You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2009.
Loving this work from design-champ Ben Barry. The design and format of the piece work together nicely to capture that spirit of 1950’s residential.
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02.27.09 | Ethan | Found design | 
7 comments
Black Sabbath designed by Stefan Kjartansson
I’ve been receiving emails in regards to the similarities between the Akimoto typeface (featured in our previous post) and Black Slabbath. I think its only fair that we feature Black Sabbath here as well. You make the call.
02.26.09 | Dave | Found design | 20 comments
I’m so glad that Finnish based designer Ossi Gustafsson emailed me about his typeface Akimoto. I’m all about the fat slab typefaces and this is my new favorite. Thin spearheads jut into the characters and define the negative spaces. This makes for a nice contrast against the thick slabs. I gave it a test run and it looks great. Akimoto comes in three flavors and is available for purchase at Myfonts.com.
02.26.09 | Dave | Found design | 3 comments
Like people playing footsie, some trees just wanna play rootsie!
Such is the case in this fun, skillfully crafted illustration by Italian illustrator, Bombo! (aka Maurizio Santucci). Like a fine puzzle, all the pieces fit together nicely. The composition creates a realistic pop-up environment that I wish I could travel to, and I really enjoy the tangled roots and the nervous expression on the tree’s face. Read the rest of this entry »
02.25.09 | Grace Danico | Found design | 7 comments
We’d like to officially welcome Grace Danico as the newest member of the Grain Edit team. You might of noticed her name popping up on the site over the past few months as she’s been digging up lots of goodies for us.
We asked Grace to mention a few things about herself:
02.25.09 | Dave | Grain Edit News | 8 comments
Herbert Spencer was the editor and founder of the highly coveted Typographica design journal. A total of thirty two issues were published between the years of 1949 and 1967. The journal was known for its high standards in design and production and eclectic mix of subject matter.
02.24.09 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 13 comments
Really fun illustrations found in this brochure for the USSR pavilion at the 1958 World Fair.
02.23.09 | Dave | Found design | 7 comments
Every laptop needs a home. Sadly for most laptops, home is just a generic black sleeve. How glum! But thanks to Steven Harrington and Arkitip, laptops around the globe are smiling and cheering.
The “Curated by Arkitip” project aims to get sweet designs on your Apple products. Steven has also designed an iPhone slider for the project as well.
In addition to the goods, there is a nice video interview with Mr. Harrington himself. In it he talks about the project, his process, and caffeine-free tea.
Curated by Arkitip with Steven Harrington. Video link is in the middle of the page.
02.20.09 | Ethan | Found design | 4 comments
Many thanks to the good people at Madison, Wisconsin based design firm Swink for sending me this awesome promotional piece. Swink put this together as a way to invite people to reconsider the way they’ve been marketing themselves and to believe in the power of a good story — their story. It comes with two plaid lawn chairs (so you can invite a friend), a fire and your very own dinosaur. To top it off, the whole thing comes packaged in a mailer with a giant smiling hot dog! That’s what I’m talking about!
The piece was letterpressed by the always top notch studio on fire.
02.19.09 | Dave | Found design | 21 comments
Dan Reisinger: Zurich – 125 years Perpetual Calendar.
I’m drooling over these pictures of the Perpetual Calendar that Barry of the Studio Smith blog just sent me. The calendar was designed by Dan Reisinger for the Museum of the Modern Art in New York. Great score mate!
02.19.09 | Dave | Found design | 2 comments
A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hanging out with Victoria of Milkfed Press, a letterpress and bindery studio based in Oakland. Her space is large and bright, filled with a wonderful collection of equipment and type, and was originally a grocery store where the owners used to stash cash within the walls.
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02.18.09 | Grace Danico | studio visits | 4 comments
Recently dug up this deck of El Al Israel Airlines playing cards. El Al commissioned Israeli artist and designer Jean David to design the set which portrays the Kings, Queens and heroes of Israel’s past. Love the design of the joker. He looks like some crazy elf with danish modern candle holders on his head and a speed bump for an arm.
02.17.09 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves, Uncategorized | 18 comments
I stopped by the The 42nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco this past weekend and saw some really nice books. This is the largest antiquarian book fair in the U.S. and features booksellers from around the world. I saw lots of great pieces by Piet Zwart, Bruno Munari and a ton of rare children’s books. I was really surprised by the prices though. Many of the books were overpriced, especially considering the current economy. Anyone else get a chance to go? Thoughts?
02.16.09 | Dave | Events | 4 comments
My first reaction upon being greeted by the above images was to smile. These are two pieces from Toykyo, the rad Belgian-based firm. They seem to wear many design-hats, and have work on an interesting variety of projects. Their personality definitely remains visible throughout their work. I love the the stylized shapes, simplicity, and bold use of color. Plus, major points for working in a Pacman ghost next to an elephant!
