The End of Word It

The beginning of 2010 brings the end of Word It, from the folks at Underconsideration. The last Word It is “The End.” Participate before it ends!

Ah! Letterhead

Great letterhead by Herb Lubalin. One of many great pieces of ephemera on AMassBlog. This one is by Herb Lubalin.

Found at AMassBlog

The Evolution of the Coca-Cola Contour Bottle

To mark the 94th anniversary of the iconic Coca-Cola coutour bottle, The Dieline takes a look at the its design history.

Found via the TheDieline.com

Lubalin Now

Lubalin Now is the inaugural exhibition in the newly re-located Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography at the Cooper Union.

The show includes recent posters, publications, and motion graphics by internationally recognized graphic designers that spotlight an emerging trend toward expressive lettering and typography.

Original sketches, magazines, logotypes, and posters selected from the Lubalin Center Archive will illuminate Herb Lubalin’s influence on contemporary graphic design. Work by artists include Marian Bantjes, Deanne Cheuk, Gretel, Jessica Hische, HunterGatherer, Justin Thomas Kay, Like Minded Studio, Christopher Martinez, Non-Format, Roberto Quiñones, Strange Attractors Design, TV Land and Herb Lubalin.

On view through December 8, 2009.

Image by Post Typography

Typedia

Typedia is a new website that is a community-based encyclopedia for typefaces. Definitely worth watching.
And you must check out their blog post on how they created their logo. You get to see the initial sketches and all the back-and-forth emails between the designer and the client. A great way to see how a project successfully comes together.

Designing Your Website

A List Apart has pulled together a couple of great articles on redesigning websites. The first article looks at the site redesign at a small advertising agency. And the second article looks at how a freelance designer redesigns her own site. Both articles show the (always difficult) process of designing your own website; sometimes you are your own worst client.

We Snap Pictures and Toot Our Own Horn

Stefan G. Bucher, talented designer/illustrator and monster-lover has just completed his newest book, The Graphic Eye: Photographs by Graphic Designers from around the Globe. And Charles and I are pleased to have our photographs included!
The Graphic Eye is published by Chronicle in the US (and Rotovision in the UK) and is due out in November.

Fonts on the Web

One site I like to peek at now and then is Typophile: 99% of the time the comments are informative and polite. So there had been several discussions about @font-face, which ostensibly allows browsers to read any font. Replace that old Georgia with Museo! However, it is a sticky subject, full of industry-jargon that is way beyond me. As a designer I want to use more fonts, but foundries are understandably worried about font piracy.
Fortunately, there’s a nice summary of the situation as it stands now, that is relatively light on the jargon posted by the good people of I Love Typography. It seems as if the big questions haven’t been answered yet but Typekit seems poised to take the lead as one part of the solution.
And hopefully the new changes will be a boon to type designers, who will have to design typefaces specifically for the web.

FPO Blog

The good folks at UnderConsideration have launched a new blog: FPO: For Print Only. An interesting look a print projects.

Eye Candy and Drop Shadows

A couple good articles from a couple of my favs, A List Apart and Smashing Magazine that I've read over the last couple of days. The articles may only be tangentially related, but both push for the same outcome: good design.
In Defense of Eye Candy and Bring Light and Shadow into Your Designs.

Eco Zoo

Eco Zoo is a fun website from Japan (with English text as well). You get to "climb" a tree and read "pop-up" books about little creatures. An engaging website even if you're not a kid.

Winterhouse Design Writing & Criticism Awards is Open

This competition is open to professionals and students. Deadline is June 1

Tropicana's Old Packaging Is New Again

No doubt you've heard a lot about Tropicana's new packaging—and much of it not very good. It seemed as though much of the design community was less than impressed with the new packaging. Well, it appears as if designers weren't the only ones unhappy with it, as Tropicana's parent company is going back to the original design: ie the straw in the orange.
I would venture a guess that not only were consumers unhappy with the new design, but that as a result they weren't buying the product. No doubt design can help or hinder the bottom-line.
Via the New York Times

Paul Sahre's Problems

Last Friday night the NY chapter of AIGA hosted a lecture by Paul Sahre. The subject of his lecture? Problems. Specifically problems he's run into as a graphic designer.
It was refreshing to see a designer talk about his career and take a look at the pieces that (for whatever reasons) did not work. It was a nice reminder that a piece you work on can fail for reasons within your control and out of your control. Sometimes it fails on a technical or formal reason. Sometimes it can fail on a more personal level. And not matter how embarrassing or aggravating your problem is, you always learn something from it.
It was an engaging talk and Paul provided everyone with a lovely little pennant. A lovely little reminder when you're in the midst of a bad day that, yes, you're not the only one that has problems.

Paper, Plastic, or Canvas?

Amidst all the despair in the last few years about the slow extinction of various design-friendly formats—the vinyl LP, the newspaper, the book, etc. — one vehicle for graphic design has vaulted to almost instant ubiquity: the canvas tote. More....

Found at Design Observer

Dangerous Curves

Doyald Young's book Dangerous Curves is a roadmap on how to create your own logotype.

“The only way to create a logotype that is truly unique is for the designer to transcend the limitations of the available fonts and typefaces on the market. Dangerous Curves provides a roadmap for that very worthy endeavor.”

Found at Thinking for a Living