From the monthly archives:

June 2009

Aaron Draplin Drops Knowledge and the F-Bomb On RBtL’s 19th Episode

June 27, 2009

Episode 19 of the always relevant Read Between the Leading podcast is up, and you’re about to to be treated to an entertaining hour with designer Aaron Draplin. He talks about what it’s like to be raised on art, punk rock, and snowboarding, as well as what it takes to work your way up from [...]

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Spiekermann’s Axel Typeface Is More Than Just Easy On The Eyes

June 27, 2009

I could ramble for ages on the the accomplishments of type celebrity Dr. Erik Spiekermann, but I’m going to make every effort to keep this post on task and assume you already possess encyclopedic knowledge of his work. The recently released Axel, designed by Spiekermann and developed together with Erik van Blokland and Ralph du [...]

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Mozilla Polishes Their Firefox Icon Ahead of the 3.5 Release

June 23, 2009

This iteration of Mozilla’s browser icon evolution appears incredibly underwhelming at first glance. Shine plus 3. Fur refined. Gradients smoothed. Continents… drifting. The compelling story here is clearly in the processes employed in arriving at the final mark. When Principal Designer Alex Faaborg began the redesign process in May, he offered up a rare treat [...]

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Drink It Straight From the Bottle

June 23, 2009

I just had to share this beautiful packaging concept for Sexy Tina Milky Vodka (Irish Creme) from Russian designer Pavel Gubin. As a side note, I NEVER thought I’d live to see the day where the Sloe Gin Rickey typeface was used on something even close to this pretty. There are a few more images [...]

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Google Would Like To Introduce You To Your Website’s Users

June 21, 2009

Whatever hopes I was clinging to regarding the level of engagement expected from the modern internet user have been properly squelched by my viewing of the above video. The truth is that while creating content for the web, it’s imperative that we understand the motivations of the folks who will be interacting with our work. [...]

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Defiant Designers Attempt To Unite The People Of A Troubled Iran

June 20, 2009

As the protests in Iran reach their 8th day and violence seems to be escalating, images of  protesters continue to slip through the cracks of the media blackout via social networking sights like Twitter and Facebook. Artists and designers have contributed some fantastic work to ensure that when photographers do capture the scenes unfolding in [...]

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“Such Tragedy Could Have Been Easily Avoided”

June 16, 2009

Honestly, what can I say here that’s not summed up perfectly by the image and tag line above. This prophylactic packaging, designed by HanTang Communications Group for Wptt Contraceptive is pretty much perfect. “The objective is to emphasize the high contraceptive effectiveness of the products by indicating the painful consequences of having sex without a [...]

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Hello Beautiful.

June 16, 2009

Antonio Carusone is the man who finally made me fall in love with grids. If you’re yet to be converted, stop over and dig in for a bit at GridSystems.org where you’ll find killer resources ranging from articles to tools to templates that are sure to change you for the better. If columns and Golden [...]

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Microsoft Designer Forgets To Hold Down the Shift Key

June 14, 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve heard folks this worked up over a logotype. Microsoft’s Bing search engine has met mixed reviews from industry observers and the general public alike, but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that something horrible happened when arriving at the final mark for the site. There are [...]

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Objectified (Finally) Comes to Washington

June 14, 2009

Perhaps it’s because my girlfriend and I had to, at the last minute, eat our tickets to April’s New York City premiere, but it seems like ages since Gary Hustwit’s industrial design-centric followup to Helvetica began making its way around the world. After a short run in the US and then hitting up some proper [...]

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