02.13.09 | Ethan | Found design | 6 comments
I use NetNewsWire to read all my feeds. One of the great things about it is that you can use custom CSS styles. Antonio over Aisle One has put together a wonderful set of NetNewsWire styles that he calls Legistyles. As he mentions on the Legistyles site “Much attention has been paid to the design and typography of the styles to improve legibility and readability, and to enhance the overall reading experience.”
Currently there are 4 styles available.
Serif Black 1.0, Serif White 1.0 (Titles and body text are set in Baskerville)
Haaus (Titles are set in Futura and the body text is set in Lucida Grande)
and Brockmann (Titles and body text are set in Helvetica)
Check it out for yourself here.
02.12.09 | Dave | Found design | 2 comments
A simple, yet striking album cover designed by Human Empire. The head is constructed out of pure wood, and is reminiscent of the PBS logo from the early 1970s. The three dimensional strands of blocks on the side of the head look like stab wounds oozing with multicolored blood. If only our blood was that interesting!
02.11.09 | Grace Danico | Found design | 7 comments
The last time we mentioned Bolda Display on Grain Edit we were drooling over its eventual release. Well now its available for purchase. I gave it a test run and I have to say, I love this font. I can’t get enough of those lowercase bubbly round slabs. Definitely one of my faves over the past year. It comes in two styles, regular and outline. This has to be the best (and only) font to be inspired by 1970s ping pong fashion.
02.10.09 | Dave | Found design | 6 comments
Bruce Jamieson of the top notch design firm I Love Dust emailed me about this diamond mine of vintage cassette tape inserts he just uploaded to Flickr. The collection includes covers from Happy Sound, Bonsonic, Philips, BASF, WHSmith, Emitape, AGFA, TDK and a grip of others. Lots of great material from the 1970s and 80s.
02.09.09 | Dave | Found design | 19 comments
Duane King is the creator of Thinking for a Living. A well curated collection of recommended readings and online resources. The site is filled with links to top notch design blogs and firms. Many of the resources are available in a special zine that they put together. In addition to Thinking for a Living, Duane is the creative director of Santa Fe based studio BBDK. They recently completed a project for Italian glassware company Luigi Bormioli. We don’t usually cover web design on grain edit, but I think this site is worth checking out. Clean, minimal and elegant. Very nice.
02.06.09 | Dave | Found design | 3 comments
Dan Reisinger was born in Yugoslavia in 1934 to a family of painters. His early life was filled with adversity including losing most of his family to the Holocaust. In the 1940s he moved to Israel where he eventually joined the Air Force. It was here that he met his mentor and friend Abram Games. In the 1960s he set up a design studio in Tel Aviv where he helped to design the Israeli Pavilion at Expo’67 as well as create a body of work for El Al Airlines.
02.05.09 | Dave | Found design | 18 comments
Grain Edit reader Dan Chamberlain sent in this rad safety match label from the 1970s. He discovered it on a recent trip back to his hometown in Essex where he stumbled upon his Grandfather’s collection of matchboxes.
You can see some of the other labels from his grandfather’s collection here.
02.05.09 | Dave | Found design | 7 comments
Netdiver now in its tenth year just put together one heck of a best of the year list. They aimed to list 100, but couldn’t do it. Check out all 110 solid picks here.
02.04.09 | Dave | Found design | Comments closed
Spacesick absolutely nailed it with his I Can Read Movies Series. The series features cult movies redone as vintage paperback covers similiar to the Penguin book cover art of the 1950s + 60s. Spacesick was partly inspired by Moss’s Movie Poster Remakes series, and all the musty old textbooks and digests that he used to love flipping through as a kid. I think my favorite is Highlander. Not only is the design great, but its absolutely hilarious.
(via neatorama)
Also worth checking:
02.04.09 | Dave | Found design | 11 comments
PUFF by William Wondriska. Published in 1960 by Pantheon Books Inc.
Wondriska creates an imaginary world where even the smallest things count by playfully juxtaposing the teeny character of PUFF against a backdrop of enormous red type, concetrated lines and textures, and monumental structures.
02.04.09 | Grace Danico | Off Our Bookshelves | 22 comments
Wildsville : The art of Derek Yaniger – Published by Korero Books
I first found out about Derek Yaniger through Otto von Stroheim’s Tiki newsletter. His art harks back to the sketchy, loose line illustrations often found in cookbooks, maps, pamphlets and packages of the 1950s and 60s. It’s filled with references to hot rods, beatniks and tiki culture. It’s colorful, fun and always full of suprises.
02.03.09 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 11 comments
Hotel deutschland, Leipzig, Germany luggage label
Check the bird in the logo. Very similar to the Braniff Airlines logo designed by Alexander Girard.
also worth checking:
02.02.09 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 5 comments
