Headphones On

I will paypal $5 to anyone who can explain to me what this sign is supposed to say. A few weeks ago Rachael and I discovered this on a random building on Madison (or Monroe?) and as two designers we were absolutely stumped.

Capper Mapper? Capper Happer? Capper J Capper? Is that supposed to be an ampersand?

It appeared this strange sign had been erected onto an early 20th century building sometime in the 60s or 70s. There wasn't any other mention on the building of this Capper _apper name.

Buy some: William Bell

Posted by Liz at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was cleaning out my home office this afternoon when I came across an old sketchbook. The 150 or so pages were full of doodles and notes from a previous job that led me wandering down memory lane. As I flipped through the pages I discovered thumbnails of vodka bottles, orange juice, cow illustrations, herring, wine promotions, logo designs, CD designs, etc etc. It's strange to look back on all of this old work that I would so diligently sketch out in thick black sharpie. It feels so far removed from where I am now yet somehow it was the experience that brought me here.

Sometimes I wonder when exactly I made the choice of what I would do for a living. I know that I'm good at what I do but looking back on the path I took here it feels a bit odd and pre-determined. I would guess that most people would hang onto this sketchbook, save it for that next time they needed to rediscover it in a pile of random stuff. I think I need to take the opposite approach and pitch it. Today is feeling like a time for a fresh start.

Buy some: Husky Rescue, Cardigans

Posted by Liz at 02:52 PM | Permalink

This was my day thanks to "The Crammer" (although really they weren't as horrible as some). I often wish I could discuss what I do at work. Today would make a doozey of a story if I was ever allowed to tell it. All I will say was that while brainstorming copy the phrase "New! Death-Free Formula!" ended up scrawled in my sketchbook. Don't worry, nothing I'm designing is gonna kill anyone (I don't think).

Buy some: The Creation

Posted by Liz at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

About five years ago I met my design heroine Eva Zeisel. At 96, she was almost all but forgotten... as lost to the modern design aesthetic as her most famous work of the 60s was becoming in flea markets around the world. She seemed frail yet graceful to me as she invited a friend and I to sit down to tea with her. She was so curious how two twenty something girls knew her work. While we wanted to know everything about her design process and how she maintained her creativity over time, she was more curious about us and how we both handled being women in the male-dominated world of design. She was absolutely charming and I wished we could have spent more time talking with her and her daughter.

"I think with my hands. I design things to be touched—not for a museum. A piece is ready when it has the shape of something to cherish."

Nowadays, Eva's charming designs are no longer a secret. When I met her in 2001, she was at the beginning of her third career... the first being in the 1930s in Europe, then her rediscovery during midcentury. In 2001 she was kicking off the first work she had done in years with a line of crystal and silver for Nambé. At 100 years of age now, it is nearly impossible to avoid her in the modern ceramic marketplace. She has been working with companies like Crate and Barrel, Royal Stafford, Bombay Sapphire, Klein Reid, and Chantal. I feel like she's gone from my secret heroine to being one of the most well-known industrial designers alive today. I'm happy to share, I'm happy that her organic shapes and thoughtful world of curves is finally getting the notoriety it deserves.

Why am I blabbing on about Eva Zeisel today? She has a write up in this week's issue of The New Yorker.

Posted by Liz at 03:56 PM | Permalink

The Design Disease from Noisy Decent Graphics has to be the best thing I've read all week.

Posted by Liz at 03:11 PM | Permalink

• The gentle curve on the spout of a well-formed teapot
• The art of looking sideways
• French curves
• Lavender
• The perfect bag
• Against The Sun
• The impact of a well-intentioned person

Posted by Liz at 05:18 PM | Permalink

Ben's artwork has been featured at The Human Pixel Project which is currently on display at Three Columns Gallery at Harvard.

Click For More

Posted by Liz at 09:07 AM | Permalink

Is this supposed to be a joke? The big announcement at Apple today is... a speaker?

Posted by Liz at 04:14 PM | Permalink

I went with a few friends to see Mrs. Henderson Presents on Friday night. While I thought the whole movie was wonderfully done, I sat mouth agape at the introductory credit sequence. I loved the art deco style, art nouveau influence and CGI. The type choices,the illustration style, the movement... all brilliant. It's so refreshing to see design work with more classical styling turned into something modern. I think we have a lot to learn from artists of the past. I get a little jaded at the modern for modern's sake I see around me in design mags and advertising.

Posted by Liz at 02:06 PM | Permalink

It came to my attention that Quark (page layout program to most professional designers circa 1992-2000) has presented a new brandmark to the world. While this isn't exactly something worthy of a feature in the Weekly World News, new logos on programs like these are the things that bored designers like myself stare at for hours on end while he work. Oh wait, I don't mean to insinuate that I'm not working but these logos are a constant on my screen. So what... after all this spiel is the new logo?

"Our new logo is one of the most articulate symbols of the new Quark, and I feel proud to have led the team that worked on it," said Susan Friedman, senior vice president of strategic relations at Quark.

