Ace Jet 170

Black, one sugar.

We all love our coffee, don't we? I love my coffee. I don't drink tea but love my coffee. I love the ritual of making coffee. Favouring the stove-top method, epitomized by the classic Bialetti Moka Express coffee maker, every morning I love the process of emptying, rinsing, filling, waiting...pouring and of course, drinking. Black, one sugar please.

I've taken to using this cup. IKEA, Älmhult, 25p. No handle.

I believe IKEA to be a pretty ethical company (do correct me if I'm wrong) so I assume that that price is rock bottom for a sound reason (perhaps because it's got no handle, for example). But it's a beautiful cup. Well proportioned and exactly the right size for the amount of coffee my "everyday" coffee maker makes and it sits perfectly in my hand. "But it's got no bloomin's handle!", I hear you cry, "what good is a coffee cup without a handle!". Well, you see, I think that's exactly what makes this cup so beautiful, so very well designed. Because you can only hold it comfortably when the coffee is exactly the right temperature to drink. There's no sitting around, holding your cup, waiting for it to cool down; it's too bloody hot for that! And when it's ready, it nestles in your palm so not only do you experience your perfectly brewed cup of the black stuff at the optimum centigrade but you get the added comfort of a warm cup in the hand. And the value of that on a cold winter morning is not to be under estimated.

So whether intentionally or not (and I suspect the "not" may be more likely) the cup is more than a mere vessel for your essential AM caffeine fix, it amplifies the morning coffee experience. Which is pretty good going for a 25p cup*.

* Although technically, I think it's a beaker, if you want to be pedantic.
 

Hische Work

The amazing beautiful work of Jessica Hische. On her new website.

(Via a SwissTweet)

...planned obsolescence, is a social crime...

Serious but pertinent reading for my Christmas break, Jan Conradi's book about Vignelli and his white coated mates looks like it's not for the faint-hearted; more for the hardcore modernist sympathiser. Don't let my thumbnails deceive you, it's relatively low on pics and high on words but I'm rather excited about getting the inside track on the people that brought us that New York Transit Authority ID, pioneered grid use and championed graphic standards.

 

 

Moon + Antenna

I was watching the moon this morning as I drove into work
(quite safely thanks to few cars + speed bumps).

Post Post

  

More and larger images on Flickr.

Skye & Torridon/Mull and Oban

I flippin' love a Bartholomew map, specifically this era (late 60s). It's partly the richness of colour and intricacy of the actual maps (just isolate a small section to study!)...

  

  

  

  

...but largely it's because of the covers. Beautifully structured (setting aside the unfortunate use of &/and) they're brilliantly consistent. And using the simplified land mass to differentiate each sheet was a masterful move. Personally, I think these covers are on a par with Romek Marber's monumentally ace Penguin grid from the same period. So "on a par" in fact I can't help wonder if whoever designed the Bartholomew covers was directly influenced by the paperbacks he was reading.

 

Measure for Measure

What with all these maps in the Ace Jet Archive, I thought it was about time I had the right tool to measure them with.

 

Weizmann Institute of Science

 

UU160

Hope to get along to this next week:

The School of Art and Design - the founding school of the University of Ulster ­marks its 160th anniversary this year. To celebrate this landmark, the University has staged a series of events during 2009 culminating in this major retrospective exhibition at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, running until 30th January 2010. The exhibition and accompanying publications by Mike Catto and Professor Liam Kelly will present a comprehensive visual and contextual history of the School from its foundation in 1849 as the Belfast Government School of Art to the present day as the Faculty of Art, Design and the Built Environment at the University of Ulster, York Street. 

The exhibition recreates the atmosphere of significant periods across the School’s history. From the life drawing rooms of the early 1900’s as recorded in the photographs of Alexander Robert Hogg, the flamboyant interior and architectural designs dating from the 1960’s by internationally renowned architect Max Clendinning to evocative works from recent times including Willie Doherty’s most recent commission ‘Buried’ shown at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery earlier this year and getting its first screening in Northern Ireland at this exhibition. 

This is a unique opportunity to see the work of a range of artists drawn from private collections and arts institutions across Ireland never before exhibited together. 

The exhibition celebrates the achievements of some of Northern Ireland’s most prominent artists and designers who have been associated with the School of Art and Design throughout its long history. 

