It’s almost election time, and that means lots of cool, free, printable posters by professional designers!
AIGA (the professional organization for designers) sponsored an awesome contest where members created and submitted VOTE posters. While the organization picked 24 winners, I had tons of fun going through all the posters to find which ones I liked best.
The one above is a winner in my heart. So funny, and true. So true, that when I posted it in my cubicle a coworker became so obsessed that she printed out about 10 tabloid sized AIGA posters, envisioning specific ones being plastered everywhere from the kitchen to the men’s bathroom. Success!
Anyway, the poster was created by Rob Alexander, who works at visitoffice.com, a design agency which I’ve just come to discovered does work for the McSweeney’s-related Pirate Supply Store (you know, the store that supports those kids’ writing centers).
Who wouldn’t want a bottle of Captain Blackbeard’s Dye and Scurvy BeGone Capsules? (I am actually totally in love with this stuff. You can shop for it here.)
I digress.
Back to the vote posters. (All of the ones below are free except for VOTE! by Obey. We don’t blame them, it’s a high-quality print!)
So, go to AIGA, checkout the posters, and download your favorites. Print them at work on tabloid paper. Post them everywhere. A BONUS Palin-related poster, after the jump! (more…)
The blog Kitsune Noir is currently hosting The Desktop Wallpaper Project where you can get fabulous, artsy computer wallpapers like the ones above and below. What’s even better is that the wallpapers come in all different sizing, including ones for the iphone and PSP. (more…)
Just found this “Make Your Own Slime Creep Toy” at The Blog of Rowan Tedge (a pretty cool Australian illustrator). You can make your very own crazy toy by printing out this sheet & cutting & taping away!
Isabella Rossellini stars in “Green Porno,” a series of short films providing “comical and insightful studies of the curious ways a variety of earth’s tiny critters make love” (sundancechannel.com), but don’t get your hopes up for actually getting turned on — insects are disgusting. (Just think about how close a snail’s anus is to its face when it’s crammed into the tiny shell, or how a praying mantis thanks her lover.) What’s great about these little films is their simplicity: basic backgrounds, halloween-ish costumes, simple props. The films were created specifically with such simplicity to optimize digital viewing
“Although a festival favorite, GREEN PORNO was conceived of for the ’small screen’ and intended to be viewed on mobile phones, the internet and other portable devices. GREEN PORNO represents an experiment in storytelling for digital platforms” (sundancechannel.com).
There are eight “episodes,” each featuring a different insect, and can all be viewed free online (more…)
Imagine a big online magazine of black and white drawings and graphics created by all different artists. Now imagine printing the whole thing out. On sticker paper. If that doesn’t get your heart pumping, I don’t know what will. (more…)
Every year during this joyous season (National Poetry Month, of course), poets.org offers a free poetry poster designed by a graphic artist. I am particularly in love with the 2006 poster (above), but I order my free poster every year no matter the design.
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of dead land.” -TS Eliot
(Old posters can be purchased for $5 unless they are sold out, but they can always be clicked on and printed, so at least you can have a postcard or paper-sized rendition.) PS: If you want free printable posters with complete poems, click here.
Even though I wanted Urban Outfitters’ City Stickers, I didn’t come away from Urban Outfitters empty handed. Instead, I picked up a free nine pack of VOTE stickers. I just scanned in some of my vote stickers (above), and then checked out the Urban Outfitters “Pick a Winner” blog, which includes some lovely examples of what some artists do when it’s time to get political. (I imagine I’ll feature some of the posters on Stickers & Donuts soon.) (more…)
Urban Outfitters is currently giving away free stickers at stores (and coupons for 10% off online purchases, in case you wanted to know), including stickers from the My City Sticker Project.
“Urban Outfitters asked 18 artists and designers to describe their city in sticker form. Each contributor took a unique slant on the “My City” theme, creating a collection just as diverse as the cities they are from.”
The French Paper Company makes handfuls of colorful paper that would make any scrapbooker / cardmaker / colorliker jealous. I especially like the cool designs in the Pop-Ink Patter-Paper line. (They’ve got plenty of bright & neutral plain papers, too.) (more…)
DELARGE offers printable stickers (made to print on specific Avery paper sizes, a very convenient feature), downloadable posters, fonts, and wallpaper all for free. It’s a more urban feel than I usually go for in my graphic selections, but it’s well done and I don’t know about you, but I once spent two days trying to track down some classic “HELLO my name is” stickers from places like Staples, but it was DELARGE who offered up the goods in the end. (more…)
The Poetry Foundation, on its well-designed, graphically lovely little web-site, has a handful of free poem posters (”For the Fridge”) that you can download as pdfs and then print and stick anywhere. You will instantly look well-read and graphically astute. (Or, you know, just bookish and weird.) (more…)
Neenah provides paper for any printing kind of printing fun, and offers lots of free swatch books to play with and dream about. The site also offers free “Classic Crest Identity Libraries” (get one here) which is a little paper case full of reference cards for designers and proof readers (check out the Proof Readers’ Marks card above). They also have cards featuring Fold Types, Binding Types, State Abbreviations and more. What’s fun about this freebie is that it’s useful, well-designed, and printed on very nice paper. Yays!
