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Start the Year off Right With 2 Months of Skillshare Premium for Free

Skillshare - Free Premium Trial

Looking to start 2019 off on the right foot? Looking for ways to challenge yourself and take your work to another level? Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes related to design, illustration, business and marketing with guidance from the top industry experts. Join Grain Edit faves such as Andrew Fairclough, Tom Froese, Kate Bingaman-Burt and Brad Woodard in classes on handmade textures, storytelling, self-promotion and much more. In addition, delve into curated workshop offerings alongside like-minded students that provide ways to encourage each other and gather feedback. Whether you are looking to launch a fulfilling side project, explore a new career path or further develop your existing talents, Skillshare has you covered.

For a limited time, Grain Edit readers can receive 2 months of Skillshare Premium for free. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!

Click here to receive 2 months of Skillshare Premium for free.

 

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Recently Received Books

This is Miroslav Sasek

In our latest edition of book picks we highlight titles from Wee Society, Intercom, Universe/Rizzoli, Laurence King, TBW Books, HarperCollins and Princeton Architectural Press. In addition, we take a look at a stunning new typeface from Lost Type. All this and more after the jump.

 

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2018 A’Design Award & Competition Winners

VAUNCE Trampoline Park Brand Identity Design by PlusX and Vaunce
VAUNCE Trampoline Park Brand Identity Design by PlusX and Vaunce

The 2018 A’Design Awards winners have been announced! Pulling from a large pool of entrees, The esteemed award is presented to artists whose work rises above and excels in the area of creativity, technology, and design.

The contest is divided into a broad range of categories including Visual CommunicationUI and UXPhotography and more. Entries are then carefully considered by an international panel of design professionals, scholars, and members of the press. Winners  receive the A’Design trophy, invitations to exclusive design clubs, as well as services to advance their careers. In addition, they are honored for their accomplishments at the award ceremony in Como, Italy later this year.

Congratulations to everyone who participated! Here are some of our favorite entries from this year’s prizewinners:

 

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A’ Design Awards & Competition – Last Call for Entries

“Module” Calendar by Katsumi Tamura
“Module” Calendar by Katsumi Tamura

The deadline for submissions to the A’ Design Awards is quickly approaching. Entries must be received before February 28th. The renowned event which is held each year Como, Italy honors exemplary design work from a variety of categories including PrintPackaging, Photography, Visual Communication, and more. In addition to the A’Design trophy, winners receive marketing assistance, valuable feedback and networking opportunities at the prestigious gala event. Don’t miss your chance to have your work recognized on an international level. Register now.

 

 
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A’ Design Awards & Competition – Call for Entries

Motif Wine by En Garde Interdisciplinary GmbH

Motif Wine by En Garde Interdisciplinary GmbH

 

Do you have a project you’re really proud of? Do you think it could win an award? Start off the New Year by taking a chance and entering the A’Design Awards, the largest design competition in the world. The annual event is held in Como, Italy and accepts entries for both conceptual and realized projects. Celebrating all areas of design, the competition is organized into 100 categories including Print Design, Visual Communication, Packaging, UI and UX, Photography and more. Entries will be evaluated by a grand jury panel composed of design professionals, academics, and members of the press from across the globe. Whether you’re a student or a professional, this contest is a unique opportunity to receive feedback on your work and obtain access to services that can help foster your career. To participate, register your designs before the deadline on February 28th.

 

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World Design Rankings

filoferru outdoor chair by robby cantarutti and partners
Filoferru Outdoor Chair by Robby Cantarutti and Partners

Since 2010 the A’ Design Awards have been tracking and displaying important data gathered from their prestigious competition at the World Design Rankings (WDR). The lengthy list has recently been updated to reflect the results of the past year and is now viewable to the general public.

 

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Run Studio Run

Run studio run book

Building and sustaining a design firm is a massive endeavor and until recently there has been a lack of material on the subject. In Run Studio Run, a new book published by Extracurricular Press, Eli Altman sheds light on the topic and shares valuable insights that help to shape his naming/branding agency A Hundred Monkeys. With stories and personal commentary, Eli digs into the nitty gritty of running a business and the challenges along the way. Joining him are a diverse cast of studio owners and freelancers including Aaron Draplin, Kate Bingaman-Burt and Brent Couchman that provide advice and tips throughout the book. Run Studio Run is still in fundraising mode, but should be released this coming Spring. To support production costs and secure a copy please visit the Kickstarter campaign. Prints, pins and notebooks designed by the team at Moniker are also available as special rewards for backers.

 

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Sponsor // Mighty Deals Holiday Bundle: 400+ Design Elements

Holiday vector art

The holidays are approaching and Mighty Deals has prepared a special deal of holiday inspired vectors. Hand-drawn elements, greeting cards, background patterns, illustrations, text effects are just a few of the items part of this massive package. All-in-all over 400 design elements are included and AI, EPS and PSD files are provided to allow for customization.

See the complete package here.

 

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Stockio: Download 1000s of Free Vectors, Photos, Icons and Fonts

shell pattern

Pattern by Stockio

Looking for free stock photography? Stockio is got you covered. Select from thousands of images that are available for personal and commercial use. Categories include nature, architecture and much more. In addition, the site offers a wide range of vectors, icons, fonts and videos – all royalty free. All of your downloaded and favorited items are stored in your account, so you can easily keep track of them and build a robust portfolio of resources.

Check out Stockio for free today.

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Recently Received Books

The Moderns via @grainedit

The Moderns by Steven Heller and Greg D’Onofrio

Looking for some new inspiration or something to add to your winter reading list? Here’s a few of the titles that we’ve received within the last month or so. Included are awesome titles from Abrams, Blast Books, The Monacelli Press, Thames & Hudson, Wee Society and Princeton Architectural Press.

 

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From the Grain Edit Job Board

wrkshp job opening

UI/UX Designer at WRKSHP (Makers of the game Battle Camp and formerly known as PennyPop)

Are you a talented designer with a passion for entertainment and are looking for a way to break into the mobile games industry? We are currently seeking an UI/UX Designer to join our team of talented game professionals either remotely or in our Studio in San Francisco. This role will work closely with our designers and art directors on all of our game projects, including our hit game “Battle Camp”. Our ideal candidate will be extremely well versed with Illustrator, as that will be their primary (but not only) tool used on the job.

Apply for the UI/UX position Here.

 

See more job details after the jump

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Start the Year Off Right with Squarespace

Squarespace domains

New Year, new you? Whether changing careers, building a portfolio, or starting a business, help jumpstart your goals by creating an online presence with Squarespace. The all-in-one platform allows you to easily create an elegant yet powerful website without coding. Using well-designed templates, simply upload content and easily customize pages to create a responsive site or online shop that fits your brand. If you need assistance while building your site, customer service is available 24/7. Click here to learn more about Squarespace’s unique offers.

In addition to Squarespace’s robust features, the platform recently launched a simple and streamlined way to purchase and manage domain names – all from a central dashboard. Starting at $20 a year, every Squarespace Domain comes with WHOIS privacy, a 2048-bit SSL certificate and an all-inclusive flat rate pricing system that eliminates confusing upsells, and features a guaranteed renewal rate. A distinct and memorable domain can help establish credibility and allow customers to quickly find your business online. Be sure to create your preferred domain now before it’s gone.

To kick start your year, Squarespace is graciously offering a 10% discount to all Grain Edit readers. Type in GRAINEDIT during checkout to activate the discount and launch your Squarespace experience.

 

Squarespace logo

This post is brought to you by Squarespace – a website publishing platform that makes it easy to create beautiful websites, portfolios, blogs, and online stores without touching a line of code.

Sponsor // Smartmockups

smartmockups

Now you can whip up a product mockup/screenshot in less than 10 seconds, all without even using Photoshop. Yep, it’s a snap with the Smartmockup app. Available for MacOS, Windows and Linux, this simple-to-use app features more than 300 stunning mockup templates. Each template allows you to easily upload and incorporate your product image into the mockup and thus saving you loads of time and money!

For a limited time you can purchase Smartmockup for 50% off at Mighty Deals.

 

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Ghost Book Launch!

Ghost Book illustratus

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Ghost – a chilling new collection of short stories from a team of writers and illustrators with roots at Pixar, Disney and Paramount. Through word of mouth and cryptic Facebook updates, I have been tracking the book’s progress and this week I was excited to finally get my hands on a copy.

Produced by Illustratus, Ghost marks the studio’s first foray into publishing. If the book is indicative of future releases, then they are off to a very good start. Sizing in at 9.25” x 12”, this mighty tome (or should I say tomb?) contains 13 hair-raising vignettes told through the voice of a reclusive groundskeeper. In each tale, the author meticulously summons the spirit of campfire nights of a youthful past through vivid storytelling that is equally engaging as it is terrifying. Interacting with and shaping the words are a series of dense and haunting visuals. Employing snow-bleached landscapes, speckled textures and muted tones, the images take on an ephemeral and otherworldly quality. The end result is aesthetically stunning and will serve as a worthy benchmark for a new generation of ghost stories.

Ghost is available for pre-orders today, with books shipping out as early as November 1st. In addition, you can pick up a copy at a special book launch, art auction and Halloween party this weekend in LA. Included in the auction will be original art works by Pete Docter, Sanjay Patel, Chris Sasaki, Jeff Turley, Daniela Strijleva, Albert Lozano and many others. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

 

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Sponsor // A Fresh Face in The Stock Imagery World

Foto Sushi

Foto Sushi, a new player in the stock photo industry, is breathing life into the mundane world of people imagery. The brainchild of seasoned art directors and designers, Foto Sushi was created to help alleviate some of the pain that goes into finding good people images. Designers can choose from about a dozen expressions per model, and each model is shot under consistent lighting schemes so they can be easily grouped together. Each extra-large, high resolution image has been beautifully retouched to save designers time and models are shot in focus to make them easy to clip out. Lastly, Images are never cropped, so designers wont’ be inconvenienced with rebuilding body parts. Licensing agreements are Royalty-free making Foto Sushi hassle-free.

See all the images at Foto Sushi.

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Sponsor // Yana Typeface

Yana by Laura Worthington

 

Classy, calligraphic, and confident. Yana’s classical proportions convey worldly sophistication and experience. Yet unlike more staid classical faces, Yana’s concave terminals and elegantly flared serifs suggest romance, mystery, and a touch of Victorian extravagance.

Designed as a versatile family for everything from text use to headlines and titling, you’ll find yourself using Yana in project after project. Yana is available in regular, bold, and italic variants, and includes two sets of swash capitals — each available in standard sizes and small caps, but also in mid-sized petite caps, ideal for adding beautiful, properly scaled flourishes to the middle or end of wordmarks.

Yana is available through a limited-time promo deal here.

 

 

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Recently Received

graphic design books @grainedit

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. Included are impressive new titles from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, Flying Eye Books, Extracurricular Press, GraphicDesign&, Laurence King and others. See all the items after the jump.

 

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Sponsor // Summer Font Collection

Sans Serif Font

With Mighty Deals Summer font collection you will receive over 30 fonts from 6 different designers! Included are script, brush and modern sans serif fonts, each with a variety of options.  In addition, some fonts include stylistic alternates such as ligatures and swashes. This bundle also features an extended license which allows for personal and commercial use.

Pick up the complete collection here.

 

 

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Sponsor // Font Collection

blackfat script

The Fonts Collection is an ensemble of 40 fabulous fonts worthy of any design or craft project. With a combination of brush, script and modern typefaces you are sure to find something you love. As always the bundles are PUA encoded so you do not need to worry about buying expensive software to access any extra glyphs that may be available. Included with the price is a full commercial license.

Pick up this collection for 95% off at Font Bundles.

 

 

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Sponsor // Vintage Fonts

rolla font

Merge the past with the present thanks to this font package. Included are 12 font families, each with a variety of styles and options. In addition, many include bonus graphic elements such as logo templates, badges and even hi-res textures. This bundle also features an extended license which allows for personal and commercial use.

Pick up the complete collection at Mighty Deals.

 

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Sponsor // Pixelo – 30 Script Fonts

Script Fonts

If you’re looking for some fresh script fonts, check out this special offer from Pixelo. Included are 30 scripts to take your designs to a new level. Each font is crafted with love and many include alternate characters. In addition, some of the sets include bonus material such as vectors and ornaments etc. This offer also includes an extended license which grants you the rights to use the fonts in products you plan to sell.

Grab this bundle for only $29 (98% off).

 

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Recently Received

Design Books

In our latest installment of book picks we highlight new and exciting titles from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, Metropolis, Flying Eye and many others. All are worth noting, but we highly recommend TD 63-73, Very Graphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century and Design for People.

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The Myths of Design

Myths of design

“The Myths of Design” is a collection of advice, stories, anecdotes and interviews featuring some of the world’s best designers. The book is still in progress , but will feature Erik Marinovich, Aaron Draplin, Jolby & Friends, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Don Clark and others. To support production costs and secure a copy please visit the Kickstarter campaign.

 

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Braley Design

Braley Design

A veteran of brand, print, and packaging design, Michael Braley has amassed an impressive portfolio of clients, projects and awards. His work has been recognized internationally and is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The Denver Art Museum.

 

 

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Sponsor // The Hungry JPEG

fetridge font

Fetridge & Outfitter

In recent years script fonts have found a renewed interest. Known for their fluid and varied strokes these digital counterparts draw inspiration from sign painting of the past and present. Since they are based on the gestures of the written word, they can add warmth and personality to a design often making it more approachable.

In today’s post we highlight a series of scripts from our sponsor The Hungry JPEG. Ranging in a variety of styles and weights  the examples below represent just a small fraction of their current catalog.

 

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2015 Holiday Gift Guide: Design Books

Design book gift guide

Here it is, our annual book gift guide! Below you will find over 30 titles from our favorite publishers. Included are our top picks for illustration, graphic design and typography. Enjoy!

 

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Stefan Glerum – Stained Glass Project

Stefan Glerum - Stained Glass

 

Stefan Glerum recently updated his portfolio with a stunning project for an Amsterdam-based housing complex. Working along side a fabricator (Atelier Schmit), Stefan crafted a series of  multi-paned stained glass murals that ascend to a height of 60 feet. Both murals pay homage to the local history and feature the Oostergasfabriek (a 19th century gas factory) that was well-known in the area.

 

 

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Recently Received

ladislavsutnar-visual-1

We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Lars Muller, Chronicle Books, Print, Penguin Books, Walker Art Center, Vitra and Silvania Editoriale. See all the books and images after the jump.

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Nifty – 50

nifty 50

Nifty—50 is a poster project organized by Socio Design, in which 50 creatives from around the world were invited to creatively interpret the word ‘Money’. The fifty posters have been printed as an Edition of One and will be sold through a process of sealed bids on nifty50.sociodesign.co.uk. All proceeds from the project will be going to the Countess Mountbatten Hospice Charity — an organisation that cares for people with life-limiting illnesses.

 

 

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Chris DeLorenzo Interview

Chris DeLorenzo

I’ve been following the work of Christopher DeLorenzo for sometime now and i’ve always been impressed with his ability to skillfully navigate between illustration, type and design with the slightest of ease. Building on simple forms, he crafts character-driven work that is equally informed by his love for film and passion for literature. A native of Massachusetts, Chris briefly ventured into NY for a stint at Saatchi & Saatchi X. He has since returned, to take on the lead design / art director role at the clothing brand Johnny Cupcakes. We’ve featured Chris’s work on the site in the past, but in today’s interview he grants us a closer look into his work and process.

 

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Super Super

super super

Brillant work from Super Super, a Warsaw-based creative studio specialising in connecting ideas with design and technology.

 

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Brand Guide: Singapore Edition

Foreign Policy

Brand Guide: Singapore Edition rounds up the iconic homegrown brands that attest to the current golden age of design in Singapore. Conceived by local design think-tank studio, Foreign Policy Design Group, this publication goes in-depth, featuring the brains behind some of Singapore’s most well-known and well-loved brands, such as Unlisted Collection:, The Lo & Behold Group, Papa Palheta, Ong Shunmugam, GOODSTUPH, DrGL, Supermama, BooksActually,and Plain Vanilla. Doubling as an alternative travel guide for the modern design traveller, Brand Guide: Singapore Edition hopes to share their appreciation for local brands and to inspire that in their readers.

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Recently Received

lance-wyman-book-1

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. Included are impressive new titles from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Lars Muller, Laurence King, F&W Media and Princeton Architectural Press. Especially worth noting is Unit Edition’s latest endeavor – a hearty monograph on Lance Wyman.

 

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dn&co

dn&co

Outstanding design work from dn&co., a multidisciplinary studio based in London.

 

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Yellow: The Collected Book

off life yellow

Created by the team behind OFF LIFE, Yellow is a celebration of illustration and the artists who’ve made it their own. Through Yellow, OFF LIFE wanted to show that illustration isn’t just a medium of pretty pictures; that it can be as powerful as any photograph or piece of writing. With this in mind, they rounded up 52 of the world’s most exciting artists, allocated them each a week of the year and asked them to illustrate one news story that broke within their seven days. The result is an entire illustrated year from 52 unique perspectives. And with the year nearly up, we’re collecting every piece into a beautiful hardback book that showcases what illustration can bring to the biggest issues of our time.

Artists include Jean Jullien, Hattie Stewart, Supermundane, Malika Favre, Ian Stevenson, Stanley Chow, Grace Wilson, Pete Fowler, Martin Rowson, Matthew the Horse, Charlotte Mei, Jamie Coe, Chris Riddell, Martina Paukova, Chris SimpsonsArtist and (literally) dozens more.

OFF LIFE will be taking orders over the next few days through their Kickstarter campaign. Pick up your copy now!

 

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Blast off into Space with Professor Astro Cat!

Professor Astro Cat

Minilab is a new app development studio from the minds of Nobrow and Flying Eye Books. Steeped in the same ethos as their traditional print counterparts, they aim to deliver memorable products that revel in strong visual storytelling. For their first project, they were tasked to bring Ben Newman’s best selling book Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space to life.  You can download the app at iTunes and see a preview of the app in action here.

 

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Daniele Simonelli

Daniele Simonelli

UK based designer and illustrator Daniele Simonelli has a style that is both warm and endearing. Through his calculated use of texture and color, he creates vivid imagery that tempt and captivate your attention.

 

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Josh Brill Canine Collection

Josh Brill Canine

Grain Edit friend and fave, Josh Brill recently updated his shop with a sophisticated collection of canine prints. Included in the series are illustrations of Labrador Retrievers. Boxers and French Bulldogs. See the complete collection here.

 

 

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Anne-Margot Ramstein

Anne-Margot Ramstein

 

Beautiful work from Anne-Margot Ramstein an author and illustrator based in Montreal.

 

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Tom Froese

Tom Froese

Tom Froese is a Canadian designer who revels in color and has a real flair for finding the humor in everyday life. Recently Tom updated his website with a vibrant collection of new works, including projects for Offscreen, Herb Lester and Walrus magazine.

 

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I Am the Frankenstein Monster!

Ralph Cosentino

Werewolves! vampires! spiders with top hats! These are some of the creatures featured in a new monster picture book series by author, illustrator, and character designer Ralph Cosentino. Inspired by his love for monsters this collection pays homage to the folklore and stories he admired as a kid.

In the first book, readers are invited to rediscover Frankenstein, not as a menacing beast but as a gentle giant with a love for reading and foreign languages. Joining him in his adventures are a chubby bat named Claude and a lovable cat named Bela. Together they explore alternative uses for windmills and learn the finer points of Spanish music and dancing (I suspect the later pays homage to Ralph’s own background as the son of Argentinian flamenco dancers). To help bring the story to life, Ralph employs auditory phrases and expressive typography to encourage parents and children alike to immerse themselves in the experience and pretend to be their favorite characters.

After years of burning the midnight oil, Ralph is ready to bring the series to light (but don’t tell Dracula!).  To secure a copy and earn cool stuff along the way, you can help support his efforts via this Kickstarter campaign.

 

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Dock 57

Dock 57

Dock 57 is the online moniker of designers Sveta Shubina and Manar Shajri. Hailing from Russia, the dynamic duo specialize in creating logotypes, corporate branding and illustrations.

 

 

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Anne Jordan

anne-jordan-3

Feast your eyes on the work of Anne Jordan, a book designer and recent winner of Print magazine’s New Visual Artists :15 under 30. Along with her husband – designer Mitch Goldstein –  she maintains a small design studio in Rochester, New York. Through process-driven experiments with unconventional materials and techniques, she crafts work that embraces the elements of chance and limitation.

 

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Been Busy: The Art & Graphic Design of Mike Davis

Been Busy - Mike Davis

I’m excited to announce the upcoming release of Been Busy: The Art & Design of Mike Davis. As a founding member of Burlesque of  North America, Mike has created concert posters, logos, t-shirts, stage graphics, album artwork and more for a wide range of clients including Nike, Rhymesayers and Kidrobot. This book provides a rare glimpse into his process and will feature never-before seen concept sketches and doodles along with a variety of projects that span his career as a designer. Been Busy is still in fundraising mode, but should be released in October. To support production costs and secure a copy please visit his kickstarter campaign.

 

 

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Sabbath Visuals

Sabbath Visuals

 

Sabbath is a multi-disciplinary design studio based in Monterrey, Mexico.  One of my favorite projects from the firm is a self-intiated branding campaign for a fictional thermos company called Ownluck. The thermos features a unique compartment system that allows the user to store three distinct liquids. Building from this key innovation, the team devised a visual language that incorporates a series of three line divisions into the logo and packaging. See the complete campaign here.

 

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nju:comunicazione

 nju:comunicazione

I’m excited to discover the work of nju:comunicazione, a multidisclipnary studio from the South of Italy. With a diverse portfolio that spans branding, illustration and packaging, they easily transition between work that is sparse and restrained to projects that are highly expressive. See more here.

 

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Sponsor // Fonts.com Desktop Font Subscriptions

fonts.com subscription

 

Not having the right type for the job can make your design workflow suffer. While licensing a large collection of fonts can mean a major up front investment. We’ve got you covered, though!

Introducing Fonts.com Desktop Font Subscriptions. Access over 9,000 top fonts for just one low monthly price. Our comprehensive library will help you tackle nearly any design project—be it branding, publication, packaging or more!

You’ll unlock the Monotype, Linotype and ITC typeface libraries, which feature signature designs like the Neue Helvetica®, Avenir® Next, and ITC Franklin Gothic™ families—as well popular new releases, including the Metro® Nova and Neue Haas Grotesk™ collections. See how easy and affordable it can be to have complete access to the world’s greatest type.

Get your new subscription FREE for 14 days now!

This post is brought to you by Fonts.com – a leading provider of desktop fonts and Web fonts. With an exhaustive inventory of type related products and subscriptions, Fonts.com can help you get your design work done quickly, easily, and more beautifully.

 

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Marijke Buurlage

Marijke Buurlage

Lovely work from Marijke Buurlage, an artist living and working in the Netherlands. With a love for animals and plants she crafts vibrant landscapes and precious moments that appear to be frozen in time. Many of her illustrations can be found gracing the covers of books and magazines along with posters and prints. Explore her world further at marijkebuurlage.com

 

 

 

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Recently Received

Design Books

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, powerHouse Books, Unit Editions and Princeton Architectural Press. See all the books after the jump.

 

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Matteo Riva

Matteo Riva

Matteo Riva aka Crockhaus is a designer and illustrator based in Milan Italy. With skill and precision he creates work that is bold, colorful and compelling. In addition to his freelance work, he serves as the art director of Vita Magazine.

 

 

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Sponsor // Squarespace Launches Free Skillshare Class

Skillshare & Squarespace

Squarespace has just released a free online Skillshare class called Creating a Website to Build Your Online Brand. In just one hour, instructor George Denison walks you through creating and maintaining an online presence that’s beautiful and helps you achieve your business goals. Lesson topics include: ways to grow your site over time, best practices for 5 essential site pages and tips for optimizing templates, images, and content.

All makers, creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses welcome. No prior knowledge or skills are needed. Plus, students are encouraged to share their sites for feedback.

Enroll for free in Creating a Website to Build Your Online Brand.

 

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Herburg Weiland

Herburg Weiland

Impressive work from Herburg Weiland, a Munich-based studio with a focus on branding and editorial design.

 

 

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Sponsor // Free Font Bundle

Font Bundle

The good folks at WebdesignerNews are offering a special font bundle to download and use. Included in the collection are 17 typefaces ranging from highly geometric designs to cursive scripts and modern sans serifs. Download the complete collection for free here.

 

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Cruschiform

Cruschiform

Amazing work from Cruschiform, a creative studio based in Paris with a focus on design and illustration. Founded by Marie-laure Cruschi in 2007, the studio has made a name for itself through it’s thoughtful explorations in color and shape. Building from simple modular forms, Cruschiform creates intricate and visually striking landscapes that demand a closer look. Images from her recent collaboration with Taschen and Philip Jodidio can be found on her website and are well worth a visit.

 

 

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Toro y Moi – Sketch to Screen

Toro Y Moi

Yours Truly has put together an amazing video and feature on Chaz Bundick a.k.a Toro y Moi. Chaz is well-known for his musical talents, but most people would be surprised to hear that he is an accomplished illustrator and designer as well. In the video, viewers are treated to a rare glimpse of his creative process including sketches for an exclusive t-shirt made for the feature. In addition, Yours Truly has teamed up with WeTransfer for a special download that includes photos, posters and sketches by Chaz.

 

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Tsto

Tsto

Tsto is a graphic design studio with offices in Helsinki and New York . In this identity work for TaideHalli, an art exhibition venue in Helsikni, Tsto pays homage to the the institution’s rich history and the building’s architectural elements. The logo was inspired by the main facade of the building and alternative versions were created to reflect Taidehalli’s ever-changing approach to contemporary art.

 

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Andres Lozano

Andres Lozano via grainedit.com

Andres Lozano is a 22 year old illustrator from Madrid, Spain. With a passion for architecture, Franco-Belgian comics and Film Noir, he creates bold images with a strong emphasis on line work and textures. In addition to his freelance projects, he is the editor/publisher of Guts Zine and a proud member of Just Us Collective.

 

 

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Michael Driver

Michael Driver

Michael Driver is a freelance illustrator based in the UK with a knack for crafting colorful and often character-driven work. I’m especially fond of the piece above, which was the winning entry in the D&AD Wetransfer brief ‘Draw Yourself in Ten Years’. In the illustration Michael envisions his future self with a cushy London pad, a slick Eames chair and a noticeable lack of hair.

 

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Sponsor // Squarespace

Squarespace Ecommerce

Squarespace is the perfect solution for designers looking to establish an online shop or host their portfolio. With a variety of themes to choose from, you can have a clean and responsive website up in a matter of minutes – all without touch a single line of code. The completely inclusive, all-in-one service provides content management, hosting, domains, social integrations, 24-hour customer support and more for only $8 a month. And with their new Cover Pages tool, the deal just got a little sweeter. Using the tool, you can quickly and easily create standalone landing pages or an intro page to an existing web site. All of this adds up to a powerful platform that allows you to efficiently run your business instead of your business running you.

 

Save 10%
Squarespace is graciously offering grain edit readers a 10% discount off all plans for a limited time. Type in GRAINEDIT during checkout to activate the discount and launch your Squarespace experience.

 
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Future Classic

futureclassic-4

Neenah paper celebrates the relationship between destination and design in their latest promotion entitled Future Classic. In a collaboration with Washington D.C.-based creative studio Design Army, Neenah Paper asked seven emerging artists to interpret the cities they live in, through design. The end result will be available in a soon-to-be released book.

 

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Strom & Jag

Strom & Jag via grainedit.com

Ström & Jag is a new design studio founded by Hampus Jageland and Malin Holmström. After stints in Sydney and Paris, the two have decided to set up shop in Stockholm, where they will continue to craft unique and engaging work for their clients.

 

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Recently Received: Nix Pro Sensor

Nix

Recently I had the pleasure of testing the Nix Pro Color Sensor. Originally developed in 2012, the compact Bluetooth enabled device allows you to easily capture and save colors from the real world. Simply hover over an object, click “scan” on the iPhone synced app, and Nix will  convert the found color into RGB, CMYK, HEX, and CIELAB values. Once entered into the app, the color profile can be saved and organized into palettes to be referenced at a later time.

For designers, Nix is a dream tool that replaces the need to carry around heavy swatchbooks. Since it’s lightweight and roughly the size of a ping pong ball, it can be easily stored in a bag or backpack and it’s innovative design allows for a more accurate method of color matching. In addition, color swatches can be compared against each other, making for a powerful and effective tool for client work in the field.

For grain edit readers, Nix is currently offering 10% off a purchase of a Nix Pro Color Sensor.

 

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Another Collective

Another Collective via grainedit.com

Another Collective is a small, but nimble studio based out of Matosinhos, Portugal. Founded in 2012, the studio has built a name for itself through its thoughtful approach to branding and editorial design.

 

 

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Sponsor // Panton Font Family

Panton Font

Panton is a modern typeface that includes 34 different fonts, made up of 9 uprights, 9 italics and 16 icon sets! Easy to read, Panton is a great choice for using on everything from T-shirts to posters, thanks to its real softened geometric nature. See all the details here.

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Kindred Studio

Kindred Studio

Kindred Studio is the online moniker and artistic alter ego of Designer and Art Director Andrew Fairclough. Working with a minimal yet refined color palette, he crafts highly detailed imagery that pays homage to spot illustrations of the past and the textural wonders of degraded print. Based in Sydney his client list includes: Penguin, American Express, GQ, Random House, Jack Daniels The Globe & Mail, ESPN, Little White Lies and more.

 

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Recently Received

Munari's Books via grainedit.com

We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Nobrow, Laurence King, Princeton Architectural Press, D.A.P, Fshnunlimited and Chronicle Books. See all the books and images after the jump.

 

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Squarespace Cover Pages

Squarespace Coverpages

First impressions are everything, and with Squarespace’s new Cover Page tool, you can craft a bold, yet elegant standalone landing page in a manner of minutes!  The twelve themes to choose from can be used in powerful ways for a variety of applications. Create pages to collect email addresses, promote your brand or even announce upcoming events. In addition, Cover Pages work independently of your core theme, so you can easily add them to an existing website. Combined with Squarespace’s robust e-commerce functionally, they can be used in unique and meaningful ways of connecting with your biggest fans and loyal customers.

Included with each Squarespace account are real-time analytics, a free domain, cloud hosting and award-winning 24/7 support.

Save 10%
Squarespace is graciously offering grain edit readers a 10% discount off all plans for a limited time. Type in GRAINEDIT during checkout to activate the discount and launch your Squarespace experience.

 

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David Doran

David Doran

David Doran is a freelance illustrator based in the UK. A recent graduate of Falmouth University, he creates rich and layered work with a strong sense of narrative and visual emotion. His clients include The New York Times, WIRED, Nobrow and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Heng Chun Liow

Heng Chun Liow

Thought provoking work from Heng Chun Liow, a Malaysian designer and student at  the Dasein Academy of Art.

 

 

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Roberto Montani

Roberto Montani

I’m throughly impressed with the quality and breadth of projects from Italian-based designer, Roberto Montani. His bold and often minimal approach to design results in work that is elegant, yet still remains playful and energetic.

 

 

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Update: Jolby & Friends

Jolby and Friends

Our friends at Jolby recently updated their site with an impressive line of new work including projects for Barista and St. Johns Bizarre. Also worth noting is their Spring Bloom print which is now available in their shop.

 

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Asuka Watanabe

Asuka Watanabe

Asuka Watanabe is a multidisciplinary designer, illustrator and occasional cookie artist.  A graduate of Tama Art University, she now splits her time between Tokyo and Los Angeles.

 

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Ladislav Sutnar: Visual Design in Action – Reprint

Ladislav Sutnar

On Tuesdsay, Designers & Books launched a special kickstarter campaign to reprint Ladislav Sutnar’s now classic Visual Design in Action. Published in 1961, the book has been out of print for over 40 years and due to it’s limited production, scarcely seen in the open market. If the campaign is successful, production will begin immediately and the book will be available as soon as this fall. To aid in the production, Designers & Books has enlisted an amazing team including Steven Heller, designer Reto Caduff and publisher Lars Muller. To support their efforts, please visit the official Kickstarter page and soon. Early backer discounts are available, but limited.

 

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Sponsor // 100% Free Assets for Every Designer

Vector Download

1001FreeDownloads is a new site where you can find thousands of images which are not only free, but royalty-free, and can be used for commercial and business purposes.The free downloads available on the site are organized under nine image types and categories: Vectors, Photos, Fonts, Icons, Wallpapers, Brushes, Styles, Patterns and Clipart and can be downloaded immediately without registration. Just pick and download, it’s that simple.

 

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The Heart Index

The heart index

The Heart Index is a not-for-profit design compendium, raising money and awareness for Heart Research UK. Created by Craig Atkinson and Grace Bond, the book showcases a collection of hearts designed and interpreted by a host of contemporary practitioners including Adrian Shaughnessy, Spin and Wim Crouwel. See all the details here.

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Spin: Identity for Simon Pengelly

Simon Pengelly identity by Spin

The folks at Spin recently launched a new identity for Simon Pengelly, a British furniture designer and founder of Pengelly Design.  Pulling inspiration from the graphic stripes found on Simon’s chairs, Spin crafted a minimal yet distinctive mark that reflects the spirit of the brand.

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Sponsor // Webdesigner News

Web Designer News

You likely spend hours every morning browsing through hundreds of posts on your RSS feeds, hoping to stumble across relevant stories. Designer News was built to provide web designers and developers with a single location to discover the latest and most significant stories on the Web. Content includes: news, fresh tools and apps, case studies, code demos, inspiration posts, videos and more. Click here to visit Webdesigner News  and see the latest stories of the day.

 

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Sindy Ethel

Sindy Ethel

Sindy Ethel is a Monterrey, Mexico-based interactive designer with a passion for lettering. Her brief, but well-curated portfolio is filled with work that showcases her thoughtful investigations into letterforms.

 

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Sponsor // CreativeLive

Creative Live

CreativeLive educates and inspires the creative world by providing affordable skill-based education 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Founded with the belief that world-class education can (and should) be available to everyone, CreativeLive is the first online education company to combine high production value, social interaction, and renowned experts with a live, free 24/7 format. The interactive nature of CreativeLive’s classes creates an environment that fosters community, creative breakthroughs, and lasting personal change.

CreativeLive launched their Design Channel this January with a roster of amazing instructors including James Victore, Stanley Hainsworth, Brandon Rike, and more.

Don’t miss Hand Lettering School this week on CreativeLive where you can catch rebroadcasts of the following classes and purchase them at sale prices:

4/13 – Hand Lettering 101 with Annica Lydenberg
4/14 – Illustrative Stylings: Lettering and More with Chris Piascik
4/15 – Methods for Custom Lettering with Brandon Rike
4/16 – Chalk Lettering with Annica Lydenberg
4/17 – Bold & Fearless Poster Design with James Victore

Check out all of our hand lettering classes right here.

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Homework

Design by Homework

Impressive packaging and editorial direction from Homework – a Danish design studio with a focus on brand expression and communication for the fashion industry.

 

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Flomm

Flomm

What would a video game look like if developed in 1923 by a group of angry modern artists? Flomm attempts to answer that question and more. Part media art project, part design history lesson, Flomm is a historical game that recreates the struggle of modern art against the Tyranny of Tradition! Download the game here.

 

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Jesse LeDoux

Jesse LeDoux

I’ve long-admired Jesse LeDoux’s work and his earliest gig posters with Patent Pending are what sparked my interest in design and typography. In the early 2000s he was the in-house art director for Sub Pop records where he created iconic cover art for the Shins, Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie and many others. Since leaving he has forged a solo career where the same level of craft and expertise has continued to permeate his work.  In his latest offering, Jesse has produced a Skillshare class that allows users to gain access to his vast knowledge of poster making and design. In the class, you’ll learn his favorite tools and techniques, preparing work for screen printing and much more. See all the details here.

 

 

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Owen Davey

Owen Davey

Owen Davey is an award winning illustrator whose work has graced the pages of Wired magazine, The New York Times and Nobrow. Working with a mixture of traditional and digital techniques he crafts fantastical imagery brimming with warm tones and gently nuanced textures.

 

 

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Thomas Vanhuyse

Thomas Vanhuyse

Lovely work from Thomas Vanhuyse, a designer and illustrator from Ghent, Belgium.

 

 

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Naonori Yago

Naonori Yago

Naonori Yago is an art director/ designer who specializes in work for the art and fashion industries. Working with a variety of materials, he creates dense, layered compositions pulsating with color and light. I’m especially fond of his work for Laforet HARAJUKU in which he created a series of transparent sheets that when combined formed a unified graphic.

 

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Hulse & Durrell

Hulse & Durrell -Identity work for Canada curling

Ben Hulse and Greg Durrell first started working together in 2007 on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games and have been busy ever since. In recent months they have been immersed in a thoughtful rebranding of the national curling team. In addition, their latest identity campaign for Swimming Canada has earned them high praise in what Olympic medalist Brent Hayden says is a brand that “honours the past while setting a bold statement for the team going forward”. I couldn’t agree more. Look for a new Hulse & Durrell site launching soon.

 

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Kelly Thorn

Kelly Thorn

Kelly Thorn’s playful type arrangements never fail to delight. A graduate of the Tyler School of Art, she now fills her days creating intricate yet elegant work for the fine folks at Louise Fili’s studio.

 

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Sponsor // Webydo

Your web design canvas. Made for designers.

Webydo is a professional website design platform that empowers graphic and
web designers to create and manage pixel-perfect responsive websites for
their clients, completely code-free.

Led by a community of over 130K professional designers, design studios and
agencies, Webydo helps creative professionals concentrate on what is most
important to them – the creative element of web building. With advanced
features like a built-in CMS, a full white label solution and the ability to
bill clients directly from the dashboard, designers can truly create their
web design empire.

 

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Gracia Lam

Gracia Lam

I am thrilled to discover the work of Gracia Lam. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Toronto, she crafts clever illustrations that reinvent and uplift the everyday and mundane.

 

 

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Graphic Means

Graphic Means is a new film by Briar Levit, that explores the tools and techniques employed in graphic design. Featuring interviews with Ellen Lupton, Adrian Shaughnessy and many others, the film traces design production methods from its beginnings with mechanical paste-ups and typesetting to its current state. Graphic Means is currently in fundraising mode and has reached nearly half its goal. To support their efforts please visit their Kickstarter page.

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Joseph Veazey

Joseph Veazey

I was excited to discover the work of Joseph Veazey. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, he has since moved onto positions at Adult Swim and Azede Jean-Pierre – an upcoming fashion label based in New York. His illustrations have been featured in American Illustration, Creative Quarterly, CMYK Magazine and Print.

 

 

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Sponsor // Zelda Font

Zelda Font

Zelda is a gorgeous script font, from Artimasa, that is as classy as it is versatile. Use it on anything from wedding invitations to company branding. With more than 500 glyphs, you’ll get loads of OpenType features, as well as ornamental characters to keep you satisfied. See all the details here.

 

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Kyle Read

Lettering by Kyle Read

Kyle Read is an illustrator and designer based in Denver, CO.  His work has received awards and accolades from an impressive list of folks including the ADC, TDC, and the AIGA. In 2013 he was the recipient of the SoTA Catalyst Award for Promise in Type Design.

 

 

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A Friend of Mine Update

Design by: A Friend of Mine

Lots of new and exciting work since we last checked in at the folks at A Friend of Mine.

 

 

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Sponsor // IKEA

In a new campaign, IKEA honours the things at home that usually get very little recognition. Conceived as an epic homage, the lamp, clothes hanger and even the wall-mounted hook behind the door, are all portrayed as true heroes.

 

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Michael Arnold

michaelarnold-4

Bold and playful work from Michael Arnold, a 22 year old illustrator from the UK.

 

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Jay Quercia

Jay Quercia

Brooklyn-based illustrator and designer Jay Quercia recently gave his website a fresh makeover. With the update comes an impressive lineup of work that showcases his depth and versatility.

 

 

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Sponsor // Kapra Font Family

Kapra Font

This week we’re excited to bring you Kapra, a font family inspired Polish magazines from the 1960s. Included with the set are eight variants and a huge collection of glyphs. See the complete collection here.

 

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Bratislav Milenkovic

Bratislav Milenkovic

 

Bratislav Milenkovic is a freelance illustrator living and working in Serbia. A graduate of the Applied Arts Faculty in Belgrade, he has created work for a variety of clients including The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Computer Arts, Poolga and more.

 

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Recently Received

Puff by William Wondriska

In our latest round of book finds we feature titles from William Wondriska, Friends of Type, Veritas and Princeton Architectural Press. It’s a brief. but solid list filled with solid additions to any library. See all the books after the jump.

 

 

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Sponsor // Bo Concept Presents Mads Mikkelsen in the Call

The Call with Mads Mikkelsen

For fans of Scandinavian modern design, leading furniture retailer Bo Concept has teamed up with Mads Mikkelsen for a short film entitled The Call. Mads who is best known for his roles in Casino Royale and more recently The Hunt, plays the role of a well-to-do actor with a lust for modern furniture. Playing alongside him is Malin Buska, a Swedish actress who received the Rising Star award at the Stockholm International Film Festival in 2011. The Call is the first installment of a two-part series to be released this year.

 

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One and Done

One and Done Studio

One and Done is the online home and moniker of Lorin Brown. Hailing fro Wayne, PA, Lorin currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, where he has amassed an impressive client list for his highly expressive design work. Arkitip, 2K by Gingham, Band Of Outsiders, Beautiful/Decay and Anthology are just a few of the names he’s worked with over the years.

 

 

 

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Andrea Dell’Anna

Andrea Dell'Anna

 

 

Outstanding work from Andrea Dell’Anna, an Italian designer living and working in London. Using contrast and repetition he creates work that is pulsing with rhythm.

 

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Margherita Urbani Update

Margherita Urbani

Margherita Urbani recently updated her portfolio with some impressive new work. Included are projects for the New York Times, Apartamento Magazine and her collaborations with Andy Rementer.

 

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Peter Judson

Peter Judson

It’s hard to deny the allure of Peter Judson’s illustrations. With skill and precision he crafts vibrant landscapes brimming with architectual elements, primary colors and playful patterns.

 

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Sponsor // Script Font Bundle

Script fonts

 

This Exclusive Font Bundle includes 10 beautiful script font sets that range from whimsical to incredibly high class.  Included are popular fonts like Hipsteria, Shepia and Ragazza Script by Latino Type. See the complete collection here.

 

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Interview with Shillington School graduate Hannah Tomlinson

Hannah Tomlinson

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Hannah Tomlinson, a designer living and working in Manchester.  A former account executive, she stumbled upon the world of graphic design while working for an advertising agency. This new found interest sparked a desire to adjust her current career path and pursue an education at Shillington – a design school with campuses in the U.K., Australia and the United States. There, she received invaluable guidance from teachers such as Sarah McHugh and grain edit fave Jeffery Bowman. By honing her skills through a series of internships after graduation, she eventually landed a full-time gig at the multidisciplinary firm RetroFuzz. Today Hannah shares insight into the types of projects that drive her and how her experiences at Shillington better prepared her to enter a competitive work force.

 

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Damien Gautier

Damien Gautier

 

Bureau 205 is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Villeurbanne, France. Founded in 2010 by Damien Gautier, the studio provides comprehensive design solutions with a special focus in type design and type-driven work.

 

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Veronica Grech

Veronica Grech

After years of working in the field of education, Veronica Grech decided to pursue her true calling, illustration.  Inspired by her love for folk art and the age of exploration, she creates whimsical works brimming with color and life.

 

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Bogdan Kociuba

MMA posters by Bogdan Kociuba

For fans of the MMA, Bogdan Kociuba’s portfolio is worth taking a look at. He has created a series of posters that pay tribute the league’s most notorious fighters. See the posters in all their glory here.

 

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Sponsor // Digit

Every­one feels like they should be sav­ing more money. How­ever sav­ing money is hard and stress­ful. That’s why we built Digit. Digit auto­mat­i­cally saves money for you, so you don’t have to think about it. Our hope is, with Digit, we can remove some of the money stress from our lives. So far Digit has saved over $700,000 for our members.

Today we’re shar­ing more invites to Digit.

Any­one who uses this link, not only will be able to sign up for Digit today. But will also get jump started with a free $5 in their Digit savings.

 

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Dadu Shin

Dadu Shin on grainedit.com

Lovely fashion illustrations from Dadu Shin, an illustrator living and working in New York.

 

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Sponsor // Jotform

jot form

Jotform is an online service that allows you to easily create and host forms for a variety of applications. Working with Jotform’s form builder you can conceive and construct forms for registration purposes, applications, surveys and more. However, until recently you were limited in design options. All that has changed with Jotform’s latest update, which allows you complete control over  the look and feel of your forms. Easily manipulate the colors, fonts and layout without knowing a single line of code.

To complement the release of the enhanced form builder Jotform has also launched a new theme marketplace. This should be of special interest to designers looking to showcase and sell their work. From now until June 15th, 2015  Jotform is waiving their fees so designers will earn one hundred percent of their theme sales. After the 15th, Jotform will retain 30%. To submit a theme, click the “new theme” button in the upper right corner of the My Themes page.

 

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Alex Wollner: Brasil Design Visual

Alex Wollner - brasil design visual

The last and final addition to our Design Book Gift Guide is alex wollner: brasil design visual. You can see images and a brief summary in our holiday wish list.

From the Job Board

Graphic Design Jobs

Senior Designer – Hybrid Design (San Francisco, CA)
Graphic Designer – Hybrid Design (San Francisco, CA)
Faculty Position for the Illustration Practice MFA program – MICA (Baltimore, MD)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

Grosz Co. Lab

Groszo Co lab

Victoria -based Grosz Co. Lab has created a flexible identity system for the newly renamed Ascui & Co. Architects. As mentioned on the Grosz Co.website, they “developed a morphing visual language sequence along with a suite of ever changing ‘temperatures’ to encourage an on-going evolution of the brand through the client’s own creative contribution and experimentation”.

 

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Interview with Shillington School graduate Catherine Adreani

Catherine Adreani's studio

Continuing on in our interview series we chat with Catherine Adreani. A recent graduate of Shillington, she has quickly established herself as a thoughtful and capable designer with a well-polished portfolio. Today we discuss how her previous work in the film industry shaped her approach to design and what factors led to her decision to attend Shillington.

 

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Marta Gawin

Marta Gawin

Working with a limited color palette, Polish designer Marta Gawin has created a vibrant identity system that wonderfully captures the spirit and energy of the Katowice JazzArt Festival.

 

 

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Rasmus Koch Studio

Rasmus Koch

Rasmus Koch is a small, but versatile design studio based in Copenhagen. Established in 2001, the studio is a two-time winner of the prestigious Danish Design Award.

 

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Want to turn your passion into your new career? You can at Shillington School

Shillington School

Shillington prides itself on providing its students with an up-to-date and relevant education with a focus on practical skills that are essential in the workplace. Established in 1997, the school offers a three-month immersive and hands-on course in graphic design catered to students with little to no experience in the field. In addition, they offer a week-long intensive program in web development targeted at existing designers looking to develop coding experience. Both courses are overseen by instructors currently working in the field. In today’s interview, we chat with Holly Karlsson, Shillington’s NY campus director. She fills us in on the school’s history and how it rises to the challenges its students face.

 

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New Additions to our Holiday Book Gift Guide

Hello I am Erik

If you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas, we’ve got you covered. We received some exciting new titles this week, just in time for the holidays. Included in the list below are titles from Gestalten, Lars Muller, Kat Ran Press and Metropolis Books. These titles along with many others can be seen in the full version of our Holiday Book Gift Guide.

 

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Ryan Bosse

Ryan Bosse

Fantastic work from Ryan Bosse, a Midwest native now living and working in San Francisco.

 

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From the Job Board

Graphic Design Jobs

 

Design Director – Hybrid Design (San Francisco)
Project Manager – Hybrid Design (San Francisco)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

Gift Guide: Home & Office

Gift Guide

Here’s our picks for home and office gifts! Included are prints, desk sets and plenty of stocking stuffers. See all the goods after the jump.

 

 

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Holiday Stickers, Cards and Hang Tags

Eight Hour Day

Holiday sticker set by Eight Hour Day

Looking to add some snazz to your holiday packages? Check out this brief, but beautiful selection of stickers, cards and hang tags. Included are items from Eight Hour Day, Juli Shore Design, Everlovin’ Press and Tom Froese.

 

 

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2014 Holiday Gift Guide: Books

Design book gift guide

Here it is, our annual book gift guide! Below you will find over 30 titles from our favorite publishers. Included are our top picks for illustration, graphic design and typography. Enjoy!

 

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Redbubble Gift Guide

AndyWestface-Powerless

Powerless by Andy Westface

The holidays are approaching and with it the hustle and bustle of the shopping season. To help you the navigate the plethora of products that were produced over the past year we’ve prepared a series of gift guides aimed at designers and creative types. In this first guide we’ve teamed up with Redbubble, a creative community and marketplace, to create a curated list of prints and posters. Many of the illustrations featured in the list are available as t-shirts and tote bags as well. Happy shopping!

 

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2014 Gift Guide: Call for Submissions and Sponsors

We are in the process of putting together our annual gift guide and are currently seeking submissions and potential sponsors. If you have a product that is a good match for our audience, contact us with the details.

Morphoria

Morphoria

Morphoria is a collaboration of seven designers working within a variety of creative fields including photography, illustration, editorial design and interactive media. Their portfolio is filled with impressive work, but i’m especially fond of their identity and exhibition design for DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW.

 

 

 

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Sponsor // 12 Hours of Fame – the iZettle stunt that made small businesses shine in the heart of London

izettle

During six days in October, iZettle helped six of Britain’s smallest businesses open their own flagship store on Britain’s greatest shopping street – for 12 hours each. This is what happened.

 

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Nate Harris

Nate Harris

Feast you eyes on the colorful and often character-driven work of Nate Harris, a designer and illustrator based in Philadelphia.

 

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Recently Received

John Alcorn: Evolution of Design

We’ve received some wonderful titles this week and i’m excited to share them. Included are entries from Pointed Leaf Press, Moleskine, Kat Ran Press, Buro Destruct, Princeton Architectural Press and Chronicle Books. See all the books and images after the jump.

 

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Martin Azambuja

Martin Azambuja

I’m really enjoying the work of Martin Azambuja, a designer and illustrator working in Montevideo, Uruguay. Through fluid lines and rich textures he crafts vibrant landscapes pulsating with life and energy.  You can see more of his work on Behance as well as at Mundial, a small studio he recently formed with friend and fellow designer Francisco Cunha.

 

 

 

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Anagrama Update

Anagrama

Anagrama bill themselves as creative juggernauts and looking at their portfolio it’s easy to see why. Their work is well-thought out, restrained when it needs to be and always relevant. Feast your eyes here.

 

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Sponsor // Retro Font Bundle

Retro fonts

This large collection of custom typefaces from Cruzine includes 9 custom Font Families. Ranging in style from retro to vintage to grunge, many of these families feature multiple font styles. Ranging in style from retro to vintage to grunge, many of these families feature multiple font styles.

 

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Jose Canales

Jose Canales

After years of grinding away at various design agencies, Austin-based Jose Canales has left to launch his own studio. His portfolio, which can be seen here, showcases his ability to skillfully navigate between type, packaging, illustration and design all with ease.

 

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Atelier Tout va bien

Atelier Tout va bien

Anna Chevance and Mathias Reynoird are the minds behind Atelier Tout va bien, a design studio based in France. Working with the common desire to explore shape and form they craft deeply expressive work through the calculated use of line, texture and color.

 

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Eric Belousov

Eric Belousov on grainedit.com

 Eric Belousov is a Russian designer and founder of the influential and experimental poster collective Ostengruppe.

 

 

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Sponsor // LG UltraWide Curved IPS Display

LG 34uc97 Curved Ultrawide display

 

Riding on the heels of the much loved 34UM95 QHD monitor, LG has just released the 34UC97, the world’s first 21:9 UltraWide curved display. Similar to the UM95 the 34UC97 features ample screen real estate and IPS technology which allows for sharp imagery at any viewing angle. This will prove to be useful to multi-taskers looking to break free from the distractions of a two monitor set-up in favor of a more unified viewing experience. Designers will be especially interested in its rendering capabilities. With coverage of over 99% of the sRGB spectrum, the 34UC97 serves up a highly accurate color profile consistent with the actual printed output. In addition, it offers multiple Thunderbolt2 ports, so you can easily daisy-chain all your Mac-compatible devices. Check out the video below to learn more about this amazing monitor.

 

 

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Rifle

Design by Rifle

 

 

Stunning work from Rifle, a small but nimble design studio based in Madrid.

 

 

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Sponsor // The Retro Deck by Pocono Modern

Retro Deck by Pocono Modern

Support The Retro Deck by Pocono Modern on Kickstarter.

Bring a new level of class to your game with The Retro Deck by Pocono Modern. A bold deck of cards inspired by the simplicity and elegance of timeless Mid Century Modern design.  Designed by Joe Morelli and Pocono Modern, the style of the cards fits somewhere in between the sleek sophistication of Mad Men and the warmth and familiarity of The Brady Bunch.  One deck, with two variations will be produced by US Playing Card Company.

 

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Aron Vellekoop Leon

Aron Vellekoop Leon on grainedit.com

 

I’m really enjoying Aron Vellekoop Leon’s work. His portfolio is filled with projects that showcase his uncanny ability to distill complex concepts into clear and visually compelling stories. A native of  Fuerteventura, Spain, he now calls Amsterdam his home.

 

 

 

 

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George & Harrison

George & Harrison on grainedit.com

George & Harrison is a multidisciplinary design studio based in the Netherlands. Founded by Martijn Maas (George) and Maarten Stal (Harrison), the duo pair smart strategy with thoughtful execution to create work that stands at the vanguard of contemporary design.

 

 

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Marcel Hausler

Marcel Hausler on grainedit.com

 Marcel Hausler is a designer living and working in Hamburg, Germany.  A recent graduate of  the Fachhochschule Mainz, he has worked for well known museums including the Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin and the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz.

 

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Sponsor // Font Fabric

font fabric fonts

With this deal, you’ll receive more than 90 different fonts! Included are 18 unique font families delivered to you in an .OTF file format. What’s even more amazing is that thanks to this Mighty Deal, you can save more than 95% off the regular price! See all the details here.

 

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Recently Received

Type Plus by Unit Editions

This week’s book picks include entries from Unit Editions, Princeton Architectural Press and Ridinghouse. See all the books and images after the jump.

 

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Justin Pervorse Interview

Justin Pervose Interview on grainedit.com

Continuing our series of process related interviews, we chat with illustrator and designer Justin Pervorse. A Bay Area transplant via Atlanta, Justin has been relentlessly perfecting his craft over the last decade.

I first caught wind of Justin’s talents during his tenure at Mailchimp, where he injected his infectious personality into a series of slick illustrations and campaigns for the email giant. He has since moved on to Dropbox’s internal design department, a position that has allowed him to further expand his creative capabilities. Through the support of his peers, Justin and his team have created a series of self-initiated projects that explore and uplift the spirit of the brand. In today’s interview we highlight one of these projects, delve into his workflow and discuss his earliest days as a designer.

 

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Jeremiah Britton

Jeremiah Britton on grainedit.com

Jeremiah Britton’s website recently caught my eye. With a diverse portfolio that spans branding, illustration and type, he easily transitions between fluid line work to projects with a more structured framework. An Oregonian by birth, he now calls Brooklyn his home where he can be found honing his chops at WeWork.

 

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Stefano Marra

Stefano Marra on grainedit.com

Stefano Marra is a versatile designer hailing from the southern part of Italy. His portfolio is filled with examples of work that highlight his ability to use texture and shading to successfully achieve a variety of effects. These skills have not gone unnoticed and have landed him editorial commissions from a variety of publications including Il Sore 24 Ore, Wired UK, and Datum.

 

 

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Ty Wilkins Interview

Ty Wilkins interview

It’s rare that I come across a designer whose work has as much personality and charm as Ty Wilkins. Hailing from Austin, Ty’s portfolio is filled with character-driven projects that showcase his mastery of color, texture and repetition.

Prior to launching his own studio, Ty worked for Gardner Design, where he developed branding, packaging, signage and redesigned LogoLounge. He also traveled extensively, which had a profound impact on his aesthetic sensibilities. Currently, Ty can be found developing advertising campaigns, editorial illustrations and identity work for a wide range of clients including Target, Monocle and Wired UK.  In today’s interview, Ty graciously shares his beginnings as a designer and grants us a glimpse into his creative process.

 

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Francesco Muzzi

Francesco Muzzi on grainedit.com

 

Brilliant work from Italian designer and illustrator Francesco Muzzi.

 

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Josh Brill Interview

 

Josh Brill / Lumadessa Interview

I was first introduced to Josh Brill and his work though through his Flora Fauna collection. With nature serving both as a catalyst and a muse, the ongoing series explores and catalogs the identities of plants and animals from around the world. To illustrate these explorations Josh chose to eschew conventional realism in favor of a style that echoes cubist techniques. The end result is vibrant, bold and visually intoxicating.

In addition to sharing the same passion for illustration and design, I was excited to discover that Josh and I shared a similar upbringing. We unknowingly haunted the same swimming holes and drank from the same slush puppy wells while growing up. This served as fodder to fuel our friendship and with this in mind, i’m delighted to present today’s interview with him.

 

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Sponsor // Eveleth Letterpress Font

Eveleth font

 

With the Eveleth Premium Letterpress Font Family, you’ll get yourself 16 charming vintage fonts to work with. Additional weights, shadow layers and entertaining icons, shapes and emblems are just a few of the extras that come along for the ride.

 

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Stanley Chow

The folks over at Daylight, an award-winning moving image company based in Manchester have been working on a series of interviews with local creatives. In their 2nd installment they grant us a rare glimpse into the process, history and inspiration of illustrator Stanley Chow.

 

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EIGA Design

EIGA Design on grainedit.com

Beautiful work from EIGA, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Hamburg, Germany.

 

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Sponsor // EasyBanners

Easybanners is your number one source for all your large print advertising. Browse custom designed templates by our in-house artists made specifically for large print, or upload your own design in seconds! It’s that easy.

Whether it’s an event banner for your tradeshow, backdrop for your red carpet, or billboard to advertise your latest art gallery, visit www.easybanners.com and make an instant impact for your brand.

 

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Caitlin Keegan

Caitlin Keegan on grainedit.com

 

Caitlin Keegan recently updated her website with some some stellar new projects including this 2015 lunar calendar. In addition’s to her hand-drawn typography, the calendar features vegetable-based inks, space to write important dates and a charming moon illustrated in Caitlin’s signature style.

 

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Sposnor // IKEA Time Travel Continues

The IKEA time travel experiment continues and this time with Jeff and Beth. In the 2nd installment hypnotist Justin Tranz guides a young couple through a series of challenging life events including a marriage proposal and a boisterous teenager. See the complete video here.

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NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual Reissue

NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual

 

After discovering a copy of the NYC Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual in the basement of Pentagram, designers Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth have set out to reissue this unique piece of history. For a limited time you can support their efforts through a Kickstarter campaign that has been set up. Starting at the $118 level, each backer will receive a copy of the reproduction which will include an intro by Michael Beirut. After this campaign, the book will never be reissued again. See all the details here.

 

 

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Recently Received

100 Years of Swiss Design on grainedit.com

 

The mailman has been good to us this week and we’ve received an impressive list of titles. Included are new books from Lars Muller, Princeton Architectural Press, Laurence King, Chronicle Books, Rizzoli, Thames & Hudson and Nobrow. See all the goodies after the jump.

 

 

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Michael Seitz

Michael Seitz on grainedit.com

 Michael Seitz is a talented designer based out of Minneapolis with a knack for creating work that  is smart, sophisticated and effortlessly timeless. After stints at Modernista! and space150, he now serves as a Senior Art Director at Colle + McVoy. Recently, Michael launched a new site which features a wonderful sampling of the award-winning projects he’s produced over the years. See all the good stuff here.

 

 

 

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Goncalo Viana

Goncalo Viana on grainedit.com

 

I’m loving the retro stylings of Goncalo Viana. A native of Lisbon, he originally studied architecture, but discovered his true passion lies with illustration. His portfolio is filled with dense, layered compositions brimming with geometric shapes and brilliant imagery.

 

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Quim Marin Design

Quim Marin on grainedit.com

 

Quim Marin is a Barcelona-based art director with work that is consistently solid and well-polished.

 

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Studio Laucke Siebein

Studio Laucke Siebein on grainedit.com

 

Dirk Laucke and Johanna Siebein are the creative minds behind the award-winning Studio Laucke Siebein. With offices in Berlin and Amsterdam they focus on branding and interactive projects for corporate and cultural institutions. In addition to their design practice, the dynamic duo are visiting tutors at the ‘Hochschule für Künste Bremen’/Germany.

 

 

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Made You Look

Made you Look Film on grainedit..com

 

Made You Look is a documentary about the UK DIY graphic arts scene of the 21st century. Via candid interviews with top British creatives, publishers and agency owners the film explores the fact that more people than ever seem to be turning to analogue means of creating things, even though we are living at the height of the digital era. Sam Arthur, Adrian Johnson, Kate Moross, and Anthony Burril are just a few of  the folks featured in this fine film.

Made You Look is due for limited theatrical release in 2015. For more info visit the official website.

 

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Recently Received

 

This is the World - Miroslav Sasek

 

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Universe, Korero Press, Ryan Gillett and Mid Century Magazine.

 

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Pavlov Visuals

Pavlov Visuals on grainedit.com

Pavlov Visuals is a versatile design studio with an established presence in the U.S. and Amsterdam. Their uninhibited style pulls inspiration from the past, but remains fresh and contemporary. While there’s lots to admire in their portfolio, i’m especially drawn to their fluid line work and slick typography.

 

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Recently Received: NAVA

Nava Superbag

NAVA is an Italian brand that has strong roots in the design community. Established in 1970, they have a long history of working with the leading designers of the day. Nendo Projects, Massimo Vignelli, Enzo Mari, Naoto Fukasawa and Max Huber are just a few of the designers that NAVA has collaborated with over the years. The success of these partnerships has allowed NAVA to craft a functional yet undeniably stylish product line that supercedes vain fashion.  Many of these products have gone on to become icons that are still displayed in museums and galleries around the world.

We recently received a package from NAVA which contained items from the latest Michel Charlot collaboration as well as a classic notepad/daily planner designed by Max Huber during the early stages of the company. We explore these products in words and pictures after the jump.

 

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Blok Design

Blok Design on grainedit.com

Blok Design created this spirited campaign for Lucky 21, a film production company based in Dallas and LA. . Tapping into the company’s humor and passion, Blok crafted an identity system that is bold, yet still allows the brand’s playful voice to shine.

 

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Sponsor // CodeinWP: How to Build a Mobile WordPress Theme

CodeinWP is a PSD to WordPress development agency that provides quality themes to clients across the globe. Working with the latest technology they convert your static PSD files into pixel-perfect WordPress websites. In addition, they can provide sought after features and site enhancements including parallax scrolling and retina-enabled themes. In an ongoing series of blog posts CodeinWp explores the process of building a performance oriented mobile theme for WordPress. In part 1 they reveal some of the initial challenges. See all the details here.

 

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Studio Alexander

Studio Alexander on grainedit.com

I love this identity kit created for Carin Wilson by Auckland -based Studio Alexander.  The slick and well-polished system was recently announced as a finalist in this year’s Best Awards.

 

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Sponsor // IKEA Launches Hypnotizing Time Travel Experiment

IKEA time travel

 

It’s no ordinary illusion. Together with hypnotist Justin Tranz, IKEA let young couples experience their future in a fascinating time travel experiment.

