I love these “Thanks for Nothing” cards by Luke Williams for Gilah Press.
If you can’t read the detail on the card above, various things you might “thank” someone for include: (more…)
Obviously, I’m on a book-kick these days. If you’ve been at all enamored with the book world, especially at the end of 2007, you’ll know that The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is getting some hardcore attention from book-lovers. I have a little Diaz-love myself, partially because the man got his MFA at my alma mater and I read a chunk of his work in the happy days I spent there.
There are two things I want to mention about this book besides it being fabulous to read:
I love books. I love reading them. I love looking at them. I love stacking them. Sometimes, I love them without ever even reading them (*gasp* weren’t you an English major in college?!).
“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired[...] produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can[...] read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity[…] we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.” —Alfred Edward Newton (1863 – 1940)
Books can be pretty, and to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of cover art, page layout, typography — that I do not think is a sin. Here are a few other people who agree with me, and some of my favorite places to travel for my aesthetic love of books.
Above: From a post about What it Is by Lynda Barry
This is my favorite book blog and I recommend an immediate RSS subscription. The author, an amazing illustrator in her own right, and provides scans from sketchbooks, children’s books, comic books, craft books, and any other kind of page turning instrument with pictures or gadgets.
I love this site because it reveals (1) the artistic innards of books, (2) books not on best seller’s lists. She clearly spends time selecting pretty pages to preview, proving that the title of her site should be something more like Book By Its Cover and Great Examples of Inside Pages Too (can you tell I’m a writer? I thought so.)
2.
Covers
I love this site most because the main page’s grid layout gets me all excited about book covers every time I see it. You can click on each cover to see a larger version and commentary. They update every week, and it’s another book blog I wouldn’t hesitate to subscribe to.
3.
Flickr Sets
Above: Image from the Old-Timey Paperback Book Covers group pool on Flickr.
Veer recently posted about a flickr collection featuring scans from mid-20th century books. This got me scouting around for more flickr sets. Here are some of my favorite finds from group pools: Mother Goose Illustrations, The Retro Kid Pool, and Old-Timey Paperback Book Covers.
4.
McSweeney’s
Above: Image from NY Magazine
According to me, McSweeney’s consistently publishes some of the best-looking books on the planet. You’ve already seen my review of Maps & Legends, printed by McSweeney’s, and you can browse around for even more on the McSweeny’s site, either in the Books section or in the McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern section (the McS’s lit mag). These books are all better in 3-D, though, a lot of them have secret openings, layered covers, or some other graphical gimmick that I can’t get enough of.
5.
The Book Design Review
Above: Image from The Book Design Review
Ironically, you should not judge this page by its header because it’s full of cool book covers and book cover discussions (ironically my friend Marmalade pointed me to this at almost the exact same time I was posting it, and now I’m trying to think of a pun about being “on the same page” but it isn’t going well).
In summary, you should judge book covers by their book covers. In order to do so, you should visit the following places (right click, open in new window): (more…)
We all know and love moo.com for its mini-cards (which, incidentally, lots of people were using as business cards at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this year), but I just found out (from Etsy’s blog The Storque) that Moo.com now prints full-sized business cards.
Like the mini-cards, the full-sized cards can contain a different image or different text on each card. The images can be pulled directly from sites where you might already have them uploaded (like facebook, flickr, and etsy). You can use moo.com templates or upload the front and back of your card from a file you’ve already made. If you order 50 cards ($22), you also get a cute little free holder for them.
I love this sample of business cards from Spreadshirt (top of page). There are also a bunch of other examples of crafty business cards on moo.com. And, as always, I wouldn’t recommend only using them for business. I’m sure there are tons of crafty things to do with 50 rectangular cards (I smell scrapbooking, mini-christmas cards, mini-photo albums, etc)!
Threadless T-Shirts – Spoilt Print by Oliver Moss
I have always loved this T-shirt print from threadless, which spoils the ending of about every movie and book with a surprise finish.
I’m super-excited because today Threadless made the T-shirt availible as a large poster/print! This is a pretty amazing graphic, and a great example of typographic success. The artist uses each film’s special font, yet all of the different fonts come together to form a cohesive whole.
Out of all of the things I post and covet, I might actually purcahse this one!
I love these advice posters, designed by older college students for new college students. There is a whole gallery of them over at Life Lounge.
Some example advice:
“Be adventurous. Don’t use helvetica for absolutely everything.”
“Take Time.”
“Use your library… you’ll miss it when you leave.”
True, true, and true.
So, a summer-fun post to end the week. As usual, I’m going to attempt a blogging break over the weekend. So, until Monday, enjoy the heat (especially you East Coasters like me)! Also, a reminder to subscribe to the Stickers & Donuts feed if you want (it’ll be fun, I promise)!
We (royal? blogosphere?) were all very excited when Veer created its Very Secret Order of Creative Understanding which included secret booklets, secret widgets, and secret handshake wallpapers. Those of us who got pretty booklets in the mail were extra-excited.
This summer Veer has a new treat for creatives: the annual Veer Summer Fun Activity Book (with extra online goodies!). Though the book can be downloaded in pdf, it would definitely be more fun to get your hands on a hard copy.
And, if you can’t get a hard copy, there are enough free web-goodies, no printing required, to go around. These include wallpapers (very cute!), games, and the ability to create a doodled world full of doodled creatures (this is actually very cool). Look above to see the world I’m working on.
One of the funniest parts about the Veer’s summer fun extravaganza is the printable Kernie monster and the accompanying contest encouraging you to take pictures of the Kernie doing all kinds of human things — or just standing next to badly kerned signs. How adorably dorky!
This re-printed T-shirt and hoodie design from threadless tickles my funny bone again and again. I hope they make it in poster form (which are on sale for $25 this week)!
Smashing Magazine just rounded-up dozens of creative table of contents(es?).
I love the one above, the last one on the web-page with the windshield wipers, and many, many in between. Go check them out!
Stickers and Donuts is taking a little break for Fourth of July, but I’ll be back full-force at the end of the next week with delightful and lovely things. Thought I can’t promise I won’t post from the road.
So, happy fourth! Check out Urban Outfitter’s campaign blog, which is stocked full of beautiful election & political graphics like the one above from Scott Hansen at ISO50. All proceeds from the purchase of the above print go to Obama’s campaign.
