Bad books
Awful Library Books brings us the best of the worst books held in public libraries.
Withheld
95 percent of opinions withheld on visit to family. Yet another spot on article from the Onion.
Control
Periodic table of controllers. An interesting infographic of video game controllers, would be bit cooler if it mimicked the structure of the periodic table a bit better.
Minimalist web design
Nothing quite like being featured in a minimalist web design post in the midst of a half-assed live redesign. In any case, you might find some better inspiration there.
Skolar
David Březina has officially released Skolar, a typeface designed for multilingual, scholarly publications.
Stereotypes
Paul Shaw looks at the use of “ethnic typography” for Print Magazine, and finds that it serves its own purpose.
They are shortcuts, visual mnemonic devices. There is no room for cultural nuance or academic accuracy in a shop’s fascia. Restaurant owners want passersby (often in cars rather than on foot) to know immediately that they serve Chinese (or Greek, or Jewish) food.
His article also examines the background behind a few of the more popular typefaces. I understand that these typefaces serve a purpose, but I still balk at the use of Papyrus as an “Irish” font.
Lucas on film making
Michael Heilemann dug up an interview with George Lucas from 1971, shortly after Warner Brothers had finished butchering THX 1138. At this point, you can see that he’s pretty disillusioned with Hollywood, and how that pushed him towards the creation of Lucasfilm.
Growth through failure
From an interview with Paula Scher on failure and how it helps you to grow.
When you’re fulfilling a function—when you’re being obedient, in other words, you’re doing as expected—you can’t learn anything. Because you already know the answer. It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow.
You have to get bad in order to get good. You have to try a lot of things and fail in order to make the next discovery.
Rock the block
Tetris celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary this week. I remember long family roadtrips and playing Tetris against my brothers using two original gameboys that were tethered together. During my student days, there were also many evenings devoted to heads-up Tetris 2 with friends on a crusty old SNES.
A special type specimen
Amassblog tells the unique story behind a beat-up and battered type specimen. Saying anything more would probably ruin the surprise.
Homebrew CPU
Steve Chamberlin created his own custom 8-bit CPU, which he dubbed Big Mess of Wires. It brings me back to my assembly language class and the late night bug hunts, there’s something very visceral about talking directly to the machine.
Designing Klang
Work Associates recently created a typographically inspired cover for Klang, the third album from The Rakes. Given that the album was recorded in Berlin, Work turned to the Bauhaus movment and the work of Ludwig Hirshfeld Mack for inspiration. Hirschfeld-Mack developed a light and colour modulator apparatus, to provide a visual translation of music.
Typographic opinion
A recent NYT opinion piece, The Economy is Still at the Brink, received a full page typographic treatment in the print edition with big Victorian style pull quotes that are only hinted at online. The treatment lends a voice and sense of urgency to the story, that is lost in the digital translation.
Empty
Photographs of empty motel swimming pools.
Cheesy
What to do when the person you want to marry is allergic to grilled cheese. Euphemisms galore.
New Deal Typeface
While working on the title sequence for Public Enemies, Research Studios created a a bespoke typeface for the New Deal era based on WPA posters from the time period.
Printing Wikipedia
Rob Matthews printed a five thousand page book featuring all of Wikidedia’s featured articles. It shows the impracticality of physical encyclopedias, despite the fact that they were generally produced in volumes.
Print lives
For anyone concerned that print media is dying, Dave Eggers has sent out an email to reassure us.
Bad quarter for newspapers
The American newspaper industry had its worst quarter in modern history, with advertising sales declining almost thirty percent. Not that anyone didn’t see it coming. We’ll see which organizations can adapt to different models with professional and grass-roots journalism, in a combination of print and electronic media.
Beer Sommelier
If you’ve ever had trouble figuring out what beer to pair with your meal, the Beer Sommelier should help you. The interface is a little awkward to use, but you get what you’re looking for.
London Shop Fronts
Photos of London shop fronts. There’s just a unique vibe to store fronts in UK, there’s always something to look at.
Cover artist
Thomas Allen cuts up pulp books and arranges them in a new context to create stunning photographs. I recently came across this post featuring samples of his work, and his desktop wallpaper for Kitsune Noir. Allen’s work is also featured at Foley Gallery, Carroll and Sons and Joseph Bellows Gallery.
So Raven
The making of Zach Galifianakis from NYT Magazine, it brings the trailers for the new gerbil movie to a new level. Now, I’m confused.
Space monkeys
National Geographic has posted a collection of photos celebrating the 50-year anniversary of monkeys in space.
GOOD Infographics
GOOD Magazine keeps an archive of all the information graphics used in their articles. Seems like a good place to visit when I need a little inspiration.
Mars with pastels
The first television images of Mars were created using pastels. Project engineers were eager to know if their instrumentation was working properly, and didn’t want to wait for the imaging lab. They printed the data out on to small strips of paper and coloured with the appropriate pastel given a certain data range.
On beating Goliath
A recent article from Malcolm Gladwell examines what happens when an underdog breaks the rules. In identifying your weaknesses versus a larger, better equipped opponent, and changing your strategy to work with your strengths, you greatly improve your chances of winning.
Cornell goes public domain
Cornell has opened up their archive of public domain works, removing restrictions on reproduction and use of the works. On top of that, they have released more than seventy thousand works to the internet archive.
3D Geometry
Scanned images of 3D geometry diagrams from Richard at Ace Jet 170. Now I just need to find a pair of glasses so I can see them properly.
Beck and Paris
Ken Garland’s lectures at Reading were some of my favourites during the time I spent there, particularly his passion for Harry Beck and the London Underground. I don’t really remember him mentioning Beck’s connection to the Paris Metro, probably because there was only limited class time.
