NYT Magazine redesign
Behind the redesign of the New York Times Magazine. Great visual and typographic treatment
Typographic purists
Mistakes in typography grate the purists from the NYT.
“I think sometimes that being overly type-sensitive is like an allergy,” said Michael Bierut, a partner in the Pentagram design group in New York. “My font nerdiness makes me have bad reactions to things that spoil otherwise pleasant moments.”
I’m not at the anaphylactic stage of typographic allergy yet — more the sniffly, dry and itchy eyes sort of thing.
From the Hellbox
Letters from the Hellbox is an irregular column from Martin McClellan on typographers.
Books in a digital world
Want to know why books will never go away? Read this blurb from the description of Code(x)+1.
The book is a durable artifact in which author, reader, and the artisans who make and preserve them enter into ordered and potentially pleasurable relationships. A printed book is enhanced by the materials and processes with which it is made. The book in the era of digital reproduction is an object of pleasure as well as a container of information. To consult information relieved of the pleasures of turning a page, smelling ink, or admiring the binding, we can rely on the internet. The book as ark of deposit requires neither electricity nor fossil fuel to either read or maintain. The book as an object dwells at the intersections of writing and art, philosophy and poetics, science and scholarship. The structure of a book is a sculpture for reading. The meaning is transmitted and the book remains.
The production run is limited to 500, anyone want to buy me a copy?
Leaden Army
Goudy Fonts is a tribute site, dedicated to the work Frederic and Bertha Goudy and their impact on American typography. I am type is one of Goudy’s more famous essays on the subject. This quote is a bit dated, but I like it.
I am the leaden army that conquers the world. I am type.
That essay and others can be found in Texts on Type.
Colour management
Scott Hansen and Alex Cornell have put together an excellent field guide for colour management. On that note, some of the mac people who upgraded to Snow Leopard may be interested in knowing why things seem to be darker with more contrast.
Book design books
Jan Tschichold’s The Form of the Book still soundly trounces the modern competition. His work focuses on what not to do, rather than showing you a bunch of examples of what you can do.
LA Times redesign
The Los Angeles Times has redesigned their website to make it cleaner, crisper and more innovative. I’m liking the new look, finding that it’s more newspaper-like and ties into the print aesthetic better.
Get out there
Sound advice from an interview with Jim Coudal
When you think to yourself, “In 18 months I’m going to start my crocheted beer coaster company,” the problem with that sentence is the 18 months. What you’re really saying is, “I’m afraid.” Do it now. If you bankrupt a company before you’re 25, that’s like a badge of honor! Get out there.
Deadline
Deadline is an animated stop-motion short that used more than six-thousand Post-it notes to emulate pixel art. Also, make sure to check out the making of video.
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.
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.
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.
Designing the Montreal Olympic logo
Scans of an article from Design magazine on the creation of the 1976 Olympic logo for Montreal. I knew that the logo’s symbolism was multi-faceted, but never realized quite how structured and grid-based the design was.
Arial is everywhere
Sander Baumann documents the ubiquity of Arial in real-world practice. Most of his photos come from Amsterdam, the heart of a culture known from its design prowess.
