typography

creative inspiration

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branding

yes taco menu
yes taco menu, image: art of the menu

i love this 2-color, natural paper, downright stampy look for yes taco, profiled recently on art of the menu.

typography

theo inglis, the new york postcard project
theo inglis / the new york postcard project, image: designworklife.com

i’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, especially since people keep doing it: i love maps, and i love typography, and i REALLY love it when designers make typographic maps. thanks to designworklife.com for profiling theo inglis’ new york postcard project.

food

ripe feijoas
ripe feijoas

you may not recognize these right away if you don’t already have a tree growing in your yard, but feijoas are a delicious late summer guava that can add a lovely balance of sweetness and tartness to your life. check out seasonal eats: feijoas are falling from the trees!

if you’re not reading this right now today, maybe you didn’t know it’s raining. only today. very soon it will be back to sunny weather. but if you want to have some rainy day funtimes, pick one of these soups to warm your kitchen tonight: 10 simple soups for the start of the fall season

event calendar: september 25 – october 2, 2011

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happy monday

i’ll be co-working at kleverdog in chinatown all week. eating lots of raspberries we picked last week on our excursion up to yucaipa! and this saturday is the LA printer’s fair at the international printing museum in carson. come down & get your annual fix of wood and letterpress type!

veer’s educational video about fonts

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this video is super-cute, but let’s get one thing straight here … FONT just describes the electronic file that activates any one TYPEFACE. most of this video should be talking about using typefaces for their different styles—all you do is install & activate fonts on your computer to use each typeface. think of it like music and then every different format on which music is sold. sure you can say you’re listening to records, cds or mp3s, but essentially those are just delivery devices, what you’re listening to is the music they hold.

got it? now enjoy & have a lovely first weekend of fall!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

Just My Type from Pentagram on Vimeo.

take a high-speed spin through the new book just my type, video by pentagram! see more of a profile on fastcodesign.com.

branding

many point lake
many point lake, image: branding10000lakes.com

i already think undertaking a logo a day is a pretty big deal, but branding 10,000 lakes is going to brand one minnesota lake every day for longer than most of your parents’ marriages … or try to at least! take a spin, they’re really sweet.

design industry

so, look, it’s not like i’m trying to tell you what to do or anything, but there’s a reason i spend so much time getting to know you and doing research before whipping out your next logo or web site. embrace design strategy is written from one designer to another, but it’s also a great look for clients into why we do research, why we interview you with lots of questions, and why we might sometimes seem like we’re spending too much time getting to know you. it’s all in the strategy!

echo park

awesome innovations in echo park include a very recently-unveiled solar-powered trash & recycling can at sunset & echo park avenue. get the full story from echoparknow.com.

food

some fun summer foods have been profiled for Seasonal Eats on LAist lately, here are the most recent:
Seasonal Eats: Capture the Spice of Summer with Jalapeños!
Seasonal Eats: She’s a Peach
Seasonal Eats: Crunch into Sweet Corn!
Seasonal Eats: Melon-Tastic!
Seasonal Eats: Summer Plums!

live the language – los angeles

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EF – Live The Language – LA from Gustav Johansson on Vimeo.

this is one in a series of live the language videos pairing locations with activities and typography that captures the fun of both. see more on their vimeo feed.

stunning infographic / typographic video

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Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

the content, design and execution of this motion graphic video is absolutely jaw-dropping. thanks iso50.com! happy friday!

creative inspiration

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for all the LA-lovers out there, a time-lapsed video of 24-hours in downtown LA from blogging.la

letterpress

recycled calendars by cranky pressman
image: fpo / cranky pressman

since calendar days and dates repeat every 2, 6, and 11 years, cranky pressman designed a faux 1966 calendar to be reused this year, 2011, with the encouragement to use it again in 2022. cool concept, and super-cool looking! see the whole profile at under consideration.

design industry

more for the print’s not dead files, felix ng has started up an arts and culture journal, bracket, and the boyle heights neighborhood of LA just got a new bilingual paper—the boyle heights beat / pulso de boyle heights—reported by teens and funded by the california endowment as a joint collaboration between usc annenberg and la opinión.

for more in print on design, the elements of graphic design by alex w. white is out in 2nd edition.

take a spin through the typography of miami with 8 hour day!

los angeles

illustrated map of LA, 1909
Birdseye View Pub. Co.'s birdseye map of Los Angeles, California in 1909.

here’s a lovely little illustration of our burg of echo park, circa 1909. more on the big map blog.

LA observed has a video of the newly-reopened angeles crest highway, which has been closed for the past 18 months following the station fire. looks like the restoration included lots of newly-topped road.

if you’re looking for an out-of-the-way tour of los angeles, 7 days in LA has a great selection of indie tours that go beyond the generic hollywood tour and give different perspectives on our rich history.

creative inspiration

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event design

haunted museum
image: FPO / studio fuse

this invitation to the natural history museum’s halloween event “haunted museum” brings together retro thriller movie design with vintage travel posters. see the entire profile at fpo.

furniture innovation

comfy cargo chair
image: fastcodesign.com

thanks to fastcodesign.com for sharing the comfy cargo chair, which can be stuffed with anything you’d like to display while sitting in it. i only hope there’s a suggestion to add a cushion to the seat.

typography

ideal sans
image: H&FJ

H&FJ has just announced a new typeface, ideal sans, a clean, highly-versatile sans-serif that tinkers with space and proportion while maintaining high readability.

design industry

the 2011 brand new conference is open for registration.

for those of you following trends in logo design, logo lounge’s logo trends for 2011 is out.

i recently watched this “talking funny” show on hbo as well, but michael beirut was able to grab from it 7 things graphic designers can learn from stand up comics.

if you’re a designer working with a developer when it comes to web development, maybe your relationship could use some guidance. smashing magazine offers two cats in a sack: designer-developer discord.

it’s never too early to incorporate design into a development process, so why not revisit your research process and integrate it wherever you can. parse can help you get started: design-research process.

food

cherry cottage cheesecake
cherry cottage cheesecake

this week in food, we’re talking all about cherries over at LAist: seasonal eats: cherry season is upon us!

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

Blödes Orchester from white tube on Vimeo.

this appliance orchestra is cracking me up!

typography

letter lamp
image: design sponge

how’s this for an awesome diy project, combining custom typography with [hopefully] a love of salvaged signs. hey, if you can’t find any, make them! check the whole how-to at design sponge.

packaging

broken trail
image: imaginaria creative / thedieline.com

what a cool, fun, retro, stampy, hand-made looking label for broken trail sauces. check the whole profile at the dieline and be sure to read all the great copy in the details.

design industry

it may be a bit too late for this year, but if you found yourself battling your past of disorganized paperwork when preparing taxes [or you’re about to], take that frustration and do something about it for next year: biz ladies: taxes made easy

a wave of design award submission deadlines just passed, but the under consideration people just announced a new one the FPO awards, calling for entries now!

for the ladies everywhere who are looking for the women in this industry, women of design was reviewed in the designer’s review of books and it looks like an awesome collection of who’s ever been who on the fairer sided of design.

if you’re looking for great LA design events this week & next, look no further than my round-up for LAist: LA design events, april 2011 preview!

los angeles

cicLAvia route
image: cicLAvia

cicLAvia is this weekend! make sure your bikes are tuned up & ready to go, and hit the streets this sunday!

food

marinated grilled artichokes

it’s the season of flowers, including those that eat like a meal. if you’re looking for endless great artichoke ideas, i’ve collected the best i could find for LAist: seasonal eats: have flowers for dinner with artichokes!