robynne are FOH, here's a bit of Modern Dog info for the week: First, they're chatting with Debbie Millman on Design Matters this Friday. Then, they're doing a book release party/birthday celebration (Modern Dog is officially of drinking age now) in Seattle on April 23. Oh, and surely we've mentioned they're speaking at the HOW Conference in May, right?



Posted by Bryn

Events | Industry News
4/9/2008 10:37:05 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Yee-Haw

Famed letterpress shop Yee-Haw Industries recently opened a store on Etsy selling notecards and limited-edition posters. These Alpha Pattern card sets are my favorite and a great way to keep cool cards on hand for unexpected occasions.



via Poppytalk

Posted by Megan


Gifts and Goodies
4/9/2008 10:25:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Overheard On The Forum: New Starbucks Logo

Do you love it or hate it? Take the poll in the forum.


                    OLD                                       NEW
                                                 (It turns out this is the original logo.
                                                   The new one has longer hair that
                                                    covers her nipples. Plus, according
                                                    to the Wall Street Journal, the retro
                                                    logo is only being used as a promotion.)



Don't miss the Antiques Roadshow parody by the Vonster.

Posted by Megan


Just for Fun
4/9/2008 9:26:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
Creative Challenge + Free T-Shirt

SnapVillage, a microstock site from Corbis, just announced a design contest. Here’s how it works: create a cool (fake) ad using a SnapVillage image, email it to contactus@snapvillage.com and they’ll send you a free SnapVillage T-shirt (be sure to include mailing address and shirt size, S-XL).

Posted by Megan


Call for Entries
4/9/2008 8:28:04 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Custom Moleskine

What's better than a classic Moleskine notebook? A custom, laser-engraved one! Engrave Your Book offers an artists' series of notebooks for sale, as well as a custom-engraving service.


via Oh Joy!

Posted by Megan


Gifts and Goodies
4/8/2008 1:22:56 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [1] 
Design For Kids

If you design for the children's market, check out this call for entries from Spanish publisher Index Books. They're looking for logos and characters, corporate identity, packaging, labels, catalogs, brochures, posters, invitation cards, books, educational material, web and multimedia design, exhibitions, signage, etc. to include in a forethcoming book called Growing Graphics.

Posted by Megan


Call for Entries
4/8/2008 12:03:10 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0]