ART + POLITICS

love the use of type by Lance Wyman

great piece by Michael Bierut

No one can deny the power of Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster in communicating to a younger generation. I'm awed by how many artists, famous and nameless, have been inspired by Obama. It is all positive and full of hope: head over to Danzinger Projects to view the Obama exhibition. {If you're in NYC, it's at 512 West 26th Street.}

my favorite piece by Renan Molin

LOVELY LINKS

Check out this lace fence from Demakersvan in the Netherlands.

VIA Dinosaurs and Robots

LUCKY NUMBER FOURTY FOUR

Talking about "Design," can always be a little bit ethereal and, well dorky. Sometimes people don't get Design (with a capital D).

But design as a practice, can be more than a typeface. Or a Pantone color. Or a runway. Design is the architecture of a movement. Design should be seen for what it can be: a way to communicate a message.

I'm elated America understood that message. Congrats to our 44th president. May you help design America's future.




Amazing shots pulled together by The Boston Globe, thanks to my informant Ann in DC!

POP JUNKIES

I'm loving these ad busted music posters from Wooster Collective. Such a fun play on the realities of manufactured pop princesses!

VIA Make
{PS. I art directed the launch issue of Craft, Make's sister magazine!}

MYFONTS REDESIGN

Underware type foundry just published their case study on their redesign of the Myfonts logo. Love to see Myfonts refreshing their identity! (A much needed one for a font website.) Some would argue that Underware only has "one style", but I don't care... As long as you do one thing... do it well! Cheers to a job well done.

ECOFONT

Check out ecofont, a typeface that helps save money and the environment by using less ink...genius!

COFFEE CHIC

Check out this super cute and functional wrist/coffee cuff! In love!
Now I might lose half my guilt over the paper coffee cup protector...but there's still that paper cup.

SCOUT

Recognize this building from an awesome 80's movie about ghosts?

It is all in the details... over at Scouting NY, a film location scout records the details of New York City "most of which are ignored every day by thousands of New Yorkers in too much of a rush to pay attention." I personally like the focus on Art Deco architecture and typography in signage.

VIA PSFK

KIT

Have a super fab holiday! I'll be back around the 29th! xo.

PRESIDENTIAL DESIGN

My personal favorite, the classy and personal B+W card from Hoover

Over at the Daily Heller, design critic Steven Heller points us to a brief history of presidential season's greetings. I just love peering into a somewhat personal relic of holidays past, especially with the perspective of today. A Kennedy holiday card? Très chic if Jackie would have been plastered on the front of it.


On an more timely note, since I donated to the Obama cause, I can't wait for my holiday card... hint, hint! Will Obama bring a new updated design sense to the Oval Office's communications? I think so. His design team's fresh (for politics) choice of Gotham from HF&J in campaign branding is a design geek's indicator. The choice shows a new recognition and sensitivity to the changing faces of modern design, and I would argue, modern thinking. (Check out more on the politics of Gotham over at the Atlantic Community blog.)

Historical type references from HF&J

WINE SAMPLER

While searching for unique gifts, I found these wine sampling bottles. While wine tasting will always trump just about any weekend activity, this is a sweet packaging idea for any liquid-- or gel? Don't let the hero shot fool you: these are available in small 6cl and 10cl variants. For those of us still in the dark ages of American measure, this equals 2 fl oz.(2 tbsp) and 3.3 fl oz.(6.6 tbsp). The flat base and flat screw top likely make them easier and cheaper to ship in large quantities.

The only place to get these mini marvels are in Colette, Paris. Follow the link to email some French dude if you insist upon finding these. In the meantime, I'm going to do some digging of my own design...

VIA Luxury Insider

BUILD YOUR OWN

Love this interactive bike builder from Pedal Mafia! At first I went a little crazy and designed something with rims and hyphy color, but then I went for a classic, a lemon yellow frame with a Brooks saddle. I could obsess over this for hours...

VIA Ryan.

COMMENTING

a new cover design i'm working on...

Hey Readers! So, I've heard from a few people that they tried and tried to comment on the DPV blog but to no avail. I finally fixed the blogger bug-- so now you can comment. Please do. I don't only want to hear the sound of my own voice.

SOMMELIER INFOGRAPHICS

Check out this beautiful infographic: a "visualization" that depicts the strength of the relationships between descriptive flavor words for wine. Written by Carl Tashian for Visualizing the Five Senses, a class at ITP @ NYU.

BEACH CHIC

With the cold weather officially here in Northern California, I'm jonesing for a vacation. Check out this Ed Ruscha beach towel. Love.

LOVELY

Check out 24k on Lovely Package. Thanks for the shout out!

OBAMA ON STYLE

old school, super stylish Barack

"Here is my attitude: I think people passing a law against people wearing sagging pants is a waste of time. We should be focused on creating jobs, improving our schools, health care, dealing with the war in Iraq , and anybody, any public official, that is worrying about sagging pants probably needs to spend some time focusing on real problems out there.

Having said that, brothers should pull up their pants. You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing. What's wrong with that? Come on. There are some issues that we face, that you don't have to pass a law, but that doesn't mean folks can't have some sense and some respect for other people and, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear -- I'm one of them."

VIA Black Voices

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A poignant message from a good friend who was married legally before November 8th. Please pass it on.

All love,
Sara
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Subject: Prop 8

Hi friends,

Have you seen Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" about Prop 8? Keith eloquently expresses why the passage of Prop 8 is so tragic, and he addresses supporters of the proposition directly. David and I watched this the other night and it is amazing.

Here is a link to watch a YouTube video of Keith's comments. Please check it out and then join me and over 100,000 other people in signing a pledge from the Courage Campaign and CREDO Mobile to repeal Prop 8 and restore marriage equality to California:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/prop8repeal

Usually, discussions of political issues wind down after elections, but Prop 8 is not about politics. It is about love, equality and civil rights. That's why we cannot let the passage of Prop 8 stand.

We all need to talk to our family and friends about the importance of restoring marriage equality to California.

That is why I am asking you to watch what Keith Olbermann said and then sign the pledge to repeal Prop 8.

Thanks.
Scott

REAL LIFE DESIGN

Check out real life Photoshop on Flickr. Such a fun, simple concept.

THE BANGLE(S)

The iBangle is a thin piece of aluminum with a multi-touch track pad, and all the functionality of a clunky-now-size iPod. So you don't break it the day you buy it, a cushion inside the ring inflates to keep itself taut against your wrist . Too bad it’s only a concept at this stage!

VIA Yanko Industrial Design