I saw the sign...

Here are some more pictures from traveling of signs + words about town. Only five because my internet is being veryyy slow.

Empire state of mind.

Some random goodness seen around New York.

Wall art in Meatpacking District.

Type on trees.

Peely & colorful wall paint.

*ed. note: as you might be able to tell by the foliage, not all these pictures were necessarily taken recently.

The Optimist

While we're on the topic of wine bottles...check out this promotional piece for Siquis, a riff on "glass half empty/half full."

When someone tips the bottle to fill a glass, the "half full" side is face up, while the "half empty" side is face up as the bottle sits on the table. To top it off, the label was letterpressed and kiss cut at Studio on Fire.

Buddy up

Buddy Mulled Wine is clever packaging for a holiday greeting/gift.

Loneliness

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best one.

Who Owns Student Work?

Here's an interesting article about who owns the rights to student work.

A playlist for you.

Some music for your week.

Romance

Just in time for Valentine's Day—an exhibition of British photographer Chris Craymer's sweet Romance photos.

Trask Gallery
(at The National Arts Club)
15 Gramercy Park South
New York, NY

Ghostly Swim

You can download a free album of assorted music from the label Ghostly International by clicking here.

A Salinger quote for Salinger

"Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion."

Goodbye, J.D. Salinger.

Revenge

A good quote..and poster.

Live Good.

All kinds of fun.

Street art

In continuing sharing pictures from my trips, here are some pictures of the street art I saw while I was away.

Warrior

I kinda dig these Warrior sneakers—the Converse of China.
The first style is my favorite, but look at the cool green soles on the third style.
You can get them here.

Vanishing Point

How cool is this video? It's so pretty and fun to watch, and it hurts my head to think about how long it must have taken to make. Give it a watch...

Vanishing Point from Bonsajo on Vimeo.

(via ISO50)

The elephant in the room

Thank goodness we have the internet for things like this.



(via Sarah Hurwitz)

IAMPETH

There's some very pretty lettering here with lots of amazing detail. Oh, how I want to learn how to do this...

John Gall book covers

Beautiful book covers by John Gall over at Faceout Books, where he also shares a bit about his interesting design process for this series.

Wedding cake dress

Wow. This wedding dress by Lukka Sigurdardottir gives new meaning to a "sweet dress."

Rethink

This book and accompanying video by Rory O'Sullivan are utterly amazing. The video promotes the Rethink Scholarship at Langara College, and it's incredibly creative and well executed. Check it out below.

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan on Vimeo.

(via Kitsune Noir)

Bookbook

Amazingness: Bookbook is a hardback cover for your MacBook or MacBook Pro.

(via Swissmiss)

Switchcities

Check out this auction of awesome limited prints to raise money for Haiti relief.

Hugh Forte

Bonnie Tsang

Benj Haisch

Kristel Wyman

Red Leaf Studios

Indie band sterotypes

I'm a little late in posting this, but it made me laugh just the same: stereotyping people by their favorite indie bands.

Around the world

In Around the World with the Bodoni Family, Teresa Monachino uses the typeface Bodoni (one of my personal favorites) to create an alphabet of travels. For instance, she places a series of Bodoni A's to look like mountains in her depiction of the Alps; uses a leaning I to signify Italy; and places D's to look like mouse ears for Disneyland.
For more details, check Cool Hunting's post here.

TASCHEN sale

TASCHEN Books is having an online warehouse sale with 50-75% off the regular retail price. You can score some real goodies...they make absolutely beautiful books. Check it out here.

For those in NY or LA, they'll also be having "physical" warehouse sales:

TASCHEN Store Beverly Hills
354 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Friday, January 22nd, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, January 23rd, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, January 24th, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

TASCHEN Store Hollywood
Farmers Market, 6333 W. 3rd Street, CT-10
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Friday, January 22nd, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, January 23rd, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, January 24th, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

TASCHEN Store New York
107 Greene Street, New York, NY 10012
Friday, January 22nd, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 23rd, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 24th, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Hang Tea

Hanger Tea by Yanko Design. Clever.




(via Swissmiss)

Bibliotecture.

Wonderful: the Kansas City library blew up readers' favorite books for a temporary installation.

(via Crew Design)

Victorian infographics

Oooh: Victorian infographics.
My mouth waters.

Hello again.

Why, hello.

After a month of world traveling, relaxing, and enjoying what's likely to be my last holiday break ever, I'm baaack. I'm trying to get organized and back into work mode (or really just normal life mode), which includes reading the copious blog posts and internet musings I missed while I was gone. While I'm doing that, I'll share some of the many, many pictures I took while I was gone. I thought it'd make things easier to group them into themes of sorts, so I'll start with windows and doorways.

It might sound odd, but I'm always intrigued by the details of brightly colored doorways or windows. It must run in the family, because on a trip to Vietnam a few years ago, my sister and I noticed the constant among all our pictures was a focus on pretty much any bright doorway. So, without further ado, here are some shots for you.

What type are you?

