Changethethought

I am a devotee of Herb Lubalin and have lauded over his work most of my career. He was a rarity in graphic design as someone who was capable of bringing something ‘illustrative’ to his work and typography that was equally graphic. It was a perfect marriage of human touch and technical precision that still rivals anything being created in the world of graphic design today. His work was also somehow simultaneously 60’s but completely timeless in style.

Unit Editions is releasing a heavily researched and beautiful looking book that you can pre-order all about the life and work of the inspirational figure that was Herb Lubalin. It’s a must have for anyone in the field.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Graphic Design, Herb Lubalin, Typography, Unit Editions

Hype Beast recently posted a great interview with one of my favorite artists and illustrators James Jean. The impetus for the interview is Jean’s latest book ‘Process Rebus’ but the interview dives in further to Jean’s process and philosophy.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Hypebeast, James Jean, Painting, Process Rebus

Netherlands design studio Pot And Vander Velden have some clean, simple print work in their portfolio that still manages to deliver a quirky sense of personality.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Graphic Design, Haag, Netherlands, Print

“This Year I will Try Not To was born out of frustration, complacency and laziness. Most designers are seduced by design trends. They’re easy to appropriate, and even easier to imitate. The challenge is to innovate. To be new. We decided the best (and most enjoyable) approach was to identify and document the most common trends we felt we had to avoid. Before long we found ourselves with a checklist of DON’Ts and a new aim: to try to be new. We may fail, but we will try.”

A little manifesto produced by Elliott Scott and Christopher Doyle.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Graphic Design, Manifesto, zine

Here is a brief description of The Little Book of Shocking Food Facts recently released under Fiell Publishing:

“Combining thought-provoking graphic imagery with truly alarming information culled from some of the most authoritative sources around the world, The Little Book of Shocking Food Facts is literally jam-packed with essential truths you need to know about global food politics, fast food culture and healthy nutrition. This startling yet visually stunning book is guaranteed to alter the way you think about food production, while also changing your personal eating habits for the better.”

The book was painstakingly designed, spread-by-spread by designer Craig Holden Feinberg. Craig studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and worked at Fabrica, The United Colors of Benetton Communications Research and Development Center in Treviso, Italy. Craig is a collective member of the Changethethought Creative Studio and is one of the most talented designers I have come across in Denver. I visited his apartment where he explained the creation of the books which took several months and involved literally concepting and creating each spread according to the fact meant for that particular layout. It was quite a process and Craig used everything he could think of including gathering up garbage, letting food rot, taking photos of his brother against a screen backdrop in his downtown apartment and putting just about anything you could imagine on his scanner.

The book itself is part of a larger series printed under Fiell publishing that involves communicating important facts and research in a digestible, visual way. Some remarkably talented designers and artists were involved in the creation of the books. You will be able to pick them up in places like the Museum of Modern Art for around 15 dollars. That’s a great deal for a book full of unique and timely art.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Craig Holden Feinberg, Fiell, Graphic Design

I got a really nice surprise in the mail a couple of weeks back from illustrator Micah Lidberg (we love getting nice things in the mail). I had a conversation a year or so back with illustrator Mario Hugo and he mentioned that Micah and is just a flat out awesome and enthusiastic guy. The book is called ‘Rise and Fall’ and is a long diorama illustration that folds out into a poster. You can purchase a copy from Nobrow Publishing here for $16 dollars. It’s a really beautifully printed little art piece that now sits happily on my desk.

Thanks Micah. You are awesome.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Illustration, Micah Lidberg, Print, Rise and Fall

Hey Studio got in touch to let us know about a new graphic identity system created for the Spanish graphic awards publication called ‘Laus’. The system incorporates several stunning examples of editorial print work.

written by Christopher | tags: Barcelona, Books, Graphic Design, Heystudio, Typography

Prolific and incredibly talented typographer Marian Bantjes is about to release a new book titled ‘I Wonder‘. The book is a combination of philosophical musings and archived blog posts among other bits and bobs re-interpreted through Bantjes skilled graphic hand. As with everything she produces, quality inspiration is guaranteed. You can pre-order the book at a very reasonable price at Amazon.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, I Wonder, Marian Bantjes, Print, Typography

You can now pre-order It’s Nice That Issue #3 though their online Shop. The recent issue features the best from their blog in the last 6 months. Inside this latest edition are interviews with graphic design legend Milton Glaser, furniture design icon Tom Dixon, filmmaker Keith Schofield, illustrator Tom Gauld and fashion designer Sir Paul Smith. There are 42 pages of work featuring the likes of A2/SW/HK, Gregoire Alexandre, Leslie David, Christopher DeLorenzo, Anne De Vries, Daniel Eatock, Jochen Gerner, Marcelo Gomes, Charley Harper, William Hundley, Abi Huynh, Himi Kozue, Mårten Lange, Alastair Levy, Lucy and Bart, Susanne Ludwig, Livia Marin, Aakash Nihalani, Jasmine Raznahan, Isabella Rozendaal, SpY, Damjan Stanković, John Paul Thurlow, Adam Voorhes, Cardon Webb, Taizo Yamamoto.

