Thoughts | the mehallo blog. beta.

And a few more . . .

Okay, I lied.

There were more than the last 45. I’m including 15 additional blog highlights below.

Also, I’m posting these just so you have something to read while we organize the comments from the contest and figure out the winners. The contest just ended – AND majorly huge, HUGE thank you for all the notes! I was expecting just ‘here’s my comment’ but got so much more. It really means a lot. I’ll do my best in the coming weeks to keep things flowing as – sporadically as I can.

We have a hat.

It was my dad’s, a Dobbs/Roos Atkins original from the 1950s. We’re putting everyone’s name on slips of paper, throwing them in the hat and my wife (who the fonts were named after) will draw the winners.

So give us a bit to do all this, we’ll post the results in a short while.

Here’s more highlights from 2009 . . .

[46] djg design

[47]    asbestos press

[48]    pioneers of modern typography


[49]    a whole bunch of bauhaus


[50]    mrs eaves goes to berlin

[51]    stefan hattenbach: fine swedish type


[52]    yakov g. chernikov

[53]    too many type issues, so little time

[54]    us interstate, london underground map


[55]    star trek production design of the 1960s

[56]    this is cbs


[57]    the cynic


[58]    taking a break, simulated veterans day

[59]    wolf

[60] dreams

Tags: design, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
3 comments . . .

Best of the mehallo blog (+ giveaway)

I’ve decided to start the new year off with a break.

So . . . here’s (my) 45 favorite posts of 2009! Should be enough to keep you reading till I post again (which will be in about two weeks).

As a thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog, sending me emails, even clicking ‘like’ on the Facebook page – in general, supporting my antics online – I’d like to show my appreciation. I’ve decided it’s time for a good old fashioned Jeanne Moderno font giveaway!

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. To comment, just click the ‘comment’ link below (and please fill out all the fields).

I will randomly select five winners from the comments. Each winner will receive a complete, licensed set of Jeanne Moderno fonts: All 9 OpenType fonts, $99 USD value. This is them here.

Contest ends 11 p.m. (pacific time) Saturday, January 16, 2010.

And now, here’s the best of the mehallo blog 2009 . . .

[1] ‘as simple as possible, but not simpler’ –einstein

[2]    a bit about creativity


[3]    citysounds.fm: what does your city sound like?

[4]    lights and type of reno


[5]    julien breton: light calligraphy

[6]    liquid glee!

[7]    tschichold: distinguisted typographer


[8]    dürer’s rhino


[9]    wood type

[10]    parkinson’s sutro fonts


[11]    the cbs gastrotypographicalassemblage

[12]    eating out

[13]    a joe’s primer

[14]    eggs and sausage with a side of type . . .

[15]    late night chocolate


[16]    jamie oliver: great chef, beautiful magazine

[17]    children of the corn

[18]    scribbling the corn field!

[19]    the road map to success!

[20]    san francisco: the drive


[21]    just thinking

[22]    information design: life, death, taxes and spam


[23]    the us has been nuked

[24]    disgust this


[25]    ‘ruin porn’ – the cliché of abandoned detroit

[26]    war commentary

[27]    what it really takes to build a global community


[28]    good is obvious

[29]    paperbag parachute

[30]    star trek-n-me

[31]    the abc movie

[32]    a drive in break


[33]    big 40 poster

[34]    in defense of myspace: good music, art and real shit

[35]    ‘vulgarize !!! buy !!! + porn + ! or die !’ -chymer

[36]    dan herrera: estan de una herencia extraña


[37]    good grade: d++

[38]    jack marchment: electroacoustic audioprose


[39]    *meiko

[40]    really simple


[41]    blackbird


[42]    the notebooks of audrey kawasaki

[43]    annie is deranged


[44]    sew cool

[45] hurr

If 45 isn’t enough, please select from the archive at right. At current count, there’s over 500 blurgs to pour thru, with more on the way.

Tags: design, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
133 comments . . .

Happy NY!

