the mehallo blog. beta.

Vintage Original Joe’s ashtray, photo by mehallo

Kick back, have a Martini at Joe’s.

get the playlist or watch video or create your own at mixpod.com
please support the musicians on my player by legally purchasing their music

Tags: cool finds, culinary, flom, fonts, music, thoughts, typography by steve
3 comments  . . .   

Bomb Shelters, Inc. business card, 1959

Everything you’d ever need to know about ‘The Golden Age of Homeland Security’ can be found at the Conelrad website.

The site is named for the Civil Defense emergency network – ‘CONtrol of ELectronic RADiation’ which was set up to broadcast on AM 640 and 1240 in the event of an atomic attack.

Illustration from Walt Disney’s Our Friend the Atom children’s book, 1956

From TIME, July 26, 1963

Tags: design, design history, education by steve
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As I write this, there are 2,728 items in my spam folder; most of them involve some form of penis renovation, ‘The Big Pink,’ ‘urgent and confidential business’ inquiries from deposed royal family members that need my help – and on my blog, 2,201 spam posts sitting in what I call my ‘hey asshole, don’t spam my blog’ folder.

Designer Floyd Hayes has decided to turn annoying spam into money – for a good cause. Since a lot of spam is about freaky misspelled sex stuff, every four weeks Hayes will be issuing the best subject lines as buttons and donate all the profits to a sexual health charity. Details here.

Oh and wait – ‘The Big Pink’ is actually a cool new band, it’s an email I’m actually subscribing to. Here’s their debut album, A Brief History Of Love. Drops September 22nd.

I really wish spam filters worked better.

Buttons found via PSFK

Tags: cool finds, design, fashion, thoughts by steve
4 comments  . . .   

‘Le Grand Content examines the omnipresent Powerpoint-culture in search for its philosophical potential. Intersections and diagrams are assembled to form a grand ‘association-chain-massacre’ which challenges itself to answer all questions of the universe and some more.

‘Of course, it totally fails this assignment, but in its failure it still manages to produce some magical nuance and shades between the great topics death, cable tv, emotions and hamsters.’

For more about the work of Clemens Kogler, go here.

Tags: cool finds, design, education, thoughts by steve
2 comments  . . .   

‘To mark the return to sanity, The New York Times asked four graphic designers to imagine a new warning system. Their designs range from the cheeky to the possibly useful. Kurt Andersen provides commentary and explains why the current system is a joke.’ -Andrew Price, GOOD

Legendary SPY magazine was one of my favorites – and founding editor Kurt Andersen is still making snarky commentary. Click either the image or the quote link to read more.

For more from Kurt, check out his weekly radio program Studio 360 and ‘Get inside the creative mind.’

And for the record, I am really glad the Obama administration recognizes the value of good graphic design. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside just knowing this.

Found via GOOD

Tags: cool finds, design, education, thoughts by steve
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Check out Joe Kral’s Flickr collection of some of Penguin (and Pelican)’s best cover designs.

And  . . .  check out Phil Baine’s Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005.

Found via LifeClever

Tags: cool finds, design history, illustration, publication design by steve
2 comments  . . .   

When it comes to design, UK-based Penguin Books produces some beautiful specimens. And here’s a write up by Ace Jet 170 on the Penguin Collectors Society and their wonderful Penguin by Illustrators monograph.

Tags: art, cool finds, design, design history, illustration, publication design by steve
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Pop-up book master – and paper engineer – David A. Carter has been expanding his art into geometric abstraction.

Inspired by the work of Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Carter’s Red Dot series will be on display at the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville, CA [map]

The opening reception is this weekend: Saturday, September 19th, 2009 from 6:30 – 9 p.m.

Read The Sacramento Bee article here.
Show information here.
Exhibition runs thru January 9, 2010.

Found via Jonathan Weast

Tags: cool finds, design, education, exhibitions by steve
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John Baskerville (1706-1775) was an incredible type designer. His work holds up very well today. He reinvented printing and his ink was beyond compare. And, unfortunately, he was hated by his contemporaries. His type was seen to ‘hurt the eye’ and would be ‘responsible for blinding the nation.’

‘Baskerville the Animated Movie celebrates John Baskerville, the man, the typeface and his future legacy.’

For more about this short film, drop by The Baskerville Project website.

For more detail about John Baskerville and other famous type luminaries, snag a copy of Type: The Secret History of Letters and start reading.

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
1 comment  . . .   

Audrey Kawasaki is an illustrator working out of Los Angeles. Her work channels the soft feminine forms of Mucha mixed with a manga sensibility. Sort of. In this, she takes these influences and makes them all her own. Any references are just that: references.

What really caught me are her notebooks – experimental, playful and erotic. Found in the doodles section of her site, her work plays with cartoonish human forms, ornament, typography and graphic layout. Dazzling.

Visit Audrey’s site here. Her online journal is here. And Twitter  . . . here.

Found via Twitter.com/blackbirdsings

Tags: art, cool finds, illustration, thoughts by steve
5 comments  . . .   

Trailer for Doug Pray’s Art & Copy

Premiered at Sundance. Coming to a place near you. Details.

And here’s the review from Entertainment Weekly  . . .

Tags: cool finds, design by steve
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