 
 

Smart Ask

 

Something else for your letter to Santa; the more dapper out there will know all about it. I, on the other hand, although familiar with the blog, only actually saw the book in the flesh a couple of days ago but it's as sharp as the suits inside.

   

Trilogy

I'm a bit of a fan. Ever since Jeremy Tankard released Bliss all those years ago and I rang him up and ordered it directly, over the phone, man to man, I've felt a kind of bond. A kind of out-of-kilter, stalking kind of bold perhaps, but a bond nevertheless. It's not that I've used his fonts much really. Would love to. Enigma is superb, Kingfisher beautiful, The Shire Types voluptuous. Aspect, well I tried Aspect recently and while I was extremely pleased with what I thought was an elegantly simple bit of work, our client plumped for something scriptier.

So the prospect of a Tankard Fat Face alone would fill me with excitement, but not satisfied with something so simple, instead Mr T gives us The Trilogy Collection: a massive set of Sans's, a tidy bundle of Egyptians and a complimentary side order of Fat Boys. All harmonised to work side by side, in multi-fontial bliss (pardon the pun).

  

  

  

...create a better "then".

 

 

Has everyone got their Munken Agenda for 2010? Not to actually use or anything, unless you're brave enough to use a pencil very lightly. Just tuck it away somewhere safe, with all the others. This year's was designed by Grow in Stockholm.

   

   

   

Bookchase

 

For the Penguin lover in your life, it's The Great Penguin Bookchase.
Available through Art Meets Matter.

10

 

It's that time again when lovely stuff appears that you should be buying for someone special in your life but the temptation to keep it for yourself is almost over powering. First up: Typotheque's Limited Edition 2010 Diary.

Invincible

I was chatting this old chap last week, on his stall of miscellaneous memorabilia. Mostly military stuff, which is one thing I'm not really into...unless it happens to be designed in an interesting way, like that Bomber Command book from way back. He had a couple of random postcards with interesting type on them that he sold me for next to nothing, and while I was kneeling down to tuck them into my bag I spotted this old cigar box hidden under his table. Now I'm a sucker for a cigar box so was very pleased that he agreed to sell it to me.

  

There's many to choose from but I think my favourite rendering of the brand name is really the one on the pattern-edges tape that runs around the edges, but you are kind of spoilt for choice.

   

Incidentally, if anyone's commented lately: firstly, thanks! and secondly, my apologies for taking my time publishing them. I've had a pile of rubbish coming through the related email address so I switched it off for a while.

Bloom Service

Inspired by last month's excellent Naughton Gallery exhibition, I sought out my own little bit of Abram Games' brilliance on ebay. Issued in 1953 Conquest of the Desert was one of six stamps Games designed for Israel's Philatelic Department after he won a competition, a few years earlier, to design a special stamp commemorating Israel's Independence Day. The design was inspired by a Biblical quotation (Isaiah 35 verse 2), "The desert shall blossom as a rose". Cleverly, the stem of the rose is a surveyor's rod. At the time of issue, the stamp caused a bit of a stir; Games took the quote from the King James I English translation, in the original Hebrew the blossoming flower is a lily of the valley.

 

Web Type (Yester)Day

Just in case you missed it (like me!), it was yesterday, head on over to Web Standardistas. And while you're there, check out Ligature, Loop & Stem.

Big "&" Theory

Dafi Kühne is a designer and printer with a recent bachelor’s degree from the Zurich University of Arts‘ Visual Communications department. He also worked as an intern at the legendary Hatch Show Print poster shop in 2008. 

Woodtype Now! is Kühne’s bachelor thesis project that explores experimental production methods for letterpress printing. It is one of the more interesting efforts from a handful of contemporary wood type projects I’ve come across recently, and stands out in its decidedly theoretical approach to the idea of wood type in a modern context…

(Via Thinking for a Living™)

Myerscough

If you haven't twigged, multi-award winning designer Morag Myerscough is talking at UU this Wednesday, at 6pm. If you want to register or find out more you can email Kelly.

  

Better

Not sure if it was kind of ironic that I got myself in to the finger-on-the-web-pulse Build Conference via the ancient art of bartering (I did a bit of the stuff for Andy, the organiser, in exchange for entry). Whether it was or not, I'm damned glad I got there, it was superb; exciting, interesting, inspiring. Beautiful slides. If I didn't look ridiculous in a hat, and so don't own one, I'd be taking one off to Andy for making a great thing, just down the road from us. I won't go on about it, the Standardistas have summed it all up for you.