New Years greetings from steve and jeanne mehallo.

print your own
Download a free, printer-friendly PDF of the above illustration. [file size: 1.1 megs]

Tags: art, design, illustration, photography, thoughts, typography by steve
3 comments . . .

Ring in the New Year

New Years Eve was always about André. Champagne and Cold Duck.

André is, of course, from the makers of Thunderbird . . .

And Ripple . . .

Tags: cool finds, culinary, design history, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on Ring in the New Year

Selected patents 2009

‘For The New York Times Magazine’s annual ‘Year in Ideas’ issue . . . Paula Scher illustrated a chart of selected 2009 patents’

Chart compiled by Alexandra Horowitz and Ammon Shea. Click image for larger version/jump.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, illustration, thoughts by steve
3 comments . . .

Judging books by (ugly) covers

‘Gradually, I realized that the books I had put off reading for so long all had covers that screamed: ‘Pulp me! Pulp me!”

Joe Queenan looks at Huckleberry Finn, Elijah Wood (pictured, with Courtney B. Vance), Gatsby, Doctor Faustus, Death of a Salesman – and how a BAD cover design can ruin a perfectly good book.

NYT essay here.

What to do about an ugly cover: 1. Brown bag it; 2. Reverse it; 3. Try spandex; 4. Use house paint; 5. Duct tape it; 6. Tear it off

Tags: design history, publication design, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on Judging books by (ugly) covers

‘Will recorded music survive the 2010s?’

Packaging for The Skull Defekts by designer Thomas Ekelund

Will recorded music survive the next ten years? Article at CNET.

My take: Sounds a bit like the font industry. Passions fuel incredible work; what the article misses: It’s not always about the money.

Though without decent income, things can scale back drastically.

How much one is willing to starve for their art has great relevance right now.

Article found via theSTART’s Jamie Miller;
Ekelund’s work found via Hardformat

Tags: design, music, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on ‘Will recorded music survive the 2010s?’

Earthquake weather

With wishes for a wonderful day from steve and jeanne mehallo.

Soulful Strings: Jingle Bells

Image found via GIF Anime

Tags: cool finds, design, photography, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on Earthquake weather

DJG Design

Graphic designer Danny Gibson doesn’t do things the way he’s supposed to.

And last we spoke, I think he said he’s not even using a computer anymore.

Based out of Kansas City, Danny is a prolific experimenter. Artist. Something like that. Has an eye for composition and his work is fresh, unusual and fun. I’m not even sure how I found him. Few years back, I’d shown his poster work in two local design exhibitions; one group show and a solo show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center.

danny’s own take
Limited editions is the best way to describe what he does. Low budget, obsessive constructs. Mixed-media would be a good term too – since Danny uses anything he can get his paws on; used paper, envelopes, newspaper, stencils, handlettering, rubber stamps, yarn, hardware products – I’m pretty sure he’s got some rotting food in there too. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, design, exhibitions, illustration, music, thoughts by steve
2 comments . . .

G-Force, 1978

Another sort of Star Wars-influenced adaptation.

I used to watch this early mornings before heading out to school, often missing the ends of episodes. Didn’t know much about it until I looked it up tonight.

Battle of the Planets (1978) was a reworking of a 1972 Japanese program called Gatchaman. Redubbed and reedited with Star Wars-like elements, the Gatchaman team became ‘G-Force.’ The American version was heavily sanitized to remove ‘graphic violence, profanity and transgenderism.’ Wow. And the original show had an environmental theme, sort of lost in translation.

More details on the Wiki page here. American show titles (above), original Japanese titles (below). Interesting contrast.

Tags: design, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on G-Force, 1978

Dan Herrera: Estan de una Herencia Extraña

‘The images are captured in various means using a scanner as the camera. Experimenting with choreographed motion, I’m exploiting visual anomalies unique to kinetic scanning.’ -Dan

Sacramento-based Dan Herrera experiments. Every time I check in he’s doing something cool. For these, he’s been modifying a scanner with a custom-made piece of glass (as lens, extending the range of the scanner) . . . more here.

It’s like Muybridge has come full circle. Back to basics with new tech.