In the experiment, world-renowned hypnotist Justin Tranz put a young couple in deep trance before they’re being exposed with potential life-changing events in advance. Guided by Tranz, the young couple embarks on a time journey where different life predictions awaits them – from celebrating a birthday for their imaginary 6-year old daughter, to an odd meeting in the bathroom with the same daughters future boyfriend, years later.

 

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Chad Michael Studio

Chad Michael Studio on grainedit.com

Chad Michael is a designer & illustrator specializing in package design and unique branding. A recent graduate of the University of North Texas, he has already received numerous awards and accolades including the DSVC Top Design Portfolio and the Gary Baseman Illustration award.

 

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Martina Paukova

Martina Paukova on grainedit.com

Slovakian illustrator Martina Paukova initially studied politics before discovering that her heart desired a more creative outlet. She then enrolled in the Graphic Design program at the London College of Communication where she could further explore her passion. With a degree now under her belt she creates work that investigates and uplifts the body, the everyday and the banal.

 

 

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Sarp Sozdinler

Studio Sarp Sozdinler on grainedit.com

 

 

Sarp Sozdinler is an artist and designer living and working in Turkey. After stints at various design studios around Europe he returned to his native country to establish a practice with Mehmet Ali Turkmen.In addition to his studio work he maintains the type foundry 383c.

 

 

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Sponsor // Free Bitrix24 Account with 10 GB Extra Online Storage

Bitrix24 is currently offering a free account with 10 GB of extra online storage. If you are not familiar with it, Bitrix24 is a unified collaboration and communication platform. In plain English, this means that all the tools that you typically use to collaborate with co-workers and communicate with clients and partners are available in one place.

 

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Maxime Francout

Maxime Francout on grainedit.com

 

Maxime Francout is a French designer based in Montreal. With a love for hip-hop, plants, minerals and black coffee, he creates colorful illustrations that are youthful and fun. Recently he updated his website with some exciting new personal projects as well as work for publishing clients.

 

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Helmo

Helmo on grainedit.com

Thomas Couderc and Clément Vauchez are the creative minds behind the French design studio Helmo. The two met during their studies in Besançon before pursuing separate careers in Paris.  They later reunited at the design collective La Bonne Merveille before launching their own studio.

 

 

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Virginie Morgand

Virginie Morgand on grainedit.com

Charming illustrations from French illustrator Virginie Morgand.

 

 

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My Name is Wendy

My Name is Wendy on grainedit.com

My Name is Wendy is a Paris-based design studio founded in 2006 by Carole Gautier and Eugénie Favre. Uniting their expertise in graphic and plastic art, they create highly expressive work that is bold and dynamic.

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Sponsor // ThemeIsle

ThemeIsle is a WordPress theme shop. With a focus on clean responsive design and solid customer support they offer a variety of themes to meet your needs. Features include unlimited color options, custom theme widgets and regular updates. In addition the themes can be purchased individually or for a minimal fee you can receive unlimited access to the complete collection.

ThemeIsle has graciously offered grain edit readers a 20% discount off all their themes. Please use discount code grainedit20 durng checkout.

 

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Neue Grafik Re-Release

Neue Grafik on grainedit.com

In 1958, the inaugural issue of the Neue Grafik – The International Review of graphic design and related subjects – was launched by four Zürich-based designers. Led by Josef Müller-Brockmann, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli (LMNV), the journal became a catalyst for an emerging movement in design known as the Swiss School or International Typographic Style. Marked by its asymmetrical layouts, sans-serif typeface and strong use of grids, the International Typographic Style placed heavy emphasis on clarity and precision. Throughout the journal’s history, this rigid yet versatile approach to design was employed and readily adopted by the design community at large.

Original copies of Neue Grafik are scarce and rarely surface on the open market with single issues fetching three hundred dollars or more. With this in mind, I’m excited to announce the re-release by Lars Muller of this significant and sought-after periodical, with all eighteen issues now available as a facsimile reprint. Contained within a stunning red slipcase, the set also includes a 64 page booklet with commentary by Steven Heller, Lars Muller and Richard Hollis.

 

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Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation

Iconic Book on grainedit.com

Designers are passionate about the products they use, so it’s no surprise that Apple has garnered an ubquitious yet cult-like status within our industry for their computers and hand-held devices. Jonathan Zufi, a mobility expert and self-proclaimed apple fanatic shares that sense of enthusiasm and has captured it in his latest endeavor. Over the past five years Jonathan has amassed an impressive collection of Apple-related products. Through thousands of photographs, an online site and the release of his book titled Iconic, he has documented Apple’s evolution and lovingly paid tribute to the company’s enduring legacy. Today we talk with Jonathan about his motivation for the project and the challenges he faced along the way.

 

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Anymade Studio

Anymade studio on grainedit.com

Anymade is a multidisciplinary design firm based in the Czech Republic. Founded in 2007, the studio’s portfolio is filled with work exploding in color and type.

 

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Endre Berentzen

Endre Berentzen on grainedit.com

Bergen International Festival (Festspillene i Bergen) presents art in all its guises from music to theatre, dance, opera and visual art. Established in 1953, the festival is one of the oldest and the largest of its kind in the Nordic countries, with more than 220 events during the 15 days it lasts. Working alongside his team, Endre Berentzen devised a visual identity for the event that is well-polished and visually stunning. Using a square as the starting point for a rhythmic pattern, they developed a solution that embodies the diversity of the audience and the music at the festival.

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Sponsor // Webydo

Webydo parallax

Webydo is a cloud-based, online website design platform that enables designers to create, manage and publish their client’s websites completely code-free. Led by a global community of 93,000 designers and a recent round of funding ,Webydo has seen rapid growth and now hosts over 1 billion websites. Using Webydo’s full B2B solution, designers enjoy complete control – designing, managing, and hosting advanced pixel-perfect websites for their clients with e-commerce, a friendly built-in CMS, SEO management tools, and even a client billing system.

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Bunker

Bunker on grainedit.com

 

Bunker is a London-based design and art direction agency with a focus on work for the fashion, music and arts industries.

 

 

 

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Michela Picchi

Michela Picchi on grainedit.com

Beautiful illustration work from Berlin-based designer Michela Picchi.

 

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Album Anatomy

Album Anatomy on grainedit.com

A personal project of designer Duane Dalton, Album Anatomy explores record cover imagery in it’s purest form. By maintaining a strict grid and discarding unnecessary information, he crafts a minimal yet personal response to each album featured.

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Recently Received

Supernew Supergraphics on grainedit.com

Supernew Supergraphics by Unit Editions

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Chronicle Books, Nobrow, Flying Eye Books and Occasional Papers. See all the books after the jump.

 

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From the Job Board: Secretly Canadian is Hiring

Secretly Canadian

Secretly Label Group is seeking a full-time designer. The position will be serving the labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, and Secretly Canadian. This is an amazing opportunity considering the depth of talent found on these labels. Damien Jurado, Bon Iver, Jens Lekman and Antony and the Johnsons are just a few of the artists you could be potentially designing for. To learn more about the position, please visit the grain edit job board.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

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Clark Orr

Clark Orr on grainedit.com

A former designer for Johnny Cupcakes, Clark Orr now serves as a full-time freelancer focused on branding and packaging jobs. I especially appreciate his identity work for Powershift Labs – a UK-based development studio. In a simple yet elegant solution, Clark pairs a bold two-tone graphic with a custom script font.

 

 

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Sponsor // Tesla Themes

Tesla themes on grainedit.com

 

Built on the Tesla Framework, these WP themes are insanely customizable and mobile-friendly, thanks to their responsive design! For a limited time all 24 themes are available for almost half the price. See the complete collection here.

 

 

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Accept & Proceed

Accept and Proceed on grainedit.com

I love Accept & Proceed’s recent rebrand of the Eastern Electrics music festival. Working with illustrator Matt Johnstone, they created a campaign that is youthful and fun. The dense and highly detailed scene features a colorful cast of characters from past EE events as well as the likes of Kerri Chandler, Four Tet, Ellan Allien and Roue 94.

 

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Rationale

Rationale Design on grainedit.com

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Rationale is a multi-disciplinary design studio representing the likes of Sean Wolcott and Associates.  With a focus on branding projects, Rationale crafts work that is often straightforward and bold in it’s approach. I especially appreciate this identity system created for the Xerox Jazz Fest, which gives a solid nod to the era from which Jazz was born.

 

 

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Verena Michelitsch

Verena Michelitsch via grainedit.com

Verena Michelitsch is a New York-based illustrator and designer currently honing her chops at RoAndCo.  Recently, she launched a slick new website that is filled with work that is sharp and undeniably stylish.

 

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World Cup Posters by Andre Chiote

World Cup posters by Andre Chiote on grainedit.com

Fans of architecture and the World Cup games will appreciate this poster series by Portuguese architect Andre Chiote.

 

 

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Brad Woodard Interview

Brave the Woods interview on grainedt.com

 

It’s hard not to get lost in the vibrant landscapes of Brad Woodard’s work. His colorful illustrations beckon a response of thought and feeling and invite us to view the world in a more gentle and naive way. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he migrated south to Austin (via Boston) where along with his wife, he set up shop as Brave the Woods – a small but dynamic creative studio. With a burgeoning product line and an impressive client list that includes Target and Old Navy, the gifted duo have established themselves as an emerging force in design. In today’s interview we chat with Brad about the software that drives his workflow, his passions outside of design and more. Enjoy!

 

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MAAN Design Studio: World Cup Stamps

Maan Design on grainedit.com

In the spirit of the World Cup games, MAAN Design Studio has created this eye catching stamp collection.  Featuring bold geometric abstractions of the participating teams’ flags, the 32 piece set is lovingly housed in a series of custom envelopes. See the stunning results after the jump.

 

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Simon Bent aka Volume2a

Volume2a on grainedit.com

I love this campaign Volume2a developed for Kubik –  a pop up music venue / art installation held in Melbourne. Working with a modular system they created a layered design that captures the fun and excitement of the event.

 

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Bendik Kaltenborn

Bendik Kaltenborn on grainedit.com

 

Bendik Kaltenborn is an illustrator and designer living in Oslo. In addition, he is the co-founder of the Norwegian comic collective Dongery and has received recognition for his cartoons including the prestigious Ministry of Cultures ”Tegneserieprisen” award.

 

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Sponsor // PrestaShop

For designers looking to expand their web presence with the addition of an online store, PrestaShop is worth considering. With over 600,000 active community members, PrestaShop is a free and open-source ecommerce solution. The robust platform includes over 300 features in the core download including the ability to sell downloadable goods, product quick view, powerful analytics and customer accounts. In addition, the themes are fully customizable, so you can easily modify the code to achieve the style you desire. For features not included in the core download, PrestaShop has an official marketplace where additional modules are made available.

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Ayaka Ito

Ayaka Ito on grainedit.com

Born and raised in Japan, Ayaka Ito is talented designer that now calls New York her home. Her  portfolio is a refreshing mix of identity work and hand drawn typography, but I especially appreciate her quirky yet playful illustrations.

 

 

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Inventory Magazine

Inventory Magazine on grainedit.com

I really admire this stationery system created by Anthony Hooper and the in-house design team at Inventory. Its sophistication and attention to detail wonderfully reflects the values instilled in the magazine.

 

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Variety Show Studio

Variety Show Studio on grainedit.com

Variety Show is the latest venture from the husband-and-wife duo of Amber and Mike Asay. Pulling inspiration from a variety of sources the design studio/online shop is focused on creating memorable work with a purpose.

 

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Vita Magazine

Vita Magazine on grainedit.com

Design by Emiliano Ponzi

Milan-based Vita magazine recently launched a blog to highlight the artwork created for the journal. Of special interest is the Ventivita category which features a series of posters that celebrate Vita’s 20th anniversary.

 

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Schaffter Sahli

Schaffter Sahli on grainedit.com

Schafter Shali is a graphic design studio based in Geneva with focus on crafting minimal yet elegant work for cultural institutions – both public and private.

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Sponsor // Gioviale

Gioviale is a curvaceous yet legible script font from Laura Worthington which includes 300 swashes, more than 1,000 glyphs, 20 ornaments, 20 discretionary ligatures and more!

 

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Christina Magnussen AKA Gala

Christina Magnussen on grainedit.com

 Christina Magnussen is an Oslo-based illustrator and designer. Along with Hans Christian Oren, she was a founding member of the prolific and much-loved Oh Yeah Studio. In 2013 she went on to establish Gala, an illustration agency that that uses analog and digital techniques to thoughtfully push the boundaries of the medium.

Prints are available of her work at Society6 and the Oh Yeah Studio shop.

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Deanna Halsall

Deanna Halsall on grainedit.com

I’m excited to discover the work of UK-based artist and illustrator Deanna Halsall. Inspired by her love of nature and nostalgia, she composes charming imagery brimming with color and texture.

 

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Sponsor // Retro Mockup Kits

If you’re looking for a little logo inspiration, this Mighty Deal has your name on it! The Mockup & Design Kit includes 70 retro templates, as well as 50+ photo-realistic mockups. These high-quality vector files, are fully customizable and a snap to use. In no time at all, you can change up the color, size, shape. See all the details at Mightydeals.com.

 

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Lo Siento

Lo Siento on grainedit.com

Lo Siento is a small Barcelona-based studio that enjoys exploring the intersections where graphic and industrial design meet.

 

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Timothy Hunt

Timothy Hunt on grainedit.com

 Timothy Hunt is a UK-based animator and illustrator with a penchant for the bold and the absurd. Bursting with color and whimsy, his print and editorial driven portfolio highlights his deceptively simple yet humorous style.

 

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Sign Painters Film Now Available

sign painter movie

Sign Painters is a documentary showcasing the past, present and future of the hand painted sign in the USA . Directed by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon the film serves as a companion to Princeton Architectural Press’s 2012 book release of the same name. The film features legends such as Keith Knecht and Bob Dewhurst and is now available online at signpaintersfilm.comAmazon Instant Video and iTunes. The producers of the film have graciously offered grain edit readers a dollar off coupon for instant streaming and HD downloads.  To redeem the coupon, visit signpaintersfilm.com and enter promo code “typography”.

 

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Sponsor // LG UltraWide QHD Monitor

LG UltraWide Monitor

 

For designers looking for a large monitor with the screen real estate to match, LG has the solution. Their recently released UltraWide monitor is the world’s first 34-inch 21:9 UltraWide QHD monitor. With a pixel area that is 1.8 times larger than an UltraWide Full HD, the QHD is a joy to work with and a real time saver. The extra space translates into a more efficient workflow allowing for less down time due to scrolling and switching between windows. In addition, Mac users will be delighted to know that the monitor incorporates Thunderbolt 2 technology and a sleek design.  See all the details here.

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CCRZ

CCRZ on grainedit.com

Beautiful work from CCRZ, a Swiss design studio with a broad range of capabilities.

 

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Sponsor // The Secret Of Parallax Scrolling Revealed by Webydo’s Code-Free Design Platform

Now available in Beta mode – Webydo’s Parallax Scrolling Animator feature

Few things can make a website stand out from the masses like creating a Parallax Scrolling website into. But what is Parallax? Parallax allows background, middle ground, and foreground elements on a web page to move at a separate rate from one another, which when done properly, creates a 3D effect as the end user scrolls down the page. Long a tool of animators, it took the web design world by storm when it first gained mass attention with in 2011 Nike’s Better World website, and since then has become the go to trending design structure in the arsenal of web designers who need an extra bit of flair to make their sites shine.

Still, despite its evolution from 2D cartoon images and into the mainstream world of web design, Parallax scrolling is something that needs to be used in the proper context in order to really be effective. When utilized as a storytelling device, to engage users interactively, or as a method to enhance the presentation of a product, Parallax Scrolling is a powerful option to create a site and share your brand story.

 

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Recently Received

Design Books on grainedit.com

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from Nobrow, Chronicle Books, Lars Muller, The Walt Disney Family Foundation Press and Princeton Architectural Press.

 

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Oliver Munday

Oliver Munday on grainedit.com

Oliver Munday is a graphic designer living and working in New York City.  His work is consistently clever, smart and engaging. Along with his studio, he co-founded “Piece”, a socially based design collaborative that believes that designers can play a significant role in positive change and social justice.

 

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From the Job Board

cupjob

 

Public Access Design Fellow – The Center of Urban Pedagogy (Broooklyn, NY)

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is looking for designers to join its Public Access Design program as 2014-2015 Design Fellows. They’re looking for NYC-based visual thinkers working in print, ux/ui design, motion graphics, animation, and illustration who are interested in bringing playful visual solutions to the challenges of design for social change.

Visit our job board to learn more.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitterand Facebook.

 

Tom Haugomat

Tom Haugomat on grainedit.com

 

The amazingly talented Tom Haugomat is a Paris-based illustrator with a strong sense of composition and an envious portfolio of work. Individually and as a member of the design collective MessieursDame he crafts stunning imagery swelling with color and light.

 

 

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Tomasz Biskup

Tomasz Biskup on grainedit.com

 

Tomasz Biskup is a multidisciplinary designer based in Poland. After years of working in the world of advertising he launched his own practice in 2011.

 

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Vicki Turner

Vicki Turner on grainedit.com

Vicki Turner is a British Designer, Illustrator and Maker with a passion for the natural world.  From her new studio in Devon she crafts whimsical works exploding with repetition and rhythm.

 

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Sponsor // Thirsty Soft Font

Thirsty Soft Font

A softer and warmer companion to Thirsty Script, this new Thirsty Soft Font Family features 6 different weights, dozens of languages and a variety of stylistic alternates. Available only at Mighty Deals, you can save 80% off the regular price for a limited time.

Interested in sponsoring grain edit? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

 

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Motoi Shito

Motoi Shito on grainedit.com

Outstanding work from Motoi Shito, a designer and art director based in Tokyo.

 

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Werner Design Werks Update

Werner Design Werks on grainedit.com

Minneapolis-based Werner Design Werks recently gave their website a fresh makeover. With the update comes a slew of new projects, bios (with childhood photos!) and an archive section that features all their classic work. Also included is an awesome case study section that gives readers a sneak peek into their design process. The section is still in development, but they’ve already uploaded sketches and images for their work with the Mrs. Meyers brand.

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Ed Nacional Interview

Ed Nacional interview on grainedit.com

I first discovered Ed Nacional at the end of 2009 as he was completing his studies at Parsons. He had recently taken on a design internship for the New York Times and was beginning to explore his capabilities as an illustrator. I was instantly attracted to his his bold no-nonsense use of type and stylish yet minimal use of color. Since then, I have enjoyed watching Ed grow as a designer and seeing the projects that have resulted from his efforts. Others have taken notice as well, as popular brands and platforms like Skillshare and Wanelo have sought Ed’s expertise and artistic sensibilities in developing their identities. In today’s installment of the Design in Process series we chat with Ed about his workflow, his passions outside of the office and more!

 

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Atelier Muesli

Atelier Muesli on grainedit.com

Founded in 2008, Atelier Muesli is the moniker of Paris-based designers Mytil Ducomet and Léa Chapon. Working with a variety of materials and processes including woodcutting, engraving and traditional printing they create work that is systemic and not limited to a single fixed expression.

 

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Jackkrit Anantakul / Hello I Am JK

Jackkrit Anantakul via grainedit.com

Jackkrit Anantakul is a Bangkok-based graphic designer and illustrator.  With a client list that includes Monocle and Wallpaper he creates higly expressive work that is lauded for it’s experimental typography and often humorous imagery.  He previously served as senior art director at YouWorkForThem, but recently ventured out on his own with the launching of Hello I Am JK.

 

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Socio Design

Socio Design via grainedit.com

Consistently solid work from Socio Design, a multi-disciplinary graphic design studio based in London.

 

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Sponsor // 81K Designers Shaping The Website Design Industry With Webydo’s Professional Code-Free Design Studio.

Webydo

Appealing to the professional and savvy designer, Webydo is the leading online design studio that enables designers to create, manage and publish their client’s websites completely code-free. The cloud-based, online website design platform is revolutionizing the professional web design industry and putting designers in the driver’s seat. Webydo enables web and graphic designers to create fresh, dynamic HTML websites without writing having to manually write code. Saving designer’s time and money, Webydo appeals to the professional designer and helps them to create successful and long lasting designer-client relationships. This is apparent through their integrated cloud hosting, efficient content management system (CMS), and the Webydo Dashboard that allows for intuitive management of thousands of client sites. The Dashboard also allows designers to bill their clients directly using the “Bill Your Client” feature, and, with the White Label feature, designers can put their company logo front and center on the login screen.

 

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Scott Balmer

Scott Balmer via grainedit.com

Enter the world of Scott Balmer, an accomplished illustrator from the UK. When he’s not playing tetris or dreaming of chocolate, he’s conjuring up brilliant imagery filled with mischievous characters and majestic beasts.

 

 

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Studio Beige

Studio Beige via grainedit.com

Studio Beige is a Rotterdam-based design studio founded in 2003. With a love for typography they deliver striking, tactile and highly communicative designs.

 

 

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61 books with black type on white cover

61bookswithblacktype

Bernd Kuchenbeiser’s 61 books with black type on white cover lovingly pays homage to the printed word in all it’s glory. Created for a recent event at Vitsoe’s Reading Room, the book also serves as an analog companion to his impressive blog. Contained within is a cohesive collection of titles bound initially by the color (or lack of) of their cover. Accompanying each entry is a brief paragraph that details the qualities whether physical or conceptual that have attracted Bernd’s attention. Available at select Vitsoe shops, the book is free while supplies last.

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Riccardo Guasco

Riccardo Guasco via grainedit.com

Meet Riccardo Guasco, aka “Rik”, a cartoonist, illustrator and painter based in Alessandria, Italy. Influenced by movements such as Cubism and Futurism he crafts rich compositions brimming with warm muted tones.

 

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Recently Received

The Book of Trees via grainedit.com

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Princeton Architectural Press, Laurence King and Sing Statistics. See all the books after the jump.

 

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Mike Ellis

Mike Ellis via grainedit.com

Lovely work from Toronto-based illustrator Mike Ellis. Using multicoloured LEDs the illustrations come to life within a three-dimensional house, exposing things that may not be seen under normal circumstances.

 

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Sponsor // Wallpapered Maps

wallpaper maps via grainedit.com

Over the last couple of years we’ve seen an increased interest in cartography. More and more books are being produced on the subject and there has been a rise in the amount of designers and illustrators choosing to focus in this area of work.  London-based Wallpapered.com has captured some of this excitement around map related imagery in their latest round of product offerings. Recognizing that large scale map graphics lend itself well to the modern home/office aesthetic they have created a series of wallpapers that can be easily applied to any room.  There is a diverse collection to choose from, but of special iinterest is the black and white relief map and the full color world map. See the complete collection here.

 

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Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse via grainedit.com

Remember playing the game Telephone as a child? The game that consisted of people passing around a phrase and then laughing at how the phrase gets distorted from one person to the other? Illustration project Exquisite Corpse is like the visual version of Telephone. The collaborative project invites illustrators to participate in a “never-ending” abstract illustration.  Each illustrator adds to the piece in sequence while only being allowed to see a small part of what the previous illustrator contributed.  The effect is a single, unifying illustration that seamlessly morphs into different ideas and interpretations.

 

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Brent Couchman Interview

Brent Couchman Interview #designinprocess

Born and bred in the Lone-Star state, Brent Couchman is a designer and illustrator that now calls San Francisco his home.  Noted for his generous use of color, he employs vibrant yet sophisticated palettes that elevate and accentuate the playfulness and meticulous nature of his work. He has received awards and accolades from distinguished publications including Graphis and Print and has established himself as an accomplished designer with a distinct visual voice. After stints at Fossil and Hatch Design he recently decided to venture out on his own with the launching of Moniker – a design and branding studio focused on timeless work and strong client relationships.  In our latest addition to the Design in Process series we chat with Brent on his creative process and the challenges of managing a studio.

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Kokoro & Moi

Kokoro & Moi via grainedit.com

Established in 2001, Kokoro & Moi is a multidisciplinary design studio with a focus on brand identity and interactive work. With a penchant for the curious and the extraordinary; they love asking questions, challenging accepted explanations and inferring possible new worlds.

 

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Sponsor // Bootstrap Responsive Templates

mighty deals responsive templates

Twitter Bootstrap framework is a popular choice these days due to its ease of use and quick, clean results.  With Starter KIT from Bootstraptor.com you’ll receive a robust collection of the 35+ useful Bootstrap templates to incorporate into your site! From landing pages to blog posts to scrollers, you’ll find everything that you need to finish your site design for only $9. See all the details here.

 

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Nada

Nada packaging via grainedit.com

 

Leeds-based designers Eve Warren and Thomas Squire have teamed up for an exciting project for Nada. The colorful packaging consists of distinct patterns which have been developed to reflect both differing pasta forms and flavours within the Nada product range.

 

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Font Men

 

Font Men is a short film about the work of Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, who collectively ran the most successful and well respected type design studio in the world. Produced before their recent and very public split, the film provides a rare glimpse into the forces that brought them together and the successful empire they built together.

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Hong Kong’s neon signs

Neon Signs of Hong Kong via grainedit.com

Hong Kong’s visual culture museum M+ recently released a fascinating documentary on the local neon sign industry. The short film titled “the Making of Neon Signs” features candid interviews with the craftsmen of this now dying art. Accompanying the documentary is an online exhibition that includes historical photos, articles and an interactive map that allows the public to upload images of their favorite signs.

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Sponsor // Marigny Typeface

Marigny via grainedit.com
Type Supply is thrilled to introduce Marigny, a casual typeface drawn with serious typography in mind. The family combines the warmth of handwriting, the confidence of lettering and the functionality of typography into one package. It is distinctively legible at small sizes and lovingly distinctive at large sizes. Marigny is an excellent choice for any text that you want to feel warm, welcoming and alive.

Marigny has five weights, each with expressive italics, plus all styles have a variety of OpenType features that enable truly sophisticated typography. It looks as great on screen as it does in print. Want to see more? Head on over to typesupply.com.

 

 

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Inca Pan

Inca Pan via grainedit.com

Inca Pan is a Taiwanese illustrator with a knack for creating powerful imagery. Working with gouache and ink he conjures fantastical landscapes filled with bold colors and lush vegetation.

 

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John Soat

John Soat via grainedit.com

John Soat is a skilled multidiscplinary designer and recent transplant to New York City. With a diverse portfolio that spans illustration, type and motion graphics he easily transitions between fluid line work to projects with a more structured framework.

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From the Job Board: Penny Pop

pennypopjob

UI/UX Designer – PennyPop (SF,CA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

 

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Ben Roth

Ben Roth via grainedit.com

Ben Roth is a Berlin-based art director and illustrator. With a focus on music related imagery, he has successfully crafted a dynamic portfolio while operating within a minimal framework.

 

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Sponsor // Gist

gist font via grainedit.com

 

Gist is an inline slab serif font that features a retro yet modern vibe. With 20 weights and loads of OpenType features including ligatures, swashes and alternates, it comes primed with the tools to work on just about any project. But you’ll need to act fast! For a limited time only, you can nab all 20 Gist fonts for just $14

 

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Janine Rewell for Minna Parikka

Janine Rewell via grainedit.com

Grain Edit fave Janine Rewell recently updated her portfolio with these outstanding ads for Minna Parikka. With bodypaint work by  Saara Sarvas & Riina Laine,  Janine’s designs come to life in a celebration of Minna Parikka’s spring line.

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Timo Meyer

Timo Meyer via grainedit.com

Solid and consistent work from Timo Meyer, a designer and illustrator based in Bonn, Germany.

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Recently Received

Adventures in Letterpress via grainedit.com

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Laurence King, Chronicle Books and Baron Fig.  See all the books after the jump.

 

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Jessica Svendsen

Jessica Svendsen via grainedit.com

Outstanding type work from Jessica Svendsen, a recent graduate of the Yale School Art now working for Pentagram.

 

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Josh Emrich

Josh Emrich via grainedit.com

Josh Emrich is an illustrator and designer based out of Colorado. A former principal at Tenfold, in 2013 he broke off to form his own studio focused on branding and packaging design for craft brewers and artisanal entrepreneurs. His portfolio is filled with outstanding work, but i’m especially fond of his packaging design for Grimm Brothers Brewhouse. Through a series of labels he seamlessly merges slick illustrations, compelling typography and strong visual storytelling. Think Mary Blair with a twist of German macabre.

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Javier Garcia Interview

Javier Garcia Interview via grainedit.com #designinprocess

I was first introduced to Javier Garcia through his intoxicating blog, No Barcode, where he posts his latest vintage finds. It was here that I discovered that he is an accomplished illustrator and designer in addition to having an amazing collection of design related ephemera.  A resident of the Bay Area via Mexico he has developed an audience for his highly expressive and colorful illustrations. In today’s interview, the 4th part of our ongoing design in process series, Javier speaks on his passions outside of design, his workflow and more. Enjoy!

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Designbolaget

Designbolaget via grainedit.com

Designbolaget is a Copenhagen based design studio working at the intersections of art, fashion and culture. Founded in 2002 by Claus Due, the studio has been recognized with numerous awards.

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Sponsor // Infographics

Infographics take stuffy, boring ol’ data and present it all in a fun, entertaining and easy-to-understand manner. Visuals make all the difference. And with this incredible bundle from Ingimage, your data will never be happier! You’ll get 100 high-quality, premium infographics, all provided in EPS format for super easy customization and editing!

Preview the collection here.

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Til Hafenbrak

Till Hafenbrak via grainedit.com

Bold and playful work from Till Hafenbrak, an illustrator living and working in Berlin.

 

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Chevalvert

Chevalvert via grainedit.com

Chevalvert is a visual design studio co-founded by Patrick Paleta and Stéphane Buellet in 2007. Based on an open and multidisciplinary approach to design, the studio conceives work that is smart and succinct.

 

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Edgar Bak

Edgar Bak via http://grainedit.com

Edgar Bak is a talented designer based out of Poland. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, he can now be found art directing for various magazines and teaching typography and information architecture classes at the School of Form in Poznan. He was also a driving force behind Projekt: The Polish journal of visual art and design published by United Editions. Read the rest of this entry »

Novel Design Studio

Novel Design via grainedit.com

Novel is a multidisciplinary design firm based in Colorado. Operating out of a dome studio near Denver, they craft unique design solutions with clarity and confidence.

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Danielle Kroll

Danielle Kroll  via grainedit.com

It’s hard not to smile when viewing Danielle Kroll’s latest project. Inspired by vintage flash cards and picture books, the Brooklyn-based designer has created a series of “word recipes” as a way to add some art and whimsy into children’s education. Each recipe features images on the left that illustrate the syllables of the word on the right. The illustrations are silly and fun and always feature Danielle’s signature whimsical style.

 

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Chloe Galea

Chloe Galea via grainedit

Solid packaging and editorial work from Chloe Galea, a Designer /Junior Art Director based in Berlin.

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Hugo Barros

Hugo Barros via grainedit.com

Enter the world of Hugo Barros, an artist from Lisbon, Portugal working with collage. Manipulating elements by hand, he creates dense compositions without the use of post processing tools like Photoshop. Although the subject matter varies from piece to piece, there are reoccurring themes in his work. Serene landscapes are often juxtaposed against cosmic imagery in a surreal explosion of color that feels apocalyptic in nature. The end result is mesmerizing and always worth a second look.

Hugo’s creations are available at Saatchi and similar work can be found in their collage section.

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From the Job Board: Secretly Canadian is Hiring

Secretly Canadian

Secretly Label Group is seeking a full-time designer. The position will be serving the labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, and Secretly Canadian. This is an amazing opportunity considering the depth of talent found on these labels. Damien Jurado, Bon Iver, Jens Lekman and Antony and the Johnsons are just a few of the artists you could be potentially designing for. To learn more about the position, please visit the grain edit job board.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines

Manuals Unit Editions

I’m very excited to hear of Unit Editions latest release – Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines. The book is the first comprehensive study of corporate identity design manuals, and features 21 examples from the 1960s to early 1980s. Included are manuals created for NASA, Lufthansa, British Steel and the Cana­dian Broad­cast­ing Cor­po­ra­tion.

Pre-order a copy at Unit Editions.

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Sponsor // Signazon

Signazon.com is the first design-friendly, design-file ready online print company. Transform your designs from computer creations to real life pieces of art with ease. The company allows you to upload your files in multiple formats from vector-based files to raster files. The technology used by Signazon is able to work with .PS, .EPS. PDF, .AI, .PNG, .JPG, .TIF, .GIF, .BMP, .DOCX/.DOC (Word), .PUB, and .XPS files. Customers have the choice to upload a finished design file, upload and design using the online design tool, or choose from thousands of templates. As an added bonus, all file upload and editing services are free of charge.

Signazon.com’s industry leading, full-color print quality can capture your artwork off the screen like no other printer has before. Use the exclusive “grain edit” readers’ discount code GRAINEDIT15 at checkout for 15% off of your first purchase.

Still a student? Design and compete in Signazon’s 4th Annual “Design-A-Sign” Scholarship Contest for your chance to win $1,000 toward your education.

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Japan – Nippon

Japan Nippon via grainedit.com

Japanese graphic design is characterized by a unique aesthetic, oscillating between its own pictorial tradition and Western visual culture. In Lars Muller’s lastest release, Japan-Nippon they explore the Japanese poster and how it functions most notably as a highly aesthetic image advertisement, presupposing the designer as an artist.

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Tim Easley

Tim Easley via #grainedit

Tim Easley  is a designer and illustrator from London. A self-professed fan of daydreaming and doodling, he creates bold works brimming with rich textures and vibrant illustrations.

 

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Jonathan Calugi Update

Jonathan Calugi via #grainedit

Italian designer and illustrator Jonathan Calugi recently updated his portfolio with a series of new projects. It’s well worth a visit if you’re a fan of his signature black and white line work.

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Felix Pfaeffli

Felix Pfaeffli via #grainedit

I’m very impressed with these posters from Felix Pfaeffli, an accomplished young designer from Luzern who is producing very polished and mature work for his age. In addition to running his own studio he is a teacher at the Lucerne School of Graphic Design where he lectures on typography, narrative design, and poster design.

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Valentine’s Day for the Design-Minded

House Industries Love Hearts Blocks

House Industries Love Heart Blocks

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’ve compiled a small list of gift ideas for the design-inclined. Included are items from House Industries, Wieden + Kennedy, Braun and more. In addition, you will find some fun items that fit within the sprit of the holiday. See the full list here.

 

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Broken

Broken the book

Our friend Nate Burgos has teamed up with Stephanie Di Biase for an exciting new book aimed at working creatives. Featuring illustrations by Lucy Engelman, Broken: Navigating the Ups and Downs of the Circus Called Work, addresses the challenges of toxic work environments and other barriers to getting things done.

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Ty Mattson Interview

tymattson-interview-913

Browsing through the portfolio of Mattson Creative, an award-winning design studio based in Southern California, can prove to be a daunting task.  It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the quantity and consistent quality of work. I’ve long admired their expressive illustrative style and am especially smitten with their self-initiated projects for popular TV shows including Dexter, Lost and more recently Breaking Bad. We’ve profiled the studio in the past, but in today’s interview we talk with Ty Mattson, the studio’s founder and creative director.

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Pinterest Picks

pinterestpicked-912

Typography by Sasaki Shun

Here’s our latest round of Pinterest picks. Follow us on Pinterest to see more of our favorite posters, logos and prints.

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Merijn Hos

Merijn Hos via grainedit.com

Merijn Hos is an Illustrator and Visual Artist based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Splitting his time between personal and commercial projects he creates rich illustrations where mischievous characters and fantastical machines dot whimsical yet slightly eerie worlds.

 

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Sponsor // Respublika Font Family

Made up of 10 unique styles, Respublika FY, from FontYou, is a gorgeously balanced humanistic sans serif font. Complete with 10 different styles ranging from light to extra black italic, there’s pretty much nothing this titanic typeface can’t do! And for a limited time only, you can get the entire family for 88% off thanks to this Mighty Deal!

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Roseta y Oihana

Roseta y Oihana via grainedit.com

Roseta Mus Pons and  Oihana Herrera Erneta are the minds behind Roseta y Ohihana, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Barcelona. Recently they updated their site with some impressive new work including these promotional materials for MCP.

 

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From the Job Board

pennypopjob

UI/UX Designer – PennyPop (SF,CA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Les Graphiquants

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Established in 2008, Les Graphiquants is a design studio based in Paris, France. With a portfolio that is ripe in typographic exploration, they create work that is highly expressive and uncompromising in it’s approach.

 

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

 

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

Les Graphiquants via #grainedit

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Type and Media 2012
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Recently Received

Italo Lupi via #grainedit

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Corraini Edizioni, Nobrow, Laurence King and Princeton Architectural Press. See all the books after the jump.

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Non-Format Update

Non-Format via #grainedit

Non-Format recently revised their website and with the update came a slew of new work including Gridiron – a stellar typeface family for ESPN.

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Ryo Takemasa

Ryo Takemasa via #grainedit

 

Charming work from the talented Ryo Takemasa, a graduate of Musashino Art University and member of the Tokyo Illustrators Society.

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Louis Reith

Louis Reith via #grainedit

Stunning work from Louis Reith, a Dutch designer who often creates collages that incorporate bold geometric shapes, stark landscapes and architectural elements.

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Sponsor // Machine Wash Deluxe by Mister Retro

Machine Wash Deluxe by Mister Retro is a simple and powerful plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Apple Aperture, and iPhoto that allows you to create and apply professional quality distress, texture, aging and weathering effects to your images. This powerful easy-to-use plug-in comes with over 3,500 presets and millions of visual possibilities to enhance your designs!

Used by professional photographers for years, you can age and weather your photographs with a rich textural quality leaving everybody asking how you created such masterful depth in your images with this easy-to-use plug-in!

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Vincent Mahe

Vincent Mahe via #grainedit

Really impressive work from Paris-based illustrator Vincent Mahe.

 

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Annik Troxler

Annik Troxler via #grainedit

The daughter of the highly influential designer Niklaus Troxler, Annik has created a strong body of work that has a unique voice of its own. Her posters have won many awards including the coveted International Poster Festival in Chaumont, France and the Swiss Federal Competition for Design. This has allowed for some unique opportunities including the chance to collaborate with Mevis & Van Deursen in Amsterdam. In 2011, she returned to her native Switzerland to open an independent studio and began a teaching position at the renowned Basel School of Design.

 

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HfG Ulm: Concise History of the Ulm School of Design

HfG Ulm

And we’re back from a much needed Holiday Vacation!

In Lars Muller’s latest release they explore the work of the highly influential HfG ULm School once located in Ulm Germany. Founded in 1953 by Max Bill, Otl Aicher and Inge Aicher-Scholl the school enjoyed a brief existence, but it’s radical approach to design had a lasting impact.

From the Publisher:
“The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) ranks among the world’s most important institutions of the 20th century in modernist design. Its founders Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill wanted to contribute to the shaping of a new and better world after the terrible experiences of the Nazi regime and the Second World War. The meaning of design today cannot be understood without considering the developments at HfG. That applies not only to the design of appliances and communications, but also to the profession of designer, design education, methodology and design theory—ranging from the relationship between design and science up to the question of what relationship design should adopt with art and crafts, or business and society. This massive impact of the HfG is all the more astounding, considering that it existed for only 15 years, from 1953 to 1968. This book provides a contextual and broadly illustrated history of the HfG Ulm.”

 

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Design vs Cancer

Design vs Cancer via #grainedit

 

 

Design by Peter Deltondo

Design vs Cancer is a new project that aims to generate awareness and support people and families fighting cancer. Over the past few months they’ve been working with talented artists to create inspiring and uplifting artwork and now they need your help. They are currently looking to raise $10,000 to launch their inaugural line of shirts & posters. To support their efforts you can help fund their Kickstarter campaign.

 

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Louise Rosenkrands AKA Miss Lotion

Miss Lotion via #grainedit

Denmark-based Miss Lotion creates character driven work where whimsical universes are inhabited by weird and curious beings.

 

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Sponsor // Mighty Deals

If you’re looking to spread some Christmas cheer around, either through holiday cards, flyers, T-shirts, ads or various websites, then you’ll want to jingle all the way with this offer. This Mighty Deal is a collection of 7 deals in one! In fact, you’re not just getting a ton of Christmas-themed resources at once, you’re also getting $880-worth of awesomeness for a mere $19!  Included are Christmas related icons, illustrations and typographic designs.

 

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Last Minute Gift Ideas

Invisible Creature via #grainedit

Stack and Scare! by Invisible Creature

If you’re looking for last minute gift ideas, check out our Gift Guide on Luvocracy. Here’s a few items from the guide.

 

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Design Faves

designfaves-912
This post is brought to you by Design Faves. The image above is by Tycho AKA ISO50

As designers, we are constantly seeking new sources of inspiration and often that means looking beyond our discipline. For some of us, this might mean a glance at the latest items in our Pinterest feed, while others will find inspiration in travels or an enlightening book. To add to that list, our friends recently launched Design Faves – a curated collection of art and design work. With frequent updates, the site features posts on architecture, photography, fashion, furniture as well as illustration and graphic design. Included below is a small sampling of what the site has to offer.

 

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Recently Received

Graphic Icons  via #grainedit

This week we’re excited to feature titles from Flying Eye Books, Laurence King, Peach Pit Press, PA Press, Kat Ran Press and more. See all the books after the jump.

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Eight Hour Day Interview

Eight Hour Day Interview via #grainedit #designinprocess

Eight Hour day is the online home and moniker of Katie Kirk and Nathan Strandberg, a husband and wife design duo based out of Minneapolis. Their client list includes The New York Times, Chronicle Books, Williams Sonoma, Random House, among others. Driven by their belief that process and collaboration should be as exciting and fun as the end result, they create work that is honest, smart and succinct. In today’s interview, the 2nd part of our ongoing design in process series, Katie shares some of the challenges of working with a significant other, her workflow for a recent project and much more.

 

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Willem Sandberg: Portrait of An Artist

Willem Sandberg via #grainedit

I’m looking forward to the upcoming US release of Willem Sandberg: portrait of An Artist – a new new book from the Dutch publisher Valiz.

From the Publisher:
“After the Second World War, Willem Sandberg (NL, 1897–1984) transformed the Amsterdam Stedelijk museum into a dynamic centre for modern and innovative art and culture. He did this with exceptional creativity and in close collaboration with artists and architects. Sandberg had distinct ideas about heading up a museum for modern and contemporary art, about the importance of art, about dealing with artists and about his work as typographic designer, but also about social responsibility and community.

This book is based on interviews with Sandberg (from 1971 and 1981) and offers first-hand insight into questions such as: what does the task of museum director entail; how does art criticism work; what is the essence of being an artist; what does the ideal museum architecture look like; and what is the role of art and the museum in society?”

Pre-order a copy at Amazon.

 

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/Sponsor/ Mighty Deals

In this Mighty Deals offer you’ll receive two font bundles for a fantastic price.

Thanks to an exclusive deal with 128Bit Technologies, Mighty Deals is bringing you this fontastic offer. That’s two FontFamily bundles in one ginormous collection. We’re talking more than 2,000 different fonts. Over 300 uniqueFont Families. All for $27. Where else can you say so much for so little?

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2013 Gift Guide: New & Recent Books

map the world

If you’re looking for holiday gift ideas, here are a few suggestions. We’ve compiled our favorite books from the past year into one giant list. Included are titles focused on editorial design, typography, identity work and brainstorming.

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From the Grain Edit Shop

Moderne Werbe und Gebrauchs Grafik via #graineditshop

Moderne Werbe und Gebrauchs Grafik by Hans Neuburg

For those of you that missed the preview, the shop is now live and open to the public.  Here’s a few of the items you’ll find inside.

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It’s time to Move

Its Time to Move via #grainedit

Set during the political uprising in Cairo, Egypt, during 2011, It’s Time to Move marries Peter Wieben’s text and pencil and gouache illustrations with documentary photography by Dominic Nahr. Part fiction and part truth, the resulting work explores the fears, hopes and unique observations of a small pocket of witnesses living through these extraordinary times.

 

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Grain Edit Shop Preview Sale

graineditshoplaunch

 

The preview sale will launch tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 3rd at noon PST. Included in the sale will be vintage kids books and design books from our vaults. New items will be added throughout the week. To access the preview sale  you will need a code which will be sent via email prior to the event.  If you would like to receive an invite code, email us with your details. Please include “grain edit store” in the subject line of the message and your email address in the body.

Cajsa Holgersson

Cajsa Holgersson via #grainedit

Cajsa Holgersson is a freelance illustrator and designer who is Swedish by birth, Finnish by education and now British by location. A graduate of the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, she has amassed an impressive client list including Lacoste, Airside, HarperCollins and more.

 

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/Sponsor/ The Art of Getting Started

Whether working for a corporate client or creating his own art, illustrator Lee Crutchley faced that blank page more times than he can count—and through trial and error and sheer force of will he made it through. His new book The Art of Getting Started is a hands-on guide that offers engaging and empowering challenges and activities to get over those artistic blocks and jumpstart your creativity. Whether it’s perfectionism, procrastination, or plain old fear that’s holding you back, get ready to get inspired.

Click here to learn more about The Art of Getting Started.

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Help Ink: Typhoon Haiyan Relief Prints

Help Ink - Haiyan relief prints via #grainedit

Rebuild by John Choura

The folks at Help Ink have launched a campaign to support relief efforts in the Philippines after the recent devastation from Typhoon Haiyan. Four posters are currently available and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to All Hands Volunteers‘ ground team.

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/Sponsor/ Fotor

Launched in 2012, Fotor is an online suite of photo editing tools that are both powerful and easy to use. Taking advantage of the latest in cloud technology, Fotor’s clean and intuitive interface can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. Tools can be easily integrated into a users’ workflow and include basic cropping, HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing and a photo card maker. They even have a Christmas card maker for those looking to create something special for the holidays.

 

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Grain Edit Shop

grain edit shop

Next week we will be launching an online shop for the holidays.  To access the preview sale  you will need a code which will be sent via email prior to the event.  If you would like to receive an invite code, email us with your details. Please include “grain edit store” in the subject line of the message and your email address in the body.

 

 

 

Mike Cina Interview

Mike Cina Interview #grainedit #designinprocess #newcreatives

Today we’re excited to announce a new series of process related interviews with our favorite artists and designers. In the first installment  we head to to Minneapolis, MN, the home of Michael Cina who is an award-winning creative director and skilled artist. Bridging the gap between music, photography, art and design, he creates work that is innovative and often unconventional in its approach. Here Mike discusses the role of intuition in design, his workflow for a recent Ghostly International project, his passions outside of the studio and much more. Enjoy!

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Mood

Mood Magazine via #grainedit

Now in it’s third issue, Mood is a quarterly magazine that looks at music and food in a cohesive and unique way, with a keen eye to design and high quality writing.

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Nate Koehler

Nate Koehler via #grainedit

Today’s post brings us to Madison, WI, the workplace and home of freelance designer Nate Koehler. With an emphasis on illustration and bold typography, Nate creates work that is smart  and engaging with a touch of whimsy.

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/Sponsor/ Verb: 72-Font Super Family – the complete series

There’s no better way to get your next project moving than with the awesomely active (and actively awesome) Verb font family. We’ve actually run a Mighty Deal on the Verb font from Yellow Design Studio before and it got so many of our fans pumped up that we’ve decided to bring it back. Even if you took advantage of our previous Verb Deal, you’ll want to stick around.

This time, you can get the entire Verb Font Family from Yellow Design Studio, or even just pick up the Verb fonts you don’t have yet.

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Jeremy Evans

Jeremy Evans via #grainedit

Currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden, Jeremy Evans is an upcoming designer with an impressive portfolio that spans print, packaging and interactive design.

 

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Neue Grafik Reprint

Neue Grafik via grainedit.com

I just got word of an exciting announcement from Lars Muller. The complete series of the highly influential Swiss Journal, Neue Grafik, will soon be available as a facsimile reprint!

From the publisher:
“Neue Grafik, the “International Review of graphic design and related subjects,” was initiated by designer Josef Müller-Brockmann and published in eighteen issues between 1958 and 1965 by an editorial collective consisting of him, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg und Carlo Vivarelli ( LMNV ). The complete volumes are now available in an excellent facsimile reprint from Lars Müller Publishers.

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And Atelier

And Atelier via grainedit.com

Brilliant work from And Atelier, a Portuguese multidisciplinary studio run by João Araújo & Rita Huet.

 

 

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

What do you want people to see when they find you online?

Whether you’re growing a business, starting a blog, or are ready to sell online, you need to make a great impression. Squarespace is the best way to create a modern and professional website, with all the features you need integrated into one platform. Every Squarespace website is mobile-ready, includes e-commerce, and is backed up by award-winning 24/7 customer service.

Try Squarespace today at squarespace.com!

A Huge thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

#GiveBooks Giveaway

#givebooks

I love giving and receiving books and with the holidays approaching I find myself  reviewing my own wish list as well as preparing shopping lists for others. Recently, Chronicle books asked if I would like to take part in their #GiveBooks campaign and in the process gift nine books to family and friends. I gladly accepted the challenge and I’m excited to announce that in the spirit of the holidays one lucky winner will win my gift picks.

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Lamm & Kirch

Lamm & Kirch via grain edit

Lamm & Kirch is an award-winning German design studio with a primary focus on printer matter. Guided by their explorations of visual language their work often features bold forms and strong typographical elements.

 

 

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Noémie Cédille

Noémie Cédille

Charming work from Noemie Cedille, a designer and illustrator based in Paris.

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/Sponsor/ SHOWN’D

Are you creative? SHOWN’D is online portfolio platform for creative professionals. Building and managing a portfolio is extremely easy and you can be up and running in just a few minutes. You can customize the look and feel by using different themes, backgrounds and fonts and protect your work with a variety of options. For those that need help with their resume, there’s a tool for that as well.  Another unique feature with SHOWN’D is the ability to embed your portfolio on any website with our code generator. See for yourself at Shownd.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

 

Type Fight

Type Fight via grain edit

 

After a brief hiatus, Type Fight is back and now with a new website built by Sparkbox! Featured matches include Matt Stevens vs. Mackey Saturday, Ty Wilkins vs. Lydia Nichols, Keith Davis Young vs. Adam R. Garcia and more on the way.

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The Weekend Press

The weekend Press via grain edit

Our friends over at the recently launched Weekend Press have teamed up with some amazing designers to create a letterpress print set that pays tribute to Oakland. Featuring work from Brent Couchman, Anna Hurley, Carl Bender, Erik Marinovich, Eszter Clark, Javier Garcia, Jeffrey Bucholtz, Nate Leutkehans, Richard Perez and Albert + Marie, the limited edition set, aptly titled Oakland Illustrated, is currently available through their Kickstarter page.

In addition to the print set, special pledge packages have been set up for those willing to invest a little more. Perks include a private letterpress workshop and a chance to meet with one of the artists involved.

 

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/Sponsor/ Wallpapered

Looking for a unique design to decorate your room with? Maybe a bespoke map wallpaper is the right choice for you. Wallpapered is a London-based company who specializes in custom wallpaper printing. A popular product is their Custom Zip code Map Wallpaper, which is made upon request based on your choice of Zip code! The map can be customized to your favorite colour or made to match your interior decor, with pins and labels marking any areas of interest. With a guaranteed light fastness of 20 years you can enjoy your bespoke map wallpaper for years to come!

 

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Francisco Martins

Francisco Martins via grain edit

São Paulo-based Francisco Martins is a versatile illustrator and designer with a portfolio that showcases his ability to work in a broad range of mediums and styles.

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Recently Received

Shadow Type Book via grain edit

In this week’s round of books we feature new items from Princeton Architectural Press, Chronicle Books, Lark Crafts, Abrams, Pavilion Books, Universe and Laurence King.

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Taylor Goad

Taylor Goad via grain edit

 

Hailing from a small town in Oklahoma, Taylor Goad is a talented illustrator and designer currently based in Philadelphia.  Recently Taylor updated his portfolio with some amazing new work including projects for Northcoast Brewery, Good Magazine and 160over90. Check it out here.

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Design is One

Design is One film poster by Mas­simo Vignelli via grain edit

Design is One is a documentary by Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra that highlights the work of two of the world’s most influential designers, Lella and Massimo Vignelli. Featuring interviews with Milton Glaser, Michael Bierut, and Jessica Helfand the film attempts to capture the Vignelli’s creativity as well as their enduring humor and warmth. Design is One will make its NYC theatrical debut this week.

 

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Josef Müller-Brockmann Poster Collection

Josef Muller Brockmann Poster Collection by Lars Muller via grain edit

Josef Müller-Brockmann’s graphics left a lasting mark on Swiss visual communication from the 1950s onward. His posters demonstrate how a sober, formally reduced language works best for conveying a universal, timeless message. Poster campaigns for longtime clients such as the Tonhalle concert hall in Zürich or the Automobile Club of Switzerland follow strict functional criteria–and yet exhibit a variety of design solutions and exciting, dynamic compositions.

This book presents selected posters by Müller-Brockmann and places them in the context of their own time while also examining the validity of his solutions from today’s point of view.

Pre-order a copy via Lars Muller, Amazon or your local bookstore.

 

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David Ryski

David Ryski via grain edit

A landscape architect by trade, Polish illustrator David Ryski creates beautiful work that is tinged with humor and wit.

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From the Job Board

graphic design jobs
UI/UX Designer + Illustration position – PennyPop (SF,CA)
Design Collaborator – The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

 

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Ten Dollar Fonts

Fellars font by Jan-Christian Bruun via grain edit

Fellars typeface by Jan- Christian Bruun

Founded in 2012, Ten Dollar Fonts is a curated platform with over 110 fonts. Featuring work from more than 65 typographers, the site proves that great fonts don’t need to expensive.

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FHK Henrion: The Complete Designer

FHK Henrion Book by Unit Editions via Grain Edit

In the first comprehensive monograph of FHK Henrion, Adrian Shaugnessy highlights the work of this highly underrated designer. Originally trained in textiles, Henrion would later go on to become a skilled poster artist, a noted design educator and quite possibly the father of modern corporate identity in Europe. FHK Henrion: The Complete Designer hits the shelves in November, but is now available for pre-order.

 

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Coast Modern: Bay Area Premiere

coast modern film via grain edit

Coast Modern is an independent documentary by Gavin Froome and Mike Bernard that traces the roots of West Coast Modern architecture. Featuring interviews with many of the pioneers of the scene including Ray Kappe and Henrik Bull, the film showcases the homes that have become their legacies.

Please join us on October 14th, 2013 for the Bay Area Premiere for the film.  Author Dave Weinstein will provide a brief talk on Bay Area modern architecture before the film and a Q & A session with architect Henrik Bull, Jack Robbins and others will follow the screening.

The film is sponsored by The City of El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission and El Cerrito Modern.

Advance tickets are available online for $5 at Eventbrite.

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Mattson Creative: Breaking Bad Posters

Breaking Bad Poster by Mattson Creative via grain edit

To commemorate the finale of Breaking Bad, Mattson Creative has created a poster series that illustrates the transformation of Bryan Cranston’s character, Walter White, over the course of the highly-acclaimed series. Each print is silkscreened on 100lb French Pop-Tone Paper and hand-signed by Ty Mattson himself. The limited edition set is available exclusively at breakingbadstore.com.

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Stefan Kanchev: Logo Book

stefan kanchev via grain edit

From Magdalina Stancheva comes a book on the father of Bulgarian graphic design, Stefan Kanchev. Featured are hundred of sketches, photos and logos from a master craftsman whose work adorned the largest and well-known institutions in Southeastern Europe.

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Tal Leming / Type Supply

Type Supply via grainedit.com

I was first introduced to Tal Leming through his early endeavors at House Industries and solo offerings through the type collective/distributor Village. As a fan of his work, I’m excited to announce the opening of his new type foundry, Type Supply. To coincide with the launch of the foundry, he has released Balto, Leming’s personal interpretation of the classic American Gothic style. Take Balto for a test drive here.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

What do you want people to see when they find you online?

Whether you’re growing a business, starting a blog, or are ready to sell online, you need to make a great impression. Squarespace is the best way to create a modern and professional website, with all the features you need integrated into one platform. Every Squarespace website is mobile-ready, includes e-commerce, and is backed up by award-winning 24/7 customer service.

Try Squarespace today for free at squarespace.com.

A Huge thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed! Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Vitor Andrade

vitor andrade via @grainedit

Beautiful work from Vitor Andrade, a designer and art director based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, currently employed at R/GA.

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Brian Edward Miller AKA Orlin Culture Shop

Orlin Culture shop #grainedit

Brian Edward Miller is a talented illustrator with a knack for creating lush landscapes inspired by his eighties-driven childhood and a family legacy of artists and craftsman. With stints at gaming and design studios, he recently ventured out on his own with the launch of Orlin Culture Shop, a studio based in Erie, Colorado.

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Aurelien Debat

Aurelien Debat via grain edit

Beautiful illustration work from Aurelien Debat, a graduate of the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg.

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Type Only

type only

Unit Editions’ latest release, Type Only, explores a current trend in typography: type unsupported by illustration or photography. Featuring designers from around the world the book showcases the power of type when used in isolation.

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Giacomo Bagnara

Giacomo Bagnara

Giacomo Bagnara is an Italian illustrator based in Verona. With a background in architecture, he creates bold, playful compositions informed by his strong structural sensibilities.

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Two – Think Work Observe

think work observe

Stunning work from Think Work Observe, a graphic design studio based in Udine (Italy) founded by Piero Di Biase and Alberto Moreu.

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Roger Dario

roger dario

I recently discovered Toronto-based designer and art-director Roger Dario. In a relatively short amount of time, he’s built an impressive body of work and a client list to match. Featuring a wide range of thoughtfully executed projects, his portfolio proves he is a flexible designer and is well worth a look.

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House Industries for Chronicle Books

house industries
Our friends over at House Industries have teamed up with Chronicle Books for a special stationery collection. Featuring notebooks, labels and postcards, each set is decked out in metallic ink, thick type and the usual embellishments that you’ve come to expect from the House crew.

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Gerald Cinamon

Gerald Cinamon

Gerald Cinamon is an American designer who, at an early age, moved to the UK where he would eventually become the chief designer for all paperback typography at Penguin. Heavily influenced by Swiss design, he created book jackets and posters that were bold and iconic – something unique and forward-thinking for book publishing in the 1960s. To honor his contributions to British design, an exhibition has been organized at the Insti­tute of Con­tem­po­rary Art. In addition SEA design has produced a stunning book as well as several prints.

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Rick Berkelmans AKA Hedof

hedof

Rick Berkelmans is the man behind Hedof, a oneman design studio based in Breda, Netherlands.  Drawing from a wide range of influences and a love for traditional printing techniques, he creates work that is a vibrant mix of images, typography and color. Many of his pieces are humorous in nature and feature a playful cast of characters that morph in and out of each other. Immerse yourself in his world at the recently revamped Hedof.com.

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You Can Now Magazine

ycn magazine

Creative member network YCN has launched a brand new Members’ Magazine. The inaugural issue of You Can Now Magazine is Designed & Art Directed by Matt Willey and Edited by YCN Founder Nick Defty. It fittingly takes the theme ‘Begin’ as its editorial starting point and follows on with a visually loaded series of ideas, essays and inspirations.

The publication’s opening section presents a ‘celebration of getting started’ and includes an extended feature on the business of launching a new magazine with input from a spread of magazine maestros including Jeremy Leslie (MagCulture), Dan Crowe (Port), Robert Bound (Monocle) and Charlotte Rey (ACNE Paper), among others. All are illustrated by rising French star Tiffany Beucher.

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Recently Received

tiny pencil

Tiny Pencil: Issue One – The Forest Issue
64 pages / 21cm x 27.5cm

Filled with lush, monochromatic landscapes, the Tiny Pencil is a new artzine that celebrates graphite-based illustration in all its glory. Founded by Amber Hsu and Katriona Chapman, the inaugural issue explores the theme of “Forests” and features sketches of fantastical funghi, wizards and eerie woodland creatures. Included are contributions by Raymond Lemstra, Kristyna Baczynski, Nick Sheehy, Luke Pearson, Lizzie Stewart. Ward Zwart, Liam Stevens and many others.

Pick up a copy here. Also Tiny Pencil issue 2 is now available for pre-order.

More book picks after the jump.

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Emiliano Ponzi

Emiliano Ponzi

Based in Milan, Italy, Emiliano Ponzi is an award-winning illustrator with a strong sense of color and composition. Stripping away superflous elements, both visual and textual, he creates stylized and symbolic landscapes that become backdrops for his satirical musings.

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Tell a Story

tell a story

Portuguese advertising agency MSTF Partners firmly believes that there’s no better way to remember a journey than a book and that nothing makes one travel more than reading. With this in mind, they developed Tell a Story, a mobile book shop that sells translated Portuguese books, as a way to promote literature  as “postcard” of their culture.

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Mattson Creative is Hiring

mattson creative

We were first introduced to Mattson Creative through their brilliant series of tribute posters for Showtime’s Dexter and have become big fans ever since. In addition to the studio’s inspiring side projects, they’ve created award-winning work for an impressive client list including Apple, CBS, Cartoon Network, Hasbro, DreamWorks and Target. We just received word that they currently have a position open for a Senior Graphic Designer in their Southern California office. This could be an amazing opportunity for one lucky designer!

For more details and to apply for the position, please visit their website.

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Josef Albers Interaction of Color iPad App

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color, Yale University Press has released an interactive iPad app for the now classic book on the subject. Beautifully designed by Potion, the app features the original set of over 140 color studies as well as the full text. In addition, a variety of experts and scholars provide commentary on Albers’ theories and work.

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Pinterest Picks

Warwick Kay

The Great Outdoors by Warwick Kay

From Kenzo Tange Structures to Futura type speciens here’s our favorite Pinterest picks from the past month.

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Dave Foster

dave foster

Foster Type is the online home of Dave Foster, an independent designer based in Sydney, Australia. Specializing in custom lettering, Dave has built an impressive portfolio of type work and the awards to match. His latest project is Blanco, a serif typeface with 8 styles and 4 weights. Completed while attending the Type and Media Masters program at the Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag, The Netherlands, it’s slated for release in 2014.

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MADE Quarterly Edition Two

made quarterly

MADE Quarterly is a publication that documents the workings of the modern maker, including but not limited to industrial design, architecture, fashion, interior design, photography and the culinary world. MADE aims to get inside the heads of those individuals to find out how they do what they do, and what inspires them to create. Each issue will take a peek behind the scenes and offer the reader a rare opportunity to glimpse inside the minds of these inspiring individuals.

The second edition of MADE Quarterly features: Mast Brothers (USA), Best Made Co (USA), Huet Brothers (NLD), Stevie Gee (GBR), Earth Tu Face (USA), March Studio (AUS), Uniform Wares (GBR), Henry Wilson (AUS), Ben Huff (USA) and Minimalux (GBR). MADE Edition Two also features four individual covers, each displaying chosen works from our esteemed contributors. Please note covers are distributed randomly.

Pick up a copy here.

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Image of the Studio: A Portrait of NYC Graphic Design

image of the studio

Mark your calendars: a new exhibition entitled Image of the Studio will be on display at The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography starting in October. Featuring over 75 design studios, the show will highlight original work as well as data visualizations and information graphics to draw connections between each studio and show how New York as a geography brings their diverse philosophies together.

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Recently Received

design books

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from MidCentury Magazine, Chronicle Books, Corraini Edizioni, Sappi, Milkfed Press and Princeton Architectural Press.

