On this lovely, sunny Monday morning, a few bits of design-industry news for you:

• Strathmore announced the Q2 winners of its quartly Letterhead Contest. Zync Communications picked up a gold for its Bretenic Limited identity (printing by Springfield Graphics); MasonBaronet captured a silver for its Goranson Bain system (printing by Millet the Printer); and Silver Lining Design scored the bronze award for its stationery for Trisha Leavitt (printing by ArtCraft Co.). All winners were produced on Strathmore Writing Wove. Strathmore is accepting entries for the third quarter through September 30.

• Workamajig announced the forthcoming upgrade to its project-management software for ad agencies and design studios; the late-August release will include improved support for Mac OSX Leopard and will allow users to create and manage project timelines by dragging and dropping tasks in graphical Gantt Charts.

• Quark has established a Virtual Knowledge Base to provide 24/7 self-service tech support to users of its page-layout software. The program includes two tools: an online knowledge base with FAQs and commonly encountered problems and a self-service portal, an online customer-service function.

• Wacom has opened the Pen Collective, where designers and artists can share their work and their love of the digital drawing tool.

• A new promo for Wausau Paper's Royal lines gives a fictional company a "wardrobe makeover" to show different design approaches to corporate identity. The "Redefining Identity" demonstrates how perception of a business changes based on the colors and textures of its collateral.

• Canon announced two additions to its Pixma line of all-in-one printers, which combine scanning, copying and photo-quality printing, and three new products in its Canoscan line of desktop color scanners.

Posted by Bryn
Industry News

Graphic Designer
Macy's Home Store

Macy’s Home Store, a division of Macy’s Inc., is currently seeking an experienced full-time Graphic/Package Designer to join our New York team.

We are looking for a versatile and proficient Designer who can play a significant role in the ongoing development of our Confections business. This position requires superior design and organizational skills to manage the creation and application of impactful graphics across our various brands.

Senior Manager, Creative
Disney Consumer Products

Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney Company that extends the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, home decor and books to interactive games, food and beverages, stationery, electronics and animation art.

Because we want moms to think Disney first for all of her baby products and services, Disney Infant will support moms emotional bond with baby through a wide choice of adorable character products, stories and experiences.

Posted by Megan

Blu Dot was was one of four design companies Herman Miller asked to create new products for their Lifework Portfolio.

Our focus was on storage, and when we began the project, we were struck by the lack of options that "feel" residential. Most filing solutions had a strong "office DNA." Our approach was to borrow a residential typology (in this case a blanket chest) and re-purpose it to accommodate the variety of things you would need to store in a typical home office. In addition to the storage options, an upholstered seat provides a place for an unexpected visitor to take a seat and the hard surface on top provides an additional spot for a peripheral like a printer or fax machine.

Posted by Megan

Stefan Bucher and his monsters took over the cover of L.A. Weekly in a celebration of creativity and monster-mania.

For the past year, Bucher has videotaped himself drawing monsters. The videos, 199 of them, are archived on his Web site, dailymonster.com. This new toucan-beaked critter, Monster 200, is the last of the “daily” monsters for a while. They’ll be going on hiatus while Bucher develops their cousins into an animated TV segment for 2009’s rebooted Electric Company on PBS. His work is also collected in the book 100 Days of Monsters.

Posted by Megan