Author Jay Calderin holds up his Rockport Publishers book "Form, Fit, and Fashion" at the Fashion Session with Iris Apfel held Saturday, December 5 at The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.
And here is the irreverent “Rare Bird of Fashion” Iris Apfel and famed fashion designer Michael Vollbract.
Fashionistas: You may also want to check out this very fun interactive “paperdoll” link, courtesy of The Peabody Essex Museum: http://pem.org/sites/iris/.
Well, as we approach the new year, it's that time when people start thinking about re-invention. How have things been going? What changes do we need to make? How can we still be relevant in the coming months? What's working and what's not working?
If you're thinking about some business reinvention and wondering how best to express the new you, Sean Adams has pulled together some impressive ideas and work on logo and identity design in his book "Masters of Design Logos & Identity." Each chapter profiles a designer and their work, and the designers are a refreshingly international lot, including folks like Vince Frost in Australia, Imadesign Corp in Moscow, and Estudio Mariscal in Spain, among others. In addition to work, Adams provides thoughtful and informative commentary that illuminates the process behind the designs. There are also great call-outs on everything from "Advice for identity designers" from C&G Partners, to "The strangest place my logo appeared," from Imadesign Corp.
If you're thinking about New Year's resolutions -- and let's face it, given the precarious state of the world, who isn't? -- one good one is to try and be more "green." While sustainability is on all of our minds, the subject is so far reaching and multi-faceted that it can drive one to distraction. However, don't despair -- there is a slim green (literally, as in the color) volume that can come to your rescue.
The Little Green Handbook, 145 Simple Steps to Save the Planet is wonderful collection of, as promised, simple things each of us can do. As we know, the accumulation of small actions, repeated by millions of people, has a huge impact. Just look at our last election! Divided into sections on what you can do at the home, office, while out and about, and by speaking up, each page contains a single action you can take -- complete with charming illustrations, a soothing color palette, and a hip stripe pattern. I know you designers are generally great about encouraging your clients to print on recycled paper and such, but what about what you personally can do? This book is a great place to start.
Fix leaks. Don't hoard office supplies. Carry a mug and water bottle. Inflate your car tires to the proper pressure. Shop for only the things you need. Buy local. Buy in bulk. Don't use air fresheners. Install a programmable thermostate. Pack your lunch. Recycle ink cartridges.
Maybe you're doing tons of this stuff already. If so, get the book anyway because it will not only give you even more ideas, but you'll feel good about yourself by checking off things you've already done. If each of us did some portion of the 145 things, wow, think about the difference we could make!!!
Here's a couple of cute -- and practical -- books for the punky design/art kid and/or frilly design/art kid on your list. Design Parts Sourcebooks supply a whole range of steal-able artwork to use wherever you want, from tattoos to scrapbooking. You'll find themed fonts, florals, patterns, illustrations and more.
Design Parts Sourcebook Rock & Street Culture includes categories like Skull & Bones, Tatoo & Tribal, Surf & Skate, Sexy, and Band. Design Parts Sourcebook Romantic includes chapters on Flowers, Animals, Lace, Ribbons, Pattern, and Photos, among other things. Both books come with a CD so you can pull all the images onto the computer to manipulate and make them your own. Each image is supplied as both a JPEG and PNG file.
Design is not just about making things look pretty. Or well composed. It's about layout, selling your ideas, branding, grids, composition. It's about paper, ink, folds, forms, standards, icons, color charts. If you have a young designer on your list who wants to take a professional leap forward, here are two books that give him or her all the basic and critical information they need to be saavy and make smart design decisions. Forms Folds Sizes, All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know But Can Never Find offers tons of background reference information on things like how to compose a web page, determine the proportions of a light bulb package, calculate how much paper a project requires, and figure out the regulations guiding barcode usage, among millions of other necessary details.
The Complete Graphic Designer, A Guide to Understanding Graphics and Visual Communication lays out the basics of not just how to be, but how to THINK like a seasoned professional design communicator, including process, page layout, typical design jobs, identity, branding, and more.
Both books are written in a clear, straightforward manner that is not at all condescending. Making them welcome desk references for the new designer who is trying to figure out the world they've entered, or the old design who may need, or want, a handy refresher.
Other than a Pantone book, nothing seems more closely aligned to graphic design than music. It's not just that designers are so frequently plugged into their iPods -- many of them came to graphic design through their love of music and music graphics. So here are two books that satisfy the graphic designer's needs for both inspiration and pragmatic advice.
1000 Music Graphics, A compilation of Packaging, Posters, and Other Sound Solutions, from Stoltze Design, is, well, just that. Spread after spread of eye candy for the musically-inclined graphic designer.
Print+Production Finishes for CD+DVD Packaging from Loewy:London is also just as advertised. Through brief profiles of great CD and DVD packaging, any designer can learn great tips, tricks, and design fundamentals.
December 8th already. Hard to believe. Well, if you've got designers -- or wanna be designers -- on your holiday gift giving list, I've got suggestions for you. I'll spend the next week or two giving you ideas about books, gadgets, doo dads, and other things the graphically-inclined in your lift might appreciate all tied up with a bow under the tree.
Let's begin with this book, from the "Designers on Design" series. Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobe of the DesGrippes Gobe Group, which recently merged with Iaga to become BrandImage,wrote and designed this book with the author Anne Hellman. It's called, appropriately enough, Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobe on the Emotional Brand Experience.
I'm partial to the book for a few reasons: 1. The introduction talks about branding as a "narrative" and suggests the importance of "telling a story." It's not just because I'm a writer that I tell my corporate communications clients the same thing! 2. It opens with one of my favorite lines in literature, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." From that gem of a book, The Little Prince. 3. It offers extensive and varied case histories -- which I enjoy reading and researching and writing myself -- on the brands that get it right, exploring their approach, brand design, communications, retail experience, and more.
Here's just a few spreads to give you an idea of what's included. Designers will enjoy reading how others did it well. And if they're not interested, well, they should be, which is a good reason to get them this book.
Having recently moved, I, of course, needed to get new business cards made. My "old" cards, which I've had -- with some slight variations -- ever since I started life as a freelance writer, some eight years ago, were letterpress printed on thick, Italian paper. Here's one from the most recent incarnation:
I decided that it was time for a bit of an update. I still want the letterpress printing of course -- the tactile, retro quality is too lovely to forego. (Funny sidenote -- a printer I was interviewing some months ago told me that letterpress is coming full circle and becoming cool again, to the point where some young designers think it's a "new" technology...) I decided to forget the street address. I work with people all over the country and no one seems to care where I live. Even after I tell them, they don't really know where New York State is anyway -- like so many people, they think the city and state are somehow one and the same. Working with my friendly letterpress person in Burlington, Vermont, Zoe Papas, we came up with this simplified design, which we printed on multiple color stocks, mostly Strathmore papers:
Since I was snapping pics of biz cards, let me also show you two other faves. Situation 7 is my husband's "side" business in buying old buildings and this card was designed by Overit Media in Albany.
This two-part card with slipcase that makes a cool, optical illusion as you slide out the card is something I picked up when I was interviewng Stefan Sagmeister.
And if you're finding yourself thirsty for business card design inspiration, check out this book, number eight in an ongoing series that showcases, as titled, "The Best of Business Card Design."
