Gerda Klein

My best friend's grandmother, Gerda Klein, was nominated as a "Jewish Community Hero." I've been lucky enough to grow up calling Gerda my surrogate grandma of sorts, and I can say firsthand that she is a truly wonderful and inspiring person.

Gerda is a Holocaust survivor and travels the world speaking about her experiences, educating audiences of all ages as well as helping people who have gone through their own traumatic experiences. She has done so much to help so many people—not only the Jewish community—and counts the United Nations and survivors of the Columbine shootings as just some of her many audiences. She's also an author and worked with HBO to create the documentary One Survivor Remembers, which is based on her experiences (and for which she won both an Oscar and an Emmy). She was also appointed by Bill Clinton to the council of the US Holocaust Museum. She also founded the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation, which works to alleviate human suffering.

If this list of accolades isn't enough to convince you of her many accomplishments, you can read more about her here. And while you're there...please vote for her as a Jewish Community Hero! It's very simple...all you have to do is click a button. I'd much appreciate it!

seek&speak

Brandon Schaefer has some cool posters up on his site, seek&speak.



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Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

on't you think this drop cap from Jessica Hische is oh-so-lovely? I've had a design crush on her for quite a while, and I think her new site, Daily Drop Cap, is lots of fun. She offers up a new (beautiful, hand-drawn) letter every day, which you are welcome to use on your blog free of charge, provided you give her credit. I've been happy to see Jessica's work in more and more places lately (I even noticed it in my copy of this month's InStyle). Her unique style is blowing up, and I love it.



(Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische)

Lomo Tutorial

For those of you who have asked me about Lomo photography (or just like it), here is a great tutorial on how to make your "normal" digital pictures look like they were taken with a Lomo camera (like the Diana or Holga).

(How To Make Digital Photos Look Like Lomo Photography @ Digital Photography School)

Small is the new big.

My thesis advisor sent me this video, and I found it pretty interesting. Ideo rocks.

Bicycle Film Festival

For the type nerds out there:

Bicycle Film Festival '09 trailer from Marco Mucig on Vimeo.

(via I Love Typography)

Under the bridge downtown

Here are some prints I made of the Brooklyn Bridge for a custom wedding present.




(Digital photos + hand watercolor on watercolor paper)

Happy birthday...

Happy birthday to my dad! It's a big one. I won't say what age he's turning, but I will say the second picture (below) was taken in 1966.

SAIC Admissions

Nice admissions catalog for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I especially like the use of pattern and the purple edges. Take a look at more images here.

Strawberry Swing

If you haven't already seen it, check out Coldplay's stop motion video for Strawberry Swing. (The embedding is disabled, so you need to click on the link to view the video)

Throw your hands in the air

If you like these vintage glove molds, raise your hand.

All the single babies

A latecomer to the All the Single Ladies spoofs, but cute nonetheless:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Wow. Stories like this one, about an African inventor, make me feel lazy, uncreative, and totally unaccomplished. As a boy, William Kamkwamba taught himself to make windmills out of garbage and handmade tools by dissecting diagrams in books at the library. In so doing, he provided electricity for his family. I'm sure his new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, is incredibly interesting.

(Photo by Tom Rielly)



(via Design Observer)

Just do it

Cool posters for Nike by HORT. Definitely unique looking for such a huge company.





(via FFFFOUND!)

Gig poster love

Gig posters by Hero Design Studio.

Water water everywhere

Though I'm not keen on disposable water bottles these days, there are some really nice designs showcased over at The Dieline.

This first one is designed by one of my favorites, Louise Fili, who specializes in hand-drawn type for food packaging and restaurants.


I also liked this bottle by Paul Smith for Evian using his classic stripes.

(via The Dieline)

Obsessions make my life worse and my work better

I just came across a timelapse video of the installation of Stefan Sagmeister's awesome Urban Play project. Installed in Amsterdam, the project showcased 250,000 Euro cent pieces, arranged by shade to spell out "Obsessions make my life worse and my work better." Sadly, the police cleaned the project up after only 20 hours of completion, thinking they were "protecting" the work, but luckily there are some pictures to immortalize it.



(video by anjens)


(Photo by anjens)



(Photo by Antoinetta Ricoletta)

Proud as a peacock

Made me smile: This peacock chair has feathers that open up when you sit on it.



(via A Cup of Jo)

Fall frocks

Some new goodies at Urban Outfitters. (Can you tell I have the shopping bug at the moment? So instead of buying things, I'll just blog about them. Not quite as satisfying, but it will have to do until I win the lottery, or get a large load of freelance work—hint, hint)
Click each image to be redirected to original source.

No child left behind?

This news clip is frightening. Only 23% of high school students in Oklahoma knew who the nation's first president was (as well as the answers to other basic citizenship questions).

Hanging by a thread

So pretty: this exhibition by Mark Garry uses colored threads and light to create an ever-changing color spectrum.




From the website:

The piece is formed by hundreds of tiny threads attached to the walls and floor of the gallery with an elaborate miniature pulley system involving pins and beads. This system manifests a spectrum of color that is surprising in that it is at once monumental and barely visible. It transforms in luminescence, tone and color as one moves around it. This work is also affected by the different tones of natural light entering the room, and appears to be in constant flux, changing throughout each day and each season turning from vibrant to invisible.

(via SeeSaw Designs)

Reiss's Pieces

Reiss has some beautiful things right now—especially coats.

Fall 2009 Playlist

I like Cool Hunting's Fall 2009 mix...check it out.


(img: Kid Cudi album cover)

Western Spaghetti

Great stop motion video by PES:

Remix

This documentary about the "mash-up" trend and copyright looks interesting:

Alli Coate

I saw Alli Coate's work over on design work life and was instantly drawn. She has such a nice, hand-crafted look and I love her use of fabrics and thread.

Toms Cordones

Is it just me, or are these kinda cute? I like them better than the regular Toms and you can wear them with or without laces. Plus, of course, when you buy Toms, you're not just shopping, you're being charitable...



(via Unruly Things)

Nonsense Infographics

I really loved Chad Hagen's Nonsense Infographics when they received a lot of Internet love a few weeks ago. I just saw that a couple were on Jen Bekman's awesome art site 20x200 today, and I think I just might have to treat myself to this little guy (below), in the $20 version of course.