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Adrian Shaughnessy: Scratching the Surface

Adrian Shaughnessy

Continuing with Unit Editions thoughtfully curated collection of design related titles comes, Scratching the Surface, a selection of writings by Adrian Shaughnessy. Over the past 18 years, Adrian has contributed significantly to the ongoing discourse centered around graphic design. His highly successful How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing your Soul has sold over 80,000 copies worldwide and has become a staple for young designers seeking practical advice. With this latest volume, we are presented with a sampling of essays and reviews that helped establish Adrian as an authoritative and critical voice within the design community.

Featured are musings and meditations on music and art with ample space dedicated to Adrian’s writings on graphic design. Designed by Spin, the layout is sparse, but complete with liberal amounts of pink adding a much-needed visual punch.

Pick up a copy here.

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Christine Rosch

christine rosch

Charming work from the talented Christine Rosch, a German illustrator currently living in Scotland.

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ICE CREAM FOR FREE

ice cream for free

ICE CREAM FOR FREE is a berlin-based design and illustration studio founded in 2005 by solo artist Oliver Wiegner. Often working with contrasting materials, Oliver creates dense, layered compositions brimming with marbled textures, geometric shapes and sharp typography.

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Agostino Lacurci

Agostino Lacurci

Working between Rome and Nurenburg, Italian artist Agostino Iacurci specializes in large-scale murals that draw inspiration from every day life.  His colorful yet somber character-driven works adapt and conform to a building’s surface converting normally mundane spaces into rich visual experiences.

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Vasava

vasava
Consistently fresh work from the Barcelona-based studio of Vasava.

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Eric Tan: Fly

eric tan fly

Eric Tan is well-known for his travel themed posters for Disney and Pixar, but in his latest project he takes on his own journeys. Featuring distant locations including Barcelona and Hong Kong, as well as places closer to home, all fifteen posters in the series are currently on display at Gallery 1988.

Limited edition prints are available for purchase here.

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Elsa Jenna

elsa jenna

Self-described as an “Italian curly designer”, Elsa Jenna is living and working in New York via Milan. With a portfolio that is steadily growing, her website highlights her ability to comfortably work in a variety of illustration styles. I especially appreciate her contributions to IL Magazine which stand out even amongst an already impressive body of work.

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Ken Lo

ken lo

Meet Ken Lo, one of Hong Kong’s Top 40 Under 40. With previous experience as a designer for CoDesign and the Alan Chan Design Co., he is now the owner of his own studio. Specializing in branding and packaging, his work is minimal in its approach, often stripping away all but the essential shapes and forms. Explore his portfolio further at Blow.hk.

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Highs & Lows

highs and lows

Highs & Lows is a new iOS app by Alex Fuller and Jessa Brinkmeyer that allows people to document and reflect on their day in a simple way. Hundreds of events that inspire a range of emotions and feelings fill our days. The app encourages people to consider their day in a direct and thoughtful way by distilling down those events and pulling out two simple points that sum up the extremes in a balanced entry.

Download the app here.

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Atelier Martino & Jana

atelier martino jana

Atelier Martino & Jana is a multidisciplinary studio formed in 2000 in Porto, Portugal. With Music as a recurring theme they thoughtfully explore rhythm and tone in a portfolio that seamlessly transitions from pieces that embrace fluidity to work with a more structured approach.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

It’s never been more important to make a great impression online.

Squarespace puts world-class design in your hands and provides everything you need to create your own website in minutes. Squarespace websites are different. They’re designed to be simple, modern, and to look great on every device. With Squarespace, your personality,  products, or content is always the focus.

Try Squarespace today for free at squarespace.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Bibliotheque

bibliotheque

Bibliotheque is a design studio in London, with heavy-hitter clients such as Nike, Adidas, Virgin Atlantic, Google and Sony. Since their establishment in 2003, they have produced highly conceptual and visually stunning work that spans print, interactive, packaging and exhibition design. Keep up with Bibliotheque’s work here.

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Mash Creative – 15/115

mash creative

Mark Bloom aka Mash Creative recently contacted us in regards to his latest project 15/115Featuring 115 projects spanning a 15 year career to date, the book highlights a well-curated selection of Posters, Logos and case studies from his personal portfolio. The book also features a foreword from renowned designer and author David Airey.

Pre-order a copy here.

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Samuel Soulek AKA Soulseven

samuel Soulek

Soulseven is the brainchild of Samuel Soulek, a talented graphic designer out of Minneapolis. With a portfolio that spans branding, packaging, poster design, editorial and marketing collateral, Sam’s work employs a clear understanding of typography and carefully balanced layouts. Check out more work from Soulseven here.

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/Sponsor/ Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013

Over one-thousand creative minds are set to descend upon Cleveland for three days in August to see 20 speakers, 20 designers, and over 40 bands at the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013.  Will you be one of them?

Now in its fourth year, WMC Fest is the premier art, design, and music event in the Midwest. Founded by the Cleveland based creative agency Go Media designer and partner Jeff Finley, Weapons of Mass Creation Fest inspires, motivates and celebrates those who live to create.

Running August 16 through 18, this year’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest will feature over 70 performances and will include inspiring talks on topics such as graphic design, art, entrepreneurship, leadership, productivity and creativity.  Jaw-dropping art and design shows will highlight both local and regional talent including album art, t-shirt design, typography, poster art, toy design, fashion design and illustration. Over 40 bands will hit WMC’s intimate stages, and attendees will also be treated to epic breakdancing battles from bboys and bgirls from all around the country.

Attendees can look forward to speeches from Jon Contino, Brandon Rike, Kern and Burn and These are Things as well as the design work from Derek Hess, Strawberry Luna, Derrick Castle and Lauren Marx.

Those interested in attending WMC Fest are encouraged to purchase tickets online before they sell out!

Inspiration guaranteed!

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Margherita Urbani

margherita urbani

Margherita Urbani is an Italian born graphic designer whose work spans illustration, editorial and interactive. Now living in Philadelphia and working at an advertising agency, Urbani continues to create pieces that are light-hearted and eye-catching. When she isn’t designing, she is flexing her creative muscles by drawing and making zines.

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Longa025

longa025

Specializing in vector-based illustration, Longa025 has created a stunning portfolio of infographics, icons, and maps for well-known clients including Monocle, GQ and Rolling Stone Magazine.

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Grundini

grundini

Meet Peter Grundy and Tilly Northedge, the creative collaborators behind Grundini. Working with bold colors and simple shapes they create informative illustrations that perfectly marry form and function.

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Tres Tipos Graficos

Tres Tipos Graficos

Tres Tipos Graficos is a studio founded in Madrid in 2004 with a focus on branding and editorial design. Although recent work has been for larger-scale clients, they still manage to maintain the energy and personality of a smaller firm. With a strong attention to detail they create work thats stands out from the crowd.

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MUTI

muti

MUTI is a three-man studio out of Cape Town, South Africa with a rich and diverse portfolio.  Working with muted tones and hand-drawn typography they create stunning work that evokes a sense of nostalgia.

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A Handbook of California Design, 1930-1965

handbook of california design

A Handbook of California Design, 1930-1965 is the latest title from LACMA curator Bobbye Tigerman and profiles 140 of the most significant design figures from the mid-twentieth-century. As a companion to the catalog California Design: Living in a Modern Way and the exhibition of the same name, the book features Grain Edit faves such as Saul Bass and Alvin Lustig, as well as many lesser known but influential practitioners. Also included is an extended reading list, images of the exhibition installation and sources for further research.

Designed by the award winning designer Irma Boom, the book is a beautifully crafted object in its own right. The layout is restrained in its approach, but shines within the subtle details. I especially appreciate her “Connections and Collaborations” diagram which takes on a pattern-like quality that possibly emulates some of the textile work of the era.

You can pick up a copy at the LACMA shop as well as Amazon. The exhibition, which recently wrapped up in Tokyo, makes its next stop at the Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand on July 7th of this year.

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BlkSmith Design Co.

BlkSmith Design Co.

Blksmith Design Co. is the online home of David Smith, a talented young designer out of Southern California. Specializing in lettering and illustration, he’s built a body of work that has a playful spirit and a vintage edge. Check out his full portfolio here.

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Vicente García Morillo

vicente garcia morillo

Meet Vicente Garcia Morillo, an established designer out of Madrid whose client list includes Adidas, Urban Outfitters and Wired Magazine. His uninhibited style is fresh and unexpected, integrating typography and illustration elements with ease. Keep an eye out for more work to come, as Morillo has recently founded his own studio.

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Argijale

argijale

Grain Edit recently launched on Instagram, and one of our most exciting discoveries was the the Spanish illustrator and photographer Argijale. Using Instagram as his personal portfolio, he posts his artistic explorations with colorful characters and intricate pattern work. Hopefully a more formal web presence will be in his future as we look to explore his work in more detail. Catch his updates here.

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Ariane Spanier

Ariane Spanier

Ariane Spanier Design is a Berlin-based studio founded in 2005 focused on print work for architects, galleries and publishers. Often playing with the perception of depth they create typographic landscapes that bend and fold revealing rich layers of color and texture.

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Marcus Kraft

Marcus Kraft

Marcus Kraft is an award-winning multidiscplinary studio located in Zurich, Switzerland. Their diverse portfolio ranges from editorial pieces that are bold and confrontational to posters that are more subtle and nuanced in their approach.

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Paul Belford

Paul Belford

Meet Paul Belford, a creative agency out of London who focuses on advertising and branding. Their approach to design is admirably simple, resulting in pieces that are clean and easy to appreciate. Check out their work here.

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Kern and Burn: Conversations With Design Entrepreneurs

kern and burn

From the same team that brought you The People’s Pennant comes a thought provoking and informative book on design entrepreneurship. Kern and Burn: Conversations With Design Entrepreneurs features candid conversations with 30 leading designers who have founded startups, channeled personal passions into self-made careers and taken risks to do what they love. Through insightful stories, quotes and quips they share their failures, successes, and perspectives.

The distinguished group of guests include: Armin Vit, Keenan Cummings, Ben Pieratt, Riley Cran, Don Clark, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Jessica Hische, Kyle Sollenberger, Tad Carpenter, Duane King, Joe Gebbia, Aaron Draplin, Mikey Burton, Katie Kirk and many more. Pick up a copy here.

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Jeremy Pruitt aka Thinkmule for Bordo Bello

thinkmule

I really love Jeremy Pruitt’s (aka Thinkmule) contribution to the AIGA Bordo Bello event. The skateboard art show, which runs now through July 3 features a gaggle of hot design talent and celebrates the Colorado lifestyle. Jeremy’s deck features seventeen custom logos, each loosely paying homage to a different aspect of Colorado’s rich and vibrant history. To see all the boards, visit the Bordo Bello website.

Also, be sure to check out Jeremy’s portfolio. Recently updated, the site hosts a curated collection of personal illustration and lettering work.

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Sarah Mazzetti

sarah mazzetti

Sarah Mazzetti is a talented illustrator, comic artist, and screen printing teacher based in Bologna, Italy. Her unique style is funky and colorful, with each piece inviting the viewer deeper into her twisted and exchanting world. Dive in here.

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/Sponsor/ UncommonGoods

A Huge thanks to UncommonGoods for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed! Artists, designers, and photographers!

UncommonGoods has just launched their iPhone Design Challenge, a call for entries of 2D digital captures including original watercolors, acrylics, pastels, colored pencils, collages, photography, digital art, etc. The winner will receive $500, a vendor contract, and national exposure by being presented their catalog circulation of 1.75 Million. Until May 31, 2013 at 11:59 EST, entries are welcome free of charge! Click here for more details.

Find artwork for sale from dozens of talented artists in the UncommonGoods Art Gallery here.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Amanda Jane Jones

Amanda Jane Jones

Amanda Jane Jones is a graphic designer and letterpress extraordinaire our of Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Since her graduation from BYU in 2009, she has kept busy with a budding career as a freelancer. In addition to her personal work, she serves as the art director of Kinfolk Magazine where creates stunning layouts that are minimal in their approach but remain warm and inviting.

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From the Job Board

designer jobs
Graphic Designer – Varsity Vintage/GBNYC (NY, NY)
Art Director – Code and Theory (NY, NY)
Visual Designer – Code and Theory (NY, NY)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Philographics: The Book and Postcard Box

philographics

Several years ago we featured the Philographics poster series by UK based Genis Carreras.  We just received word that the popular series will soon be available as a book as well as a postcard set. Currently Genis is raising funds to being print production. You can support this effort here.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Squarespace provides everything you need to create an exceptional website for you or your business, all within a single platform. Start with beautifully designed templates, an easy-to-use interface, and a free domain name – all backed up with award-winning 24/7 customer support.

Add your own content, customize the style, and you’ll have a website that looks great on any device.

Try Squarespace for free at squarespace.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Eirian Chapman

eirian chapman

Eirian Chapman is a graphic artist and illustrator out of Australia, whose work has spanned editorial, branding, retail, and infographics. Her clean lines and bold color palettes create characters that are whimsical without losing their air of solemnity. Check out Chapman on her website and blog.

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Mads Berg

mads berg

Mads Berg is an illustrator out of Denmark and a 2001 graduate from the Danish School of Design where he now occasionally lectures. Working from a deep passion of classic poster art and Art Deco aesthetics he creates lush landscapes where hard angles co-exist with soft, streamlined shapes in perfect harmony.

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Two Times Elliott

two times elliott

Two Times Elliot is a London-based studio, whose focus centers around print, identity and web. Their style is a mix of typographic elements, clean lines and bold color palettes, bringing each design to life with its own personality. I’m also impressed by their ability to incorporate mixed media into their work without disrupting the flow of the design.

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Recently Received

nobrow

Fresh picks from our favorite publishers! Here’s the latest books to hit our shelves.

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Grace Danico

Grace Danico

Today I’m excited to present our very own Grace Danico. Over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten to know Grace as someone who is very fun-loving, warm and personable. These same qualities are reflected in her illustrations.  With colored pencils and crayons as her guide, her work flourishes within the constraints of the deceptively simple lines and charming doodles.

I especially appreciate her illustrations of food. Her portfolio is adorned with lemons with mustaches, blushing oranges, pizza slides and other characters laced with Grace’s contagious sense of humor. All of these await your perusal here.

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Ricardo Leite

Ricardo Leite

Ricardo Leite is an accomplished graphic designer and art director out of Amsterdam. While juggling a passion for typography and illustration, Leite manages to maintain an extremely clean style without being overly stark.

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Face

face design

Face. is an international design agency with a global perspective and a focus on branding. Founded in 2006, Face. has already created some impressive designs that showcase their modernist flair. Although many of their pieces are done in a straightforward style, they keep it fresh with fun color palettes and intriguing typography.  Having already created multiple offices across North America in their short life span, keep an eye on Face. for their next move.

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The Beauty of Letterpress

beauty of letterpress

Neenah Paper recently launched The Beauty of Letterpress, an impressive online resource and showcase. The site features valuable links, educational videos, a printers directory, as well as a gallery which is curated by a different letterpress aficionado each month. In addition, limited edition prints are available by donation with proceeds funding The Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum relocation process. To help reach the goal of $30,000, Neenah is generously offered to match all contributions up to $15,000. You can show your support here.

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Marco Goran Romano

marco goran romano

Marco Romano is a designer and illustrator out of Milan whose designs are both fun and unpretentious. With a portfolio thats steadily growing, Romano has already created illustrations for notable clients such as ESPN and Wired Magazine.

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La Tigre

la tigre

La Tigre is an independent design studio based in Milan and a recent recipient of an ADC Young Guns Award. While their focus is mostly on editorial design, with illustration and infographics being the stars of the show, they also dabble in motion graphics and interactive mediums.

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Thorbjørn Gudnason

Thorbjørn Gudnason

Thorbjørn Gudnason is an up-and-coming graphic designer, currently pursuing his BA from the School of Visual Communication in Denmark. Having completed an internship with Pentagram in the past few months, Gudnason is sure to blossom into an increasingly talented designer as he continues to develop his style.

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Steve Simpson

steve simpson

Steve Simpson is an English-born designer currently working out of Dublin. His portfolio is extensive, and takes you on an exciting journey that spans children’s books, murals, game design, packaging, and more.

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Old & New

old & new

Gadite Warriors by Andrew Lyons

Old & New provides a platform for contemporary graphic artists to exhibit works themed on Biblical stories and passages. It also aims to introduce a new online audience to Biblical art, attempting to replace popular, yet sometimes low-quality, contemporary Biblical artwork with the kind of accessible and honorable work that has historically been associated with the Bible. The project involves artists from different faith backgrounds and sells prints of the designs with proceeds going to help fight the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.

On Monday, April 22 the latest round of designs will be released with contributions by Mikey Burton, Chris Rushing, Shed Labs, Matt Stevens and others.

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Missy Austin

Missy Austin

Missy Austin is yet another rockstar designer currently working for Zeus Jones, a studio in Minneapolis that is always producing interesting work.

Austin’s projects focus around typography, and include editorial, infographic and various marketing collateral. Although her designs are well executed and clean, they remain playful.

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Nick Brue

nick brue

Nick Brue is a graphic designer out of Minneapolis. In addition to his impressive work for Cue, an established branding firm in Minnesota, he has produced several intriguing designs on his own time. This includes his own wedding save-the-dates and invitations, and multiple identity projects. Though his designs are to the point, he does a great job of utilizing interesting color and texture to keep it fresh.

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Flying Eye Books

flying eye books

Flying Eye Books is the latest branch in Nobrow’s budding empire. The imprint will strictly focus on Children’s titles while retaining the same quality and curation that you would come to expect from Nobrow.

For their first release, they worked with award-winning UK-based illustrator Viviane Schwarz to create an awesome robot book – literally. The aptly titled Welcome to Your Awesome Robot provides you with everything you need to design, build and test a robot from cardboard.  With instructional comics and Vivienne’s charming sense of humor as your guide, the book is fun to read and makes for an excellent family activity.

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Recently Received

map the world

Fresh goods from the field! Here’s the latest batch of items to hit our shelves.

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Ryan Atkinson

Ryan Atkinson

Ryan Atkinson is the Head of Integrated Design at McCann FP7 in Dubai. His stunning portfolio features editorial design, typography, and packaging, to name a few. His work is full of geometric patterns, clean type and coordinated color pallets that come together to create designs that are elegant and memorable.

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Device Creative Collaborative

device creative collaborative

Device Creative Collective is a branding studio out of North Carolina. Lately, they have produced several interesting projects that are both eye catching and cohesive. Their new studio stationary features letterpress printing of silver ink on red cardstock, creating a look that is vibrant without being affronting. Read the rest of this entry »

/Sponsor/ Squarespace

Squarespace: “The all-in-1 website builder we’ve been waiting for.” – Fast Company

Websites • Domains • Commerce • 24/7 support

Try Squarespace.com now for free

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.


House Industries Photo-Lettering App

photo lettering app
photo lettering app
photo lettering app

Has your instagram stream been inundated with Neutraface-laced images the past few days? If you’re wondering why, it’s because House Industries just launched an iPhone app. The new app allows users to create, edit and share photos with select House fonts and Photo-Lettering alphabets. Three fonts – Plinc Swiss, Bubble Gum and House Slant are included with the initial download. Additional fonts, including Neutraface, can be purchased for 99 cents. Download it for free at the iTunes store.

B/W we’re on Instagram now. yeah!

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Tom Whalen

tom whalen

Tom Whalen is a designer out of Pennsylvania, who has entertained a lifelong fascination with comics and monsters. This has resulted in the manifestation of an illustrator who creates vectors that appear ready to jump off the screen.

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Will Miller

will miller

Will Miller is the creative director and lead designer of Firebelly design studio in Chicago, IL. Miller takes creativity to another level, and doesn’t rule out any possibilities when it comes to his design process. Taking no shortcuts, his passion is evident in his work.

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Irving Harper: Works in Paper

irving harper

Irving Harper: Works In Paper is a recent monograph from Skira Rizzoli celebrating the multi-faceted designer, Irving Harper, with a focus on his incredible collection of paperboard sculptures.

As the director of design at George Nelson Associates in the 1960s, Harper contributed to numerous mid-century creations, namely the Marshmallow Sofa for Herman Miller furniture and the Ball and Sunburst clocks for Howard Miller, and also leading the design of the Chrysler pavilion for the 1964 New York World Fair. According to Julie Lasky who penned an essay for the book, the pressure of work ‘almost drove him to knit’, yet with his skills in building client presentation models in cardboard, he soon eased his way into sculpting with paper. Inspired by Picasso, African Art, Surrealism and de Stijl, Harper constructed whimsical characters and breathtaking abstracts mostly out of paper in addition to straws, wood, toothpicks, twigs, spare materials from his office and discarded doll parts from his daughter. His collection numbered close to 300 when he ran out of display space in 2000. He completed his stunning final piece which appropriately graced the book cover – an owl with glass eyeballs and draped in folded brown paper feathers.

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From the Job Board: EMP Museum

graphic design jobs

Exhibit Graphic Designer – EMP Museum (Seattle, WA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Andreas Hidber

andreas hidber

Andreas Hidber is an accomplished designer out of Basel, Switzerland. Although his specialty is editorial design, Hidber also dabbles in branding and corporate identity.

The first piece that caught my eye was a newspaper designed for the JFK Festival for Youth Culture where he rotated every single element 45°.

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Caleb Heisey

caleb heisey

Caleb Heisey is a print designer and illustrator out of Philadelphia. Currently working on his MFA in Graphic Design, Caleb has produced several eye catching pieces that showcase his talents in illustration, branding and editorial design.

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Chris Mann

chris mann

I’m looking forward to seeing more from SF-based Chris Mann.  His small but growing portfolio wonderfully showcases his range and capabilities as a designer. From personal experiments with forms and type to full-blown branding projects, Chris’s work is thoughtfully executed and a pleasure to view.

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/Sponsor/ Boxshot

Boxshot is a realistic 3d mockup software, allowing designers to provide 3d visualization of artwork for customers.

It features 50+ shapes like 3d ebook covers, 3d boxes, CD and DVD boxes, binders, stationery, bottles, cards and much more. It also has the ability to load various 3D formats in case the shape you need is missing. In addition, Boxshot automatically adjusts the shapes to your artwork.

State of the art user interface and support of both Windows and Mac platforms make Boxshot a killer solution for professional designers. Give it a try now, while the discount (no code needed) is still valid!

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Brad Surcey

brad surcey

Brad Surcey is the designer director of Zeus Jones in Minneapolis. His projects include packaging and identity pieces, all possessing an air of elegant simplicity and functionality. His attention to detail is what takes his designs to the next level.

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Stoemp

stoemp

Work hard and have fun. That’s the motto of Stoëmp, a Brussels based design studio focused on multi-disciplinary branding and web solutions. Their work for Pairi Daiza includes whimsical illustrations, font design and icons and signage.

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Recently Received

Paris line by line

What better way to start off the week than with some exciting new releases from our favorite publishers? Our latest installment includes whimsical architectural renderings by James Gulliver Hancock, reissues of obscure illustration classics by William Wondriska and Robinson and much more!

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Area 22

area 22

Area 22 is composed of the work of Sonia Chan, a UK transplant now making her living in San Francisco. Chan’s designs are a mix of identity and interactive projects, each one with its own unique character. Chan distinguishes herself by producing designs that are rustic but relevant.

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Kendrick Kidd

kendrick kidd

Kendrick Kidd is a freelance designer out of Jacksonville, Florida, whose work spans type, identity, packaging and editorial. His work is playful and fun, yet skillfully executed.

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Flight Tag Prints

crayonfire

Inspired by vintage airline baggage tags, UK illustrator Neil Stevens (aka crayonefire) created these stunning posters. If they prove popular he will make them available in his online shop this Spring. Lets make that happen! Drop Neil a note here.

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/Sponsor/ Introducing Squarespace Commerce

Squarespace is a modern publishing platform that includes everything you need to create a professional website in minutes. This past week Squarespace introduced a truly integrated e-commerce solution that makes it dead simple to start selling products – digital or physical – directly from a Squarespace website.

With more than 20 new features, Squarespace Commerce lets you easily add products, process customer orders, and start accepting payments instantly – all from a single platform.

Try it for free today at Squarespace.com.

Commoner Inc.

commoner

Commoner, Inc. is a Boston based design studio consisting of Richie Stewart and Brook Towlson. They may be small, but their custom typography and branding have come together to produce multiple dynamic projects. Stewart’s ability to effectively mix vintage typography with modern design elements create works that are clean and memorable.

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Greg Hubacek

Greg Hubacek

Greg Hubacek is a freelance designer and art director out of Los Angeles. His redesign of The Chronicle of Higher Education, a publication that delivers academic news in both physical and digital form, is straightforward and elegant while maintaining a sense of playfulness. By using grayscale images, Hubacek is able to use geometric shapes and bits of color for strategically placed emphasis.

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Recently Received

mati klarwein

From books on vintage record cover art to typographic notecards, here’s the latest batch of items to hit our shelves.

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Strohl for Lekerlee

strohl design

I have been an avid consumer of this German treat for years, but I can guarantee you that it was never the packaging that drew me in. SF Based Strohl took Lekerlee to the next level by creating packaging that is sleek and modern, a sharp contrast to the traditional gothic type and overly-illustrated german villages that usually adorn the cookies’ container.

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Poster Pick: Curtis Jinkins

Curtis Jinkins

Austin, Texas is a hotbed of design talent and Curtis Jinkins is one of our favorites to emerge from the scene. In this week’s poster pick, Curtis pays homage to home state with this bull print. Black and gold are prominently featured, which makes perfect sense given the history of this oil rich land. In the background, a blood red setting sun illuminates the derricks and windmills that dot the landscape.

This print as well as other works by Curtis are now available at the Poster Cabaret.

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Belinda Love Lee

Belinda Love Lee

Belinda Love Lee is a freelance designer out of Cardiff, UK, whose talents span print, web, and branding. Her business cards designed for prop stylist, Christina Yan, feature foiling, gold edging, and embossing that make for a beautiful presentation. Her attention to detail aids her in creating a design that is modern with a touch of whimsy.

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Albert + Marie

albert + marie

The work of SF based Will Ecke and Liz Doering a.k.a Albert + Marie can be described in one word – charming. The talented husband and wife team have a knack for creating bold and playful work that brightens up your day. Check out their Etsy store and add some sunshine to your life.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

Squarespace is a beautiful and intuitive website publishing platform that allows anyone to easily create professional web pages, blogs, and galleries all in one place.

Simply start with one of Squarespace’s award-winning designs, add images and content, connect your social accounts, and you’ll have a website that looks great on every device.

All Squarespace accounts come with award-winning 24/7 support, as well as cloud hosting, real-time analytics, and a free domain.

Whether you’re a creative professional, business owner, or blogger, Squarespace makes it easy to bring your ideas to life.

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Cory Say

cory say

Cory Say is a typography designer, currently working out of Dallas, Texas as an art director for TracyLocke, a national design and marketing agency.

Cory’s most recent project for the Cattle Baron’s Ball showcases his gift for both branding and hand lettering, with his passion for typography coming across clearly in his work. His unique ability to create an intricate, multi-faceted design while not going over the top is also noteworthy.

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From the Job Board

Graphic Designer – Ceci New York (NY, NY)
You will be working with a small group of talented designers, coordinating with the Project Manager to ensure the project stays within its budget and timelines, and presenting solutions to clients in a beautiful, open, dynamic studio. This is a fast paced and highly creative environment. A deep passion for paper and design as well as a willingness to learn new trends and techniques is essential.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitterand Facebook.

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Amber Asay

amber asay

Meet Amber Asay, an up and coming BYU graduate whose designs consist of a combination of clean illustrations and elegant typography. Although her portfolio consists primarily of student work, Asay is currently working in Orlando, Florida as an intern with the Disney Design Group, and will undoubtedly continue to produce intriguing designs.

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Zalando Logo

zalandovideo

Zalando is an online retailer that was founded in Germany. The company initially specialized in footwear, but has since expanded into clothing and accessories. Recently their design team put together an animated video on how their logo came into being. Inspired by an imprint of a stiletto heel, the orange triangle found in the Zalando logo goes on a brief, but magical journey in this charming story. Along the way, the triangle gets caught in a tree, lost in the wind and even hitches a ride on the beak of a passing bird. You can see the complete video at their website.

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Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s

50cc astor super sport

50cc Astor Super Sport 1969 /Itom (1948–73), Turin, Italy / Courtesy of Stewart Ingram

During the Second World War many of Italy’s motorcycle and automobile manufacturing facilities were destroyed by allied bombing. To aid in the post-war economic recovery of these industries, the Italian government revised a highway code which reduced the minimum driving age to fourteen. With this, motorcycle manufacturers could create a new class of vehicles aimed at the younger generation. What these bikes lacked in power, they easily made up in style.

In 2012, SFO curated a small collection of these motorcycles for an installation in their international terminal. Included in the display were pieces by Itom, Benelli and MV August – all of which are scarcely seen on the roadways of Europe let alone the U.S. Although these vehicles have long ceased production, their legacy lives on through their iconic design.

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Ryan Edy

ryan edy

Ryan Edy is a talented advertising/editorial photographer from the UK with a stack of awards to his name. His identity and website recently got a fresh reboot from the equally talented crew at Founded.

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siteInspire

site inspire

If you’re looking for a fresh dose of web design inspiration, I highly recommend siteInspire. Recently redeveloped, the site features over 2700 examples of web and interactive design each hand picked by the guys at Howells-Studio.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Squarespace is a beautiful, intuitive website publishing platform that makes innovative web design more accessible than ever before. Create and maintain a professional website with responsive, magazine-quality layouts – all without touching a line of code.

Try Squarespace today with a free 14-day trial.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Olle Eksell Documentary Needs Your Help

olle eksell documentary
Early last year, we featured the Olle Eksell tribute site. Johan Anderson, the driving force behind the site, has just announced his latest project – a documentary on Olle’s life and work. The film plans to highlight Eksell’s contributions to Swedish design as well as generate international awareness for this underappreciated visionary. To achieve this, they are seeking additional funding to shoot and edit conversations with respected designers both within Sweden and abroad. If you would like to donate to this effort, please visit their fundraising page.

*Note: The fundraising amounts are in Swedish Krona. I believe if you use Paypal it will handle the conversion from Dollars/Pounds/Euros etc. to Krona for you.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Squarespace is a beautiful, intuitive website publishing platform that makes innovative web design more accessible than ever before. Create and maintain a professional website with responsive, magazine-quality layouts – all without touching a line of code.

Try Squarespace today with a free 14-day trial.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Giveaway Ends Today at 5pm PST

grain edit

Last chance to enter our 2012 Holiday Giveaway Bash. Entries must be received by 5pm PST today.

Ty Mattson: Homeland Vintage Jazz Record Covers

ty matson homeland

I usually restrain from posting self-initiated TV/movie themed projects because they’ve become rather ubiquitous. However, being a fan of Homeland, Ty Matson’s latest project is hard to resist. Inspired by 1950s & 60s jazz, Ty created twelve LP covers that pay tribute to the popular tv show. See the complete series here.

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Matte Stephens iPad Game

matte stephens

Our good friend Matte Stephens recently completed a beautiful set of illustrations for a Tiffany & Co. iPad app. Through simple animations Matte’s artwork is brought to life in two games that children (and adults!) can play while in-store.

In the first game you decorate a gingerbread house with gems and a cast of Matte’s favorite characters. In addition, you can change the scene from day to night. The second game features Rupert the bear and a little red bandit squirrel catching falling gems. Both games look like a blast!

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Vintage Kids Book for the Holidays

mi diccionario ilustrado

Mi Diccionario Ilustrado – Illustrations by Acosta Moro

If you’re looking for a fun gift for the holidays, we still have a few copies of Mi Diccionario Ilustrado in our Etsy store. Any remaining copies after the 23rd of December will be taken down in preparation of our new online shop.

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2012 Grain Edit Holiday Giveaway Bash

herbert matter

It’s here! Our annual giveaway bash is just one way for us to thank all of our awesome readers for another amazing year. For our 2012 Holiday Bash we’ve put together incredible lineup including items from Herbert Matter.netHouse IndustriesChronicle BooksGestaltenPrinceton Architectural PressMatte Stephens and many more.

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Grain Edit Store

grain edit store

To celebrate the launch of our upcoming online store, we will be holding a special preview sale.  If you would like to receive an invite, email us with your details. Please include “grain edit store” in the subject line of the message.

*To access the store you will need a code which will be sent via email prior to the event.

From the Job Board: Tinybop

tiny bop

Lead Designer – Tinybop (Brooklyn/DUMBO, NY)
Must have a love for toys, games, and picture books.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Gift Guide: New & Recent Books

design books

If you’re looking for holiday gift ideas, here are a few suggestions. We’ve compiled our favorite books into one giant list which include illustration and design titles from larger publishers, as well as privately pressed items.

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Fly Solo: The Design Entrepreneur

fly solo

Created as his MFA thesis project, Patrick Moore’s Fly Solo website is a wonderful resource for aspiring design entrepreneurs looking for guidance.

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Yellow Subversion: The Artwork of Yellow Submarine

yellow subversion

To celebrate the Beatles’ 50th anniversary 50by70 has published the first ever set of fine art prints of the stunning artwork from the classic 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine.

Yellow Subversion — The Artwork of Yellow Submarine is a strictly limited edition boxed set of five full colour screen prints accompanied by a book featuring an essay by the legendary Simpsonswriter, showrunner and producer Josh Weinstein who describes how the film inspired his career in animation.

Available at 50by70

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Print Aid NYC

print aid nyc

In response to the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, Print Aid was created to assist recovery efforts in New York City. The online store features posters from local designers and illustrators with 100% of the proceeds going to the Mayor’s Fund for Hurricane Relief. Prints will be added daily and will be available in limited editions of 50, now through December 2, 2012.

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Recently Received

fir tree

With the holidays just around the corner we’ve been busy gathering the latest books from the designers and publishers we love. Here’s a few of our favorites with more too come soon!

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Bigfoot Art Show Benefitting 826 Chapters

bigfoot art show

This Thursday the folks at Office will launch a Bigfoot-inspired art show featuring works by talented local artists such as Dave Eggers, Lisa Congdon, Jessica Hische, Erik Marinovich, Ben Barry, Brian Flynn, Dora Drimalas, Richard Perez and others. Proceeds from the art sales will benefit the 826 Valencia (home of the Pirate Supply Store) and 826 Boston (home of the Bigfoot Research Center) tutoring centers for kids.

The collection includes several re-imagined Northern California tree rounds, dozens of vintage postcards with a hand-screened design, and more than 35 framed paintings. The event is sold out, but some of the pieces may be available here after the show.

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/Sponsor/ Chronicle Books

A Huge thanks to Chronicle Books for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Jim Henson’s iconic puppet characters, fantastic worlds, and warm humor have delighted millions of people of all ages. His incredibly diverse body of work, from the Muppets to the world of The Dark Crystal, reveals his charm and genius to fans old and new.

Now, fans can journey through Henson’s life with Imagination Illustrated, The Jim Henson Journal. The book,  a visual experience compiled directly from the private notes that Jim faithfully kept throughout his career, features hand-written entries and a trove of little-seen visual material from The Jim Henson Company archives, including rare sketches, personal and production photographs, storyboards, doodles, and much more. Read an excerpt here!

Save 25% and get free US Ground shipping on Imagination Illustrated when you use promo code JIMHENSON at chroniclebooks.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

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Sony Music Timeline

sony music  timeline

At Sony Music Headquarters in Kensington a new project has been unveiled documenting the company’s 125 year musical history. Designed by Alex Fowkes the typographical installation covers almost 150 square meters and features every artist signed to Sony Music and its affiliated labels from the foundation of Columbia Records in 1887 to the present day.

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Matte Stephens Selected Works

matte stephens

Through his whimsical gouche paintings, Matte Stephens has created a world filled with friendly characters and warm moments that are flavored with nostalgia. Dapper foxes, chirping birds, pipe smoking penguins, turn of the century explorers all inhabit a space on his canvas. Even Monsieur Hulot stops by for the fun. The entire cast make an appearance in Matte’s new book, Matte Stephens Selected Works (Oeuvres choisies). Published by Editions Alto in Quebec, the stunning cloth-bound book highlights many of his most cherished paintings as well as his lesser known works.

Copies of Matte Stephens Selected Works (Oeuvres choisies) are available at Matte’s Etsy shop and Editions Alto.

Details:
96 pages /  7.5″x10.5″
Text set in Farao with captions in French & English.

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From the Job Board

design jobs

Textiles Designer – Urban Outfitters (London, Ontario)
Senior Designer – Hatch Design (San Francisco)
Designer/Illustrator– PennyPop (San Francisco)
You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Vitsoe Online Archive

vitsoe

Vitsoe, a modern furniture company best known for it’s work with Dieter Rams and the production of the 606 Universal Shelving System, recently launched an online archive. With frequent updates, the tumblr site showcases candid photographs, catalogs, invitations and promotional items from its 53 year history.

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The Everywhere Project

the everywhere project

The Everywhere Project is a collaborative design project that pays tribute to the classic folk song “I’ve Been Everywhere”.

The song was written in 1959 by Australian songwriter Geoff Mack using Australian place names. It was later adapted to North American (and a few South American) locations by Hank Snow in 1962 and it hit number one on the country music charts. It has since been recorded by many artists including Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson.

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Nick Frank

Nick Frank

Nick Frank’s photographic abstracts wonderfully capture the playful spirit of the Mira Nordheide shopping centre in Munich, Germany.

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Recently Received

design books

Featured: Bicycle (Leporello) by Ugo Gattoni

Fresh goods from our favorite publishers. Included in this week’s picks are books from Princeton Architectural Press, Metropolis Books, Nobrow and Gestalten.

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Davison Spencerian

davison spencerian

More type goodness from the guys & gals at House.

As one of the most distinguished lettering artists of the 20th century, Meyer “Dave” Davison’s greatest contribution to the American visual landscape is arguably Davison Spencerian. The alphabet made its first appearance in Photo-Lettering’s 1946 catalog and remains a benchmark of the ornamental script genre. Thanks to the skillful hands of Mitja Miklavčič and the tireless eyes of House Industries designers Ken Barber and Ben Kiel, we have preserved the poise and precision of Davison’s masterwork in this faithfully-rendered digital incarnation. From automotive exhaust accessories and pirate-themed wedding invites to New Orleans sissy bounce hip-hop CD covers and upmarket bivalve ambrosia packaging, Davison Spencerian offers sober sophistication and unparalleled flexibility. Also available at Photo-Lettering as asingle layer and with a drop shadow.

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Type Picks

ff marselis
Featured FF Marselis by Jan Maack

We’ve seen a fair amount of typefaces pop up over the last couple of months, but here are few of our favorites.

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From the Job Board

design jobs

Senior Designer – Hatch Design (San Francisco)
Designer/Illustrator– PennyPop (San Francisco)
2D Artist/Illustrator – Big Viking Games (London, Ontario)
3D Artist – Big Viking Games (London, Ontario)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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/Sponsor/ Depositphotos

A Huge thanks to Depositphotos for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Depositphotos, headquartered in Florida, the US, is the most rapidly growing stock agency in the world. It currently offers more than 9 mln stock photographs and vector images sold under royalty free license. In addition to that, Depositphotos accepts videos for sale. All the files submitted for sale are carefully checked and selected by the agency’s moderators. With its user friendly interface, a generous promotion programme, flexible payments options and efficient client services, Depositphotos is one the most attractive market places both for those in need of high-quality files for their projects and those, who would like to sell their images and video.

You can find out the latest updates of the agency in Depositphotos’ official blog.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Mogollon

mogollon

Impressive portfolio from the Brooklyn-based design collective Mogollon. Drawing from a vast and eclectic range of influences they create work that is a fusion of art, design and craft.

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2012 Print Set Giveaway

poster cabaret

Our good friends at the Poster Cabaret recently launched a new set of prints and to celebrate we’re having a giveaway.

The 20 piece collection includes work from Dirk Fowler, Sonnenzimmer, Diana Sudyka, Blanca Gomez, Jason Munn, Evan B Harris, Methane Studios, Matte Stephens, Amanda Blake, Andy Kehoe, Dan McCarthy, Jennifer Davis, Scott C, Camilla Engman, Hollie Chastain, Leah Giberson, Jess Seamans, Dan Black, Jeremy MIranda and Jay Ryan. Nine of the prints are up for grabs today.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create visually-rich pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks by dragging items exactly where you want them.

The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, a robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more.

Try Squarespace 6 today – free 14-day trial.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Wee Society

wee society

Introducing Wee Society, a new kids brand created by the folks behind the design firm Office.

The first line of products introduces the Wee Alphas – a quirky crew of 26 illustrated animals with a letter of the alphabet hidden in each one. The Wee Alphas appear in a series of art prints – including a limited edition 13-color screen print and a personalized print that you can customize with your child’s name and a silly (or slightly more serious) statement. See them all here.

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Typographische Monatsblätter Archive

Typographische Monatsblätter

Louise Paradis, along with the guidance and support from friends and staff at the ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, has launched an amazing website dedicated to the Swiss magazine Typographische Monatsblätter. Focusing on the years 1960-1990, the online archive features covers, typeface identification as well as interviews with many of the magazine’s contributors. Enjoy!

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create visually-rich pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks by dragging items exactly where you want them.

The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, a robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more.

Try Squarespace 6 today – free 14-day trial.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Why Design

why design

At Herman Miller design is the language they use to ask questions and seek answers to the problems their customers face. The design process is a journey into the unknown—or as George Nelson once quipped, “I have never met a designer who was retained to keep things the same as they were.” Before we decide what we do and how we do it, we like to begin by asking the question “Why?” In Why Design, a new film series, Herman Miller explores the world through the eyes of their designers, and shares something of why we value their point of view.

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Scrawl Magazine

scrawl magazine

Scrawl is a new digital magazine about comics & illustration created solely for the iPad. Scrawl was created as an independent platform for artists, which enables freedom and the opportunity to create and share their work with others. The pilot issue, which is now available as a free download, won both the best in the comics category and the first prize at the “Magnify your world” contest held by Mag+.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create visually-rich pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks by dragging items exactly where you want them.

The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, a robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more.

Try Squarespace 6 today – free 14-day trial.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine

type writer book

The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine is the latest project from UPPERCASE magazine founder and editor Janine Vangool. This richly illustrated book will feature never-before published typewriter memorabilia, intriguing historical documents and entertaining anecdotes. To help raise the $25,000 needed for printing costs, freight and transaction fees Janine is currently holding a kickstarter-style funding campaign. If you would like to contribute either monetarily or by donating ephemera to be used in the book, please check out the UPPERCASE website for more info.

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Typozon

typozon

Nice selection of work from Bogota, Colombia based design studio Typozon.

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Recently Received

louise fili

Here’s the latest batch of books to hit our shelves. This week includes picks from Princeton Architectural Press and Chronicle Books.

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From the Job Board

graphic design jobs

Assistant Art Director – fred flare (Brooklyn, NY)
You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Sergio Membrillas

Sergio Membrillas

We’ve seen some amazing talent emerging from Spain recently and Sergio Membrilas is no exception. Sergio is a freelance illustrator from Valencia that possesses a keen eye for color, a wonderful sense of composition and a large writing utensil (see his profile picture). His portfolio is filled with editorial and advertising pieces that showcase his incredible skills in hand-lettering and character illustration. To keep up with all of his latest, follow this link.

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/Sponsor/ Mighty Deals

A Huge thanks to the Mighty Deals for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Massive Discounts on Stock Photos from Mighty Deals – 89% off!

Depositphotos has become the fastest-growing microstock agency with a collection of more than 8 million images. They work with the best contributors, including Yuri Arcurs, Andres Rodrigues and many others, who regularly offer new masterpieces.

But good stock images are expensive, aren’t they? Paying $9 or more per image can add up quick and break the budget for a lot of projects, especially if you need larger sizes. That’s why Mighty Deals has a special deal for you: download up to 100 high-quality royalty-free images of any size for just $99 (normally $900 for the XXL size!) from Depositphotos.

If you need more than 100 images you can get the super duper deal of 200 high-quality images for just $160(regular price up to $1800 for XXL) – that brings the price down to just $0.80 per image! These are huge discounts!

Grab this deal now!

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

House Archive Boxes

house archive boxes

Looking for a stylish way to store your favorite things? Check out these corrugated storage boxes from House Industries. The first edition of the Archive Box features three different versions: a pattern based on House’s Neutraface Slab typeface, huge high-contrast numbers from Photo-Lettering’s Benguiat Montage alphabet and a typographic brace motif.

See them all here.

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RE:DESIGN/Inspire

redesign / inspire

RE:DESIGN/Inspire will take place at the Public Hotel in Chicago on Sept 23 + 24. For these talks, the attendees sit down with creatives that have accomplished the ultimate trifecta—they imagine, execute, and inspire others. These small-scale discussions will take on the ultimate goal of any creative type—to be consistently and innovatively inspired. For more info including a full list of speakers check out the event website.

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João Filgueiras Lima: Edifício Morro Vermelho

edifício morro vermelho

For fans of brutalist architecture, feast your eyes on this beautiful slice of Brasilian modernism conceived by architect João Filgueiras Lima. The Edifício Morro Vermelho complex, aka “Red Hill” housing. features a series of swiveling bright orange fiberglass panels that are not only pleasing to the eyes but also act as a functional shading device.

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Recently Received

ganesha's sweet tooth

Here’s the latest batch of goodies to hit our shelves! Fresh picks from Chronicle Books, Neighbourgoods and Lumadessa.

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aMAZEme

aMAZEme

Created by Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo, aMAZEme immerses the audience in a labyrinth of books.

By participating in the installation, the audience discovers new textures, images and emotions. They become surrounded- hypnotized – by words and thoughts, designs and patterns. There appear to be secrets hidden in the installation’s walls; walls of up to 2.5 metres high, built from thousands of books, forming a large Maze of more than 500 square metres

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/Sponsor/ Penguin Group

A Huge thanks to the Penguin Group for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Tired of staring at a blank canvas? Need some inspiration? From acclaimed artist Keri SmithWreck This Journal encourages you to engage in “destructive” acts—poking holes in the page, making an ugly drawing, painting pages with coffee, and more—in order to engage more fully in the creative process. A new expanded edition of Wreck This Journal is available now, featuring 32 additional pages and four different covers to choose from. Check them out here! And from now through September 7, get a 15% discount on any and all of Keri Smith’s books by visiting us.penguingroup.com and entering the promo code GRAINEDIT at checkout.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Type and Media 2012

type and media

Allonghata by Christine Gertsch

Type and Media is an intensive one-year masters course in type design held at The Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag, The Netherlands. The course teaches a wide range of skills in the area of type design such as calligraphy, stone carving, non-latin scripts, typeface revivals, Python programming, modern font editing software as well as the creation of new letters. All of the final project typefaces created in the last four months of the 2011/2012 course are available to view here.

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Herb Lubalin: American Graphic Designer 1918—81

herb lubalin book

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming release of Unit Editions’ Herb Lubalin monograph. This meticulously researched book offers a complete career overview of Herb Lubalin, beginning with his early days as one of the original Mad Men in the New York advertising world of the 50s and 60s, and continuing into the years of his greatest achievements as one of the world’s most influential typographers and graphic designers.

More details after the jump.

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Laura Cattaneo AKA Halfpastwelve

laura cattaneo

Halfpastwelve is the online home of Milan-based designer Laura Cattaneo. Currently she works as a journalist for Il Sole 24 Ore, art-directs for la vita nòva and collaborates with IL — Intelligence in Lifestyle magazine.

After browsing her portfolio, I was impressed with the range and quality of her work.  She easily transitions from editorial design and illustration to information graphics all while consistently creating work that is visually stunning. I’m especially drawn to her redesign of La Domenica, a cultural supplement of Il Sole 24. Along with team members Adraino Attus, Francesco Narracci and Luca Pitoni, she has created a layout that is minimal yet bold and beckons the reader to explore it’s contents.

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/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create magazine-quality layouts within the browser that responsively scale to any screen size, from mobile devices to desktops. The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more. For a free trial, visit www.squarespace.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

/Sponsor/ Squarespace

A Huge thanks to squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create magazine-quality layouts within the browser that responsively scale to any screen size, from mobile devices to desktops. The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more. For a free trial, visit www.squarespace.com.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

The Art of Logo Design

art of logo design

Off Book is a web-original series from PBS Arts that explores cutting edge arts and the artists that make it. In the latest episode they explore the world of logos that surround us with design luminaries such as Stephen Heller, Kelli Anderson, Gerard Huerta and Sagi Haviv. See the full episode here.

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Pets Rock Posters

pets rock
Eight Hour Day

Design strategy and marketing agency Zeus Jones was recently hired to bring a fresh perspective to Purina ONE BeyOnd’s sponsorship of the Pitchfork Music festival. For this year’s event they came up with the idea of giving away professionally-designed posters that celebrate the awesomeness of pets and music. Zeus Jones sought out some of their favorite designers and had them imagine what “Pets Rock” meant to them. Check out the following from grain edit faves – Lab Partners, Brent Couchman, Tad Carpenter and Eight Hour Day.

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WTHR App Inspired by Dieter Rams

wthr app

David Elenga has created a simple yet elegant weather app called WTHR which is inspired by Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Design. At the top of the screen the current weather condition is displayed along with the temperature for your area. Just below is a 7-day forecast and a nifty switch which allows you to select between Fahrenheit or Celsius. Unfortunately version 1.0 has some bugs and usability issues which should hopefully be resolved soon. I would hold off on downloading the app until the release of version 1.1 which is slated for sometime next week.

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Save Prentice

prentice hospital

Designed by famed architect Bertrand Goldberg, Prentice Women’s Hospital has added drama and interest to the Chicago skyline for nearly four decades. Unfortunately, like Marina City Towers and many of Goldberg’s other architectural wonders, the hospital has no formal protection.

Today, the vacant building is threatened with demolition by Northwestern University, which sees the land on which Prentice sits as expansion space for a new research tower.

The same structural daring that once inspired the world to take a different look at Modernism can again capture its imagination this time though preservation and innovative reuse. You can support the comeback story of this cloverleaf-shaped icon by signing this petition. Your voice, and the voices of others who care about the past because of what it means for the future, will send a clear message – Prentice is a masterpiece worth saving.

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Swiss Photobooks: 1927 to Present

swiss photobooks

My interest in photography has grown recently and i’ve been on the prowl to find quality books on the subject. One of my latest additions and the one i’m most excited about traces the history of the Swiss Photobook.  Compiled by the Swiss Photographic Foundation (Fotostiftung Schweiz) and published by Lars Mueller, Swiss Photobooks from 1927 to the Present highlights classic and influential titles that exlemplify the era. Weighing in at 7.5 pounds, the massive visual compendium features lush spreads, in-depth summaries, an extensive bibliography and introduces over 60 pieces. A pleasure to look at and an engaging read, this volume is a well-crafted ode to the distinct character of the Swiss Photobook.

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Gary Taxali Interview

gary taxali

Today’s Grain Edit interview is brought to you by guest contributor Deva Mirel, and features the words and works of illustrator/fine artist Gary Taxali. We catch up with Gary after he returned in early May from his first solo show abroad at The Outsiders in London. Gary lives and works in Toronto but is originally from India. Here he discusses his most recent show, locating the desi in his work, why kids love him, and some straightforward tips on being in the business of making art.

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Herbert Matter Documentary

visual language of herbert matter

If you missed The Visual Language of Herbert Matter at your local theater you can now pick up a copy of the film at iTunes or Amazon. The 78-minute documentary directed by Reto Caduff traces Herbert’s life and work and includes interviews with design luminaries such as Steven Heller, Jessica Helfand, Robert Frank and Massimo Vignelli.

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Trui Chielens

trui chielens

I’m looking forward to seeing more from the talented Trui Chielens. Often working with a limited color palette the Belgian illustrator creates work that delights and charms the eye.
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Graphic Modern

graphic modern

Greg and Patricia of Display have curated an amazing collection of design work that embodies the spirit and ideology of Modernism. The exhibition which features pieces from the U.S., Italy and Switzerland is on view from now through July 26, 2012 at Fordham University. If you’re in the NY area, I highly recommend checking this out.

More details after the jump.

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Dragon Brush App

Grain edit fave John Solimine recently teamed up with Andy Hullinger and NY-based app development team Small Planet to create a new interactive storybook called Dragon Brush.

Based on a traditional Chinese folktale, Dragon Brush is the story of Bing-Wen, a young boy who loves to paint. When given a magical brush that makes drawings come to life, Bing-Wen must use his art and his wits to outsmart the greedy Emperor.

Dragon Brush Features narration by Matt Berninger and music by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, from the acclaimed band, The National. Check out the site for more info.

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Graphic Design: History in the Writing

graphic design history in the writing

Graphic Design: History in the Writing (1983–2011) comprises some of the most influential published texts about graphic design history. The book documents the development of the relatively young field of graphic design history from 1983 to today, underscoring the aesthetic, theoretical, political and social tensions that have underpinned it from the beginning. Included in the anthology are texts by Ellen Lupton, Robin Kinross, Massimo Vignelli, Steven Heller, Victor Margolin and many others.

Visit occasionalpapers.org for more info and to pick up a copy.

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Amperbranch

amperbranch

Thanks to Ryan Putnam for sending us this sweet Amperbranch print! This limited edition print is letterpressed on 65pt natural recycled coaster stock and makes for a wonderful gift for nature lovers and type aficionados alike. Also available on the amperbranch site are downloadable wallpapers for your phone, pad or desktop.

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Heartwork 2012

heartwork 2012

Heartwork is a project designed to raise money for art supplies at Target House—this wonderful home-away-from-home for the families of children facing long-term treatment at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The idea is simple. Every year, a group of talented artists are selected to create a series of 11″ x 14″ giclee prints with a specified theme, this year being the word ‘HOPE’. Each edition is limited to only 10 pieces and signed/numbered by the artist.

Here’s a sample of the prints available in this year’s Heartwork benefit.

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Page 1: Great Expectations

great expectations

Page 1: Great Expectations is a typographic experiment designed to explore the relationship between graphic design, typography and the reading of a page. The book features contributions from 70 leading designers and typographers, all of whom have reinterpreted the first page of Charles Dickens’ novel. The text was chosen in part because it directly references lettering as Pip searches for clues about his family from the letterforms inscribed on their tombstone. The brief encouraged the contributors to explore, challenge or celebrate the conventions of book typography. Each layout is accompanied by a short rationale explaining the designer’s decision-making process.

Contributors include: William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand, Robin Kinross, Experimental Jetset, Erik Spiekermann, Sam Winston, Phil Baines, A Practice for Everyday life, Tony Chambers, Morag Myerscough and more.
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Herbie

herbie font

Meet Herbie, the latest display font from Morten Iveland at the Infamous Foundry. As the name might indicate, Herbie is inspired by Herb Lubalin’s work and the decorative style and kerning of his era.

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/Sponsor/ Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2012

A Huge thanks to WMC Fest for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Now in its third year, the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest is a must-attend event for creatives in the Midwest. Its goal is to inspire and enable the creative mind and will feature 20 speakers, 20 designers, and nearly 30 bands over the weekend of June 8-10, 2012. Put on by the Cleveland-based creative agency Go Media and an army of volunteers, WMC Fest has a homegrown, indie vibe that sets it apart from other national-caliber creative conferences. It’s also a great value, with 3-Day All-Access passes starting at only $60! So come to WMC Fest to network, collaborate, get inspired, learn new tricks, and meet new friends! You can’t miss it! This year’s speakers include Johnny Cupcakes, Austin Kleon, Kate Bingaman Burt, and the Friends of Type. From now through May 21, enjoy 20% off on fest tickets by using promo code “grainedit” at checkout.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Wander Postcard Project

wander postcards

Get Lost, Find Yourself by Philipp Dornbierer

Wander asked some of their favorite designers and illustrators to imagine a postcard from everywhere and nowhere at once. The results have been exciting to see and are updated frequently on their new blog. All the images are available to download as high-res iPad or iPhone wallpaper, so you can grab one for the road.

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Poster Pick: M83

invisible creature

To the M83 fans that were unable to attend their show last week in Seattle, the gig poster is now available. The limited edition three color print was created by our good friends Don and Ryan Clark of Invisible Creature and includes a special dark metallic copper ink. Pick up a copy at the Poster Cabaret.

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RSS Sponsorship Now Available

Week-long exclusive sponsorships of the Grain Edit RSS feed are now available.

The sponsorship price is $350 and includes the following:

  • The ability to promote your product to Grain Edit’s estimated 38,000+ RSS Readers, 25,000+ Twitter Followers, 12,800+ Facebook fans and close to 200,000 monthly site visitors.
  • Exclusive week-long sponsorship.
  • A promotional post at the start of the week that links back to your website or product page. Since it’s a sponsored post and not an ad, it will be viewable by our on-site readers as well those who subscribe to our RSS, Twitter and Facebook feeds.
  • The promo will be added to sponsor category and reside permanently in our archives.

Grain Edit has received press mentions in the Guardian UK, Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge, Dwell online, Flavorpill, Josh Spear and was named #16 in the London Times top 50 of the world’s best design blogs.

To schedule an exclusive sponsorship/see available dates, please visit our sponsors page.

To our readers:
We know some of you will be unhappy with this decision, but in order to keep up with site costs and fund future projects we hope you understand. We’ll try to keep the posts as unobtrusive as possible and limit them to once a week. It won’t be all bad, some exciting things will transpire out of this including contests and ticket giveaways to really great design conferences.

From the Job Board

Designer– PennyPop (San Francisco)
Freelance Print Finisher – The Ant Farm ( Los Angeles)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSSEmail or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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/Sponsor/ UPrinting

A Huge thanks to UPrinting for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

UPrinting is a leading socially responsible online printing company. They’ve been online since 2000 and serve thousands with on-demand printing and a robust yet simple and easy-to-use online ordering system. UPrinting offers a wide variety of products from business cards, brochures, envelopes, greeting cards, posters, canvas prints and much more. They are specifically proud of their high-quality and eco-friendly prints which use recycled paper types and vegetable/soy-based inks with lower levels of VOCs than traditional petroleum-based inks. This helps to reduce harmful carbon emissions.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

Børge Mogensen & House Industries

borge mogensen

I’m a big fan of Danish furniture, so I was excited to hear about House Industries latest project. Originally designed by Borge Mogensen, House and Stellar Works have teamed up to put a fresh spin on a modern classic. Made of oak and sapelli, these cabinets have been inlaid with a Neutraface Slab slashed-o pattern. The cabinets are available in two sizes and will debut this week at the International Furniture Fair in Milan.

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/Sponsor/ Mag+

A Huge thanks to Mag+ for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

Designers! If you know InDesign, you can publish to the iPad or Android tablet…without a programmer. Mag+ is the brains behind the InDesign plug-in that lets you design and publish your app with no coding. From now until June 1, 2012, Mag+ is hosting Magnify Your World – a contest to show off your tablet app with the chance to win up to $6,000USD. There are six categories judged by design leaders and a People’s Choice Award. Did I mention it’s free to enter? Go here for more details.

Interested in sponsoring the Grain Edit Feed? Visit our sponsorship page for more info.

From The Job Board: Jonathan Adler

graphic design jobs

Product Designer – Jonathan Adler Design Studio (New York)

Jonathan Adler is looking for a versatile designer with strong graphic capabilities to work with the Head Design Manager and himself on full extensions of the Jonathan Adler hard good product line. This position will offer the opportunity to design and develop a wide range of product from decorative accessories, hard tabletop, gift and games to lighting and decorative objects.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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The People’s Pennant

The peoples pennant

Designers Jessica Karle Heltzel, Tim Hoover and Eric R. Mortensen have joined forces to produce a series of limited-edition felt pennants that “commemorate the everyday.” With a new pennant releasing each month the series already includes solid contributions from The Heads of State, Richard Perez and Ken Barber of House Industries fame. All the pennants are hand-printed and hand-sewn in the good ole’ U.S.A by folks who’ve helped shape the tradition since the early 1900s. Check out the collection at The People’s Pennant.

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Poster Pick: Diana Sudyka

diana sudyka

Diana Sudyka is a talented illustrator and printmaker from the Chicago area. She’s illustrated several books including The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilious Journey, and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma as well as created silkscreen posters for well-known bands such as Pearl Jam and the Decemberists. Her gig poster designs often employ her beautiful hand-drawn lettering skills. This is evident in the the Andrew Bird poster seen above, which also happens to is be this week’s poster pick.

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Recently Received

graphic design books

Here’s the latest crop of books to hit our shelves. This week’s entry includes titles from RizzoliChronicle BooksLaurence King and Hyphen Press.

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Slava Kirilenko AKA Astronaut Design

astronaut design

Well-executed minimalist design paired with stunning photography from Kazakhstanian designer Slava Kirilenko.

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Olle Eksell Site & Shop

olle eksell

Thanks to Johan Anderson for notifying me of the brand new Olle Eksell tribute site! Included on the website are videos, suggested links, a timeline, as well as rare photos of Olle with his wife and peers. In addition, Johan worked with the Eksell family to release a small collection of products which feature Olle’s stunning illustration work.

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Design Assembly 3 Book

design assembly book

3 years, 148 posts, 904 comments and over 2.5m visits later, Design Assembly (as we know it) is no more. But, instead of slipping quietly into the night, they wanted to capture all the energy that’s gone into making and maintaining the site and put it to a greater cause — fighting cancer.

3’ archives over 100 published articles, comments included, as well as showcasing new and exclusive words and images from some incredible people.

100% of the profits from the sale of this publication will be shared
proportionately between 3 charities with a combined global reach:

Cancer Research UK — United Kingdom
LIVESTRONG — North America
WCRF International — Rest of world

Pick up a copy at their site.

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Rigamaru

rigamaru

Good things are happening over at Rigamaru, the online shop of Pixar artist Chris Sasaki and visual artist Meghan Jean. The creative duo whose name is derived from the childish, nonsensical word “rigamarole” are currently developing a fun new line of shirts, prints and knicks knacks.

Also, If you find yourself in the LA area over the weekend, I recommend checking out the opening of the Darwin show at the Q Pop Shop. Chris is teaming up with Disney artist Joey Chou for a series of pieces that explore the themes of British naturalist Charles Darwin.

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From the Job Board: Fossil and Fred Flare

graphic design jobs

Graphic Designer – fred flare (Brooklyn, NY)
Senior Web Designer – Fossil (Dallas/Richardson, TX)
Senior Graphic Designer – Rackspace (San Antonio, TX)
Senior Design Leader – Amazon (Seattle, WA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Lab Partners: California Gold Posters

lab partners

To coincide with the launch of their new online shop, Lab Partners have released a sweet set of prints entitled California Gold. The poster series highlights some of the natural wonders found in the “golden state” including mountain lions and bighorn sheep. Part of the proceeds will go towards preserving these natural wonders as 5% of all sales will be donated to the California Nature Conservancy.

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American Sampler – The Art of Sister Corita Kent

sister corita

American Sampler – The Art of Corita Kent is a beautifully presented limited edition boxed set of six high quality prints and a fully illustrated 40-page booklet about the artist.

Working closely with the Corita Art Center in LA, 50by70 has succeeded in accurately reproducing six of the artist’s most vivid works. The prints and book come in a stunning cloth covered box featuring a four colour screen print of open wide, a seminal print by Corita from 1964.

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Recently Received

new design books

Fresh treats from the mail bag. This week’s entry includes pieces from Nobrow, PA Press, Relay Room and Wiley.

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Round Robin

round robin

I recently received a wonderful set of books from Pixar artists Jennifer C. Chang, Daniela Stijleva and CinderBiter art director Katy Wu. The collaborative illustration project entitled Round Robin consists of three books, each centered on a series of fifteen illustrations that are connected through an “add-on” word game. Each artist took a turn in providing a word inspired by the one previously supplied, until 15 two-word combinations were completed.

