Sam's Organic Propaganda

Adrian at Be A Design Group has been riled up by the "unapologetic war poster style" of this ad for Sam's Club Organics sale. Perhaps this is an indicator of my maturity level, but I (along with some commenters) automatically thought superhero rather than war... An interesting comment session about the morality and decontextualization of design follows the post.

Swiss Design on Flickr

There is a nice set called Swiss Design History on Flickr—the usual mid-century examples are represented, but there are also some great posters from early on in the 20th century. [via Subtraction]

Headcase Design

Fun for Friday: explore the site of Headcase Design. Chances are you have stroked their work in a bookstore, or have some of their stuff already (I'm currently researching them for an article, and was surprised to discover that they're responsible for most of the fun items in my library). They specialize in irreverent info graphics and are the design/illustration team behind the popular utilitarian-chic Owner's Manuals (Baby, Dog, Cat, etc.).

Amy Ross at Jen Bekman

There are some interesting chimera ideas happening in the work of Boston-based Amy Ross, who is "interested in the idea of artist as mad scientist". Anima Mundi, an exhibition of her new paintings, opens tonight at the Jen Bekman gallery and runs through June 7th. [via Design*Sponge]

Must-read Design/Tech SItes

For "the latest developments in design, development and web-related areas", Smashing Magazine recommends these 42 sites (which they insist on calling "online magazines"). The list is solid, covering many sites regularly featured here, including A List Apart, Design Melt Down, Design Observer, PingMag, Speak Up and Wired. [via Doane Paper]

Fore + Back Photo Contest

Coudal Partners, always ones to keep things interesting, are holding a Fore + Back photo contest, in which they want you to "take a picture in which something in the foreground is related to something in the background. Simple enough." Deadline for entry is Thursday, May 3rd.

Graffiti Project at Kelburn Castle

In May, Brazilian street artists will descend upon Kelburn Castle in rural Scotland to plaster the entire south side of the castle in graffiti art. The artists will live and work together for about a month, working towards a giant collaborative end result. The use of graffiti in this specific non-urban context creates "a new challenge to the public's understanding of street art that goes beyond the usual 'high vs. low' debates." [via Cool Hunting]

Redesigned NYC Subway Map

A recent article in the NYTimes has renewed interest in and buzz about Eddie Jabbour's redesign of the NYC subway map, a project he began years ago and that first made waves online in 2004. So the question is, why is this subject hot every time it surfaces? Most designers love a good info graphic. Most New Yorkers ride the subway. Most New York designers have an opinion about Vignelli's subway map. Venn diagram that info, and in the middle lands discussion of Jabbour's passion. 37signals has a nicely informative post about the Jabbour map and the related abstraction vs. geographical accuracy issues involving the London Tube map.

UPDATE: A link to background info surrounding the ongoing subway map controversy (NYTimes archives, possibly subscriber only, sorry), which is worth a look for this 1930s subway map alone. [via kottke]

Richard Sweeney, David Huffman

British sculptor Richard Sweeney does some pretty amazing things with paper. In addition to his abbreviated portfolio site, be sure to view his Flickr set. On Flickr, Sweeney mentions the influence of the late computer science pioneer David Huffman, famous for the Huffman code (used in nearly every application that involves the compression and transmission of digital data) but also for applying math to origami and exploring curved folds. There is a great article on Huffman and computational origami in the archives of the New York Times (subscribers only, alas). [Sweeney link via infitit.m from Ma.gnolia]

Political Sites & Branding Politicians

Design Melt Down features political websites, commenting on the standard red, white and blue color scheme (having worked in political direct mail, I know what a stubborn default this is). Branding in this area is always worth examining, since—perhaps more obviously so than in other games—choices are deliberate to the extreme (with the high-level candidates, at least). For example, Hillary Clinton is using just her first name. Barack Obama has a real logo, not just the standard stars-and-bars graphic. McCain (before he changed his site—one assumes he caved) was flying in the face of all tradition by using a black and white color scheme and a sans-serif for his name (though sans-serif is not always weaker: remember the comparison of Bush and Kerry's logos in 2004?). You may scoff at political design as a market that shamelessly brandishes messaging stereotypes, but at least it's an area where the serious players are actually paying close attention to the graphic message that they're sending (even if it is communicated via the same color palette 99% of the time). And hey, I'm sure somewhere there are young Tracy Flicks devouring this info as they strategize about which typeface will ultimately assist them in their rise to power...

