‘Chemins de fer de l’état, Cie. Gle. Transatlantique.’

Vintage travel poster, art by Albert Sébille (1874-1953). More here.

The original Van Halen broke up when I was a senior in high school. And yes, I am an old fan of David Lee Roth, read about it here.

And the reunion no one thought would happen happened and the album no one thought would happen was released yesterday. 28 year wait. The sound harkens back (harkens is the word) to Van Halen I and II – apparently the tracks are based on notes written back around 1975–77ish.

The sound is old – with parts feeling like an odd 1990s solo album Dave put out. Album cover design by SMOG, art directed by Jeri Heiden.

New track: Tattoo, with Dave explaining it here

You Really Got Me acoustic

Found via Culturenik

‘The ads were inspired by Philippe Petit’s 1974 ‘Man on Wire’ act – an illegal tightrope traverse between the Twin Towers – as well as Charles C. Ebbets’ classic 1932 photograph, ‘Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam.”

Green Day – art directed by Yard and photographed by Danny Clinch for (Howard Stern’s favorite designer) John Varvatos, Spring/Summer 2012.

Found via Fashion Indie

‘Remixing is a folk art but the techniques are the same ones used at any level of creation: copy, transform, and combine’

4-part documentary by NYC-based filmmaker Kirby Ferguson.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 is in production, donations accepted here.

Website here, Facebook page here. Remixes (inspired by part 3) here and here.

Found via Creative Bits

The work of Christian Marclay. Monograph here.

Found via This Blog Rules

Found via Heidi Andermack, mashKULTURE

‘Rose Tattoo’s promo-video for the hit single Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw taken from the 1978 album Rose Tattoo’

‘Yeah, for the logo the ‘g’ took longer to design than all the other letter forms put together.’ -bb

Former typography student. New band. Custom drawn g.

Brett Berry survived my graphic design courses and recently formed The Tangs with his brother Brandon.

Their debut EP Let It Out can be snagged on iTunes.

Website here, Facebook page here.

The Tangs: Take Me Down

What exactly are our priorities today?

The work of Alex Cherry.

Another map. This one by Haley Nahman.

Found via The Daily What

YeeHaw Industries’ letterpress PONZI poster. Available here.

Democracy shirt.

Found via Zoran Dimovski

‘I just like the typography, honest.’ -wkd

Found via whatkatiedoes

‘You may have visited Fools Foundation, Liz’s gallery and music venue, had your hair done by Sarah at Honey Salon, or seen their band Screature play around town. Liz and Sarah dabble in various mediums and collage is just one of many outlets for these two.’

I loved Fools Foundation – it was in the basement of a building in Sacramento’s midtown and a regular stop whenever I was in the area.

And opening this weekend is Permabond: New work by Liz Donner and Sarah Scherer at Sacramento’s Bows & Arrows.

Details and interview here.

‘Blurring the lines between street art and fine art’

The work of London-based Alex Daw – currently on exhibit as part of Rook & Raven’s Nostalgia.

Website here, blog here, interview here.

Show runs thru February 23, 2012.

“Every initiative we pursue,’ starting February 1, reads the press release, ‘will be guided by our core value to treat customers as we would like to be treated — fair and square.”

In just under a year, JCPenney rebrands again. Out is Helvetica, in is Gotham. Also in is a whole new approach to store organization and product pricing.

Brand New article here, press release here.

Changes start tomorrow. Bold design move, bold ad campaign.

‘Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color’

Despite what my dad told me, the 1930s and 40s were actually in color.

More pics here, here, here and here.

‘The graphic images were an instant success when they premiered in bus shelters around the city. San Franciscans loved them. Too much, in fact, as some of the posters were stolen from the shelters.’

Often copied, Michael Schwab’s posters for Golden Gate National Parks. Brand implementation by Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby, circa 1993-7.

Case study here. Parks Conservancy store (Schwab’s art on prints, mugs, shirts, chocolate tins and more) here.

‘This poster was created by L.N. Britton circa 1918. It promotes food and resource conservation.’

Many years ago I found a small brochure at the National Archives building in San Bruno, CA. From it I ordered a bunch of inexpensive reproductions of early 20s century posters (pictured) – direct from the government. Framed, they looked great in my first apartment.

Everything is now online. All around 10 bucks a pop.

‘Originator of Type Fashions’

American Type Founders’ complete 1912 specimen book. 1348 pages.

Entire book posted online here.

The industrial revolution changed the size of font offerings. What were once posters or broadsheets from small type foundries, ‘type specimens’ became elaborate volumes – today collected as rare editions.

more
Since 2007, Open Library has been digitizing rare type specimens. Available to read online or as PDF downloads.

I found out about them just this weekend – font specialist Laurence Penney had posted links on his Twitter feed. These are them:

Caslon, 1785
Binney & Ronaldson, 1812
Montreal Type Foundry, 1850
Boston Type Foundry, 1860
Fann Street Foundry, 1874
Cincinnati Type Foundry, 1882
Allison & Smith, 1889
Cleveland Type Foundry, 1895
Inland Type Foundry, 1897
Toronto Type Foundry, 1899
Keystone Type Foundry, 1906
Barnhart Bros. & Spindler 1907

and
One of my favorites, here’s a link to Bauer’s offerings from 1900.

