Graphic t-shirts have always showed a presence on the store shelves ... but now type too? New York Jewelry designer Erica Weiner features gold letterpress necklaces ($60 each), created from rescued obsolete iron type that was used on the Vandercook letterpress and then covered in 14K gold. You can purchase whichever letter you'd like, though she does mention that fonts and type spizes vary slightly, as one should expect with moveable iron type that is worn out from normal printing use and was about to be discarded. Along the same lines, the February issue of How Magazine features a typographic scarf from Little Factory, a Hong Kong-based firm. The scarves are laser-cut suede, available in black, white, or gray, and come in uppercase, lowercase, and number scarves ($58 each).
More relevant to my thesis work from this past semester, as part of her Masters Thesis at RISD, Emily Rothschild combined her interest in the role of medication in our lives and jewelry design. She created a redesign of the ordinary medical ID bracelet and "transformed it into something to be valued and worn with pride." From her website (http://www.helloweare.com/): "Medicine, and our relationship with it, has changed drastically in recent years. The medicine cabinet, however, has remained much the same. This project addresses our daily needs of and uses for prescription medication, and how our household rituals can better accommodate these. I am building new tools which reflect current behaviors and needs and which transform the mundane and feared into a more artful daily ritual. This body of work is not meant to amplify or feed into our dependence on pills, but is meant to give a richness to the ritual when it is needed and to call it into question when it is not." Nameplate necklaces and cuff bracelets with blood types and allergies become markers of pride. Current words include Epinephrine, Penicillin, Bee Sting, Nut Allergy, and Type O. She has also designed brass pill organizer brooches and rings.
The newly opened (September 2008) Museum of Art and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum) in Columbus Circle, Manhattan, currently shows how many established and emerging artists are pushing the envelope by creating new objects out of everyday articles made for other functions. While concept is surely king of the "Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary," execution is surely the queen. Each artist's exquisite handling elevates the craft to fit in perfectly in the museum gallery space. The exhibit features a chair made from high heeled shoes, sculptures from sanding the sides of books' fore edges (Nicholas Galanin), necklaces constructed from safety pins (Tamiko Kawata "Black Orpheus Fabricated") and handgun triggers (Boris Bally "Brave #2"), and a sculpture from tons of mini clear buttons that collectively resembles a gorgeous coral reef (Tara Donovan's "Bluff"), to name just a few.
Some other highlights that I found inspirational:
- Susie MacMurray dress constructed with inside-out latex kitchen gloves
- Yuken Teruya's meticulous and delicate papercut trees that drop from commercial shopping bags. Light shines down through the remaining hole in the bag from where the tree was cut to create a quiet shadow on the 3D tree.
- Jill Townsley's spoon tower constructed from over 9,000 plastic spoons and 3,000 rubber bands, which will naturally deconstruct over time as the rubber bands lose their elasticity.
- A story narrated through just familiar/easily understood icons and symbols (couldn't find the artist's name)
From an early September online article... Xerox has apparently developed a type of paper that when printed on a special printer, can print documents that "erase themselves after a day so that the paper can be reused.Xerox says that 25 percent of all documents get recycled the same day they are printed, and that 44.5 percent are intended only for a single viewing." This could vastly reduce paper waste and also save energy... and even serve as an alternative to shredding. Very cool.
Details:
"The new paper is coated with a chemical that turns dark upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation... While the "ink" will eventually fade on its own, after 16 to 24 hours, the printer can also be used to erase a page and print something new. Tests by Xerox found that if it was not torn or crumpled, a single piece of paper could be put through the print-and-erase cycle hundreds of times."
Original article link: http://www.naturalnews.com/024255.html
When you went to the polls this year, was there a bit of anxiety in your stomach about whether or not you'd be able to adequately understand how to vote properly? Worried about chads? Was the design of your ballot (if not electronic) confusing? Check out this really cool interactive feature from the New York Times (posted at the end of August) which shows AIGA's comments on common design problems in ballot design and some suggestions for improvements based on new guidelines from the United States Election Assistance Commission this year.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/25/opinion/20080825-ballot.html
The logo redesign associated with the company's takeover definitely has more of a "bank" aesthetic. It incorporates the green (money!), and the logotype is significantly lighter (in a good way) from the old clunky C for Commerce. But does the new design neglect the friendly, approachable feelings associated with the C? Don't worry - apparently the free penny arcades will still exist, but what will happen to the free C-shaped piggy banks? The free dog biscuits? The red lollipops?
... but I just wanted to point out this cool icon from one of the many get out the vote projects, aside from AIGA's poster project, courtesy of The Daily Heller. Plus One's graphics are bold and bright, but I would argue that the most crucial aspect of the design's intent (for everyone to just get one more person to vote) is as immediate as it could be. The integration of purple, though, is a nice way to suggest the bipartisan nature of the campaign.
In light of the recent death of creative director Lou Dorfsman, here is some nicely written blurb from an AIGA article last spring and a more recent article from The Daily Heller: "While some may not be aware of this insp
iring three-dimensional memorial to typography, many are familiar with its creator, Lou Dorfsman. The CBS cafeteria wall is as legendary as its visionary designer and art director. Conceived in the mid-1960s and ultimately completed in 1966, the expansive wall, spanning over 35-feet wide and 8-feet tall, is a national design treasure. In producing the wall Dorfsman enlisted support from life-long friend and design legend Herb Lubalin. Lubalin, along with Tom Carnase, masterfully crafted the typography for the aptly dubbed 'Gastrotypographicalassemblage.'... Unceremoniously discarded by CBS management in the early 1990s, the wall’s nine panels were thankfully salvaged by New York designer Nick Fasciano. Time and improper storage had ravaged the monument, however, leaving it in a state of disrepair. The Center for Design Study, having acquired the wall, is engaged in fundraising to support the meticulous and extensive restoration required. The goal is to see Dorfman’s wall restored to its full integrity and as part of a permanent traveling exhibition on historical American design, to serve as a tool for education and expanding awareness of the value of intelligently applied design."
Video about the wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQkP-oPqwrI
Typography sketches from Herb Lubalin from 1965 (bottom):
I actually may like the sketches better than the fabricated wall; the handmade quality really complements the joyous, fresh, and expressive mood of the concept.
