This email correspondence has been making the rounds of the internets for a while now, and even though the actual veracity of the piece has been called into question, most of us have probably been in a similar situation and wished we could have responded so ‘eloquently’. As a pure piece of satire on the often difficult designer’client process, it is brilliant, make sure to read through some of the other pieces on his site as well.
Re:collection is an inventory of Australian graphic design produced in a period circa 1960–1980, that has been set up by Dominic Hofstede of Melbourne design firm Hofstede.The project was borne out of frustration at the lack of Australian graphic design reference material available, specifically from the decades mentioned above. While there’s not much up on the site yet, the samples that are there so far are excellent and will obviously grow, as there is a wealth of material to mine. Surely the time has come for a printed compendium as such work to be published? The above example is by Brian Sadgrove.
This is an idea I had been mulling over for a while, now someone has actually realised it, feel the superior power of your design skills compared to these monstrosities over at You Logo Makes Me Barf. The title says it all really.
One of my favourite designers, JP Williams of MW Design has started a blog to dcument what he describes as his ‘manic collecting’ at Amassblog. His collections are varied but generally have to do with typography or design. With the blog he is endeavoring to find what’s special in the mundane and highlight what makes it so to him. Having visited JP on a couple of occassions at his New York studio, and been fortunate enough to look through some of his amazing collection, I’m looking forward to reading about it in his own words, and would urge anyone who has an interest in the history of graphic design to pay a visit. JP is also one of the most impeccable graphic designers you will come across and a visit to his studio MW’s website is also well worth your time. You can read the interview I did with JP Williams at his studio in 2007 here.
AGDA are about to launch a much needed website refresh, you can see the ‘just about ready to relauch’ site here. In other AGDA news, looks like the AGDA Awards are set to be hosted in little old Adelaide this year, might even be worth me considering joing up again.
Hey! What a crappy week I’ve had! Let’s brighten it up with some recent highlights from the old inter-web.
I like to think that I thought of it first, but I’m sure it was an idea that has been floating around for a long time. The good folks at Sleevage present a whole website full of similar album cover reviews to my own infrequent ‘Judging albums by their covers’ post and do so with a much better name and more frequent posting 
Keep your eyes out in the comments section and you might even come across some words of wisdom from yours truly!
Interesting article about a NY advertising exec who lost his job, developed a brain tumour and went to work at Starbucks serving coffee behind the counter – ta-dah! He’s written a book about his experiences (of course) which is soon to be turned into a film starring Tom Hanks (obviously) Don’t let that put you off though, it speaks a lot about our priorities and puts into perspective what may or may not be the most important things in life, check it out here if you feel like being a little ‘heart-warmed’.
Just thing to brighten my crappy, crappy day, beautiful, beautiful typography by the very talented Marian Batjes for Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s worth popping over to the pentagram to check out their rebranding of Saks if you haven’t seen it, one of the best I’ve seen in recent times.
The crappy new Photoshop logo manages to incorporate just about everything I hate into one mark, so well done, I guess.
My fiance bought me a beautiful Jack Spade messenger bag for my birthday which I absolutely love, despite it’s magnetic ability to pick up all of my white doggies fur! Anyway, I love this video of a Jack Spade impromptu fashion show Very funny and very cool.
The most amazing thing I have seen in a long time. Dutch artist Theo Jansen makes kinetic skeleton sculptures which actually walk in the wind. You have to see them in action to believe them.