For the next two weeks the artists involved will take turns revealing the process within each illustration. The first post in this ongoing series is now online.
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From the Job Board:EMP Museum + Greeting Cards

graphic design jobs

Exhibit Graphic Designer – EMP Museum (Seattle, WA)
Freelance Illustrator – Greeting card company (USA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Now Available: Saul Bass’s Henri’s Walk to Paris

henri's walk to paris

Happy Valentine’s day, and what better way to celebrate than with surprising your loved one with a copy of Henri’s walk to Paris? The highly anticipated reissue of the classic kid’s book by Saul Bass was released today!

Pick up a copy at Amazon, Rizzoli/Universe (the publisher’s website) or your favorite local book store.

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Fancy Antique Display by Infamous Foundry

fancy antique display

From the Infamous foundry, the same studio that brought us Bolda Display, comes a beautiful new display font inspired by French decorative alphabets from the 1940’s and 1950’s. I gave Fancy Antique Display a test run this morning and instantly fell in love with it. Congrats to Morten at Infamous for this stunning piece of work!

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Poster Pick: Landland

landland

Dan Black is one-half of the Minneapolis-based design duo Landland. Besides his love of design, he has a real fondness for brown shirts and referring to himself in the third-person. With muted tones, his atmospheric landscapes often evoke a sense of nostalgia. This is evident in his work for The Hold Steady, which also happens to be this week’s poster pick.

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From the Job Board: MTV, ATTIK, North Street

graphic design jobs

Senior Designer – MTV Networks (New York, NY)
Web Designer– North Street (New York, NY)
Flash Designer – ATTIK (San Francisco, CA)
Art Director – Column Five (Newport Beach, CA)
Graphic Designer – Column Five (Newport Beach, CA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Recently Received

design books

Here’s the latest titles to hit our shelves. This week’s entry includes pieces from Nieves, Pie Books, Nobrow, Chronicle Books, and Lars Muller.

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Burton Kramer Film Trailer

Last year we featured a book about the Canadian, designer, painter and educator Burton Kramer on grain edit. I’m excited to announce that the book’s editor, Greg Durrell, is set to release a full length film on Kramer’s work this spring.

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Herb Lubalin for PBS

herb lubalin

Here is a gem of a video documenting the trials behind the design of the great PBS logo by Herb Lubalin. The vintage motion graphics are perfectly imperfect and glowing, and its great to see all of the early iterations of the logo, which are documented within this post.

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From the Job Board: Column Five Media

column five media

Column Five is a SoCal-based design studio with a knack for creating eye-catching and persuasive infographics. Their client list boasts well-established magazines and firms that respect and appreciate good design.  If you’re fans of their work, you will be excited to know that they’re currently hiring for the following positions:

Graphic Designer – Must be proficient in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. Must have strong typographic skills and use of space.

Art Director – See job post for full details.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Thanks & We’ll Be Back Soon

swiss design
I hope everyone had a safe and joyous New Years. We’re taking a short vacation and will return next week.

Thanks to everyone who took part in our annual Holiday Giveaway Bash! The winners were announced via our twitter stream and facebook page last week.

Holiday Giveaway Update

alexander girard

Alexander Girard Color Board
6 x 6 inches | 56 pages

New prizes added to the giveaway!

We’d like to thank Ammo books for donating 3 copies of the Alexander Girard Color Book to our Holiday Giveaway Bash. If you haven’t signed up for the giveaway, it’s not too late. Its quick, easy and free to enter.

Click here for more details.

From the Job Board

design jobs

Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:
Visual Designer – R/GA (New York, NY)
Senior Interaction Designer – R/GA (New York, NY)
Associate Creative Director– R/GA (New York, NY)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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2011 Grain Edit Holiday Giveaway Bash

hp laptop

–The Giveaway is Now Closed —

The holidays are here so, it’s time to celebrate! Our annual giveaway bash is just one way for us to thank all of our awesome readers for another amazing year. For our 2011 Holiday Bash we’ve put together incredible lineup including gifts from Chronicle Books, Laurence King Publishing, Lars Muller Publishers, Katie Kirk, Alberto Cerriteno, Tad Carpenter, Christoper Simmons/Mine, Albert + Marie, Liam Devowski / Teenagers in Love, Owen Gatley, Jesse Lefkowitz, and Paper Punk.

A special thank you goes out to HP. In addition to donating a HP ENVY 14 to the giveaway they supplied us with laptops to use with our blogging and manage the shipping of items from our store.

Now on to the giveaway!

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From the Shop

design books

Jacqueline Casey – Thirty Years of Design at MIT

If you’re looking for some last minute gifts we still have a few items left in the grain edit shop.

*All U.S. based orders received before 11 am on Tuesday Dec. 21, 2011 will ship priority mail.

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Alexander Girard by Todd Oldham & Kiera Coffee

alexander girard

Todd Oldham who put together an excellent monograph on Charles Harper and Kiera Coffee recently released an exciting new book chronicling the work of the late Alexander Girard. This 672-page beast published by Ammo covers virtually every aspect of Girard’s distinctive career. As one of the most prolific and versatile mid-20th century designers, Girard’s work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration, furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. Exhaustively researched and lovingly assembled by Oldham, this tome is a must-have book on Girard’s oeuvre.

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Tony Dispigna

tony dispigna

Tony Dispigna may be a very influential craftsman to today’s “throwback” design connoisseurs without many realizing. In 1969, shortly after graduating from Pratt, Tony joined forces at the legendary Lubalin Smith & Carnase. He has worked to produce notable classic typefaces like Lubalin Graph and Serif Gothic. Tony is currently a professor at Pratt and the New York Institute of Technology, and has also taught at SVA. Although much of Tony’s work is based on type, he also has a really good sense for creating wonderful logos, as you will see below.
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From the Job Board

designer jobs

Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:
Designer – GOOD (Los Angeles, CA)
Senior Brand Writer – Fossil (Dallas/Richardson, TX)
Senior Designer / Art Director – Fossil (Dallas/Richardson, TX)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design

saul bass book

Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design is the first book to be published on one of the greatest American designers of the 20th century, who was as famous for his work in film as for his corporate identity and graphic work. Saul created some of the most compelling images of American postwar visual culture. Having extended the remit of graphic design to include film titles, he went on to transform the genre. His best-known works include a series of unforgettable posters and title sequences for films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. He also created some of the most famous logos and corporate identity campaigns of the century, including those for major companies such as AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines and Minolta.

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Château Vacant

Château Vacant

Château Vacant is Yannick Calvez, Lémuel Malicoutis and Baptiste Alchourroun, a group of French creatives who have hopped the Atlantic and set up their collective in Montréal, QC. As it states on their website, “We create images and videos thinking with objects and spaces.” Their work is eclectic, cutting edge, and slick, with media ranging from graphics and video to photography, illustration, and installation.

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Sanjay Patel: Deities, Demons, and Dudes with Staches

sanjay Patel

Our good friend Sanjay Patel has been a busy man lately. He recently completed an amazing series of murals and posters for the Maharaja exhibition at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. In addition, he was asked by the museum to display his personal work in a separate but somewhat related show entitled Deities, Demons and Dudes with ‘Staches. The exhibit features art and sketches from Sanjay’s ghee happy projects, including his recently released Big Poster Book of Hindu Deities.

Deities, Demons and Dudes with ‘Staches will be on view at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum from November 11, 2011 through April 22, 2012.  For more information, visit www.asianart.org.

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Pharma Exhibition

pharma exhibition

The establishment of the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the mid-20th century, played a significant role in the evolution of graphic design and advertising. Herb Lubalin created some of his most influential work while working for Sudler & Hennessey, an advertising agency which specialized in pharmaceutical marketing. PHARMA features a diverse array of original ephemera, rarely seen publicly, by many pioneering graphic designers including Lester Beall, Will Burtin, Paul Rand, Franco Grignani, staff of Geigy and Herb Lubalin, as well as contributions by Carl Fischer and Andy Warhol.

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Halloween Prints by Methane

methane studios

Halloween is here, which means it’s time to break out the Mork & MIndy costumes and the stale candy corn. If you’re throwing a party you might want to consider these semi-spooky posters by Methane to add to your decor. Both prints come signed/numbered by the artists and are available at the Poster Cabaret.

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We Have Our Winners

eight hour day

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Eli No! Book Giveaway! We randomly selected our winners this weekend. Their names will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive tomorrow morning. In addition, the winners were announced via our twitter stream and facebook page earlier today.

You can pick up a copy of Eli No! at Amazon.

Special thanks to Katie Kirk & Abrams for sponsoring the giveaway.

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Philographics by Genis Carreras

Genis Carreras

Genis Carreras, a Catalonian living and working in London, recently created this wonderful series of posters which attempt to explain complex philosophical theories through basic shapes. The resulting graphics are perfect in their colorful and elegant simplicity. Check out Genis’ site for more great work.

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Eye Sea Posters

eye sea posters

Eye Sea Posters sources original vintage film posters from around the world and makes them available at reasonable prices. Their collection is handpicked with an emphasis on design. Specializing in Polish film posters from the 60’s and 70’s they feature artists like Jerzy Flisak, Maciej Zbikowski and Maciej Hibner. If you live in the London keep your eyes open for their forthcoming exhibitions.
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Eli No! Giveaway

eli no

— The Giveaway is now closed. The winners will be announced this coming Monday —

Eli No! is a fun tale about a loveable dog with a knack for getting into trouble. The story was inspired by the author’s (Katie Kirk of Eight Hour Day) dog, Eli, as well as a phrase often said by her nephew. Whenever Katie would say “Eli no!” her nephew, Parker, would say it too. Between Parker’s joyous exclamations and Katie’s desire to write and illustrate a children’s book a new project was born.

Two years ago Katie gave us an exclusive sneak peak at the original mockups for the book. Soon after that, the title was picked up by a major publisher and has been in development ever since. We’re excited to announce that the book is now available. To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with Katie to give away three signed copies!

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Andrew Vastagh

andrew vastagh

Andrew Vastagh is a Nashville based designer who is quite active in the gig poster scene. Over the last five years he’s created work for many well-known bands including the likes of She & Him, Vampire Weekend, Social Distortion and Band of Horses.

For this week’s poster pick we’ve selected Andrew’s design for the 2010 Menomena show at the Mercy Lounge. It features a two colored ribbon spiraling downward to form a cyclinder-esque shape. The combination of the ribbon’s wave-like movement and the transparency seen in the color overlay creates for a mesmerizing and memorable pattern. If you’re a fan of Menomena, ribbons, Andrew Vastagh or all of the above you can pick this piece up at the Poster Cabaret.

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Graphic Designer Position Available at Fossil

graphic design jobs

Vintage-inspired fashion house Fossil is looking to hire a Graphic Designer. Responsibilities will include collaborating with and supporting the Art Director in the design and development of the Fossil brand image. Potential candidates must be aware of vintage looks and contemporary design and fashion trends. For more info on this job listing see the grain edit job board.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Kevin Stanley Harris

Kevin Stanley Harris

Kevin Stanley Harris is a Designer & Illustrator making a new home in the big East Coast city after recently relocating from Colorado. Claiming pride from being born in the 90s, this youngin’ has some good chops for great imagery and I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future

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Burton Kramer Identities

burton kramer

Burton Kramer Identities is an important and comprehensive book on the work of a leading Canadian designer, educator and painter, who practiced for over 50 years.

Kramer began his design career in the New York office of Will Burtin and went on to work at Geigy under Gottfried Honegger. In 1961, he moved to Zurich, Switzerland, as Chief Designer at the E. Halpern Agency, where he created award-winning work. In 1965, Kramer moved to Toronto to work on graphics and signage for Expo 67. In 1967, he founded Kramer Design Associates, creating identity programs for the Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario Educational Television and in 1974, his well-known logo and identity program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
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PLOC Magazine

ploc magazine

Fans of Alain Gree rejoice! Our friends from Anorak have teamed up with Mr. Gree for a new magazine entitled PLOC.  The inaugural issue features stories, games, coloring pages and activities all illustrated in Alain’s unique style. Pick up a copy here.

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Recently Received

nobrow

Forming Vol.1 featuring the illustration work of Jesse Moynihan

Fresh from the mailman, here’s the latest titles to hit our shelves.

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Roman Klonek

Roman Klonek

Roman Klonek is a Polish illustrator in Dusseldorf, Germany. His Eastern European roots are very evident in his work, which is often colorful woodcuts of natural scenes full of interesting characters. As Roman states about his work, “You will find a bizarre balancing act between propaganda, folklore and pop.”

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Hans Hartmann: Ein Leben fur die Grafik

hans hartmann

I was excited to receive a package from Hans Harthman’s daughter, Fanny Hartmann last week. Contained within was a copy of Hans Hartmann: Ein Lebenfur die Grafik, a 1991 monograph compiled by Fanny with contributions from Joseph Marti and Fred Zaugg. The book is filled with full-color illustrations and photos from Hans’s prolific career as a designer and artist that spanned over 5 decades. Hans Hartmann’s name is often absent from design history books, so most of the pieces are new to me. I’m surprised by the breadth and depth of is work.  I’ve seen examples of his posters and logos in the past, but I was unaware that he had ventured into sculpture, stained glass windows and exhibition design.

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Bike Stamps from Italy

italy stamps

Italian postage stamps designed by E. Consolazione, R. Cuzzani, and A. de Stefani in 1967 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Giro d’Italia cycling championship.

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Cuba Expo 70 Stamps

expo 70

Fresh stamps from our good friend Wes, this time from Cuba commemorating the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, Japan.

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Outliers, Vol. I: Iceland

Chicago based film collective Scenic has launched a new film project on Kickstarter.com featuring photographers Tim Navis (LA), Kim Holtermand (Denmark), and electronic composer Deru. The group will create a series of short films at various locations throughout Iceland, inspired by moments of discovery and chance occurrence. Tim’s sun-drenched SoCal landscapes and Kim’s cold, architectural abstractions provide the visual foundation, and fans of their work can imagine how exciting a collaboration between the two will be. The end result, a beautifully packaged box set of the film and companion soundtrack, will be released to backers of the project as a physical artifact of the unique and awe-inspiring experience.

To learn more about this project, please visit the Kickstarter page.

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Architectural Postcards

architectural postcards

I’m an avid fan and collector of architectural ephemera, so I was excited to discover David Liaudet’s inspiring blog Architectures de Cartes Postales. Since 2007 David has used the space to explore modern and contemporary architecture through its representation in postcards. The online archive is filled with amazing examples of sculptural elements, signage, memorial buildings and Brutalist architecture from the 1950s-70s. If you have a couple of hours to spare I highly recommend a visit.

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Betsy Walton

betsy walton

Portland,OR based painter and illustrator Betsy Walton has a knack for creating captivating and dreamy landscapes. Some of my favorite pieces include “Gold” and “Paradise” which also happens to be this week’s poster pick. These works explore the idea/ideal of paradise while working with an aesthetic rooted in American folk art and contemporary figurative illustration.

Giclee prints of the original paintings are available at the Poster Cabaret.

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Gwenola Carrere

Gwenola Carrere

Gwenola Carrere is an illustrator from Brussels, Belgium. She creates intricate and playfully crafted images. Some of my favorite works of hers are from a series of illustrations for Revue Dada titled “Made in Russia”. Influenced from 1920s & 30s Soviet illustration, she borrows attributes from this period while adding a bit of her own contemporary European twist.

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Senior Designer Position Available at Fossil

graphic design jobs

Vintage-inspired fashion house Fossil is looking to hire a Senior Designer. Responsibilities will include collaborating with and supporting the Art Director in the design and development of the Fossil brand image. Potential candidates must be aware of vintage looks and contemporary design and fashion trends. For more info on this job listing see the grain edit job board.

Also from the job board:
Art Director – Swink (Madison, WI)
Web Developer – fred flare (Brooklyn, NY)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch

Loren Holyoke

Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch is an extremely hard working illustrator with a client list as almost long as his name. Maxwell moved East from West a little over a year ago and has not slowed his momentum one bit. With a style that is crunchy and organic while maintaining digital shine and freshness, he continues to regularly submit work to such editorial powers as The New York Times, Bloomberg, The New Yorker, and more and more and more.

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Grain Edit & Varoom!

grain edit

Huge thanks to John O’Reilly and the rest of the crew at Varoom! magazine for featuring us in their latest issue. The 14-page article titled “The Outsiders” profiles Grain Edit, Unit Editions, John Ptak and showcases our fascination with analyzing, preserving and distributing archival imagery. In addition, each of us shared works that have shaped our curatorial views on design. Varoom! #15 is available in select shops in Europe as well as the U.S. Copies can be purchased online here.

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ReckerHouse

ReckerHouse

Hailing from Arizona, Chaz Russo, also known by his studio moniker ReckerHouse, creates some really nice visuals. The image above is an illustration depicting the bombing of Hiroshima for the wonderful Momentus Project. His works which showcase a use of faceted geometry combined with a muted and restrained palette are my favorites of his. Take some time today to check out more of Chaz’s imagery.

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Art Director Position Available at Swink

graphic design jobs

We’ve featured the Madison, WI based design studio Swink on Grain Edit in the past. Their self-promo desktop campfire set was a huge hit with our readers as well as the rest of the design blog scene. Currently Swink is looking to hire an art director with experience in print as well as web work. As they say, “if you’ve got the whomp” send them an email with samples of your work and a blurb about what makes you tick.

For more info on this job listing see the grain edit job board.

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Recently Received

the modernist
The Modernist / Published by Gestalten

Looking for some new inspiration or something to add to your summer reading list? Here’s a few of the titles that we’ve received within the last month or so.

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Studiofolk — Denis Carrier

Dennis Carrier

Denis Carrier, working under the moniker Studiofolk, is an Illustrator from France who makes images that are full of good feelings. His work is a great balance of both digital and analog approaches to illustration and exists 50/50 in vector and hand-drawn formats. Denis is also a co-founder of design studio PNTS.

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Gavin Potenza — New Work!

Gavin Potenza

Great friend of Grain Edit and infinitely talented designer Gavin Potenza has just updated his online portfolio with a number of strong editorial pieces. You may know of Gavin’s grainy work through these solo projects, or as one half of creative duo Script & Seal with our very own Liz Meyer.

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Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board

graphic design jobs

Interactive Designer – ATTIK (San Francisco, CA)
Lead Web Designer – Everlane (San Francisco, CA)
Graphic Designer – fred flare (Brooklyn, NY)
Photo Internship – fred flare (Brooklyn, NY)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

Louis Swart — Dutch Packaging

Louis Swart

Louis Swart was a packaging Designer in the Netherlands in the 1960s and 70s. Working in the design industry between the young ages of 13 and 40, Swart greatly paved the way for the future of Dutch package design. You can read more about the life and work of Louis Swart as well as view more of his great work at the Graphic Design Museum Blog.

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Lufthansa + Graphic Design

Joplin posters

The beginning of the 1960s saw one of the most important steps in the development of corporate communication. Lufthansa employed the designer Otl Aicher and his Gruppe E5 student group to develop a visual identity for for the airline. It was substantially realized in 1963 and up until the present day counts as one of the most groundbreaking corporate design solutions of the 20th century. With a focus on the famous brand identity, the design and advertising history of Deutsche Lufthansa from the 1920s to today is comprehensively documented here for the first time. This volume contains numerous illustrations from the corporate archive and background articles and interviews.

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This Is Forest — Joel Speasmaker

Forest Joel Speasmaker

Joel Speasmaker, also known by his studio moniker Forest, just updated his website with a big pile of great design. You may know of Joel’s pursuits through the early 00s magazine The Drama, or through more recent work as Editor of Swindle, Art-Director of Anthem, or on a more personal level through his series of zine editions: Forest Small Books.  Joel continues to work hard and is always keeping it moving, so pay his new site a visit! Read the rest of this entry »

Heartwork: Art Benefit for Target House

heartwork

Heartwork is a project designed to raise money for art supplies within the art room at Target House—this wonderful home-away-from-home for the families of children facing long-term treatment at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

The idea is simple. Every year, a group of talented artists will create a series of posters to raise money for the art room. Each of the posters will feature a different interpretation of the Target House elephant mascot, chosen because it represents family, long life, strength and playfulness—attributes with special meaning at a place designed for families to live, play and heal.

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Takenobu Igarashi: Early Design Work

Takenobu Igarashi

Contemporary Sculptor Takenobu Igarashi started his career in the early 1970s as an extremely talented Graphic Designer, quickly attaining international acclaim for his axonometric style of form and typography. Takenobu Igarashi has created identity systems, signage, products, packaging and graphics for notable instituions such as GRAPHIS Magazine and MoMa, and has work now rests in the permanent collections of museums all over the world. In 1994 he put his design talents to rest and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a Sculptor. He is currently the President of Tama Art University, where he had originally helped to set up the first program for “computerized design” education in Japan.

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Art for Joplin

Joplin posters

St.Louis Based Moosylvania and All Along Press have teamed up to put together a series of posters to benefit relief efforts in the tornado-stricken city of Joplin, Mo. Each poster is signed by the artist and screen printed by hand to order. All proceeds will be donated to the Southwest Missouri chapter of United Way to aid in the economic reconstruction.

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Justin Harder

Justin Harder

Multi-media designer Justin Harder produces mainly motion graphics for music videos and commercials, but his online portfolio also boasts a rather nice collection of static images. From geometric throwback typography and thick black logotypes, to illustrations and more experimental computer graphics, this LA based creative has a lot of hard work under his belt.
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We Have Our Winners

house industries

Handshakes & shout-outs to everyone who took part in the House Industries Photo-Lettering Giveaway! The winners were announced via our twitter stream and facebook page earlier today.

Special thanks goes out to House Industries for sponsoring the giveaway.

About Photo-Lettering

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Not to Late to Enter, Giveaway Ends At 6PM (PST)

house industries

The Giveaway is now closed. We’ll be announcing our winners via the Grain Edit Facebook page and Twitter stream on Monday.

Poster Pick: Mara Piccione

Mara Piccione

This week’s poster pick, Hack & Saw, is by the Dutch illustrator and designer Mara Piccione.  The piece appears to be an innocent Autumn medley. However after a closer inspection at the chopped wood and sinister-looking characters, a more devious image begins to surface. Is this the aftermath of a woodland massacre? are these guys constructing a giant slingshot? who knows, but I love how Mara’s work challenges the viewer and often requires a second glance.

You can pick up Hack & Saw at the Poster Cabaret.

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Michiel Schuurman

Michiel Schuurman

Michiel Schuurman is a Dutch graphic designer in working in Amsterdam. Schuurman’s personal work specializes in typography and poster design which often boasts a rather maximalistic approach. His practice of combining bright colors, warped glyphs, harsh perspectives, and acidic patterns creates some awfully intriguing eye-candy, which he often screen prints himself. Read the rest of this entry »

House Industries Giveaway

house industries

The Giveaway is now closed. We’ll be announcing our winners via the Grain Edit Facebook page and Twitter stream on Monday.

This week we’ve teamed up with House Industries for a special giveaway. To celebrate the recent launch of the Photo-Lettering website, House has cooked up some sweet prints for our readers. Four lucky winners will receive a silk-screened PLINC Caslon G hand-pulled by David Dodde!

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Sam Chirnside

Sam Chirnside

Hailing from Melbourne, Australian designer Sam Chirnside creates some fresh graphical work. Sam’s visual themes tend to weigh on the cryptic side with his use of darker imagery and glyphic geometries to create stunning type. I really enjoy his use of grainy textures to add dramatic tone and give the work the perception of being rendered in pencil. Sam’s client list includes Volcom, 55dsl, and Handsome Clothing. On his website he also holds down a great inspirational blog with his own work sprinkled in.

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Bracket Vol 2

bracket magazine

The second issue of Bracket magazine is now available. This latest issue features 16 visionaries who have pursued their hunger to create change in the world. Included are interviews with Seth Godin, John Maeda, Kate Bingaman Burt, eBoy, Underware and others. Pickup a copy online or select shops in Singapore, New York and Berlin.

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Ryan Todd

Ryan Todd

London-based illustrator & designer Ryan Todd creates refreshing work; Taking a great understanding of how to use bright colors best, combined with a wonderful retention towards simplicity, his work leaves you with pleasant thoughts and emotion. Ryan states that his focus is on “producing ideas-led images which exercise forms of creative thinking and wit.” He also holds his desk at East London image factory: OPEN

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Polish Book Cover Contest

polish art

Our friend Will over at 50 Watts (formerly A Journey Around My Skull) is holding a fun contest. Participants are encouraged to design a Polish edition of their favorite book. Top prize is $400 with runners-up winning some snazzy books including One Thousand Polish Book Covers by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizieliński and Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig.

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From the Job Board

Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:

Art Director for Packaging– Fossil (Dallas, TX)
Junior Product Designer – Jonathan Adler (New York, NY)
Senior Visual Designer – Causes (San Francisco, CA)
Web Designer – Lush (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Made By Sawdust

Sawdust
Sawdust
is the amalgomation of London designers Rob Gonzalez and Jonathan Quainton. They create sleek, intelligent, and award-winning work, focusing mostly on bespoke typographics, which seem to commonly combine bold geometrics with fragile vector strokes. Sawdust has gained a client list which includes BMW, Nike, Ogilvy & Partners, Saatchi, Virgin, Orange, and many many more.

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We Have Our Winners

Thanks to everyone who took part in the 2011 Poster Cabaret Bike Print Set Giveaway!  We randomly selected our winners this weekend. The winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive tomorrow morning.

The winners were also announced via our twitter stream and facebook page earlier today.

Individual posters from the 2011 Bike Print set are now available for purchase at the Poster Cabaret. Photos from the gallery show have been uploaded to the site as well.

——————————————————

Special thanks goes out to:

Poster Cabaret

Leandro Castelao | Brent Couchman | Dirk Fowler | Invisible CreatureTad Carpenter | Mark McDevitt/Methane Studios | Sonnenzimmer | Diana Sudyka | Blanca Gomez | Jay Ryan | Mara Piccione | Delicious Design League | Jason Munn | DKNG Studios | Will Bryant | Evan B Harris | Ty Wilkins | Alberto Cerriteño | Doublenaut

Please take time to visit their sites.

——————————————————

MVM — Magnus Voll Mathiasson

Magnus Voll Mathiasson

Magnus Voll Mathiasson is a co-founder of Norwegian powerhouse design firm Grandpeople. His personal work, however is equally as powerful and intelligent. MVM’s illustrative designs hold warm bodies of smooth color, crispy textures, and a rich sense of volume. Although initially appearing heavy on abstraction, Magnus claims that his focus is on research driven work, and that “A strong conceptual foundation is important to secure strong aesthetics.” I’ve included details from some of his recent projects.

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Eric Ellis

Eric Ellis

Chicago, Illinois based designer Eric Ellis produces clean and colorful graphics via a mixup of classic and contemporary influences. A recent graduate of Columbia College, and now an employee of Ogilvy & Mather, Eric is steadily continuing to create a plethora of awe-inducing imagery for us. For more of Ellis’ work, dig around through his site a bit, and be sure to also check out his great collection of #2 pencil sketches, Noon Studio.

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New Giveaway this Monday

New giveaway this coming Monday! Up for grabs are goodies from Blanca Gomez, Jason Munn/The Small Stakes, Tad Carpenter, Invisible Creature, Brent Couchman, Will Bryant, Jay Ryan and many more! Be sure to join the Grain Edit Facebook Fan Page or follow us on Twitter so you can be involved in this giveaway.

Have a great weekend!

Heath Killen

Heath Killen

Australian designer Heath Killen creates “visual communication with purpose & poetry.” You may be familiar with some of his work from his multitude of experimental redesigns of movie posters. Heath creates stunning and vibrant compilations of color, shape, and emotion, to give expressive imagery to works of jazz, theater, film, and more. Heath appears to be one of those designers who never stops experimenting, which seems to have resulted in a rather unrecognizable lack of separation between personal and client work.
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Doyald Young Poster

Doyald Young poster

At the end of last year, Josh Higgins started a collaborative poster with Doyald Young that was to be a gift to a mutual friend. Sadly, Doyald passed away before the project was completed. The day after his passing, Josh contacted Jessica Hische who graciously brought the project back to life. A limited number of these  letterpressed posters are now available and proceeds will be used to set up a type scholarship in Doyald’s name.

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Jeff Rogers Hand Drawn Fonts

jeff rogers fonts

Merry / Designed by Jeff Rogers

Texas native and talented letterer, Jeff Rogers, has just completed 5 new hand drawn fonts for YouWorkForThem. Grab the goodness here.

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IC Full Circle Show at Super7

invisible creature

We’re excited to announce that Invisible Creature will be showing a collection of work at Super7 in San Francisco, opening on April 23rd at 6PM. Included in the collection will be a number of illustrations from their late grandfather, Alfred Paulsen. In addition, they will debut the first colorway of Leroy C., the newest member of Super7’s Monster Family!

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Jeremy Pettis

Jeremy Pettis

Jeremy Pettis is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based designer who creates some really amazing throwback typographical treatments. You may be familiar with his “26 Types Of Animals” project, in which he creates unique bespoke treatments through an alphabetical list of animal types. Jeremy’s website is dedicated mostly to that project, but you can find more real gems of work by digging through his flickr.

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Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey

wim crouwel

If you’re unable to visit the Wim Crouwel retrospective at London’s Design Museum, you can still pick up the exhibition catalog. Designed and published by Unit Editions the catalog contains Crouwel’s posters, documents, manuals – even his stamps and personal photographs –  presented in the raw, bare-concrete setting of the Crouwel archive. Also included is an interview with Wim conducted by Tony Brook, the exhibition’s curator and the book’s co-editor.

Available now at Unit Editions.

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2011: Living in the Future

Geoffrey Hoyle

2011: Living in the Future was originally published in 1972, but has now been brought back to print upon realization of the book’s accuracy, inaccuracy, and irony. Geoffrey Hoyle, a science fiction author, future visionary, and product of his astronomer father, wrote the original text, predicting such glorious technologies as “vision desks,” “vision phones,” and personal automated breakfast factories. There is also talk of people only working 3 days a week, with a traffic-free commute. Playfully illustrated with wonderful projections of our modern-day utopia by Alasdair Anderson, this quick read would be great for both the coffee table and story time with the kids, so they can think about what those crazy people in the 70s were like.

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Designers for Japan

designers for japan
To Japan by Christopher Gray

Designers for Japan is a collective of imagemakers from around the world who were spurred on by the catastrophe of March 11th to do something, anything to help and to express our love for our friends and colleagues in Japan. Thanks to Print-Process & Creative Review, prints are for sale at £30 for A2, £60 for A1 with all proceeds after print, paper and postage going to the The Red Cross / Shelterbox. In addition, there are plans for an upcoming charity auction. If you would like to contribute or help in anyway, please contact them at [email protected].

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Center of Attention – Vintage 7″ Labels

Simon Foster

Center of Attention is an online collection of vintage record center labels by designer Simon Foster. Simon’s collection contains some real colorful gems of labels, which seem to be mostly from the 60’s and 70’s, although he has a few more antique examples. Although the aging crisp graphics, imperfect printing, and retro typefaces are super intriguing, my favorite thing about these old labels are the classic song titles; with such great hits as “I’m Gonna Miss You (Like the Devil),” “T-R-A-M-P,” “The Machine Demands a Sacrifice,” and “Fattie Bum Bum.”

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From the Job Board

designer jobs

Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:

Graphic Designer/Illustrator – fredflare.com (Brooklyn, NY)
Data Editor – GOOD (Los Angeles, CA)
UI Designer – GOOD (Los Angeles, CA)
Senior UI Designer – GOOD (Los Angeles, CA)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Network Osaka

network osaka

Network Osaka is a wittingly self-proclaimed “artist pretending to be a designer” (I’m too used to seeing it backwards). With the presentation, style, and workload of a full-on design studio, he creates strikingly bold and intimidatingly intelligent, yet beautifully simplistic imagery. What I really love most about Derek’s work, however, is that he has a great sense of when and how to use heavy, solid bodies of color. Some of my favorite graphics are from 26 piece alphabet card set with Artist As Citizen; “Extinct”. Derek Kim, as he also is known as, is a Parsons graduate with a BFA in communication, carrying a respectable client list which holds such names as Wieden+Kennedy, Nike, Esquire, and YWFT.

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New Fonts Available at YWFT

ywft herzog

YWFT Herzog / Designed by Travis Stearns

Our friends at YouWorkForThem have updated their shop with some tasty new fonts.

Originally drawn in 2008 by Travis Stearns of YouWorkForThem, we revisited the Herzog drawings in 2011 and developed them into a fully functional opentype font release. YWFT Herzog comes with two style options (regular and alternate), with each style containing opentype stylistic alternates for upper case and lower case characters.

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Experiments Around the House with Lullatone

Japanese cute & dreamy music duo Lullatone recently posted this great video of small noise-producing exercises, titled “Experiments Around the House.” I really enjoy the simple yet very visually appealing colorful scenes, with content that draws upon a cuter parallel to the work of artist Koki Tanaka. Lullatone has many other great videos and visual projects that a design inclined mind would appreciate and are very much worth checking out.

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Gerd Arntz Memory Game

gerd arntz

I just downloaded the Gerd Arntz memory app and I’m giving it a test spin. The game contains 250 from the more than 4,000 pictograms Gerd Arntz drew between 1928 and 1965, and were scanned from the original prints in the Arntz archive of the Municipal Museum The Hague.

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Jelle Martens

Jelle Martens

Jelle Martens is a young image-maker from Gent, Belgium. He creates highly geometric and minimal work, borrowing much inspiration from the roots of his not so ancient ancestors. I really enjoy these simple shape and collage experiments most out of his work. They have a very striking and organic feeling to them, and are like precursors to logotypes. More work is also viewable at his Flickr.

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Total Design and its pioneering role in graphic design

total design

Another exciting release from the fine folks over at Unit Editions.

TD 63-73: Total Design and its pioneering role in graphic design is a unique insider’s account of the evolution of Total Design, one of the most important and influential design groups in the history of visual design.

Written by Ben Bos, a key member of the studio, the book describes how a group of idealistic Dutch designers came together to form a multidisciplinary design studio that helped shape the future of graphic design.

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Ryohei Kojima

Ryohei Kojima

I am excited by my recent discovery of award-winning Japanese designer, Ryohei Kojima. Ryohei worked at Light Publicity Ltd,  Japan’s first creative agency, for many years before opening his own studio in 1975. Like Charles Harper, he was a master at crafting beautiful imagery by deconstructing his subjects down to their simplest forms.

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I Heart Milton Glaser

milton glaser

Here’s a special treat for Valentine’s Day. The BBC has just released a 30-minute radio documentary entitled I Heart Milton Glaser. The program includes audio snippets of Glaser as well as his contemporaries as they discuss the history and impact of the now iconic I ♥ NY design.

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Sue Doeksen

Sue Doeksen

Hailing from the Netherlands, illustrator Sue Doeksen creates wonderful worlds that are overpopulated with bright colors and friendly shapes, with mediums ranging from physical, digital, pencil-drawn, paper-cut, and animated. Judging from the massive amounts of blissfully exciting work on her blog, Sue is clearly one of those artists that doesn’t give up: most likely because she can’t stop creating.

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Rhodesia was Super Serigraph

derek yaniger

Korero books recently collaborated with Derek Yaniger again and the result is a new Serigraph entitled “Rhodesia was Super“. This four color silk-screened print is based off a travel slogan from the 1970s and is limited to an edition of 100. All profits will be donated to the Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust, a charity which seeks to provide support for the beleaguered agricultural community in Zimbabwe.

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Yehteh

yehteh

Zurich, Switzerland based Philipp Dornbierer, a.k.a. Yehteh, is a digital illustrator and designer. Philipp has a great way of basing his work around rather doomy symbolism, such as swords and hooded executioners, but juxtaposes them with bright colors, pleasing patterns, and some friendlier icons to create joyfully accessible imagery. Some of my favorites include his collaborations with stateside’s Andy J. Miller. With a client list including Carhartt, IBM, and 55DSL, I think we can expect to see a lot more great things from this guy in the near future.

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Available Internships

clementine paper

Graphic Design/Blog Intern – Clementine Paper/Greenroom (Santa Monica)
Graphic/Product Design Intern – Jonathan Adler Design Studio (New York)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Andrew Neyer

andrew neyer

Ohio based image-maker Andrew Neyer displays a wonderful portfolio featuring a myriad of colorful illustrations and artwork, as well as well designed items such as zines and shirts. His work feels like snapshots; peeking into the inner workings of an everyday world in motion.
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Karel Martens: Printed Matter

karel martens

It’s here! The third edition of Karel Martens: Printed Matter is now available in the U.S.

Upon publication in 1996, printed matter was labeled an instant classic in the world of design publishing. This beautifully designed visual survey of the career of Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens is a tactile distillation of Martens’s unique and personal approach to design. Projects—ranging from postage stamps to books to signs on buildings—are arranged in layouts that fully explore the print process. The first edition of printed matter rapidly sold out along with a second edition published in 2001. This third and final edition includes a new interview with Martens and brings the survey of his work to 2010, marking fifty years of practice.

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Principles of Three-Dimensional Design

Wucius Wong

Wucius Wong’s 1976 release, Principles of Three-Dimensional Design, is an educational book aimed at helping designers and artists wrap their heads around the physical space of objects. Concentrating on the use of simple planes and lines in geometric constructions combined with a thorough breakdown of our understanding of three-dimensional objects, Wong demonstrates how seemingly complex configurations can be easy to plan and construct. What I really want to share with you, however, are the tremendous images of models and diagrams created for the pages of this publication. Read the rest of this entry »

Meet Sozi & Her Idea

sozi

I’m a big fan of Rilla Alexander’s work, so I was super excited to hear about her new book, Her Idea.  Through beautiful illustrations and fun rhymes Rilla chronicles the journey of a little girl named Sozi who struggles to put her concepts into reality. Although the story is presented in a picture book format,  I’m hesitant to call this a “children’s book” as I believe the message resonates with all of us. This tale is especially timely as many of us are seeking to change our procrastinating ways as part of our new year’s resolutions.

In this interview, Rilla shares the inspiration for the book and some of the challenges she faced along the way. Here we go!

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Keating & Keating

keating & keating

Taking another look back into San Francisco design studios as they stood in the late ’70s, I bring you the second in a series of posts from the book Graphic Design San Francisco. Today, we’ll take a look at Keating & Keating, who in present day is known as Kate Keating Associates, Inc., a heavy hitting SF corporate design firm.

“Keating & Keating have an attitude toward their work that can be stated in a definition of graphic design as ‘the architecture of visual communication.’ They believe that a project should entail not just applied cosmetics, but rather must be approached from a thorough problem-solving process in order to be successful.” Read the rest of this entry »

Les Mason: Epicurean Magazine 1966 – 1979

les mason

Australian designer Les Mason passed away in 2009, but his work lives on in this beautiful limited edition publication designed by Dominic Hofstede. Les Mason: Epicurean Magazine 1966 – 1979 features color reproductions of covers and a selection of internal spreads from the 77 issues of Epicurean Magazine that he served as creative director. Les was an influential figure in the Melbourne design community and many consider this to be his defining work.

You can pick up a copy at The Narrows.

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Handbook of Pictorial Symbols

Handbook of Pictorial Symbols

With a collection of 3,250 glorious icons, Handbook of Pictorial Symbols is great inspiration for any designer. Gathered from sources from around the world, these elegant yet minimal icons are a reminder that simplicity is truly key. Below is a small selection of my favorites from the book.

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Bossa Nova And The Rise Of Brazilian Music In The 1960s

bossa nova book

Bossa Nova music arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1950s with an optimism and modernism that paralleled the arrival of the new Brazilian president, Juscelino Kubitschek, who promised ‘fifty years of progress in five’ in his election campaign and announced the building of a new capital city, Brasilia, deep in the heartland of Brazil. The city was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, a man who had just designed a new musical theatre production in Rio of a play written by Vinicius de Moraes and with music written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. These two, along with the singer João Gilberto were about to make Bossa Nova, the first modernist Brazilian art form, the most succesful Brazilian export since coffee.

Bossa Nova And The Rise Of Brazilian Music In The 1960s is a unique collection of the cover art of Brazilian Bossa Nova music, containing hundreds of record covers complete with a history of Bossa Nova, biographies and essays on many of the artists involved in the movement.

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Mimmo Castellano: Posters and Packaging

Mimmo Castellano

Mimmo Castellano is an award-winning graphic designer and photographer who got his start in the port city of Bari located in the South-East corner of Italy. It was here that he landed a position with Laterza, a prominent publishing house, where he designed many of the book covers. This collaboration would last for over twenty years. In the late 60s he moved to Milan to further his career as a designer and taught at the European Institute of Design. In more recent years he has been researching digital imaging connected with photography and photomechanics.

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We Have Our Winners

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Grain Edit Holiday Giveaway Bash! It was great to see all your comments. We randomly selected our winners this weekend.

Our winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive tomorrow morning.

The winners were also announced via our twitter stream and facebook page earlier today.

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Special thanks goes out to:

Poster Cabaret, YouWorkForThem, Chronicle Books, Soundscreen Design, Script & Seal, Rilla Alexander, Josh Brill/ LumadessaNo Brow Magazine, Blanca Gomez, Friends of Type, Ty Wilkins, Ingela P Arrhenius, Silnt, Dan Stiles, Jessica Hische, Scotty Reifsynder, enormouschampion, Marcus Walters, Invisible Creature, The Tree House Press, Jolby, Greg Pizzoli, Jason Munn, Brent Couchman, Paul Tebbott, Luke Bott, Esther Arts, and Dan Matutina.

Please take time to visit their sites.

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New Items in the Grain Edit Shop

design coordination corporate image FHK henrion

Design Coordination and Corporate Image by FHK Henrion

New items have been added to the vintage kid’s books and graphic design sections of the grain edit shop.

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Harry Murphy + Friends


“The Gap Records and Tapes, San Francisco.”

Graphic Design San Francisco is a book that was published in the late ’70s by the Institute for Graphic Design (which would later become AIGA SF) and Chronicle Books. For the first in a series of posts about the works of San Francisco Bay Area designers and firms, as their portfolios stood on the brink of the ’80s, I present to you Harry Murphy + Friends.

“The Philosophy of Harry Murphy + Friends is to maintain design work of consistently high quality, while producing a large volume of projects involving an exceptionally wide range of related disciplines, frequently with rigorous deadlines.

Since locating in the San Francisco area in 1966, Harry Murphy + Friends has won over 700 national and international design awards for architectural graphics, space design, environmental art, corporate identity, print graphics, and packaging.”

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House Industries at Heath Los Angeles

house heath

Letters, numbers, ceramics and craftsmanship collide in a month-long House Industries exhibition at the Heath Los Angeles studio and store. House will transform the legendary tile and tableware maker’s airy Beverly Boulevard space into an unprecedented emulsion of clay, metal, ink, cotton, wood, lacquer, lithography and letterforms.

The exhibition will feature several new objects including custom-fired House-Heath tiles, reclaimed wood end-grain tiles, hand-printed folding plywood divider screens, tree ornaments, letterpressed greeting cards and much more. Heath also stocks hard-to-find House classics such as the Eames House blocks and the Alexander Girard Nativity.


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Poster Pick: Arcade Fire at the Key Arena

invisible creature

For this week’s poster pick, Invisible Creature presents us with a cold, ghost-like city, where it’s remaining inhabitants are fleeing in a school bus into an unknown suburban abyss. The artwork was inspired by the equally bleak lyrics of ‘City With No Children’, a song from Arcade Fire’s latest release, ‘The Suburbs‘. I appreciate the selective use of color and asymmetrical layout, which immediately caught my eye. This gets my vote as one of the Creature’s most impressive posters to date.

You can pick up a print at the Poster Cabaret or enter to win a copy in the Grain Edit Holiday Giveaway Bash.

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American Trademark Designs

American Trademark Designs

For my first post here at Grain Edit, I’m going to share one of my favorite design books from my bookshelf: American Trademark Designs. Published in 1976 by Dover Books and written and compiled by Barbara Baer Capitman, this book is chock full of 732 delicious black, bold, and inky vintage logos. My favorite aspect of this book is that it showcases extremely recognizable logos that have been stamped into the back of our eyelids (IBM, Mr. Peanut, Pepsi-Cola, Playboy) right alongside rarely seen identities created by tiny firms for tiny companies. Some marks are also showcased next to their former, replaced versions, displaying the brand’s evolution.

I’ve scanned some of my favorite graphics to share with you. A portion of this book is also available for view in Google Books, but it’s much more interesting on paper.

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2010 Design Sponge scholarship!

design sponge scholarship

Only one day left to apply for the 2010 Design Sponge Scholarship. This year they’re awarding $10,000 to both undergrad & grad students. Apply here.

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Roger Excoffon and the Olive foundry

roger excoffon

Roger Excoffon and the Olive foundry by Sandra Chamaret, Julien Gineste and Sébastien Morlighem

Roger Excoffon (1910-1983) was a significant figure in French typography, the graphic arts and visual communication. To mark the centenary of his birth, Paris based Ypsilon Editeur has just released the first book dedicated to his work. Included are little-known or previously unpublished photographs, drawings and type specimens. The book also presents the history of the Olive Foundry where Roger served as the design director for many years.

To get all the gritty details, visit Ypsilon Editeur.

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Wim Crouwel ‘in his own words’ by Toon Lauwen

wim crouwel

Here’s another book to add to the holiday wish list. Lauwen Books recently released Wim Crouwel ‘in his own words’, a selection of lectures and articles delivered by Wim Crouwel between 1973 and 2006. Considering Wim’s long and established history with design, I’m sure it’s a fascinating read full of inspiring stories and valuable insights. The book is currently sold out at typotheque, but it appears copies are still available directly through the publisher as well as Nijhof & Lee.

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U&lc Back Issues

U&lc Back Issues

Design by Herb Lubalin

Wee hoo! U&lc back issues are now available for download at fonts.com.

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Kazumasa Nagai Posters

Kazumasa Nagai Posters

Pink Tentacle digs up an impressive collection of posters by Japanese artist and designer Kazumasa Nagai. Enjoy!
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Scotty Reifsnyder: The Heroes of Folk

Scotty Reifsnyder

Scotty Reifsnyder updates his portfolio & shop with the Heroes of Folk, a series of letterpress cards featuring illustrations of American Folk legends like Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. The cards are available for $30 a piece or $150 for the complete collection. Pick them up here.

Head nods and handshakes go out to Scott McClelland of Two Paper Dolls for doing such a wonderful job with the printing.

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Nate Duval

nate duval

Massachusetts-based illustrator and designer Nate Duval is a busy man. Over the past year he has created concert posters for Phish, Spoon, Wilco, Tortoise and the Black Keys as well as a collaborated with Jen Skelley and Mother NYC on an re-branding campaign for Sweet ‘N Low.  Nate’s work often pairs playful imagery with hand-drawn type as seen in this city skyline poster for M. Ward.  I love how he’s able to present a potentially chaotic situation in a way that looks innocent and fun. This poster as well as others designed by Nate are available for purchase at the Poster Cabaret.

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Cor Klaasen: Vintage Irish Graphic Design

cor klaasen

Opening in Dublin this week:

The Vintage Irish Book Covers blog is presenting an exhibition of Cor Klaasen’s wonderful book and record cover designs.

Cor Klaasen: Jackets, Covers & Sleeves
Venue: Adifferentkettleoffishaltogether, 18 Ormond Quay Upper
Times: Daily 11 – 5pm. Thurs 4 – Wed 10 November inclusive
Opening: Wednesday 3 November, 2010, 6 – 8 pm. Guest Speaker: Brian Lalor

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Postmammal

postmammal

Robert Murdock is Postmammal. As the pseudonym suggests, Robert’s work is sophisticated and evolved — illustrating the efforts of years of experience. Within the portfolio is variety, depth and style. There are large campaigns, small personal projects, identity systems, illustration, custom typography, and more.

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Vintage Citroen Ephemera

vintage citroen

I love these Citroen pamphlets that Francois-Charles of iconomaque discovered while sorting through his father’s studio. The material was produced by his father while he was working as a designer at the French creative agency, Delpire, during the 1960s. More images after the jump.

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Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board

art of luggage label

Project Manager – Hybrid Design (San Francisco)
Web Graphics Productions Designer – MTV Networks(New York)
Motion Designer – American Greetings (Cleveland)
Interactive Developer – TBWA (Toronto)
Graphic Design Internship – Opportunity Green (Los Angeles)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Art of the Luggage Label

art of luggage label

Tom Schifanella is Senior VP/Executive Creative Director for Shepherd Agency and a passionate collector of hotel luggage labels. I highly recommend his Flickr stream which is filled with amazing examples of these labels and other travel-related ephemera. Many of the labels from his collection are available for purchase here.
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Jim Flora Prints

Jim Flora

Untitled painting casually referred to as White Block Quadrupeds

Jim Flora was a fine artist/illustrator best known for his album cover art for RCA Victor and Columbia Records, as well as his illustrations for children’s books. In this uncirculated and untitled early 1940s painting, he presents us with a (literally) twisted cast of characters. As mentioned on the Jim Flora website, the work “depicts an inscrutable panorama of disconnected facial features, headless quadrupeds, and someone’s nightmare of a fanged horse”. This piece along with select paintings from the Jim Flora collection are now available as limited edition prints for purchase over at the Poster Cabaret.

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The Exquisite Book

The Exquisite Book

If you’re in San Francisco tomorrow night, I recommend stopping by The Exquisite Book Signing and & Live Drawing event. Artists in attendance will include Julia Rothman, Lisa Congdon, Caitlin Keegan, Susie Ghahremani, Kelly Lynn Jones, Tom Neely, Eunice Moyle and Lorena Siminovich.

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The Ultimate Swissair Fansite

swissair posters

Patrick Eberhard has amassed an amazing collection of Swissair-related material. His website, Sr692 which is named after the flight number from Zürich to Lisbon, is filled with vintage posters, flyers, logos, stamps, route maps, tickets and books, as well as a detailed history of the airline. This is an absolute goldmine for those interested in Swiss design.

A hat tip to Shelby at Wanken for discovering this amazing resource.

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Gottschalk + Ash

Fritz Gottschalk

Poster for the Theatre Company at the St. Lawrence Centre

Gottschalk + Ash was founded in Montreal in 1966 by Swiss-born Fritz Gottschalk and Canadian native Stuart Ash. Independently and collaboratively, the two have racked up numerous design awards and honors over the last 40 years, with highlights that include identity work for Ciba and a re-design of the Swiss passport. Their work shown above is a great example of Swiss precision and a playful, more humanized take on design.

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Adam Hancher

adam hancher

This week’s poster pick is a chilling landscape entitled Villages I by Adam Hancher. Adam is a talented illustrator based in Bristol, England whose work is often inspired by folk tales and legends. You can read about his process in this interview with Ape on the Moon where he explains his methods of layering scanned textures to create the look and mood he is aiming for. Villages I is available for purchase at the Poster Cabaret.

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Modern Grafitti by CT

ct graffiti

Italian artist, CT, serves up a fresh twist on “modern” graffiti. It’s interesting to note that CT is from Torino, a town with a rich history in lettering. Societa Nebiolo, a type foundry known for its influential typefaces by their star designer, Aldo Novarese, was located here for many years.

More photos after the jump!

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Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig

alvin lustig born modern

I’m so excited, I just got my hands on a copy of Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig. After several years in the making, the highly anticipated book by Steven Heller & Elaine Lustig Cohen (Alvin’s wife) was finally released by Chronicle books last week. This is the first monograph devoted to this master of modern design, whose brief but prolific career had a profound and lasting influence on a generation of designers to come.

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Les Choux de Creteil by Gerard Grandval

les choux de creteil

Cité des Choux/ Photo by Kristo

Browsing the web earlier today I stumbled upon these stunning structures designed by Gerard Grandval. Les Choux de Creteil (aka the cabbages) is a residential development located in Creteil, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France.  The complex which consists of ten towers (each fifteen stories high) was built in the early 70s as an experimental approach to public housing needs.  The petal shaped balconies, which give the buildings their unique appearance, were designed to allow privacy for the occupants. The architect originally envisioned plants to suspend from the balconies. However the idea was shut down by the developers concerned with keeping the buildings insect-free.

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Lou Dorfsman Exhibition at Kemistry Gallery

lou dorfsman

Kemistry Gallery is celebrating the work of legendary designer Lou Dorfsman, art director for the CBS network.

The exhibition centres on his most notable creation, the 11-metre wide handmade wooden typographic wall that he named Gastrotypographicalassemblage. Created during an era when designers were both artisans and well-trained communicators, the wall is the largest modern typographic artefact in existence, described by Michael Bierut as ‘an irreplaceable piece of design history.’ With custom type created by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase, the wall contains almost 1500 individual characters.

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Alberto Cerriteno

alberto cerriteno

Inspired by pop surrealism and alternative cartoons, Alberto Cerriteno’s work is filled with rich textures and fantastically imagery. This print entitled Recuerdos is no exception. We see a small group of birds perching on branches sprouting from a somewhat distinguished gentleman’s head. The man appears to be crying and I hope they’re tears of joy. Recuerdos was originally created for the latest album of Mexican indie band Hello Seahorse, but is now available for purchase here.

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Design For You: A Herman Miller Contest

design for you
Herman Miller has just launched Design For You: an exciting contest powered by collective participation. Each prize requires a certain number of people to unlock it. As more people enter the contest, more prizes will be unlocked. For the grand prize, you could win one of five hand-painted Eames Rockers created by Andrew Holder, Philip Lumbang, Christopher Lee, Mark Giglio, and Josh Cochran. Each chair is one-of-a-kind.

In addition to the weekly prizes, the person who gets the most people to enter the contest will win an Aeron chair.

For more information, including a full list of prizes, visit the Design For You home page.

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Ayao Yamana’s Graphic Design

ayao yamana

Tomingekijo Music Circle concert pamphlets from 1963

In a prolific career that spanned over 5 decades, Japanese designer Ayao Yamana left behind a rich body of work that few could duplicate. He is mainly known for his elegant and delicate illustrations of women which graced the packaging and printed advertisements for Shiseido cosmetics. These concert pamphlet covers for the Tomingekijo Music Circle represent a side of Yamana that is less familiar, but equally as impressive.

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Creative, Inc. Book Tour

creative inc

Our good friends at Chronicle Books recently released Creative, Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business. Co-written by Joy Cho and Meg Mateo Ilasco, this helpful guide is packed with expert advice on finding agents, negotiating fees, licensing work and dealing with taxes. Also included are useful resources and interviews with experienced designers and illustrators.

I’m excited to welcome both Meg and Joy to Grain Edit today for a special Q&A session. Ok, here we go!

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Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board

graphic design jobs

Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:

Print/Retail Designer Intern – TOMS Shoes (Santa Monica/LA)
Web Developer Intern – TOMS Shoes (Santa Monica/LA)
Graphic Design Intern – Jonathan Adler (New York)
Senior Art Director – Target (Minneapolis)

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Ingela’s Nesting Dolls

ingela Arrhenius nesting dolls

I love these nesting dolls by Swedish Illustrator Ingela Arrhenius. You can choose from an animal set or circus set, both of which are available for purchase at Swedishness.

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Crafty 2010 Conference in Singapore

crafty conference

Crafty 2010 will explore the artistry and process behind disciplines from design to art, fashion to film and advertising to specialized print techniques. Held at the Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore, the project is produced by design think tank Anonymous and curated by art director Felix Ng.

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Octoberama

charles harper
Octoberama by Charley Harper / 30 inches x 30 inches

The Poster Cabaret is now carrying select pieces by the late Charley Harper, including this print entitled Octoberama: a fitting title for the approaching Fall season. Harper was a master in his use of color and ability to reduce elements to their simplest form. These are reflected in the warm, subdued shades of orange, yellow and red seen in the leaves above.

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Jacques Charette

jacques charette

Booklet cover for Librax Roche Recipe

Jacques Charette attended schools in Ottawa and Brussels (Belgium) as well as the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Montreal. Before establishing his own firm in 1970, he worked on various materials for Expo 67. He is also responsible for designing the logo for the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC).

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Blue Note Album Covers in Motion

I really enjoyed this video tribute to the legacy of Reid Miles. The piece was conceived to promote a series of summer jazz concerts at the Bella Vista Social Pub in Siena, Tuscany. If you are unfamiliar with Reid’s design work for Blue Note, Graphicology offers a side by side comparison of the reimagined covers with the original album art.

(via Swiss Legacy)

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Gerard Caris

gerard caris

Gerard Caris has been a fervent Dutch sculptor and artist who has pursued his pentagons since the 70s. With Pentagonism as the namesake of his artistic quest, Caris recorded his geometrical studies in the form of paintings, relief and 3D sculptures, and architecture.

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The National Concert Poster by Doublenaut

doublenaut poster

The National at Massey Hall / 18″ x 24″ print

Doublenaut serves up a haunting piece of imagery for this concert poster created for the National’s recent show in Toronto. The artwork was inspired by  “Anyone’s Ghost” and “Terrible Love”, two songs found on the group’s latest release. The poster sold out fairly quickly at Doublenaut’s shop, but there are still a few available over at the Poster Cabaret.

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New Fonts Available at YouWorkForThem

ghs font

GHS / Designed by the House of Burvo

We’re big fans of YouWorkForThem and we’re excited to announce that they’ve recently added a slew of new fonts to their shop.

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Project Thirty Three: Vintage Album Covers

project thirty three

Opus 73 / Radio Nederland 1973/ Cover design by Dick Elffers

Project 33 is a curated collection of vintage album covers all lovingly scanned by the owner of Seattle’s Jive Time Records. The growing archive focuses on cover art with simple shapes and a minimalist approach to the overall design. Enjoy!

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Filmkonst Magazine

filmkonst magazine

Filmkonst (filmk) March 1998

Simple but beautiful cover for the now defunct Swedish magazine Filmkonst.

(via things to look at)

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Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress & Graphic Design

impressive gestalten

Impressive / 240 Pages / Published by Gestalten

Finally got my hands on a copy of Impressive. The book explores the interplay between current trends in graphic design and traditional handiwork such as letterpress printing, hand-cut linotype, chiselled woodblocks, and embossing. In addition to a rich selection of invitations, business cards, stationery, posters, and other material printed by hand, it offers personal insights from designers who are using old-fashioned techniques to create cutting-edge work.

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Trey Anastasio Concert Poster

micah smith

Trey Anastasio & Classic Tab at the House of Blues | 18″ x 24″ Print

For this week’s poster pick A. Micah Smith (@amicahsmith for the twitter peeps) serves up a slice of 80s retro-ness. Forget the 1980s, he’s taking back to the 1780s. The illustration features a character with all the proper colonial trimmings marinated in a tasty tan background glaze. If it catches your fancy, you can pick up a copy right here.

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Laurent Nivalle Photography: Le Mans Classic 2010

laurent nivalle

The Le Mans Classic is a biennial vintage sports car event held near the town of Le Mans, France. Art director & photographer Laurent Nivalle has captured this experience in awesome detail. You can see his complete collection of images here.

If this gets you excited, I also recommend Saul Bass’s opening titles for the the 1966 film Grand Prix.

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KHUAN + KTRON for Weekend Knack Mag­a­zine

khuan + ktron

Amazing illustration work by the uber-talented folks at KHUAN + KTRON. The Belgian based design firm was commissioned by Weekend Knack Magazine to create a series of weekly covers. You can see the first five here.

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Q & A with Jason Munn of the Small Stakes

jason munn

The Small Stakes Music Posters by Jason Munn ©2010

Not too long ago we asked you, the readers, for questions to pass along to Jason Munn regarding his recent book published by Chronicle. In today’s Q + A session he shares his answers to some of the questions we received.

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World Festival of Youth and Students Bulgaria 1968

russian prints

Fresh discovery from a recent road trip. Beautiful prints/postcards from the World Festival of Youth and Students for Solidarity, Peace and Friendship 1968 held in Bulgaria. On the back there is a small paragraph that pleads for world peace for future generations.

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Rupert and Leonard Print by Matte Stephens

matte stephens
Rupert and Leonard wait for the tram on their Swedish holiday – 13″ x19″ print

This week’s poster pick was created by the ever playful Matte Stephens. In this scene a young boy and his distinguished bear colleague attempt to board a cable car (tram) filled with mod haircuts and big smiles. This seems like a bad move as it appears that mister snazzy bear’s umbrella is holding up the cable car wire. If this painting was animated, I would love to see the next frame. Catch the tram here.

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The Visual Language of Herbert Matter

visual language of herbert matter

Really looking forward to the release of The Visual Language of Herbert Matter. It’s due to hit theaters this summer. The film was a finalist in the SXSW title design competition and the poster (designed by Cristiana Couceiro) just won a Merit Award at the 3 x 3 Professional Illustration Show.

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Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board

sebastiaan bremer

I received an email earlier this week from the nice folks at Jonathan Adler. They are currently looking for a product designer to help design soft and hard goods for new business partnerships. Other recent additions to the grain edit job board include positions at Apple and MTV Networks.

You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.

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Sebastiaan Bremer

sebastiaan bremer

New work from NY based artist Sebastiaan Bremer. I’m in love with the found photos he used for the project.

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Power Styling: Futuristic Power Structure Concept Book

power styling united states steel

In 1964 United States Steel called upon the nation’s electric utility companies to reconsider the current look of our power stations and transmission towers to be both functional and beautiful. Two years later, Henry Dreyfuss and Associates were commissioned to investigate possible design alternatives, and I believe they were documented in a book entitled “Power Styling” which was produced by United States Steel in the mid-to-late 1960s. I discovered a copy not long ago, and the inside illustrations are absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, there is very little information listed, so I can’t say for sure if the concepts belong to Henry Dreyfuss and his team. I contacted the office of Syd Mead, who did several illustration projects for US Steel, to confirm the artwork, and sadly he was unfamiliar with this piece. If anyone has information on the Power Stylings project or the mysterious illustrator, please drop a note in the comments.

More images after the jump. Don’t miss this one!

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Broken Social Scene Concert Poster

broken social scene poster

This week’s poster pick was designed by Concepcion Studios for a recent Broken Social Scene concert in San Francisco. The grainy dots used throughout this poster add a nice vintage feel. The fluffy clouds in the background are not as realistic as the rest of this scene, but happen to work well with the overall playfulness. I can’t think of a better way to escape from Alcatraz than with a fistful of brightly colored balloons. Get carried away here.

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Rogerio Duarte and the Tropicalia Movement

davone ray speakers

Recent exhibition of Rogerio Duarte’s work at the Narrows Gallery.

Rogerio Duarte is a Brazilian graphic designer, musician, poet and philosopher. He is also considered to be one of the founding fathers and the main intellectual force behind the Tropicalia movement in the late 1960s. During this period he designed album covers for many of the great names of Brazilian popular music, such as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, João Gilberto and Jorge Ben. If you have access to idea magazine, I recommend picking up the March issue (#339). It features a 24 page article on Duarte and includes a nice selection of his work.

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Yugoslavian Stamp

yugoslavia stamps

Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija) stamp -1961

A little stamp love to start off the week.

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Davone Ray Speakers

davone ray speakers

If you have $6000 just laying around you can pick yourself up a pair of these Davone Ray speakers. While your at it, pick me up a pair too (Hey, with $6000 on hand, you’re probably not worried about your cash flow). I have to admit, i’m a sucker for anything with a walnut veneer and this thing looks like an Eames chair with a woofer stuffed inside. I don’t know much about the high end audio market, but I hope for $6000 you’re getting more than something pretty to look at.

