COOL! iPhone - Typographic Reference Manual...

I'm on the verge of taking the plunge, and getting me an iPhone... do I really need it? No. Do I want one? HELL YEAH! The fact that GDC Members can get a discounted iPhone rate from Rogers adds to the enticement... ;P

Seriously, aside from the obvious 'cool factor', the iPhone applications are what really attract me... like the one above, which was recently posted to the GDC Listserve by Marilyn Matty - a long standing contributor to the GDC Listserve. If you're a designer, I'd think that this application will be highly valuable to you... learn more about the application at their website, http://typographyapp.com/ - enjoy!

Thanks to the Marilyn for sharing the link with the GDC Listserve - cheers!

COOL! Book Cover Archive...

A very cool and handy website to share, www.bookcoverarchive.com - is a website dedicated to the appreciation and categorization of excellence in book cover design (all covers are the copyright of their respective publishers).

Browse covers via designer, book title, genre, etc., - go and check it out for yourself at http://www.bookcoverarchive.com/ - enjoy!

Thanks to Ian MacCausland and Rob Peters for the link! Cheers!

Go James Go!

It's been rather hectic as of late, I've got tons of things that I could blog about, it's finding the time to do it that seems to be rather difficult... aside from work, Karate, GDC and social commitments, I've become addicted to Xbox/Xbox LIVE... ;P

Anyhow, I received a package from Amazon in the mail last week which, amongst other books, contained the Mail Me Art book shown above and below (sorry for the crappy pics).


You might recall (if you frequent KALAMAFRAZ), that my good friend, local designer, illustrator and Kyokushin Karate-ka, James Gillespie submitted http://kalamafraz.blogspot.com/2008/11/mail-me-art-going-postal.html a piece for the Mail Me Art project sometime ago... well, the book finally arrived in my mail box! Excerpt from the Mail Me Art website:

Mail Me Art is a British-based project, run by Darren Di Lieto, the founder and co-editor of the illustration news portal the Little Chimp Society. Over the course of a year, the Mail Me Art project brought together a vast collection of artistic work sent in the form of mail by both professional and amateur artists of all ages from across the world. A wide variety of media were used in an equally wide variety of styles and the work arrived on everything from postcards and envelopes to boxes and pieces of wood.

Contributions have included work by internationally-renowned illustrators such as Dan May, Michael Slack, Jon Burgerman, Kristian Olson, Catalina Estrada and Jeff Miracola and in total there have been in excess of 600 pieces of mail art submitted to the project.


Of course, I had to ask James to autograph his page in the book, he was also nice enough to honor my request for him to include a sketch (of a naked space monkey?). So you there you have it! Good stuff James! Keep it up bud!

For those of you who are interested in learning more about the Mail Me Art project, visit the Mail Me Art website at http://mailmeart.com/ - perhaps I'll submit something for Mail Me Art Two... I'll be sure to keep you posted. ;)

Cheers!

Recommended Viewing | The Grid System...

I highly recommend you check out The Grid System, the ultimate online resource for grid systems. Excerpt from the website:

Made popular by the International Typographic Style movement and pioneered by legends like Josef Müller-Brockmann and Wim Crouwel, the grid is the foundation of any solid design. The Grid System is an ever-growing resource where graphic designers can learn about grid systems, the golden ratio and baseline grids. Created by Antonio Carusone, graphic designer and author of the design and typography blog AisleOne.

Some very cool and highly informative stuff (IMO) on this website... check it out for yourself at http://www.thegridsystem.org/ - cheers!

Graymatter Graffitti – Reading and Signing at McNally Robinson, Grant Park

Yesterday evening saw the talented poet, Sam W. Reimer in-town to launch his book, Gray Matter Graffitti (designed by Circle), with a reading and signing at the Prairie Ink Restaurant in McNally Robinson – Grant Park (Winnipeg, MB).

Gray Matter Graffitti is a compilation of some 200 poems written by Sam W. Reimer, and edited by Robert L. Peters. I've blogged about it previously, here.


Sam read a number of poems from the various chapters within the book...


...which followed with a book signing.


In case you missed out, you can watch the embedded video of the poet reading 'The Relay' (from Backroads Magic) above, or on YouTube, here - enjoy!

FYI, Sam will be touring Manitoba for a short visit, with readings/signings in Morden and Steinbach to follow later this week. For more information visit www.samwreimer.com - cheers! Go Sam!

Cursive...

This past weekend I was in Brandon, Manitoba (with my brother) to attend the Battle in Brandon, a kickboxing/muay thai event (held at the Wheat City Golf Course/Curling Rink) where Guardian Dojo members, Sean Devlin and Rox Lui competed. Anyhow, while having dinner with my brother, we couldn't help but notice the diversity of the handwriting on the wall (signatures on charity donation cards)... it was interesting to see the variety, which brings us to the topic of today's post. When was the last time that you wrote/used cursive handwriting?

