Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Art of the Title Sequence is a fantastic site dedicated entirely to title sequences. In addition to having a great title archive, there is also quite a bit of content on the concepts and processes behind some of the most successful movie titles ever.
Labels: Art of the Title Sequence, interactive design, movie, resource
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Here is a wonderful collection of over 200 illustrations from the Mid-Century Modern style.
Labels: flickr, graphic design, illustration, Mid-Century Modern, resource
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Duke University libraries has compiled a fantastic digital archive of Mid-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century advertising, ephemera, and photography. The site isn't much to look at, but it's easy to navigate and the content is wonderful.
Labels: ad campaign, Duke University, ephemera, graphic design, photography, resource
Monday, January 25, 2010
"A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers."
Labels: Clients From Hell, graphic design, humor, resource
Saturday, January 9, 2010
There are a few items of note I wanted to share...
I now have a twitter account: @tomdavie. Unfortunately I won't be using it to update you on where I am, or what I'm reading, watching or eating, because honestly, my pizza eating schedule is really not that interesting. I will be using the account to automatically feed new updates on the studiotwentysix2 site and blog, as well as Good Type, Bad Type, Well Designed and interactive alley. A one-stop-shop if you will.
Good Type, Bad Type was created as part of my introduction to typography teaching process, and although that class finished in December, I will keep the site updated as often as I can. I'm always looking for new work to post, so if you run across something of interest, send the URL my way.
Well Designed and interactive alley are also to be used as teaching aids. Well Designed is dedicated to all forms of print, packaging and publication design, while interactive alley is dedicated to site design, movies, title sequences and kinetic typography. Again, if you come across some impressive work, please let me know.
As for this blog, the titles of each post are now clickable links; this will make it easier to get the permanent URL for bookmarking and sharing.
Labels: blog, Good Type Bad Type, interactive alley, resource, studiotwentysix2, Tom Davie, Twitter, update, Well Designed
Friday, January 8, 2010
A site dedicated to map-based projects.
Labels: fine art, graphic design, illustration, Radical Cartography, resource
Monday, January 4, 2010
I was searching through flickr, and came across this fabulously large group of images dedicated to Modernist type and design. If you are a design student, you should be saving this link as a bookmark right about.....now.
Labels: flickr, graphic design, resource
Monday, December 21, 2009
I just uploaded a set of typographic research photographs taken from 2006 - 2009. Enjoy.
Labels: flickr, graphic design, photography, resource, studiotwentysix2, Tom Davie, tombstone typography
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Things Magazine, which is outstanding in its own right, has assembled a fantastic archive of Pelican book covers produced from the 1930s through the 1980s. Certainly worth a bookmark.
Labels: books, graphic design, illustration, Pelican books, photography, resource, Things Magazine
Friday, December 4, 2009
The folks at creative nerds have compiled a list (with links) for the "50 Best Free Fonts from 2009." Enjoy the freebies and download to your heart's content.
Pictured above is the typeface Facet, released by the independent type foundry Fontfabric.
Labels: blog, creative nerds, Fontfabric, free fonts, resource
Friday, November 20, 2009
Easy to follow instructional video on the Relief printmaking process.
Labels: relief printing, resource, video
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Designer Peter Gabor has put together a nice collection of historical Russian posters.
Labels: graphic design, Peter Gabor, poster, resource
Thursday, October 22, 2009
This video offers a nice look at Nashville-based Hatch Show Print, one of the oldest letterpress shops in the US.
Labels: graphic design, Hatch Show Print, letterpress, poster, resource, video
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I recently set up a portfolio on the Behance Network, which considers itself "a platform for creative portfolios, projects, and collaborations." There is a nice mixture of well-known and lesser-known artists and designers, and most of the work represented seems to range from decent to exceptional quality.
If you're a creative, you might want to consider joining, or, if you're just interested in keeping tabs on contemporary art & design, you might have a good time simply browsing.
