Ace Jet 170

Sheet Head #6

Maps courtesy of the marvellous Johnny Cullen.

Sheet Head #5

Maps courtesy of the marvellous Johnny Cullen.

It's a cloud. And it's in your living room.

Yep, a "weather station with an indoor cloud function". Of course. Using data from Sweden's Met Office it brings the outdoors, inside. From those clever people that brought us the iPad powering rocking chair.

It's all here.

Sheet Head #4

Cool modernist typography; fresh, clean colours; this sheet reminds me of Vignelli.

Maps courtesy of the marvellous Johnny Cullen.

Sheet Head #3

This is a lovely sheet. Two colours. Quite roughly drafted with that red haphazardly overprinted; it looks like someone's just drawn over the black linework.

Maps courtesy of the marvellous Johnny Cullen.

Sheet Head #2

Conoco sheets are a bit cranky, the font is a bit dodgy and the blue plate feels a little heavily printed. But what's most disconcerting, perhaps quite peculiar to the US (I don't know), is how straight and gridly the road systems are.

They're lovely…and they don't cost much.

Those ace people over at Herb Lester are now selling luggage tags. Printed onto what looks like Tyvek®, they're lightweight but robust. They're also lovely…and don't cost much.

The perfect accompaniment to…er…something else, this Christmas.

Sheet Head #1

Johnny (Euston, do you copy) Cullen knows I like a good map. Disparities in colour scheme, typography, level of detail, branding and other trappings are fascinating. There seems to be no end of variation. Johnny very generously sent me a box full of maps from the US he found in a charity shop. There's loads of them; what you see here is but a small sample.

It was such a generous thing to do and there are so many different designs that I thought they deserved their own series. Hence that…ehum…"special" heading.

The Penrose Annual 1961, Volume 55

Printing, patterns, building and more printing.

Monofakind

I feel incredibly privileged to have received Monotype's One of a kind box set. Beautifully designed by SEA, the box contains twelve bi-folded booklets; each focusing on an aspect of Monotype's work: its Britishness and its Internationalness; essential workhorse fonts, lesser known gems, type on screen and web fonts; the company's heritage, publishing sympathies, American support and most famous fans.

Each booklet presents fonts appropriate to its theme accompanied by a text from someone of note: Creative Review's Patrick Burgoyne, Pentagram's Abbott Miller, Eye's Simon Esterson, Andy Payne from Interbrand, Rankin and SEA's own Bryan Edmondson; who I have say a special thank to for very kindly organising the dispatch.

It's an impressive piece and a fitting tribute to Monotype; its rich heritage and its dedication to the future of typography.

Ian and Michael's Secret Emporium of Vintage Delights

Last week I finished my stint guest blogging for Herb Lester. It was fun. I wrote a set of entries on peculiar corners of Belfast (and a little beyond). The last post was about the shop over the road from our studio. If you want to head down there, it's opposite Portview on the Lower Newtownards Road.

Folk

Me and the boys went down to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum last weekend. So, of course, we slipped into the print shop. It could be so much more than it is. Right now, it's an exhibit; just that. What it really needs is a massive injection of enthusiasm then who knows what it could become. 

Archive

Has anyone bought the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design? I was wondering what it's like, in the flesh. Partly because I wrote a few bits of it, but also because it was a long time coming and changed significantly during its development. I also wonder how the formats feels right now, in our diginetworld.

Signs of Wonder

We've all done it haven't we? Wondered who the hell paints those signs. Over here it's usually the signs outside churches that make me scratch my head; usually, they're clearly rendered with skill…but by who?

Stateside, where everything is bigger than it is here in the north-eastern corner of Ireland, so too, therefore, is the endeavour of sign painting. Faythe Levine and Sam Macon's book, that accompanies their film of the same name is a joyful celebration of the America's most skilful public lettering exponents.

The book's strength comes from how close it gets to the artists and their brushes; thankfully, it's so much more than a showcase of great work. Seeing their studios, sketches and brush strokes is a terrific, soulful pleasure. It's a great book.

You can see interviews with some of the artists here and catch the film trailer here.