Before the HOW staff heads out for a creative offsite this afternoon, here's a roundup of recent industry news:

• Veer Ideas is the stock photo/illustration/type company's new social networking site; designers can connect, post portfolios, create new artwork and more in what Veer calls "an online creative playground."

• If you're a large firm or in-house group with tons of fonts to manage and many, many workstations, know that Extensis is now shipping Universal Type Server, a font-management solution for Mac and PC. The system tracks metadata including licenses, permissions and keywords and allows users to create font sets and families.

• Duffy & Partners, Minneapolis, created a new identity system for HandsOn Network, the nation's largest community volunteer organization, which manages millions of volunteers and 50,000 community impact projects. In addition to the logo, Duffy developed visual collateral, T-shirts, buttons and a tradeshow booth.

• PhotoShelter announced two initiatives: Shoot! The Day pairs the company with Nikon and Apple for a one-day photography event where professionals shoot images of subjects that stock buyers recently identified as needing new material. And School of Stock is a website that offers pros and amateurs tips on shooting and selling their work.

• Shutterstock launched an online stock-footage collection of "royalty-free forever" video clips that's available on a per-image or subscription basis. The library includes work from 100,000+ photographers and videographers worldwide.

• Neenah Paper released three new swatchbooks: Esse "To Be" features textures and colors created by Italian designer and colorist Beatrice Santiccioli. Minneapolist firm Design Guys created the promo. For Oxford writing, text and cover papers, designer Holly Hunt developed four color palettes that reflect the line's luxurious appeal. For UV/Ultra II and Clearfold, Design Guys again developed a piece that demos Neenah's translucent paper lines and shows its on-press performance.

• Design/branding firm laga (formerly Lipson Alport Glass) and global agency Desgrippes Gobé, have joined together. The new firm, Brandimage—Desgrippes & Laga, provides branding, strategy, architecture and design services in various disciplines. The new venture creates one of the largest design firms worldwide, with $60 million annual billings and 300 employees globally.

Minneapolis-based Catalyst Studios, has received Target's "Best of the Bullseye" award for their work and partnership on the “Art for All” campaign. The award is based on excellence in strategic thinking and creative work. Also, one of the spots has been selected for inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent archives. You can view all the pieces of the campaign in the portfolio section of Catalyst's website.

Posted by Megan

On the heels of Megan's post about the letter-shaped icecube trays, I just had to borrow this link from core77 and share this awesome Uppercase Scarf from Little Factory.

I keep seeing these cool letter ice cube trays around the blogosphere but nothing about where they can actually be purchased. So I was happy today when I came across The Spoon Sisters, which sells all kinds of fun kitchen and home goods, including the letter and number ice trays. Besides saying it in ice, you can use the silicone trays for jello, butter and even baked goods.

Posted by Megan

Chad Garrison, a staff writer for the Riverfront Times in St. Louis, recently interviewed me about Bill Keaggy and his book Milk Eggs Vodka (published by HOW Books). Today, he sent me a link to the story which provides some insight into Keaggy's creative life.

Bill Keaggy's best-known project, Grocery Lists, began unwittingly one afternoon in 1997. He was shopping for Diane's birthday dinner at the Schnucks at Hampton and Arsenal when he reached down to pick up a yellow scrap of paper on the floor. The discovery was so inconsequential that today he can't remember the exact details of the list other than it was written on a Post-it note.

Still, that particular list piqued his curiosity enough to search for additional grocery lists with each return trip to the supermarket. "When you go to the store, everything you purchase is out there for public display. It all goes through the checkout line," comments Keaggy. "But a person's grocery list is somehow very private. At the same time it's the most ephemeral thing in the world. You write it and then you pitch it."

After two years of collecting, Keaggy placed a dozen or so lists online where they quickly took on a life of their own. Suddenly viewers from around the globe were sending him photos of lists they, too, found during shopping excursions. A grocery store clerk in Iowa mailed packages stuffed full of the lists she'd discovered on the job. The more lists Keaggy placed online, the more people flocked to his Web site.

Posted by Megan

Infectious produces stunning, removable car art with a host of well-known creatives like Dalek, John Burgerman and Zeptonn. My favorite is called Fluid and was created by British illustrator Si Scott.

British illustrator Si Scott is the master of gorgeous, swirly, insanely intricate typography. And, unbelievably enough, it’s all drawn by hand with fineliners. Si has taken his whorls and flourishes and moulded them into a series of striking sea creatures for his Infectious car art. He imagines them bubbling down the side of a car, like a moving aquarium.

Posted by Megan

I'm fond of little jewelry pieces, and I recently stumbled upon the chocolateandsteel shop on Etsy.com, with a few tiny typographical adornments. Hmm ... I do have a birthday coming up, so maybe a little self-gifting might be in order.


via design*sponge

What's better than a nicely illustrated ABC poster? One that celebrates modern design by pairing chair sillhouettes with letters. This lovely poster by Blue Art Studio can be purchased for $35. I'm seriously considering a purchase.



via Core 77

Posted by Megan

Do you aspire to own your own design firm? To lead an in-house creative team? To become the most fabulously valuable asset to your current employer?

Learn how to chart the course of your design career with popular HOW speaker and career expert Jeni Herberger, in a one-hour live webinar on Thursday, June 19. Find out more about the event here. And when you register for the HOW Professional Development Webinar you can score $20 off (discount price = $49) by entering this code: desjn19.

Scion Speak, a design engine that allows users to generate custom crests, is a perfect example of design 2.0, where instead of designing a specific thing, the designer creates a tool that lets consumers take control of the creative wheel.

Posted by Megan