Beautiful Animated GIFs (No, Really)

I find the whimsical little animated GIFs over at iamnotanartist quite beautiful -- and they have a place for graphic artists to participate with a handy little GIF-maker.

Eames Stamps

I couldn't resist buying a few sheets of these Charles and Ray Eames stamps -- now I just need an excuse to send snail mail.

New Favorite Blog

If you ever need an ego boost regarding your design skills, wander over to Photoshop Disasters and you'll automatically feel better.

DIY Web Projects:

1. I've long been aware of companies like Blurb and Lulu that will design very simple products -- books, business cards, postcards, etc. -- to spec using your photos and text. Ponoko, however, takes things up a level by allowing designers to submit .eps files and have almost anything created by an industrial laser cutter. I've only really used a laser cutter in the context of creating architectural models, but the design ideas on Ponoko are endless and pretty creative -- from etched acrylic pendants to wooden side tables. I wonder what would happen if I showed up at the architecture school's cutter with CAD files that suspiciously resemble earrings?

2. I've told myself that I'm not allowed to start playing with Fontstruct until exams are over, but the idea of online software to create your own font is absurdly appealing. Must resist!

UK Coin Redesign

England's Royal Mint held an open competition to redesign six of the eight coins in circulation, and 26-year-old graphic designer Matthew Dent came up with the above images (which beautifully rearrange themselves into the British royal arms). Gorgeous!

Making Use of Those Veuve Clicquot Bottles

           

Last year I blogged about DWR's annual Champagne Chair Contest, and this year they've opened up voting to the public. Better still, one of the chairs, "Two Player," was designed by a friend's father. Go take a look at today's entries, and vote!

Design Police

Comic Sans should be illegal, and I do wish that the Design Police existed.

NYTimes Gets Liposuction;

Narrows waistline by 1.5 inches.

Typographically Generated Images

R/GA creative director Gui Borchert developed an application to render images using type. If only I could get a copy...

Eames On Design

"Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem -- the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible -- his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints. Constraints of price, of size, of strength, of balance, of surface, of time and so forth."

-- Charles Eames

New Desktop

Thank goodness for Veer.

New Blog From SND.org

The Society for News Design just launched a blog to delve into everything from the art of infographics to Helvetica haiku. (There was a contest, apparently.)

In other news, UCLA researchers spend all their time playing Scrabble with lasers.

Everyone Is Redesigning

Including one of the most iconic American magazines ever, thanks to Pentagram. I'm not sure how I feel about those massive Franklin Gothic headers, but the white space and wider columns look beautiful. Can't wait to pick it up!

LogoOrange

Branding agency LogoOrange has a small catalogue of famous corporate logos and their design histories up on their website. As a for instance -- am I the only person who never noticed that the Yamaha logo is a set of three crossed tuning forks? Apparently, Yamaha was founded (originally under the name Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha) as an instrument repair company. I guess the motorcycles are just a hobby.

Also on LogoOrange's site is an efficient write-up of predicted 2007 Logo Design Trends. Don't know what hot dogs, clouds, and transmission beams have to do with branding? Read on.

And lastly -- for any designer who has to switch constantly between RGB and CMYK formats, the site includes an extensive color-matching chart for easy conversion.

Today's NYTimes

While it is not rare for me to be grossly irritated/distressed/exasperated with the NYTimes' daily photo & design judgments, I would just like to say that I thought today's front page was lovely, with a beautiful, timely, and relevant lead photo (spot news! what a concept!), an engaging feature piece on the Google empire, and a cute little "don't forget to turn your clocks forward" graphic at the bottom of the page.

It's unfortunate that the Times falls behind so frequently on local NYC coverage simply because it tries too hard to be quintessentially international in scope; but today's front page was a nice example of what a team of talented journalists & designers can do on a more regional scale.

I Wonder How Drunk the Designers Get While They're Making These?

The first round of voting is over, and now Design Within Reach's annual Champagne Chair Contest is looking to narrow entries down to one miniature creation. Go check them out!

Champagne Chairs

Voting has commenced for Design Within Reach's champagne contest -- contestants design miniature chairs from the cork, wire, and foil of no more than two champagne bottles. Some of this year's are quite elegant...

Linkage

1. While a little expensive for my tastes, the official site for Gary Hustwit's film about Helvetica has put up some very elegant posters for sale.

2. Speaking of Helvetica, it tops this list of the 100 Best Fonts Ever.

3. From Worth1000 comes Apple's next product ... I'm personally a big fan of the iBrator.

4. The LA Times is being redesigned again. Good grief, let's hope for some consistency this time...

5. Only ThinkGeek.

Linkage

1. Quipsologies is a broader, more general version of graphic design forum Speak Up, providing readers a place to submit links to anything related to architecture, branding, movies, and so on. Sweet!

2. Yes, it really is made out of Bic pens.

3. Following with my obsession with graffiti, the slightly improvised sub-practices of Reverse Graffiti and Green Graffiti are pretty cool (and more legal).

4. Gothamist has a wonderful post up on Doug Aitken's current exhibit on (not in) the MoMA. His video installation, Sleepwalkers, plays every night on eight screens affixed to the museum's exterior walls.

5. Linkable USB drives! What a good idea...

6. What.

White Space

Mark Boulton's guide to using white space on A List Apart is a tad bit obvious, but important nonetheless.