Design Spotlight: Josef Frank!

Another inspiring main page image on Google today! Joseph Frank, born 125 years ago in Austria, designed textiles and furniture that still brightens homes all over the world today. His work is described as "always in motion, bringing life to a room." Looks like sitting on a party!!

Design Spotlight: Iconic War Posters and Heroes

We are thinking of our U.S. troops today and every day. Eric's family has served our country for many generations, and we are proud of his best friend, Shawn, who is currently serving overseas. Today we thank them all. Here is a collection of iconic poster art recognizing the heroes of today and yesterday.

Design Spotlight: Carry Hope Tote Bags

In the market for a new tote? Print Magazine invited 12 of their favorite designers to submit tote designs to be sold in support of their chosen charities. All 13 limited edition designs are available at MyDesignShop.com, and more can be purchased at partofit.org. The 1-2 color designs are simple but strong in their use of type and image. I wanted to share a few of my favorites here:
Design by Daniel Eatock for the International Dyslexia Association

Winning Design by Stardust for British Heart Association

Design by James Joyce for Save the Children UK

Design by Laurent Fetis for World Wildlife Foundation (WWF)

Design by Büro Destruct for Greenpeace

Also, check out this month's PRINT cover, designed by design superstar, Milton Glaser! Yes, he is The Man who designed the iconic I heart NY graphic!

playing with blocks

Here are more photos of woodblock letters from our letterpress workshop!

Letterpress Workshop in Alexandria

We had an awesome experience at a letterpress workshop this weekend. We had reserved a full-day class with Stuart Bradley of Railway Station Press in Alexandria, VA. We spent the day learning the basics of letterpress using the Chandler and Price tabletop press in Stuart's home studio. The beginner class covered terminology, the process, maintenance and materials.
We went with an emerald green ink for our prints. With the large selection of type and ornaments, Eric printed stationary for his photography business using metal type, and GA used wood blocks to create a typographical poster. Eric used a vintage 1930's camera ornament on his stationary. The wood block letters that GA selected would normally be printed on a larger format press, but we wanted to experiment! They required extra ink, so we added a bright red to the mix.
Stuart also shared valuable resources that will help us when we purchase our own letterpress. Since we normally work in the digital realm, we enjoyed the tactile sensation of this hands-on process. We highly recommend this workshop to anyone who is curious about letterpress and who would like a day of creative learning.

We'd love to hear about your letterpress experiences too!

Design Spotlight: Sculptor Michael Jones McKean

Michael Jones McKean just won a Guggeinheim Fellowship. This is especially exciting to me because he is a sculpture professor at my alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University. According to richmond.com, "His work goes from the monumental - such as using 2,000 pounds of clay in one sculpture - to the ephemeral. His latest project, "The Public Rainbow Project," seeks to create rainbows over public buildings. He already started by creating a rainbow over his studio on Mulberry Street" in Richmond, VA.
"A recent installation includes a ghostly re-constructed riverboat that gives the illusion of being 100-feet long. The same installation, entitled "Riverboat Lovesongs for the Ghost Whale Regatta" includes an 800 gallon acrylic water tank, a 10 horsepower three phase special effects fan, a 1986 Super Jumbo boom box and a Hall and Oates soundtrack." Check out some images from MJM's Riverboat installation. The final image, a photo of his studio, illustrates his Public Rainbow Project.

Design Spotlight: Shepard Fairey + Obey Giant

At some point today, this limited edition screen print of Debbie Harry will be available to the public here.

Original photo by Bobby Grossman. 450 prints will be available at $70 apiece and I'll fight you for one. She is oh-so-beautiful! And so is the impactful style of Shepard Fairey. You must know him for his power-packed Obama Campaign poster designs. Did you know his is also the creator of the OBEY GIANT tagging movement? What started as a social experiment is now a cult following. He is a modern-day design legend. This is not the last you will hear of Shepard Fairey on this blog; I do adore him.

Design Spotlight: Street Art

My favorite idea site, good.is, features an article about how street cleaners in Melbourne unknowingly painted over a Banksy Rat stencil while cleaning up grafitti nearby. This raises the question, 'Should there be more methods to preserve street art?' I say the government and communities need to first show more support of public art. This medium has the potential to inspire and beautify neighborhoods that are otherwise dismal. I believe it is a general understanding for street artists that their work may be temporary, which can be part of the attraction. Here is the now-removed Banksy Rat stencil, and a few more street art images courtesy of good.is and Wooster Collective blog.

Here are a couple images contributed by my friend Mark in BERLIN! :)