7 billion (defined for visual thinkers)

The Big Caption

So this post is way overdue, but better late than never! I was having a drink with my friend Ian and he mentioned that he created a blog where he matches photos he finds with his own copy & typographic treatments. I think they're great and you should check out his site (http://thebigcaption.com/) if you like what you see.

Calling all typophiles!

Russian-born typographer and quilling expert Yulia Brodskaya:

Letterpress Lust

A sweet wedding invitation set from Emory Allen:

Info Design, oh yeah!

W3school’s engaging illustration of browser statistics sure is pretty. Even if you don't care about browser popularity from Jan 2002 to Aug 2009, this interactive graphic is worth the look-see (or click-see, rather).

Letterpress Lust

Just another ode to the Letterpress from Meaghan Barbuto at Vince:

 

Planet-hogs Anonymous Newbie

I found this fantastically informative interactive piece online, a green calculator/finger-wager, if you will.

After a short series of entertainingly animated questions, I found out that though my ecological footprint may be lighter than the average American, (pause here for dramatic effect) it would take 3 planets to support a world in which each person lives the way I do. And, I recycle/compost everything; carpool/bus to my workplace which is only 2.3 miles; seldom buy new books, clothing, furniture—blahblahblah.

I guess the bottom line is: You can always be greener. And also: Design can change the world. Yeah, I said it. 

Find your score and more info at Global Footprint Network.

Bookart and paper engineering

... these are a few of my favourite things. Next to raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, of course.
This fantastic book by Tristan O'Shannessy manages to combine the two and crowns it with some very eye-pleasing design on the actual printed pages. Although I'll readily admit that it took me a moment or two of unabated staring to move on to the content beyond this amazing form.
That is one boss book.

Does Retro times Retro make Retro squared?

The idea of taking retro films (at least they are retro to ditzy twentysomethings like this humble blogger) and creating even more retro book covers leaves me with a bit of postmodern whiplash.

But that time I was at the receiving end of a guy crashing into the tail end of a traffic jam sure didn't feel quite as good as looking at these designs. Actually, that felt awful. Moving on.

The graphic designer behind the blog spacesick creates an ever growing collection of brilliant book cover designs for the good, the bad and the ugly in film history, reminding me that the best work can come from projects you do "just because".

Okay, "Shaun" is not retro. It's just awesome.

It also turns out that the the designer is merely a year older than I am.
If you'll excuse me, I'll go play in traffic now.

Letterpress Lust

Welcome to a new feature in which we can periodically and collectively drool over the letterpress print work of our fellow creative types. This poster was designed by OrangeSeed, and printed by Studio On Fire—both from Minneapolis. Delicious, no?

Okay, wipe down your keyboards, and get back to work.

CCCB, Barcelona

Centra de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

In 1859 an architect named Ildelfons Cerdà created a plan for Barcelona's Eixample district. The Eixample, translating to "extension" in Catalan, expanded the medieval city of Barcelona after the ancient city walls were torn down. It's an enormous field of rectangular blocks in a continuously repeating layout, containing around a quarter of Barcelona's population.

In an impressively curated presentation, the CCCB is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Cerdà's plans with extensive plans, models, and all around kick-ass information design. Info-graphic junkies, brace yourselves.

The CCCB explains:

This exhibition immerses itself in today's reality to discover and interpret given forms of urban organization. It sets out to reinterpret the Cerdà plan and its initial ideas, discover the underlying urbanistic and social values, and explain its more general importance as a constantly evolving part of the city.

The exhibit presented everything from underground sewage systems to acceptable quadrant designs for housing blocks. Cerdà was a genius, and maybe every urban planner is too, I just never thought about how complex urban design actually was. I guess it's sort of like graphic design: if it's successful, you don't even notice the effort. The main difference of course being that I design pieces of paper, and Cerdà designed a city.

Cerdà designed the entire district in equal-sized octagonal blocks, where the streets broaden at every intersection to allow greater visibility and better ventilation. He also aligned every block so it received the same amount of sunlight.

There were so many original hand-drawn maps from the 19th century I thought my brain was going to explode. Here are some of my favorites.

The last few rooms of the exhibit expanded from the Eixample to general urban planning.

There were five or six types of urban design "themes" which are applied to pre-existing cities. Two I found most interesting were La ciutat Acumulativa (Cumulative City) and La ciudat Superposada (Superimposed City). An example of a Cumulative City plan is San Francisco, where two grids - above and below Market Street - meet in relative cohesion. New York and Barcelona are examples of the Superimposed City, where a sensical grid skips over a non-sensical historical area - the West Village in Manhattan and the Old City in Barcelona.

Calling All Typophiles!

A fine number from LA-based Brazilian Douglas Alves for the BBC:


And one of his personal works:


. . .both are sweet examples of representational typography—finely illustrated, and not cheesy in the least.