that makes me wish I were going back to school: these book cover kits from Paper Source. Definitely beats the brown paper bag trick I used to use. Love the patterns.
I just got word through Bēhance that Craig Ward's Alphabet Cities prints will be available in September. The two limited edition typographic designs depict London and New York, and cost $140 each. Get in touch with Craig to let him know you're interested right here.
This week, a few selections from Samuelstype.
See their complete library here, and purchase through Fontshop.
I may be late in the game, but I just discovered Fontshop's Type Navigator tool. I'm not sure how long it's been around, but I wish I had discovered it sooner. Rather than choosing by category—Serif, Sans Serif, etc.—as most font sites do, this tool allows you to search by visual form. Once you pick a form, the search bar expands to include other attributes, such as angle, weight, contour etc.; and you can refine your results even farther. From there you get a list of typefaces that fit your search (as you can see below). And you're all set to purchase, download and start designing. This will definitely come in handy.
Here are a few shirts found by using Rumplo's new color sorting feature:
50 Ways to Help the Planet, $25 at Wire and Twine
Painted Rio, $18 at Heavy Tees
I Love Pixel, about $35.50 at Sehubabe
I just rediscovered this type specimen I had saved from awhile ago. A quote from "Pulp Fiction"—hopefully no one is offended by the curse words—I love the typeface itself (especially those descenders!) as well as the composition. Unfortunately sixtypound, designed by Jelmar Geertsma of Typehigh, is not available for purchase at this time
I read about the Girl Effect in one of my monthly magazines (Marie Claire, I think.) It's an organization dedicated to empowering girls over the world as our future leaders, in the belief that they have a vital role in the success of their communities. They put it simply in their own words:
"There are 600 million adolescent girls living in poverty in the developing world. By giving one of these girls a chance, you start the girl effect. When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive. And if they thrive, everyone around them thrives, too."
Sounds like a great cause to me. And although I'm not a fan of the site's excessive use of flash, or intro movie that's probably a couple of minutes too long (and strangely aggressive at times); I really admire some of the design choices they've made. Big bold type reinforces the powerful message, and the handmade feeling of the graphics emphasizes the fact that girls can make a personal contribution to their future success and the successes of those around them.
Learn more right here, or make a donation to the cause.
I'm one of those people who always loved school—if I ever win the lottery, I'm becoming a professional student. So I'm always really interested to see what the designers in SVA's Designer as Author program are up to. Enrolling in a graduate design program is something I would love to do some day, if I could ever figure out how to take a two-year break from working (wishful thinking, I know).
So I was excited to see that the class of 2009 has a new project on display online—Model Citizen—which was created for Kevin O'Callaghan's 3D design course. According to the site, O'Callaghan had his class "create fashion collections that would be functional and metaphorical, as well as polemical." The project is "a runway show cum exhibition that addresses through clothes and accessories the critical issues facing citizens everywhere."
You can see each student's final product, which are all really interesting, on the site. But here are a couple of my favorites.
Kristina Critchlow, dis.clothes.ure
"What if it was easy to get up close and really see what makes politicians tick? The dis•clothes•ure line of fabrics intends to show the harsh realities of some political policies and actions including sex, bribery, torture, health care, and war when the viewer takes a closer look at their everyday attire."
Kimiyo Nakatsui, Women on Top
"Women on Top addresses the lack of female representation in U.S. and international politics. Each apron, an artifact of traditional female roles, represents a 'campaign' in support of female leadership. By maintaining a distinctly feminine sensibility, they argue that women can have it all—brains, brawn and beauty."
How can these not make you happy?
Check out more of Holly's work on her portfolio site, or blog.
I just (excitedly) received my copy of the 2009 IKEA catalog the other day. So here are my picks from their new offerings. Hopefully I'll be picking a couple of these up next time I make it out there.
- INGER fabrics, $5.99/yard
- SVEJE rugs, $12.99. They come in 5 colors, but I prefer the black and white.
- LERAN pendant lamp, $39.99-$89.99.
- JORUN cushion, $7.99
- SLÄTTHULT decorative stickers, $19.99
- PJÄTTERYD picture, $29.99
- JORUN rug, $39.99
- TROLLSTA side table, $79.99
- SNAJSIG frames, $3.99