London in Type

As an info graphic, it's a little problematic, but as a wall of tiny, unapologetically jam-packed type... well, it's pretty cool: NB: Studio's London's Kerning poster. [via kottke]

A List Apart Web Design Survey

A List Apart is hoping to "increase knowledge of web design and boost respect for the profession" with their first annual Web Design Survey. Whether you're a full time code monkey or a print designer who dabbles, please participate if you work on the web in any way. Apparently there has been very little info gathered about web designers and the statistics of the industry—this survey is a step towards changing all that. Thanks ALA!

UPDATE 10/16: The results are in!

Awesome Incorporated, Terry Gilliam

I can't help but think that if Terry Gilliam was a hip twentysomething again, he'd be cranking out stuff somewhat resembling the work of Drew Tyndell's Awesome Incorporated—watch the demo reel (hint, it's in the header). Meanwhile, Wikipedia has a short list of animation that has been directly influenced by Gilliam's style.

Be honest about Helvetica

Veer wants to know why you love or hate Helvetica. Here's your chance to gush, rant, howl, vent, etc.

Gives a new meaning to Popup video...

The first two thirds of the music video for Shitdisco's single OK are imaginative fun and a great new twist on an established format (popups, animated indie videos). I was actually disappointed when the real band showed up towards the end... [via Coudal Partners]

Web 2.0 Logo Generator

Fun for Friday: generate logo text (or other copy of your choosing) in the glossy, reflective style of the modern web. Alternate verb: flickring? [via Quipsologies]

Popup Moleskines

Jim Woodring turns his Moleskine sketchbooks into popup books. A great idea with tons of potential. [via Coudal Partners]

Tony Sarg's Up & Down New York

Though puppeteer Tony Sarg is perhaps best known for bringing huge inflatable balloons to the Macy's Parade, he was also an illustrator. His volume Up & Down New York, originally published in 1926, has just been reissued. The book presents bird's eye views of NYC landmarks, packed with tiny people and lively crowds (think Richard Scarry or Where's Waldo?)—for a better idea of the action-packed pages, take a closer look at large image (not specifically from the book, but the only big Sarg photo I could find online). The reissued book (available at Amazon) features an introduction by interior designer Jonathan Adler, who will be presenting the book tonight at Three Lives in the Village.

Sergey Tyukanov

BibliOdyssey features the strange and wonderful literate fantastical folky work of Russian artist Sergey Tyukanov. The Tyukanov pages at Atlas Galleries are also well worth a look.

Strangest Movie Posters of All Time

Cracked.com attempts to deliver the 30 Strangest Movie Posters of All Time. Sure, many are strange, but overall they seem to be indicting posters simply for being created in the 70s. Warning: many feature either Burt Reynolds, Barbra Streisand or Chuck Norris. [via Alex Jones, who says that "Some are strange, many are just good examples of poor layout."]

Design Remixed: Giampietro & Smith

Tonight at the Apple store in Soho, Rob Giampietro and Kevin Smith of the design studio Giampietro+Smith are giving the first in the Pro Sessions: Design Remixed series of talks developed by Apple and the AIGA. Subtraction's Khoi Vinh raves: "This is a young studio with a big future; they’re doing some of the most intelligent work in the field today and they’re barely getting started. If you want to see what the early part of a long career looks like, this is your chance." Admission is free, but you'll have to fight the masses for seating, so get there early! Visit the AIGA event page or the Giampietro+Smith site.

Branding Kate Moss

An article in Creative Review examines the branding of Kate Moss for her upcoming clothing line at Topshop. Involved in the identity: designer Peter Saville, typographer Paul Barnes, and variations on Alexey Brodovitch. [via Cool Hunting]

Michel Gagné: Frenzied Fauna

The weird and wonderful menagerie presented by illustrator Michel Gagné in his sixth book, Frenzied Fauna: From A to Z, is all available to view online. (The book itself is sold out, alas.) [via Drawn!]

Miranda July: No one belongs here more than you

The internet is all a-buzz for Miranda July's promotional website No one belongs here more than you, and for good reason. It's simple, effective communication presented in a charming way by a skilled storyteller deftly whipping up an online narrative. Of all the blurbs about the site, I like Kottke's.