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Art School Cliche Spotting

design school cliche

I just stumbled upon this iphone app that contains a checklist you can bring to senior year critiques / design degree shows. I have to admit it’s a little cruel, but hopefully you’ll get a good chuckle along the way.

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Blanca Gomez Interview

blanca gomez

Today Grain Edit is proud to present Blanca Gómez of Cosas Minimas. Blanca is a Graphic Designer and Illustrator based in Madrid, Spain. You may remember her work as featured on Grain Edit’s on-going poster pick series. We like her clean and simple style and took some time to talk to Blanca about her work and creative process. We hope you’ll enjoy it.

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2010 Sasquatch! Music Festival Poster

Sasquatch! Music Festival 2010 by Invisible Creature

Every year at the end of May (since 2002) the Sasquatch! Music Festival rears it’s hairy head in a small town along the Columbia River in Central Washington. The three day bash features bands like Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Massive Attack, LCD Soundsystem, They Might Be Giants and Camera Obscura just to name a few. The promo poster for Sasquatch! 2010 (created by grain edit fave Invisible Creature) features a whale whose blow hole juice magically controls Abobe’s text wrap feature and a giant furry beast that can easily touch the esurance logo found floating in our atmosphere. If you were unable to make the show you can still pick up some of this poster sweetness right here.

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Posters Discovered in Notting Hill Gate Tube Station

posters notting hill tube

Original Royal Blue Coach Services poster illustrated by Daphne Padden

Recent renovations at the Notting Hill gate tube station have uncovered these mid-century posters. The posters were located in a non-public area and date from c1956 – 1959 when the station’s lifts were removed and replaced by escalators. Mike Ashworth, who is the ‘Design and Heritage Manager’ for London Underground, has more images at his Flickr account.

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Matt Stevens: Nike Air-Max-A-Day Illustrations

nike air max a day

TRIBUTE SERIES: NICHOLAS FELTON (FELTRON) /

Charlotte based designer Matt Stevens recently started a personal project to reinterpret the classic Nike Air Max once a day for a whole month. Along the way he created a series that pays tribute to his favorite illustrators and designers including: Frank Chimero, Mikey Burton, Invisible Creature, Jessica Hische, Michael Schwab, Aaron Draplin and others. Matt absolutely nails it. Without looking at the title of the piece you can easily guess who’s design/ illustration style he’s attempting to capture. It’s Sole good Y’all! (sorry) See the the complete Air Max Gallery here.

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Draplin BP Logo Redesign

draplin bp logo

Draplin takes on the BP (British Petroleum) logo with some quick redesigns.

I can’t watch the news now. I’m in shock every time I see footage of the Gulf. When is BP going to contain this mess?

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Miguel Calatayud: 70s Comic Book Illustration

miguel calatayud

Los doce trabajos de Hercules – Illustrated by Miguel Calatayud c1973

Miguel Calatayud is a Spanish illustrator and is best known for his work in the world of comics.  I dug up a couple of his books, both of which were published in the 70s by Editorial Doncel as part of their Trinca collection. If your a fan of the early work by Push Pin Studios and the bold styling of Peter Max, I think you will really dig Miguel.

I have a couple extra copies of each book. If you like what you see you can pick up a copy of either Los doce trabajos de Hercules or Peter Petrake in the grain edit shop.

miguel calatayud

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Expo 70 Japan

expo 70

Takara Beautilion Pavilion designed by Kisho Kurokawa

40 years ago, Osaka hosted the first world exposition to be held in Asia. Representing 76 countries and an array of international and domestic organizations, Osaka Expo ’70 was an exemplary platform of engineering and architectural finesse through its vast showcase of pavilions.

Expo ’70 boasted numerous temporary complexes designed by notables such as Canada’s Arthur Erickson and Renzo Piano. The event was also a fitting platform for these Japanese Metabolist architects, Kenzo Tange, Kisho Kurokawa and Kiyonori Kikutake to pursue their concepts characterized by large scale, flexible, highly-engineered structures that evoke the processes of organic growth.

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Nuzzles: Wooden Name Puzzles

nuzzles

Really like these wooden typographic puzzles (Nuzzles) from designer John Christenson. Hopefully John will have a Nuzzles shop up soon!

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Rise & Fall: A Concertina of Life by Micah Lidberg

micah lidberg rise fall

I got a surprise package in the mail the other day from Nobrow. Included in the package was Micah Lidberg’s Rise & Fall: A Concertina of Life. This might be my favorite Nobrow release to date. It’s an accordian style book that folds out to a stunning 53 inch panorama. Each panel is filled with prehistoric creatures dodging fire, climbing trees or sipping on slimey goop. His illustration style and composition for the piece remind me of traditional Japanese woodblock prints. Lovely stuff.

You can pick up a copy at Amazon.

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Paul Ibou: Logos, Posters & Calendars

paul ibou

Calendar for Antwerp-tax designed by Paul Ibou

Iconofgraphics has a great post on the work of Belgian designer Paul Vermeersch (a.k.a. Paul Ibou).

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The Sign Painter Movie

sign painter movie

Production recently started on The Sign Painter. The new documentary on sign painting will include interviews with several of the artists that still practice this age-old craft. The directors, Sam Macon & Faythe Levine, were recently in San Francisco to capture footage of Jeff Canham, Bob Dewherst, New Bohemia Signs, and Jimmie “the saint” Collier. You can find more info on the film at the website and official Facebook fan page.

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The Swell Season Concert Poster by The Small Stakes

the small stakes
The Swell Season Concert Poster by The Small Stakes

This week’s poster pick was created by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. It’s incredibly simple and yet so clever. I like how Jason used the the bars from the sheet music to form a bird’s nest. If you’re interested in purchasing this poster, you can pick up a copy here.

We Need Your Questions

jason munn

Chronicle books recently released a book on concert posters designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. We’re working on an interview with Jason in regards to the book and we thought we would open up the questions to our readers.

Please send us any questions you might have about Jason’s work or his new book. Use the contact form on our site to email us your question by 2pm Friday, May 7th. After we receive all the questions, Jason will go through the emails and select a handful of questions to answer. We’ll post his answers the following week.

Submit a question here.

Jan Feliks Kallwejt

jan kallwejt

Wonderful illustration from Barcelona and Warsaw based designer Jan Feliks Kallwejt. The piece was created for a Polish daily newspaper that is devoted to business and economic issues. The white buildings form a jumping gazelle. I’m not sure how the newspaper used the illustration. Could some of our Polish readers fill us in?  Can’t say I would want to live near the rear end, it would bring new meaning to living in the “ass end ” of town.

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Amsterdam (Formerly N. Tetterode) Type Catalog

amsterdam fonts

Schriftenkatalog der n.v. Lettergieterij Amsterdam voorheen N. Tetterode

I rarely find cool type catalogs, but this one is a real goldmine. The catalog seen above was produced by the Amsterdam Foundry (formerly N. Tetterode) and appears to date back to the mid-1960s. It’s filled with beautiful specimens including Nobel, Mercator and Aigrette all lovingly laid out in a simple yet elegant manner. If this sparks your interest, I suggest taking a quick glance at the Vette Annonce type specimen sheet we posted back in 2008 as well.

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Vinyl Documentary: To Have & To Hold

To Have & To Hold is a new documentary from Jony Lyle that celebrates and explores the phenomenon of collecting Vinyl. The documetary includes interviews with well known collectors like Bobbito Garcia, ?uestlove, Chuck D, Andre Torres (From Wax Poetics), Amir (of Kon & Amir) and Bruce Ludvall, the owner of Bluenote. Based on the trailer the film seems to be heavily focused on collectors in or around New York.

You can learn more about the film at the official Facebook page. Also there’s an interview with the director over at Mat Dolphin’s blog.

I’d love to hear from other record collectors out there. What are some of your favorite pieces of vinyl in your collection?

(via Dylan over at the excellent Hard Feelings blog.)

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Mark Shaw Photography

mark shaw

Photo for Chevrolet/”New Yorker” magazine c1960

Svenska Mobler has a beautiful collection of photos from famed photographer Mark Shaw. Mark is best known for his photographs of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy and his work in capturing couture fashion from the middle of the century.  During the 1950s and early 1960s Mark shot the European fashion collections for LIFE magazine. It’s interesting to note that he was one of the first photographers to shoot fashion on the runways and backstage at shows.

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Partisan Memorials in Former Yugoslavia

Makedonium

Makedonium monument in Krusevo

I recently stumbled upon a slideshow of modern memorials in former Yugoslavia over at Robert Burghardt’s FZZ Fanzine. The memorials date back to the early 1960s following Yugoslavia’s emancipation from the Soviet Union. In the preface to the slide show Robert mentions, “These monuments belong to the most important witnesses of Yugoslav memorial culture and stem from the most active period of Yugoslav modern art which has been described as socialist modernism or socialist aestheticism.  As War-monuments they are unique: They do not express the fighting and death, but life, resistance and the energy by which they were carried. They are directed forward while they mark the starting point for a new society, whose products they are.”

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Rabbit Print by Leandro Castelao

leandro castelao

This week we’re excited to feature this Rabbit print by Leandro Castelao as our poster pick. Castelao is based in Buenos Aires and has previously been featured on grain edit. Rabbit is presented in Castelao’s signature style and I must say that I am once again blown away. The lines look like wires creating some sort of robo bunny with a CD drive on steroids. Good stuff. You can pick up a Rabbit print here.

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Karl Oskar Blase

karl oskar blase

Deutsche Bundespost: Internationales Jahr Des Kindes stamp c1979  Karl Oskar Blase’s son is the boy in the image.

Karl Oskar Blase was born in the German city of Cologne (Koln) in 1925. At the age of 25 he attended the Wuppertal School of Industrial Art to study painting and graphic design. Around the same time he formed a design studio with Felix Muller. One of the studio’s more significant projects was to develop the layout for form magazine. Karl would go on to design almost all the covers through 1968. Karl also taught at the Kassel school of Industrial Art and designed many stamps for the Deutsche Bundespost.

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Pavel Fuksa Matchbox Designs for Navigators Video

pavel fuksa

If your a fan of vintage matchbox labels you will appreciate Czech illustrator & designer Pavel Fuksa’s latest project. Pavel created 178 matchbox covers for the Navigators “My Place” video,  many of which contain lyrics from the song. See the full video here

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Wim Crouwel Archive

wim crouwel

Architectuur werk van leden poster c1959

Wim Crouwel fans rejoice!

The Het Geheugen van Nederland (The Memory of the Netherlands) is a dutch website that contains an extensive collection of illustrations, photographs, texts, film and audio fragments, all of Dutch making. They have an impressive archive of work by Wim Crouwel. Over 500 original designs by Wim and his partners at Total Design lay in wait for your perusing pleasure. Enjoy!

Huge thanks to Antonio at Aisleone for sharing this gem.

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6th Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 1974

brno biennale

While I was in Maine I discovered this book put together after the 1974 Biennale of Graphic Design in Brno, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The book contains notes and essays from a symposium centered around corporate identity.

Wim Crouwel contributes an essay on the problems with house-style. In the essay he discusses the role of a designer in the creation of a corporate identity program and describes the difference between what he calls “information designers” and “advertising designers. He ends the essay off with a few thoughts on trademarks (abstract symbols vs type driven solutions).

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World of Logotypes

world of logotypes

Danish Giftparcels | Denmark |

Some of you might remember when World of Logotypes made the rounds on the design blog circuit last year. If you missed out, Amy over at the excellent Aqua-Velvet blog has highlighted a few of her favorite logos from the book. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

You can pick up a copy of World of Logotypes at Alibris.

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Robert Sessler

robert sessler

Design work for Hagar -1969

Robert Sessler was born in the Swiss city of Bern in 1914. Robert first began experimenting with design during his late 20s at the Zurich School of Arts where he was trained under the Bauhaus instructor, Johannes Itten. In 1942 he left school to open his own studio and become a member of the Swiss Werkbund. He maintained his studio until 1953 when he was offered a position as the head of the graphic design department at the Saarbrucken School of Art in Germany. He continued to teach at Saarbrucken and later at the University of Saarland until his retirement in 1979.

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Isle of This Town by Invisible Creature


Isle of This Town by Invisible Creature. Meas. 17″ x 17″

There is so much to enjoy in this week’s poster pick by Invisible Creature.  Everywhere your eyes go there is something to delight in. I want to live in this poster and I honestly can’t decide which element is my favorite.  The color scheme is perfect and really lets your imagination soar. There is a lot to be said for work like this that inspires you and takes you away to another world.  You can buy it here.

Noma Bar Interview

noma bar

Noma Bar is a man of few strokes. But don’t let the simplicity fool you. His talent lies in his efficiency in depicting characters and social issues. With bold colors, shapes and one or two icons he captures the spirit of a person. Other times he communicates a message on a social issue with amazing clarity while adding a bit of humor to everything. Whether the message is about violence or equality, his straight-forward visual approach is refreshing.

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Ronald Clyne at Folkways

ronald clyne

ronald clyne

Being an avid collector of records, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Unit Editions most recent release.

From the website:” Ronald Clyne at Folkways is a 64 page ‘newspaper’ devoted to designer Ronald Clyne’s record covers for the Folkways label. Ronald Clyne (1925 – 2006) designed over 500 album covers for Folkways and is largely responsible for the famous label’s striking visual appearance. His distinctive use of two-color printing on matte paper and his deft use of modernist design strategies, created a body of work that gave the Folkways label its distinctive aroma of integrity and purity.”

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Mi Diccionario Ilustrado in the Shop

mi diccionario ilustrado

Mi Diccionario Ilustrado – Illustrations by Acosta Moro

Mi Diccionario Ilustrado is a fun little dictionary for kids. Each page is filled with colorful illustrations of animals, musical instruments and various modes of transportation.  I was able to get my hands on a couple copies of this hard to find book from the 1970s. If your interested in purchasing a copy, stop by the grain edit shop.

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Frank Eidlitz Posters for Shell

frank eidlitz

Awesome collection of posters for Shell Oil Company dating back to 1964. The series was created by Australian designer Frank Eidlitz.

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The Books Concert Poster by Sonnenzimmer


The Books Concert Poster by Sonnenzimmer. Measures 18″ x 24″

Our poster pick for the week was created by Sonnenzimmer. Sonnenzimmer is an art and screen print studio based in Chicago. The studio is owned and operated by artist’s Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher. We’re certain you’ll find their work as appealing as we do.

The poster pictured above really puts the negative space to good use. The simple, colorful shapes balance the overall composition while the broken up landscape forms a a dynamic window to the world. You can purchase this poster here.

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Homework: Modern Polish Poster Design

homework

If you are in the London area, Kemistry Gallery is currently showing works by the warsaw-based design studio homework (Joanna Górska and Jerzy Skakun). On display is a selection of over fifty of their prints including classic cinema and modern Polish theatre posters. The exhibition runs from March 5th through the 17th of April.

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Goodby for HP Retail Publishing

goodby silverstein

I love this set of ads put together by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for the HP Retail Publishing group. The illustrations were created by Ryan Meis (also of Lab Partners fame) and later rendered in 3d by Australian design firm Electric Art.

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Sanjay Patel Interview

Ramayana

Chronicle Books has just released Ramayana: Divine Loophole the latest book from Pixar animator and illustrator Sanjay Patel. As one of the core legends of Hindu mythology, Ramayana recounts a tale of Rama, a god-turned-prince, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita after she was kidnapped by a demon king. Sanjay is able to breath new life into this 2500-year-old epic tale with over 150 pages of lush, detailed illustrations.

In this interview, he gives us a glimpse into the making of the book and some of the challenges he faced along the way.

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2010 California Design Biennial

california design biennial

2010 California Design Biennial – Call for Entries

Between now and April 2010 Louise Sandhaus and Derrick Schultz will be seeking graphic/communications design projects to include in the 2010 California Design Biennial that will be held at the Pasadena Museum of California Art in the Summer of 2010.

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Naive: Modernism and Folklore in Graphic Design

naive modern

If you’re interested in the artists featured on grain edit, I think you will appreciate today’s book. Naive: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design documents the recent wave of design work inspired by Classic Modernism. I received a copy in the mail not too long ago and was impressed by the roster of artists featured in the book. We’ve covered many of the artists including Matte Stephens, Helen Dardik, Scotty Reifsnyder, Spike Press, Tes One, Adrian Johnson, Doublenaut, Darling Clementine, Andrio Abero, Methane Studios and Tad Carpenter on grain edit over the last couple of years, but there were still many I was unfamiliar with. My only complaint is the lack of a proper introduction as it would be nice to know more about the selection process. There are several artists in the book that seem out of place. I had a hard time seeing a connection between their work and modern design from the 1940- 1960s. But overall it is a solid addition to any designer’s library. More info + pictures available at the publisher’s website.

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Infinity Owl by Aesthetic Apparatus

bulgarian stamps

This week’s poster pick was done by Aesthetic Apparatus. The owl has enjoyed a lot of attention from artists in recent years, and this owl will undoubtedly hold yours.  Note the eyes, this guy is an infinitely hypnotizing character. The greens used here are nice and bold and add an excellent touch of color. You can pick up this poster at postercabaret.com!

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Josh Brill Studio Visit

josh brill

In the fall, we featured Portland, Maine based artist and designer Josh Brill’s Flora Fauna series. The series included a colorful collection of bird illustrations, and was well received on grain edit as well other sites across the blogosphere. So, what’s Josh been up to lately? I traveled to Portland over the Christmas break and had the chance to catch up with Josh. We talked about living in Portland, his awesome collection of records from the Blue Note label as well as projects he’s currently working on.

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Bulgaria Black Sea Resorts Stamps 1972

bulgarian stamps

1972 Bulgaria Black Sea Resorts stamps

These stamps depict the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts of Zlatni Pyasatsi (“Golden Sands”), Druzhba (“Friendship”), Slanchev Bryag (“Sunny Beach”), Primorsko, Rusalka (“Mermaid”), and Albena. I’m not sure who designed this set, but I suddenly want to bask in the Bulgarian sunshine.

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Up in the Air- Opening sequence

up in the air

The opening film sequence for Up in the Air (2009) takes the viewer on a journey through the clouds and across the abstract landscapes of America. Each still is like a vintage postcard. The moving sequence is inter-cut with slides of lush greenery, dusty canyons, and intricate cityscapes. And the cherry on top? Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings’ “This land is your land” is the soundtrack behind the film edits that make the images float, glide, spin across the screen. It kicks the sleepiness out of the aerial footage and gives it a boost of vibrancy. The studio responsible for this, Shadowplay Studio, also made film titles for Juno (2007) and Thank you for Smoking (2005).

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Michael Johansson

michael johansson

Strolls through time and space – Michael Johansson 2009

Really cool found object installations by Swedish artist Michael Johansson.

Michael has this to say about his work, “I am fascinated walking around flea markets finding doubles of seemingly unique, though often useless objects I have already purchased at another flea market. Despite the fact that I did not have any use for them even the first time, the desire to own two of these objects becomes too strong to resist. The unique and unknown origin of the object increases my desire to want the double – the unlikelihood of this sensation repeating itself produces an attraction that is too strong to resist.”

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This Week’s Poster Pick

Dirk Fowler / F2 Design

This Week’s Poster Pick is The Books/ Boston, MA poster designed by Dirk Fowler.

You can pick up a print at the Poster Cabaret.

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Paul Rudolph Drawings

paul rudolph drawings

Callahan Residence, Birmingham, Alabama 1965 – Rendering by Paul Rudolph

Architect Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) was known for his much-loved (and loathed) Brutalist yet spatially complex buildings. As one of the pioneering figures of the ‘Sarasota School of Architecture’ in the late 1940s, Rudolph gained a worldwide audience with his innovative design for the modern American home. His best known architectural masterpieces are the Yale School of Architecture, the Government Service Center and the Crawford Manor. By the late 70’s and into the 90’s, Rudolph who was unmoved by the Post-modern dominance in architecture, steadfastly continued to design powerful Modernist structures now gracing the urban skylines of the Far East.

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Win a tour of the Eames House

eames house

Just got word of an awesome giveaway over at House Industries.

Win an Exclusive Eames House Sunset Tour
Tours by Eames Demetrios and Lucia Atwood, grandson and granddaughter of Charles and Ray Eames.
Date: March 11, 2010
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

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Edie Harper

edie harper

I just received some sad news. Edie Harper, the wife of the late Charles Harper passed away last week. Edie, a talented artist in her own right, was known for her beautiful illustrations of biblical stories.

The official announcement from the Harper Estate after the jump

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Great Britain Energy Resources Stamps 1978

great britain stamps

1978 Great Britain Energy Resources stamps designed by Peter Murdoch

Beautiful stamp set was designed by Peter Murdoch, creator of the fibreboard “Chair Thing” and the collapsible cardboard display systems at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

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Limited Edition Grain Edit T-Shirt Now Available

grain edit t shirt

Grain Edition #01 – Limited Edition Grain Edit T-Shirt designed by Invisible Creature

We are excited to announce the Limited Edition Galaxy Blue Grain Edit T-Shirt is now available. The shirt was designed by Seattle’s own Invisible Creature. We love the design and hope you do too! The 5 color t-shirt features a gaggle of cool creatures sitting down for story time (my favorite is the little guy with the red and blue eyes). Each shirt is lovingly screen-printed by the guys and gals over at Blue Collar Press right here in the good ole USA.

You can order the Limited Edition Galaxy Blue Grain Edit Shirt here.

grain edit t shirt

For More Details:

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Vintage Calendars

vintage calendars

1970 Self promotional calendar designed by Terzostudio (Giorgio Tramontini)

Two weeks ago we posted some of our favorite calendars for 2010. Today lets look at some calendars of the past.

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Emigre at Gallery 16

emigre magazine

If your in the Bay Area, there’s a cool exihbition over at Gallery 16. The exhibition celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Emigre, and will present artwork from Emigre as well as the new Gingko Press publication Emigre No. 70: The Look Back Issue – 25 Years in Graphic Design. The 512 page book covers the best of a quarter century of Emigre magazine.

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Europe by Car

europe by car

I love the cover of this Europe by Car brochure. The roads make for a nice grid structure and give the piece a Mondrian-esque quality. The business model for the company was pretty interesting as well. Europe by Car offered services for Americans interested in traveling around Europe for extended periods of time. Using their services you could purchase a European car to use on your travels. At the end of your vacation, Europe by Car would also help ship your new car back to the U.S.

The brochure includes prices for cars from Porsche, Austin Healy, Citroen, Jaguar etc. I just wish their price sheet was still valid. A Porsche for $3700? sign me up!

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Typ journal from Czechoslovakia

Typ journal from late 1940s in Czechosolvakia

Young people working in the printing industry in Czechoslovakia from 1920s to mid century were graced with a beautiful journal, Typ. The decision to use only a couple of colors, lots of negative space, play with alignment, and change the placement of the title kept the design on the forefront, in the late 40s and today.

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Matte Stephens Studio Visit

matte stephens

I’m excited to announce that I will be writing for Herman Miller’s Lifework blog from time to time. The blog which recently launched in December, explores issues that arise around working from home.  For my first contribution, I spoke with artist Matte Stephens about his inspiring workspace. You can see the full piece here.

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Jonny Wan Illustration

jonny wan

Guns Pattern 2 – 17″x22″ Designed and Illustrated by Jonny Wan

Really loving the work of Sheffield based illustrator Jonny Wan. His portfolio is filled with interesting explorations with shape and color, plus the dude can draw some guns! If I had cartoon hand, I would ask Jonny if I could take a few of these heaters out to the local hand-drawn gun range to squirt some rounds!

You can catch Jonny over at Twitter and for those interested in purchasing a print, you can pick one up in his shop.

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Map of Lucerne, Switzerland

luzern map

The Swiss are known for their well designed watches. Franck Muller, Rolex and Omega are just a few of the manufacturers with established roots in Switzerland. I’m sure more then a couple people visit this country each year just to check out luxury timepieces. Can’t say I fall into that crowd, but I’d be more then willing to go  if someone wants to front the bill! For those that can afford a watch buying trip and happen to have a time machine laying around, this map could prove very useful. The map, which dates back to the late 1940s(?) helped guide tourists visiting the Lucerne area in search of well respected watch merchants.  It includes recommendations from the Swiss Watchmakers Guild, so you know its golden. I think.

I love the teal, and the orange accents, but the pale yellow is a little too much for me. I have a feeling whoever designed this map has a hankering for crusty mustard, word up.

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The Catton House

catton house

The Catton house designed by Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey in 1967

More amazing work from the late great Arthur Erickson.

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Identity Programs by Noel Martin

noel martin

Identity for Ohio Arts Council designed by Noel Martin

Noel Martin was a self taught graphic designer who taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and served as the in-house designer for the Cincinnati Art Museum for many years. He was one of the first to modernize art museum exhibition catalogs. In an article at the New York times Steven Heller also notes, “With the ubiquitous branding and expert merchandizing of museums today, it is easy to forget that graphic design was once a low priority for them. In 1947, when Mr. Martin became the Cincinnati Art Museum’s first graphic designer, most museum publications were staid and musty.”

The Container list has a nice post on a self-promotional piece titled, Identity Programs, that presents some of Noel’s iconic minimalist logos.

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Simon Page interview

international year of astronomy

2009 International Year of Astronomy Poster designed by Simon C Page

Simon Page is a self-taught graphic design whiz with a mathematics background. He takes shapes and morphs them into cerebral abstractions. His style shifts around futuristic digital designs and 1960s minimalism, trotting the delicate line between simplicity and detail.  His International Year of Astronomy 2009 poster designs caught the eyes of discerning design writers, including the New York Times and Creative Review. It may be the year for Astronomy but its equally a big year for Page, his posters got a boost in sales from all the acknowledgment he’s been getting in print and on the web.

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The Jazz Loft Project

From 1957-1965 W. Eugene Smith, a prolific American photographer, documented New York jazz musicians in his small loft and ended up with 4,000 hours of audio and 40,000 photographs. His dilapidated loft in the wholesale flower district was the place for late-night jam sessions for Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Steve Reich, Zoot Sims, Roland Kirk, and Alice Coltrane. He also recorded drug addicts, neighborhood cops, radio programs about aliens, MLK and JFK on the radio, James Baldwin and Frank Lloyd Wright in interviews. When Smith died, he accumulated 1,740 reels of tape. Below are some of his photos and tape boxes from his collection.

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Denmark Christmas Seals 1962

denmark christmas seals
1962 Denmark Christmas Seals designed by Erik Petersen

Glædelig Jul! In the early 1900s, a Danish postal clerk came up with the idea of selling Christmas seals to raise money for children with tuberculosis. Over 100 years later, these “cinderella” (unofficial postage) stamps have become a worldwide holiday tradition. In 1962, Erik Petersen designed this sheet of Christmas seals, depicting the gamle håndværk (“old trades”) of Denmark. I want to live inside this illustration; I’d stop by the pipe maker’s shop on my way to pick up some candles and clogs.

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Kitsune Noir Poster Club

kitsune noir poster club

Jez Burrows – Walden (Part of the Kitsune Noir Poster Club)

Over the next several months, several design blogs (including grain edit) will be collaborating with the stellar art & design social network Society 6. First up is the Kitsune Noir Poster Club. Bobby of the excellent Kitsune Noir asked five of his favorite artists to interpret books they really enjoy into a print that will be a lasting work of art.

The project includes:

Jez Burrows – Henry David Thoreau’s Walden

Mark Weaver –  Herman Melville’s Moby Dick

Frank Chimero – Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House Five

Cody Hoyt – David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest

Garrett Vander Leun – Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

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Sanna Annukka Shop – Soul Birds

sanna annukka

Sanna Annukka Limited Edition Wooden Soul Birds

Sanna Annukka recently launched a new portfolio and online store. I love these solid brown oak Soul Birds which are now available for pre-orders in her shop. I’ll have to add these to my Christmas list!

On her website, Sanna shares this bit about the the Soul Bird which stems from Finnish mythology. “In Karelia there was an ancient belief in the Sielulintu or Soul bird. The Sielulintu was thought to deliver the soul to newborn babies and also to transport the soul to the afterlife at the moment of death. It was believed the Sielulintu protected a persons soul at it’s most vulnerable; when dreaming, and it was tradition to keep a carved wooden bird by the bedside to keep the soul safe during sleep.”

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Limited Edition Grain Edit T-Shirt Available for Pre-Order

grain edit t shirt

Grain Edition #01 – Limited Edition Grain Edit T-Shirt designed by Invisible Creature

We are excited to announce the Limited Edition Galaxy Blue Grain Edit T-Shirt designed by Seattle’s own Invisible Creature. We love the design and hope you do too! The 5 color t-shirt features a gaggle of cool creatures sitting down for story time (my favorite is the little guy with the red and blue eyes). Each shirt is lovingly screen-printed by the guys and gals over at Blue Collar Press right here in the good ole USA.

The shirts will be $20 till this Friday at Midnight (PST). After that the price jumps up to $25. Also for every t-shirt you purchase you will receive 1 entry in the 2009 Grain Edit Holiday Giveaway Bash.

*** Please note this is a PRE-ORDER. We will be receiving the shirts at the end of Dec and shipping orders the first week of January. ******

You can PRE-ORDER the Limited Edition Galaxy Blue Grain Edit Shirt here.

For more details + pictures etc.

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Introducing the Grain Edit Job Board

grain edit job board

Introducing the grain edit job board. For job seekers, we already have some listings posted plus on the main page of the job board you can sign up for job alerts or subscribe to the job listings RSS feed. We’ve also created a twitter account for the job board , so you can follow listings there as well. We’ve added a link to the new section in our top navigation, so you can easily access the listings whenever you want.

For companies interested in posting a listing to our job board, we offering a special discount. Use the coupon code ‘promo’ to receive 50% off.

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Hybrid Design interview

Hybrid Design studio

Hybrid Design was formed by the husband and wife design team of Brian Flynn and Dora Drimalas. The San Francisco based firm has worked with a diverse body of clients including Nike, Upper Playground and Vans. The dynamic duo are also the brains behind Super 7 and Hybrid Home.

In today’s interview Brian reveals some of his influences, shares insights on managing a design firm, and even manages to squeeze in a somewhat obscure reference to Cameo.

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Criterion Collection DVD Covers

Cover for The Bad Sleep Well (1960) – Directed by Akira Kurosawa

The Criterion Collection is well-known for restoring rare, unique and cult classic films from famed directors like Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Buñuel, and Wes Anderson. Equally respected is their cover art and supplements to their DVDs. For 25 years, Criterion Collection has been pairing art house films with strong design. From typography to photography, they elevate box art to poster art with work that never cease to impress.

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Vintage Audi Poster

vintage audi poster

Just found this vintage Audi poster over at AisleOne. Looks like it was created sometime between 1968 and 1972 by Armin Hofmann. Simple and elegant.

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Mark Giglio Studio Visit

mark giglio studio

Pen Pencil Stencil is the online home and physical workspace of Mark Giglio. Mark is an amazing illustrator/ designer who’s worked on projects with a diverse mix of companies including: 2k by Gingham, Apple, Dwell, GSP, Nike, Tolleson Design, and others. Recently I had the pleasure of hanging out with Mark at his Oakland based studio.

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Kurokawa Nakagin Capsule Hotel

nakagin capsule

Nakagin Capsule Tower (AKA The BC25 Capsule) designed by Kisho Kurokawa

The 60s and 70s were an exciting period for Japanese architecture. In particular, the Metabolist Movement which was founded by a group of futuristic visionaries, including late architect Kisho Kurokawa, puts forth ideas of “large scale, flexible and extensible structures that facilitate an organic growth process”. Perhaps the most exemplary metabolist building is the Nakagin Capsule Tower built to accommodate bachelor salarymen in downtown Tokyo.

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Jez Burrows

jez burrows

Poster for Instal 09 music festival

New site + work to boot from grain edit favorite Jez Burrows.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great holiday and we’ll see you on Monday!

Tom Palumbo Photography

tom palumbo

Outtake for Junior Bazaar, early 1950’s

Absolutely stunning photographs from Tom Palumbo. Tom got his start working under the art direction of Alexey Brodovitch at Harper’s Bazaar. He later went onto shoot for Vogue, and many other publications.

The photos seen here are part of an extensive archiving project with New York’s Wonderbred.

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Czech Tourist Map

czechoslovakia map

Beautiful tourist map from Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) dating back 1966. I love the bold colors and simple line work. I’m guessing that the illustration inside the red square on the left side is a beer. Look at that foamy top! Sweet mother of beverages!

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The Swell Season Concert Poster by Doublenaut

The Swell Season
The Swell Season Concert Poster by Doublenaut

This week’s poster pick was made possible by the creative minds that make up Doublenaut. Doublenaut is stationed in Toronto, Canada and is made up of brothers Andrew and Matt McCracken.

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Birds of a Feather 2

Heather Amuny-Dey
J’adore by Heather Amuny-Dey

If your in the San Francisco area this Saturday (11/21/09), this looks like it’s going to be a good show.

Details:
Super7 is proud to present the follow up to 2007’s blockbuster show “Birds of a Feather” with the new aptly titled show “Birds of a Feather 2” featuring artwork by Dora Drimalas, Heather Amuny-Dey and Shay Ashley-Ometz. This show features three original new prints from each artist (nine in total) as well as a sampling of older, out-of-print and rare prints from each artist’s personal archive to create a whimsical and wonderful reflection on their lives.

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Bodega: Vinyl Wall Art Collection Curated by Arkitip

cody hudson bodega

Cody Hudson for Bodega – CH5 Wall Decal

We’ve been seeing some good things happening in the world of wall art within the last few months, first with Poketo’s Spacetime Collection and now with Arkitip’s Bodega Collection.

Bodega is a curated collection of large scale, eco-friendly, temporary indoor art. The concept is to make the art of emerging and established artists alike, affordable and available to the public. Each piece is delivered as a complete package for the consumer and includes ready-to-apply art piece and tools for installation. Obsessed with process, Bodega creates high quality, layered die-cut vinyl art editions; representing some of the most captivating artists of our generation.

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Herbert W. Kapitzki: Graphic Designer and Teacher

herbert kapitzki

Posters for the International Design Center Berlin (IDZ)

Herbert Kapitzki, a former student of Willi Baumeister, conceived and designed exhibitions for the state industrial inspection board (Landesgewerbeamt) in Stuttgart in the 1950s and the early 1960s. He developed a distinct language of forms modelled on constructive forerunners, and campaigned for the popularisation of functional graphic design. His own groundbreaking work was exemplary in this respect.

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Lisez, Jouez et Decouvrez La Scandinavie avec Andersen

lisez jouez et decouvrez la scandinavie

lisez, jouez et decouvrez La Scandinavie avec Andersen -by Paul de Roujoux, Pamela Labonnelie and Mireille Ballero. Illustrations by Martine Bourre c1975 editions des deux coqs d’or

La Scandinavie avec Andersen is a beautiful children’s book about Scandinavian culture. The book is filled with stories, games and activities.  Just think, your child could be making his/her very own Nils Holgersson costume right now! For the budding young history buff, there’s a section on the Drakkars and Vikings. If your child is too scared to look at tough guys with helmets, head straight to the fuzzy Nordic animals in chapter one. Have a four year old that’s into logging? No problem, this book has you covered. There’s a section on the Scandinavian timber industry in the middle of the book. Soon your young one will be able to turn raw material into fine Danish furniture!

More pictures after the jump.

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Cult + Classic Film Stills From the Hot Dog!

classic film stills

A Colt is My Passport (1967) – Directed by Takashi Nomura

If your into classic + cult films it would be worth your while to check Shannon Maldonado’s I Love Hot Dogs.  Several times a week Shannon curates a selection of stills from a particular movie. I appreciate her selection process as she sometimes includes typographic/design details that can easily go unnoticed (think street signs, window lettering, etc.). For fans of the art of film title design, there’s plenty of that stuff as well.

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Visual Acoustics Film – The Modernism of Julius Shulman

visual acoustics julius shulman

I had a chance to check out Visual Acoustics this weekend and I highly recommend it. The documentary is about the life and work of Julius Shulman, a brilliant architectural photographer whose photos captured the history of modernist architecture in Southern California. During his prolific career he worked with nearly every modern architect since the 1930s including John Lautner, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, PIerre Koenig, Charles and Ray Eames, Craig Ellwood, Raphael Soriano and Gregory Ain.

The release of this film seems especially timely, given that Julius recently passed away. If you are unfamiliar with his work, you are in for a real treat.

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Vintage Travel Posters

vintage travel posters

1. Come to AfricaDesigned by Gerard van de Voort – c1975

How about virtual tour around the world to start off the week?  I dug up a handful of travel related posters from 1950s -1970s for all the desk jockeys that are itching to get out of town. Enjoy!

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Autografik: Modern Transportation Graphics

autografik

Hell yea. Cool logos on trucks + vans! It doesn’t get much better then this. The Autografik flickr group is set to serve as an archive for modern design applied to motor vehicles. Thanks to Jonathan Turner aka insect54 for setting this bad boy up.

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Monsters of Folk Poster

monsters of folk
Monsters of Folk Concert Poster by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes

The poster pick for this week features this Monsters of Folk Concert Poster designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. This is a nice example of the impressive and sophisticated work that The Small Stakes churns out. Note the harmony in the composition and see if you can spot any patterns in this poster. This is smart design.

This poster is available for purchase here.

Brionvega Brochures

brionvega brochures

Brionvega rr126 Turntable/ radio brochure c1970

Beautiful brochure covers for the Milan based electronic company Brionvega. Design by Bob Noorda.

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You Need the Plate

1972 Munich olympics plate

1972 Munich Olympics Plate : Pictograms designed by Otl Aicher

Now all your favorite 70’s stick figures can hide underneath your food. Spotted this gem on Ebay a few days back.

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Twitter Lists

twitter lists

A few days ago Twitter rolled out a new feature called “lists”. This feature is still in Beta, so it appears it’s only available to a small group of users right now. Lists are a way to organize the people you follow and to discover new and interesting Twitter accounts. We set up a handful of lists in different catergories, so you can easily find new designers & artists to follow.

Our lists include some of our favorites to follow in graphic design, typography and illustration. We also set up lists for web design, blogs and stores, but these lists need alot of work. You can find all of our lists on the right hand side of our Twitter profile page. These lists are far from comprehensive, so if you have any suggestions of people to add please let us know in the comments.

Graphic Design Referenced

graphic design referenced

Graphic Design Referenced by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit

I recently got my hands on a copy of Graphic Design Referenced. This is the latest project from the dynamic  design duo of Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit, who also happen to be the brilliant minds behind the UnderConsideration network of sites. As the official press release states, “Graphic Design, Referenced is a visual and informational guide to the most commonly referenced terms, historical moments, landmark projects, and influential practitioners in the field of graphic design. This is a very ambitious project to say the least, but I’m quite impressed with the final result. I’m amazed at the amount of information they were able to cram into this 400 page book.

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70s Portuguese Brochure

70s portugal brochure

Beautiful brochure for a chain of hotels in Portugal.

From the inside of the brochure: “From the oldest times, “pousada” in Portuguese has meant “resting place””inn”. Quiet isolated situations by the sea shore, in the mountains or on the plains. Lovely views, wealth of history, traditional culture.

The Pousadas make up a network of hotel establishments built by the state, housed in historic buildings, castles, palaces, and monasteries or specially built.”

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Modern SeeSaw

spacetime wall art

The girl on the end is seriously hating on the little dude. Ride on bro!

I came across this ad in an old Italian design magazine a few years back. I scanned in the image and quickly forgot about it. In my haste I forgot to write down any relevant information. Now I’m stuck without a clue as to who made this super cool kids toy.

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Sasquatch Music Festival Posters by Invisible Creature

sasquatch music festival

Sasquatch Music Festival Poster (Bubbles) – Designed by Invisible Creature

This week our poster pick(s) are a series of posters designed by Invisible Creature for the Sasquatch Music Festival.  The series presents a  host of  characters that we’re certain you’ll enjoy.  A limited color palette was employed throughout this series that is filled with whimsy and sure to please. I am especially fond of Sigmund and Blanche. If I had enough wall space they could all live with me.

The entire series is available at the Poster Cabaret.

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Vintage Russian Posters – Real 1970s Proper Like

vintage Russian posters

Most articles I see related to Russian poster design tend to focus on the film and propaganda posters of the 1920s and 30s. Works by Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky as well the Stenberg brothers often come to mind.  This post is dedicated to an era of Russian poster design that seems to get less coverage. The 1970s.

Don’t miss this one!

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Lubalin Now

lubalin now

Lubalin Now: The inaugural exhibition in the newly re-located Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography.

On view in Cooper Union’s new gallery, the installation 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 Lubalin’s influence on contemporary graphic design.

Featured artists include Herb Lubalin, Justin Thomas Kay, Non-Format, Marian Bantjes, Markus Eriksson, Brett MacFadden and many more.

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Chronicle Books 555 Event

chronicle books 555

I had a blast speaking at Chronicle Books’ 555 event last week. Huge thanks to Suzanne LaGassa and the rest of the Chronicle crew for the invitation. The theme of the night was centered around blogs/design communities. Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom from the Curiosity Shoppe and Smarts and Crafts, David from BoingBoing, Joe from Typophile, and Suzanne from the Chronicle Book’s blog also presented that night. Each of us we’re given five minutes to speak about our process and inspiration. It was great to meet everyone and I hope this series continues!

You can see pictures from the event here.

Katie Kirk Illustration & Design

katie kirk

wedding invites designed by Katie Kirk

I love these wedding/reception invites designed by Katie Kirk of Eight Hour Day. The invites are for Katie’s sister who plans to get married in Mexico and then have a giant pig roast in Wisconsin. I hope the pig on the front of the invite enjoys his last days of freedom! He’s on his way to being ham nugglets.

Last time we checked in with Katie she was wrapping up work on her first children’s book. The book, which is titled Eli No!, tells the story of a mischievous dog and his journeys. At the time, the book was lacking a publisher. Since then, the book has secured a deal with Abrams. Looking forward to the release!

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We Have Our Winner

Thanks to everyone who took part in our giveaway! It was great to see all your comments. We randomly selected our winner in the Photo-Lettering giveaway earlier today.

Check the Grain Edit email update/ RSS feed tomorrow morning. The winner will be listed at the bottom.

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Many thanks to House Industries for sponsoring the giveaway. Check their store for Photo-Lettering blocks, t-shirts and prints.

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Polish Book Covers

polish book covers

Will over at the excellent Journey Round My Skull posted an amazing collection of Polish book covers. There is some seriously wacky stuff going on these book jackets. Whats up with beard face?

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alphabeasties and other Amazing Types

alphabeasties

I’ve been a fan of Werner Design Werks for a few years now, so I was excited to hear about their recent release of alphabeasties: and other Amazing Types. This beautiful children’s book features animals crafted out of typefaces. How about an alligator set in Volta EF? You got it! There’s even a dachshund made out of “d”s set in Bauhaus. Gary fans rejoice!

In the same vein as Bruno Munari’s Alfabetiere, alphabeasties achieves a perfect balance of fun and well-executed design. Pick up a copy for your your kid, but don’t be suprised if you end it keeping all to yourself.

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‘Cutie Bear’ by Delicious Design League

delicious design league
Cutie Bear by Delicious Design League. 18″ x 24″

The best part about bringing you the poster pick series is reading your responses to our selections. This week can’t disappoint because it is virtually impossible to see the work of the designers at Delicious Design League and not be smitten.

Delicious Design League is based in Chicago and commandeered by Billy Baumann and Jason Teegarden-Downs. The firm focuses on designing for the music industry but leaves room for all things design. ‘Cutie Bear’ feels right at home here at Grain Edit. Clean lines and smart color combos never go out of style. The trick is to make it look effortless, but it’s obvious a great deal of thought goes into something so, well, cute.

Cutie Bear is available for purchase here.

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18 Dick Bruna Book Covers

dick bruna

Dick Bruna- Book covers

Lets start the week off right. How about a dose of Dick Bruna book covers.

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Celestino Piatti + dtv Book: The Unity of the Program

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Celestino Piatti + dtv: The Unity of the program – Edited by Jens Muller

Two weeks ago we featured the Philips-Twen book from Lars Muller’s new A5 series. Celestino Piatti + dtv is the third title to be released in the series and my favorite of the bunch.

Celestino Piatti was born in the little Swiss village of Dietlikon on January 5,1922. Early on his parents recognized his talent and secured him training at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Zurich and later a graphic design internship with fellow Swiss designer Fritz Buhler. After four years with Buhler he left to start his own studio and eventually landed the job of a lifetime. In 1961 Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv) hired Piatti to design their bookjackets. A comission that lasted up to his death in 2007. For over thirty years, he endowed the books published by dtv with a singular and unique look. He became the most productive book designer of all times, producing covers for over 6300 books that sold in a total print run of over 200 million copies.

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San Francisco Book Sale 2009

san francisco book sale

Last week I had a chance to stop by the 45th Annual San Francisco Book Sale which was held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. The place was filled with books.  According to the event’s website it is the biggest book sale on the west coast. The five-day event features 300,000+ books in over 50 categories.

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Photo-Lettering Alphabet Blocks, Prints & T-Shirt Giveaway

photo lettering

Back in June we posted about the launch of House Industries’ Photo-Lettering website. I knew it was just a matter of time before some of those tasty Photo-Lettering typefaces ended up on a slab of wood. That time has come. Last week House announced the release of the Photo-Lettering (Plinc) alphabet blocks as well as a new House Industries serigraph series.

To celebrate the new line of Photo-Lettering products we’ve teamed up with House Industries for a special giveaway.

One lucky winner will win:

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Andrew Bird Poster by Methane Studios

andrew bird poster
Andrew Bird Poster by Methane Studios. 18″ x 24″

There is so much to love and appreciate about this week’s poster pick by Methane Studios. Let me begin by pointing out the color combinations which I happen to think are perfect. This awesome beast is impressive with its geometric body, patterns, and textures. It’s great seeing how the patterns take on new life with different coloring. As always, the type use and positioning is very well done.

The Andrew Bird poster is available for purchase here.

Ken Leung interview

ken leung

Being a fan of Monocle magazine, I’m excited about our next guest. Ken Leung is a London based freelance designer who helped launch Monocle magazine and until recently served as it’s art director. In today’s interview, Ken shares his love for Textas (marker pens), some of his influences and a few of his favorite books.

Ok, here we go..

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Scandinavian Logos of the 1960s & 70s

scandinavian logos

K.P. Jorgensen & Son Logo – Part of 1960s & 70s Scandinavian Logos Set

This made my day. Vancouver based designer Oliver Tomas uploaded an amazing collection of Scandinavian logos from the 1960s & 70s to his flickr account. Thanks Oliver!

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Lumadessa / Josh Brill: Flora Fauna – Bird Editions

josh brill

Western Tanager 5″x7″ – Designed by Josh Brill

Cool bird prints from Josh Brill. Josh is the man behind Lumadessa, a little art and design label out Portland, Maine. The prints are from his Flora Fauna collection which catalogs the design identities of plants and animals from around the world. The collection also examines the visual character differences and similarities of species. It’s a field guide of discovery, beginning with birds.

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Philips-Twen Book: Realism is the Score

philips twen book

Philips-Twen: Realism is the Score – Edited by Jens Muller

Just got my hands on a few of the Lars Muller A5 titles and they don’t disappoint. I’ll try to get photos of all three titles up on grain edit within the next week or so. Unfortunately these titles are unavailable in the U.S right now, but should be available soon. Amazon has a release date of October 1st.

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Vintage Arcade Game Graphics

vintage arcade games

Pitfall (Activision) circa 1982

Nick Dart recently launched a cool resource for vintage game graphics. Art of the Arcade features game packaging, advertisements, logos, etc. from the golden era of arcade gaming, the 70’s and 80’s. I miss Pitfall!

On a related note, if you ever find yourself in Portland,OR, you have to stop by Ground Kontrol. The place is filled with classic games like Q-Bert and Pac-Man.

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Geoff Mcfetridge: Where the Wild Things Are Title Design

geoff mcfetridge

Geoff Mcfetridge and some of the concepts for the final credits for the upcoming “Where the Wild Things Are” film.

I know i’m not the only one excited about the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are film directed by Spike Jonze. The film is based on a book of the same name published in 1963 by author/illustrator Maurice Sendak. I remember staring at the book for hours when I was a kid. It’s still one of my all time faves.

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Poster Pick: Sonic Youth at the Turner Hall Ballroom

sonic youth

Sonic Youth Concert Poster designed by the Little Friends of Printmaking

After our interview with the Little Friends of Printmaking we decided to make their Sonic Youth print our Poster Pick of the week. If you haven’t seen the interview yet, it’s worth checking out. Melissa and JW break down the process of creating the Sonic Youth poster from the initial concept to the finished product.

You can purchase the Sonic Youth – Milwaukee concert poster at Poster Cabaret.

Poland Wieliczka Salt Mine Postcard 1972

Wieliczka Salt Mine

1972 Poland Wieliczka salt mine postcard designed by K. Rogaczewska.

Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine, in the suburbs of Kraków, produced table salt continuously for over 700 years. Although operation ceased in 2007, visitors can still tour the mine, where they can see statues and artwork carved entirely out of salt (including a chapel, complete with salt chandeliers!). In 1972, K. Rogaczewska designed this postcard, which depicts the hillside town of Wieliczka and the salt crystals of its mine. Read the rest of this entry »

Paige + Modern

James Birrell

James Birrell – View of the elevated restaurant, Centenary Pool, Brisbane’ (via Paige Modern)

Many thanks to Paige Russell for featuring us in her “Meet the Maker” series. Paige is a product designer with a passion for hunting vintage modern. Her blog’s (Paige + Modern) mission is to celebrate both vices and be home to all other great things she find along the way; inspiration, cheekiness, smart-pants thinking, sharp design, eye candy, & tales of great explorers.

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Lars Muller’s New A5 Book Series

orba squara

Celestino Piatti and dtv: The Unity of the Program – Edited by Jens Muller

I can’t wait to get my hands on these books.

Lars Muller has just launched the A5 series of books. The series is intended as a growing archive on graphic design. Each volume introduces outstanding personalities and important themes from the history of international graphic design, with numerous illustrations, essays and interviews. The series kicks off with books focused on Celestino Piatti, Philips-Twen and Hans Hillmann.

I’m really excited about the Celestino Piatti book. For more than 30 years, he endowed the covers of books published by dtv with a singular look. With more than 6300 covers to his credit, amounting collectively to a total of 200 million volumes, Piatti was one of the most productive designers of all time.

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Orba Squara

orba squara

Fresh air and the open road!

The fine folks at Random Collective designed a unique website chronicling New York based singer-songwriter Orba Squara’s journey across some of the United States. Commemorating his second album, Orba Squara’s site boasts a beautiful visual diary complete with photos, custom maps, and neat type treatments. Its layout is a 430 ft long lateral scroll, which translates the daily findings of the trip appropriately.

Orba Squara’s website is Random Collective’s first project. Founded by Jose Cabaco, Random Collective is all about connecting people from different disciplines, to work on a variety of projects. As its name suggests, it can be anything; a band of 2 or 20, writers or art directors, designers or photographers, architects or webcoders…even all of the above!

Check out Orba Squara’s website, and stay tuned for their website.

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Stefan Kanchev Logo Design, Stamps & TV Graphics

aesthetic apparatus

aesthetic apparatus

Television graphics

Absolutely stunning work from Stefan Kanchev (1915-2001) who was a Bulgarian graphic artist. During his prolific career he designed hundreds of logos, posters, stamps, book covers, labels as well as graphics for TV. Much of his work is inspired by Bulgarian folklore and traditions.

In 1994 Stefan Kanchev was recognized as one of the top ten designers of trade marks in the world along with Paul Rand, Saul Bass and etc. The title was awarded by the International trademark centre in Ostend, Belgium. His logo work will blow your wig back.  I highly suggest you spend a few minutes browsing his archives.

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We Have Our Winner

Thanks to everyone who took part in our giveaway! It was great to see all your comments.

We randomly selected our winner in the  HunterGatherer Laptop Sleeve Giveaway this weekend.

Our winner will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive soon.

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Many thanks to Incase for sponsoring the giveaway. You can see all the latest Incase happenings at the Incase blog.

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Keep an eye out for the next grain edit giveaway and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Doom Flower Print by Aesthetic Apparatus

aesthetic apparatus

Doom Flower Mini Print by Aesthetic Apparatus – 6″ x 6″.

Many of you are familiar with the distinctive works of Aesthetic Apparatus and this week we’re happy to add their ‘Doom Flower’ to our growing list of poster picks. This design studio continues to please us with their creative choices and prints like this. The colors used here stay true to their Doom series which is well worth browsing. The flow relies heavily on color and shape in the creation of the energetic flower pattern. The skull in the center adds an interesting balance and helps break things up a bit. I think this demonstrates great use of color and pattern. Those guys make it look so easy!

This print is available at www.postercabaret.com

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Cristiana Couceiro Modern Collage Work

cristiana couceiro

Beautiful collage work from Lisbon based designer Cristiana Couceiro.  As Steve Mehallo puts it, “When one thinks of collage, it’s usually something  . . .  scrapbooky. Not always the case.”

In a recent issue of Moloko, she talked about gathering source material. “On Saturdays I like to go through the flea market collecting memories. Feira da Ladra as we call it here in Lisbon. That means Thief Fair, which is funny collecting other people’s memory to build a new one”. Her source material comes from a variety of modern sources including: record covers, Canadian logos, 1960s paperback books, Latvian magazines, Swiss posters, as well as work from the Bauhaus.

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HunterGatherer Laptop Sleeve Giveaway

huntergatherer

15″ HunterGatherer Laptop Sleeve

For our latest giveaway we’ve teamed up with Incase. Incase recently released the HunterGatherer Laptop Sleeve and iphone slider case. This is a part of a series of projects curated by Arkitip. To celebrate we’re giving away a 15″ Hunter Gatherer laptop sleeve to one lucky winner.

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Hatch interview

jaqk cellars

JAQK Cellars wine shippers designed by Hatch

This is part 2 of a 2 part interview. You can view part 1 at the excellent iso50.

Hatch is a San Francisco design firm founded by Joel Templin and Katie Jain. In part one of our interview, Alex spoke with Katie and Joel about the firm and their design process. In part two we take a look around the studio and talk with Katie about the packaging for JAQK cellars.

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Portugal 1981 Census Stamps

invisible creature

1981 Portugal Recenseamento Nacional Censos stamp designed by José Luiz Tinoco.

Beautiful Portuguese stamp from the 1980s. That man’s head is either made of IBM punch cards or little people windows. You make the call.

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Poster Cabaret Bicycle Art Prints

invisible creature

Nor Cal – Designed by Don Clark of Invisible Creature – 17.5″x17.5″

We’re excited to announce The Poster Cabaret 2009 Bike Print Set. Bicycle ridership has increased in recent years and as someone that rides daily I am glad to see so many artists inspired by them. The series features artists like Don Clark of Invisible Creature, Eleanor Grosch of Pushmepullyou Design, Brian Turner of The Cricket Press, Jay Ryan, and Diana Sudyka.

All are interesting and dynamic designs that will no doubt not simply appeal to cyclists. I love what Eleanor Grosch has done in the aptly titled ‘Bicycle’. It is an awesome design made up of a few simple shapes and colors, but it drew my attention immediately.

The limited edition prints are available at www.postercabaret.com

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Olivetti Lettera 22 Manual

olivetti lettera 22

Olivetti Lettera 22 Manual

I’m blown away by this Olivetti Lettera Manual Ed Cornish posted over at the excellent we made this (blog). Absolutely stunning! You can see the full manual at Ed’s Flickr account.

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Conor Oberst Concert Poster

conor oberst poster

Conor Oberst Concert Poster by Vahalla Studios. Handmade three color silkscreen measures 18″x 24″.

The poster pick series presses on with a piece by Tad Carpenter of Vahalla Studios. I like the limited color palette used in this poster and think that it compliments the scene perfectly. It is quiet yet delightful. The use of pattern throughout the poster is as terrific as the type choices. Plus, I’m a sucker for buildings in a background.

You can purchase the Conor Oberst poster at www.postercabaret.com

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Guest post at Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves

le vaillant petit tailleur

Le Vaillant Petit Tailleur – Illustrations by E. Probest c1963

I’d like to thank Burgin over at Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves for inviting me to guest post on her wonderful blog. If you haven’t been to her site before your in for a real treat. She often features kid’s books from the 1950’s-1970’s and from some of my favorite illustrators including Abner Graboff and Ed Emberley. For my post, I decided to share a french book entitled Le Vaillant Petit Tailleur. You can see all the mages here.

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The Whimsical Works of David Weidman

hong kong festivals stamps

The Whimsical Works of David Weidman – Published by Gingko Press.

David Weidman’s name may not be familiar, but his work certainly is. Weidman began his career as an animator in 1950s Los Angeles, painting backgrounds for Hannah Barbara and setting the standard for the look of cartoons of that era. However, like a true entrepreneur he soon began to work for himself, and went on to establish a style that is today instantly recognizable and iconic. A printmaker, ceramicist, font designer, painter, cartoonist, and silk screener, Weidman never stopped experimenting as an artist. Today at age 87 Weidman’s staggering body of work is just as modern and visually stunning as it was forty years ago. His graphic sensibility and expert use of saturated color palettes evoke the vintage modern look while remaining completely relevant to contemporary designers.

If you don’t have a copy of this book yet, it’s seriously worth picking up. You can can pick up a copy here.

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Mig Reyes – Blog Wars Poster

hong kong festivals stamps

People are dying for blogs y’all

Blog Wars? What the heck is going on in Chicago? People killing each other over raw RSS product? Naw, turns out Blog Wars is a gathering of Chicago’s top dance music DJs—who all happen to run successful blogs.

The poster was created by talented designer and all around rad guy Mig Reyes. I love how Mig breaks up the rigid grid with streams of folkadelic type which parallel the flow and feel of vinyl records. It slightly reminds me of Lance Wyman’s identity work for the 1968 Mexico Olympics which played off traditional Huichol Indian art. I hope Mr. Reyes printed up extra copies of this poster, because I know some people will want to get their hands on this war-torn gem!

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Hong Kong Festivals 1975 Stamps

hong kong festivals stamps

1975 Hong Kong festivals – official first day cover and stamp set designed by Tao Ho

Tao Ho is a Hong Kong-based architect, designer, teacher, and writer. He studied under Sigfried Giedion and Josep Lluís Sert at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and worked with Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius at the Architects Collaborative. In 1975, Tao Ho designed this first day cover and stamp set to commemorate Hong Kong’s Tin Hau, Dragon Boat, and Mid-Autumn festivals.

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Simmelkiaer Grotesk Type Specimen

simmelkiaer grotesk

Simmelkiaer Grotesk – Grafisk Compagni

I found this type specimen sheet when I was digging through a printer’s collection last summer. Anyone have any info on Simmelkiaer Grotesk or Grafisk Compagni?

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Renegade Craft Fair

renegade craft fair

This weekend the grain edit crew headed over to the Renegade Craft Fair. The event was held at the giganticle Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion. The place was packed with Men of the Yarn and friendly Thimble Queens all carefully curating their collections of handmade goodness. I’ve never seen so many t-shirts and pillows in my life! It was a palace of soft joy!

We had a blast meeting everyone. Handshakes & hugs to the following people: Frank Chimero, A. Micah Smith A.K.A My Associate Cornelius, Lorena Siminovich & the crew from Petit Collage, Sasha Barr and Meagan Claire Hall of Wonder Thunder and Klover Kim (Please don’t break my arm, if you don’t win the next giveaway!)

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Flight of the Conchords Poster by Patent Pending

flight of the conchords

Flight of the Conchords Concert Poster designed by Jesse LeDoux of Patent Pending.  18″ x 24″.

This week we have our sights on a Flight of the Conchords Concert Poster by Patent Pending. Based in Seattle and headed by Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux, Patent Pending was established by the design duo in 1999.

My favorite thing about viewing the work of other designers is seeing how they approach details in their design. I’m impressed with several parts of this poster and I enjoy that it is understated and relaxed. The typographic work is smart and attention grabbing without too much visual info to distract from it. As a fan of FoTC I think it captures their vibe really well.

This poster is available for purchase at www.postercabaret.com

Jazzin’ the Black Forest: The Guide to Saba/MPS Jazz Records

jazzin the black forest

Jazzin the Black Forest – The Complete Guide to Saba/MPS Jazz Records -Published by Crippled Library c1999

Jazzin´the Black Forest is the story of the SABA/MPS jazz label. It was established during the early 1960s  and is considered to be Germany´s first independent label. From the label’s beginnings up to its sale to Polygram in 1983, SABA/MPS released over 700 LPs. This book features full color images of all the LPs, a complete index as well as poster reproductions.

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Herb Lubalin Archives

herb lubalin

For the Herb Lubalin fans out there, Justin Thomas Kay has just uploaded a slick collection of images from a recent visit to Lubalin’s archive at the Cooper Union in NYC.

In addition to Justin’s Flickr account, you can find photos from the Lubalin collection at 12oz Prophet + So Much Pileup.

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Poster Pick: Blanca Gomez – Bang!

blanca gomez

Bang! by Blanca Gomez printed on archival giclee, measures 16″ x 20″

This week we’d like to transport you to the wonderful world of illustrator and graphic designer, Blanca Gomez. Gomez is an artist living and working in Madrid, Spain.  Her designs are neat, simple, and often amusing.

Bang! is a great example of the simplicity Gomez offers up in her work. This selection is playful and can’t help but bring a smile to your face. The gentleman is drawn simply and elegantly, while the red heart offers the perfect pop of color in an otherwise somber scene.

Bang! is available for purchase at the Poster Cabaret.

Swiss Graphic Design Book Now Available

geigy

Corporate Diversity: Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy 1940-1970

A few months ago we featured the book Corporate Diversity: Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy 1940-1970 on grain edit. At the time the book was only available in Europe. We’re excited to announce that it is now available for purchase in the U.S. I highly recommend this book. Don’t sleep on this one! Lars Muller and the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich did an excellent job presenting the material.

You can purchase the Book here. Get it before it sells out!

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Abner Graboff

abner graboff

Mr. Angelo by Marjory Schwalje – Illustrations by Abner Graboff c1960

Ward Jenkins has an excellent interview with Jon Graboff over at the Ward-O-Matic.  Jon is the son of the uber talented Abner Graboff, an American artist who illustrated a slew of amazing children’s books during the 1950s and 60s.  In one part of the interview Jon mentions that his brother informed him that their dad had designed the CBS “eye” logo but didn’t receive credit for it. The credit went instead to the chief art director at the network. That art director would be William Golden. Is it possible that Abner Graboff designed the CBS eye logo?

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Hermann Eidenbenz

mike cina mix

Hermann Eidenbenz – grafa international poster 1936

Beautiful poster from Swiss designer Hermann Eidenbenz. Hermann also designed the Clarendon typeface. Brings back memories of delivering newspapers as a kid.

Mike Cina mix

mike cina mix

Mike Cina – Spirit Edit Jazz Mix

In this 4th installment of grain edit mixtapes, we caught up with design nut and all-around awesome guy Mike Cina. When Mike isn’t manning the helm at YouWorkForThem he’s digging through your grand pa’s record collection. Today we’re excited to present an exclusive jazz mix he created for grain edit readers.

Before we get to the mix, I had a chance to pick Mike’s brain on record collecting, typography and album cover art.

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Poster Pick: Andrew Holder – Mountain Town

andrew holder

Mountain Town archival giclee print 16″ x 21.5″

This week’s poster pick features another amazing print from Andrew Holder. Mountain Town features a trippy farm scene complete with a gushing river flowing uphill and a mountain cut like a gemstone. I can’t get enough of Andrew’s work. Someone needs to loan me a boat filled with cash, so I can buy all his prints.