Now, I handwrite on a daily basis but, it's definitely not in the traditional cursive style (as seen in the above image)... I don't even recall the last time I wrote in true cursive. I wonder how many people today, can write the cursive alphabet without reference (do they even teach this in school anymore?). We tried while waiting for our dinner and both of us failed miserably... sad.

Give it a whirl! Don't look at the image above! See how well you recall your cursive - cheers!

Image via Wikipedia

WICKED! Design Ignites Change Poster by Marian Bantjes...

My apologies for the lack of posts this past week... I've been rather busy (I realize that's not the best excuse - so sue me). ;P Anyhow, I received this awesome (understatement), Design Ignites Change poster in the mail last week and have only now, gotten around to opening the poster tube and snapping a couple pictures to share with you all. The poster was designed by the exceptionally talented, Canadian designer, illustrator and typographer, Marian Bantjes (who's work I've long been a fan of - see here).


This laser cut poster was designed for the AED (the Academy for Educational Development), as part of their ongoing AED Design Social Change Projects. The proceeds from this poster went towards supporting AED's Speak for the Child project, which provides assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Kenya (a very worthy cause in my opinion). You can read more about the laser-cut poster on Marian's website, here - and on AED's Design Social Change site, here.

This poster will go quite nicely with the other Marian Bantjes poster/work I have in my collection. Both these posters (as far as I know) are SOLD OUT! But, if my 'Spidey-sense' is correct, you can expect to see more amazing/inspirational work from Marian soon!



Images (from top to bottom): the Design Ignites Change poster, the poster back-lit on the Circle light table, a cropping of a portion of the other Marian Bantjes poster in my collection (sadly, pictures could never do this intricate, vector poster justice, it's run in a metallic blue ink on a heavy weight paper and the detail is mind blowing), a close-up detail from the above poster.

Go Marian Go! Cheers!

COOL! www.SamWReimer.com Goes Live!

A while back, I posted about a recent poetry book project that we completed at Circle. Sam W. Reimer's Gray Matter Graffitti is a collection of some ~200 poems, penned over the course of four decades... (visit Robert L. Peter's news+ to learn more).

Anyhow, the website www.samwreimer.com (designed by Circle to promote the bard and book) has now gone live! Check it out at http://www.samwreimer.com/ - once there you'll be able to read a few sample poems from the book as well as read up on the latest news/happenings... enjoy!

FYI, the site is best viewed using Firefox. Cheers!

Recommended | HOT OFF THE PRESS! Sam W. Reimer's – Gray Matter Graffitti...

Poetry fans take note... Sam W. Reimer's, Gray Matter Graffitti has finally come off the press! After an approximate two year gestation period, and a number of 'hiccups' in the production, I can't even begin to describe how exciting it is to see this labour of love come to light! It was a pleasure (and struggle at times) to work on this book. The book designed by Circle, is a compilation of poems written by Sam W. Reimer, and edited by Robert L. Peters. Here's an excerpt about the book's author by the editor from the back cover:

Draft-dodger, Jesus-freak, “conditional pacifist,” prolific writer, devoted father, “tactical anarchist & strategic monarchist,” unwavering romantic, bohemian bard, “ecstatic depressive,” gregarious hermit… this rollicking collection of some 200 original works draws from thousands of poems penned over the course of four decades—inspired ruminations by Sam W. Reimer, an (hitherto) unsung gem of a poet.

This book (IMO) should belong on any poetry fan's bookshelf... a truly diverse, treasure trove of prose, sure to delight! I'm not sure how you can obtain a copy of the book at this point in time, but I'll keep you all posted! FYI, the book ISBN 978-1-55383-196-9

Recommended | GOOD - The China Issue...

I recently posted a comment on Michael Surtees' blog, DesignNotes in response to his A Black and White Issue? post (which in turn was a response to another blog post). In Michael's post he brings up some interesting points of discussion in regard to this summer's Beijing Olympics, here's an excerpt:

...if you plan to watch a moment of the Olympics, purchase anything from a corporate sponsor of the games or even follow who wins and looses are you implicitly supporting what a number of protesters are trying to bring to the attention of the world? If you are protesting the Olympics in Beijing yet choose to do any of the following that I mention above is it somewhat hypocritical to criticize others? Is it possible to have it both ways or is everyone responsible to some degree?

Being born a Canadian of Chinese descent I have to admit that I am somewhat, 'on-the-fence' with the over-politicization of the games through the western media. Yes, there are many issues facing China as a rapidly growing, industrial nation... but, what country can claim to be free of problems? That being said, the latest issue of GOOD Magazine: The China Issue has some great features on China, I'd recommend everyone to read them, you're bound to come across something you didn't know about the 'Asian-Superpower' (I've blogged about GOOD Magazine before, here).

The Olympics should remain non-political, concentrate on 'fair' competition and respect for the athletes. In my opinion, the Olympics could represent the ideal world model, where one person from a different culture/religion/etc. can stand beside one another with respect, admiration and/or resolve their differences through non-lethal, competitive sport. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... I invite you all to comment (I'd be interested to hear what others have to say). Cheers!