Trollbäck + Company

If you've seen the Helvetica movie, you'll remember the wonderful animation done by Trollbäck + Company. "One of the brightest moments in the film is when famed posters of Josef Muller-Brockman and Armin Hoffman are shown on screen by being 'designed' out of thin air, circles and ballerinas fading in elegantly, completing the blank canvas of the poster," wrote Speak Up's Armin Vit, describing Trollbäck's contribution. You can now see these moments online: watch the clip.

50 Designers respond to Nussbaum

50 designers respond [pdf] to Bruce Nussbaum's Are Designers The Enemy of Design? article (previously featured here). [via DO]

Time Magazine Style & Design 100

Time magazine lists their picks for the 100 standouts in current design, exploring interiors, green design, packaging, fashion, the web, and more. Some baffling selections, but overall quite an interesting range of people, products and places. [via Quipsologies]

Free clip art from Dover

Clip art powerhouse Dover publications sends out emails with free clip art every Wednesday. And not just the cheesy clip art—there are hidden gems like the William Morris print, above. [via How about orange...]

Freelance Switch

Freelance Switch is a new community and resource site for freelancers from all creative fields. Looks promising... [via swissmiss]

Design & Taxes

Ahhh, tax time. In case you need some last-minute guidance, here's a good HOW article about tax preparation for designers and creatives.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

As a fan of French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Amélie), I am always impressed with his attention to color. On the commentary track for his most recent film, 2004's A Very Long Engagement, he talks about the extensive color grading he applied to different scenes—how he overlaid tones of mauve and warm green over the golden sepia of the heroine's world, how he struggled to nail just the right shade of grey-green for the trenches of the Somme. Amélie was treated similarly, but had a much more precise palette, and Jeunet's manipulation of color in that film involved navigating the constant balance of blue, green and red (if you watch, you'll see that no frame is entirely one color—there is always a balancing touch of another palette tone).

From a design perspective, A Very Long Engagement is exciting for not only its expanded spectrum of colors but also for its CGI, which is often applied in subtle, seamless ways. Sure, it's a war movie, so there are several obligatory FX explosions, but Jeunet also applies digital effects to landscapes, interiors, even the eyes of one actor during a death scene. It all blends together beautifully, and nothing is glaring or too obvious, which is how I think CGi is best utilized. Jeunet creates imaginative visual environments that breathe with their own unique vitality. I highly recommended revisiting his films with your design eyes on.

Additionally, if you're interested in color and film, watch anything by Almodóvar.

Si Scott

More fun for Friday: the neverending swirls of illustrator Si Scott. Check out The Secret of Drawing and his alphabet. [thanks Alex!]

Miwa Koizumi: PET project

Fun for Friday: sculptor Miwa Koizumi creates undersea creatures from discarded plastic containers made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate). [via Veer]

Nadine Jarvis: Carbon Copies

You could live on in the sketchbooks of others. Carbon Copies, or pencils made from the carbon of human cremated ash, were created by product designer Nadine Jarvis, who is doing an ongoing research project into post mortem. "240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash—a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind." Jarvis' project looks to "challenge our archaic post mortem traditions and to offer proposals for alternate treatment for our deceased", and portions of the project work have been showcased by the London Design Museum. [via Drawn!]

Everything's coming up Helvetica

A week ago, the Helvetica movie had a smash New York premiere. Michael Bierut, who stole the show, talks about the film. Meanwhile, over at Speak Up, Armin Vit has some mixed feelings. Personally, I loved it—and, bonus, we all got a cool Veer Helvetica notebook with admission.

Just can't get enough Helvetica? Kottke recently held a Helvetica haiku contest. And the MoMA launches a Helvetica exhibition to celebrate the typeface's 50th anniversary and acquisition to the museum (hear that, it's modern art!).

Design Can Change

A new project by smashLAB, the Design Can Change site is "a response to the fact that sustainability resources for graphic designers are limited, especially in comparison to resources available for related fields such as product design and architecture." [via Coudal Partners]

Design in 2025

By the year 2025, "will design be perceived as a highly specialized craft requiring the skill of a professional graphic designer or a commodity that can be created by the masses?" Let HOW magazine know your opinion via their online survey.

The Word It Book

The crew over at Speak Up presents the Word It Book. Featuring the best of the monthly Word It online contests, the book is being billed as "a gallery of interpreted words".

