friday blinks – 8/24/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

2012 Type Trends
See what’s happening in the world of type this year.
(via Creative Bloq/twitter)

FontStruct
This modular type builder allows you to construct, share, download and use actual fonts that you have made, using their palette of shapes and tools. Pretty awesome.
(via Creative Bloq/twitter)

The Setup
Interviews of various creative people asking what they use to get their jobs done. Unique behind-the-screen look.
(via Tina Roth Eisenberg/twitter)

Love the Box with Timothy Goodman
An illustrated guide on how to research, deconstruct, personalize “the box,” then go forth.
(via Print Magazine/twitter) (via Timothy Goodman/twitter)

Look/See Sun God Special Edition Sunglasses
http://vimeo.com/48176732
Portland-based designer Adam Garcia collaborates with high-end eye wear maker Look/See to create some killer sunglasses with tons of small details that make these specs highly desirable…at least to me.
(via Adam Garcia/twitter)

friday blinks – 8/10/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

Mars Wallpapers
Tymn Armstrong, an earthling designer, made some desktop wallpapers from the high-res panoramic photos that NASA released earlier this week, which were taken by their newly-landed rover, Curiosity. Thanks dude!
(via Tymn Armstrong/twitter)

Loyola community service site
Designed by Philadelphia-based designer Justin LaFontaine for the Philly-based 160over90 ad agency for Loyola University Maryland. Slick stuff.
(via 160over90/twitter) (via Justin LaFontaine/twitter)

Geometry Daily
No homework needed, just simple geometric shapes, every day.
(via Nate Navasca/twitter)

Jeff Rogers interview with The Great Discontent
The Great Discontent completes another great interview; this time with NYC-based designer, letterer, and maker Jeff Rogers. I felt a warmth run over me (no I didn’t pee myself) after reading his interview. He’s obviously proven that hard work and wanting to continually do better will get you around. Awesome body of work and wonderful advice, Mr. Frogers. Thank you.
(via Jeff Rogers/twitter)

Water Light Graffiti
http://vimeo.com/47095462
Created and by the team at the French-based agency Digitalarti at the ArtLab studio. The ‘Water Light Graffiti’ surface is made out of thousands of LEDs illuminated by the contact of water. You can use anything from a paintbrush, a squirt gun, your fingers or anything else that is damp to make the lights light up. Sweet idea.
(via Creative Bloq/twitter)

friday blinks – 8/3/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

Making Geometric Type Work
Examples of some of the issues you will face when designing geometric typeface. Set up a strict set of rules, then break them.
(via Lost Type Co-op/twitter)

NASA makes “art”
NASA used Landsat satellites to monitor and document the changes taking place across the planet. In addition to doing that, they have captured some of the amazing aerial landscapes that Earth has to offer. Pretty amazing.
(via It’s Nice That/twitter)

Hampton Creative 10th anniversary chalk mural
Impressive time-lapse chalk mural. (sorry, couldn’t imbed the video)
(via Type Everything/twitter)

The most 80s-style commercial…ever

This spot for Hahn Super Dry has the most 80s references in it of any other commercial I’ve ever seen. Totally rad.
(via Mike Metz/twitter)

Bob Noorda overview
Bob Noorda was co-founder Unimark with Massimo Vignelli in the 1960′s. Check out the incredible logos, posters, and symbols he designed in his 56-year career.
(via Keenan Cummings/twitter)

friday blinks – 6/1/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

For startups (or anyone, really), this is how design works
Great overview of what roll design plays in business, and how important it is to successful.
(via Candice Chu/twitter) (via Wells Riley/twitter)

Make a better creative brief
Keep it simple, keep it flexible and include strategy, rules, and dates.
(via Division of Labor/twitter)

Octo sketch process by Brandon Rike

Awesome process hand-drawing to vector illustration by designer/illustrator Brandon Rike.
(via Brandon Rike/twitter)

Advice for designers getting ready to start a studio
Some wonderful tips for anyone wanting to open their own design studio, or even how to run a studio.
(via Alonzo Felix/twitter) (via Rob Giampietro/twitter)

The Great Discontent interviews Dana Tanamachi
“Sometimes your limitations can be a launching pad into an unexpected story.” A wonderful quote and an absolutely fantastic interview with the extremely talented chalk artist/designer Dana Tanamachi. Do yourself a favor. Sit down, take a nice, long break, and read this interview if you haven’t already. Dana has some really good insite. She mentions speaking at some universities…wondering if she would travel to southwest VA to speak to the VCD students at Virginia Tech? Let me know if you’re interested, Dana!
(via The Great Discontent/twitter) (via Dana Tanamachi/twitter)

friday blinks – 5/25/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

5 Questions, 1-word answers, with designers
I think designer Jon Eslinger is on to something here. Great concept and follow-through. And you can’t mess with Draplin’s honesty and makeupwordisms. Love Jon’s work, too. Simple and strong.
(via Aaron Draplin/twitter) (via Jon Eslinger/twitter)