Labels: Behance Network, fine art, graphic design, illustration, resource, studiotwentysix2, Tom Davie
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
I really dig this group of British wrestling posters collected by Jane McDevitt, a designer based in the North of England.
Labels: British Wrestling Posters, graphic design, Jane McDevitt, resource
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
My typographic-based White Space poster is now available for download as an iPhone wallpaper via typenuts (a member of the i love typography network). Enjoy.
Labels: blog, graphic design, iPhone wallpaper, resource, studiotwentysix2, Tom Davie, typenuts
Friday, September 25, 2009
I downloaded iTunes 9 this week, and in order to use the iTunes store, an upgrade to Safari 4 was required. I tend to use both Firefox and Safari, but I really like this new feature on version 4. You can set the browser to load 12 preferred sites, and view a real-time larger-than-thumbnail preview of each.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Type Daily is a nice RSS feed site packed with content from the web's best sources for typographic-based content.
Labels: blog, graphic design, resource, Type Daily
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I was out-of-town for a few days.
Lost and Taken is a great resource site for Hi Res, good-quality textures and scans. Most, if not all, are copyright / royalty-free images that are acceptable for personal and commercial use. Check it out.
Labels: blog, graphic design, illustration, photography, resource
Monday, August 17, 2009
I was in the process of organizing some old bookmarks, and came across this 2005 Design Observer essay by Michael Beirut. The topic is the Target ClearRx prescription bottle that started as a graduate assignment at the School of Visual Arts.
Although he probably overstates the importance of the bottle redesign, it's still a good piece of writing; and with the inclusion of the comments section, it makes for an interesting read.
Labels: article, Design Observer, graphic design, Michael Beirut, redesign, resource, Target
Friday, August 14, 2009
Shepard Fairey from Arkitip on Vimeo.
Labels: artist, fine art, illustration, resource, Shepard Fairey, video
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I was sent a copy of this article a few weeks ago as a PDF file, but now that Brand Packaging has added it to their site, I thought I would forward it along.
The article focuses on the recent Tropicana rebranding failure by discussing what went wrong, what we can learn from it, and how to potentially avoid a future rebranding backlash.
Labels: article, graphic design, redesign, resource, Tropicana
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
I will be teaching an introduction to typography class this semester, and as a reference point for examples and discussion, have created Good Type, Bad Type - where the best and worst of typography, mingle seamlessly. I encourage you to stop by and check it out, and if you would like to join or start a discussion, or have an outstanding example of good / bad typography to share - that's even better.
Labels: blog, Good Type Bad Type, graphic design, resource, Tom Davie
Monday, August 3, 2009
A nice article from The New York Times that focuses on design legends of varying disciplines, including Charles and Ray Eames and Paul Rand. The article includes a video link for each of the featured designers.
Image by Vitra, Copyright The New York Times Company.
Labels: Aimee Mullins, article, Charles and Ray Eames, New York Times, Paul Rand, R. Buckminster Fuller, resource, Reyner Banham
Friday, July 31, 2009
Two very different, yet equally interesting videos on typography.
Labels: David Dabner, graphic design, London College of Printing, resource, Vancouver film school, video
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Although the quality of the work can be hit-or-miss, typo/graphic posters is a fantastic resource for typographic-based poster design. The directory of typographic and graphic posters has a nice mix of styles and a variety of approaches to poster design that makes the site quite appealing.
Banner poster by Boris Bonev.
Labels: Boris Bonev, graphic design, poster, resource, Typo/graphic Posters
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sleevage is a blog / archive dedicated to album cover art.
Accompanying each cover is detailed information about the band, the artist (if known) and any historical art or design references that may have influenced the cover art. It's a quality site and definitely worth a bookmark.
Labels: blog, fine art, graphic design, music, resource, Sleevage
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The UnderConsideration team has launched a new blog focused entirely on print design...
FPO is a blog dedicated to both the visual stimulus and the detailing of the development and production of printed matter: Annual reports, books, business cards, stationery suites, collateral materials, posters, packaging and anything else where ink meets substrate. A subject matter we know, love and understand. A process that, despite numerous eulogies, is still alive.