Strange Maps

The Strange Maps blog is exactly that—post after post of odd and unusual maps. True to map junkie form, I disappeared into this site for quite a while. What fun! Pictured above: slices from Hollow Earth: Fact or Fiction?, The Whole World in a Cloverleaf, Map of Tatooine, and A Cartogram of the World’s Population. [via swissmiss]

Mentos: Make Art Pop!

Mentos has a cool ad campaign celebrating the launch of their new gum. Designed by the Cossette agency in Montreal, the ads create pixel graphics out of the pop-out gum packaging. Artists were hired to create murals from actual packaging, like the one shown above. View some of the new ads over at AdGoodness, or go straight to the Make Art Pop! site to make your own gum pop art.

Tadacopy: ads in unexpected places

Springwise showcases Tadacopy, a Japanese company that is selling ad space on the backs of photocopies (or rather, photocopies-to-be). Students who use the blank sides of the ads to make photocopies are not charged for the copying. The paper is slightly thicker than everyday paper so that the ads don't shine through, and advertisers are able to reach their target audience in yet another way.

Designing for the Reptilian Brain

37signals features a fascinating article about why people make consumer decisions, and how to market/design products that will speak to a primal core reptilian brain. "Everything you do should reinforce the code; not just the packaging or the communication should be on code. The leaflet, the brochures, everything should be on code..."

SVA Podcast Series

SVA has a new podcast series, featuring lectures by big guns like Milton Glaser and Steven Heller. The podcasts aim to cover a broad set of visual languages, with topics ranging from book jackets to furniture trends. The series has been launched as a public resource by the MFA Design Department and is available for free.

Grand Central Mural Umbrella

The astrological mural on the ceiling of Grand Central Station's Main Concourse is now available on an umbrella (à la Tibor Kalman's Sky Umbrella). Trivia: artist Paul Helleu purposefully painted the constellations backwards after being inspired by a medieval manuscript that "showed the heavens as they would have been seen from outside the celestial sphere."

Mod or Fraud?

Modesty Panel's Mod or Fraud test displays a range of items ranging in manufacture date from 1948 to 2003. Can you identify which are retro pieces and which are new creations? It's harder than you might think. [via How about orange...]

Schooling yourself on the new web

Originally created so that librarians could educate themselves about new online media, the Learning 2.0 program contains 23 small exercises that you can do online "to explore and expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0." The program and all web tools are free, and if you don't know about the majority of these online services... well, you should. Weed out a few of the library-specific items, and this is a great basic crash course in what's happening online for those who don't hang out on the internet. [via an excellent article in Wired]

Inkjet Shrinky Sheets

80s nostalgia aside (say Smurfs Shrinky Dinks five times fast), these inkjet shrinky sheets from ReadyMade abound with possibilities—logo keychains, mini-versions of art prints, typographic toys... you could even make a cool limited run of unique business cards. [via fototiller]

The Art of Printmaking

The New York Times spotlights the efforts of Pace Print's Jacob Lewis, who is on a mission to prove that "limited-edition printmaking is not, as many collectors believe, making posters, but is an important form involving ancient and newfangled techniques to create original works that sell for reasonable prices." A new downtown location for Pace Prints will launch this fall with a show by Ryan McGinness, shown above with Lewis.

Design Rules

This Fast Company article from 1999 is still a really interesting read: "[We] asked 15 top designers—creators of buildings, furniture, products, Web sites, costumes, and labels—to deconstruct something that exemplifies great design to them. More important, we asked them to tell us what we can learn about the art of design.” A nice variety of designers and responses—everything from the speed bump to a surprising object by the inevitable Eameses. [via 37signals]
Pictured: Christo's "Running Fence", selected by costume designer Arianne Philips (Walk The Line)

A different way to grid

When designing on a grid, Subtraction's Khoi Vinh sidesteps the snap-to annoyance of Photoshop guides by creating a semi-transparent grid layer of color blocks. "This allows me to toggle the grid on and off, and also to swap variants on the grid—different combinations of units and columns—at will. Much, much easier..." He's talking about web design, but surely this idea potentially applies to other grid-based efforts.

Briar Press: Online Letterpress Community

Briar Press, described as "a community of letterpress printers, book artist, and printing enthusiasts", is online with a revamped site full of resources, info and free downloads. [Thanks Leslie!]

Threadless: Tools of the Trade

Another design-relevant t-shirt over at Threadless—this week they printed Ole Ivar Rudi's Tools of the Trade. Congrats OlliRudi, my old Threadless buddy!