A Book By It's Cover

Check out this wonderful link full of tons of book cover designs. Each cover is presented with a good quality image and who designed it. A great resource and inspiration. See more at this link.

Dieline Challenge Finalist

I was informed today that a design I produced made the finalist stage in the "Dieline Challenge". My design was one of 5 chosen based on focus group feedback. I will next be asked to make revisions on the package. The package that is picked in the end will win the designer a trip to Norway. Keep your fingers crossed for my design, I could use a nice vacation to Norway. To read more about this contest and see great examples of the newest packaging out there, go to The Dieline.com.

Speaking at Event Design Summit

Event Design magazine is hosting its annual Event Design Summit this year in Los Angeles. The conference will take place October 27-29, 2008. I am pleased to announce that I have been asked to be a speaker at this fine event. I will be speaking in the Loft Track on-

Promotion and Packaging
The best events leverage collateral that connects with the target well before the event or exhibit even gets set up. Hear successful tips and techniques for creating collateral that mirrors the look and feel of your live experiences.

To learn more about the Event Design Summit 08 go to its website at www.eventdesignsummit.com. I hope to see you in October at this great conference.

It comes from the Latin

Whenever someone brings up Latin, I am sure many of us run for the door screaming. When I was in high school you had a choice of Latin, French or Spanish. I said "bonjour". I wanted nothing to do with Latin. After all it's a dead language, right? Well I found two website that deal with one part of Latin that we use on a regular basis, the ampersand. It turns out it originated from the Latin for et. This became a scribal abbreviation for and. Can you see it, the e & t put together? To see more examples of ampersand, check out these two websites, The Ampersand and Ampersands.

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

Check out this website, makemylogobiggercream.com. I know we have all ran into this battle with clients.

Large Hadron Collider

Not sure what a Large Hadron Collider is? Well it collides particles. Beyond that, I will leave it up to people much smarter. To view some amazing photos of this huge scientific project on the France / Switzerland border check out this link. The images are crazy cool and show the magnificent size of this 17 mile collider.

City Neighborhood Posters

Check out these beautiful posters from Ork Posters. Several cities are now available including LA, NYC (Manhattan and Brooklyn), SF, Boston and Chicago. They are great typographical treatments and solutions. The posters are available online at www.orkposters.com.

Objectified: A Film by Gary Hustwit

Gary Hustwit brought us "Helvetica" last year which was wonderful. Now he is working on a new film called "Objectified".

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

The film is due to be released the first part of 2009. To learn more and order a t-shirt go to the films site at www.objectifiedfilm.com

A Font Conference

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Watch this funny film.

The Story of Stuff

This great video and website will open your eyes. The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard shows the supply chain in our daily products and its effects on the environment and the economy. Take a look, you will enjoy and learn along the way. Click here to view the video.

Hoefler and Frere-Jones Type

This past week I seem to have been demented over typography. I was looking at new fonts and found this beautiful slab-serif, Archer, by Hoefler and Frere-Jones. This team seems to come up with great solutions on a regular basis. Check out this font along with the many others they have designed at this link.

I.M. Pei Designed House Up For Sale

This beautiful home designed by one of my favorite architects is up for sale in Washington DC. The house known as the Slayton House is 2 BR and 3 Bath. It is one of only three homes known to be designed by I.M. Pei. The house is listed at 4.25 million, so if you have any money left over after filling your gas tank you might want to consider the purchase. To see more images of this house and its historical background go to this link.

I.M. Pei is best known for designing the pyramid entry area at the Louvre in Paris. He is a fabulous architect and has a great story. If you have not seen the documentary about him called "First Person Singular" done by PBS watch it. You will not be disappointed.

Book of the Week #6 > Fingerprint by Chen Design Associates

Our latest book of the week is called Fingerprint, The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design by Chen Design Associates. I found this book to be full of inspiration. As a college instructor and designer, I find that many designs have taken on an ephemeral quality because of the computer. This book shows examples of how to merge the hand and computer together to make a work that is distinctive. Each example includes comments and materials that give you a better understanding on how the work was completed. If you are looking for inspiration on how to bring your designs back to something personnel and unique, then Fingerprint is the book you are looking for. It is available at this link or your favorite bookstore.

Out On The Line

I have not been able to blog for the last two weeks since I was called up to help fight the numerous wildland fires in California. I was first sent to a fire outside of Yosemite for several days. Then our Strike Team was send up north to the Shasta area for another series of fires. Finally we where dispatched to the Lake Isabella area for yet another fire. The fires are still burning in many parts of the state and will take several more weeks to fully contain them all.