Labels: blog, For Print Only, graphic design, resource, UnderConsideration
Friday, May 29, 2009
This is an outstanding resource for all things book cover design related.
In addition to providing a database of well-designed covers, each archive entry also lists the designer, studio and font usage. Quite a fantastic bookmark for anyone interested in graphic or literature design. The archive is edited and maintained by Ben Pieratt of General Projects and Eric Jacobsen of Whisky Van Gogh Go.
Labels: books, graphic design, resource, The Book Cover Archive
Friday, May 22, 2009
Mmmm...plate-sized Oreo.
This site is certainly not art or design related, but I have a hard time resisting my fondness for candy and treats. Pimp That Snack is a treasure-trove of a resource for anyone searching out sugar, flour and chocolaty goodness on an epic scale.
Labels: food, Pimp That Snack, resource
Monday, May 18, 2009
Clever and useful, just the way I like it. ☺
CopyPasteCharacter.com allows for simple access to icons, dingbats and typographic characters that are underutilized due to unknown or overly complex key-commands. Simply click the characters to copy them, and then paste them (⌘ v) into a document, email or blog entry. ☃
Labels: CopyPasteCharacter.com, graphic design, resource, site design
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
My vegetarian readers will absolutely love this post — because if anyone can appreciate flattened, dried, and rigor mortised animal flesh, it’s the salad and tofu lovers.
Now I’m usually of the opinion that good is good. Meat = good. Business Cards = good. Unexpected concepts = good. However, I’m having a difficult time condoning flesh engraved business cards — it’s just wrong. Not morally wrong mind you, more like, everyone-will-be-disgusted-that-you-just-pulled-a-sheet-of-meat-out-of-your-pants-pocket kind of wrong. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
In my estimation, there are only three professions that could possess such an item and avoid utter revulsion: a butcher, a pig farmer and a beef jerky entrepreneur. Vice President of a global investment firm, not so much. Sorry, Mr. Bateman.
Lingering unresolved questions:
1. What is the best method for trimming out the individual business cards from the “sheet,” x-acto, carpenter’s knife or table saw?
2. What is the temperature of the average day-worn pants pocket?
3. How long can beef jerky stay in a day-worn pants pocket before it begins to emit a fragrance?
4. Must you pay for cards that omit vital information due to a hole or defect in the meat?
5. Can the cards be spot varnished to add an additional level of interest?
6. If received, would I put a meat card in my Rolodex? Hmmm...
(Thanks to Tom at LPK for the link)
Labels: graphic design, humor, Meat cards, resource
Friday, May 8, 2009
The UK Design Council offers an abundance of really informative design articles, interviews and in-depth explanations on various design disciplines. The organization looks at design as a comprehensive whole: from design education and process through design business and management.
This is a super resource for anyone in the field.
Labels: article, design, graphic design, resource, UK Design Council
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
WARNING...Sense of humor required.