Posted by Liz at 09:33 PM | Permalink

I'm taking a little break from my uber-productive afternoon to talk a bit about what I've been listening to. As I've been cleaning out old clothes, straightening my apt and whatnot I've been walking about with my ipod on... listening to a few podcasts. I talked a bit before about my love of KCRW's DnA as I am a huge architecture geek but I'm also an industrial design nerd. On a monthly basis I probably read twice as many magazines and books dedicated to the world of industrial instead of graphic design. My favorite ID podcast comes from Lunar Design, an industrial and graphics firm out of San Francisco. Their podcast, titled icon-o-cast is generally a recorded discussion amongst their in-house team. With only three podcasts out I'm already very intrigued by this firm as they discuss topics such as the popularity of retro designs, simplicity in new product development and their favorite new products of the summer. They focus more on technological products than I do but it's still extremely thought provoking.

The other podcast I've not talked about yet also comes from KCRW in Santa Monica... Music Exchange where Nic Harcourt of KCRW trades new sounds with Steve Lamacq of BBC Radio 1. I've always loved Lamacq's show and listen to Nic occasionally but it is very intriguing to hear two heavyweights in the indie music world discuss what's up and coming. Both DJ's have an uncanny knack of being able to predict new bands with potential so hearing their (albeit short) recorded conversations about what's going on in LA and London is fantastic*.

* Steve Lamacq's constant and early pushing of The Magic Numbers doesn't hurt either.

Posted by Liz at 03:40 PM | Permalink

I hate when you get all ready for work and then open a yogurt cup for breakfast and it explodes all over your shirt. Why hasn't someone made a lid that won't explode? The contents aren't pressurized it wouldn't be that hard! I've been to the factory where a majority of the yogurt cups sold in the US were made. I don't blame them as they just print and sell the cups. It's got to be a problem inside the yogurt factory where the contents are filled and sealed with those stupid foil lids.
Now I gotta change my shirt.

Posted by Liz at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I dabbled a bit with podcasts a few months ago but really couldn't get into downloading things as it seemed time consuming and not at all necessary. With the recent integration of podcasts into the new version of iTunes, I have completely changed my tunes. I have now found myself addicted to a variety of podcasts from a brit and a canadian chit chatting to/from work to the documentaries run by the BBC World Service. My favorite program is something that can be caught on your local radio dial if you live in LA but otherwise hasn't been accessible to the world outside of California until recently...

DnA: Design & Architecture
To some Los Angeles spells freeways and sprawl; to others it's a unique city whose climate, proximity to nature and liberating spirit have inspired the design of furniture, fashion, cars and architects from Greene and Greene to Frank Gehry. With the buzz about the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the new cathedral and LACMA, the widespread taste for LA's mid-century Modernism and its current lifestyle, now is the time for a program on design and architecture in Los Angeles. Over the coming months, DnA host Frances Anderton will interview luminaries in the design and architecture world and look at some of our important new buildings and works of design.
DnA: Design and Architecture airs the third Tuesday of each month from 2:30 to 3:00 PM on 89.9 FM KCRW - webcast and archived online at www.KCRW.com.

* Technically they do produce a podcast of the lovely Ira Glass but it's only available through audible.com for a monthly fee of $9.95. This seems a bit steep for a show that if I ever remembered was on I could record directly off my radio dial.

Posted by Liz at 03:20 PM | Permalink

I've been feeling particularly inspired by illustrators lately. Perhaps it's my new Wacom tablet having fun with my imagination but I've been bursting with drawing ideas as of late (unfortunately my schedule hasn't played along with these urges... yet). So whose been inspiring me lately?

S. Britt - Not ONLY is this guy's work fantastic and displaying a style all his own (yet simultaneously nicked from so many books when we were kids) but he is a massive indiepop fan!

Little India - This guy works for Pixar and has created an amazing book of Hindu figures. They're wholly Indian inspired yet oh-so-adorable. Check em out.

Posted by Liz at 06:48 PM | Permalink

I have found a new love, a new magazine love. I'm enthralled with NORDIC REACH.

I found an issue of this magazine a few months ago before my last Scandinavia holiday. At the time I picked it up looking for cute design shops to visit in Norway and Denmark. Silly me had forgotten that good design exists on every corner of Scandinavia and one needn't have pointers before traveling. Once I'd picked up one issue though... I've been searching it out every since.

I love magazines in general but this one could not possibly be more targeted to me (hence I'm afraid it will disappear from the earth at any second). It focuses on Scandinavian travel, art, music, design, architecture... all things I love to bits. While edited by a Swede, the magazine has a much wider focus than Sweden itself. With in depth articles on strong women figures in Icelandic history, features on Swedish architects and lengthy explorations of Norwegian American photographers I think I have found the *perfect* magazine. It's even well designed with beautiful ligatures on the heads and and clean, modern layout. ;-)

Posted by Liz at 09:20 PM | Permalink

I was eating my lunch in Union Station... flipping through the new issue of The NewYorker when a full page ad catches my eye...

