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There hasn't been much map-action lately. But a while back I found a whole pile to Michelin maps in a charity bookshop, going for a song, so I snapped them up. If nothing else, I thought I could use them as wrapping paper.
Haven't been able to bring myself to do that yet.
It's a funny thing about a country's stamps; you can find super-cool examples like these and think the Dutch make superb stamps, but like with our own and those of many nationality's, they're just moments of great beauty in amongst much tweeness and mediocrity.
Day 93: The Hood distracts with some fancy footwork while to others make a run for it.
I suppose there's an obvious irony to such a weighty mailer being sent out to promote environmental papers but, when it come to materials, there really is no substitute to touching and feeling. I guess it could have at least been half the size.
But don't get me wrong, my point isn't to knock GF Smith's new brochure, it's beautiful; with Lee Funnell's stunning photography and SEA's admirable design restraint.
OK, here it is after all. FTF-Lite. Hopefully you'll be unfamiliar with these but I found it pushed into a bush near our studio. Thought it looked brilliant. Wondered how it had got there.
No FTF this week. Got a presentation at 2pm. Got loads to do. But for your amusement, I thought I'd share this letter that we got from someone who was supposed to come in on a placement (he just didn't turn up). The first paragraph really made me laugh...
Perhaps you've had this idea yourself (expect someone has) but every time I find myself sitting in front of a mountain of small plastic blocks I think how great Pantone® Lego would be.
It's incidental, although a detail that I really liked, but Craig addressed it in an interesting way: He embedded my address (not shown here on purpose) in a paragraph of text about sending me a package and printed that onto the address label; pulling out the address details in bold. It arrived, no problem. And really made me smile.
And, thankfully, there is a topical reason for mentioning this because Craig's in the latest edition of Eye.
On a rainy, stuck-inside day Lego is a designer-dad's saviour. It's cold and wet outside but everyone's happy: the boys are busy building space ships, I'm working alongside them making robo-bugs and Karen gets some peace and quiet for once.
Ace copywriter Mike Reed has, oh so kindly, sent me his very lovely, 300million-designed, new mailer in which he eloquently and once and for all dispels the myth that it's bad to start a sentence with "And" or "But".
Day 90: Our attempt to add to their numbers was unsuccessful.
Posted this on Ben's Summer of Design Books thing last week.
[As referenced earlier this week] for holiday reading this year I took away Vignelli: From A to Z. To be honest, perhaps surprisingly, I didn't know much about Massimo Vignelli before reading this: there was the Subway Map of course, Helvetica and the Michael Beirut connection...not much. Now, I feel I know lots and while I can't say I totally agree with everything the great man has to say in his book, I really feel I've learned useful stuff and been reminded of many important aspect of being a designer; things I perhaps already knew but lacked the elegance and insight of Vignelli to be able to express as clearly.
If you're a UK resident, The Type Museum needs you. Tim Martin explains:
Sign the petition here.The Type Museum has successfuly collected a large proportion of all the definitive historical materials relating to the art, design & manufacturing production in Britain of the typefaces in which the world languages are communicated and recorded. This collection has been closed for two years and needs re-opening to public access, educational and scholarly use not broken up or put into storage as is curently being proposed. The Type Museum's collections need exhibiting, curatorial & conservation development and educational workshops - not storage. This legacy is vital for the quality of education of future generations of communicators in which Britain has frequently led the world. We appeal for resources to restore and safeguard educational access to these collections.
In Vignelli from A to Z there's a section on "Garments" in which he describes how he came to branch into clothing design. Dissatisfied with what was available and fuelled by his own "if you can't find it, make it" mantra, Vignelli set about designing his own cloths. Firstly, he conducted a survey of menswear through the ages and concluded that what was currently on offer was basically anachronistic (who needs lapels?). Being a modernist, he had no interest in such fashionable and frivolous decoration.
So he reduced and simplified; form and function, of course, being the goal; he removed all the unnecessary components from each garment and ended up with an elegant, stylish collection. OK, some of it looks like it's off the set of a 70s sci-fi film.
Well, I was reading that while on holiday in rainy Donegal where I spent most of the time inside a dark blue Pac-a-Mac and it struck me what a sterling example of form and function, modernist design the Pac-a-Mac is.
Clearly functional: shower and wind proof, it's made from a minimum number of component pieces, folds into it's own pocket, weighs next to nothing and slips into the pocket of your capacious and equally functional combat shorts; along with your Swiss Army Knife, digital camera, crabbing hooks, cold sausage and Bionicle arm.
David's been on his hol's to Tunisia. More pics here.