Mountain Town is printed on 100% cotton rag archival fine art paper. Hand signed & numbered edition of 100. Available exclusively at the Poster Cabaret.

The print is also available in blue.

HunterGatherer iPhone Case & Laptop Sleeve

huntergatherer

huntergatherer

Incase and Arkitip have launched the latest installment of the Curated by Arkitip project with New York-based HunterGatherer. The HunterGatherer 15” Sleeve for MacBook Pro and HunterGatherer Slider Case for iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G are available today at goincase.com and arkitip.com with availability following shortly in select Apple retail stores and better boutiques.

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Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight

Milton Glaser

The new documentary about Milton’s life and work, To Inform and Delight, is being released in a number of cities throughout the US this summer. Upcoming locations include:

June 27: ALBUQUERQUE / Guild Cinema
July 2: BOSTON / MFA Boston
July 7: WESTHAMPTON / Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center
Aug 12: AUSTIN / Alamo Drafthouse, AIGA Austin
Aug 27: ORANGE COUNTY / Orange County Museum of Art
Aug 27: ATLANTA / AIGA Atlanta

Lost Charley Harper Paintings Rediscovered

Charles Harper

I’d like to thank Rena Hopkins of the Charley Harper Art Studio for passing on the good news that a lost trove of original Charley Harper paintings have been rediscovered. These paintings were commissioned for the Ford Times and Lincoln Mercury Times Magazines and include many pieces from Charley’s beloved bird series. You can find out more info at the studio’s exciting new blog. Original Harper prints for Ford Times magazine are available for purchase here.

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The World of Kane

world of kane

Will Kane has been laying down quality posts since 2005, which in the world of blogging would make him sort of a legend. His blog is a visual buffet of vintage design, cult film, modern architecture, cute french girls and fashion from the middle of the century. All the good stuff we love. If you haven’t been to his site before, you need to do it now. Enter the World of Kane.

Here’s a small taste of some of the tasty bits Will has been cooking up…

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Maria Rehm – Katzchen im Zoo

maria rehm

Maria Rehm – Katzchen im Zoo c196?

It hard times being on lockdown. As the Lifers Group once said, “your living in the Belly of the Beast“. Sometimes you just need a homie to talk to. In this loveable children’s tale, a little black cat goes to visit his crew holding it down at the local zoo. He chats it up with some birds, an elephant and even some silly seals.

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Paul Rand Tribute Site

paul rand

Daniel Lewandowski has put together a wonderful tribute site to Paul Rand. The site is filled with examples of Paul’s work including posters, logos, packaging and more. There’s even a gallery section with slick photos of Paul hanging out with Bradbury Thompson, Will Burtin and his cat.

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We Have Our Winner

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Kevin Dart – Yuki 7 Giveaway! It was great to see all your comments. We randomly selected our winner earlier this evening.

Our winner will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive soon.

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We’d like to thank Kevin Dart for sponsoring this giveaway. Catch Kevin on twitter and his personal website. You can purchase Kevin Dart prints and Yuki 7 products at the Fleet Street Scandal store.

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Stay tuned for our next giveaway and have a great weekend!

Giveaway Ends Tomorrow – Not too Late to Enter

Kevin Dart Yuki 7 Fleet Street Scandal

If you haven’t signed up for our Kevin Dart: The Yuki 7 Screen Gems Giveaway it’s not too late. Giveaway ends tomorrow at 5pm. We’ve teamed up with Kevin to giveaway an advanced signed copy of Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7, A complete set of signed Yuki 7 prints and a t-shirt.

Enter now – It’s quick, easy and free to enter.

Coast Modern Architecture Documentary

coast modern

Kaufmann House designed by Richard Neutra in 1946

This looks like its going to be a must see flick for modern architecture fans.

Filmmakers Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome have created a documentary that will take you on a journey through three generations of modern architecture on the West Coast of North America.

This film speaks with the architects and their patrons, and asks if Modernism’s time has finally come or did it ever really go away.

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Designer’s Bookshelf: Sam Grawe of Dwell Magazine

sam grawe

Innovations – Illustrations by Syd Mead

The last time we mentioned Sam Grawe on grain edit we were drooling over his collection of ceramic owls. Sam is the Editor-in-Chief of Dwell and member of the ultra cool nu balearic cosmic disco band Windsurf. Here for grain edit readers Sam shares pictures of some of his favorite books and the stories behind his finds. Enjoy!

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Buddy Carr Skateboard Designed by Antonio Carusone

buddy carr skateboards

Buddy Carr Skateboards teamed up with Antonio Carusone of Aisle One to create this beautiful board. Now you can Ollie and say hello at the same time.

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New Pardon My Hindi Prints + Party

pardon my hindi

Mumbai Smoke silkscreen poster-18″x24″

Awesome new prints from Pardon My Hindi. All three limited edition prints are signed/numbered and hand screened on archival paper.

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Noah Butkus / Pollyn

alphabet thesaurus

Pollyn album cover

There’s a cool interview with the talented Noah Butkus over at Matthew Newton’s site . Dig into Noah’s surreal landscapes and haunting characters.

Noah recently designed the cover for the L.A based band Pollyn. Keyholes, tiger heads, and cool type…..it’s all there.  You can hear Pollyn’s music here.

Methane Studios: The National Concert Poster

The national poster

The National live at the Tabernacle, Atlanta – concert poster 18″x24″

This week’s poster pick features another cutting edge design from Methane Studios. The overall design is simple and understated, but manages to remain visually engaging. The subtleties in this poster are exactly what make it interesting to look at. I really like everything about how the band name is presented and appreciate the sense of depth created by the paper knife. There is great use of space and type throughout , I especially like how the type is managed at the very bottom of this poster.

You can purchase the poster at postercabaret.com

The Deck Ad Network Readership Survey

deck network survey

The Deck Ad Network survey.  Answer a few questions, have a few laughs and enter to win some goodies.

Photo Lettering – Alphabet Thesaurus Vol.2

alphabet thesaurus

Photo Lettering website

Photo-Lettering was a mainstay of the advertising and design industry in New York City from 1936 to 1997. PLINC, as it was affectionately known to art directors, was one of the earliest and most successful type houses to utilize photo technology in the production of commercial typography and lettering. It employed such design luminaries as Ed Benguiat and sold type drawn by the likes of Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast as well as countless other unsung lettering greats. The company is best known by most of today’s graphic designers for its ubiquitous type catalogs.

House Industries purchased the entire physical assets of Photo-Lettering and is carefully digitizing select alphabets from the collection and plans to offer them through the new Photo Lettering website.

To celebrate, I thought it would be nice to dig up one of my Photo Lettering catalogs. Here for your viewing pleasure is Alphabet Thesaurus Vol.2

alphabet thesaurus

Alphabet Thesaurus Vol 2 – A Treasury of Letter Design

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We have our winners

Thanks to everyone who took part in our giveaway! It was great to see all your comments.

We randomly selected our 2 winners in the  Human Empire/Andreas Samuelsson t-shirt giveaway earlier this evening.

Our winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive soon.

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We’d like to thank Soundscreen Design for sponsoring this giveaway. Please consider signing up for their email newsletter to keep up with all the latest product releases and giveaways.

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Stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming soon and have a great weekend!

Giveaway Ends at 5pm – Not too Late to Join

If you haven’t signed up for our  Human Empire / Andreas Samuelsson T shirt Giveaway it’s not too late. Giveaway ends at 5pm today (05/29/09).

Arthur Erickson – Graham House

arthur erickson

Graham House built in 1965 by Arthur Erickson

The passing of Arthur Erickson last week was as devastating as the demise of his masterpiece, the Graham House, in 2007.  Yet the world still continues to be enamored and inspired by his modernist works, particularly his early projects such as the Smith House, the Hilborn House and the Fire Island House to name a few.

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Ferris Bueller House For Sale

ferris bueller house

The Ben Rose home designed by A. James Speyer and David Haid

Anyone have 2.3 million dollars I can borrow? The mid-century modern home featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is now for sale. If we all chip in $5 we might be able buy this house in 10 years. Maybe they accept trades? I hope the red 1961 Ferrari 250 GTO comes with the house.

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T-Shirt Giveaway Ends Friday- Not too Late to Enter

Human empire t shirt

We’ve teamed up with Soundscreen Design to give away a few t-shirts. It’s quick, easy and free to enter. See our Human Empire / Andreas Samuelsson T shirt Giveaway post for all the details. Giveaway ends Friday.

Enter now>

Mid Century Modern Home Plans

second homes for leisure living

Vacation home designed by Bay Area architect Henrik Bull – illustration by Bob Wandesforde

The image above is from a promotional booklet entitled Second homes for leisure living. The booklet was produced by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association and features floor plans and dimensions for 18 vacation homes built with fir plywood. Included are plans for homes designed by modern architects such as George Matsumoto, Frederick Liebhardt, David George and Henrik Bull.

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Typografische Monatsblätter

typografische monatsblätter

TM Nr. 12, 1956, 75. Jahrgang

Typografische Monatsblätter is a Swiss magazine that focuses on typography and photography. Over the years the magazine has played host to an all star cast of contributors including: Herbert Matter, Emil Ruder, Max Caflisch, Wolfgang Weingart, Jan Tschichold, Adrian Frutiger, Jost Hochuli, Walter Cyliax, Helmut Schmidt, Atelier Eidenbenz, Hans Rudolf Lutz and many others. Flickr user Berlintypes has assembled an amazing collection of these magazines from the 1950s -1990s. Enjoy them all here.

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1970 Belgian Co-op Stamp

belgian stamp

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any stamps, so I figured it’s time. This stamp commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Alliance Cooperative Internationale. It was issued on the 27th of June, 1970 and was designed by J.Malvaux.

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Human Empire / Andreas Samuelsson T shirt Giveaway


Human empire t shirt

Human Empire – Vinyl is Forever T shirt

Soundscreen Design is a product design company inspired by music. They are curating, manufacturing and distributing a line of t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags featuring artists’ iconic interpretations of the phrase “Vinyl is Forever”. Inspired by iconic visual slogans such as “I (heart) NY” and “Virginia is for Lovers”, and referencing music obsessives’ everlasting love of vinyl records, the series will appeal to music, art and fashion fans alike. For avid music fans, vinyl has become both the format of preference as well as a badge of honor. The wearables are designed to be a badge they can wear proudly.

To celebrate the release of the Vinyl is Forever product line we’ve teamed up with Soundscreen Design for a special giveaway.

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New giveaway Monday

We have a few t-shirts up for grabs. See you on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Weekend Event

nate wragg show

If your in the L.A area, Gallery Nucleus is throwing a party for the release of the second installment of the Ancient Book Series “THE ANCIENT BOOK OF SEX AND SCIENCE”. The show will run from 7pm to 11pm with all artwork for sale, and all the artists (Nate Wragg, Lou Romano, Don Shank and Scott Morse) will be on hand at the gallery the whole night.  The book will be available for $20 dollars, and there will also be some new prints for sale as well. I have the first book in the series and it’s really good.

WORKtoDATE So-Cal Fire Poster Project

neutraface blocks

Thanks to Greg Bennett of WORKtoDATE for sending us this poster he created for the So-Cal Fire Poster Project. The destruction of the wildfires is portrayed by physically making, photographing and then compositing various textures such as burnt paper, water stains, ash and grit. The poster is for available for purchase here. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be given to the Salvation Army, for the 2007 California Wildfire fund.

You can see more of Greg’s work at Worktodate.com. He has a new blog as well!

Neutraface Slab

neutraface blocks

It’s here! Long rumored, leaked, and made into products, Neutraface Slab is available now. Neutraface Slab features five display weights, four text weights with italics plus a unique stencil style.

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We have our winner

We tallied the votes in our Loto de Socorrismo caption writing contest and #5 is the winner! Congratulations to Emily D ! She will be receiving a hard to find kid’s book that we will soon be featuring on grain edit.

You can catch Emily at her blog and twitter. She has an Etsy store as well.

Thanks to everyone that contributed captions! New giveaway coming very soon.

Anna Monika Jost

Olivetti poster

Olivetti / Charter Hall Nairobi 1966 Offset 84×59.5 cm

Stunning poster by Anna Monika Jost. I’m guessing all the circular shapes are either gumball’s or typewriter keys. I’m betting on the later (secretly wishing it’s the gumballs though). I wonder if all the letters and numbers spell out some sort of code. Wait a minute, Olivetti is in Italy. Maybe its a code prediciting the release date of the Davinci code part 15 starring Tom Hank’s son. Whoops, sorry I got sidetracked. Back to Jost. Anyone have any info on her? I couldn’t find much online.

Help us pick a winner

In our previous post on the kid’s board game Loto de Socorrismo we asked our readers to create captions for the images. We’ve selected our five favorite captions, but we need your help in picking our winner. Please list your favorite caption (only pick 1) in the comments. The caption with the most votes by Tues May 12th, 2009 5pm PST wins!

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1960s BOAC Timetable

boac timetable

Boac Timetable Jan1,1969-Mar 31,1969

I’m a sucker for vintage airline ephemera and this BOAC timetable doesn’t disappoint. Huge thanks to Stuart Hobday and Stephanie for sending in these pictures.

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Teenage Engineering Styrofoam Turntable and Op-1 Synth

teenage engineering

Teenage Engineering DIY Styrofoam Turntable Kit

I’m fascinated by this turntable designed by Teenage Engineering. It’s lightweight/portable and the whole unit is made out of high density Styrofoam (even the tonearm). I could really use one of these on my record digging trips. Unfortunately it will not be produced and only one unit was built for research purpose.

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Methane Studios: Mogwai Concert Poster

Methane Studios

Mogwai Concert Poster by Mark McDevitt of Methane Studios.  Handmade four color silkscreen measures 19″ x 25″ .

Continuing with our poster pick series we’ve selected this eye-catching, Mogwai concert poster designed by Methane Studios. I really like the bold use of color and all the geometric patterns that take form. The coloring reminds me a bit of the Technicolor logo (a favorite) used in old film posters. I’m also diggin’ the form of the type and the contrasting background.

Methane hails from Atlanta , GA and was formed by artists Mark McDevitt and Robert Lee. The pair have been designing screen printed posters since 1998 for a variety of US and foreign bands such as Pearl Jam, Wilco, and Dave Matthews Band to name a few.

You can order this poster and others by Methane at postercabaret.com

Loto de Socorrismo: The Morbidly Funny Game for Kids

loto de socorrismo

#1 Loto de Socorrismo produced by didacia – Made in Spain

Umm not sure what to think of this one. This has to be the craziest kid’s board game I’ve ever seen. Someone has to translate the text.

WE NEED YOU. HELP US WRITE CAPTIONS FOR EACH IMAGE

In the comments – write a caption for one or more of the images. Include the picture # with your caption. We’ll pick our favorites and one lucky person will WIN A PRIZE.

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Almir Da Silva Mavignier

Almir Da Silva Mavignier

Brasiliana – Munchen Deutsches Theater Poster

Really beautiful work by Almir Da Silva Mavignier. He was born (1925) in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and later studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm under Max Bill. In additon to his graphic design work he was also an accomplished painter.

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Layer Tennis: Aaron Draplin Vs Chris Glass

layer tennis

12pm PST (2pm central) today I will be providing live commentary for the epic Layer Tennis match between Aaron James Draplin and Chris Glass. Post your comments about the match to Twitter and include #lyt in the message and they’ll show up right here on the Crowd Page. Plus you can follow the official LT Twitter feed.

The Architecture of Gomorrah – La Vele di Scampia

la vele di scampia

I recently saw Gomorrah, which took the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, and was definitely intrigued and curious as to the origins of the beastly, monolithic sail-like housing complexes where the movie was shot. La Vele di Scampia, or the Sails of Scampia was an offshoot of the post-war modernist social housing explosion gripping the world, including Naples, Italy where it was located. Each complex, shaped like a sail, consists of apartment units with stairs leading to central walkways on each floor. The result is a spectacularly open public space in which people can see and be seen.

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Ladislav Sutnar: Catalog Design Progress

catalog design progress

Catalog Design Progress: Advancing Standards in Visual Communication by K. Lonberg-Holm and Ladislav Sutnar – published by Sweet’s Catalog Service ©1950

Really excited to present today’s book. It’s a classic by the highly underrated designer Ladislav Sutnar.

Ladislav Sutnar was born in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia on november 9, 1897. He was educated in Prague. In 1939 he traveled to New York as an exhibition designer for the Czech Pavilion at the World’s Fair. Due to the war he ended up staying in New York and was later hired by Sweet’s Catalog Service. It was here along with Sweet’s research director K Lonberg Holm that Sutnar would produce a body of work that would help to lay the foundation of information design as we know it today. One of the books to spawn from that partnership was Catalog Design Progress. The book chronicles the pair’s thoughts and experimentations with the layout and organization of information.

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Graphic Design Twibe for People on Twitter

Wayne Pate

A twibe is a group of Twitter users interested in a common topic who would like to be able to communicate with each other.  On each twibe’s page, there is a list of twibe members.  There is also a tweet stream that lists tweets from twibe members which contain key word tag.

We created a twibes for grain edit, mid century modern and graphic design.

Join the graphic design twibe here.

Join the mid century modern twibe here.

Join the grain edit twibe here.

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Catch us on Twitter @grainedit

Sneak Peek at Rilla Alexander’s Studio

rilla alexander

Rilla Alexander is a member of the well known and respected art and design collective, Rinzen. The group’s posters and album covers have been exhibited at the Louvre and their large scale artwork installed in Tokyo’s Zero Gate and Copenhagen’s Hotel Fox. Today she gives Grain Edit readers a sneak peek into her studio and shares some of her favorite objects.

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Grain Edit & Poster Cabaret

poster cabaret

poster cabaret

You may have noticed our new poster picks section in the right column. We’ve teamed up with our friend Lad at Poster Cabaret and every few weeks we will be highlighting a piece from the the online store’s collection of limited edition gig posters and hard to find art prints. Poster Cabaret carries posters by many of the artists we feature on grain edit including: The Small Stakes, Aesthetic Apparatus, Matte Stephens, Vahalla Studios, Delicious Design League, Doublenaut, Invisible Creature and more.

Our first poster pick is the Beck Concert poster designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes

poster cabaret

Mein Erster Brockhaus – German Children’s ABC Book

mein erster brockhaus

Mein Erster Brockhaus – Ein Buntes Bilder – ABC c1963 Published by F.A Brockhaus Wiesbaden Germany

What young German boy wouldn’t want a book filled with Spargel, Spatz, Specht and Schwable? (most of those were birds..but one was asparagus. I’ll let you guess which one.) This alphabet book is filled with those little dudes. If I ever go to Germany, I’m taking this book with me. I’ll be name dropping German nouns all day. This is the OG way to learn a language. Watch out Rosetta Stone!

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Frederic Chaubin: Photographs of Soviet Architecture

frederic chaubin

“Druzhba Holiday Center Hall” (Yalta, Ukraine, designed by Igor Vasilevsky 1984)© Frederic Chaubin

Fascinating photos from Frederic Chaubin. Many of his images feature strange buildings from the former Soviet Union.  Most of the structures were built during the 1970s and 80s and look like something straight out of Sci-fi movie.

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Zdenek Ziegler Posters

zdenek ziegler

Poster for Vysoka Zed’ (The High Wall) c1964 Directed by Karel Kachyna

Stunning posters from the Czechoslovakian designer Zdenek Ziegler.

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Hotel Aranyhomok

hotel aranyhomok

Hotel Aranyhomok – Kecskemet, Hungary

Beautiful luggage label for Hotel Aranyhomok. The hotel still exists. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Everyone That Entered the Giveway!

Thanks to everyone who took part in our giveaway! It was great to see all your comments.

We randomly selected our 2 winners in the  House Industries/ Alexander Girard Giveaway earlier this evening.

Our winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive soon.

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Many Thanks to House Industries for sponsoring this giveaway! Be sure to check out their full catalog of fonts, objects and clothing as well as their Alexander Girard collection.

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Stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming soon and have a great weekend!

Giveaway ends at 5pm PST – Not too late to sign up

alexander girard blocks

If you haven’t signed up for our House Industries/ Alexander Girard Giveaway it’s not too late. Giveaway ends at 5pm today (04/10/09).

Grain Edit Featured on DaWanda

DaWanda

Thanks to the wonderful folks over at DaWanda for inviting us to curate a collection of our favorite items from their website. DaWanda is a European based marketplace for artists and designers to sell their work.

Check out what we picked here.

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Vintage Porsche Posters

vintage porsche posters

Europa-Bergmeister 1966 designed by Volz

Typography at 200mph. Amazing Porsche posters designed by Erich Strenger and Volz.

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Not too Late to enter our Alexander Girard / House Ind. Giveaway

alexander girard blocks

If you haven’t signed up for our House Industries/ Alexander Girard Giveaway it’s not too late. Its quick, easy and free to enter. Giveaway ends soon though, so sign up before we cut off the entries.

Click here for all the details of the giveaway.

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Corporate Diversity: Swiss Graphic Design by Geigy 1940-1970

corporate diversity

Corporate Diversity- Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy 1940-1970. Published by Lars Muller +Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich – Back cover image of Acaralate canister designed by Markus Low in 1967

The fine folks at Lars Muller have just published an excellent book titled Corporate Diversity: Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy. I know alot of designers (myself included) that are extremely excited over the release of this book. It chronicles the work of the design studio J.R Geigy AG which was a launching pad for one of the great periods of Swiss graphic design, in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s amazing to see the quantity and quality of the designers associated with Geigy. Under the leadership of Max Schmid for many years, the studio employed Roland Aeschlimann, Karl Gerstner, Jörg Hamburger, Steff Geissbuhler, Andreas His, Toshihiro Katayama, and Nelly Rudin, among others. Freelance designers such as Michael Engelmann, Gottfried Honegger, Armin Hofmann, Herbert Leupin, Warja Lavater, Numa Rick, and Niklaus Stoecklin were also used. In the 1960s, the Basel office, most especially George Giusti and Fred Troller, was involved in developing the studios of the subsidiaries in the United States and the United Kingdom, placing more emphasis on advertising. This is the first comprehensive presentation of Geigy design, an important Swiss contribution to the international history of design.

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Four Bold Types to Build Dense Word Images + Doodle Socking!

 type specimen book

Four bold types to build dense word images c. early 60s?

Beautiful type specimen booklet produced by Typefoundry Amsterdam and imported by Amsterdam Continental. Includes samples of Egyptian Bold Extended, Annonce Grotesque, Egyptian Bold Condensed and Old Gothic Bold Italic.

From the intro of the Booklet:

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Afreeka! DJ OM and DJ Makossa Psych Mix and Monthly Show

 AFREAKA

Flyer design: Mike Schofield Resource Room Productions

Deejay OM is a long time friend of mine. We used to roll around Northern California hitting busted record shacks and dirt malls while bragging about our latest private press lp scores. The man has an insane record collection. He’s the guy with the Og PI-R Square 45 you wish you had. Make that 10 copies you wish you had. Every first Wednesday of the month at the Attic in the Mission district of San Francisco OM along with DJ MAKossa lay down some seriously rare grooves. For tonight’s show (April 1st 2009) they will be showing the 1978 Brazilian Psychedelic horror flick Hallucinations of a deranged mind to accompany the music.

Today for grain edit readers OM and MAKossa have prepared 2 special live sets. They drop everything from raw American psych to spaced out funky electronics ala Pierre Henry. OM starts off his set with a classic psych cut by Animated Egg and eventually works into a track off his Reheated Naan and Curry lp that is so hard that it will break your face. MAKossa serves up a killer Turkish track, Jamaican chatter and drums thicker then a hippopotamus covered in maple syrup.

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Ward Jenkins: A Very Busy Man

 ward jenkins

One of our favorite illustrators from the Pacific Northwest is Ward Jenkins. He has to be one of the busiest guys in the biz. He creates amazing illustrations, chats it up on twitter, contributes to Drawn!, maintains several flickr groups (here and here), runs a fantastic blog (his blog is one of the first blogs I started reading) and on top of all this he just completed his first children’s book, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in June 2009. I’m starting to think that Ward is not one person, but rather a small organization with one heck of a cool name.

Ward just released 7 new prints in his Ward-O -Matic Etsy Shop (I know, he has a shop too, where does get the time?) To celebrate he’s holding a giveaway. To enter you have to leave a comment on this post by 11:59 midnight PST on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009. The winners will be announced on Friday, April 3rd.

Visit Ward’s blog to enter the giveaway.

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House Industries interview

alexander girard

House Industries is not your typical type foundry. Unlike most foundries that strictly focus on type design, House take things one step further. Their fonts become springboards to new ideas and products that are often integrated into themed experiences complete with lush packaging and slick catalogs. A great example of this is their work on the 2004 release of Neutraface. They created a reproduction of Richard Neutra’s Boomerang chair and pillows to coincide with the release of the font collection. In addition, they created limited edition packaging (with die cuts and metallic inks) to accompany the hard copy of the fonts. In an age when people more and more seek cheap and immediate goods,  I cherish these premium experiences.

House Industries most recent project pays tribute to the modernist designer Alexander Girard. In my opinion it is their most impressive collection to date. It includes a Type Family, a Nativity Set, t shirts, alphabet blocks, lettering, Marilyn Neuhart designed Casa dolls and more. We spoke with Andy Cruz (Co-owner and art director) about the research and development of the products.

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New Giveaway this Monday

 house industries

Yep its true, we love you guys (or maybe we’re just desperate for attention) so we’ve put together another giveaway for Monday. I’m really excited about this one. If you missed out on our last giveaway, heres your chance to take home some goods. Make sure you sign up for the Grain Edit RSS or email updates so you can be involved in this giveaway. Visit us on Twitter as well @grainedit.

A must have for a designer

 

 

It’s becoming more and more important to have an online presence if you are a designer. Clients and potential employers have come to expect immediate access to your work and offering a strictly paper based portfolio is no longer an option. In addition to being a place to display your latest projects, having a website will allow you to easily share your resume, collect payments and notify users of the various associations and social media channels you participate in.  In the past setting up a website was intimidating and often limited to designers with coding experience. With the wealth of tools now available it is no longer necessary to have coding experience to create a well-designed portfolio. Below are just a few of the options.

 For those looking for a simple and clean platform that is free or low-cost, Carbonmade or Cargo Collective should fit the bill. Both options include hosting and allow you to easily modify the look. In addition, you can embed audio and video files and add slideshows.

 If you are looking for a solution that includes ecommerce capabilities, Squarespace, Shopify, and Goodsie are worth looking into. In addition, 1and1 offers lots of tools  to create a robust website. All of these options will allow you to sell products and manage your orders.

Erik Nitsche General Dynamics Convair 880 Jet Poster

Erik Nitsche

The Swiss-born modernist graphic designer Erik Nitsche created some amazing posters for General Dynamics including the well known Atoms for Peace series. This poster for the Convair 880 commercial jetliner is one of the harder ones to find. I wish I had an extra $1000 laying around the house because one popped up on ebay last week.

Huge thanks to Ebay seller gbs4783qxq for letting me use this image.

Also worth checking: Erik Nitsche Subway poster & Erik Nitsche General Dynamics Annual Report

Shiny New grain edit iphone icon

grain edit iphone

For those of you who want to bookmark grainedit on your iphone, we now have an icon thingy. Note to self, I need to update my apps.

The “Lost” Ads: Retro DHARMA Advertisements

Lost ads

For the LOST fans in the house. Adam Campbell put together these mock vintage/retro ads inspired by the tv show. Fun stuff…..Get “lost” here.

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Evan Hecox Paris Sketch print

evan hecox prints

I’m big fan of Evan Hecox’s work. I have the two Tokyo Fishmarket prints hanging in my office. I love how he’s able to capture the subtle and beautiful moments in everyday life. The latest addition to his body of work is inspired by his travels in Paris. He was particulary fond of the hand lettering found on the signs of the street vendors.

The Paris Sketch Print drops in April, but is available for preorder now.

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Jacques Auriac Posters

Jacques Auriac


So, I’m hanging out my with friend and fellow book nerd Sean Flores a while ago and he’s breaks out these incredible posters designed for Bally in the 1980s. My jaw drops! He tells me they were created by French designer Jacques Auriac. Who the heck is Jacques Auriac?  I’m thinking.  Then Sean mentions that a Paris based publisher produced a catalog of his work. Ahh crap!! just what I need, another expensive import book to track down. A year later and a trip to Tokyo I finally got my hands on this thing.

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Thanks to Everyone That Entered the Giveway!

Thanks everyone for taking part in our giveaway! We had over 1,400 people enter. It was great to see all your comments and look forward to another giveaway.

We randomly selected our 4 winners in the Grain Edit Design Stimulus Giveaway earlier this evening. 1st person we randomly picked will receive 1st choice of the 4 prize options. 2nd person picked will receive 2nd choice and so on. From those four winners we then randomly selected a winner for the grand prize.

Our winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed.  For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email should arrive soon.

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Many Thanks to all the wonderful designers and stores that sponsored today’s giveaway. Without them this wouldn’t of been possible. Please visit their websites and support their work.

2K Gingham, Aesthetic Apparatus, Arkitip, Tad CarpenterCD Ryan (CD Ryan is currently having a sale so visit his shop), Frank Chimero, Chronicle Books, Damien Correll, Doane PaperEnormous Champion, Brian Gossett/ Quality Goods IncSteven Harrington, Hybrid Design/ Hybrid Home, Morten IvelandSteve Mehallo, Pardon My Hindi, Studio on FireTes One, Thinking for a Living, Tim Gough, You Work for Them,

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Stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming soon!

Giveaway is Now Closed

We’ve shut off the comments for the Grain Edit Design Stimulus Package Giveaway. We will now prepare for the drawing and select our winners. We will announce the winners later tonight.  The winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed. For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email will arrive sometime between now and tomorrow morning.

Thanks everyone for taking part in our giveaway and have a great weekend!

Giveaway ends at 6pm PST – Not too late to sign up

grain edit giveaway

If you haven’t signed up for the Grain Edit Design Stimulus Package Giveaway, It’s not too late. Giveaway ends at 6pm Pacific standard Time.

Grain Edit on Dwell

grain edit dwell

Huge thanks to Sam Grawe and the rest of Dwell for featuring Grain Edit in their Blog Round up. I’m a long time Dwell fan so, this is a huge honor for me.

You can see the post here.

New Grain Edit Fan Page on Facebook

grain edit

In addition, to the Grain Edit Facebook group we’ve created a fan page. This will not replace the Facebook group, but we do plan to use it to announce special events and giveaways.

Join us at the Grain Edit Fan Page.

Also catch us on Flickr and Twitter.

Props Radio – Designer Music vol. 1+2

props radio

Designer Music #1 – A Special Music Mix for Grain Edit Readers

Once a week I look forward to receiving a hot dj mix from my friend Freddy over at Props Radio. Sometimes it’s funk, other times it’s Soul, Disco, Jazz or Hip Hop. Two weeks ago, he blew my mind with his 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING turns 20 mix. The mix paid tribute to this classic De La Soul album (easily in my top top 5 Hip Hop albums of all time) and included many original songs that Prince Paul sampled to create this masterpiece. This week Freddy serves up not one, but 2 special mixes especially for Grain Edit readers!

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Grain Edit on Inspiration Resource

british stamps

I want to thank Michelle Mccormick for inviting me to contribute to her wonderful blog Inspiration Resource. I’ve been a fan of her site for a while, so I was excited when she asked if I would be willing to share a few pictures of how I organize and collect inspiration. I happily agreed and broke out the camera. In the post you’ll see a few pictures of the folders I use to store labels and the mylar envelopes I use to store brochures and maps.

You can see all the pictures here.

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Ad for Jupp Ernst Chair by Helmut Lortz

helmut lortz

I want this chair! It was designed by Jupp Ernst and manufactured by Polstermobelfabrik Eugen Schmidt Gmbh during the 1950s. If the chair wasn’t cool enough, Helmut Lortz nailed it on the design of the AD. Someone needs to buy me this chair along with a Robin Day Form Unit Sofa. Please?

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Exclusive Maxim Dalton Desktop Wallpaper for Grain Edit

Maxim dalton

We’re super excited to present this wallpaper designed exclusively for Grain Edit by one of our favorite illustrators…. Maxim Dalton. We approached Maxim about the wallpaper a few weeks ago and was thrilled when he agreed. Since he is based in Buenos Aires, I asked if he would include the Buenos Aires National Library in the illustration. This beautiful, spaceship looking, brutalist beast was designed in 1961 by the architectural team of Clorindo Testa, Francisco Bullrich, and Alicia Cazzaniga. The library is the large building on the left hand side of the illustration.

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New Prizes Coming in The Grain Edit Giveaway

grain edit giveaway

New Prizes coming…

If you haven’t signed up for the Grain Edit Stimulus Package Giveaway it’s not too late! We’re giving away over $1000 worth of goodies. So What are you waiting for? It’s quick, easy and free to sign up.

Click here to learn more about the giveaway.

Exclusive new desktop wallpaper

Exclusive new desktop wallpaper coming later today.

Introducing Grain Edit Wallpapers

hans lammle

After we posted this cityscape by Sigrid and Hans Lammle we received a few emails from readers that wanted to have the image as a wallpaper. We thought that was a great idea, so we loaded the image into Photoshop and lovingly chopped up some new sizes.

You can download the cityscape at our new Designer Desktop Wallpaper Page.

Andrew Holder Interview

andrew holder

We’ve mentioned Andrew Holder on grain edit before, but I just got word of a cool interview with him over at Defgrip. In the interview he discusses some of his recent work for arkitip. He also shares some of his favorite artists. I was suprised to see David Weidman on the list.

After you read the interview, check out the rest of Defgrip. It’s a great site that covers BMX culture, photography, art and design.

Not signed up for the Grain Edit RSS yet? Give it a try. Its free and yummy.

NEW GRAND PRIZE – Evan Hecox Limited Edition Signed Print

evan hecox

We’re proud to announce a new addition to our Grand Prize in the Giveaway. Along with the $150 gift certificate from 2k Gingham and collection of goods from You Work From Them, one lucky winner will be walking home with a limited edition Chinatown Summer print by Evan Hecox courtesy of the rad folks over at Arkitip.

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New Grand Prize coming later today!

Keep checking in!  We’ll be announcing a new addition to the Grand Prize in the Grain Edit Stimulus Package Giveaway!

Jorg Hamburger

jorg Hamburger

Chum mach mit 1962 poster designed by Jorg (jurg) Hamburger / Photograpphy by Hans Peter Muhlemann for Eidg Drucksachen und Materialzentrale – Bern Swirzerland

Beautiful poster by Jorg Hamburger. Swiss minialism at it’s finest. I love the kids climbing in the background and how the poles make for a perfect natural grid.

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Holy Giveaway! The Grain Edit Stimulus Package

grain edit stimulus package

The US Economy is falling apart and people are down. We came up with the “Grain Edit Design Stimulus Package Giveaway” as a way to cheer people up during these rough times and to thank our amazing readers for their continued support.  For the giveaway, we contacted some of our favorite illustrators and designers that we’re featured on Grain Edit within the last 6 months and asked if they would be willing to participate. Thanks to all our sponsors for helping to make this happen!

Sounds Great, but how do I enter?

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It’s coming…

The Giveaway launches later today. Keep checking in.

Grain Edit on the Read Between the Leading Podcast

RBTL podcast

Read Between the Leading is a wonderful new weekly Podcast that features Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney discussing issues related to design and typography. For episode 5 they invited us on the show to discuss how Grain Edit got started, the skittles website and Modernista’s site, and a bit about typographic terminology.

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New giveaway this Monday

grain edit giveaway

For those of you who missed out on our last giveaway we’ve got another one big one lined up for this coming monday. Goodies from Steven Harrington, 2K Gingham and many more. You won’t want to miss it.

Don’t want to miss the giveaway? Sign up for the Grainedit RSS Feed or Grain Edit email updates. Catch us on twitter as well @grainedit

Booooooom yea!

Booooooom

We’re big fans of the art and design blog Booooooom,so we’re super excited to see that they’ve included us in their list of 17 creative websites to bookmark (unless you are dumb)! Make it 18! add Booooooom to your boomarks! It’s a great site.

Objectified Film Poster Designed by Build

objectified poster

Objectified Movie poster 27″ x 39″, metallic silver and black, lithograph.

Beautiful poster design from Michael C. Place and his studiomates at Build for the upcoming Objectified documentary. The poster features drawings of dozens of objects from designers in the film and more. I like how the word “objectified” is subtly placed within the contents of the objects.  Clean, minimal and modern. I love it. Should be available in the shop soon.

Wink lecture poster for CSCA

wink poster

I knew the sun had a mustache! Great new work from the guys at Wink for a recent lecture with the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts. If they ever recreated this mobile in real life it would be interesting to see if the bird poop gets its own string.

You can hear excerpts from the lecture here.

On a side note I love their signature. Wink script sometime soon?

Quality Goods Inc – Drive Less Walk More

brian gossett

Drive Less Walk More by Brian Michael Gossett

Lots of fun work over at Quality Goods inc. The online shop features work from George Katz, Stephen Kelleher, Justin Blyth, Evan Di Leo, Bran Dougherty-Johnson and Brian Michael Gossett. These guys have some serious middle name action going on.

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Grain Edit is on Twitter!?

twitter grain edit

Ok so we are twaddling, twapping, twerding, twoahbowing, whatever it is we’re on Twitter now! You’ll find random musings, extra credit links, and eventually even some giveaways just for our twitter homies.

Catch us on Twitter @grainedit

Sigrid + Hans Lammle

sigrid and hans lammle

Beautiful Cityscapes designed and illustrated by the German couple Sigrid and Hans Lammle. These illustrations were for a calendar published in 1957. Really amazing details and the colors are super bright and saturated. I need more of this! Any guesses as to what city this might be?

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Akimoto vs Black Slabbath-Battle of the Slab Serif Typefaces

black slabbath font

Black Sabbath designed by Stefan Kjartansson

I’ve been receiving emails in regards to the similarities between the Akimoto typeface (featured in our previous post) and Black Slabbath. I think its only fair that we feature Black Sabbath here as well. You make the call.

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Akimoto: A Yummy Fat Slab Display Typeface

akimoto

I’m so glad that Finnish based designer Ossi Gustafsson emailed me about his typeface Akimoto. I’m all about the fat slab typefaces and this is my new favorite. Thin spearheads jut into the characters and define the negative spaces. This makes for a nice contrast against the thick slabs. I gave it a test run and it looks great.  Akimoto comes in three flavors and is available for purchase at Myfonts.com.

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Welcome Grace!

grace

We’d like to officially welcome Grace Danico as the newest member of the Grain Edit team.  You might of noticed her name popping up on the site over the past few months as she’s been digging up lots of goodies for us.

We asked Grace to mention a few things about herself:

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Typographica 7 edited by Herbert Spencer

typographica

Herbert Spencer was the editor and founder of the highly coveted Typographica design journal. A total of thirty two issues were published between the years of 1949 and 1967. The journal was known for its high standards in design and production and eclectic mix of subject matter.

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1958 USSR Pavilion Brochure

1958 ussr pavilion

Really fun illustrations found in this brochure for the USSR pavilion at the 1958 World Fair.

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Swink Direct Mail Promo Piece

swink design

Many thanks to the good people at Madison, Wisconsin based design firm Swink for sending me this awesome promotional piece. Swink put this together as a way to invite people to reconsider the way they’ve been marketing themselves and to believe in the power of a good story — their story. It comes with two plaid lawn chairs (so you can invite a friend), a fire and your very own dinosaur. To top it off, the whole thing comes packaged in a mailer with a giant smiling hot dog! That’s what I’m talking about!

The piece was letterpressed by the always top notch studio on fire.

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Dan Reisinger Perpetual Calendar

dan reisinger calendar

Dan Reisinger: Zurich – 125 years Perpetual Calendar.

I’m drooling over these pictures of the Perpetual Calendar that Barry of the Studio Smith blog just sent me. The calendar was designed by Dan Reisinger for the Museum of the Modern Art in New York. Great score mate!

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El Al Airlines Playing Cards

el al playing cards

Recently dug up this deck of El Al Israel Airlines playing cards. El Al commissioned Israeli artist and designer Jean David to design the set which portrays the Kings, Queens and heroes of Israel’s past. Love the design of the joker. He looks like some crazy elf with danish modern candle holders on his head and a speed bump for an arm.

el al playing cards

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San Francisco International Antiquarian Book Fair

sf book fair

I stopped by the The 42nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco this past weekend and saw some really nice books. This is the largest antiquarian book fair in the U.S. and features booksellers from around the world. I saw lots of great pieces by Piet Zwart, Bruno Munari and a ton of rare children’s books. I was really surprised by the prices though. Many of the books were overpriced, especially considering the current economy. Anyone else get a chance to go? Thoughts?

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Legistyles: Free Custom NetNewsWire Themes

netnewswire themes

I use NetNewsWire to read all my feeds. One of the great things about it is that you can use custom CSS styles. Antonio over Aisle One has put together a wonderful set of NetNewsWire styles that he calls Legistyles. As he mentions on the Legistyles site “Much attention has been paid to the design and typography of the styles to improve legibility and readability, and to enhance the overall reading experience.”

Currently there are 4 styles available.

Serif Black 1.0, Serif White 1.0 (Titles and body text are set in Baskerville)

Haaus (Titles are set in Futura and the body text is set in Lucida Grande)

and Brockmann (Titles and body text are set in Helvetica)

Check it out for yourself here.

Bolda Display Font from The Infamous Foundry

bolda display font

The last time we mentioned Bolda Display on Grain Edit we were drooling over its eventual release. Well now its available for purchase. I gave it a test run and I have to say, I love this font.  I can’t get enough of those lowercase bubbly round slabs. Definitely one of my faves over the past year. It comes in two styles, regular and outline. This has to be the best (and only) font to be inspired by 1970s ping pong fashion.

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Vintage Cassette Tape Covers

vintage cassettes

Bruce Jamieson of the top notch design firm I Love Dust emailed me about this diamond mine of vintage cassette tape inserts he just uploaded to Flickr. The collection includes covers from Happy Sound, Bonsonic, Philips, BASF, WHSmith, Emitape, AGFA, TDK and a grip of others.  Lots of great material from the 1970s and 80s.

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Duane King: BBDK & Thinking for a Living

thinking for a living

Duane King is the creator of Thinking for a Living. A well curated collection of recommended readings and online resources. The site is filled with links to top notch design blogs and firms. Many of the resources are available in a special zine that they put together. In addition to Thinking for a Living, Duane is the creative director of Santa Fe based studio BBDK. They recently completed a project for Italian glassware company Luigi Bormioli. We don’t usually cover web design on grain edit, but I think this site is worth checking out. Clean, minimal and elegant. Very nice.

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Dan Reisinger Design & Illustration

dan reisinger design

Dan Reisinger was born in Yugoslavia in 1934 to a family of painters. His early life was filled with adversity including losing most of his family to the Holocaust. In the 1940s he moved to Israel where he eventually joined the Air Force. It was here that he met his mentor and friend Abram Games. In the 1960s he set up a design studio in Tel Aviv where he helped to design the Israeli Pavilion at Expo’67 as well as create a body of work for El Al Airlines.

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Juno Safety Matches

juno safety matches

Grain Edit reader Dan Chamberlain sent in this rad safety match label from the 1970s.  He discovered it on a recent trip back to his hometown in Essex where he stumbled upon his Grandfather’s collection of matchboxes.

You can see some of the other labels from his grandfather’s collection here.

Netdiver Best of The Year 2008 (BOTY)

netdiver boty 2008

Netdiver now in its tenth year just put together one heck of a best of the year list. They aimed to list 100, but couldn’t do it. Check out all 110 solid picks here.

Spacesick’s Retro I Can Read Movie Series

I can read movies series

Spacesick absolutely nailed it with his I Can Read Movies Series. The series features cult movies redone as vintage paperback covers similiar to the Penguin book cover art of the 1950s + 60s.  Spacesick was partly inspired by Moss’s Movie Poster Remakes series, and all the musty old textbooks and digests that he used to love flipping through as a kid. I think my favorite is Highlander. Not only is the design great, but its absolutely hilarious.

(via neatorama)

Also worth checking:

Vintage Penguin book covers

Japanese book covers

Wildsville – The Art of Derek Yaniger

derek yaniger wildsville

Wildsville : The art of Derek Yaniger – Published by Korero Books

I first found out about Derek Yaniger through Otto von Stroheim’s Tiki newsletter. His art harks back to the sketchy, loose line illustrations often found in cookbooks, maps, pamphlets and packages of the 1950s and 60s. It’s filled with references to hot rods, beatniks and tiki culture. It’s colorful, fun and always full of suprises.

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Hotel Deutschland, Leipzig

hotel deutschland

Hotel deutschland, Leipzig, Germany luggage label

Check the bird in the logo. Very similar to the Braniff Airlines logo designed by Alexander Girard.

also worth checking:

Hotel Rigi Luggage label

Tomorrow Partners: Hello, New Video

hello new video

+++Recommended viewing +++

“New won’t stay still. It finds us, ready or not.” These words lead us into this beautiful video by Berkeley based Tomorrow Partners. Really nice short celebrating the power of “new”.  Illustrations by Sarah Labieniec, who also creates really nice things over at Lab Partners. Take a second out of your day, to watch this. Enjoy!

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Grain Edit On Designers Who Blog

designers who blog

Many thanks to Catherine (cat) Morley for featuring Grain Edit on Designers Who Blog. She runs a great site that includes interviews with bloggers and tips for writing. Check it out!

1960s Zurich Booklet Designed by Franz Fassler

Zurich Switerland Map

Zurich Excursions 1963-Printed by Orell Fussli in Switzerland

The Swiss do it again! Top notch layout by Franz Fassler. Fassler also designed the cover of anwendungstechnik moderner anstrichstoffe seen in our post on modern Swiss book design. This booklet contains information on escorted and non escorted tours around Zurich.

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Eli No! Children’s Book

eli no childrens book

Eli No! tells the story of one trouble-making dog and the one word that is never far behind. The book was designed and illustrated by Katie Kirk & Nathan Strandberg of Eighthourday.

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Terry Posters – Vintage Movie Posters and Books

terry posters

Chlapec a opička c1963

My good friend Wes dropped one heck of a link on me. Terry Posters is pure poster sweet corn. The shop is named after Monty Python member and director Terry Gilliam who was present for the opening. Their online store features a huge collection of Polish and Czechoslovakian film posters. The children’s poster section is especially nice.

Also worth checking:

Polish poster gallery

Deutsche Bundespost got five on it

deutsche bundespost 1956

Deutsche Bundespost Internationale Polizeiausstellung IPA 1956

Giving a big hi five to the world y’all.

Pardon My Hindi

pardon my hindi

Part blog, part store, Pardon My Hindi serves up lots of goodies like this print seen above.

After you check out the store, swing by the blog where you can see Kumar (Of Wes Anderson movie fame etc.) serve up chai the right way! Plus every friday its “dance time” where they drop a serious Bollywood gem like this. Pass the naan and get ready to get down!

What up hero? This is a must see! Heck yea!

Matte Stephens paintings at Jonathan Adler stores

matte stephens paintings

We’re big fans of Matte Stephens here at Grain Edit, so we’re excited to announce that his work will be displayed at the SoHo, Madison ave and Columbus St. Jonathan Adler stores in New York. Other stores around the country will be added. If your in The NYC area, stop on by. Go Matte!

Keep an eye on Matte’s blog to see if his work is coming to a Jonthan Adler store near you.

Tes One Danny Print

tes one danny poster

tes one prints

I’m really into this tribute poster to the Shining by Tes One. I asked Tes if he could share with Grain Edit readers some of his thoughts in the making of this poster.

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Olivetti Underwood Divisumma 24 Manual

Olivetti underwood divisumma calculator

Ok We’re back. I hope everyone had a great New Years! Lets start things off with our first ever…

Conservationist of the Month:

Grain Edit reader Brad Mosher rescued this endangered Italian specimen from a stinky dumpster in an alleyway. To quote Brad, “It was beautiful, broken and smelled of rancid oil and other typical foul goo.” Way to go Brad! Great score and thanks for helping to make this planet a better place.

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Happy Holidays from all of us at Grain Edit!

retro christmas

Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks for making 2008 a great year. Gleeful shout outs to all the wonderful people that have contributed, commented and generally taken time out of their day to visit Grain Edit. We’ll be back on Jan 5th. Lots of good things planned for the new year!

(image via webgirlpip’s awesome flickr photostream)

Miyagi Typeface: Tribute to Letraset Yagi Link Double

miyagi type face

Thanks to Alex Haigh of ThinkDust for making my day. I love looking though my old 1970s/80s Letraset catalogs, so I’m really excited to see that someone has finally created a digitized version of the Yagi Link Double typeface. Alex has put in hundreds of hours to create the upper and lower case 255 character set which he calls Miyagi.

I just fired up Illustrator and gave the typeface a test drive. It looks great. This makes me want to break out the Letraset catalogs and see what other typefaces I’m missing.

Technical details: 255 character set upper and lowercase, full ascii characters, opentype format compatible with pc and mac, full manual kerning.

You can purchase the Miyagi typeface at Alex’s new foundry HypeForType

Hotel Filser, Oberstdorf, Germany

luggage label german

Rad luggage label for Hotel Filser which is located in Oberstdorf, Germany. The mountains in the back would be the Bavarian Alps. Anyone know what typeface “Filser” is set in? Is it Hand-drawn?

Italian Modern Design Book

italia modern design

Italia Modern Design – Published by PIE Books c2007

Japanese publisher PIE Books has put together some excellent design related books over the past couple years including Book Design of Graphic Designers in the World, Olle Eksell and Book Design of Graphic Designers in Japan. I picked up Italia Modern Design recently and it doesn’t disappoint. The book focuses on Italian graphic design from the 1950s-1970s and includes many of the heavyweights like Bruno Munari, Giovanni Pintori, Max Huber, Enzo Mari, Pino Tovaglia, Albe Steiner etc. It also includes a fair amount of work from Olivetti and Pirelli.

The people at PIE Books do a great job of sourcing and presenting the materials. They always dig up a few posters/books/magazines that I’ve never seen before. I just wish they would include an English translation (all the text is in Japanese) so, I can follow along with the notes.

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Maria Dahlgren bag for Loka

maria dahlgren Loka bag

I really like Maria Homler Dahlgren’s Bricka Stockholm tray, so I was excited when Maria emailed me with this bag she designed for Loka. Lots of fun colors and shapes.

Check out the rest of Maria’s work at the Metagram Art Ab website.

Argentina Stamp

1970s argentina stamps

1979 Republica Argentina- de junio dia mundial del medio ambiente

Rad man tree stamp via David McFarline

Monaco 1975 Grand Prix Automobile Race Poster

Monaco 1975 Grand Prix Automobile Poster

Monaco 75 Grand Prix Auto Poster illustrated by Michael Turner

Little something for everyone here….racing stripes, slanted type and a big pink castle.

(via Posterclassics.com)

Grain Edit is Coming to Singapore

I have an upcoming trip to Singapore. Can anyone suggest places to visit? (museums, shops, lounges, restaurants, etc.) Is the toy museum worth visiting?

Also I while I’m in Singapore I’d like to contact a few designers/design firms in regards to a studio visit we could feature on Grain Edit. Can anyone suggest any designers/design firms I should contact? If anyone wants to meet up while I’m in Singapore just send me an email the contact page.

For the Love of Grid Systems

The grid systems resource

Sweet Mother! Six columns of grid goodness! Antonio from Aisle One just emailed me with his latest project The Grid System. The site features links to articles, tools, books as well as templates and other goodies. It’s basically an ever-growing resource site on the topic of grid systems and anything associated to it. Tap it and pass it!

(image via the grid loving Swiss Legacy)

Cepelia: Polish Arts and Crafts Stores

Cepelia Polish arts and crafts

Bag for Polish handicraft store Cepelia 1970s?

Breaking out that case of premium rooster loot. Found this a while back at the local dirt mall. The type is nice, but really its all about that rooster tail.  Even the rooster can’t get his eyes off it. I’d be having a how ya doing all day too if I had a tail like that.

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FOR SALE: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design

For Sale Packaging Design

Back in Febuary we featured John Foster’s work for the So-Cal Fire Poster Project . Recently John contacted us regarding his latest project, a book on packaging design entitled FOR SALE: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design. The book features many of the designers we’ve featured on Grain Edit including: Invisible Creature, Wink, Jason Munn of The Small Stakes and Burlesque of North America. In the exchange below John shares some of his thoughts on the book for Grain Edit Readers.

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Miroslav Sasek: This is the United Nations

Miroslav Sasek - This is the United Nations

Miroslav Sasek: This is the United Nations c1968

Its about time that we have a little Miroslav Sasek love up in here.The Czechoslovakian born illustrator is well known for his This Is Series of children’s books. Most of the books in the This is series are centered around a certain city, for example This is San Franscisco or This is Paris, but in this case it’s an international organization. Through Sasek’s playful ink and gouache illustrations, he guides us through the building. I wish I had books like these when I was a kid. I could stare at this for hours.

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Hotel Neboder, Rijeka, Croatia

hotel neboder rijeka croatia

Beautiful hotel luggage label via the consistently good Inspiration Resource.

House Industries: Letters & Ligatures Show

House Industries letters and ligatures exhibition

For those of you in Los Angeles, Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Gallery is hosting an exhibition of House Industries work.

From Subliminal Gallery’s website:

For Letters and Ligatures, House Industries conveys a single, yet complex philosophy: visual nomenclature fuels language, facilitates communication, and forms the basis of a civilized society.  The written language strings together letters, words, and sentences, conveying the innermost thoughts and ideas that human beings communicate to the outside world.  It is tied to our primitive nature, governing our individual choices and observations, our collective socio-anthropologic history.  At House Industries, the dedicated collective of artists figure if these symbols of syntax hold such an authority, “they might as well look good.”

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, November 8
8 p.m. – 11 p.m.

EXHIBITION DATES
November 8th – December 5th

SUBLIMINAL GALLERY
1331 W. Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
P. 213.213.0078

For more details visit the Subliminal Projects Gallery website.

The new Mr. President

cd ryan obama poster

Poster by CD Ryan. Gets your free here

Its official and now two lucky girls are getting a new puppy.

1950s SAS Airlines Menu

SAS airlines menu 1960s

SAS Airlines dinner menu 1958

Dinner Menu celebrating the 1st Anniversary of the Scandinavian Airlines North Pole Route from Copenhagen to Tokyo.

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OSPAAAL Poster Week

ospaaal-posters-1960s

Palestine Poster designed by Faustino Perez in 1968

Hop on over to So Much Pileup. There showing OSPAAAL posters all week.

Vintage Bus Passes From Milwaukee

vintage-bus-passes

Thanks to Tony Nguyen for sending in these bus passes from the 1940s. Bus #11 seems to be running low on self esteem. “Everyone cannot ride in the first car or bus”, so I guess your stuck with #11. Oh well..

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Yearbooks, Trapdoors and Fish Sticks

mirage 68 yearbook

Found this 1968 yearbook for Depauw University a month ago. I have no idea how the island looking thingys tie in with the school, but I’m really digging it. I think I’m going to chop the front cover off and frame it. Anyone else have any ideas? Maybe I could use the top to make a series of designer trap doorsMirage might be a fitting title for that. Trap doors will be the hot thing in 2009, just wait and see. I’m also looking to heavily invest in secret underground passageways and fish sticks. If you have a cave and box of Gorton’s….let’s talk.

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Grain Edit Insound 20 Small Stakes Giveaway Winner

We have a winner in the Grain Edit Insound 20 Thermals Poster Giveaway we announced last tuesday. Congrats to Owen Evans. He will be receiving 1 limited edition Thermals poster designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes.


Jean Widmer Posters for Centre de Creation Industrielle

jean-widmer-posters-2

Posters for Centre de Creation Industrielle 1969-1972

Beautiful work form the highly underrated French designer Jean Widmer. These posters were created for the Centre de Creation Industrielle. Jean designed the logo as well as all the exhibition posters for the Centre until 1975. He’s mentioned in interviews that his work was influenced by some of the Swiss modernists including Josef Muller Brockmann and Max Bill.  You can easily see that influence in this poster series.

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Anna Sui – Alexander Girard T-Shirts

alexander_girard_nativity

Anna Sui has teamed up with the Estate of Alexander Girard to present a series of T-shirts for Spring 2009. One of the T-shirts features an image very similar to this Girard Nativity Poster we featured here last year.  You can see all the T-shirts here.

It’s time to vote

tomorrow partners vote-posters

Actual downloaded print proudly displaying itself in its native Berkeley habitat

Tomorrow partners put together these posters for the upcoming election. The posters are each limited editions, printed in three colors, 18″ x 24″ and are priced at $20. Also available are 8 1/2″ x 11″ and 11″x 17″ versions that can be downloaded for free. Print up a bunch to post around town!

Both posters can be purchased or downloaded for free here.

Get ready to vote!

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Grain Edit Insound 20 Thermals Poster Giveaway

small-stakes thermals poster Insound 20

We’ve teamed up with Insound to offer this special giveaway today.  Up for grabs is 1 Limited Edition Thermals poster. The poster is part of the Insound 20 series designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes.

All you have to do is enter the giveaway here and we’ll announce the winner next Tuesday, 10/28 on grain edit.

————————————————

Info on the Insound 20 series:

The series consists of 20 designs for 20 bands. Each design was screened on limited edition T-Shirts, Hoodies and Hand-Numbered Posters. The limited posters were screened once in a run of 200 and after these are gone they won’t be reprinted.

If you want to be alerted of future giveaways, please sign up for the Grain Edit RSS Feed.

If you haven’t already, Check out our interview with Jason Munn of the Small Stakes.

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Once again, you can enter the giveaway here.

Booty Juggler Pirate Game

booty-juggler-robin-davey

We’re rolling with the Pirate theme. First Office’s design for 826 Valencia’s new store and now Booty Juggler, a fun new game designed/animated by Robin Davey and built by Ben Templeton of Thought Den. The look of the game was inspired by vintage poster and animation design, the nautical tattoos of Sailor Jerry, and scruffy screenprinted goodness.

Give it a toss here.

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Marilyn Neuhart Interview

marilyn-neuhart-interview

Marilyn Neuhart dolls for the Textile & Objects shop circa 1961 – photo credit Todd Webb of maXimo

The Scout has an excellent interview with Marilyn Neuhart. Marilyn along with her husband John worked as designers in the Eames Office during the late 1950s. She also worked with Alexander Girard in developing the graphics as well as a line of dolls for Girard’s Textile & Objects Shop in New York City. In part of the interview, Marilyn mentions that she would drive around Los Angeles with Girard looking for toys and folk art. That must of been a blast.

Well enough of me rambling. Read the whole interview here. Check out the rest of the Scout while your there. It’s a great site.

LAX MAP? Designed by the Riddler

lax-brochure-1

LAX map designed by Dotan & Associates in 1982

Just found this LAX map. The pictograms on the front are very similar to the identity work of Otl Aicher for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Whats with the obnoxious use of question marks? That’s really ruining my mello.

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Snacking on Grain Edit at the Design Feast

design-feast-grain-edit interview

Nate Burgos is the man behind Design Feast. An excellent resource and growing index of design related sites. Nate recently invited me to take part in the Designer’s Questionnaire section of the site. For my Questionnaire, Nate asked me 7 questions related to blogging. You can see all my answers here.

While your there, checkout Nate’s book entitled Thought Leadership by Design. A timeless volume of contemporary quotes on the powerful, evolving nature of Design and its influence on society, business, technology, education, and most importantly: Everyday life. The book includes quotes from Ladislav Sutnar, Paul Rand, Milton Glaser and many more.

Mad Men, Mad Furniture, Mad Type

mad-men

My wife and I just started watching Mad Men and I  think we’re hooked. Every Sunday night we run upstairs to catch all the dirt going down with the Drapers and the rest of the lot. Not to mention, drool over all the cool furniture! That house in Palm Springs in tonight’s episode had some amazing mid century modern pieces including George Nelson cigar bubble lamps and an Eero Saarinen womb chair. Besides the furniture, I love looking at the type they use on the sets. Mark Simonson has a great post on his blog regarding the type choices for the show.

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We Have our Winners in the Grain Edit Shindig Giveaway!

Thank you everyone for taking part in our giveaway! We had over 1,400 people enter. It was great to see all your comments and look forward to another year.

We randomly selected our 4 winners in the Grain Edit 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway Shindig thing this morning. The winners will be listed at the bottom of the Grain Edit Email Update and Grain Edit RSS Feed. For those of you who subscribe to the email updates, the email will arrive sometime between now and tomorrow morning.

Many Thanks to all the wonderful designers and stores that sponsored today’s giveaway. Without them this wouldn’t of been possible. Please visit their websites and support their work.

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Adrian Johnson

Antonio Carusone/AisleOne

BEAUTIFUL/DECAY

Burlesque of North America

Draplin Design Co.

Field Notes Brand

Frank Chimero

House Industries

Scott Hansen/Iso50

Invisible Creature

Jason Munn/The Small Stakes

Julia Rothman

Justin Fines

Lab Partners

Lorena Siminovich/ Petit Collage

Matte Stephens

The Heads of State

Wayne Pate/GoodShapeDesign

Xavier Encinas of Swiss Legacy/ Peter&Wendy

You Work For Them

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Stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming soon!

Eliezer Weishoff: Israeli Posters

eliezer-weishoff-poster-3

Eliezer Weishoff posters (L)1964 (R)1966

Beautiful posters from Israeli artist and sculptor Eliezer Weishoff. Eliezer first gained international exposure through his work for El Al Airlines and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism during the early 1970s. He was also responsible for designing these environmental stamps we posted back in April. He has a website, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any examples of his early poster work in his image galleries.

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Thomas by Mary Harris

thomas-mary-harris

Thomas and the Twig giving me the stare down.

Sorry everyone, I’m running a little late today on my posts. If you missed this, I posted this gem of a kids book by Mary Harris ( illustrations by Cliff Roberts) over at Design Sponge.

The New YouWorkForThem Site

YWFT-new-site

YouWorkForThem just launched a brand new site this week. If you are unfamiliar with YWFT, it’s an online store that carries books, t-shirts, posters, stock images and more.

We love books at Grain Edit so, we took some time to browse through the book section and select some of our top picks.

We’ve included links below each description, so you can get more info/purchase the book if you want to.

Dave’s picks

charley-harper

Charley Harper –  An Illustrated Life

This mammoth 420 page book put together by Top Designer Todd Oldham is a wonderful tribute to Charley Harper. The book is filled with full color examples of Charley’s stunning work.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

steven-harrington

Steven Harrington: Our Mountain

I love Steven Harrington’s illustration style and this book serves as a wonderful overview of his work. This copy is signed and drawn on by Steven Harrington himself!

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

pino-tovaglia

Pino Tovaglia: The Rule That Corrects Emotion

We received a copy of this book from the publisher a few months back and loved it. You can see our review of the book here. YWFT got in some copies and now you can own a copy of this hard to find Italian import too.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

brockmann-grid

Grid Systems in Graphic Design

Josef Muller Brockmann’s magnum dopest. The definitive book on grid systems. Every designer should be required to own this.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

wim-crouwel

Wim Crouwel Alphabets

I really want a copy of the Wim Crouwel monograph: Mode En Module, but this book will have to due for now. Mode en Module has been out of print for a while and now goes for crazy cash. Wim Crouwel Alphabets (as seen above) is now of out of print as well and I’m sure it won’t be long before it increases in value. YWFT them still has a few copies, get your hands on one while you still can.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

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Ethan’s Picks

How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

As a design student, I am constantly looking for that juicy “tell-all” graphic design book. The one where you learn everything about being a real designer before actually getting a job. I love hearing different tips and tricks from seasoned designers. But my quest is over, because that book is here.

