Graphic Glass for Good
According to Faucet Face, 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour. And that’s just in the US alone.
To combat this global issue, Mason Gentry set up Faucet Face, a social enterprise, to encourage us to drink more tap water by selling beautifully designed and reusable glass bottles to drink it from.
Pointing out that “everything tastes better in glass”, the benefits are not only a much nicer way to drink water but a portion of the profits go towards helping others drink clean water too. For each bottle sold a minimum of 100 litres of drinking water is provided to families in India who suffer from contaminated river water.
The thick, quality bottles feature playful lettering by Seb Lester and Ray Fenwick. Mason showed me some of the original sketches, inspired by early Pepsi-Cola bottle lettering.
Caux Collective Redirects: Google’s Visual Assets Guidelines
Rewind a few years and Google’s visual identity would hardly have been seen as being at the forefront of graphic design. Now, however, thanks to the release of a digital, visual guideline to the company’s identity and design, it is clear to see, in remarkable detail, that the Californian internet-giants are making vast and impressive strides in becoming the company to beat, or perhaps more likely, to follow in graphic design.
If you’d like to read more head over to Inspirez, where you can find this post in it’s entirety, including additional images and further links.
(via inspirezme)
My friend and Mercury 1089 alum, Riley Branstrom, is missing. He’s been missing since Monday, May 6th, and was last seen in Freehold, NJ.
If you have any information about Riley, please call the number above or the East Windsor Police Department at (609) 448-5678.
Riley is one of those people that brings life and happiness into the room when he walks in. He’s a great designer, a wonderful collaborator, and was a huge asset to our FIRST Robotics team for many years.
Please share this post and help us find our friend!
We love you Riley, and hope wherever you are you’re safe.
Roid: The future isn’t what it used to be
Starting as a graffiti writer in ‘99, Roid is now widely regarded as one of the most influential graffiti artists from the UK. He has strived to create his own unique style and advocates only looking outside the graffiti work for inspiration.
A prolific artist producing hundreds of pieces world-wide, Roid is treading a now familiar path, from buildings and walls to a studio and prints. The popularity of his illustration and artwork seen online and in a number of shows has exploded.
Not only do I love the colour, composition,and details that goes into his work, I’m just astonished at the sheer variety of lettering and styles incorporated. You can see a a number of mediums being used alongside spay paint, including airbrushing and screen printing.
Take a look at more of his work on Instagram
Thanks to Jack Ramsay for putting me onto this work.
‘Not Myself Today’ is a high impact campaign aimed to improve and raise awareness for mental health in Canada. A wall constructed of mood pins strategically located in the heart of Toronto gave passing visitors the opportunity to select and ‘wear their mood’. The bold rainbow of colours acts as a lightning rod, drawing people in, while the simple act of selecting their mood sparked dialogue, released stories and inspired hundreds of pledges of support.
Designed by BLOK Design studio, in connection with Partners for Mental Health they explain the thoughts behind the campaign:
Critical to its success was to create an experience that would draw people into a conversation, encourage a new, more open relationship with their feelings, and inspire them to pledge their support. The identity thus
had to be bold yet personal and comfortable. To do this, we created a spectrum of moods and corresponding colours that people could identify with, select and wear. We then put it out on the street to provoke engagement and dialogue, driving them to the website where they could learn more and pledge their support.[Images copyright to BLOK Design / Read more at BLOK Design]
letterboxd - Uses famous movie quotes as their Captcha during sign up.
Pantone Food Pairings by David Schwen
This delightful little series of images come courtesy of David Schwen’s Instagram page. The pantone swatches pair up foods that work together perfectly, much like colour swatches pair up complementary colours. Links to both David’s website and Instagram are below and you can find the rest of the series there, he’s also announced that prints will be available to purchase soon.
Artists: | Website | Instagram | Twitter | [via: DesignCollector]
I’m working on a type-based calendar for my office! :)
The Eccentric Life and Illustration of Edward Gorey
Today is Edward Gorey’s birthday. In honor of his life and work, this post is presented. From 1953 to 1960, Edward Gorey lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases, adding illustrations to the text. He illustrated works as diverse as Dracula by Bram Stoker, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, and Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. In later years he produced cover illustrations and interior artwork for many children’s books by John Bellairs.
His first independent work, The Unstrung Harp, was published in 1953. He also published under pen names that were anagrams of his first and last names, such as Ogdred Weary, Dogear Wryde, Ms. Regera Dowdy, and dozens more.
The New York Times credits bookstore owner Andreas Brown and his store, the Gotham Book Mart with launching Gorey’s career: “it became the central clearing house for Mr. Gorey, presenting exhibitions of his work in the store’s gallery and eventually turning him into an international celebrity.”
Gorey’s illustrated (and sometimes wordless) books, with their vaguely ominous air and ostensibly Victorian and Edwardian settings, have long had a cult following. Gorey became particularly well-known through his animated introduction to the PBS series Mystery! in 1980, as well as his designs for the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Costume Design. He also was nominated for Best Scenic Design. In the introduction of each episode of Mystery!, Vincent Price would welcome viewers to “Gorey Mansion”.
Although Gorey’s books were popular with children, he did not associate with children much and had no particular fondness for them. Gorey never married, professed to have little interest in romance, and never discussed any specific romantic relationships in interviews. In the book The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, published after Gorey’s death, his friend reported that when Gorey was pressed on the matter of his sexual orientation, he said that even he was not sure whether he was gay or straight. When asked what his sexual orientation was in an interview, he said,
“I’m neither one thing nor the other particularly. I am fortunate in that I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something … I’ve never said that I was gay and I’ve never said that I wasn’t … what I’m trying to say is that I am a person before I am anything else …”
Edward Gorey agreed in an interview that the “sexlessness” of his works was a product of his asexuality.
Happy Birthday, the late Mr Gorey…