Travel Channel stamps
Designer and illustrator Tymn Armstrong illustrates a bunch of stamps of locations around the world for the Travel Channel’s website. Nice and clean, as usual.
(via Tymn Armstrong/twitter)

Type to charts

You usually don’t need directions on how to use a typeface, but this one is super awesome. Font Font’s FF Chartwell is a stout font, that will turn your plain type into of seven types of graphs (Bars, Bars Vertical, Lines, Pies, Radar, Rings, Rose). Pretty slick way to use Open Type’s powers.
(via Erik Spiekermann/twitter)

Dutch kids paint dad’s furniture

And this dad isn’t going to ground the kids for months for going to town on his freshly-built furniture, either. Dutch designer Lucas Maassen pays his 3 boys, Thijme (9), Julian (7) and Maris (7), 1 euro each for each piece of furniture they paint, so painting as quickly as possible is the key. They can work 3 hours per week due to Dutch child labour laws. This is a very interesting concept and watching one of the boys paint a little happy face under the mirror made me smile and reminded me of my son.
(via It’s Nice That/twitter)

Freelance Real Talk
Designer Breanna Rose gives some tips and tricks, as well as some background, for how to run a sucessful freelance business. As she says, “freelancing isn’t all puppies and rainbows,” but utilizing some of her practices might give you the upper hand next time you’re working with a client. I haven’t used some of these tactics, but I’ll have to give them a shot for my next freelance project. Check out her posts on Studio Sweet Studio: The Beginning, Moodboards, Pricing (Part One), and Pricing (Part Two).
(via Studio Sweet Studio/twitter) (via Breanna Rose/twitter)

friday blinks – 4/20/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks. Looks like I almost made an all-video post without trying. Huh…

Portland Creative Mornings with Kate Bingaman Burt
http://vimeo.com/31610153
Create. Share. Repeat. Draw every day. As you can see from the video, Kate is extremely entertaining and super energetic! I’m super excited to see her speak live at WMCfest 2012!
(via Adam Garcia/twitter) (via Kate Bingaman Burt/twitter)

Good Books “Metamorphosis”

An insanely-visual trip to a rather normal book website, Good Books. Also, the Behind-the-Scenes look from concept to completion. Concept by String Theory and directed by Buck.
(via Chris Allen)

Smokeable book for Snoop

Leave it to Snoop (with help from creative agency Pereira & O’Dell) to think up this doozy. A book made of rolling paper pages, a hemp tweed cover, and a matchstick striker spine. I don’t think this one will last very long in the public library system. Posted this on 4/20 without trying. Self high five.
(via Drea Zlanabitnig/twitter)

Erik Spiekermann puts the face back in typeface

This is always teamwork. Work in teams and change the place you live in. Get in there and break things open. Graphic design CAN changes lives. I hope I’m in the right place at the right time and work with some fantastic people as Mr. Spiekermann has.
(via Erik Spiekermann/twitter)

Prima Peaches packaging
Awesome 3-color packaging, label, and set of icons for southern California grower, Prima, designed/illustrated by Patrick Macomber.
(via Patrick Macomber/twitter)

friday blinks – 3/30/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

App that locates NYC subway art
The ‘Arts for Transit’ app, “created by the Metropolitan Transport Authority and app firm Meridian, tells the locations of hundreds of artworks throughout the historic New York subway.” Find the sculptures, murals, installations and other works dating back to the 1980s, as well as background info, photos, and audio or video podcasts about each artist. Nerds will also like this app. It will guide them to bookstores and help them find a particular book in the store. It’s like a nerd magnet.
(via The Creative Finder/twitter)

How Creativity Works
Interesting NPR interview with author and editor Jonah Lehrer, about his new book called Imagine: How Creativity Works. I think I need to take more breaks. It seems like I’ve been overwhelmed lately, hitting more walls (creatively and physically) than usual. Also, a short promo video from Jonah Lehrer.
(via my wife, Holly Gatton) (via UCDA/twitter)

Tiny cards
What a better way to make a point that you work with small businesses than to get super tiny business cards? That’s what one Alberta, Canada-based bookkeeping business did. Measureing 1” x .6”, these little guys were letterpress printed by Minneapolis-based Studio On Fire. They had to make a special die just to cut them down to size. Brilliant!
(via Cranky Pressman/twitter) (via Studio On Fire/twitter)