Adrian Shaughnessy breaks the process down into the necessary steps: how to find a job, being freelance, setting up a studio, running a studio, the creative process, etc. All of my burning questions answered in one book! Adrian also includes interviews with Neville Brody, Rudy VanderLans, Andy Cruz, and Natalie Hunter, among others, plus a forward by Stefan Sagmeister.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

Beautiful Losers

One summer I spent a month attempting to learn how to skateboard. In the three years since then I’ve probably only landed two tricks successfully. I either got hurt or was too intimidated. Beautiful Losers is a way for me to vicariously live out my 1990s street and skate culture fascinations, without having to get on a skateboard.

Beautiful Losers tells the story of how artists and designers like Shepard Fairey, Spike Jonze, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, and others built their own art community independent of the mainstream art institution.

Click here for more for more info/ purchase a copy.

Grain Edit’s Semi Large Giveaway: Just a Few Days Left

grain-edit-giveaway

If you haven’t signed up for the Grain Edit 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway yet, it’s not too late. There’s tons of prizes! You can find out more info and sign up here. It’s quick, easy and free. We will be selecting the winners on Friday.

Grain Edit on Apartment Therapy

grain-edit-dave

Dave handling the calls at the Gain Edit customer care corner

grain-edit-ethan

Ethan spending quality time listening to the new Grain Edit Audio Tour (clipboard optional)

We’re darn pleased to announce that Apartment Therapy is featuring Grain Edit as the latest entry in their Behind the Blog series.

You can see the whole thing here

Grain Edit we’re here for you.

Grain Edit on Design Sponge

advent-calendar-vintage

This just in…Grace of  Design Sponge asked me to guest blog for the rest of the week so, I’ll be posting goodies over there as well. This is a real honor for me, since she runs such a great site. For today’s post I dug up a German Advent calendar.

Robin Day Form Unit Sofa for Hille

robin day hille sofa

‘Form’ Unit Furniture by British designer Robin Day for Hille 1961

I thought I’d switch it up a little bit today and post my dream sofa for the workplace. I love the color combinations and the black finished steel base frame. The unit has wide generous seats, yet doesn’t look bulky or heavy. The table top can be surfaced with a mahogany veneer. A drink cabinet can added instead of the corner table.

Thanks for all the Wonderful Comments

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Liz and I went to this new Singaporean restaurant in Lafayette. The food was great. I had the Nasi Lemak and it was on point. The rice had so much flavor. We wanted to get the Chicken Rice, but they ran out. Say what? Singaporean food without Chicken Rice? Oh well, I was kind of bummed about that, but we’ll be back.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the Grain Edit 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway! It’s really inspiring to see all the positive feedback. You guys are the best!

If you haven’t signed up for the giveaway, it’s not too late. You can sign up here.

Balloon Pidgeons Unite, form Voltron Tree!

japanese-poster-1

This is every cat’s nightmare.

Very similar in style to this 70s Japanese poster. Has to be the same designer.

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Grain Edit’s 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway Shindig Thing!

grain edit anniversary giveaway

We’re proud to announce the Grain Edit 1 year Anniversary Giveaway Shindig Thing!

We’ve had a great year and we want to thank everyone for making the site what it is today. To celebrate, we’re offering up a bunch of goodies from our favorite designers and illustrators.

Sounds great, but how do I enter to win?

Read the rest of this entry »

Grain Edit: The Year in Review

grain-edit-one-year

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Grain Edit and we’ve got a big giveaway planned, so be sure to stop by! We’ve had a great year and want to thank all our awesome readers for their wonderful comments and for making Grain Edit a frequent destination.

I’d especially like to thank all of the designers and illustrators that took time out of their busy schedules to share with us.

Some of the highlights of the past year include:

Matte Stephens showed us his awesome home.  Don Clark of Invisible Creature schooled us on his “family portrait”.  Scott Thares of Wink broke out the KISS drawings. Bo Lundberg took us behind the scenes of Barefoot in the Park and Jason Munn of the Small Stakes showed us his Horse Chest.

Ben Butcher of Pixar gave us a sneak a peek into the making of the Wall-E picture book Lots of Bots. Sean and Nicole Flores shared their insane book collection.  Ian Follett showed us some amazing stampsSmall studio, Odopod and Chronicle Books all graciously opened up their spaces for us and Mike Davis of Burlesque served us up a tight mix.

We created some new groups:

Grain Edit Facebook group

Paul Rand Flickr Group

Modern Sticker, Stamp and label club

Some of the most popular posts (besides the interviews and studio visits) of the past year include:

hans_hartmann_posters

Swiss Designer Hans Hartmann

publicity and graphic design in the chemical industry - hans neuburg

Publicity and graphic design in the chemical industry – Hans Neuburg 1967

charles-harper-book-915

Giant Golden Book of Biology – An Introduction to the Science of Life c1961

Saul_bass-henri_paris-5

Henri’s Walk to Paris- c1962- illustrations and design Saul Bass

alian_gree-kids-book-8

Alain Gree – l’electricitie c1969

israel-stamps-modern

Israeli Environment stamps designed by Eliezer Weishoff in 1975

jauna-gaita-magazine-470W

53 Years of Jauna Gaita Magazine

icographic-magazine-910

Issues of Icographic magazine 1971-1978 produced by ICOGRADA

syd-mead-illustration-6

Concepts – Promotional book for US Steel c1961

giovanni-pintori-book-5

Giovanni Pintori exhibition catalog c2003

Dutch type specimen sheet

Vette Annonce type specimen sheet late – Netherlands 1950s/ early 60s

Lastly we’d like send thank you’s to: Coudal, Design Related and Julia Rothman for allowing us to contribute to each of their sites. How magazine for naming us one of the top 10 Sites for Designers for the month of December. David Airey for including us in the Top 50 Graphic Design Blogs and for all the great sites that featured us in their posts.

We have some exciting things planned for the next few weeks and months, so stay tuned. Thanks again everyone!

If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to the Grain Edit RSS. and join us tomorrow for our 1 year anniversary giveaway!

Harry Sierman: Design, Posters and Books

harry-sierman-biblio-poster

de openbare bibliotheek poster, amsterdam 1968

This is absolutely one of my favorite posters of all time. Design by Harry Sierman.

Harry studied at the Amsterdam Institute for Arts Education and later the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. After graduation he got a job with the Dutch publishing house: Querido  He worked there for many years and became well known for his book design skills.

Back in January I had the chance to trade a few emails with Harry’s daughter in law. She was nice enough to send me a copy of a small book that focuses on Harry’s graphic design and typography work from the 1940s till 2003. I’ve attached a few scans from the book below.

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Grady McFerrin is Movin!

grady mcferrin illustration and art

Grady McFerrin moving announcement circa 2001

This one goes out to all the Grady Mcferrin fans up in this piece!

With the recent release of Grady’s line of products on Chronicle books, I dug up this golden corn from my nugget bank. This moving announcement dates back to 2001 and marks his transition to San Francisco (I think he lives in Brooklyn now). It’s hard to believe, but I found this at a yard sale a few years ago.  I have no idea how many he printed, but my guess is that it’s pretty limited.

The announcement looks like it was silkscreened. The dimensions are 7.25″ x 5″. To the Gocco experts out there: are those dimensions achievable with the large Gocco model?

Holla if you love Grady, Holla if you love Gocco, Holla if just love hollaring!

**Note – I erased the address and phone number, so all you McFerrin stalkers couldn’t go to the SF address looking for his old clothes and used pencil shavings.

Delicious Design League: Posters, Design and Illustration

delicious-design-league

Pinback poster

Lots of good stuff going on in the land of Belgian waffle cookie trees. Delicious is serving up this beauty along with some other tasty treats in their shop.

(Via the always yummy Pica + Pixel)

Richard Alan Roberts: Graphic Design & More

richard-alan-roberts-poster

Yummy geometric type served upon gelatinous globs of red and blue. I’ll take it. Get some here.

Matchboxes designed by Jose Maria Cruz Novillo + Olmos

fosforos-del-pirineo cruz novillo + olmos

Fosforos Del Pirineo – Abcdario Animal (Animal Alphabet) Spain 1970s?

I found these recently. Super cool matchbox covers designed by Cruz Novillo + Olmos. The matchboxes feature an illustration of an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Hard to pick a favorite, but I think I have to go with the yellow oso (bear) loco. I think he cloned himself, because I notice I have two of the letter “O”.

Animal roll call. What’s your favorite matchbook cover from the set?

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Maraid

czech matchbox labels

This is turning out to be Maraid day. She has an amazing collection of photography and ephemera, plus she always posts beautiful labels to our Mid Century Modern Sticker, Label and Stamp Club.

Get lost in her collection.

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Vintage numbers

vintage numbers

Race numbers from various UK based races

I love thick fat slabs of juicy numberage and Maraid is serving it up big time. Come get some of these vintage fatties here.

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Aaron Draplin: Design Work and Motel Signs

aaron-draplin-1

Aaron Draplin runs a tight ship. Not only is he an amazing designer, he puts together one hell of a blog. I look forward to checking his site every morning. The guy is a knowledge farm for all things vintage and he always digs up incredible stuff on his notorious road trips.

Lots of great stuff to see on his site, but start by checking out some of his design work.

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Odopod Design Studio Visit

odopod design studio visit

Thanks to Tim Barber and the rest of the gang at Odopod for inviting me  to their studio last Friday. They regularly meet to discuss design and Tim asked if I would like to join them and bring in some of the things that inspire me.

While I was there I was able to take a few photos of the studio. It’s a beautiful space filled with exposed brick, concrete floors and Eames Chairs. When I walked in the main entrance on the first floor, the first thing I noticed was an Odopod sign that looked like it was ripped straight off a Motel 6. It was hot in San Francisco on Friday so, I was lucky that Odopod came with AC, Free WIFI and HBO (I gotta get one of these signs). The rest of the first floor includes meeting rooms and the company parking lot (What is a design studio without atleast one vintage fixie?). The second floor houses the designers, the book collection and a big letter “O”.

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Peter Hofstatter: Psychologie

peter hofstatter psychologie book

This book cover has all I need, big letters and dagger shaped fishies.

Also worth checking:

450+ examples of German and Swiss Modern Book Design

British Railways Memorabilia

british railways memorabilia

British Railways Services and Fares booklets for the Riviera (L) Sept 1962 (R) May 1959

Tony Hillman has put together an amazing collection of British Railways publicity material. His site features posters, menus, booklets, brochures, tickets, timetables and commercials. Put some time aside because there is plenty of good stuff too look at here.

(Huge round of thanks goes to Tika Viker-Bloss for sending this my way)

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Chronicle Books Office Tour

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Thanks to Geoff Wagner and the rest of the crew at Chronicle Books for  for taking the time to show me around the Office.  It’s a beautiful space with lots of nice architectural details including exposed bricks, beams and piping. Large globe fixtures dot the ceilings and remind me of the original Lightolier ball lights that are often found in the Eichler homes of the Bay Area. The entrance to the building hosts a bookshop open to the public. Towards the front of the shop, new books are showcased on top of rustic planks of wood recycled from one of the building’s previous tenants. The top floor features an employee lounge with floor to ceiling window walls and nice views of the Soma district.

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Dirty Laundry: Art of the Stain in Modern T-Shirt Design

dirty-laundry-show

Going to be in Hawaii sometime this month? The Nuuanu Gallery in Honolulu is hosting an exhibition called Dirty Laundry: The Art of the Stain in Modern T-Shirt Design. The basic concept is that they asked designers to stain t-shirts with a medium of their choice (grass, wine, lipstick, etc.) and then design custom artwork that uses the stain as an integral design element. Lots of cool artists and designers are participating including Mike Perry, Damien Correll, Frank Chimero, Kris Chau, Wyeth Hansen and Tim Gough.

You can check out the full roster and get details about the show at the Dirty Laundry website.

1960s – 1980s Which? Magazine Covers

which-magazine-covers

Which? magazine offers reviews and advice for various products and services. It looks like it’s a British version of Consumer Reports magazine. In addition, to the cool cover each issue features interesting information graphics and illustrations. Some of the illustrations remind me of the work of Bill Sokol. Anyone know who the art director for the magazine was?

You can check out some of the issues over at the always yummy Delicious Industries.

We have a winner!

Be sure to check the grain edit RSS Feed/ Email update today.  We have announced the winner in the Raymond Savignac Poster Giveaway!

Thanks to everyone who participated! We will be announcing a new giveaway soon.

Design Coordination and Corporate Image – FHK Henrion

design coordination corporate image FHK henrion

Design Coordination and corporate image – FHK Henrion + Alan Parkin c1967

This is an excellent book on the subject of corporate identity. All the big design guns are in here. The best part, for each case study the designer explains the problems he encountered and his thoughts behind the design etc.

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Otl Aicher Munich 1972 Olympics Design Exhibition

otl aicher exhibition

The Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery located within San Jose State University is hosting an amazing exhibition of graphic design by the office of Otl Aicher for the 1972 Munich Olympics. The exhibition features, posters, books, brochures and signage conceived for the 1972 Olympic identity program. Now you can get a close look at all those pretty isotypes, icons, pictograms, symbols and whatever else you might want to call them.

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The Raymond Savignac Olivetti Print giveaway, again!

Raymond savignac olivetti print

Last December we gave away a Raymond Savignac poster. Since then we’ve received emails from people interested in the poster, so we decided to give one more away.

poster details: This is not an original, but rather a reissue of the original poster Savignac created for Olivetti in 1953. We received this copy directly from the Olivetti Society in Italy.

Sounds great, but how do I enter to win?

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Sebastião Rodrigues: Graphic designer

sebastiao rodrigues book cover design

Beautiful work by Portuguese designer Sebastio Rodrigues (1929- 1997)

You can see a video of Sebastiao in action here.

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Steven Harrington & Justin Krietemeyer exhibition

steven harington-exhibition

For those of you in the L.A. area, Subliminal Projects Gallery has a new exhibition entitled Somehow We All Seem Connected which features new work from Steven Harrington and Justin Krietemeyer of National Forest Design. Two awesome designers with long last names. The exhibition marks their first show in Los Angeles in four years and runs August 23 through September 19.

Grain Edit Studio Tour

grain-edit-studio-tour-1

Leah Hennen of the excellent More Ways to Waste Time blog just posted a tour of my house/ studio. You can get a glimpse of the goodies here sans my dirty laundry and unwashed dishes. As you can see, books dominate the house. Any other book nerds out there?

See the full tour here. Stop by and say hello.

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Vintage Brazilian map

vintage brazil map

Brasil Mapa Geral – from 1969

I picked this up a couple of years ago and I flipped when I saw this cover. This puts to shame my US Texaco maps. Unfortunately, the map part is missing. All I have is the cover and a few bits of text that were inside. What secrets did that map hold? I bet it was a treasure map that led to a top secret cave filled with barrels of almond milk. Dang, I love that stuff.

Can anyone translate the text on the cover?

Also worth checking:

1960s Brazilian book cover designs by Gian Calvi

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Able Animal Posters

able caesar lion poster

Seen above: Caesar the Friendly Lion, Dimensions 12.5 x 9

Able a design and branding firm outside of Philadelphia just put together a great animal poster series. The lion poster has a retro feel to it and reminds me of some the children’s book illustrations seen in the late 1970s to early 1980s.

You can see/ purchase the entire series at Able’s Etsy shop.

Also worth checking:

Petit Collage Animal Alphabet Poster

ISO 50 Terabyte 3 Poster

terrabyte iso50 poster

I’m a big fan of Scott Hansen’s (AKA ISO50) work and this new poster is a knockout. Love his use of Hellenic Wide for the type. The poster is for an upcoming show at the Los Angeles Arboretum.

So Much Pileup

so much pileup mike davis blog

o-grito-logo

O Grito logo seen on Brazil’s TV Globo circa 1977/1978

Mike Davis over at Burlesque of North America just dropped a gem on me. He just announced the launching of his new blog So Much Pileup which will feature design artifacts and inspiration from the 1960s-1980s. As you can tell from what I post on grain edit, that I’m love with the design of that era, so I’m really excited to see what Mike will be posting.

Head over to So Much Pileup and check out his first post on the graphics of TV Globo.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out Mike’s exclusive dj mix for grain edit.

Lettered: Typefaces and Alphabets by Clotilde Olyff

lettered jan middendorp book

Lettered: Clotilde Olyff by Jan Middendorp – published by Druk Editions 2000

Clotilde Olyff is a Belgian designer and typographer who teaches at the National Visual Art School of La Cambre and Art School’75’ in Brussels. In this book by Jan Middendorp, Clotilde shares her investigations into the essence of the letter. The book is filled with typographical games and experiments.

clotilde-olyff--book

The Pebble Alphabets: I’m amazed by her collection of letter shaped pebbles. Next time your at the beach look under your feet, you might be standing on the letter “M”.

clotilde olyff douff typeface

clotilde olyff pebble alphabets

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SMALL Studio: Office tour and posters

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Several weeks ago I posted this wonderful Buck 65 gig poster designed by the Lyon, France based design duo Small Studio. Since then, we’ve been trading emails and they’ve been kind of enough to allow grain edit readers a sneak peek into their design studio.

I love the hand drawn typography often found in their poster work. In the examples below you can see the development of the type work for several posters that were designed recently.

dj vadim small gig poster

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SLEEPY TIME! Do Not Disturb Hotel Door Hangers

do ot disturb hangers

Athens Hotel door hanger + El Al Airlines hanger for sleepy time

Woah, Michael Lebowitz just posted an awesome collection of hotel door hangers.

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A lil somethin’ for the players

players theatre booklet

Theatre arts at Western Illinois University Summer 1968

Yep, thats right I’m breaking out the vintage drama club dorkery.

Modern Vintage Stamps from Norway – First Day Cover 1966

vintage-stamps-norway

First day cover for Norway 1966 – Feat Sam Eyde 1866/1940 stamp and Kristian Birkeland 1867/1917 stamp.

Beautiful set of stamps dedicated to the Norwegian engineer Samuel Eyde and the scientist Kristian Olaf Birkeland. My copy (above) has a postmark on it, so I tracked down another version without the post mark at the excellent Postimerkki.

vintage-stamps-norway-2

also worth checking:

vintage modern stamps from Israel

Iain Follett’s stamp collection

Postcode Typeface based off Gert Dumbar stamp available for download

postcode typeface

gert-dumbar-dutch-stamp

Top: Postcode typeface designed by Christophe Stoll 2008- Bottom: POSTCODE stamp designed by Gert Dumbar in 1978.

Christophe Stoll recently emailed to let me know of a cool typeface he designed called Postcode which is based off a stamp in the Iain Follett Stamp collection we featured. Check out Christophe’s website to hear the story behind Postcode and to download the typeface for FREE.

After you download the typeface, put some time aside to browse Iain Follett’s amazing stamp collection on Flickr.

Matte Stephens interview

matte stephens interview

I’m really excited to present today’s interview. Matte is one of my favorite artists and an all around rad guy. Matte makes amazing art and lives in a house with lots of cool modern furniture. In Matte’s conversation with us he shares some of the people/things that inspire his work, the characters that frequent his paintings as well as a glimpse into his studio and home.

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Doshi Levien – Base Patterns for Tefal Teflon cookware

doshi levien tefal cookware patterns

Bottom of Tefal pans designed by Doshi Levien

This makes me ashamed to look at my crappy IKEA pans.

(via the awesome orange you lucky!)

Ladislav Sutnar – Telephone Numbers on Letterheads

ladislav sutnar telephone numbers  on letterheads

How to show telephone numbers on letterheads – c early 1960s

The idea of a set of parenthesis surrounding the area code in a phone number dates back to the booklet above and Ladislav Sutnar’s design work for AT&T. Aflier has posted scans of this booklet which includes 15 letterheads selected by Sutnar with various options of laying out a 10 digit phone number.

(via the always excellent iso50 blog)

Also worth checking:
Sweets Catalog promo designed by Ladislav Sutnar

Vintage Electronics and Music Concrete booklet

Nieue muziek by Gerard de wit

Nieuwe Muziek – Concrete en elektonische muziek by Gerard de Wit c1968

Great cover photo of a dutch recording studio from the 1960s. Check out all the vintage analog recording equipment! So many buttons, switches, knobs, reel to reels and dials. If your into 60s computer interfaces, tape machines and old mixing boards, I highly recommend you check out Stewf’s amazing Control Panel Flickr group.

Mucho  thanks to Chris at Groove Merchant for hooking me up with the booklet.

1960s Brazilian book cover designs by Gian Calvi

Gian Calvi book cover designs

Plantão Fatídico é de c1967 -O Assassino Nudista c1968 – No Calor da Noite c1968.

Beautiful book covers by Brazilian designer/ illustrator Gian Calvi. Very similiar to the Penguin book covers of the same time period.

I’m very interested in Brazilian design from the 60s and 70s, so If anyone has any images or info please send it my way.

(via design ref’s wonderful flickr set)

also worth checking:

Japanese book cover art from the 1960s

Amanda visell art prints, sculptures and vinyl toys

amanda visell art prints and vinyl toys

Giant metal robots feeding toasts to kids, double decker bus eating elephants, pooping unicorns eating ice cream, and this is just for starters! These are just a few of the paintings you’ll see at Amanda Visell’s website. Some of which have come to life in the form of limited edition wood / resign figures and sculptures.

Swindle magazine has a nice interview with her where she shares her appreciation for vintage Walt Disney concept art and her beginnings as an artist.

(via dinosaurs and robots)

Albe Steiner: Italian graphic designer

albe steiner graphic designer

In 1940 Albe Steiner founded the Milan based studio Graphica Foto where he and his wife Lica experimented with Photography and design. Over the course of his career, Steiner designed for Domus, Agfa, Pirelli among others.

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Buck 65 concert poster

buck-65-poster

Super cool Buck 65 poster via the All-Over gallery. Birds talking about record factories, thats all I’m saying.  Check the rest of the limited edition prints in the gallery as well..

Album covers from the merchant of grooves

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grain edit is proud to announce for your viewing pleasure the second installment in our ongoing record gallery series.

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One of the first people I met when I moved to California was Chris Veltri. Chris aka “Cool Chris” owns the world renowned Groove Merchant record store which has become a haven for those looking for obscure jazz, soul, funk and latin records. Chris is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and his knowledge of music is bordering on insane. I couldn’t begin to count the amount of amazing albums he has exposed me to.

On one of my trips to Chris’s house I had a chance to take a few photos of his personal record collection. I only had time to go through a small portion of his collection, so here are a few of the choice album covers.

*Note – sorry for the poor image quality on some of the photos. I was having an issue with my camera.

Also worth checking:

The Record Gallery part 1- Mike the 2600 King

22 years of arts and architecture magazine

arts and architecture magazine

If you haven’t seen this already, the arts and architecture website has an amazing archive of the magazine from 1945-1967 available in PDF format. The issue gallery includes covers designed by Herbert Matter, John Follis and Alvin Lustig. Select covers are available as prints you can purchase.

also worth checking:

53 years of Jauna Gaita magazine

Many thanks to Seth for sending this our way.

Children’s pop up book – The Jungle Race

the jungle race book J pavlin G Seda

The Jungle Race – c 1967- Published by Bancroft & Co.

Super cool children’s book from Czech illustrators G. Seda and J. Pavlin. One of many pop up books the duo illustrated during the 1960s and 70s.

The short version of this story is: a lion, an elephant and and a giraffe try to put together a race and find out that their friends are totally lame. Their loser friends include trendy Zebra fashions snobs, snorkeling hippos and an antelope that likes to get tossed in the air by a gaggle of monkeys.

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Ken Garland: art editor for Design Magazine

Ken Garland design magazine

Design Magazine June 1961

Ken Garland served as art editor for UK based Design Magazine for six years. This is just one of many amazing covers that was conceived during his tenure.

also worth checking:

10 years of Vendre Magazine cover design

Insound 20: Small Stakes Posters, T shirts and Hoodies

insound 20 posters designed by The Small Stakes

Online indie music store Insound announced the release of the Insound 20 project today. The project features limited edition t-shirts, Sweatshirts and posters designed by Jason Munn of The Small Stakes for 20 of Insound’s favorite bands. Only 1000 t-shirts / sweatshirts and 200 posters of each design will be printed.

The band’s featured in the Insound 20 are: Beirut, Black Heart Procession, Built to Spill, Calexico, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Death Cab for Cutie, Department of Eagles, Grizzly Bear, Jose Gonzalez, Magnolia Electric Co., New Pornographers, Okkervil River, Peter Bjorn & John, She & Him, Spoon, The Constantines, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady, The National, and The Thermals.

There is an additonal design being sold that includes the names of all the bands in the Insound 20 program. 100% of the profits from the sale of this shirt and poster will go to benefit nonprofit literacy organization 826 NYC.

You can purchase the goods here.

Behind the Insound 20 Designs with Jason Munn

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Heavy Metal parking lot: Cast Iron Ampersands

House industries ampersand- sculptures

From the same East coast that you brought you such cult classics as the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Thanksgiving holiday comes these bad boys. These cast iron ampersands produced by House Industries are perfect for bookends, door stops, paperweights and rolling shotgun to the next Judas Priest concert.

Plus check out the ampersand t-shirts! I need to get one of these.

also from House:

Alexander Girard Alphabet Blocks

tholon kunst – book cover design

tholon kunst design

Book cover for Jules Verne novel

Lots of great work to see at Argentinian design firm tholon kunst – Book covers, annual reports, logos and a cow grazing on a prime patch of white space.

Vinni Puh video – The Russian Winnie the Pooh

vinni puh video from 1969

Winnie the Pooh has been around since the 1920’s. In the early 1960s the character was licensed to Disney for a series of features that debuted in 1966. The Russian version of this cartoon known as Vinni Puh aired in 1969. You can see an episode here.

It’s weird to see the Russian interpretation. I’m so used to the chunky orange American version. This guy looks like an Ewok.

Really enjoyed the video. Many thanks to Chris for sending this our way.

Giovanni Pintori : exhibition catalog of design for Olivetti

giovanni pintori -Olivetti exhibition catalog

Giovanni Pintori exhibition catalog c2003

Giovanni Pintori won a scholarship in 1930 (at the age of 18) to study at the ISIA in Monza under design heavyweights like Marcello Nizzoli and Edoardo Persico. After graduation he was invited to work for Olivetti in the Development & Advertising Office located in Milan. Three years later he would become the head of the department. Over the next 27 years he created an impressive body of work for Olivetti that would earn him a lasting international reputation.

This book was made in conjunction with a 2003 exhibition that highlighted many of Pintori’s designs for Olivetti.

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1960s vintage postage stamp – 100 years of baseball

vintage us postage stamp 1969

stamp commemorating 100 years of Professional Baseball c 1969 – printed on a Giori press.

One of my favorite stamps from the US. It all works for me, the use of negative space, the colors, and the 6 cent price tag. Makes me miss the days of buying big league chew at the candy store and watching TWIB.

Also worth checking:

vintage modern stamps from Israel

modern sticker, label and stamp club

Moodswing9 interview

moodswing9 interview

moodswing9 (me) digging for records circa 1998

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a few people over and watched the fireworks from our deck. Ryan “burger mother” tenderly worked the grill and successfully brought over 10 meat patties to life. This man knows his stuff. Thanks to everyone that came through. In addition to all this patriotic partying, it was my birthday, so it was a pretty busy weekend.

Now onto the picture above. Before I was interested in design I produced music for many of the guys in the Anticon collective under the moniker Moodswing9. Marc of We Push Buttons recently interviewed me. You can read the full interview here.

Happy 4th of July!

uzi vintage firecrackers

If the bomb doesn’t get you maybe the Uzi will.

Have a great 4th of July. We’ll be back on monday.

(vintage firecrackers via crackerpacks)

2000+ Bossa Nova album covers

bossa nova album covers

bossa nova album covers

Bossa Nova Online has an insane collection of Bossa Nova album covers. I counted over 2000 albums! what! Tons of records from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. You can sort by labels as well. The site has archives for some of my favorite labels including: equipe, Forma, Odeon, Elenco, MPS and Som Maior. I’m not sure if these records are store inventory or part of someone’s personal collection. Either way you can easily spend a few hours browsing this monster.

Also worth checking:

Quarteto Em Cy – album cover design

Japanese graphic design in the 1950s exhibition

1950s japanese graphic design exhibition

1950s Japan: The blossoming of the graphic designer exhibition book

1950s japanese graphic design exhibition

Packaging –  Honen salad oil – design by Kenji Ito 1959, Snow ice cream -design by Tadashi Masuda 1959, KAO soap – design by Hideo Amano 1958

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Wall-E retro art posters – illustrations by Eric Tan

wall-e pixar poster by Eric Tan

Eric Tan nailed it with his recent line of limited edition prints for Wall-E. The illustrations were inspired by vintage Disneyland attraction posters.

I saw Wall-E on friday. The theater was packed, as you might expect for the premier in Oakland. Pixar is only a few miles away from my house, so I’m sure there were illustrators who worked on the film in the audience. It was unlike any other Pixar film I’ve seen. Amazing in so many ways.

(image via Slash Film)

Also worth checking:
Exclusive look at the making of the Wall-E picture book.

STEP Inside Design business annual – cover design by Wink

wink step inside design cover

Finished Cover

The cover of the July/ August issue of STEP Inside Design magazine was designed by Wink. Scott Thares of Wink shares with grain edit some of the thoughts that went into the cover:

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Forest Small Book Series

forest small book series

Of Great Masses Moving at Visionary Speeds – Small Book Series vol. 2

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. Joel over at the design studio Forest (of The Drama magazine fame) sent us this swell little book that’s part of the Forest Small Book Series. Books in the series are released quarterly and feature various thoughts, sketches, collections, and travels. Each issue is handmade using French paper and designed by Forest.

Vol. 2 (seen above) features photos by Joel and quotes from CS Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet. I really like the quotes Joel selected for inclusion in the book. Here’s one:

“To EVERY MAN, in his acquaintance with a new art, there comes a moment when that which before was meaningless first lifts, as it were, one corner of the curtain that hides its mystery, and reveals, in a burst of delight which later and fuller understanding can hardly ever equal, one glimpse of the indefinite possibilities within.”

Each issue is only $5, so stop by the Forest website and pickup vol. 2 and the recently released vol.3. You can sign up for a yearly subscription as well.

Charles Goslin – graphic designer and illustrator

charles goslin graphic design

Bedside Nurse magazine design from 1968, 1969 and 1970

Charles Goslin (1932-2007) began his career at Lester Beall’s studio in 1954 and left to pursue work at corporate identity firm Lippincott & Margulies in 1958. Three years later he parted ways again, but this time to begin what would be a lengthy career as a freelance designer and illustrator. During this time he started teaching at Pratt Institute as well, where he became known for unique assignments.

For those interested in learning more about Charles Goslin, former student Scott Santoro has written a lovely piece about him here.

Also of interest:

Graphic designer Clarence Lee – He worked at Lester Beall’s studio in 1958, possibly at the same time as Charles Goslin.

Petit Collage animal alphabet poster

petit collage aninal alphabet poster

Animal Alphabet 18 x 24 poster. 3 color screen print

I first ran into San Francisco based Lorena Siminovich’s work at a local store that carries modern goods a few years ago. It was the Elephant collage seen on this page that caught my eye. Since then she has released a small zoo of colorful collages, posters and notecards.

The poster seen above is the latest addition to her collection. Check out that chocolate elephant! He’s hanging out with his mysterious friend that starts with a letter “i” and drinking some yummy camel leg. Lots of Fun!

You can see this poster and the rest of the collection at Lorena’s website: Petit Collage.

Airline memorabilia – vintage playing cards

british airways playing cards

British Airways standard playing cards – 1970

Woah, British airways on acid! Anyone know who designed this deck of cards?

Modern book cover art – Creative America

creative america-cover

Creative America: Art director- Albert Squillace c1962

Thanks to Chad for sending this in. Looks very similar to the book cover design work of Paul Rand.

Also worth checking:
Modern Dutch book cover design
1960s Penguin books

Editor of Dwell Magazine reveals his modern home + his owls

sam grawe editor of dwell house

sam grawe editor of dwell house

Apartment Therapy posted photos of Sam Grawe’s apartment yesterday as part of their 2008 home tour series. Sam is the Editor-in-Chief at the San Francisco based Dwell Magazine. If you are unfamiliar with Dwell, it is a magazine that focuses on modern architecture and design.

Sam has lots of goodies in his house. The place is filled with Danish modern furniture, Bertoia chairs and Scandinavian nic nacs. What did me in was the record covers and the owls. This is a man that loves owls! He has a slew of these Edvard Lindahl looking ceramic miniature birds of prey. Too be fair, it looks he holds no Owl biases. I see examples of Strigidae (Heck yea, I’m name dropping) as well as the barn yard variety. I actually know nothing about Owls. I picked all this up in a two minute search at Wikipedia. Anyways, I’m getting off track. To sum up, just check out the house tour.

Elizabeth Shoes – Vintage shoebox – 1970s ?

vintage elizabeth shoes box

Elizabeth shoes shoebox possibly from the 1970s

I just about flipped when I found this image of an Elizabeth shoe box on flickr. I love the organic lines flowing inside the butterfly wings. Is it me or does it look like the body of the butterfly is rising from a lighter thats created when the letter “L” and letter”i” are placed next to each other? I doubt that was their intention, but its still looks cool. I can’t get enough of those branches that stem from the letters. Has anyone heard of this company? Is this a new company or is this from the 1960s or 1970s?

Many, Many thanks to Fountaineer for posting this.

Aldo Novarese – Recta Sans Serif Typeface for Nebiolo

Aldo Novarese recta san serif typeface

Aldo Novarese – Recta Type Specimen sheet circa late 1950s/ early 1960s.

Beautiful san serif typeface by Aldo Novarese. He designed Recta in 1958 while serving as the art director at the Nebiolo type foundry (Societe Nebiolo Torino) in Turin, Italy. Novarese is well known for designing the modern typeface Microgramma, which later became Eurostile.

In the pictures below, you can see a few examples of the 21 fonts that were included in the Recta font family.

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Poster Offensive 4 – Minnesota poster art show

poster offensive 4

For those of you in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area, Poster Offensive 4 will be hitting your hood on Friday August 29th 2008 at the Black Dog Cafe.  The show later travels to the Frank Stone Gallery on October 3rd.

Poster Offensive is partnering up with the organization, Provention: A group of Minnesota artists offering a peaceful welcome to the GOP conventioneers as they arrive in town. The Poster Offensive is a non-partsian poster show dedicated to the promotion of peace and democracy.

Participants include: Aesthetic Apparatus, Peet Fetsch, Todd Bartz, Boyd Brent , Kelly Munson and many others.

For gallery times, dates and locations click here.

Many thanks to the gracious people at Spunk Design Machine for putting this event together and for sending us some of the swell posters seen above. If you live in the Oakland area and would like a poster, please contact me.

1950s Alvin Lustig album cover design – Vivaldi

vivaldi album cover design

Classical album covers from 1954

Finnish illustrator Elina Minn captured these lovely record cover specimens designed for the Haydn Society by Alvin Lustig hiding in her Grandmother’s vinyl collection. I really like the colors of the album on the right. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of this Alexander Girard nativity poster.

After you check out the Vivaldi covers, wander down to Elina’s website. Plenty of great illustration and collage work to look at.

Many thanks to Gina Federico for sending this my way and Kind Company who designed the Alvin Lustig website, for alerting us that these album covers are the work of designer Alvin Lustig.

Other work by Alvin Lustig:

The Collected writings of Alvin Lustig
Alvin Lustig brochure design

Maria Holmer Dahlgren – Bricka Stockholm tray

Maria Holmer Dahlgren Bricka Stockholm tray

Orange buildings, black suns and a white glob with two eyes in the upper right corner. Anyone have an idea what the white glob is? I guess it doesn’t matter, it looks cool.

Many thanks to Kim Eriksson for posting images of this Bricka Stockholm tray. You can get in on this good stuff here.

Karl Gerstner and Markus Kutter – die neue Graphik

karl gerstner die neue graphik book

Karl Gerstner and Markus Kutter – the new graphic art – c1959 published by Arthur Niggli Ltd.

Classic book that surveys modern graphic design from its origins up till the late 1950s. Filled with advertisements, posters, packages, lettering, logos and displays. Lots of Swiss design to drool over.  I just wish there were more color images.

I love the clean type and the 3 column grid on the cover. The modern day remake of the cover would be exactly the same except someone would replace the header “die neue graphik” with “this is a design book”. Ha

Includes work from: Hans Neuburg, Joseph Muller Brockmann, Richard Paul Lohse, Ladislav Sutnar and many others.

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Daphne Padden – Vintage travel posters

Daphne Padden posters for royal blue

Allison at The Lark posted an amazing collection of vintage travel posters by British artist and illustrator Daphne Padden. Most of the posters in the collection were created for Royal Blue Coach Services (A Bus company located in the UK) during the1950s and 1960s. Her work is fun and filled with little men with big beards! The illustration style reminds me of Tom Eckersley and Abram Games.

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Joseph Muller Brockmann – album cover design

joseph muller brockmann album cover design

Andre-Francois Marescotti / Armin Schibler album cover – Designed by Joseph Muller Brockmann

I’m off to a late start today, I was up late last night making a few changes to the far right column. In addition, I’ve added a page dedicated to our Modern Sticker + Stamp club and Paul Rand group. Give it spin!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Has anyone been to the Birth of Cool : California at Midcentury exhibition yet? I’m dying to go but, I haven’t had a chance yet. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the exhibit.

Up above. Beautiful example of Swiss graphic design via Alki1.

Invisible Creature interview

Don  Clark disney pic

Invisible creature is the three-time Grammy-nominated Seattle based design duo of Don and Ryan Clark. Including their work while part of Asterik Studio and current work for Tooth & Nail Records, the two have created hundreds of CD packages and limited edition silk-screened posters. A small sample of their Client list includes: Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell, and Billboard magazine.

Their work is inspiring and fun to look at and they have no problem with experimentation. I’m amazed by their ability to consistently create quality work in a broad range of media.

In this interview, Don Clark shares with us some of the history of Invisible Creature and an exclusive look at the process behind “family portrait”, a piece in their recent gallery exhibition titled Haven.

Read the rest of this entry »

Charley Harper prints in ABC’s book

charley harper abc book

Charley Harper’s ABC’s – published by AMMO Books c2008

Greg over at daddytypes always posts top notch modern design goodies for kids and dads alike. Yesterday he posted this sweet ABC book which features Charley Harper prints. At $10 this is a must for any Charles Harper fan.

You can buy the book here.

Also worth checking:
We posted a bunch of images of the heavily sought after Giant Golden Book of Biology, written by Gerald Ames and illustrations by Charles Harper (Copies sell for $300 +!) Click the link below to see the image gallery.

Charley Harper illustrations – Giant Golden Book of Biology

also see:
Charley Harper Ford Times

Grain edit on Coudal – Guest editor for June

coudal identity symbol logo 

Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners had some nice things to say about grain edit and invited me to be the guest editor at Fresh Signals (Coudal’s daily news section) for the month of June. I’m a long time fan of Coudal, so this was quite an honor.

Keep an eye out for the posts marked with “dc”. Thats me!

William Golden and the history of the CBS logo

william golden cbs logo

CBS logo designer William Golden

The CBS logo has shaker roots! Who knew? In this video, fellow CBS designers Lou Dorfsman and Kurt Weiss explain how creative director William Golden was inspired by an article on Shaker art that ran in Alexey Brodovitch’s Portfolio Magazine.

(via Lined & Unlined)

Montreal EXPO 67 memorabilia – Soviet guide book

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Ephemera from the Soviet Pavilion at Expo 1967 (World’s Fair)

I found this guide book a few weeks ago hidden in a box of old paper goods. I almost dropped a loaf when I saw the maps contained within. The maps display the table arrangements and walking paths for each floor of the Soviet Pavilion which was designed by Russian architects M. Posokhin, A. Mndoyants and B. Tkhor. Simple and effective layout of the information. I love Circular blobs, lines and arrows and these maps are chock full of that good stuff.

The Soviet Pavilion was filled with cool exhibits including; Russian postage stamps, Matryoshka dolls and folk art, space exploration as well as a restaurant that featured bliny and Ukrainian borsch.  I wish I could of gone, but I wasn’t even born yet.

Grotesque poster

akzidenz grotesk swiss poster

peter & wendy just released this classy piece of posterage entitled “Grotesque”. It’s a double-sided 170 gr/m² Offset paper poster printed in black and PMS 871U. Get your hands on it while you can. It’s a limited edition run of 100.

Chicago 3 – Society of Typographic arts design annual

chicago design annual

Cool cover for the 1969 Chicago 3 design annual. Consists of three “C’s” or if you look from left to right, the letter “C” and the #” 3″. The annual is a catalog of work from the Artists Guild of Chicago, Chicago Society of Communicating Arts and the Society of Typographic Arts.

Sichuan Quake relief

Sichuan Quake Relief China

Simon Perrin who recently won the Herbert Bayer Olivetti poster contest, just notified me of a website he put together which offers news, info, links to the relief efforts/projects and some of the fundraising initiatives for the recent earthquake in China’s Sichuan province. Simon was living in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, when the earthquake hit.

You can find more info about the relief efforts here.

Steven Harrington touring art show

steven harington art show

For those of you in Europe Steven Harrington has an artshow touring through Paris, Milan, Berlin and Barcelona. In conjuction with the tour Steven is releasing his first solo book.

In addition to the book, He is also releasing some custom shaped and designed limited edition element series decks, a paper toy and 10 new prints. You can check the tour dates, SH book info, day by day photo blog of the tour and in progress shots here at the Our Mountain website.

Tour kicks off June 5th in Paris.

Modern Czech matchbox label

1960s czech matchbox label

Solo Lipnik – UUZO Praha – Pronti Tetanu label – 1960s?

Super cool matchbox label from Czechoslovakia. Pretty intense colors. Nothing like taking a bike ride through a field of ketchup. Can anyone translate the text?

TypeCon 2008 poster gallery – Call for entries

TypeCon-poster

If you don’t know what TypeCon is, it’s the leading conference in America on Typography. YouWorkForThem is curating a poster exhibit at TypeCon. They are looking for your best poster work that has excellent usage of Type on it. It can be the main focus, or minor. They will be displaying the best submissions and the poster show will most likely travel, like the last one did. Don’t wait till last minute, send your entries over now! Please help spread the word, they want as many submissions as possible.

Click here for more info and to download the submission PDF.

The illustration work of Atsushi Hara

atsushi hara illustration design

I wonder who this guy is waiting for? Maybe he’s into Planespotting? Whatever the case, the guy in the back with the brown jacket looks pissed.

Great Airport scene from Japanese illustrator Atsushi Hara. His work is reminiscent of Miroslav Sasek and Richard Erdoes. Check out Atsushi’s portfolio for a selection of hand picked gems.

(via stickers and stuff)

Modern design and the stamp – Iain Follett’s stamp collection

Iain follett stamps design collection

After discovering Iain Follett’s stamp collection was featured in Creative Review’s January 2008 issue of Monograph, I decided to contact him and see if he would be interested in sharing some of his favorite stamps on grain edit. He agreed and has graciously provided us with some choice stamps and his comments.

Continuing with our designer’s bookshelf series, grain edit is proud to present Iain Follett.

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Modern design and the stamp – Iain Follett’s stamp collection

Iain follett stamps design collection

After discovering Iain Follett’s stamp collection was featured in Creative Review’s January 2008 issue of Monograph, I decided to contact him and see if he would be interested in sharing some of his favorite stamps on grain edit. He agreed and has graciously provided us with some choice stamps and his comments.

Continuing with our designer’s bookshelf series, grain edit is proud to present Iain Follett.

Read the rest of this entry »

Poster by Dutch designer Otto Treumann

otto treumann dutch poster design

Tele Communicate poster for an event in Luxembourg, 1962

I love the layering of color within the bird. If you were to isolate the blue shape, the bird would look similar to Alexander Girard’s design for the Braniff Airlines logo in 1965.

also worth checking:
317 Dutch posters

The Ampersand – yep, a blog about ampersands

ampersand-design blog

“et” style ampersand that appears to be based on the letter “B”

Just found out about this swell blog called The Ampersand. Yep a whole site dedicated to the little homies. Quotes, design and photos of wild Ampersands roaming the streets.

Also, check out this great new blog by the people of Crew Design. Choc full of design goodness! Many thanks to Meghan for hipping me to this cool site.

Mocking Birdies by Annette Simon

Mocking birdies annette simon

Annette Simon sent over two lovely books that I’ve been meaning to post. The first is Mocking Birdies which is the story of two fun loving birds that love to copy each other’s words and whistles. The birds are having a real hoot till a couple of “copycats” come along. Its’ a really funny ending so, you have to read the book to find out what happens. I love how she chose to illustrate the book. The bright colors and simple shapes really catch your eye.

Annette also sent a very touching book titled This Book is for all kids, but especially my sister Libby, which her 5 year old son Jack wrote. The book contains Jack’s thoughts and questions as he struggles to understand the death of his real life sister Libby. Libby died when she was three and half years old due to a rare disorder. Jack’s questions are honest, frank and often humorous. For parents and young ones that are dealing with a similar situation, I’m sure this book leads to some thoughtful discussions.

You can purchase either book at Amazon by clicking on the links above.

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Vintage luggage label from Norway

Vintage luggage label from Norway

Label from Bardola Hoyfjellshotel in Geilo, Norway – c1960s?

I think I’m obsessed with modern Scandinavian design from the 1950s- 1960s. First it was furniture and kids books, then Ceramics and now luggage labels! Where does it end? What’s in that Nordic water?

also worth checking:
Swiss Modern luggage label
Modern luggage label from Portugal

The Making of the Pixar WALL-E Picture book – Lots of Bots

Lots of Bots WALL-E pixar book

Lots of Bots c2008 – Text by Kiki Thorpe – illustrated by Ben Butcher

Ben Butcher of Pixar recently stopped by to give us a preview of the new WALL-E picture book Lots of Bots which he illustrated. The book is the precursor to the film, which is due to hit screens this summer. In the interview below, Ben discusses his thoughts and process in the making of this beautiful book. Where it was possible, we’ve included Ben’s original artwork alongside images of the finished book.

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53 Years of Latvian magazine – Jauna Gaita

53 years of Jauna gaita magazine cover design

After the second World War many Latvian writers were relocated to different areas of the world. Many ended up in Great Britain, Canada and the USA. Living in these new lands they began their own periodicals and publication houses. A new generation of writers emerged. “Living in foreign lands and surrounded by other cultures, these writers strove to capture the influences of modernism.” * One of the magazines that surfaced during this time period was Jauna Gaita (the new course). Ilmārs RumpÄ“ters who designed many of the covers of Jauna Gaita during the 1950s-1970s, wonderfully captured the spirit of this era.

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Bare Knuckles starring Robert Viharo

Bare Knuckles film

Bare Knuckles poster circa 1977

Last night a few of us went down to the Parkway theater in Oakland to check out the classic blaxploitation film Bare Knuckles. The film stars Robert Viharo as Bounty Hunter Zachary Kane who’s on the hunt for a motorcycle riding, masked serial killer ninja! It doesn’t get any better then that!

Bare Knuckles is one of several films that inspired Quentin Tarantino’s GrindHouse flick. Tarantino loaned his copy of Bare Knuckles to Will Viharo (son of Robert Viharo) for the viewing. Robert was in the audience last night and joined his son on stage after the film. It was awesome to see this guy in person after he just kicked two tons of serial killer ninja butt a few minutes before.

One of my favorite parts of the film is Zach’s training session. One minute he’s whaling on a punching bag and the next he’s in the lotus position playing the flute! Now thats Bad Ass!

Check the soundtrack for the film as well. It was reissued recently. Vic Caesar put together a gritty funk masterpiece.

also worth checking:
Nikkatsu Action Cinema

Technorati Tags: ,,

Malcolm Grear Designers advertisement

Malcolm Grear Designers advertisement

Beautiful advertisement for Arkwright-Interlaken, Inc designed by Malcolm Grear Designers. Dates back to the early 1960s.

1950s Eichler modern homes brochure

Eichler Homes brochure
Brochure for the Rancho San Miguel (Walnut Creek,CA) Eichler development c1950s

In honor of the upcoming Birth of Cool: Mid-Century Modern design in California exhibition, I thought it would be nice to post this Eichler brochure. I found the brochure several years ago at an estate sale in Lafayette, California. I love the photo. Most likely the photographer is Ernest (Ernie) Braun.

Mid-Century Modern design exhibition- Oakland Museum

Pierre koening case study house
Julius Shulman, photograph of Case Study House #21 (Pierre Koenig, architect)

Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury—opening May 17 at the Oakland Museum of California—looks at the painting, architecture, furniture design, decorative and graphic arts, film, and music that launched mid-century modernism in the United States, and established Los Angeles as a major American cultural center. The exhibition continues through August 17, 2008.

Birth of the Cool is accompanied by a 300-page illustrated book (published with Prestel Publishers, 2007), which provides a thorough reassessment of the era.

Bookmark Tomorrow

tomorrow partners promotional bookmark

Many thanks to the good people at Tomorrow for stopping by last week, and for the gift of this beautiful bookmark. The bookmark is part of a promotional piece marking their recent contribution to “Trees for the Future“.

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Cuban film posters blog

Cuban film posters blog

El Gran Robo Del Tren De San Trinian – c1968

I recently received an email for this great new blog that focuses on Cuban posters. The site is a wonderful resource for posters produced by ICAIC, OSPAAAL, COR, Casa de las Americas and other cultural, political and social agencies in Cuba.

Poster by Swiss graphic designer Donald Brun

Donald Brun- Swiss graphic designer
Poster for Salon auto geneve – march 14-24 1963

Easily in my top ten favorite posters.

Salon Auto Geneve (Salon International de l’Auto) is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. I admire Brun’s decision to represent the event in an a very abstract way. The white circles used as automobile headlamps look like they are derived from a compositional exercise in one of Armin Hofmann’s classes. This would make sense since Donald Brun taught at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule (Basel School of Design) along side Hofmann.

also worth checking out:
Poster by Swiss designer Hans Neuburg

Frankenstyles – Illustration and design

Frankenstyles - illustration graphic design and motion design

Cool work from Brooklyn based illustrator and designer Stephen Kelleher aka Frankenstyles.

Mid Century Modern airline ephemera

Mid Century Modern ephemera sabena luggage label
Sabena label from the late 1950s/ early 1960s

Wow, amazing luggage label from Belgian airlines Sabena. This label is promoting travel to Africa. Look at those colors! I love how the illustrator portrays the faceted shades of the girl’s face in bold “Fauvist” hues.

This is part of Art of the Luggage label’s amazing collection of luggage labels on flickr. Please check them out. They were nice enough to add the label to grain edit’s mid century modern sticker, label and stamp club as well.

Be sure to check these luggage labels we’ve posted in the past.
Modern Swiss label
Portuguese modern label

Richard Erdoes – Childrens book illustration

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Richard Erdoes – Policemen around the world c1967

Richard Erdoes was an author and illustrator. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1912 and later immigrated to the United States. The book above is one of a 3 part “around the world” series. The other two books were Musicians of the world and Peddlers and Vendors of the world. Both of which, were produced around the same time in the late 1960s.

It looks like Erdoes’ used a combination of Pen/ Ink and gouache to achieve the finished look found in the images above. This reminds me of the work of Miroslav Sasek who I believe used gouache as well.

Many thanks to grain edit reader Thorsten Schmidt for sending the following Richard Erdoes link in:
Richard Erdoes magazine illustration

You can pick up a copy of Policemen around the world at Amazon.

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Also available for your viewing pleasure: Ryohei Yanagihara

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Dave @ Book By Its Cover

 Julia Rothman - Book by its cover blog

All this week I will be guest blogging at Julia Rothman’s wonderful Book By Its Cover blog. This is one of my favorite blogs, so please stop by! Today’s posting is a beautiful book by Tim Biskup.

Herbert Bayer poster contest – we have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their reason for wanting the Herbert Bayer Olivetti poster! After a week of voting, we closed the polls last friday. We’re proud to announce that Simon P. from the Sichuan Province of China reeled in the most votes. He won with his submission, “I live in china, my walls are bare, inspiration comes via a slow broadband connection.” Simon has a shiny new poster coming his way.

Keep an eye out for Simon’s upcoming T-shirt line at escape artist apparel.

Geoff McFetridge show in San Francisco

Geoff Mcfetridge show in San Francisco

For those of you in the San Francisco/ Bay area, Geoff McFetridge has a show tonight at Mollusk surf shop.

Details
show 7-10pm

Address:
Mollusk Surf shop
4500 Irving st.
SF, CA 94122

(Big thanks to Nicole for passing this along)

Saul Bass exhibition at the Design Museum

Saul Bass exhibition at the design museum
Matchbooks for Hunt-Wesson by Graphic designer Saul Bass

Jon (Insect54) posted this amazing set of matchbooks on flickr last night. I’ve never seen these before. I’m digging the pixelated flower in the lower left corner and the orange and yellow pattern on the 3rd down, 3rd to right is really nice. Saul designed the logo for Hunt-Wesson in 1964 so I’m guessing this work was produced right around the same time.

Can’t get enough of Saul?
check these out:
Henri’s Walk to Paris – children’s book illustrated by Saul Bass
San Francisco International Film Festival poster
Saul Bass’s Case study house

Dutch Typography – Lettergieterij Amsterdam typefaces

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Vette Annonce type specimen sheet late – Netherlands 1950s/ early 60s

Happy Wednesday! It’s been a while since I’ve posted any type specimens, so I figured it was time to post this gem from Lettergieterij ‘Amsterdam’ (Amsterdam Type Foundry) which was founded by Nicolaas Tetterode. The specimen is a tri-fold that opens to reveal an 11 X 17 sheet. I’d love to know more about Tetterode, ATF, and this typeface. Can any of the typographers out there fill in the blanks? Has Vette Annonce been digitized? I believe “Vette Annonce” translates to “fat advertisement”. With that in mind, is “Vette Annonce” even the name of the typeface?

Cool Type contest

Sander from segd sent me a link to this cool font contest. Try your luck at What the Font?

Tyler Lang – Graphic Designer

Tyler Lang - Graphic Designer

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. I first came across Tyler Lang a few months ago when his Universal Demand poster for Ringling School of Art and Design was making the rounds on select blogs. His portfolio is filled with great work, I just wish I could see more. I especially like his logo system for the Sarasota Design Summit and the Ford piece seen above.

70s modern stamps from Israel

Rare 70s modern stamps from Israel
Israeli environment stamps – 1975 designed by Eliezer Weishoff

Beautiful stamps addressing both noise and industrial pollution.
Be sure to check out this modern stamp from Israel as well.

Update – Herbert Bayer poster contest

Herbert Bayer poster contest

Its time to Vote! Round of thanks to everyone that submitted their reason of why they must have the Herbert Bayer Olivetti poster. We selected our 5 favorite entries last night. You can vote for your favorite and watch the results in the polls section in the far right column. Polls close at 11:30 AM next friday (25th of april). The person with the most votes wins!

Go for it, vote now! Just takes a few seconds.

Pascal Blanchet cartoons and illustration

Pascal Blanchet cartoons and illustration

I’m just in awe of Canadian comic book creator and illustrator Pascal Blanchet’s work. It was tough to decide what image to post, everything is so good.
(Many thanks to Julia at Book by its cover for passing this along)

Syd Mead concept illustrations for US Steel

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Concepts – Promotional book for US Steel c1961

Industrial designer / illustrator Syd Mead is well known for his vehicle designs and backgrounds for classic science fiction films like Blade Runner and Aliens during the 1980s. Long before these projects, he produced a series of conceptual illustrations and paintings for US Steel. The futuristic automobiles, diagrams and environments were published in several promotional books during the early 1960s.

These books are intense to look at. The full page spreads are over 2 feet wide and heavily detailed. Keep in mind when viewing the images above, that this work is very early on in his career, as he had recently finished his studies at Art Center in Pasadena.

Hans Neuburg – Swiss poster design

1960s Hans Neuburg - Swiss poster design
Zurcher Kunstler in der Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland- c1966

Beautiful poster by Swiss graphic designer and author Hans Neuburg.

If you like this, check Publicity and graphic design in the chemical industry  a book by Hans Neuburg.

(via Crabstick’s killer Flickr photostream)

1960s Japanese graphic design magazine

1960s japanese graphic design magazine
Graphic design magazine – japan 1965

Running with a Japanese theme today. Can’t stop thinking about those flicks I caught this past weekend. Great cover for a Japanese graphic design magazine from the sixties.

Also worth checking out, is this Japanese poster we posted.

Nikkatsu – Japanese actions films

Nikkatsu studios - cult Japanese actions films
Jerry Fujio and Jo Shishido in A Colt is my Passport c1967

I had a chance to check out a few films from the No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema series this weekend. These super stylized films produced by the Nikkatsu film studio were heavily influenced by Hollywood and the French New Wave. The Seijun Suzuki films re-released by Criterion are part of the Nikkatsu catalog. If you’ve seen any of Suzuki’s films, it will give you an idea of the films featured in the No Borders, No Limits series.

The series focused on some of the more obscure films to come out of the Nikkatsu studio. All 3 films I saw were great. I just wish I could of seen the other 3. You can find out more about these films at Outcast Cinema.

Japanese graphic design – book covers

Japanese graphic design - book covers from the 1960s
1960s Japanese book cover designs

I don’t know much about the company that published the book on the right, but the book on the left was published by Kappa in 1963. Keep your eyes out for Kappa, they have other cool covers.

Icographic Journal – Isotypes, Icons and Pictograms

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Issues of Icographic magazine 1971-1978 produced by ICOGRADA

Icographic (The review of International Visual Communication Design) was founded by John Halas in 1971. It was designed / edited by Patrick Wallis Burke and released quarterly, well atleast for the first year. The journal addressed the broader areas of visual communication such as semiotics, communication theory, ergonomics of visual communication and the psychology of perception. Of the four issues I have, two deal with Pictorgrams, Isotypes and symbols. I’m fascinated by the work of Otto Neurath and Otl Aicher (both of which are featured within the Journal) so it was a real pleasure to stumble unto these issues. In addition to Neurath and Aicher, there are sections on signing systems designed by Yugoslav architect Radomir Vukovoc and Pictograms by Ian McLaren and Claude Braunstein.

The layout and content remind me of another design journal produced during the same general time period titled Dot Zero. I will be covering Dot Zero in a future post but, for now enjoy the Icographic slideshow above.

Invisible Creature – design and illustration

Invisible Creature - design and illustration

Invisible creature has a slew of great design and illustration work at their site including the album art for the latest Hawk Nelson record.

Be sure to check our interview with Invisible Creature.

Invisible Creature Exhibition

Invisible Creature Exhibition at wonderful union gallery

Design Studio/ gallery Wonderful Union have an upcoming exhibition of work from brothers Don and Ryan Clark (better known as Invisible Creature).

The Exhibition is entitled Haven: An Exploration of Domestic Life and opens on Saturday, April 12th, 2008. The art work highlights the tension between modernism’s smiley-faced rejection of things past and their own coming of age domesticity from an autodidactic, punk ethos point of view.

Details:
Saturday, April 12th, 2008, 6-10 PM
The Wonderful Union Gallery
2221 NW 56th St. Suite 201, Seattle WA 98107

For more details check out the Wonderful Union gallery.

Be sure to check our interview with Invisible Creature.

70s design – Jazz book covers

70s book design - Dan Haerle jazz book covers

70s book design - Dan Haerle jazz book covers
(t) Jazz/ Rock voicings for the contemporary keyboard player c1974
(b) Jazz Improvisation for keyboard players c1978

I picked up these two books over the weekend. They are part of an instructional jazz book series produced in the 1970s for Studio publications and recordings. I’m not sure who responsible for the cover design but, I like how he limited it to a few simple shapes and the type. Both books are written by Dan Haerle, but there are others in the series by Rufus Reid and Ramon Ricker.

Enotmik Typeface

Entomik typeface

Antonio over at Aisleone just released a great new typeface called Enotmik. It’s a two weight display font that pays homage to Helvetica and Avant Garde.

You can buy the font here.

Olivetti Divisumma calculator

Olivetti Divisumma calculator

Grain edit reader Andreas Samuelsson sent in this sweet image of the Olivetti Divisumma 18 calculator. It was designed by Mario Bellini in 1973.

On a side note, be sure to check out Andreas wonderful illustration work here.

(image via Dentaku Museum)

Record sleeve from German label-Heliodor

Record sleeve from German label-Heliodor

Slick 45 record sleeve with a nice modern pattern for the German label Heliodor. Anyone know what typeface that is?

(Via Kavel’s awesome record envelope)

Its the reel to reel yo

Hans Kleefeld Canadian census stamp
1871-1971 census stamp

Pretty bugged stamp from the Canadian Post.
Designed by Hans Kleefeld.

(via the great Canadian design resource)

Win this Herbert Bayer Olivetti Poster !

Herbert Bayer Olivetti Poster Divisumma calculator 1953

Win this Herbert Bayer Olivetti Poster !
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If you missed our last Olivetti Poster contest, it’s not too late to win on grain edit. On Friday April 25th, 2008 one lucky winner will be taking home the Herbert Bayer poster seen above. This is not an original, but rather a reissue of the original designed by Herbert Bayer for the Olivetti Divisumma calculator in 1953.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hatch design egg coloring contest

Hatch sf design egg coloring contest

Check out this Easter egg coloring contest from Hatch design. Lots of great submissions. I think my favorite so far is the Sir Eyes Egg Newton entry. Funny stuff. Keep your eyes open for our entry which will be posting tomorrow.

Photo annual cover design

photo annual cover design
Los Angeles Press Photographers Annual 1958

Great cover.

(via Bradley J Gake)

Staffan Wiren book cover illustration

Staffan Wiren book cover illustration
VÃ¥rt svenska samhälle – by Sixten Björkholm c1963

Cool book cover illustration by Staffan Wiren. Great example of swedish modern illustration from the 1960s.

On a sidenote, just talked to my friend Joe Beats and he’s got a killer mix online that he put together for designer vinyl toy store Munky King. Listen to the mix here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

(Staffan Wirén book cover via David at the Klockarp institute)

30 years of Jacqueline S Casey Posters

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From the book – Jacqueline S Casey Thirty years of design at MIT

Beautiful work from graphic designer Jacqueline Casey. It mentions in the book she was inspired by Karl Gerstner, Kurt Wirth and Anton Stankowski.

“In the early 1950s, John Matill, a writer and editor, founded the MIT office of publications. He was joined in 1952 by Muriel Cooper. Cooper was among the first designers ever hired by a university to represent it graphically. She and Matill hired Jacqueline Casey to design summer session materials in 1955.” Casey continued to work for MIT until her retirement in 1989. (Taken from the introduction of the book.)

1960s modern Czech street map

czechoslovakia map mid century modern

czechoslovakia map mid century modern
road map of Czechoslovakia from 1962

Obviously the design work of a mad genius who is addicted to lollipop trees.

(Via the really good Kris’s color stripe blog)

lab partners – design illustration + prints

lab partners - design illustration + prints
Letterpress cityscape print by lab partners

Ryan and Sarah aka lab partners sent me a sweet print. My wife and I have been wanting one of these, so we were super excited when the package arrived at the doorstep.  I didn’t realize it was letterpressed till I opened the mailer. That really blew me away. I can’t stop touching it! ha

If you like the print above, then you have to stop by the lab partners ETSY shop. Gocco prints and goodies for everyone. Also be sure to check out their wonderful design and illustration work as they post it from time to time on their blog.