It’s an amazingly impressive publication they have managed to pull together and terribly exciting that they have been able to wrangle interviews with some of the biggest names in the business. The pre-orders will ship March 31st and the issue officially drops April 1st. To put the cherry on top of an already large sundae, the issue also arrives with an oversized large-scale (980 x 550mm) screen print by Parra. The issue is available for the sincerely affordable price (even for Americans) of £10.00. Hot damn.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Editorial, Graphic Design, It's Nice That Issue 3

In a collaboration with the AIDS awareness fund (RED), book publisher Penguin commissioned a team of designers and typographers to create 8 new covers for Penguin Classics. Each cover uses a quote pulled from the text. Three of the eight covers featured were designed in-house by Penguin Press, with the remaining covers created by Nathan Burton, Studio Frith, FUEL, Grey318, and Non-Format (whose cover you can see above). It’s a great project and would have been fantastic to be a part of but (if you don’t mind me expressing my personal opinion here) I had mixed feelings about the covers myself. I felt like the executions were sometimes a little off for the subject matter. Regardless, it is nice to see Penguin branching out and doing something different.

You can see all the covers at CR.

written by Christopher | tags: (RED), Aids awareness fund, Books, Penguin, Typography

The brilliant people behind It’s Nice That have published a book detailing the process involved in creating each individual project for the 4th annual If You Could Collaborate exhibition currently showing at the A Foundation Gallery, Rochelle School in London. Included are original sketches to the final pieces exhibited.

Contributing collaborators include: Anthony Burrill, Fred Butler, Margaret Calvert, Alison Carmichael, Marion Deuchars, Sara Fanelli, Karl Grandin, George Hardie, Hellovon, Mario Hugo, Riitta Ikonen, Oliver Jeffers, Max Lamb, Chrissie Macdonald, Michael Marriott, David OReilly, Damien Poulain, Praline, Rob Ryan, Timothy Saccenti, Leonardo Sonnoli, Julien Vallée, Craig Ward, Job Wouters, Roel Wouters and Ian Wright.

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Books, If You Could Collaborate, Its Nice That

The RRR Project which stands for ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ invites participants to take a look around their environment and see what they can save, pick up and turn over to look at in a different way. The end result has been a mishmash of art, design, photography, illustration from some very talented people. The first effort was published as a free downloadable e-zine that was released to celebrate Earth Day but RRR has recently gone into print with an absolutely gorgeous little book that is inspiring already just peering through jpegs. I first stumbled on the project last night while browsing FPO (For Print Only) and was really impressed. I am ordering a copy today and will be excited to receive it. The project helps support the Surfrider Foundation. You can see some of the art from the book in RRR’s Flickr pages and purchase a copy from their website. Fantastic work.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Books, Illustration, Print, The RRR Project

Eugène & Pauline have printed a big 12 page newspaper book featuring one-colored visuals from artist Geneviève Gauckler. The paper is a silk-screen-print handmade by the publishers. It looks like the pages could make for some nice posters to hang around the home or just to peruse while you make some orange juice and eat a croissant.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Books, Eugene & Pauline, Genevieve Gauckler

Planet has posted a brief interview with Sam Weber about his process for illustrating the classic William Golding novel Lord of the Flies that is soon to be released by The Folio Society

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Illustration, Lord of the Flies, Sam Weber

Who out there knew that Blu had published a book with Studiocromie of their mind-boggling drawings that was hand printed and signed by the artist. And why wasn’t I told before they were sold out. Damn.

written by Christopher | tags: Art, Blu, Books, Drawing, Graffiti, Painting

Bird is a new project/book created by photographer Andrew Zuckerman. The book is a series of portraits detailing numerous bird species on simple white backgrounds. The imagery is really stunning and the amount of work it must have entailed to so painstakingly capture so many beautiful examples is inspiring to say the least.

written by Christopher | tags: Andrew Zuckerman, Bird, Books, Photography

Studio Culture is a new book available at United Editions that ‘provides a unique glimpse into the inner workings of 28 leading graphic design studios. In a series of penetrating interviews, the mechanics of building and maintaining a vibrant studio culture are laid bare with disarming frankness.‘ If you are looking to start a studio or would just like to know how one is started and run, then this looks like it could be a really useful book.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Graphic Design, Studio Culture, United Editions

You can indulge your inner-design nerd now without restraint at Counter-Print. They have a huge stash of out-of-print design-related publications that you can purchase at very reasonable prices. Beautiful covers in their collection.

written by Christopher | tags: Books, Counter-Print, Graphic Design