Check out Shannon’s new anamorphic typography installation at Mass Art! Pretty cool huh?
The Dying Art of Sign Painting
After my recent trip to Baja, Mexico I have become obsessed with the art of hand painted signs. How often do we think about signs as an art? Even as a designer, signs weren’t something I often thought about. We do help clients with design and sourcing manufacturing companies, but I had completely forgotten that signs were something that originally started out in a totally different medium. In Mexico I was taken aback by the fact that nearly every sign was hand painted (not made out of metal or plastic) and by the accuracy of brand representation and the overall precision of each sign. See pictures below.
8 Essential Snow Movies
As we in the Northeast bundle ourselves up for tons of snow (i.e. SNOWMAGEDDON ’13), my mind begins to wander towards my favorite snow-capped movies. I’m not talking about warm, fuzzy White Christmas-style family flics, but creepy, scary or black-comedies that use snow as a means to create surreal, other-worldly settings.
Here’s some of my top pics:
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Photographer Spotlight: Mark Hartman
Just discovered the stunning body of work by Boston born photographer Mark Hartman via one of my favorite design blogs, booooooom. His extensive portfolio site, which dons numerous breathtaking landscapes and portraits, can be found here. My personal favorite photographs are from his abstract collection, Untitled Billboards.
Vektor-Smart-Objekt
What happens when a designer from Germany takes a year off agency work to raise his kids and takes on an ambitious project to maintain his design chops? The answer is Geometry Daily, a beautiful tumblr of geometic renderings by designer @Tilman. Set in serene color palettes, they float, vibrate, stand still, ecco, and bounce. They look like something out of a math textbook from 1960. As the title implies he did one a day for a year+ which allowed him to get into a nice “flow”. He would grunged them up a tad and set them on a paper background for a softer, more real world look. The result is magical!
Moleskine: The Detour Book
Still looking for gift ideas? Everyone loves Moleskins, but this year let’s not just give blank Moleskin agendas. Give a compilation of moleskin sketches, doodles and masterpieces from creatives like Spike Lee and Dave Eggars, all found within Moleskin: The Detour Book.
Hand Painted Signs by Kenji Nakayama
Hand painted signs are seeing a resurgence in recent years. Local artist Kenji Nakayama is blowing up the scene with what was considered a dying art: the Butera School of Art, where Kenji moved from Japan to study, has suspended its sign painting program. But artists like him, coupled with a growing need for anything handmade, are making hand-painted signage all the rage around town. It’s a beautiful call-back to a time when Main streets were littered with Mom ‘n’ Pops and milk was hand delivered. Aside from painting signs for local shop proprietors, he also paints old shop tools like saws and welding helmets with quirky sayings and pin-striping which he’s shown along side he’s meticulously hand cut stencil paintings in art galleries around the world.
Go here to check out all of his artwork!
Boston Antiquarian Book Festival Highlights
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to check out Boston’s annual Antiquarian Book Fair which features some of the most interesting books and ephemera from around the world. The event featured a very finely curated selection of books –ranging from illuminated manuscripts, maps, and modern first-editions to celebrity autographs and punk rock ephemera.
I was especially excited to see all the beautifully designed book covers. Here are some of my personal favorites:
Art of the Arcade
I came across this very cool collection of illustrations, packaging and logos from Arcade games from the 80′s. The site is called Art of the Arcade and it is a major time suck but in the best way possible! The work is really colorful and super fun. It transports me directly to the wood paneled basement of my childhood.
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10 Best Horror movies to watch during Frankenstorm
Today we’ve been getting drenched by our dear friend Sandy, closing up shop for the day to keep dry & safe as 80mph + winds & rain blows through the city & all across the east coast.
So, in honor of Halloween, which is right around the corner, what a perfect excuse to huddle up and indulge in some Schlock-tober-fest horror movie fun!