Wonderwall is interior design firm in Japan that not only has a pretty impressive portfolio of work, but their website is something of which I have never seen. The site bubbles and moves with every roll over on the front utilizing Flash and presents information and interactivity in a very refined yet fun way. As I’ve said before, I love Flash components that just work, and the Wonderwall site definately does just that.
News in the design world is that Font Bureau, one of the largest type design companies in the country, are taking NBC to court for the unlicensed use of several of their popular fonts. In a suit for ‘no less that $2 million,’ Font Bureau indicates that NBC used Bureau Grotesque, Interstate and Antenna on several computers throughout the company without paying for all the copies.
Shame on you, NBC! You know just because you can copy it, doesn’t mean it’s legal. And it’s awfully funny that a company that started its own online video streaming site in reaction to posting clips of SNL and Conan on YouTube would be so lax in their distribution on another company’s intellectual property. You know better than to do that, especially when you hire tons of people to score the depths of YouTube for anything that had to do with one of your many TV programs, movies, or news broadcasts.
As a result, NBC has had to redesign much of their fall network promotional materials, which may have not really even be a bad idea. Maybe all the promos for the Jay Leno Show will be misplaced, saving millions of people from having to continue to see his face. Anywhere. We can always hope!
Found via CityFile, where you can also read/see the legal paperwork from the case.
So brace yourselves: The iconic Yale University Press logo designed by Paul Rand is going off the press and spines of the company’s 8,000 published books a year. The 100+ year old publishing company (which just sort of recently actually became a part of the University officially I think) is changing its logo to establish a brand more consistant to the University. This is a sad day.
Most of us are wired to react negatively to anything that rids the world of yet another Rand logo. Like many, I am an admirer of this logo and I’m sad to see it go. But it’s crystal clear that the world in which Rand created identities is not the same world they exist in now and most are reaching their expiry date… IBM being the exception. So, yes, it’s lamentable to see Rand’s work slowly dissolve in this über branded era where form doesn’t follow function but the bottom line.
I love that last line: “…it’s lamentable to see Rand’s work slowly dissolve in this über branded era where form doesn’t follow function but the bottom line.”
As it goes by the wayside with the UPS logo, we can still appreciate this identity gem on our bookshelves and in our hearts.
Wow. Just wow.Monsieur COK is a short French film illustrating the struggle between capitalism and communism, labor and money, automation and human labor. Visually stunning and groteschly real, this is a fantastic yet somewhat scary look at the industry that drives our lives, wars, and world. Watch it online.
This is amazing: Odosketch is a super great online sketching app that allows, well, you to sketch using a variety of brushes and colors. The brushes act sort of like pastel crayons and allow for some really awesome things. They also have a gallery of creations from other people, some of which are really, really awesome. And the best part is that you can watch them draw the sketch out on the screen.
What a super cool tool: Baseline is a web development kit that emphasizes, well, using the baseline to create clear and well-designed layouts. It’s free and gives you a ton of CSS and templates all ready to go, including forms and design on a strict grid. This super awesome idea was put together by ProjectUrbain, i.e. Stéphane Curzi, who is french? or at least keeps their site in French. ANYWAYS, check this one out for sure.
This looks awesome! Like the Helvetica of advertising. I took an advertising class in college and have a friend who works in the field. It just seems too hyper-maniacal when it comes to the creative demand of the field, but I think it really would be thrilling, maybe for a little while.
I was searching for something to post here on the ole blog for Etsy Tuesday (which has apologically been on a few week hitatus for no good reason), just typing ‘helvetica’ in the search, knowing something awesome would come up in the results.
BUT WAIT! There’s more! Modern Pop has a whole store filled with posters of this same amazing calibur, including some about animals, more letters, and even robots!
Rumor has it that these are supposed to be for kids, which I can see, but nothing’s stopping you from ordering and hanging one of these lovely prints in your own home, childless or not. Also check out his her site; it’s super cute as well.
We all knew that one day, two of the greatest things in film making–stop motion animation and Wes Anderson–would come together, and the result would be so awesome that the universe of awesome would explode into a million awesome pieces, like stars of greatness, like that scene in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy when they blow up earth, but better because now, Earth survives.
And likewise, we will not panic, but also, freak out because Fantastic Mr. Fox is the dream’s things are made of and looks amazing:
I heard about this a while ago, peed my pants, and then totally forgot, because at the time, 2009 seems so far away. I was too busy being excited about Sweeny Todd and finally finding a copy of The Life Aquatic Criterion Edition on DVD at Half Price Books.
But now, this trailer, with a fox dressed like Richie Tenebaum and a soundtrack that I’m sure features David Bowie, I couldn’t be more excited.