Waterfalls in New York City

Today marked the opening of four New York CIty Waterfalls by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. The waterfalls are part of a New York CIty Public Art project and will flow until early October. The waterfalls are build on scaffolding and pump thousands of gallons of water out of the East River and then lets it fall back in. The falls range in size from 90 to 120 feet high. The project was several years in the making and is estimate to have cost around $15 million to pull together. The waterfalls will flow from the early morning until 10 at night. During the evening hours they shine like jewels in the night with lights. To see more images and an article check out the New York Times at this link. Photo by Vincent Laforet for The New York Times

Signs of Life

In Europe the above sign is used to show a fire exit. A young designer in London, Freddie Yauner, wondered what would a sign do if it was finished showing people the direction of the exit for the day. Take a look at this funny and entertaining answer at this link. Wait a second and watch the sign start its animation. Also check out his highest popping toaster in the world.

Life and Death by Weegee

Starting in the 1930’s life and death was shown through photography in the daily papers of the day. One of the best at this style of everyday life and death was Arthur Fellig, better known by the name Weegee. Weegee made his mark by being the first on the scene, taking the photo of the crime that had happened moments ago. The photos where honest and in your face. Many of his famous photos showed murders and the police heavy into investigating the crime. Weegee was also active in capturing everyday life and love on the hard streets of New York City. Weegee’s work is presented in numerous books and websites. To read more about Weegee, click here to check out a good article and slideshow in the New York Times.

Eames Stamps Available

I blogged earlier this year about a series of stamps playing tribute to designers Ray and Charlies Eames. The post office started selling the stamps yesterday. Run to your post office and pick some up and show you are a designer on that next letter you send out.

Thinking of Voting Republican?

Take a look at this video if you are up in the air. Maybe it will help you with your vote in November. Check out the video here.

Statue of Liberty Arrives

Today on June 17, 1885 The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City. The statue orginially known at “Liberty Enlightening the World” was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from the people of France to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. The statue arrived in over 200 cases and was reassembled on a pedestal inscribed with a poem by Emma Lazarus, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. / I lift my lamp beside the golden door." Bartholdi’s statue has become one of the United States most famous icons and a beautiful example of art and friendship.

Spring 08 Portfolio Show

Yesterday evening marked the end of a long road towards a BS in graphic design and advertising for my portfolio students. The Portfolio Show for the Art Institute of California - Orange County was a presentation of strong portfolios and years of hard work. I would like to wish my graphic and advertising students all the best in the future. You have completed a big step in your future and I hope you all have long careers in this great business we call design. Keep your passion and continue to have fun along the way. Good luck!!

Swiss Poster Designs

Carnegie Mellon University has a website devoted to a Swiss Poster Collection with more than 300 designs from the Swiss Poster of the Year competition. The exhibited work represents the periods from 1971 to present. The collection is fully searchable and also listed in categories like fashion, theater, health and travel. The collection is a wonderful look and reference of the evolution and expression of poster designs in Switzerland. To view the collection click here.

Logo Quiz

Ready to take a test. Give this logo quiz a try and see how good you are. Can you pick the real one from the fake? If you score well you could get a job at Customs stopping counterfeit products from entering the country. Click here to give it a shot.

Graphic Design Museum

The first museum dedicated to graphic design will open tomorrow in the Netherlands. The grand opening will be hosted by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. If you are heading to the Netherlands in the near future I would put this on your visit list along with the many wonderful sights found in the Netherlands. To view the site for the museum click here.

Alton Kelley, dies

Alton Kelley is best known for his graphic design of rock psychedelic concert posters during the 60s. Alton along with his longtime collaborator, Stanley Mouse, created some of the most memorable posters of the era for the likes of the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. To view an obituary by the NY Times click here.

AMERICAN SYMBOLS: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes

The Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco is showing American Symbols: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes. This show explores the collection of Kit Hinrichs the renowned graphic designer and partner at Pentagram, San Francisco. The collection consists of a graphical history of the flag and seal of the USA as its used in design, folk art and craft. This intriguing collection of objects shows America from the patriotic such as flag quilts to the commercial with Campbell’s Soups advertising. Celebration and pride are show along with period of protest through the symbols of Americana. Kit’s collection is wonderful to observe and shows the many mediums that are used to show the symbols of America over time. If you are in the San Francisco area go check out this exhibit. It is showing now until August 3 at the MOCFA.

Signs From Above

I was recently back up in San Francisco for the weekend. What a beautiful city. I explored the Ferry Building this time. I found numerous small food stores within. This I expected but the unexpected was a beautiful renovation of this historic building. From a graphics point of view, I saw these wonderful signs for each of the shops. The signs where all well designed and hung above the portals of the stores. Each one was individual and gregarious. If you get a chance to visit the Ferry Building in SF, make sure you look up. You will be happy with the signs from above.