The Gashlycrumb Tinies

I just found my all-time favourite story by Edward Gorey - The Gashlycrumb Tinies - online!

Postman's Park

Anne from I like recently visited Postman's Park in London - a strange and beautiful place.

The park was the idea of the painter George Frederick Watts who wanted to celebrate the heroism of people who may otherwise have been forgotten. A wall in the park has 47 hand-painted tiles paying tribute to everyday people who sacrificed their lives helping others.

See Anne's Flickr set here. And read more about it here and here.

Strange. Haunting. Beautiful.

Brand Name Pencil Collection

Who knew there were so many different brands of pencils in the world? Bob Truby does and he collects them. With so many different type styles and letterforms packed into such a small area, they are definitely worth a look!

via H&FJ.

We're #1!

Have you ever wondered about the history of the "#1" Foam Hand? No? Well, read about it anyway!

via Coudal.

Inspirational Design Posters

Good friend and fellow type nerd, Frank Chimero, has put his inspirational design posters up for sale! This is good for people who have bare walls or (like me) an addiction to good posters. Collect them all!

Signs of Switzerland Series

I am back from my summer living in Geneva, Switzerland and I wanted to share with you my Signs of Switzerland Series. Take a look if you would like!

Cooking Up Characters From Old Grocery Lists

NPR has a great interview with Los Angeles based performance artist Hillary Carlip. She has dedicated her life to searching for and interpreting discarded grocery lists, then turning them into characters - which she then dresses up as and photographs herself with the items on the list.

Make sure to listen to the story and see the image slide show. Great stuff!

George Eastman House Collection

The George Eastman House is the oldest photography museum in the world, housed in the former home of Mr. George Eastman, the so-called father of modern photography and founder of Eastman Kodak company.

They have started to add their amazing collection of images on Flickr! So far they have amazing daguerreotype portraits and autochromes. I love Flickr!

The Manicule

Good friends, Lucas and Hayley (of Keep Calm fame) have opened a new online store called The Manicule. They are selling tea towels, coffee mugs, and other such lovely things. Check it out and enjoy their phrases in your home soon!

Vanarchiv Digital Type Foundry

Ricardo Santos of Vanarchiv based in Loures, Portugal makes some really amazing typefaces - especially Atlantica and Lisboa.

You can read an interview with Ricardo here.

Abstract Satellite Images of Earth

Wow. The 30 Most Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth.

Little Skyscraper on the Prairie

Who knew that Frank Lloyd Wright had his tallest building, The Price Tower, built in Bartlesville, Oklahoma? I certainly did not. Make sure to check out the narrated slide show as well.

Two New Swiss Prints For Sale!

As some of you may know, I have spent this summer living in Geneva, Switzerland and printing as an artist-in-residence at L’Association pour le Patrimoine Industriel (API - The Association of Industrial Heritage). My time is now over (we leave Geneva tomorrow for a week of travel and then back to the States) but I am happy to report that the two prints that I created during my time are now available for purchase!


The first print, "Typographie Mon Amour" is a two-color print using some of the great wooden type and borders at API. Printed on crisp white paper, the dark grey and red inks really pop out nicely.


The second print, "Dynamisme" is another two-color print utilizing every wooden typeface in API's collection. Dynamisme is French for dynamism - which means "the quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress." It is the second-biggest print I have ever made and the overprinting turned out quite well, if I can say so myself!

You can see more images of these prints on my Flickr.

Both of these prints are very limited and will never be printed again, so get them while they are hot!

IBM Slide Show

Square America has posted the images from an IBM slide presentation that they have entitled: It's 1975 And This Man Is About To Show You The Future.

Also, doesn't that guy look like Ira Glass?

Drawing Blind

In 1947, Life Magazine asked some famous comic strip artists to to draw their famous characters while wearing a blindfold. The results are quite interesting!

Alvin Lustig Book Jackets

Can you ever look at too many Alvin Lustig book covers? The answer is no.

The Family Tree of the Mortarboard

Ever wonder why you wear a mortarboard hat when you graduate from University? Yale University Magazine has a great family tree of all things hat.

Andy Warhol Rejection Letter

Need more proof that committees get nothing done right? The Museum of Modern Art sent this letter to Andy Warhol in 1956 rejecting his gift of one of his early drawings. I am guessing they have regretted this decision for at least 40 years...

