Abner Graboff was an illustrater and designer in the 50s-60s with just an amazing style. He did everything from children’s books to book jackets to possibily the CBS ‘eye’ logo. Ward-o-Matic has a great interview with Jon Graboff, Abner’s son, about his father’s influences, history and work. Great read!
Cheers!
(’Where are all the illustration examples?’ you ask? well, there’s a ton more over at Ward-o-Matic, so why just copy everything when you can check them out yourself!)
These 1960s classy mod lamps are awesome! They are available over on Etsy from Fabulous Mess, who as a fantastic modern collection of furniture and housewares. Totally check this one out!
This is one of the most amazing ideas ever : IdeaPaint creates a white, dry erase board anywhere it’s painted. I thought it all stopped with chalkboard paint, but boy was I wrong. IdeaPaint comes in up to 10 different colors and just rolls right now and can be painted over with no hassle. It’s a bit on the expensive side (even for the DIY consumer stuff), but if you’ve got the perfect place, it would be totally worth it.
So, yesterday, I headed down to my local library to return some stuff and get some new movies. And I just recently rediscovered/discovered my like for the legendary Kids in the Hall, a great Canadian export of the early 90s, so I was stoked when I came acrossBrain Candy.
The movie features the Kids in the typical cross-dressing, mustache wearing, comedic selves in a story about drug companies. Ok, this aspect, I liked. I liked the idea of a movie released in 1996 poking fun at pharmaceutical companies and the Prozac crazy/scare of the time. I liked the concept and most of the delivery, but I’m sad to say that I won’t be buying this used on Amazon anytime soon.
The acting seemed sort of forced by most, like they all thought it would be an awesome idea to do a movie, and then got it picked up, and then hated it. Dave Foley (who, I think is probably one of my favorites…News Radio, duh) seemed to just phone this whole performance in. On a 1996 cell phone. While on vacation. And I liked the doctor role, played by Kevin McDonald, but he was kind of overshadowed the whole time by other, more ridiculous characters.
The rest of the Kids’ performances were good, sort of bringing back people from the TV days and featuring a lot of their best skills as performers. Mark McKinney was great as always, playing the CEO of the drug company with a spot on corporate exec impression. Scott Thompson again brought out the best old lady characters, singing gay guy-in-denial and a lady? scientist. And Bruce McCulloch played songs, a woman, and the infamous “I guess it would be in 1996″ Cancer Boy. But it just seemed like they were the ones really wanting the whole thing to work.
ANYWAYS, it’s a fun watch, especially if there are snacks and ridiculous people around. Just be warned though there are quite a few ‘boy-related bathroom humor’ jokes right from the start. I wouldn’t suggest a purchase–not because it’s unbearable; it just seems a little forgettable.
A dude from Google stood at Times Square and asked 50 people “what a browser?” Very few people knew the right answer. This puts a whole new perspective on internet users for me. I guess I’ve just always just been surrounded by people who at least new the basics of the internet, or at least the difference between an internet browser and a search engine. I never realized how little awareness people have of what programs they use.
Mark Simonson has a great write up about the use of fonts in various movies (search “Son of Typecasting“), including The Royal Tenenbaums. The film uses primarily Futura, which Wes Anderson uses in all of his films, for everything from the titles to the credits. Simonson also points out the use of Helevetica in the film, which is used for the movie’s classic graphical book covers. Definately give it a read.
idsgn is an awesome new blog that I found today, linked over at Brand New, and so far, so awesome! They have been running some great articles called “Know Your Type” about the origins and uses of some pretty awesome typefaces. This month, it’s Futura. The article is informative, very thuro and a fun read. Tim & Eric, Great Job! on this one. Definitely give it a read.
I’m not really one, at least on a professional or even sort of knowledgeable kind of way, to discuss branding or branding changes. We have great people like Brand New to do that–duh!
But I’m just going to have to comment about this: Coke is to Coca-Cola as The Hut is to Pizza Hut. Uhhhhhhh….no. Let’s not.
Pizza Hut has, over the last months, unveiled this new marketing identity, nickname branding??…on their boxes and now in stores. It sort of coincides with the company’s logo redesign, and as far as that is concerned, much better.
But what I don’t get is this “The Hut.” As idsgn points out, it’s too much like this guy:
I mean, wasn’t that the joke, like 30,000 million years ago when Spaceballs came out? And so now that the dinosaurs have died off, and we’re having some money troubles in the economy, Pizza Hut uses it for their newest marketing campaign in hopes to get the over 35 crowd with a ‘declining pizza frequency’ back in their stores?? Confused.
You can read more about this weird turn of events over at idsgn, which has a great article about it, or over at Brand New. I’m just sad Rick Moranius has nothing to do with this.
Paul Rand, who is probably my most favorite modern designer (well, apart from the Eames), left a legacy of work, theory, and methology that matches no other. He gracefully and bravely changed the way we think about idenity and design, advertising and convention. Basically, he’s the boss. He’s the Charles in Charge. (what?!)
Paul-Rand.com is a new and excellent site dedicated to the work and philosophy of Rand, with a huge gallery of work, biographies, lots of quotes, and links to stores across these old intenets where you can find first edition children’s book and old IBM packaging. It has everything. Everything Rand. Check it out!
