The Ideal (Kid’s) Bookshelf

Ideal Bookshelf

Lovely Jane Mount asked me if I’d like to put together my and Ella’s favorite kid’s books for one of her Ideal Bookshelf Drawings. How could I say no to that? The print just went up for sale on 20×200. Check it out.

Jane’s statement from the 20×200 site:

For a while, I’ve been documenting people’s bookshelves as a form of portraiture; you can actually learn a lot about folks by their books’ covers. Now, I’m working on a series of “ideal” bookshelves: sets of favorites—mine or someone else’s—amalgamated in a picture, even if they don’t usually live on shelves anywhere near each other.

This set is Tina Roth Eisenberg’s favorite kid’s books. Tina is more often known as swissmiss, due to the popularity of her excellent blog and design studio. Tina documents all things well-designed and clever, and many things that “made her smile”, including lots of children’s products, since she is the mother of one and expecting another. As a longtime fan of her blog, I know she loves kid’s books as much as I do, so I asked her to pull her favorites from the shelves of her daughter Ella Joy.

The Books from left to right:

Papa Moll
You Can’t Go To School Naked!
Barbapapa
Dr. Seuss’s ABC (I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Books)
Puzzlehead
A Fish Out of Water
Max und Moritz
Johnny Boo Book 1: The Best Little Ghost In The World
Flight of the Dodo
The Incredible Book-Eating Boy
Auf dem Lande.
The Big Book for Little Hands
365 Penguins
Giant Play and Learn Book (Activity)
This Is New York (This is . . .)
The Graphic Alphabet
The Way Back Home
Zen Shorts
Chowder
Follow the Line
Pippi Longstocking
Mr. Pine’s Purple House
Yummy Yucky
The Going-To-Bed Book
Good Night, Gorilla

Stretching, Rewiring & Growing Geometrically

When I saw Jason Randal’s presentation (below) at last year’s fantastic The99%Conference, he definitely got my heartrate up. This man can talk a mile a minute! And he has the most impressive Bio I have ever seen. It’s quite obvious that his boundless passion has led him to develop a jaw-dropping array of specialties. In his kinetic talk, Randal discusses how to use “stretching” to increase memory and focus, the relationship between play and learning, and the transformative power of surrounding yourself with enthusiastic, passionate people.

Interview with Leo Babauta

I am an avid follower of Leo’s Babauta’s Blogs Zen Habits and the Mnmlst. Here’s an interesting interview with Leo, shedding some light on the person behind this inspiring minimalist living approach:

An Interview with Leo Babauta, Being Minimalist: “It’s truly liberating.” by Everett Bogue

Who lives here?

who lives here

Who lives here? Who can afford to live here? An interactive map showing income/rent data by NYC neighborhoods.

(via @brokelynnNY)

Don’t tag me T-Shirt

dont-tag-me-shirtcheating

Here’s a T-Shirt I wish I would have thought of: Don’t Tag me in this Photo. (I very much dislike being tagged on Facebook.)

(via @wspencer)

Come see me speak at Parsons: Networked Design #3

swissmiss talk

Come see me speak this coming Wednesday December 2 at Parsons, as part of the free AAS Graphic Design Networked Design Talk Series:

Tina Roth Eisenberg | 6:30PM
Parsons School of Design,
Kellen Auditorium, 66 Fifth Avenue, Room 101, NYC

About the Networked Design Talks:

With the rise of the Internet over the past few decades we have witnessed the rise of networked culture. The effects of this transition extend far beyond the use of tools: they change the ways we communicate with each other and the ways we manage, construct and perceive our individual and group identities. This cultural shift requires the creative industry to reexamine its use of messages, symbols and aesthetics and to study their function within a constantly changing networked environment. The Networked Design Talks represent the first step of an academic research initiative in this area undertaken by Parsons AAS Graphic Design faculty members led by the Program’s Director, Katarzyna Gruda.

Sponsored by the School of Art, Media & Technology at Parsons, the New School for Design.

Lady Gaga parody on Neutra Typeface



(via core77 and burks)

Couple updates relationship status on facebook at the altar

Couple updates relationship status on facebook at the altar. Made me laugh.

(thanks burks)

A People Pattern

Whatever you think about reaching out to people, there’s a pattern. It’s not a pre-meditated or a cold one, but a people-centered pattern that when considered, can bring satisfaction to both sides.

When contacting any person for the first time, there’s a pattern, whether getting in touch by email, by phone, or in person:
1: Cite a familiar reference + What it is + Brief details
2: Compliment + Ask
3: Reference value, micro + macro
4. Include a gracious closing

Read Liz’s full post over at bobulate.com: A People Pattern.

Oblo® didactic puzzle

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Here’s a toy that just completely won me over just by looking at it: Oblo by Marko Pavlovic was conceived as three dimensional, didactic puzzle. In order to obtain a successful progress from one level to the next, one needs to find the right extracting position for each removable piece to enable its smooth passage through the fixed shape open space provided. I want to play with it!

(via @behance)

28 Camera Drawings

1914_artworkimage

28 Camera Drawings by Christine Berrie

CreativeMornings with Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere

charlietodd

How excited am I to announce next week’s CreativeMorning?

Charlie Todd, the inspiring force behind Improv Everywhere will be our upcoming speaker and I am *thrilled*! I am a huge fan of Charlie’s Flash Mob Missions and can’t wait to hear more about the person behind it all.

For those of you not familiar with Improv Everywhere: Improv Everywhere regularly organizes scenes of ‘chaos’ and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of volunteer undercover agents. The group is based in New York City. Some of my personal mission highlights are:

Frozen Grand Central:

Invisible Dog

It’s in fact the Invisible Dog mission that connected me with Charlie of Improv Everywhere, Keith Schweitzer of No Longer Empty and finally Lucien Zayan our host this month and the inspiring force behind the Invisible Dog Space in Brooklyn. (Here’s an article on Lucien’s mission over at the NYTimes.) The Invisible Dog Space is at 51 Bergen Street, right off Smith Street and calls a three story factory building its home. The Invisible Dog Space includes an art gallery, artist studios, a huge open event space, an amazing freight elevator and a basement filled with vintage finds. (I was lucky enough to get a full tour and truly fell in love with the building and cause!) A big thank you to Lucien for generously hosting this month’s CreativeMorning.

Interested in attending? Make sure to r.s.v.p via email quickly as we usually fill up fast. Please tell us your name and what industry you’re in. (Check your inbox for a confirmation email!) CreativeMornings start at 8.30am, end at 10am and are FREE of charge. I am sorry but we’ve reached full capacity!

This month’s breakfast is generously sponsored by FieldNotes. Inspired by the vanishing subgenre of agricultural memo books, ornate pocket ledgers and the simple, unassuming beauty of a well-crafted grocery list, the Draplin Design Company, Portland, Oregon in conjunction with Coudal Partners of Chicago, Illinois bring you “FIELD NOTES” in hopes of offering, “An honest memo book, worth fillin’ up with good information.”

fieldnotes

Be the first to know when r.s.v.p’s open up, follow CreativeMornings on twitter!

Check out pictures of previous CreativeMornings over at Flickr.

View all the taped CreativeMorning talks we’ve put up on the web so far over at Vimeo.

CreativeMornings? ‘CreativeMornings’ is a monthly morning gathering of creative types. Each event includes a 10 minute lecture, followed by a 20 minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30am with the topic presentation starting at 9:00am. The whole thing closes down at 10am. The events are hosted at studios/gallery spaces in NYC. (We are always looking for potential hosts that are willing to accomodate 50+ people. Please email us if you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring one of our events!)