(click the photo to make it big enough to read)

Global Rich List

How rich are you? You may be surprised...

A Forest Inside of the Sydney Opera House

French artist Pierre Huyghe unveiled his large-scale masterpiece for the Biennale of Sydney - an indoor rain forest - open to the public for only 24 hours.

I Want to be a Coal Miner

Being an avid collector of mid-century childrens books, I instantly fell in love with "I Want to be a Coal Miner."

This Isn't England

Ben Terrett, a Graphic Designer in London, has spent the last two years taking pictures of maps of Britain. Not accurate maps, but drawings and illustrations of maps. Here are the results.

The New Keep Calm Gallery

Lucas and Hayley have launched a completely new website for Keep Calm Gallery - and it is all bright and shiny! Along with a new print of mine (well, a old print that I am finally selling) they have some great new prints and a super-slick way to checkout - yea!

Tim Fishlock

Tim Fishlock seems to be a very clever guy. He is a very talented designer and creator of many different things. The above alphabet is one great example.


Another example is called Dapper - a visual/audio game that allows you to create your own music using different simple visual blocks and objects. It is great fun and I suggest you taking the time to traverse through his whole website (personally, I am not a fan of Flash websites) to find it under "Moving Images."

Via iLT.

Vintage Cookbooks

As a collector of them, I get overly excited about this amazing Flickr set of vintage cookbooks.

There's a &%*^$#@ Word For That!

H&FJ has a post explaining the universally recognized symbols used in place of cursing - it is called grawlix and then term was coined by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker around 1964.

Alex Ostrowski

Alex Ostrowski has moved beyond the difficulty of his last name to create some really great work. His work focuses on happiness - which makes me so happy. I know that sounds a bit silly, but I get so tired of overly-serious, overly-self-conscience design. Nice!

Thanks to Frank for showing me his work!

Penguin Great Ideas Volume III Covers

I know this has been all over the internet, but Penguin's set of "Great Ideas Volume III" books are now out with some really fantastic covers. The above is my favourite by far but this one is really good as well.

I'm Shoot Gunner!

I'm not fully sure what is going on here, but I believe it involves 8-bit video games and mis-translations...

Save Polaroid!

"On February 8, 2008, Polaroid Corporation announced that it will discontinue production of all instant film. This site will document the aftermath of this announcement and will serve as a home-base for the effort to convince another company to begin producing the cherished technology that Polaroid has so carelessly abandoned."

Save Polaroid!

Typographers and Their Handwriting

Have you ever wondered what the handwriting of some leading typographers looks like? No? Well, someone did and here are the results.

Human Mirror

Improv Everwhere (of Frozen Grand Central Station fame) created a human mirror in a NYC subway car using identical twins. Great stuff!

Lack of Typographic Imagination

Need a typeface for Hotel Broadway? How about using Broadway? Here is a great Flickr pool dedicated to the Lack of Typographic Imagination.

Advertising Images

Flickr member Lemarde has some great sets of advertising images and posters.

The History of DIN 1451

Germany's official typeface of all road signage is DIN 1451. Ralf Hermann goes into great detail about the history and usage of the face on his great blog.

Ralf has also written really good articles about the traffic signage of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

Vernacular Typography Polaroids

I have been documenting hand-painted signs and vernacular typography for the past six years using my Polaroid camera. I realized this week that I had never uploaded them to Flickr. Now I have.

Shaving Blades

Here is a nice small set of old shaving blades and boxes on Flickr.

Charley Harper

The fantastic modernist illustrator and artist, Charles Harper, is one of my most favorite artists of the era. Beautiful work. Fantastic abstraction. Wonderful colors. I love it all!

If you have a coffee table looking for a friend, you should purchase this amazing/giant book edited by Todd Oldham.

The Boys and the Subway

Brilliant illustrated story by Christoph Niemann about how much his sons love the NYC Subway System.

via D.O.

Restaurant Florent

Restaurant Florent in New York City is now closed. This follows probably the best designer/client relationship ever between Tibor Kalman of M&Co and Florent Morellet.

Kalman made quirky advertisements for Restaurant Florent and Morellet fed the designers of M&Co four days a week from 1985 to 1993. Not a bad setup if you ask me!

via P+P