Tom’s running diary of things he learned while watching these graphic design career videos:
1. When discussing your qualifications, be sure to keep your awards and diploma visible at all times
2. Awards and praise let designers know that what they’re doing is “making a difference”
3. An Associates Degree will allow you to “go places”
4. Design elements should be integrated into the design
5. If a sports team has a preexisting color scheme, you may want to incorporate those colors into their design work
6. There are many different ways you can apply for different jobs
7. Clients like to pick-and-choose design elements
8. Clients really like “energy bursts”
9. Clients probably won’t like your font or color choices
10. Clients like to put their logo on their worker’s jackets
11. Clients will be happy with the end results, as long as they’re given variety
When producing a set of graphic design career videos, always remember to:
1. Sit in front of a computer that is older than your teenage child
2. Never turn down the volume on your monitor — it allows your audience to appreciate the sounds of the world’s first screen saver
3. Never edit your footage to make your career video better
4. Rarely make eye contact with the camera, but be sure to look down-and-to-the-left and to the producer standing to the side of the camera as often as possible
5. Never waste time writing a script, they are overrated — your audience will appreciate your ability to “keep it real”
Tom’s running diary of things he learned while watching these graphic design career videos:
1. When discussing your qualifications, be sure to keep your awards and diploma visible at all times
2. Awards and praise let designers know that what they’re doing is “making a difference”
3. An Associates Degree will allow you to “go places”
4. Design elements should be integrated into the design
5. If a sports team has a preexisting color scheme, you may want to incorporate those colors into their design work
6. There are many different ways you can apply for different jobs
7. Clients like to pick-and-choose design elements
8. Clients really like “energy bursts”
9. Clients probably won’t like your font or color choices
10. Clients like to put their logo on their worker’s jackets
11. Clients will be happy with the end results, as long as they’re given variety
When producing a set of graphic design career videos, always remember to:
1. Sit in front of a computer that is older than your teenage child
2. Never turn down the volume on your monitor — it allows your audience to appreciate the sounds of the world’s first screen saver
3. Never edit your footage to make your career video better
4. Rarely make eye contact with the camera, but be sure to look down-and-to-the-left and to the producer standing to the side of the camera as often as possible
5. Never waste time writing a script, they are overrated — your audience will appreciate your ability to “keep it real”
Labels: graphic design, graphic design career videos, humor, resource, video
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Print magazine’s web site is hosting a daily blog written by art director, design educator and design historian Steven Heller. Heller has written and edited numerous books about graphic design. He is currently co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts and writes for the New York Times.
Labels: blog, graphic design, Print magazine, resource, Steven Heller
Thursday, April 23, 2009
In other sports related news, two players from the Washington Nationals wore misspelled jerseys on Tuesday. Majestic Athletic, the company responsible for making the jerseys offered this apology...
“We take 100 percent responsibility for this event and we regret any embarrassment for the Nationals organization, players and fans.”
Oops.
Oh, and if you love you some athletic typos, here’s an article containing a brief history of uniform typos.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Italian graphic and web designer Francesco Mugnai maintains the design blog, ‘Oh My God. It even has a watermark.’ The blog is a nice reference collection of contemporary business card design, categorized by color, style and printing technique.
Labels: blog, Francesco Mugnai, graphic design, resource
Thursday, April 9, 2009
This is a handy resource for all those interested in web design. Italian web designer and developer Vladimir Carrer has created a simple but useful printable browser template for sketching web design layouts. The sketchbook templates can be printed as blank browser pages, or with printed 10px and 100px grids.
Labels: interactive design, resource, site design, Vladimir Carrer
Friday, March 27, 2009
You The Designer has assembled a pretty nice list (with links) containing 30 of the most popular graphic design books available for purchase. Most of the publications are well known within the field, but even if you are familiar with the books, the list is still a quality resource and a good bookmark to have.
This list also reminded me that I would like to read How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer — but I have never come across a copy of it.
Labels: 30 Delightful Graphic Design Books, blog, graphic design, resource, You The Designer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I wanted to post this letter to the NCAA written by Charles Kupchella, President of the University of North Dakota for several reasons: 1. It deals with the significance of logos and identity systems 2. It’s one of the best-written and thought-out letters I’ve ever come across 3. It’s becoming harder to find on the Internet.
The letter is quite lengthy, but a fantastic read. President Kupchella wrote this piece to the NCAA to appeal the claim that their logo is offensive toward Native Americans. In the letter Kupchella defends the university’s sports identity, and seeks continued use of their logo and mascot, the Fighting Sioux.
* Seriously, even if you can’t stand sports, you will appreciate this.
Labels: article, Charles Kupchella, graphic design, NCAA, offensive logo, resource, University of North Dakota
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
This is outstanding.
If you're a fan of the late-great iconic painter Bob Ross, you can now listen to audio recordings from his show via Bob Ross FM.
