the mehallo blog. beta.

They used to put these digital roadsigns out on Madison Avenue, on the median.

They had taunting sayings about driving safety. Generic ‘don’t drive drunk’ or ‘be aware’ messages.

Saw the officers out there smiling as they typed in all the snotty safety messages. They would get really clever about it too. Rhyming, plays on words.

Frankly, I know I (personally) can’t easily drive AND be cleverly scolded at the same time.

The signs were dangerous to drivers. Almost crashed a couple times trying to see what the next ‘safety verse’ would be. Madison is a really busy thoroughfare.

The last time I saw the signs in use, a small graffiti tag said:

‘Fuck Cops.’

Never saw the signs again after that.

Pictured, a hacked roadsign from somewhere else. More at Urlesque.

Tags: thoughts, typography by steve
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It started with the advice: ‘You have to go back to the broad edge pen. It’s all there.’

Brilliant calligrapher Arthur Baker gave me direction when I first set up my beginning typography course. And I’m still using the same approach today. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, fonts, illustration, thoughts, typography by steve
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Another one down: Many noo yîrs greetings from steve and jeanne mehallo.

print your own
Download a free, printer-friendly PDF of the above illustration. [file size: 1.5 megs]

Tags: art, design, illustration, thoughts by steve
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Bad weather’s hit hard this year; the cold keeps barreling on thru.

In Northern Ireland, winter turned the island into a snowy doppelganger for Pompeii. In the US, we’ve been watching BBC coverage of Belfast’s major freeze. Followed by a water shortage.

Photograph by Crazy Colours, taken December 17, 2010.

Beeb footage found via Martha Garcia

Tags: photography, thoughts by steve
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‘Today there are approximately 22,000 polar bears left in the world’

With the help of some polar bears (above), Coca-Cola sold a bunch of soda in the 1990s. Today with WWF, they’ve set up a fund to help save the population that’s left.

More info can be found at the Coca-Cola Polar Bear Support Fund website.

Tags: cool finds, education, thoughts by steve
4 comments  . . .   

Across from Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, California was the Hillsdale Cinema. These are snapshots I took in 1997, before the building became something else.

Saw Superman: The Movie and The Wrath of Khan there on opening days. And for awhile, it was dang easy to sneak in; buy one ticket, watch for ushers, then let friends in thru the side door. The Hillsdale was part of the General Cinema chain.

Great article on GC’s history here.

Below, 1964 concept drawings of General Cinema’s modernist theatres. Direct or not, there is a Herbert Matter influence in the type picks.

More GC images here and here.

And I can’t forget General’s famous snap-yer-fingers bumpers.

Drawings found via Pleasant Valley Shopping

Tags: design, design history, photography, thoughts by steve
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The most incredible invention ever conceived by human beings.

These commercials scared the shit out of me.

Tags: design history, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
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It all boils down to  . . .  Helvetica.

JCPenney started as The Golden Rule store – or so said the literature I read as a kid. Wiki says something else.

My mom worked for JCPenney for 22 years and they had a big anniversary in the 1970s. They had wooden rulers with ‘golden rule’ written on them as part of a anniversary suite of premiums. I remember lots of simple yellow (‘golden’) and black stuff, sort of a 70s take on Victorian style.

And I was fascinated with a logotype history chart that was part of a company history booklet. Above is an old photocopy.

Over the years, the company simply became known as Penney’s – logo treatments reflecting retail trends.

The possessive was dropped and the ‘JC’ was officially re-added in 1971 – the year its founder, James Cash Penney passed away.

Tags: design history, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
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Christoph Niemann’s Let It Dough! Read all of it here.

Found via Marian Bantjes

Tags: art, cool finds, culinary, design, illustration, thoughts by steve
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‘Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert on chains, fast food, In-N-Out, sustainable seafood, tainted food punishment and more’

Click to watch/jump. Four videos at Huffington Post.

Tags: cool finds, culinary, thoughts by steve
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I remember the first time I whipped up a batch of Chex Party Mix.

It was a quiet Friday night and we were watching this Love Boat/Charlie’s Angels airline knockoff called Flying High. It was the late 1970s and at the time the only way one could get a snack mix like this was to make their own.

Well, there was Doo Dads. An exception.

Today, there’s pre-bagged stuff everywhere. Chex makes a ‘traditional’ mix, though it doesn’t taste a thing like The Real Deal.

It has to come out of an oven. And I have my own version. Of course. [Read more →]

Tags: culinary, recipe, thoughts by steve
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