I cannot wait for this show to air on PBS this fall.

Designer Stephen Gose loves the ampersand. He loves it so much that he started a blog devoted to it.


via Yummy Fresh grain feed

Posted by Megan

Heroic Condensed is a highly engineered font designed by Silas Dilworth that comes in 8 versitile weights.

Posted by Megan

In advance of spending much of next week at the HOW Conference, we're clearing out our inboxes (so as to minimize the e-mail crush when we get back). Here's some new news:

• ThePaperMillStore.com has added WorldWin cardstock and crafting papers, including 10 colors in the Ruche finish (below).

• Newly released Roxio Toast 9, the Mac disc-burning and media-management software, has upgraded features for designers who need to create Blu-ray DVD versions of their portfolios, catalog archived DVDs/CDs and share images.

• RUBI REY Rum has launched a digital-art program called the86collective, which aims to work with local arts organizations to spotlight new digital works. Denver's Lab at Belmar contemporary art space will host the collective from June 18 to July 20; later collective exhibits will hit Chicago and Miami later this summer.

• SMART Papers announced a $30 million energy-production facility for its Ohio-based mill that will use 100% biomass fuel (including yard waste and leftovers from the papermaking process). By late 2009, the company says, all its products will be produced without fossil fuels.

• Domtar introduced a new swatchbook to support its newly FSC-certified Lynx Opaque gradeline.

Logoblink has amassed a collection of logos from every U.S. presidential campaign since 1960. It's a fascinating collection: Howard Dean's logo from 2004 has an overly loud and kind of scrawly character that sort of recalls his manic campaign speeches. Phil Gramm's from 1996 is so bland you'll see why you don't even remember his campaign at all. The 1970s ones are all full of stripey "Spirit of 76"-style typography (and the candidates were comfortable veering from the red/white/blue color palette then, too). And back in the 60s, it was apparently fashionable to put a black-and-white duotone headshot on your campaign signs.

Designers have already come together to fight spec work and now a new group is working to educate the creative community about work for hire clauses in contracts. Learn about how work for hire hurts creatives and join the pledge to fight.

Posted by Megan

Really. Ask Michael Bierut whatever you want. Whatever. Boxers or briefs, how he takes his coffee, what his favorite typefaces is ...

The terrific Debbie Millman, who's interviewing Michael live on stage during one of Tuesday morning's general sessions at the HOW Design Conference, says she and Michael are looking for audience questions in advance, and "the more inventive, the better."

So if you're dying to pose a burning question to one of design's favorite minds, e-mail it to designmatters at sterlingbrands dot com.

Typography by Tina Roth Eisenberg of swissmiss

Just as every person has a unique personality, so does every business. This is why hiring managers consider how well your personality matches the firm’s corporate culture, in addition to your skills and talents, when deciding whether to extend a job offer.

However, assessing your fit in a company before you’re hired is an inexact science; it’s a prediction similar to recommendations you might get from Amazon that say, “Since you enjoyed 'Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog,' we thought you’d also enjoy 'Help Me, Mr. Mutt!: Expert Answers for Dogs with People.'” You won’t know if you like the new book until you read it, and you won’t fully acclimate to a new corporate culture—or the characteristics, nuances and unwritten rules of an organization—until you’re there.

In fact, in a recent survey by The Creative Group, four out of 10 executives polled said acclimating to a firm’s corporate culture poses the greatest challenge for advertising and marketing professionals starting a job. While most managers understand you need time to adapt, they’ll also take note of how you go about doing so. Following is advice on how to assimilate as quickly as possible.

Read more.

Posted by Megan

Just download the PDF from the Hermes site and cut, fold and glue your own iconic Kelly bag. There's even a white version so you can add your own graphics. This would make the perfect container for a gift card or other small present.

via How About Orange

Posted by Megan

If you squint, you can read the title of this album designed by Trevor Jackson.

via Neatorama

Posted by Megan

Penguin Books is re-releasing the entire collection of James Bond novels with new retro covers created by illustrator Michael Gillette.





via Kitsune Noir

Posted by Megan

Over on the HOW Forum, longtime member Fantômas has created a unique badge that'll help the forum gang identify each other in Boston. Cool.

If you've got a little time to kill today, check out FontStruct from Fontshop. You can use the online tool to build your own modular fonts. Browse the gallery for lots of inspiration.


via Poppytalk

Posted by Megan

Calgary, designed by Alejandro Paul, was inspired by the brush script on a "Welcome to Calgary" sign.

Posted by Megan

Having spent a recent week poring through the entries in HOW's Promotion Design Awards, we once again observed that the sales pitches in a lot of design firms' promos sound stunningly alike. Too, Brent Hodgins, a speaker at last fall's MYOB Conference, opened his session with, as it turned out, a mock new-business pitch that had the audience squirming with uncomfortable familiarity.

And now Steven Heller has posted an article on AIGA.com lamenting the sameness of the lingo with which firms talk about themselves. Here's a snippet:

... take virtually any promotional brochure for a design firm, scratch the surface, and you will find variations of the following platitudes:

• Design is a tool for achieving specific results. Being responsive, we begin each project by learning exactly what results our client expects. This then becomes our communications goal.
• Establishing an appropriate, positive emphasis is the key. This, in conjunction with good graphic design, is our special skill.
• Our work exhibits a great diversity of styles and imagery. In an era of design specialists, we invariably believe that as varied as the messages are, so should the means of conveying them.

These statements by three very different design firms are not inherently disingenuous, but when viewed as representative of most promo copy they are formulaic. Should all selling copy sound alike? Imagine what the prospective client who gets pitched by many designers must think after reading the same phrases and sentiments over and over.

Read the rest of Steve's article, then turn a critical eye on your sales pitch.

Buncha news this week—mostly from, you guessed it, the paper market. Here goes:

• Wausau Paper reinvented its Royal line of premium writing, text and cover stocks, with new colors (including Basil and Winter Wheat). The brand includes Royal Cotton, Royal Laid and Royal SilkPlus, which has been rebranded as an environmental choice. Larsen worked with Wausau on the products and materials.

• Neenah has updated its economical SUNDANCE writing/text/cover collection with new colors and finishes (all 10 colors are available in all 3 finishes). Farmhouse Design created the Southwestern-themed new promo.

• The Strathmore Letterhead Competition is taking entries through June 30 for the second-quarter contest; the first 25 entrants will receive a $150 iTunes gift card. The top quarterly prize is $500, and an annual Grand Prize of $1,000 will be awarded in January 2009. See Strathmore.com for details.

And in other news ...

• Design Management Institute brings its annual branding/design conference to Cincinnati, June 11–13. Conference co-chairs are Jerry Kathman of Cincinnati's LPK and Amy Brusselback, global design director of P&G. Speakers include smart folks from P&G, Marriott Hotels, Method, the Wharton School of Business and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

• Printing/publishing consultant Chuck Weger discusses large-scale font-management solutions in his whitepaper titled "Maintaining Control and Compliance in a Font-Intensive Workflow: The Case for Enterprise Font Management." It's available from Extensis.