This is fun.
(password = character)
Pentagram put together a "quiz" of sorts called "What type are you?" that asks you to answer a few questions and tells you which typeface is most fitting to your personality.

My type was Archer Hairline.

Scientific Air Plants

I very much want one of these—especially since my herbs don't look too happy about the vacation I just took.

(via Design*Sponge)

Davey.

Doily tote

How cute is this bag that my friend made me for the holidays? She made it using this tutorial. Love it!

Christmas in the Desert

Here are some pictures from my trip to AZ, mostly from climbing Camelback Mountain. Some anonymous elves decorated a tree on the top of the mountain with ornaments...that's how we do 65 degree Christmas in the desert!

Mobile Mobile Christmas.

Probably the most beautiful / fun use for mobile phones I've seen.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

Experience Mobile Mobile from James Théophane Jnr on Vimeo.

(via Swissmiss)

Wooden textiles

Elisa Strozyk's "wooden textiles" are so very cool.




(via Cool Hunting)

Yeehaw

I hadn't been to Yeehaw's Etsy shop in a while, but they have some cool prints for sale.

The Skyscraper Museum

Finally, here's a logo I did for The Skyscraper Museum. I like this one for its simplicity, and I think I'll expand it out to a full identity system.

Fakes & Forgeries

For this piece, we were required to design an ad for an exhibit of forged famous artworks entitled "Fakes & Forgeries" to be shown at the MoMA. I changed Mona Lisa's iconic smile into a frown to try to get at this idea.

Iron Chef America

Onto the next one! Here's an ad I did for the show Iron Chef America, which is a cooking competition between famous chefs.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Part II

Oh, hi. I've been delinquent at writing here due to finals and other time-consuming things, but here I am again. I can't say I've been very good at keeping up with my reading lately, so I don't have too many goodies to share, but I'll post a few pieces I did for my class with Bob Gill this semester. The class focused almost entirely on concept, so hopefully I'll get a chance to keep reworking the visuals.

Here's the first piece, a movie poster I did for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I posted an early sketch here). More to come!

I'm Yours

A little laughter in the midst of finals...this kid is too cute.



P.S. He's 5 years old and has only been playing the ukulele for a year. Impressive!

Hermès x Tokujin Yoshioka

Cool window display.

Everything is an experiment.

Just a little sketch I did for a project I was working on...about pencils...and Tibor Kalman.

Breakable.

I've had the first verse of this song stuck in my head for the past two days, so now I'll get it stuck in your head.

Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson

In B Flat

Good, musical fun.

Urban Abstract

Here's a pretty motion project, entitled Urban Abstract. It's a bit difficult to describe, so you need to watch it for yourself, but the artists describe it as a "journey across urban space" that's "a bit like abstract surfing" I especially like the beginning of the video; I like when digital design has an organic look to it. Click the link above to view the project.

Primo Levi - Chemistry & Life

Some really nice work on Primo Levi by Hila Ben-navat. From her site,

My final project for Central Saint Martins focuses on Primo Levi, chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor. Through his testimony, I reveal different questions about his struggle: the linguistic problems in Auschwitz, the loss of identity, the hierarchy between prisoners, the fake release, the relations between chemistry and life and Levi’s suicide in 1987.

Brooks Shane Salzwedel

Foggy wonderfulness by Brooks Shane Salzwedel.

Rethink

I was familiar with Vancouver-based Rethink's work due to the attention its La Charcuterie identity system received recently, but I was further wowed by these other very clever designs. Check out their portfolio for more great work.






(All images via Rethink)

DIY Snow globes

Blog Well Worn has a tutorial for make-your-own snowglobes...a cozy little trinket/stocking stuffer you can whip up yourself. I like them best with vintage jars, as shown in the image on the left.

(Photos via Anthropologie)

Neon Boneyard

Whenever I'm next in Vegas, I'd love to take a trip to the Neon Boneyard.





(Wonderful photos via Pam Sattler)

Boneless.

Pop up office

I've had a long break from blogging and now it's time to hunker down and get to work on my various final projects....Arriving home from vacation is brutal.

To get in the working spirit, here's a little video of a "pop up office," which I think would be pretty perfect for a small NY apartment.

Pop Up from abw on Vimeo.

(via Swissmiss)

Amazon Kindle ad

A nice stop motion ad for the Kindle.



(Directed by Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths. Thanks, Kate)

A favorite.

Sweet Thing - Van Morrison

I'm heading home for Thanksgiving today, but here's one of my favorites as a present to your ears.

Gonna make you sweat

How clever is this "personal trainer" shirt?

Six Feet Under

Amazing, clever packaging for the Six Feet Under DVD set.

5 Minute Candles

These 5-minute candle packs by Poketo look like a match box, but actually contain 10 small candles. The idea is that the candles can be used for impromptu, spontaneous celebrations, like birthday dinners.



(via The Dieline)

Brought to Life

These images from the Science Museum in London's exhibit Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine are creepy and really rad all at the same time. Especially those antique glass eyes.

Antique glass eyes

(Photographs by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)