(images via IndieFixx)
Ever since I tasted a Cake Pop I have been wondering how to make them myself. That’s where the Cake Pops Book by Bakerella comes in. Ordered!
Drive-By Portraits
Observing people while they’re driving is, passing them on the highway, is one of my favorite things to do. It comes to now surprise then, that I am in love with photos of everyday people cruising the freeways of Los Angeles. You can buy the book here: Drive.
(via Brain Pickings)
The Printer’s Terms
The Printer’s Terms contains explanations of virtually all printer’s terms of the pre-digital “lead age of typography” in English, German and French. Designed by legendary Swiss Rudolf Hostettler.
Bosch Fridge Manual 1963
I just stumbled upon an amazing collection of Book and Design related Flickr Sets by German based Design Professor Michael Stoll. This Bosch Fridge Manual Set from 1963 made me chuckle. Or check out this Flight Thru Instruments book from 1945, describing different (military) techniques of flight in a profusely illustrated manner. Or this Corporate Identity Brochure from 1972 about the City of Munich.
Rare Book Feast #1
Now here’s a gem of a discovery that stopped me in my tracks this morning: Rare Book Feast is new short movie series about the timeless character of books. Their message and what they look like are what is celebrated here. Nate Burgos believes that as our culture becomes digital in a lot of ways, it is all the more important (not to mention inviting) to revisit and learn from the early design challenges, creative solutions and general lessons that the “old” print world keeps relevant.
Kicking off this series is the “World Geo-Graphic Atlas” (1953) designed by Herbert Bayer with Martin Rosenzweig, Henry Gardiner and Masato Nakagawa: 2,200 diagrams, graphs, charts, symbols spanning 368 pages about our planet earth. All done before computers.
Video concept, script and narration by Nate Burgos of DesignFeast.com. Video creation, direction and production by Joe Giovenco of BRNeyes.com.
#fantastic
Fake Books
I couldn’t help but chuckle when I discovered these Fake Books by Emanuela Ligabue. They are handpainted wooden blocks, made to look like a book. (Please everyone, let’s welcome Emanuela to the internet. She just launched her site *today*, oh, and she happens to be the mother of wonderfully talented Olimpia Zagnoli)
An Endless Table
Don’t we all have a lifetime of dinner table photographs, each celebrating a holiday, birthday, or special event. Pictures that depict the same dinner table and usually the same cast of characters — family members, friends, neighbors. Combined, they create a seemingly never-ending scene. Colored dots represent the designer’s relationship to each person. I absolutely love this idea. Hat tip to Kim Bentley!
(thank you Kyle)
That’s How!
I am obviously a huge fan of Christoph Niemann. So it’s no surprise that I already pre-ordered his latest children’s book called That’s How!
Breaking In
My studiomate William Burks Spencer recently finished a book about how to put together an advertising portfolio. In it, he interviews over 100 of the top people in the industry and asks them practical questions that a student or junior would have. You can check out his blog here or buy the book on Amazon.
The Line by Saul Steinberg
The Line, the original a 10-meter-long drawing with 29 panels that unfold, accordion fashion, is Steinberg’s manifesto about the conceptual possibilities of the line and the artist who gives them life. His drawing hand begins and ends the sequence, as the simple horizontal line that hand creates metamorphoses into, among other things, a water line, laundry line, railroad track, sidewalk, arithmetic division line, or table edge; near the end, the curlicues etched by the iceskater’s blade remind us of the role calligraphy plays in Steinberg’s art.
Stunning Bookshelf (shot by Selby)
Karl Lagerfeld’s bookshelf system is crazy impressive (and big!) It’s an older shot by Selby, who just came out with Edible Selby.
(via Raul)
Work/Life 2
I just got my copy of Uppercase’s Work/Life 2 today and couldn’t put it down for what seemed an eternity. The Uppercase Directory of Illustration features 100 illustrators from around the world, compiled in a beautiful design.
Here’s a flip through the entire book:
Penguin Luggage Tags
Help your luggage stand out from the crowd with these Penguin luggage tags available in two titles: On the Road, Jack Kerouac and The Lost Girl, D. H. Lawrence.