Alvin Lustig – The Collected writings

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The images above are from the introduction to The collected writings of graphic designer Alvin Lustig (c1958). When I first found out about this book, I was going nuts trying to find a copy. I wasn’t able to find one, so I had to settle for a photocopy of the one presently in the RISD library. A couple of years ago, I finally tracked one down. It was worth the wait. It’s a short book (only 95 pages), but it has some real nuggets. It contains interviews and articles on Alvin from Interiors magazine, AIGA Journal, Design Quarterly, Type Talks and a few other sources. Wonderful insight into his design thinking and process.

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Mike Davis interview

Mike Davis - Burlesque design of North America

Mike Davis aka Mike the 2600 King is part of a design collaborative known as Burlesque of North Of America. In addition to their design work they are a full service screenprinting studio.

I first ran into Mike while on a cross country record digging trip in 2003. My friends and I were crashing with some of the cool cats at galapagos 4. They heard that Mike was spinning at one of the local clubs, so we decided to check it out. Mike was laying down some serious funk/ soul heat that night and the club was packed. Later I found out that in addition to be a great dj, he was an excellent designer creating posters for my friends at anticon.

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Mike the 2600 King Exclusive Dj Mix

Mike the 2600 king Exclusive grain edit Dj Mix

In the first part of our new Record Gallery Series Mike Davis (aka MIKE THE 2600 KING) – uber cool designer for Burlesque of North America has put together a gallery of some of his favorite record covers. This well rounded collection includes covers by design heavyweights like Milton Glaser to design unknowns, as in the case of the local/ private press lps.

In addition, he has created an exclusive dj mix for grain edit with songs taken from the records featured in the gallery. We hope you enjoy it.

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Sweet CAPAC logo nectar

CAPAC lp cover art design and logo
CAPAC lp cover art design and logo

The Asian American Film Festival is in San Francisco now, so I had a chance to check out “Blood Brothers” which is one of the more recent films produced by John Woo. Anyone else seen this? Overall I thought it was pretty cheesy, but the ending wasn’t too bad. On the way to the theater I stopped by my friend Cool Chris’s record shop. Chris runs Groove Merchant which is notorious amongst beat diggers and record collectors as the place to go if you want to find rare jazz, funk and library lps. While I was there Chris hit me off with a copy of the record above.

The John Hawkins lp seen above is part of a series of 45s (the little records..7″) initiated by CAPAC (Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada Limited). I’m less concerned with the music on this album as I am with the design of the logo. The rounded letters take form as records with the lines of different weights creating the grooves. It wasn’t uncommon to see logo treatments like this in the 1970s and I think this is one of the better examples.

Jacques Nathan Garamond poster update

Jacques Nathan Garamond Telefunken poster
original version

Jacques Nathan Garamond Telefunken poster
upadated version by Daniel Knef

Several weeks ago I posted a Jacques Nathan Garamond Telefunken poster. One of my comments was the poster would look better if Jacques killed the telefunken logo located to the right of the reel to reel. Grain Edit reader Daniel Knef was nice enough to send us a modified version of the poster minus the logo (see above). I realize this poster would not of been possible without the client and obviously their branding is going to be part of the design. However, its nice to see the design without any distractions.

Many thanks to Daniel for sending us the updated version. Be sure to check out his electronic music compositions at gran où lée.

Edizioni Corraini – Un Sedicesimo magazine

Italo Lupi - Un Sedicesimo magazine - Edizioni Corraini
Un Sedicesimo issue #2 – Italo Lupi

Last week we looked at the first part of a package I received from Italian publisher Edizioni Corraini, which included a copy of the Pino Tovaglia book. Today we’ll look at the second part of the package.

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Colorcubic – Nueva Forma logo design

Colorcubic - Nueva Forma logo

I’m digging Colorcubic’s identity work for Nueva Forma. You can check the rest of their portfolio here

Swiss Air ephemera – design by Kurt Wirth

Swiss Air leaflet - design by Kurt Wirth

Swiss Air leaflet - design by Kurt Wirth
Swiss Air pamphlet – designer: Kurt wirth and Paul Beer c1950s

SwissAir has a rich history with some of Switzerland’s finest designers. Over the last 60 years the Airline has worked with Karl Gerstner, Kurt Wirth, Donald Brun, Fritz Buhler and Siegfried Odermatt just to name a few. The pamphlet above is one of many brilliant pieces to result from this relationship.

It appears to be some sort of promotional piece for the Douglas DC 7 which was produced in 1956. I love how Kurt Wirth laid out the information.

You can see the rest of the pamphlet at Ace Jet 170. Many thanks to Richard for posting this gem.

Be sure to check out our other posts related to SwissAir design.

Typographes d’Estienne – French Type Specimen book

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Typographes d’Estienne 1950

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any type-related goodness, so I figured it was time to post the slab of paper above. The book includes 40 – 50 pages of modern San Serif specimens worked into menus, advertisements and letterheads. In addition, there are several tipped in brochures and posters you can flip through. Given the title, I would assume this is an annual and that there are other years available.

Typographes d’Estienne – French Type Specimen book

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Typographes d’Estienne 1950

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any type-related goodness, so I figured it was time to post the slab of paper above. The book includes 40 – 50 pages of modern San Serif specimens worked into menus, advertisements and letterheads. In addition, there are several tipped in brochures and posters you can flip through. Given the title, I would assume this is an annual and that there are other years available.

Pino Tovaglia book – Exhibition of design work

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Pino Tovaglia book – The rule that corrects emotion

In addition to this blog, I own a small design bookstore. As a bookseller, I find it hard to find publishers that consistently produce quality titles. Italian publisher Edizioni Corraini is one of a few publishers that I look forward to their new releases each year. If you own or have seen any Bruno Munari books, you are most likely familiar with their work. They have reproduced dozens of Munari’s books, many of which I own in my personal collection. In addition to the Munari collection, they have produced books on or by Martí Guixé, Enzo Mari, Aoi Huber-Kono (Max Huber’s wife),Taro Miura, Albe Steiner and many others. With this in mind, I was delighted when I received an email from them mentioning that they had been reading Grain Edit and that they would like to send a package my way.

I will cover the contents of the package in several posts. The first being the Pino Tavaglia book seen above.

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Stedelijk Museum Poster design – Wim Crouwel

Stedelijk Museum Poster design - Wim Crouwel
Stedelijk Museum program / poster c1970 – Wim Crouwel – designer

Total Design was responsible for designing many of the catalogs/ programs for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The program above was created by Wim Crouwel and Jolijn van de Wouw (of Total Design) for an exhibition in 1970. The program folds out to a full size poster that reveals a huge letter “A” and the number “7” which stands for Atelier 7. Atelier translates to “work shop” in English so, this might be referencing a gallery number or possibly the name of the exhibition. On the other side of the poster, it lists the artists and their artwork featured in the gallery.

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Clarence Lee IBM poster design

Clarence Lee IBM poster design
1960s IBM 7094 poster – Designed by Clarence Lee

Clarence Lee graduated from Yale in 1958 and went on to work for the uber graphic designer Lester Beall. In 1962 Clarence left Beall’s firm to work for IBM. During his time at IBM he designed the poster above for the IBM 7094 Data Processing System. The 7094 was released in 1962 and was built for large-scale scientific computing.

During the late 1950s – early 1960s, Paul Rand, Charles Eames ,Marcel Breuer and Eliot Noyes were involved in design work for IBM. It would be interesting to find out if Clarence had any interaction with these designers.

1970s Japanese poster design

1970s Japanese poster graphic design

I wish I could tell you more about this one. I pulled this out of a book I have on 70s + 80s Japanese graphic design. All the text is in Japanese so, I have no clue on who designed this. Anyone recognize this work? I have no idea why theres a gaggle of balloon animals chillin in a tree. If someone could translate the text below the animals, that would be great.

Jacques Nathan Garamond Telefunken poster

Jacques Nathan Garamond Telefunken poster
Poster for Telefunken c1965

The piece above is one of a series of posters that paris based designer Jacques Nathan Garamond produced for Telefunken. I just wish I could cut out that Telefunken logo. It kind of kills the vibe of this poster. You have all these round edges on the type and the reel to reel player and theres this crazy sharp edge ninja star with lightning bolts.

During the 1950-1960s Garamond began deconstructing objects into geometric shapes. This is evident in the print above as well as his poster work for Air France. I’ll try to scan in some of the Air France posters when I get a chance.

Wyeth Hansen – T shirts, posters and print

Wyeth hansen graphic design print
Silkscreen Print for a Drama magazine sponsored show at Nonesuch Gallery

Cool design work from Wyeth Hansen (Casual Aesthetics). His website includes t-shirts, posters, type faces as well some motion design. I’m loving the type work above.

(Via Wrong distance)

Hans Kleefeld book cover design

Hans Kleefeld book cover design
This Land – A Geography of Canada by Edward Wahl c1961
Hans Kleefeld cover designer

Great book discovery by Rosemary Travale.
Hans also designed the original logo for the Toronto Zoo.

Charles Harper Illustrations – Giant Golden Book of Biology

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Giant Golden Book of Biology – An Introduction to the Science of Life c1961
Text by Gerald Ames and Rose Wyler – Illustrated by Charley Harper

It doesn’t get much better then this. This is Charley in his prime.

“In a style he called “minimal realism”, Charley Harper captured the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible visual elements. When asked to describe his unique visual style, Charley responded:

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.[cite this quote]

He contrasted his nature-oriented artwork with the realism of John James Audubon, drawing influence from Cubism, Minimalism, Einsteinian physics and countless other developments in Modern art and science. His style distilled and simplified complex organisms and natural subjects, yet they are often arranged in a complex fashion. On the subject of his simplified forms, Harper noted:

I don’t think there was much resistance to the way I simplified things. I think everybody understood that. Some people liked it and others didn’t care for it. There’s some who want to count all the feathers in the wings and then others who never think about counting the feathers, like me.”

– Wikipedia

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Gavin Potenza – Homage to the stamp

Gavin Potenza homage to the stamp- Otl Aicher

Portland based designer Gavin Potenza (Exploratory Design) has cooked up a series of sweet stamps. The series which was inspired by the work of Otl Aicher is entitled Homage to the Stamp.

Alexander Girard alphabet blocks

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Alexander Girard alphabet blocks designed and produced by House Industries

Many thanks to the guys at House Industries for sending over a box of goodies. Included in the box was a set of Alexander Girard alphabet blocks. These blocks were the result of a collaboration with the estate of mid-century designer Alexander Girard, the 28 wood blocks feature alphabets based on the forthcoming Alexander Girard font collection and a cleverly-adapted House Industries factory logo puzzle. I have been jocking these blocks since day 1. They have been on my want list for a while. My wife and I don’t have kids yet, but when we do, I can tell you one thing for sure. There is no way the kids are going to touch these! ha! These are daddy’s blocks!

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Ralph Caplan design notes for Herman Miller

Ralph Caplan design notes and booklets for Herman Miller

BarryBlog has posted a rare glimpse of some in-house publications for Herman Miller. They were produced in conjunction with the great design thinker Ralph Caplan, and designed by John Massey of Container Corporation of America fame. I’m drooling! I’d love to read these. Maybe we can get the good people at Barry Blog to make photo copies.

Enjoy!

Vintage Dutch Arnhem Map

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Map of the Battlefields of Arrnhem and Oosterbeek

The battlefields of Arnhem and Oosterbeek in the Netherlands never looked so good as they do in Pink and Teal. The battles were part of Operation Market Garden. It was here that the famous “First Airborne Divison” consisting of more then 8000 men, under the command of Major-General Urquhart, glided down to earth on the morning of Sunday September 17, 1944.

The scaley, snake looking trail in the lower half of the map represents the Rhine River. The battlefields can be seen as the solid patches of brown. I really appreciate how the map designer cut away the airplane and parachute icons from that mass of brown. Simple, effective and creates some interesting shapes within the negative space.

You can read more about Operation Market Garden at wikipedia.

On a sidenote, watched “King of Kong” this weekend. Great flick. Definitely biased in its presentation but none the less Billy still comes off like a really sorry bob. After all the talk of competitive gaming and playing in front of people, I was surprised that he didn’t step up to the challenge at the Guinness event in Florida. Thoughts?

Zoudov – animated film

zoudov - french animated film short

Many thanks to Laurent for sending me this animated short. After watching it, I couldn’t believe that it’s a student film. It looks like something straight out of PIXAR. Laurent mentioned that films, cartoons and design from the 1960s were the inspiration for the project. Excellent animation and great use of James Bond soundtracks to set the atmosphere.

View Zoudov on Youtube or check it out on the official Zoudov website.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Speaking of which, after getting a tip from my friend Wes I decided to rent “King of Kong”. Thats on the playlist for the weekend. Anyone else seen this?

Jean David – vintage travel posters from Israel

Posters of Jean David graphic designer from Israel
Israel -the land of the Bible Tourism posters by Jean David (L) c1954 (r) 195?
produced for the State of Israel Tourist Centre

My Knowledge of Jean David (Sometimes referred to as Jan David) is limited. However, what work I’ve seen from him has been nothing less that stellar. Just look at the posters above. I could easily see someone slanging these at a Flatstock poster convention. Dang, I totally nerd out when I see this stuff. Its just so good.

Looks like the whale is riding a boat of waves. Meanwhile, Jonah is relaxing after downing a keg of Vitamen C. Just look at all that orange!

Hatch Design SF – Promotional bird mobile

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Many thanks to Eszter at Hatch Design in San Francisco for sending over this promotional piece for the firm. The birds are letterpressed and screenprinted onto egg carton material. The wife and I (and the cat too) had a great time putting this together.

We are gathering items for our new series on promotional goods from designers and design firms. This is the first part in an ongoing series. If you would like to contribute, please email me.

Spanish modern graphic design

spanish mid century modern graphic design

Flickr user ex.novo has posted some amazing examples of spanish modern design in advertising from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The ads are taken from magazines/ journals titled “Clínica Rural” and “Glosa”. Anyone know anything about these journals? Most of the advertisements seem to be related to pharmaceutical products so it’s a great follow up to my previous post on Swiss modern design in the chemical industry.

Big ups to Mike from Burlesque for dropping this gem on me.

Swiss modern graphic design – chemical industry

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Publicity and graphic design in the chemical industry – Hans Neuburg 1967
(Chemie Werbung und Grafik)
Contributions by Josef Muller Brockmann

Clap your hands if you love swiss design.

This has to be one of the best books on graphic design in the chemical industry. Ha! this is probably the only book on graphic design in the chemical industry. Most of the design work in the book is for pharmaceutical companies like J R Geigy and Ciba Aktiengesellschaft, both located in Basel, Switzerland.

The index in the back reads like the who’s who of Swiss design. Designers include: Karl Gerstner, Herbert Leupin, Siegfried Odermatt, Hans Erni, Max Schmid, Fred Troller and Kurt Wirth amongst others.

Just look at the pictures above, the work is incredible. Anyone have any nominations for pharmaceutical/ chemical companies that have great design? Maybe we should put together a top 5 list. For example, the always fun top 5 favorite poisonous gas logos.

Also of interest, this Hans Neuburg poster design.

Superfad documentary animation

superfad Justin Leibow documentary animation
“Documentary” directed by Justin Leibow for Superfad

It’s friday and what better way to celebrate then by watching a good ole animated short.

grain edit reader and rad guy Justin Leibow sent in this animated film he directed for the Seattle Film Festival. Nude skydiving wee hoo!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Modern Swiss luggage label – Hotel Rigi

Swiss Modern luggage label - Hotel Rigi  Brunnen Switzerland
Hotel Rigi – Brunnen, Switzerland

Dynamite vintage label design from the Swiss.

So-Cal Fire Poster Project

so-cal fire poster project John foster
Poster by John Foster / fuszion

Great posters for a better cause.

Donated by designers and artists around the globe, posters sold at the So-Cal Fire Poster Project raise funds for victims of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties. All proceeds will be given to the Salvation Army, for the 2007 California Wildfire fund.

Posters by: Paul Frank / Park La Fun, Hatch Design,Wink, Modern Dog, Micah Smith, John Foster / fuszion, Josh Higgins / Mike Carnevale, Robert Palmer, Barretto & Co., Frank Chimero, Buchanan Design, Lanny Sommese, Jason Gomez, Madeleine, Ryan Russell Design, Chaz Russo/The Graphic Soul, Nick McPherson, MiresBall, Bernie Tiano and Shepard Fairey.

Get some here

Westvaco Inspirations – Design by Bradbury Thompson

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Westvaco Inspirations #210 c1958

Westvaco Inspirations was a promotional journal produced by the Westvaco Corporation, formerly known as the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. The purpose of the journal was to highlight the printing processes and quality of paper achieved by the Westvaco paper Mills. Bradbury Thompson (1911-1995) served as designer and editor for over fifty issues of this publication including the issue featured above.

Dick Bruna book covers

Dick Bruna book covers

Some great book covers in the Dick Bruna Flickr group.

(image via onno de wit)

Wink interview

Wink Design - graphic design studio Minneapolis

My first introduction to Wink was four or five years ago when their packaging for Sunmilk was making the rounds in the design magazines and annuals. Since then, I’ve tried to keep an eye on their work. What has impressed me the most about Wink has been their ability to consistently produce top notch work.

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Penguin books – Book cover design

Penguin book cover design
1960s penguin book covers

Things magazine..wheew sweet mother! They have put together a kick butt gallery of penguin book covers. Includes beautiful covers overseen by Jan Tschichold as well as the late typographer Hans Schmoller. My favorite years are between 1961-1972 when Italian art director Germano Facetti was in charge of design. Facetti enlisted Polish graphic designer Romek Marber to redesign the look of the Penguin series and the rest is history.

Side note: Watched Jules Dassin’s Brute force last night. Great Flick. I also recommend Riffifi which was directed by Dassin as well.

(via Ace jet 170)

Israel : Psychedelic Vintage stamp design

vintage israel stamps 1970s graphic design
Vintage modern stamps from Israel – 1975 Arbor day collection

Ok we’re back. I hope everyone had a great weekend. Pretty chill one here. Watched Dial M for murder by Hitchcock. Tonight it’s either Stray Dog by Akira Kurosawa or Brute force by Jules Dassin.

Now onto the stamps….
Great stuff going on here. Johnny blue bird is eating cherry nugs off a psychedelic tree. Meanwhile on the left, rectangle legs is rolling deep in lollipop marsh.

See ya on monday

I’m taking the day off. I’ll see everyone on monday.. Have a great weekend!

Quarteto em Cy : Lp cover design

Quarteto em cy record cover design
Quarteto em Cy – Quarteto em Cy (1966), for Elenco

Dynamite record cover for this female vocal group from Brazil. This is a great album. I highly recommend their 1972 Self titled lp as well.

Heres a video of Quarteto em Cy on the Andy Williams show with Marcos Valle. You might recognize the vocals at the beginning of the song. I believe Nicola Conte sampled it.

(via the excellent Loronix)

Alain Gree : childrens book illustrator

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Alain Gree – l’electricitie c1969 vintage kids book
Published by Casterman as part of the Cadet-Rama Collection

Woah! Pastel overload! Someone went crazy with the pink crayons. I love it though. Alain Gree’s illustrations are great. I can’t get enough of the bubble heads, mod clothes, pop colors and psychedelic scenery. In this book, Alain looks at electricity and how its used. It’s filled with teal buses, pink trolleys and mustard colored sewing machines.

On a related note, I have to give a birthday shout out to my friend Sean. Sean introduced me to Alain’s work so this post seemed fitting for today.

Color wheels and information design

information graphic design

I found this great example of information design in ilusiones_design’s flickr photostream. Can anyone translate the text?

Swiss modern graphic design meets Hotel Astoria Lucerne

Modern Swiss Design - Hotel Astoria Lucerne brochure

Hotel Astoria Lucerne was located in Luzern, Switzerland. As they claim in their promotional material, they were the “most modern Hotel of Central Switzerland”. After looking at this I brochure, I believe them. I’m not sure if the hotel still exists. I was able to find some information on a Hotel Astoria Lucerne designed by Herzog & De Meuron but, I’m not sure if bears any relation. I realize Herzog & De Meuron are modern day architects, but possibly they renovated the existing structure? Anyone have any info on this?

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Jonathan Bennett : design and comics

jonathan Bennett art,illustration and comics

I love when people send me packages, especially when they contain cool design work. Comic artist and designer Jonathan Bennett recently sent me a fat package of goodies including not one, but TWO Gocco prints! In addition, he included several magazines that feature his cartoons. I enjoyed his work, I just wish he had a website so I could see more.

MOME Winter 2006 features one of Jon’s cartoons. You can pick up a copy at Fantagraphics Books.

Modern dutch paperback cover design

dutch paperback boook cover design
(L) designer: unknown ©1966 (R) designer: J. Venema ©1966
Published by Aula-Boeken in the Netherlands

The recent excitement over Penguin covers has resulted in a renewed interest in paperback book cover design. I’m starting to see discussion groups popping up as well as new books being published on the subject. Several titles come immediately to mind; Seven Hundred Penguins and World Paperback design. In future posts I’ll discuss both of these books as well the as the book covers of dutch designer Dick Bruna. For now enjoy the pieces above.

For further viewing on the subject I Highly recommend:
Ace Jet 170 : Loads of great material here and one of my favorite blogs
The Old timey paperback book covers group on Flickr

(pictures via) world paperback design

Only 12 people like Paul Rand ?

Paul rand modern design flickr group

We just started a Paul Rand fan group on Flickr. As of this writing we only have 12 members. Surely there are more then 12 people who appreciate one of the greatest graphic designers of all time! Its good wholesome fun! Bring your whole family. Show all the little ones why Mommy keeps stealing their copy of Sparkle and Spin.

Join now.. Paul needs you and our little egos need affirmation that people like our Flickr groups.

Click here and let the nerdery begin

(Thanks go to Bureau L’Imprimante for the pic)

mr. mannun card and poster design

mr. mannun card and poster design

In this card designed by mr.mannun, business ties are flying in the wind as this beast rips down a small patch of Christmas trees all while holding a flock of fudgesicle shaped birds. This is great! One of my favorite finds on Flickr. My top pick in the genre of groucy card design.

You can browse the rest of mr.mannun’s design / illustration work on Flickr. He also has a few poster samples on Gig posters.com

mr. mannun card and poster design

mr. mannun card and poster design

In this card designed by mr.mannun, business ties are flying in the wind as this beast rips down a small patch of Christmas trees all while holding a flock of fudgesicle shaped birds. This is great! One of my favorite finds on Flickr. My top pick in the genre of groucy card design.

You can browse the rest of mr.mannun’s design / illustration work on Flickr. He also has a few poster samples on Gig posters.com

German poster design : Kieler Woche

German kieler woche sailing posters

Kieler Woche is a festival that takes place each year in Kiel, Germany. The festival includes nautical competitions as well as cultural events. Each year 5 designers are invited to submit 3 sketches for the event’s poster. The rules are simple. The text on the poster must be limited to only Kieler Woche and the year. The type for Kieler Woche must be set in Adrian Frutiger’s Univers. Lastly the the image must give equal weight to the sailing competition as to the cultural aspects of the festival.

Designers that have contributed to this event include: Wim Crouwel, Michael Engelmann, Celestino Piatti, Anton Stankowski, Waldemar Swierzy, Otto Treumann, Hans Schweiss, Jean Widmer, Ruedi Baur, Ben Bos, Siegfried Odermatt and Rosemarie Tissi. For those interested, I uploaded the Otto Treumann poster to the grain edit flickr account.

( via Etapes)

Ladislav Sutnar : Sweets Catalog promo design

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What? Why? How? Essential Product Information – Sweet’s Catalogue Service
©1942 Design by Ladislav Sutnar

Sweet’s Catalog Service provided catalogs of building and plumbing supplies to architects and contractors. Ladislav along with Knud Lönberg-Holm were responsible for presenting the information within these catalogs in a clear, concise manner.

The promotional, folded sheet above explains the need for easily accessible product information especially during times of war (this was written in the midst of World War 2). As Sweets maintained, providing essential product information in an effecient way could eliminate waste and speed production:

The increasing need for speed in war production is reflected in increasing demand for product information.

In order to be useful such product information should be comprehensive, concise, coordinated

Prefiling of catalogs has been developed as a means for controlling the flow of essential product information

Beautiful layout, far ahead of its time.
For further reading, I suggest Steven Heller’s article Ladislav Sutnar and Knud Lönberg-Holm

Eames presents Saul Bass solar energy film

modern graphic designer saul bass solar energy film

Eames demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames presents a rare glimpse of the Solar Film produced by graphic designer Saul Bass. The film was commissioned in 1980 by Robert Redford. If you listen at the end of the film you can hear Saul Bass speak for a few seconds. He mentions something about pumping hot water to the house.

I’m not sure if the illustrations/ animations in the film were created by Saul Bass or Art Goodman. The film credits Goodman, but it is unclear if he was just involved in the animation process or if he created the illustrations as well.

Cool film and as one person mentions in the later half “If you stop and think about it, the Sun doesn’t send you a bill each month”. So true my friend.

Can’t get enough of Saul?
check these out:
Henri’s Walk to Paris – children’s book illustrated by Saul Bass
San Francisco International Film Festival poster
Saul Bass’s Case study house

Mid Century modern stamp and label group

bulgarian_stamps-design.jpg

Grain Edit is proud to introduce the Mid Century Modern Sticker, Label and Stamp club.

This group features Stickers, Labels and Stamps from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s.

This would include: vintage matchbox labels, buvards / blotters, luggage Labels, airline labels and stickers, first day covers and stamps.

We are particularly interested in Eastern European match box labels ( czech republic, hungary, yugoslavia, russia etc.) Airline labels + stickers from Swiss Air, Boac, Braniff, Air France, Air India, SAS, CSA , Sabena and Varig and French Buvards ( especially ones by Herve Morvan, Raymond Savignac and Lefor Openo).

Special thanks go out to David McFarline for submitting the stamps shown above.

New House Industries kids t shirts

house_industries-t-shirts.jpg

From the makers of Neutra Face, the Alexander Girard Alphabet blocks and the upcoming Tim Biskup fonts comes the kid friendly House Industries factory t-shirt. Click the link to the left to get some of this goodness.

Otl Aicher design on Flickr

otl-aicher-olympics-2.jpg
1972 Olympics rowing regulations booklet

Tons of great work in the Otl Aicher design group on Flickr. Includes posters, brochures, books, stamps, packaging, corporate reports, even a wooden version of Waldi the 1972 Munich Olympics mascot. Projects include the 1972 Olympics identity, Lufthansa and work from his days at HFG Ulm.

Clean, minimal, modern.. I love it. I could look at this stuff all day.
Many thanks to Adam for passing this link along.

Side note – got some cornbread today. Man I love this stuff. Is it even bread? Its like muffin cake.

Finnish graphic design : annual report

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1961 Neste Oy Corporate annual report designed by Olli Stelander. Great use of limited color.  This was when drilling for oil was hip, the indie rock (Get your shale on!)  of the energy industries. This annual probably doubled as their tour poster.

For more design work from Finland check my post on Finnish book design.

Deberny & Peignot type specimens

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Deberny & Peignot – Types from Paris c1960s?

Deberny and Peignot Type specimen booklet imported and distrubuted by Amsterdam Continental.

Includes:
Peignot – created by A.M. Cassandre and Charles Peignot, issued in 1937 for the Paris International Exhibition.

Meridien – Introduced in Europe in 1958-1959, created by Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger.

Cristal – Designed by Remy Peignot, issued in Europe in 1957.

Jacno – Issued in Europe in 1952, designed by Marcel Jacno.

Ondine – By Adrian Frutiger, issued in 1957.

Deberny & Peignot type specimens

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Deberny & Peignot – Types from Paris c1960s?

Deberny and Peignot Type specimen booklet imported and distrubuted by Amsterdam Continental.

Includes:
Peignot – created by A.M. Cassandre and Charles Peignot, issued in 1937 for the Paris International Exhibition.

Meridien – Introduced in Europe in 1958-1959, created by Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger.

Cristal – Designed by Remy Peignot, issued in Europe in 1957.

Jacno – Issued in Europe in 1952, designed by Marcel Jacno.

Ondine – By Adrian Frutiger, issued in 1957.

Rudolf Schucht cover design for Hoechst

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Cool cover by Rudolf Schucht for Hoechst News 65. I believe Hoechst News 65 was the in house magazine for the German life science company Hoechst AG (now Sanofi-Aventis). For the cover design Rudolf pulled elements from the articles contained within the magazine. The top two icons refer to Italian cuisine. The item below is an ampule of Salvarsan used in clinical testing against Syphilis. The background graph refers to work by Dr. Walter Seifried.

I couldn’t find much information on the graphic design work of Rudolf Schucht. If anyone knows anything about him, please send me an email or leave a comment.

Modern Polish maps and sharp stinkin teeth

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Just found this great polish blog called pantuniestal. They put together a small collection of polish maps from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. You can see a preview above. Check out the fish that guy in the yellow rain suit caught. That thing has some crazy sharp triangle teeth. Do they have Piranha in Poland or something?

Besides the maps they have some great examples of mid century modern ephemera. Browsing the site I found Czech matchbox labels, vintage cameras, hotel luggage labels etc. In addition to the Polish, there is an English version of the site so you can follow the conversation. Tons of eye candy here.

(via FFFFound!)

New year, Old cigarette poster design

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(L) Disque Bleu by Henri Favre c1950s (R) Caballero by Pedro Vargas c1960s

It’s the beginning of a brand new year, which means its time to compile the latest list of New Year’s resolutions. For some of you this might include a pledge to quit smoking (again). To kick the habit in style how about a farewell stroll down cigarette poster lane? Flickr user lamade has posted a kick butt (no pun intended) gallery of Tobacco related posters. Lamarde’s blog also features a ton of tobacco related advertising and design.

Ringing in the new years with a hairy stamp

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Belgium stamp – 1970s – Lots of hair!

Happy New Years!
I hope everyone had a good time last night. Unfortunately, it was a chill night at home for myself, since I picked up a cold over the weekend.

We have some exciting new interviews and features that we will be posting over the next few weeks and months. Stay Tuned!

Happy Holidays! we’ll be back tuesday

Happy Holidays!
Grain Edit will be back to the regular posting schedule on Tuesday Jan. 1st

Have a great New Years eve!

Happy Holidays! we’ll be back tuesday

Happy Holidays!
Grain Edit will be back to the regular posting schedule on Tuesday Jan. 1st

Have a great New Years eve!

Bo Lundberg interview

Bo Lundberg - graphic designer interview

One of the notable things that has come out of producing this blog has been the opportunity to speak with designers I respect and admire. Bo Lundberg is one of those designers. Several months ago we posted some of his work. Since then Bo and I have been exchanging emails which eventually led to this interview. Here he shares a few thoughts on inspiration, as well as his creative process.

Bo’s work has been featured in Old Type/ New Type by Steven Heller, Illustration Now! published by Taschen, Illusive: Contemporary Illustration and its Context by Hellige & Klanten, as well as other publications. His clients include Wallpaper magazine, Elle, Vogue, Neiman Marcus and Scandinavian Airlines.

Without further ado, I’m proud to present Bo Lundberg.

Read the rest of this entry »

Israel : Electronic computer stamp 1964

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Israeli first day cover stamp from 1964. Reel to reel electronic computer and punch card. This looks like some weird instrument that only Simeon from the Silver apples would know how to play or maybe Zamfir the pan flute guy. I bet he could play anything.

Field Notes memo book

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You ever have one of those moments when your postal carrier hands you a package and you can see a tear fall from his eye? He might be crying because of the joy he receives from delivering little packages but most likely its because he opened your package around the corner and is emotionally struggling to give it to you. Well I haven’t had this experience yet, but the delivery of my Field Notes memo books might of been a good place to start.

Thanks to the man behind Draplin design for sending me a fresh package of goodies, including a pack of Field Notes. Field notes memo books are the product of Draplin Design and Coudal Partners latest collaboration and were inspired by “agricultural memo books, ornate pocket ledgers and the simple, unassuming beauty of a well-crafted grocery list”. Each book contains 48 pages pages of lovely gridded paper and a list of practical applications including “escape routes” and “shoddy sketches”.

My previous economy class memo book is a pitiful sight (seen above) so, I was excited to upgrade to the stylish business class Field Notes. I’ve started to fill the book with random notes and silly thoughts. What I like most about Field Notes is the fact that it easily fits into my back pocket. Its pretty durable as well, so if you sit on it, it’s not going to fall apart.

If your still looking for stocking stuffers for Christmas, this makes for a great gift.

Now available at Field Notes Brand

Fred McNabb and the house of the future

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Illustration by Fred Mcnabb c1956

Well here it is, the “house of the future”. Mom’s making oven fresh algae, grand pa is chilling in the living room in his chocolate love suit and grand ma is cleaning up the kitchen in her finest elf garb. For the house of the future it looks a lot like the house of 1956. I realize not every house in 1956 had steel beams and case study furniture or a garbage disposal unit that spits out freshly pressed Victorian lacies. I guess I was expecting something a little more “futuristic”, like some sort of flying magical orb.

(great illustration via Plan59)

Swiss Modern ski resort brochure

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Grisons is the largest canton (state) in Switzerland. It is home to some of the best ski resorts in the Swiss Alps. The promotional brochure seen above serves as a guide to the ski resorts in the area.

No date listed, but most likely from the early 1950s. Printed by Orell Fussli in Zurich. We posted a map of Zurich produced by Orell Fussli a month ago. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a look.

Modern Christmas cards

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Check out these super cool modern Christmas cards that Jo at design to inspire made. The deer and the type for the word “Christmas” came straight from our Holiday clip art gallery.

Raymond Savignac poster giveaway winner!

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Congratulations to Jessica Taylor of the UK! We pulled her name out of a bright orange Ikea trash can just a few minutes ago. She is now the proud owner of the Raymond Savignac poster seen above!

Thanks to everyone for signing up for this giveaway. We received a ton of emails.

Stay tuned for the next giveaway!

Neither fish nor fowl : Jim Datz

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I think I’ve found my new favorite illustrator and his name is James Datz. His portfolio of design work found at Neither Fish Nor Fowl is really impressive. Fun and playful material executed really well.

(Via the excellent – Here are things I like)

Update : Raymond Savignac poster giveaway

You have till 11:30 am (Pacific standard time) today to sign up for our Raymond Savignac poster giveaway.

The winner will be announced at 1pm (PST) so stay tuned!

Erik Nitsche Subway poster

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Hey everyone, I’ve been out all night gathering photos for an upcoming post. Ok, so maybe the whole night wasn’t dedicated to photos. There might of been some sushi and sake involved along the way. I’m pretty tired but I wanted to get this little design gem up before I went to bed.

If you like this be sure to check:
Erik Nitsche : General Dynamics 1958 annual report
Erik Nitsche : Design and paper #34

Bauer Alphabets : Fortuna Type Specimen

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Fortuna or the typeface formerly known as Fortune also known as Volta first arrived on the scene in 1955. No wonder why the layout of the type specimen booklet seen above is yodeling with schizophrenia. This type face is having an identity crisis! Even if the name is confusing, the design is still beautiful.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tavis Coburn posters

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Seems like everyone has been talking about Tavis Coburn lately and why not? His work is great. A beautiful marriage of vintage illustrative styles and images with contemporary techniques. This makes perfect sense in light of a recent interview with Josh Spear where he admitted to being “obsessed with anything from the 1940s – 1960s”. I was excited to find out that limited edition prints are available at Tavis Coburn’s online shop. Each print is signed and numbered.

Erik Nitsche : General Dynamics annual report

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General Dynamics annual report 1958 designed by Erik Nitsche

The Small Stakes : a year in posters

Jason Munn small stakes poster gallery

For those of you in the bay area, be sure to check out The Small Stakes: a year in posters going on tonight at the The Curiosity Shoppe. Jason Munn will be there in person, so stop by and say hello!

Heres the details:
The Small Stakes: A Year in Posters
Opening Reception – Friday, December 7th, 6-9pm.
At The Curiosity Shoppe, 855 Valencia Street in San Francisco

(via Smarts and Crafts)

Swiss hotels and freshly shaven polar bears

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Luggage label for hotel de l’ours – Geneva, Switzerland c1950s ?

This is exactly how I wanted to be greeted if I ever make it to some fancy Swiss hotel. I want freshly shaven polar bears with bow ties grabbing my luggage!

Robert Roser for Swissair

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Direct mail advertisement for Swissair designed by Robert Roser. Most likely from the late 1950s or early 1960s. Hoot!

Maria Keil : Infante Santo mural

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While I was researching information on the Hotel Infante Santo, I came across the mural seen above. It is entitled Paredao da Avenida Santo and was completed in 1958. It took artist Maria Keil two years to complete this piece and boy was it worth it. I’m not sure why, but the way she painted the main figure slightly reminds me of the work of Doze Green.

Read the rest of this entry »

Maria Keil : Please adopt me

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Just found this mural. Sweet mother! This is good. I’m not sure if Maria Keil has grandchildren, but if not she can adopt me. She could teach me how to make murals and I could teach her how to throw sheep on Facebook.

(via amnesia)

Jim Brair – modern dutch poster

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vrije tijd-blije tijd c1960

Modern dutch poster from graphic designer Jim Brair. Killer example of early sixties design. Wow, Thats all I can say.

(via VanSabben on ebay)

Hot girl with no nose poster

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Beautiful Orchidee Swim Wear poster from 1960. This could be the hottest girl I’ve seen that doesn’t have a nose.

(via VanSabben on ebay)

Henri’s walk to Paris : Designed by Saul Bass

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* Update – The long-awaited reissue is now available. Pick up a copy at Amazon or your local book store.

As far as I know this is the only kids picture book illustrated by designer Saul Bass. Saul provides a 60s pop color backdrop for the text written by Leonore Klein. The book was published by Young Scott books in 1962.

Henri’s walk to Paris is the story of young boy who lives in Reboul, France that dreams of going to Paris. One day, after reading a book about Paris he decides to pack up a lunch and head for the city. Along the way he gets tired and falls asleep under a tree. This is when the story really gets good. I’m not sure if I should spoil the end for you, but lets just say it involves a pencil stealing bird with a band aid on its face.

Read the rest of this entry »

Alvin Lustig : Exposition brochure cover design

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World inventors exposition 1947 : Cover design by Alvin Lustig

I found this brochure recently at a flea market near my house. I have never seen this Lustig design before. His use of simple organic shapes reminds me of the cover of Anatomy for interior designers ,which he created 2 years previous, as well as his work for the new classics series published by New Directions.

If you like the cover design above, I highly recommend you visit the official Alvin Lustig website.

Hotel Infante Santo : luggage label

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This is one of my favorite luggage labels out of portugal. Most likely from the late 1950s. I love the colors. Who wouldn’t want to stay in a hotel with bright orange panels as part of the facade? This hotel still exists and it really does have orange panels. At openline Portugal you can see a photo of the Hotel Infante Santo as it exists today (scroll halfway down the site).

Son of a gun its Peter Max !

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Flying hot dogs, Cows turning into hamburgers and a 2000 pound stick of butter turning into the most disgustingly awesome popcorn you’ve ever seen. You’ll get it all in this animated psychedelic Pepsi commercial from Peter Max.

(via Made in England)

Viva la Bruno Bozzetto!

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Bruno Bozzetto : Viva Gli Abominevoli Sciatori
Cool cover for this obscure kids book by Mr. Bozzetto from the 1970s. Bruno is mostly know for his contributions to animated film. He has created hundreds of animated shorts and was nominated for an oscar in 1991 for a film entitled “grasshoppers”. You can read his complete biography at the official Bruno Bozzetto website.

Holy hot dog water! label sickness

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I go bananas for these Eastern European matchbox labels. I bought a complete run from 1958-1978 about a year ago and I still can’t get over how sick these things are. Most of these labels are 2-3 tones and some are completely off register. They look like little silkscreen posters (Most of these labels are 1.5 inches wide by 1.75 inches tall) . These labels make perfect posters for your kid’s doll house or inspirational art for your hamster to look at as he is jogging in his exercise wheel.

Plenty more of these little guys coming!

Otl Aicher 1972 Olympics soccer ticket

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I don’t care what you call this sport (soccer, football, aggressive footsies), this ticket is sick! Stick figures rule!

(via cogtr1996)

70s Matchbox label from the Czech Republic

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Great match box label from Czechoslovakia. The label is from the late 1970s. We will be posting more labels from our collection over the next week.

10 years of Vendre design magazine covers

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10 years of Vendre design magazine covers (Best of 1952-1962)

Vendre was a monthly trade magazine for graphic designers in France. It was founded by Etienne Damour in the 1920s. The magazine’s chief editor was Roger-Louis Dupuy, who in addition established one of the first advertising agencies in France. Paul Nicolas would later become chief editor and guide the magazine through the 1950s and 60s. During this time period the magazine was mostly text-based. The articles dealt with the creative and technical challenges its readers would of faced.

The issues above are some of my favorite cover designs for Vendre between the years 1952 and 1962. Illustrators and designers for these issues include Rene Chag, Ducordeau, M. Legand, Paul Funken, Roger Troubat, Francois Szalay and Henriette Mayo.

If you are interested in Vendre or the history of French graphic design, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Michel Wlassikoff’s The Story of Graphic Design in France. It is an excellent overview of the design work this country has produced in the last 100 years.

Saul Bass Case Study House # 20

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2275 Santa Rosa Ave in Altadena, California. Here lies the house of an exceptional designer but also a house of an exceptional design. This is the address of Case study House #20 as well as the residence of Saul Bass. This remarkable example of modern residential architecture was designed by Buff, Straub and Hensman in 1958 for John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine.
Read the rest of this entry »

Argentina 78′ FIFA World cup poster

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The 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina between June 1 and June 25. Argentina would go on to beat the Netherlands 3-1. The men in this poster seem to be celebrating victory, but this seemingly innocent poster has a very dark story to tell.

Argentina had suffered a military coup only two years before the cup and was in the middle of a dirty war against left wing sympathizers. Up to 30,000 people “disappeared” during this time. These events coincided with a campaign of political repression involving dictators from other South American countries dubbed “operation condor“. Thousands of people were tortured and many lost their lives.

(via iso50)

Argentina 78′ FIFA World cup poster

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The 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina between June 1 and June 25. Argentina would go on to beat the Netherlands 3-1. The men in this poster seem to be celebrating victory, but this seemingly innocent poster has a very dark story to tell.

Argentina had suffered a military coup only two years before the cup and was in the middle of a dirty war against left wing sympathizers. Up to 30,000 people “disappeared” during this time. These events coincided with a campaign of political repression involving dictators from other South American countries dubbed “operation condor“. Thousands of people were tortured and many lost their lives.

(via iso50)

Update on Hans Hartmann

The Hats off to Hans Hartmann post has been updated.
Thanks to Felix and Thierry for the additional information.

Giant albino bird gets stuck on the Toronto Needle

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Sticker for Bundesgartenschau Stuttgart – 1961

The post earlier today was inspired by a sticker (seen above) I found over the weekend. I wasn’t sure what to make of this sticker when I first saw it. It looks like a giant albino bird sitting on top of the Toronto Needle. After researching the event (Bundesgartenschau) I now believe its an illustration of a weathervane. Since Bundesgartenschau is a garden/ landscaping show it would make sense that the bird’s tail feathers are flowers.

Visit the previous post (Get your Bundesgartenschau on!) for more information regarding this garden show and the graphics behind it.

Get your Bundesgartenschau on!

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Bundesgartenschau is a biannual Federal horticulture show in Germany. It has been in existence since 1951. Every 2 years they switch locations within Germany. So far the event has been held in Hamburg, Koln and Hannover amongst other cities. The logo above was created for the 1975 exhibition in Mannheim.

The DBG website contains photos and information of all the Bundesgatrenschau shows. Highlights include the Hamburg 1973 poster (Man with a slinky as a beard riding a tugboat across a sea of flowers..say what?) and the 1957 show poster designed by Herbert Leupin.

J.A. Grose : Designer

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German designer J.A. Grose for Standard Elektrik Lorenz 1959

Ladislav Sutnar exhibition

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The Czech center in New York is currently running an exhibition entitled, LADISLAV SUTNAR: MODERN, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL. The Exhibition feature’s 25 of Sutnar’s works and will run through Jan 8, 2008. For more information please visit the Czech Center’s website

Plakat Schriften – type specimens

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Plakat Schriften – Type specimen catalog -produced by by D stempel AG. foundry Frankfurt, Germany. This is one of the better catalogs I’ve come across. Huge Specimen samples and Bold color. Includes examples of Helvetica, Sistina, Schmalfette Binder style, Enge Fette Plak, Schmalfette Memphis, Kraftige Balzac, Halbfette Elan and Ziffern. Theres not date listed but it must be around the early 60s since Helvetica was created in 1957.

La Rinascente poster 1974

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Super rad skiing poster by E. Mariani for La Rinascente. Hundreds of colored vertical arrows make up the image.Year of creation 1974. Everytime I see this poster it makes me think of the White Stripes video with the legos.

Screw the train, I’m taking the funliner!

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What did they feed these kids in the 60s? Their HUGE! They have no chance of riding the funliner considering their heads are bigger then the whole plane. I don’t think they want to ride in it though, I think they want to eat it.

Cool kids activity book from 1964 produced for United Airlines. Illustrations by Dick Flor. Includes a tragic tale of some campers getting their precious hamburger buns stolen by some juvenile chipmunks. Great stuff!

Screw the train, I’m taking the funliner!

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What did they feed these kids in the 60s? Their HUGE! They have no chance of riding the funliner considering their heads are bigger then the whole plane. I don’t think they want to ride in it though, I think they want to eat it.

Cool kids activity book from 1964 produced for United Airlines. Illustrations by Dick Flor. Includes a tragic tale of some campers getting their precious hamburger buns stolen by some juvenile chipmunks. Great stuff!

Hats off to Hans Hartmann

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Update 11.21.07
I’d like to thank Felix of design book stories and Thierry Blancpain for tracking down some additional information on Hans Hartmann.

– He was born in 1913. Died in 1991.

– He originally came from the canton of Argovia, next to Zurich and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. He then went to Bern and among other things designed the (still in use) logo of the national train company SBB. In addition, he designed a fair amount of post stamps.

– The Hans Hartmann estate seems to be in the communal library in berne.

– Lastly, here is a short bio on Hans Hartmann (In german).

—————————————————————————————————————
Hans Hartmann is one of the lesser known designers that lived in Switzerland during the 1950s. A google search of his name brings up almost nothing. Outside of his native country his work seems to be lost in obscurity. The only information I have on him comes from a small monograph produced in 1958.

Most of his work centered around companies that were in or around Bern, Switzerland. This included designs for PTT, F. Gygi + Co. and Teppichhaus Bossart & Co. Most likely his contemporaries (Armin Hofmann, Emil Ruder in Basel , Josef Muller Brockann in Zurich) located to the North of Bern would of been aware of his work. However, I was unable to find any information that suggested any collaborations with these other designers.

If anyone has any information related to Hans or his design work, please contact me. It would be great if we could build a more complete resource on this talented designer. Thanks to the poster connection for the top 2 images.

Top 50 graphic design blogs

Designer David Airey has posted a list of the top 50 graphic design blogs. The top positions were determined by Google page rank (PR). Were glad to say we made the list!

60 years of finnish book design

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Several years ago The Finnish Book Arts Committee produced a retrospective entitled 60 Years of Best Finnish Book Design. The online exhibition includes illustrations and layout by Tove Jansson, Erik Bruun, Jukka Pellinen, Timo Sarpaneva, Markku Reunanen, Aleksander Lindeberg and Oili Tanninen amongst others. It only takes a few minutes to click through the slide show and serves as a wonderful introduction to some of Finland’s finest designers.

The little polar bear : Rudolf Lukes

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The Little Polar Bear who didn’t want to learn to swim c1964. Text by George Theiner with illustrations by Rudolf Lukes. This is one of the tougher kids books to find with illustrations by Mr. lukes. The drawings of the Bears and seals are locked into the book by some sort of sliding paper system. As you you turn the pages the illustrations pop out of the page and bring the characters to life. This book was featured in The San Francisco Center For the Book’s exhibition entitled Show Me a Story: Children’s Books & the Technology of Enchantment.

Alexander Girard nativity poster

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I was blown away when I saw this nativity poster by Alexander Girard. The poster is for an Exhibition at the Gallery of Art in Kansas City in 1962. The exhibition included 170 Nativity scenes from Girard’s personal collection. Imagine being in a room with 510 wise men and 170 Jesuses!

Thanks to Andy at Reference Library for posting this. If you haven’t been to his blog yet, Please go now! This is a really cool blog.

Map proves Zurich is pink

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Zurich never looked better in pink. Heres a promotional item produced by the Official tourists office of Zurich, Switzerland. I’m guessing it dates back to the early to mid 1950s. Layout and printing by Orell Fussli Arts Graphiques. I was able to find other projects designed by Orell Fussli but I couldn’t find any information on the firm itself. If anyone knows anything, please email me.

Rolf Harder but, before you drink

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This is a man that must have alot of stories to tell. For everyone that has seen the classic Noah Baumbach movie Kicking and Screaming; this man might of been the new leader of the cougars. Go cougars!

So now that we’ve established that Rolf Harder has the coolest name in graphic design, let’s get on to his work. I was blown away when I stumbled upon Rolf’s designs for International Paints Canada yesterday. I love his use of the paint brushes for the 1961 annual report. This design could of doubled as a poster for Krzysztof Kieslowski three colors trilogy. Like the Kieslowski films, I would guess that these colors represent the colors of the French flag considering International Paints was based out of Quebec.

The society of Graphic Designers of Canada has a bio on Rolf Harder for those interested in reading further.

Thanks to element kuuda for posting these great designs by Rolf Harder as well other Canadian designers on Flickr.

Corporate Identity vs logo lunch

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While I was doing some research on corporate identity and logos for a post, I kept finding all these Logo buffets. You know, the ones where you can get 13 web 2.0 logos for the price of a sandwich. It was frustrating because I just wanted to find a site that archived some of the better examples of branding. Well I finally found it. Heres a great list of corporate identity projects.

Each case study includes the Designer, year of creation, typefaces/ pantones used for the logo etc. Its a rather large list and includes many classic designs.

Sippin on Savignac

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I’m just waiting for the day when gangsta rappers start rapping about design nerd stuff. When that day comes, some one has to do a song called “Sippin on Savignac”. It would have to be a posse cut for sure. Each dude talking about how they were rolling through Japan looking for obscure French posters. No doubt in my mind this will be certified Ghetto Gold.

It might be a while before that day comes so in the meantime I’ll have to live with an internet trip to Japan’s own Guy antiques Raymond Savignac poster gallery. You can browse through the posters or drop some cash and buy an original.

Stig Lindberg dish : leaf pattern

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Great leaf pattern on this Stig Lindberg dish currently on Ebay. The dish is from 1950 and was created for Gustavsberg of Sweden. In addition to Stig’s ceramic work he was an accomplished childrens’ book illustrator. There is a great monograph on his work that came out in the 1960s. Sean flores was nice enough to include a photo of that book in our Designers Bookshelf series.

Citroen brochures

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Jose B has put together a nice collection of Citroen brochures at his website citrobe.org. I’m not a huge fan of the actual car, but I do love these brochures.
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Dimension abc : Wood type specimens

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Dimensions Abc – This is a promotional piece from 1966 for a new paper produced by Simpson Lee paper company called Talisman. They chose wood type to compliment the texture of the paper. I love the layout and the ink is laid on here thicker then maple syrup. Looks like its part of a series since its labeled volume #9 winter 1966-1967.

The paper companies during this time period (late 1940s-mid 1960s) were cranking out some incredible pieces. Just look at the work Bradbury Thompson was creating for Westvaco, Marquandt paper’s – Design and paper series (including Erik Nitsche and Ladislav Sutnar) as well as Champion papers’ Imagination series. I will be posting some of these in the weeks to come.

And we have a winner…

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Congratulations to Anne from Oakland! She is the lucky winner of our Book Design of Graphic Designers in Japan book giveaway. Last night we randomly pulled her name from a bright orange trash can. Thanks to everyone for entering our drawing.

Be on the look out for our next giveaway.

And we have a winner…

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Congratulations to Anne from Oakland! She is the lucky winner of our Book Design of Graphic Designers in Japan book giveaway. Last night we randomly pulled her name from a bright orange trash can. Thanks to everyone for entering our drawing.

Be on the look out for our next giveaway.

Say yes! to analog design

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Yes studio hooked up a sweet 12″ cover for the UK band the stand. The album is from 2005. Multiple designs were created, colors were mixed by hand and large format prints produced at K2 Screen, London. The resulting artwork was then re-photographed and used on the lp and poster design.

Looks like the length of this record was longer then the band’s career. The band broke up after 3 years and moved onto other projects and their website is now an internet parking lot. At least, we still have the lp jacket to look at.

Jason Munn interview

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Our story with Jason Munn (The Small Stakes) begins in the summer of 2005. We had recently learned that his studio was located near our office so we decided for a little suprise visit. We arrived at his front door and rang his buzzer. When he opened the door we said something along the lines of..
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Paul Rand animated video

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“A work of art is realized when form and content are indistinguishable. When form predominates, meaning is blunted; but when content predominates, interest flags. But the genius comes in when both of these things fuse.” – Paul Rand

Wise words from a design genius. The Paul Rand video above is filled with nice little quotes like this. The video also brings to life some of his well known logos and illustrations. Who wouldn’t want to see Sparkle and Spin animated? nuff said

Designers bookshelf: Sean + Nicole Flores

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When grainedit asked us to show our book collection for their blog, we were pretty excited. Getting it done, however, was half the battle. Not that we were lazy, okay, we were a little lazy, but the hard part was figuring out what stuff we liked the most.

It’s not that easy, here’s how it went:
Sean: [Looking though first shelf] “Oh, I like this one, this one too, we should put this one in”

Nicole: [sighs] How many do you plan on doing? That’s too many.

So here you go, a look at our bookshelf and here are some of our favorites.
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make a grain belly bird

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This is hot! Make your own paper bird. Theres several designs currently available on the site but my favorite is the one with the wood grain belly and the mid century modern tattoo. The website includes tips and tricks for putting your bird together plus you can design your own! Thanks to Mckibillo for putting this together.

Take 1 Saul Bass and add 1 ball of film =

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This is the recipe for the 5th (1961) San Francisco International Film Festival poster. This poster is reminiscent of Saul’s design for the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo. The cosmograph used in the Vertigo poster is replaced with a ball of film in this poster to create a central focal point with a circular motion. There is an original copy on Ebay right now. These posters rarely surface so this might be your only chance to own one. Click on the link above to preview the auction.

100 years of Bruno Munari

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Today is Bruno Munari’s birthday. If he was still alive, he would of been 100 years old. What better way to celebrate then to browse through the Bruno Munari image archive put together by the Collezione Bruno Munari. The collection includes information on most of his projects created during his highly prolific career as a designer.

WSDIA Design Studio

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I stumbled across WSDIA (We Should Do It All) Design Studio from the winners list of ADC’s 2006 Young Guns Award. This firm has a great eye for type, detail, and apparently skittles! Check out WSDIA’s website as well as an episode of The Creative Backstory: ADC Young Guns, Big/Small, featuring WSDIA. This short series explores the question about a design firm’s size: does size matter?

Charles Harper: Illustrations for Ford Times

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Charles Harper’s work looks just as fresh and exciting today as it must of looked 40 years ago. Its been great to see a renewed interest in his illustrations mostly due to the recent release of Todd Oldham’s book Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. Heres a small sample of Charles’ work for Ford Times. The issues featured above are from the mid to late 60s. In addition be sure to check out the Charles Harper Flickr group. Enjoy!

Baby spells “bee” with Harry Bertoia and Eames

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Joel at Blue Ant Studio has designed a wonderful alphabet for kids using iconic mid century modern furniture. The design was originally limited to wooden building blocks, but now theres plans for a poster as well. Why didn’t I have something like this when I was a kid? Learning the alphabet would of been a piece of cake. I can see all the spelling bee trophies I would of won thanks to Eva Zeisel and Hans Wegner.

Baby spells “bee” with Harry Bertoia and Eames

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Joel at Blue Ant Studio has designed a wonderful alphabet for kids using iconic mid century modern furniture. The design was originally limited to wooden building blocks, but now theres plans for a poster as well. Why didn’t I have something like this when I was a kid? Learning the alphabet would of been a piece of cake. I can see all the spelling bee trophies I would of won thanks to Eva Zeisel and Hans Wegner.

317 Dutch posters – Heck yea!

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Its funny, I actually counted all the posters just so I could have a number for the headline. I most likely miscounted, but oh well on to the post. Nago has put together an amazing Dutch poster gallery for you to see. Includes works from Total Design (Wim Crouwel), Otto Treumann, Pieter Brattinga, Otto Treumann, Willem Sanberg, Ben Bos, Jan van Keulen and others. The website is based in the Netherlands so if you can’t read Dutch just click on the pretty pictures.

Wim Crouwel interview part 2

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This is part 2 of an interview with Wim Crouwel at Galerie Anatome in Paris, 2/2007

Wim Crouwel interview part 1

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This is part 1 of an interview with Wim Crouwel at Galerie Anatome in Paris, 2/2007

Wim Crouwel likes PayPal

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Found this issue of Idea magazine featuring Wim Crouwel on Ebay. I am currently accepting gifts so if anyone wants to buy this for me, you will be my new best friend!

Bernice Myers : Olivier

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Olivier – L’ours Savant – Illustrations by Bernice Myers – c1956

Marian Bantjes – Illustrator & Designer

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes considers herself “independently pursuing a combination of illustration and design.” She really understands how to capture a spirit in typography. Ironically, she designed the Design Matters Live poster, an event we featured earlier this week. Take a look at Marian Bantjes’ website to gain a better understanding of where her organic typography stems from.

Marian Bantjes – Illustrator & Designer

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes considers herself “independently pursuing a combination of illustration and design.” She really understands how to capture a spirit in typography. Ironically, she designed the Design Matters Live poster, an event we featured earlier this week. Take a look at Marian Bantjes’ website to gain a better understanding of where her organic typography stems from.

Drool! Drool! on Sanna Annukka

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Drool! Drool! ( As my wife would say) I’m just drooling over Sanna Annukka’s online portfolio. She has a great sense of color and composititon. I definitely see a link between her work and traditional Finnish Folk art, which would make sense because she is from Finland. Do yourself a favor and goto her website now! No, scratch that, do me a favor… Please goto her site.

Design Matters Live – Alan Dye

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This is the last of the four part lecture series featuring Alan Dye, Creative Director with Apple’s graphic design team. Alan’s work has been recognized by a number of design shows and publications, he recently spoke at the AIGA’s “Fresh Dialogue” event, and was also selected by Print Magazine as one of their New Visual Artists in the annual 20 under 30 issue in 2003. Event will be held at Adobe Systems Incorporated, 601 Townsend Street San Francisco.

Thursday, Nov. 8th from 6-9pm, AIGA Members: $15, Non-Members:$20

For more information please visit the official Design Matters Live website.

Hello, I’m a banana

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I think I found the inspiration for the yellow jumpsuits in Wes Anderson’s classic bottle rocket film. Its right here in Tofu magazine’s online gallery of 1960’s Asian record covers. The gallery features records from Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau between 1964-1969. There are some killer examples of Asian pop psych and beat, although mostly covers of American songs from that time period. Be sure to check the audio clips, because who wouldn’t want to hear Rita Chao’s “Yummy Yummy Yummy“?

Hello, I’m a banana

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I think I found the inspiration for the yellow jumpsuits in Wes Anderson’s classic bottle rocket film. Its right here in Tofu magazine’s online gallery of 1960’s Asian record covers. The gallery features records from Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau between 1964-1969. There are some killer examples of Asian pop psych and beat, although mostly covers of American songs from that time period. Be sure to check the audio clips, because who wouldn’t want to hear Rita Chao’s “Yummy Yummy Yummy“?

Minty squirrels

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Endangered animals always look so cool in teal. Now you can get all your favorites in Present&Correct’s alphabet of endangered species in the british isles chart. I’m loving the spatula tailed dinosaur and the iron my laundry fish.

Erik Nitsche : Design and paper #34

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Erik Nitsche – Design and paper #34 195?. Part of a series put out by Marquardt and Company.  After you’ve absorbed the photos above check out this killer collection of Erik Nitsche designs put together by the people at Bustbright.

A voice like Nina Simone and the body of a Serif

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Ahhh I love this. The sweet voice of Nina Simone blaring through my cheap Labtec computer speakers and the sight of black n white serifs turing into dragonflys. This definitely made me smile…or I should I say “feel good”.

If you haven’t seen this already its worth a watch.
Nina Simone – Feeling good

1960s Polish Posters Gallery

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Check out the Grayspace poster gallery for a look at some killer 50s + 60s polish posters.

Boris Müller – Berlin, Germany

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Esono is the design studio of Professor Boris Müller. His design is expressive, experimental, and down right inspiring. Boris also teaches at the Interface Design programme of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. He is currently organizing a conference on interaction design, the Innovationsforum Interaktionsdesign. Check him out!

AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers at Chronicle Books

Arboretum Cover Designed by McSweeneys

Cosponsored by Chronicle Books, the San Francisco Center for the Book, and the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Arts, this year’s annual 50 Books/50 Covers show, which has been held at the SFCB for the past several years, moves over to the new Chronicle Books headquarters at 680 Second Street. The above sample gives you a glimpse of the talent you will be reviewing. ‘Arboretum’ cover designed by McSweeney’s Publishing.

Opening reception: 680 Second Street, San Francisco
Friday, Oct 26 from 6-8pm and is free to the public.

Please visit the ‘San Francisco AIGA’ website for more details.

Ryohei Yanagihara Mastercard ad ?

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I was flipping through the latest (and last) issue of Business 2.0 and I noticed this add for Mastercard. The illustration of the man in the background holding the box looks very samiliar to the work of Ryohei Yanagihara. If anyone knows who created this ad, please contact us. In the meantime check out a small gallery of Ryohei Yanagihara’s works.

Ryohei is an illustrator and animator who along with Yoji Kuri and Hiroshi Manabe is considered a pioneer of the independent animation scene in Japan.

Herb Lubalin

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Herb Lubalin b.1918 -d.1981. If you haven’t bit his work, or butchered his typefaces, you’ve at least seen his iconic typographic logo for Avant Garde magazine. The logo spawned a type face of the same name in 1970 which was later condensed by Ed Benguiat. Many people are unfamiliar with his work beyond this typeface so, please take a moment to check him out. Thanks to Peter Gabor of the excellent Design & Typo site for providing the Herb Lubalin tribute gallery.

Event: AIGA design conference-Denver

Aiga Conference

The “NEXT” Aiga design conference kicks off Oct 11th and runs through the 14th. Pretty solid line up of speakers including, Michael Bierut, Steven Heller, Tobias Frere-Jones, Ed Fella, Ellen Lupton,Scott Stowell and a ton of other design heavyweights. The conference will be addressing the relevance of design in a changing world as well the role of the designer within it. Read more…

Anatomy of a Saul Bass resurrection

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For those of you who can’t enough of Saul bass. The Excellent Saul Bass Tribute Site Saul Bass on the Web is back after a long Hiatus. Brendan Dawes who created the site does a great job of bringing Saul’s work back to life through flash animations very similar to his title sequences. The site includes a filmography, video of some of titlling works, biography, as well as a poster gallery filled with classic works ( The man with the Golden arm, Anatomy of a murder and Vertigo) by the master.

Also worth checking out is Notcoming.com’s Saul bass title gallery.

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