Monday, March 2, 2009
If you are into 18th to 20th century Japanese Woodblock Prints, then this is a site you will want to bookmark. The Japan Print Gallery in London has an excellent online collection of Japanese prints by some of the period’s most recognizable artists.
I only wish they provided a thumbnail preview, because unless you are an art historian or collector of Japanese prints, it is quite a lot of work to search through without a reference point. The gallery did a great job on the documentation of the work — the color and image sizes are spot-on.
Labels: fine art, gallery, Japanese Woodblock Prints, resource, The Japan Print Gallery
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Agency Fusion has created an infomercial style video for the fictitious Make My Logo Bigger Cream.
While the idea of designers poking fun at clients for wanting a huge logo is not new, the video still tends to be more clever than not — albeit overly repetitive and borderline annoying with the multiple product variations at the middle and end of the piece.
Labels: Agency Fusion, graphic design, humor, interactive design, resource, video
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
If you were searching for typographic inspiration coupled with the avoidance of direct confrontation — passive aggressive notes has you covered.
Labels: blog, humor, passive aggressive notes, resource
I’m of two minds on this post.
On one hand, I think the intent and concept of these recycled bags is fantastic, and that TerraCycle should be applauded in their decision to reduce and reuse what would become landfill waste.
On the other hand, I’m just not into the bag aesthetics. It seems like the overall design, patterning and style could be so much more complex, sophisticated and interesting. What do you think?
Labels: design, recycle, resource, TerraCycle
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Eighty year-old graphic designer and design educator Maryellen McFadden has assembled an enormous and genuinely impressive collection of contemporary and historical graphic design work.
She has categorized the work in an easy-to-find manner by designer, country of origin and historical style. This is as close to an online design encyclopedia as I’ve ever encountered.
If you are a graphic designer, design student or design educator, this is a bookmark you will want to have.
Labels: graphic design, history of graphic design, Maryellen McFadden, poster, resource
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
“A picture of an armed sheriff moving through an American home after an eviction due to a mortgage foreclosure was named World Press Photo of 2008 on Friday.
Jury members said the strength of the photo by American Anthony Suau for Time magazine was in its opposites -- it looks like a classic war photograph, but is simply the eviction of people from a house.
“Now war in its classic sense is coming into people’s houses because they can’t pay their mortgages,” jury chair MaryAnne Golon said.”
So the primary reason this image was selected World Press Photo of 2008 was the context that it occurred in an American home, as opposed to some other country — or that the mortgage crisis has become so bad that it can require the assistance of armed police officers? Hmmm…
Labels: Anthony Suau, article, photography, resource, TIME Magazine
Monday, February 16, 2009
Well...I guess some people notice mistakes, while others just tend to skim.
Labels: Comedy Central, humor, resource
Monday, February 9, 2009
What’cha gonna do, what’cha gonna do when they come for you.
Labels: Design Poliece, graphic design, humor, resource
Friday, February 6, 2009
“The Associated Press has determined that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission,” the AP’s director of media relations, Paul Colford, said in a statement.
“We believe fair use protects Shepard’s right to do what he did here,” says Fairey’s attorney, Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University and a lecturer at the Stanford Law School.
What do you think?
Labels: article, Copyright Law, resource, Shepard Fairey
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
If you are jonesing for free fonts and a simple but effective site design, then head over to SMeltery — a French font factory founded by Jack Usine.
Labels: graphic design, Jack Usine, resource, SMeltery
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
If you desperately need to know what day it is, yet can’t stand the convenience of glancing up at your Menu Bar — you’ve come to the right place.
The Human Calendar is a fun and cleverly voyeuristic approach to date retrieval that relies on simple visual innuendo. The calendar is the work of Craig Giffen, founder of The Human Clock.
If you are hopelessly confused, and just don’t get this fancy schmancy concept, try this link instead.
Site submission: Brian Herzog
Labels: Brian Herzog, Craig Giffen, photography, resource, The Human Calendar, The Human Clock
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