It won't be a collector's item someday. It already is. Its simplicity is already prized by collectors. Its swan-like forms are already on display in museums worldwide. Yet this new pale ivory version of Eva Zeisel's legendary 1950s design can only be found in one place. Classic Century Dinnerware. In dishwasher-safe earthenware. Only at Crate and Barrel and crateandbarrel.com

Sensuous, multifunctional shapes with a pedigreed past are reborn for a new century. Originally designed in 1952 by world-renowned designer Eva Zeisel, this timeless tabletop art makes a comeback in a creamy neutral. Zeisel, considered one of the foremost designers of the 20th century, created sculptural pieces with rounded curves, arches, teardrops and wave motifs. Even the plates are a soft oval, just this side of round. Out of production for many years, during which time it became a collector's item, this pattern has been resurrected just for us. Each organic, elegant piece is a masterpiece of form and function.

Crate and Barrel Exclusive

The other drooling of the day...

Posted by Liz at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am a big design nerd. Don't ask me how much I just paid for a simple calendar...

Just know that it was MUCH LESS than what it would have cost me in £ if I had bought it on the excursion to the design museum. Just admire it for a minute will you? A... it's timeless (literally). B... it's gorgeous. C... it's clever as all get out D... perfect for the theme I have going in my new workspace of bright red and lime green.

In other news I am in search of a coffee cup. Not just a coffee cup... THE COFFEE CUP. I spied this in Copenhagen last September but didn't pick it up for reasons too feeble to admit to the world. Designed by Dane Ole Jensen and produced by Holmegaard for Royal Copenhagen... it's called "Ole" and is perhaps the most beautiful coffee cup I've ever seen in my life, and it's all in it's simplicity and flow. Behold... Ole.

Posted by Liz at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Designers are notoriously fickle with fonts. We are constantly embedded in the world of type... and by embedded I mean I have 4365 fonts on my lapdog and over 9000 on my work mac. That's a whole lotta alphabets. Ligatures can drive us wild with pleasure or scream out in horror... while most people don't know what a ligature is. We are notoriously nerdy with these things too... we love to point out someone's use of an ITC font on a passing bus and identify lazy designers use of Helvetica. Oh so geeky. But... with so many typefaces at our disposal we all have our favorites. I have my favorite serifs, san serifs, scripts, etc but what I love most about perusing my new collection of over 9000 fonts on my work mac... the names. If you think designers are geeky about their use of fonts... check out their names. The world of font names is almost as varied as the typefaces themselves and so easily to stereotype...

We think we're baaaaaad...
Bad Angel, Bad Dog, Bad Excuse, Badoni (Get it Bodoni... ha ha), BadTyp, EatPoo, Garbage, Goober, GritzpopGrunge, Imperfect, Nastyhouse, RanDUMhouse, Rougfhouse, ToucanGrunge, UncleStinky

We-are-part-of-an-evil-empire fonts...
BuzzCog, Burokrat, Hatenote (Slanderous/Extortionate/Incesed/Threatening), LearnedBehavior, OhMegaSigh, OneTrickPony, Outahere, Quagmire, TallMalaise, VTHippoCritic

The stoner fonts...
Ashtray Empty, Braindead (er), Bonehead, Burnout, BungHoleEO, DeGenerate, Dirtyhouse, Entropy, Freakshow, Mullethead, Narly, Numbscull, Paleface, Pipeface

We'd-much-rather-be-at-the-bar/coffeeshop/reading-beat-poetry fonts...
Bartalk, CupOJoe, BeatStreet, DaddyOCrazy, DaddyOHip, DaddyOSquare, HemingwaysShotgun, HotCoffee, Moonshine (Murky), Pabst, PallMall, Percolator, Pilsner, RockABilly, Route66, Yomama

We read too many fantasty novels/comic-books fonts...
Amoprheus, Balthazar, BatmanForever, BatwingMedium, DemonKnight, Golgotha, HeroesVillians, HogwartsWizard, LucifersPension, MarvelHeroes, Phaistos, StanLee, Visigoth

It's-all-about-sex fonts...
Buxom, Bgirlfriend, Cyberotica, dEvotion, FastGirls, Fornicator, Fucker, Girlfriend (Fat/Thin), HandJob, Kisstelle, Laydeez, LoveNote, LovingTheAlien, Messaround, MothaFucka, Pillowtalk, Promdate (Tall), Pussy, Trixie

We-love-the-digital-age fonts...
Atomic, bAndroit, CubeToss, Digital, Digitek, Dueonix, Egbert, FutureKill, Hystrix (Hystrax/Sleestax), JetAge (HiFi/LoFi), LaserChrome, Matrix, Megahertz, Nillennium, NuWave, Oxmox, Rocketscience, TTRheostat(Celsius/Fahrenheit)

It's-an-alphabet-and-aren't-we-clever fonts...
Alphabloc, Backspacer, DasReichtGut, DomesticTyper, EraserDust, Eunuverse, FreeBeCaps, Godlikeitalic, Handskript, Handwrite, HooskerDont (and it's alt HooskerDoo), Inkpot, Inky, Nowwhat, Pencilbox, QuickSans (Accurate/Fast), Qwerty, Smudger, Syzygy (Blunt/Elegant), Typeface (Six/Seven)

Posted by Liz at 11:18 AM | Permalink