Ten Steps to Becoming the Designer You Want to Be
Great list of 10 things to do on a regular basis to be all you can be, design-wise.
(via Linda Sanderson)

Dan Cassaro rides the Highway
Designer, illustrator and highway extraordinaire Dan Cassaro shows off his newest type masterpiece. Highway, which was initially created on the road, traveling across the U.S. of A. this past summer, then completed in his home studio in New York. Check it out and safe driving.
(via Grain Edit/twitter)(via Dan Cassaro/twitter)

friday blinks – 3/9/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

James Victore’s YouTube Channel
This dude is full of energy and I love it. It’s so refreshing to see someone who’s been in the game this long and still full of piss and vigor. Inspiring and impressive.
(via James Victore/twitter)

Glasgow Press’ Impressive promo
Glasgow Press just sent out a letterpress promo pack featuring 5 postcards with lyrics from songs by some of graphic designer Kerr Vernon’s favorite Glasgow-based bands. Awesome.
(via Creative Review/blog)

Interview with Adam R. Garcia
A beautifully-shot interview and with the very talented creative director, designer, and illustrator Adam R. Garcia, created by Portland-based designer Ryan J. Bush. “Move around. Be an idiot. Be a part of the community. Make things that are compelling and meaningful. Think about what you make.” Nice ending, too. It was nice to see Adam break out from those very deep thoughts.
(via Greg Fisk/twitter) (via Adam Garcia/twitter)

Camera + Drill = interesting view of our world
French designer Oscar Lhermitte straps a digital camera, filming at 15 frames per second, onto a drill that spins 20 revolutions per second. I could totally see this treatment as a title sequence for a movie.
(via Under Consideration/twitter)

Advice from John C Jay
Great list of 10 tips from Wieden+Kennedy’s John C Jay. I especially like #7.
(via Greg Fisk/twitter)

Free Font Friday
Practice Foundry, a Canadian-based, “independent type foundry and a collective space for showcasing the work of amateur type designers in Canada.” They want to beef up the Canadian typographic presence with a pay-as-you’d-like model. Pretty sweet idea, eh?
(via Dylan Moore)

friday blinks – 3/2/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

Jumpman HTML5 site
WOAH! Super slick.
(via Chris Streger/twitter)

Triforce Tribute
Design + crafts + everything Zelda. I never played the game (ZELDA NERDS REVOLT!), but can get behind some serious geekery for the game. This show is sure to be very successful.
(via David Sizemore/twitter)

Jeff Rogers makes a font baby
Beautiful two-ply, hand-made font by NYC-based designer/illustrator Jeff Rogers.
(via Ryan Feerer/twitter)

Annual report powered by the sun
Austria Solar commissioned the first annual report powered by the sun. Its content remains invisible until sunlight falls on its pages. Design work by serviceplan campaign. This is really cool.
(via David Sizemore/twitter)

Weapons Declassified: Jeff Finley
Weapons of Mass Creation Fest founder Jeff Finley gets featured, and talks about how WMC Fest came to be and the concept behind it. Pissed I won’t be able to make it up to Cleveland this year for WMC Fest. Next time, Gadget…
(via Jeff Finley/twitter)

friday blinks – 2/17/12

Here is a list of sites we’ve come across throughout the past couple weeks that we think are worth sharing. We call it friday blinks.

The Pauses “A Cautionary Tale” CD packaging
Album made to look like a beat up Golden Book and a cd that looks like a vinyl record, featuring design & artwork by Travis Lampe. Really cool looking piece. I had to look them up and listen to a few tracks. Pretty good stuff.
(via Tymn Armstrong/twitter)

Inconceivible wine package design
The Princess Bride Custom Wine Packaging System for Alamo Drafthouse Cinema highlights this hilarious movie with awesome illustrations, type, and a wonderful 3-color design. The overlapping heads to form the chalice is fantastic.
(via Mike Metz/twitter)

Buddy League documentary
The trailer gave me chills. What a great story and idea. Type by Jeff Rogers.
(via Jeff Rogers/twitter)

Explosions in the Sky poster process
Another amazing “making of” video from DKNG for their Explosions In The Sky gig poster.
(via Mathew Shamloo/twitter)

New Theatre’s new look
Created by the Sydney office of Interbrand, this fresh look on an 80 year-old theater is incredible. From the mark down to the signage, buttons, stencil, clothing, bags, and tickets. Ughhhh, those tickets. So good.
(via David Sizemore/twitter)