Recommended | ABCs in 3D...

This post is for all you lovers of type, books/pop-up books, design/production and just cool things in general. I came across this a while back (can't exactly remember where) and neglected to post about it until now. Anyhow, it's a really cool book (which I've pre-ordered through Amazon already) which combines typography, design, pop-ups and more?? Check out the 'teaser' video on YouTube here - enjoy!

GDC Manitoba 2007 AGM/Annual Report...

This past Tuesday (February 5th, 2008), the GDC Manitoba Chapter had their AGM at the Park Theater on South Osborne.


It was our first time having the Chapter AGM at the Park Theater... I'd like to think that the venue was quite suitable and look forward to having more events there in the future.


Congratulations to Michael Feng (GDC Manitoba Associate member), for winning the PS3 door prize! Many thanks to all who came out and to my fellow board members, thanks for another great year! The GDC Manitoba annual report is now available as a PDF download on the GDC website. You can read or download the PDF (500kb) here.

Recommended Plugin | Phantasm CS(2)...

I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to check out the Adobe Illustrator (CS, CS2, CS3) plugin, Phantasm CS(2). If you do a lot of vector based work/illustration, this plugin will come in handy... the Phantasm CS(2) plugin allows for comprehensive colour control/adjustments found in the likes of Photoshop. Once you've purchased and installed the plugin, you'll be able to access these colour control features directly from Illustrator:

Brightness/Contrast
Curves
Desaturate
Hue/Saturation
Invert
Levels
Shift to Colour

For more information, features, reviews or to purchase, visit http://www.phantasmcs.com/ - cheers!

Chris Jordan Photographic Arts | 'Running the Numbers' - An American Self Portrait

Chris Jordan is an American photographic artist, his work has received international awards and recognition. One of his more recent projects was 'Running the Numbers' - An American Self Portrait, which is a series of images that looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics...

The above image entitled Barbie Dolls (60x80"), is a depiction of 32,000 Barbies, which equals the (staggering) number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed in the USA monthly in 2006! Below is a detail at the actual print size...



I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to browse through the rest of the images in this project (link) as well as Chris' other works... visit http://www.chrisjordan.com - enjoy!

Sagmeister Interview on IdeasOnIdeas Blog...

One of my design 'heroes', Stefan Sagmeister recently did an interview on the Ideas on Ideas blog. It's an interesting look into the mind of Sagmeister and his work... read the interview here on the Ideas on Ideas blog. Want to see more of Sagmeister's work? Visit Sagmeister Inc.'s website - enjoy!

COOL! Kagan McLeod's History of Rap...

Slowly but surely I've been trying to sort through some of the neat things I wrote down/sketched, found, thought about over the last holiday period. One of the things I came across (which I had meant to blog about a while back) was a cool find from a copy of the National Post (December 11, 2007 to be precise), on pages B8 and B9 was Kagan McLeod's History of Rap.



It's a really cool, visual history of Rap comprised of small portrait/caricature illustrations by Kagan McLeod for some of the most recognized/pivotal artists in the genre. You can view more images or order a print of the poster here at www.beguiling.com - enjoy!

COOL! Design Police...

I'm sure that in your daily travels you're constantly being exposed to poorly designed ads and signs... the Design Police want to bring bad design to justice. They've even provided a visual enforcement kit to help you in your vigilante quest... you can download the kit here.

Via NOTCOT. NOTE: In no way am I condoning that you commit acts of vandalism or criminal damage. If you decide to use the templates provided, you do so at your own risk. Please respect private property. Cheers!

COOL! The johnson banks Christmas Card...

The creative team over at johnson banks has really done a wonderful job with their Christmas card this year. From the johnson banks website: The johnson banks Christmas card this year takes the form of trees ram-punched out of magazines and brochures that we found around the office. There’s no point in going green and then merrily printing off some paper based extravaganza, so we set ourself the task of re-using and recycling items that were close to hand.

I really like the idea and commend the creatives for their ingenious use/recycling of materials. See the full story and more pictures here.

Warhol - 'Larger Than Life' at the WAG

I had the opportunity to take in the Andy Warhol - Larger Than Life exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) this past weekend. Warhol's exhibit has over 150 works—silk screen prints, photographs, drawings, and film, plus more. Also on exhibit was PostSecret - over 400 homemade postcards bring together powerful, poignant, and beautifully intimate secrets collected by Frank Warren through his fascinating and compelling community art project. I highly recommend that you take the opportunity to visit these exhibits while they're here. Cheers!

Aesthetic Apparatus: "How we do" on YouTube

A cool video on YouTube (albeit the sound is a little annoying), by the talented folks at Aesthetic Apparatus. Check out the video here - enjoy!

Via H&FJ | Hoefler & Frere-Jones blog