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.

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.

Fantastic!

(Found via NotCot.org)

Hey, let’s go to the movies…

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.

So let’s all go see Art & Copy. Tops? OK!

Keith Lang over at UI&us I think is on to something: rounded rectangles and why we might love them more than we realize.  Looking at the history of Apple software/hardware and speaking with a professor of visual understanding, the rounded rectangle might be the best because it easier cogniatively on the eye.

Very interesting stuff!

“Mailbox! Open Mailbox!”

I know this is super old, so old in fact that I’ve watched it before, but this is good stuff: Font Conference at College Humor. Who doesn’t love a good font joke? Though, I think it was going a little too far having Comic Sans save the day. Comic Sans never saves the day.

Cheers!

I don’t even want to set this one up it’s so good. You’ll want to watch it again.

Cheers!

This is amazing. There are just some things in life that make me so jealous and excited, all at the same time. Video by Mike Kus.

Found over at Photolab

Variations on Normal is a little website by Dominic Wilcox with illustrations and photos about just that : Different ways of doing normal things.  I was really pleasently suprised about these ideas. They’re fun, thoughtful and unique.

Cheers!

(Found via It’s Nice That)

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.

My mind is blown. (Found via SwissMiss)

Ok, so, a few weeks ago, I rented Singing in the Rain, because I’d never watched it in all my years, sad face.  And it was awesome.  So I told my mom, and she gave me a short list of 50s movies that I need to lay my eyes on.  And one of those films was Blackboard Jungle, or as they say around my apartment, Lean On Me: This Time, Morgan Freeman is White.  But sarcasm aside, this movie was awesome.

It was thrilling, socially-conscience, and a poient glimpse at the human condition, survival and who we really are in our darkest hour.

Starring Glen Ford and featuring Sidney Poitier, Blackboard Jungle tells the story of Mr. Dadier, a Navy vet, who starts his first teaching job at a poor, inter-city high school.  He is confronted by students with no direction or self-worth, other teachers who harbor hatred for their students, and his own demons in relation to race, human will, and seeing the good in all men.

And fun facts, the film, released in 1955 (!), is considered the mainstream launchpad for Rock and Roll, featuring the Bill Haley & His Comets smash hit Rock Around the Clock in the titles and the ending.  I guess, and according to IMDB, the song was a b-side that didn’t recieve much airplay until the movie was released.  After its debut, the song was at the top of the charts, and selling 25 million copies.

You should see this movie. It’s got racial tension, gangs, 50s slang, and a knife fight.  This is the kind of stuff that they should show in school instead of Dead Poet’s Society (which is good, but come ‘on.  Enough already!). I would have much rather watched this in American History instead of clips from Glory….That is a really good movie too, though….  Ok, so I would have rather watched this in class instead of Dead Poets. There.  That sounds better.

Cheers!