Found via Hoefler+Frere-Jones, Lawrence Penney, Oded Ezer, Nina Stoessinger, Falstaff & Fakir and Kris Sowersby

‘It includes 134 glyphs – both Latin and Cyrillic script plus two different manicules and various arrows’

Crafted by typedepot and available free: Corki is a beautiful condensed slab serif with Tuscan-styling, pointing hands and other extras.

Snag it here.

‘A collection of WPA-era US Travel Bureau Posters as reinterpreted and screen printed by Providence’s Head Light Hotel’

Available thru Tiny Showcase: Reproductions of 1930s ‘See America’ poster art.

So much cooler than the current government-sanctioned offerings of Brand USA, Inc.

Film for the New Zealand Book Council, produced by Colenso BBDO and animated by Andersen M Studio.

And you can snag a copy of Maurice Gee’s Going West here.

Found via Daniel Will-Harris

‘Size 12 (U.S.) model Katya Zharkova, 28, stars in the shoot, which has a powerful statistic accompanying each image’

PLUS Model Magazine takes a stand. Article here.

Found via Mail Online

‘The ads are hyper-sexual, as fits Equinox and Richardson’s reputation, but Equinox members were pissed off because the models were too thin.’

New ads for Equinox, lensed by Terry Richardson.

Article here, behind the scenes here.

The work of Erin Flannery.

Found via Curvy

The work of Dominique Fung.

The photography of Lukasz Wierzbowski.

Found via Ben Trovato

Found via Meiji Sinee

‘Death does determine life  . . . .  Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous. However, to be sincere I must add that for me death is important only if it is not justified and rationalised by reason. For me death is the maximum of epic-ness.’ –Pier Paolo Pasolini

Luca Finotti’s The Last Obsession. Featuring Tom Ford’s Fall/Winter collection.

‘With Georgia O’Keefe and Tina Modotti as inspirations, Chiuri & Piccioli looked to create ‘a fantasy setting for a new poetic femininity.”

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s spring collection for Valentino, photographed by Deborah Turbeville.

Found via Models.com

Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in The Artist.

Finally saw it last weekend. Beautiful little nouveau ‘silent’ film.

‘The goal is to incorporate the luxurious fabrics, mixed prints and textures from the 20s while keeping the silhouette modern and figure flattering’

Retro, contemporary and nouveau: Project Runway 9 contestant Fallene Wells is seeking Kickstarter funding for her latest collection.

More info here, Kickstarter here.

‘custom blue silk embroidered with cotton and copper thread’

Detail of the fabric used in the bedroom of Jeanne Lanvin (1867–1946). From her residence on the rue Barbet-de-Jouy, rebuilt at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Found via ArtisphereOnline

Editorial photography by Tim Walker for Vogue Italia.

Found via Capuccino Bar

Hilary Anderson photographed by Billy Rood for Ben Trovato.

Anna de Rijk photographed by Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello for TAR Magazine.

‘While there aren’t any tweed skirts hanging from picture frames, or cap-toe shoes in jars, there are some brilliant photos of bookshelf vignettes, bejeweled tchotchkes, and a mismatch of furniture styles, inspirations, and references’

Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment.

Slideshow here. Photographed by The Coveteur.

Found via Refinery 29

‘On one occasion, referring to Benguiat as a ‘printer,’ Allen asked him what a good typeface was. Benguiat had an affinity for Windsor and suggested it to him that morning. He’s used it in every film since.’

Woody Allen and the Windsor typeface. Since 1977. Story here.

‘Metric is a geometric humanist, sired by West Berlin street signs’

Metric is Kris Sowersby’s companion type to Calibre. Design info and specimens here. Pictured, Metric Black.

‘Elefans began many years ago as a reimagining of the infamous Gill Sans Kayo. It basically started by asking ‘what if Kayo didn’t suck”

Jackson Cavanaugh’s Elefans typeface. Preview here.

It’s a new year. Let’s move on.

Grimes is Claire Boucher and her new album drops in the US February 21. Details.

Album design by Jasper Baydala with Boucher’s own illustrations. At bottom, Genesis.

Thanks for your reads in 2011. Up next, more boldness. Looking forward.

Pictured is an image from an upcoming project I’ve been working on as of late – which with some luck and spit, should see the light of day in the next few months. Click to view larger. Powered, of course, by Gill Kayo.

‘the story of the rise and fall of Black Horse Disco, a youth club set up in the centre of a large working-class estate in North London’

Knuckle Sandwich. Cover photographed by Red Saunders, a.k.a MC Redman. Powered by Gill Kayo. Details.

The Clash: What’s My Name

Found via The Pelican Blog

Percy Sledge. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Percy Sledge: Any Day Now

Found via Buro Destruct

Kriminal-Serie Kommissar X No. 1281. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Found via mickey the pixel

Kriminal-Serie Kommissar X No. 1168. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Found via mickey the pixel

Logo I created for Normandie, adapted from Gill Kayo.

Follow Gill Kayo on Twitter here.

‘The Swiss firm boldly embraced the face’s strong character, making it the singular voice of the Schauspielhaus, a theatre in Zürich’

The work of Raffinerie – theatre branding using the oft-maligned Gill Kayo typeface.

Detailed article by Stephen Coles here.