Eva Kotátková
This piece by Eva Kotátková made me look.
Test Pattern Library
This Test Pattern Library made me chuckle. I found it over on Amrit Richmond’s blog, who found it on Unplggd, who found it on ffffound. Now, who can tell me who made this?
This is 2011, we should be able to easily give credit to the original author. Ugh!
The Elements of Content Strategy
A Book Apart just announced their latest book, The Elements of Content Strategy, written by our brand new studiomate Erin Kissane, designed by studiomate Jason Santa Maria and edited by studiomate Mandy Brown. Yes, that was studiomate three times in a row. The book will be released March 8th.
Designers & Books
I am thrilled about today’s launch of long anticipated Designers & Books. The site is the brainchild of my friend Steve Kroeter and was designed by no other than Pentagram.
Steve told me about the concept of the site months ago and I have been anticipating this day, where I can share his wonderful idea. Steve approached highly respected members of the the design community and asked them to send in a list of books that had an important, meaningful, and formative impact on their lives. Books that have shaped their values, their worldview, and their ideas about design.
From Vitruvius to William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright to Edith Wharton to Le Corbusier to Paul Rand—there has always been a particularly special and robust relationship between designers and books: reading them, writing them, designing them, collecting them, learning from them, and being inspired by them. Designers & Books celebrates that relationship.
Congratulations Steve! I am raising a glass of bubbly stuff.
Robot Quilt
While I am not all that crazy about quilts, this Robot Quilt by Boo Davis made me look and smile. It’s called “Does Not Compute”. Boo Davis shares the pattern and everything you need to know to make it in her book, “Dare to Be Square Quilting: A Block-by-Block Guide to Making Patchwork and Quilts.”
(How appropriate that the cover features an owl, my ‘obsession in the making!”)
The Christmas Giant
In case your looking for an adorable ‘Christmasy Book’ for your little ones, have a look at The Christmas Giant by Steve Light. I’ts about Humphrey, a giant, and Leetree, his best friend, an elf. Together they love making wrapping paper for all of Santa’s presents. But this year Santa has asked them to grow a Christmas tree, and the pair couldn’t be more excited! They take great care with their project, planting and watering, snipping and pruning. Finally, the tree is wrapped and ready, and Humphrey and Leetree set off to deliver it. But when disaster strikes, the giant and the elf must come up with a way to make things right. From a small idea comes a big plan—and a surprise no one in Christmastown will soon forget!
Designing Media
In a recent post Khoi points us to a new book called Designing Media by Bill Moggridge.
Moggridge is a renowned interaction designer and the director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. The book features interviews with thirty-seven people who have made significant creative contributions to the design and development of media, ranging from the publisher of the New York Times to the founder of Twitter. Read more about the book here.
You can watch videos of interviews here. And download 6 chapters as a PDF here.
Watch the interview with Ira Glass below. Ira explains how he has perfected the art of narrative, hooking the listeners with an idea and keeping them engaged by the flow of events.
(I finally know what Ira Glass looks like! Yay!)
And below is an interview with Chris Anderson in which he expresses his confidence that the magazine format is here to stay, as long as it makes the most of the unique attributes of magazine design, energetically pursuing luscious images, diagrams, and illustrations, with dramatic layout and rich production values.
swissmiss on The Happiness Project
I had the pleasure to meet lovely Gretchen Rubin a few weeks ago. She is the force behind the powerful Happiness Project.
She currently features a short “Happiness Interview” with me on her site.
Make sure to check out her Book and the Happiness Project Toolbox.
Oliver Jeffers ‘Heart and the Bottle’ iPad Version
Being a huge Oliver Jeffers fan, I am delighted to see that “Heart and the Bottle” will be available as an iPad Picture Book App starting december. I am hoping that “How to catch as Star” and “The Incredible Book Eating Boy” will be next.
20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web
“20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web” is a short guide for anyone who’s curious about the basics of browsers and the web. Published by the Google Chrome Team, illustrations by Christoph Niemann.
