Am I excited about receiving my 100+ page-long Creative Review annual issue?

Yes. Yes I am.

Here’s why.

Add a Comment!

QR Gutenberg

I’m not that crazy about QR codes in general, but this is too cool. Those codes link directly to Project Gutenberg.

I mean, come on.

Add a Comment!

Creative Review

You know what’s pretty great? Creative Review. This British blog/magazine/website constantly posts truly fantastic creative work. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Put it this way — it’s the only print subscription that I currently have to anything. (Although I’m always open to recommendations!)

Add a Comment!

Communicating with Pattern: Stripes

I just ordered Communicating with Pattern: Stripes, and I’m happy about it. Thinking a lot about stripes in graphic design.

(Remember Contagious? That’s still my favorite use of stripes in identity design to date.)

Add a Comment!

The Legend of Alexandra & Rose, by Jon Klassen

This won’t be to everyone’s taste, so I’m putting it after the break (although it’s totally safe for work, of course). It’s a dark little piece I stumbled across by the talented Jon Klassen. I don’t love horror stuff in general, but this was too perfectly put together not to share.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments So Far, Add Yours!

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design

I’m definitely going to be buying 100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design by Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne. I mean… I just am.

Add a Comment!

“Imagine: How Creativity Works” author Jonah Lehrer’s interview on NPR’s Fresh Air

I want to listen to this interview and possibly read this book.

Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer sounds fascinating.

Add a Comment!

Geometry of Design, by Kimberly Elam

To read: Geometry of Design, by Kimberly Elam.

Add a Comment!

My Amazon review of “American Nations” by Colin Woodard

Thoughtful, but not balanced

I greatly enjoyed Woodard’s American Nations. I’ve been recommending it even since before reading it, and now that I’ve finished it, will continue to do so. However, I think it’s important to note that Woodard’s initial observations are perhaps better than his final conclusions. The history he has compiled is fascinating, and the regional identities are instantly recognizable to any American. However, once he gets into the modern era, his personal bias towards his own nation becomes increasingly transparent.

To paraphrase/satirize the tone in the final third, to this reader he came across as saying, “The worst things about Yankeedom are that they’re too pushy about wanting paradise on earth for peoples of all creeds and colors. The worst things about the Deep South are that they hate non-whites and want to keep people stupid and poor and miserable.”

This book, although thoughtful, well-written, and insightful, would have benefited from a Southern co-author who could provide a balancing perspective from outside Woodard’s native Yankee viewpoint. Surely all nations have qualities that are equally admirable, as well as failings that are equally distressing. Nonetheless, it remains a fascinating read and one that I will continue to go back to and recommend, albeit with qualifications.

(Two more small nitpicks — along with other reviewers, I was surprised at how little credit he gave Garreau. Also, I was surprised that there was no discussion of the national character of African Americans in the Deep South. It seems like a missed opportunity to observe and report on a parallel society, and strange that he should focus only on the white minority as the sole definers of that nation.)

Add a Comment!

My Top 5 Books

In the last 24 hours, I said, “It’s in my top five books” twice, about two different books. This made me wonder what my top 5 really are… and here’s what I’ve come up with:

5. Peter Pan (Especially as illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.)

4. Hamlet’s Blackberry (A practical philosophy for building a good life in the digital age.)

3. Made to Stick (A must-read for anyone with any interest in communication.)

2. Brothers Karamazov (Sprawling, crazy, turned my world upside down.)

1. First Samuel (Star Wars, eat your heart out.)

What are your top 5?

3 Comments So Far, Add Yours!