This is how old I am

...courtesy of Zoesmom and Becky.

I had the Star Wars soundtrack on vinyl. There were 4 records in all, and the record sleeve opened like a book. I also had the Annie soundtrack, The Grease soundtrack, and the Mary Poppins soundtrack, all on vinyl. Each was played on a pink record player--I believe it was Holly Hobbie.

Every year at Christmas, we decorated our tree listening to the Carpenters' Christmas Portrait (with it's Norman Rockwell-esque cover), and Christmas with the Beach Boys, again, on vinyl. It wasn't Christmas in our house until we heard Karen Carpenter sing "There's No Place like Home for the Holidays," and my mom shook her head and said, "What a waste. Such a beautiful voice." It still isn't Christmas to me until I hear a holiday tune sung by both the Beach Boys and the Carpenters. My husband is deeply bothered by this.

I wanted to be Princess Leia (except when she was chained to Jabba the Hut. Ew). My first crush was Harrison Ford. I used to make my boy neighbors play Star Wars with me, they got to use my baton as a light saber.

My first bedroom was orange. The carpets in the condo we lived in had pea soup green carpets. All of our kitchen appliances were avocado.

The best. thing. ever. growing up was a Monday night "special" airing of the Muppet Show. That meant we got to stay up until 8:30. It also meant the cool spinning "special" graphics CBS used to air right before it.

Anyone who comes from Fairfield will appreciate this: Before Blockbuster ever existed, we used to rent our VHS movies from the grocery store: Fairway Beef on Black Rock Turnpike. That was the only game in town, until it burned down (there's a CVS there now, but it's still called Fairway Plaza).

I went to my first Yankee game when I was 8 years old. Don Mattingly was playing first base, a very young Willie Randolph played second, and Craig Nettles played third (in his last year as a Yankee--I was devastated when he got traded to San Diego. Even more so when my grandfather loyally followed him there). Dave Winfield, my second favorite Yankee (Don Mattingly was my first) played in the outfield.

I, like Zoesmom, remember vividly when Luke and Laura got married. I loved the Christopher Cross song, "Laura" (Thank God my taste in music got much, much better), and thought the whole thing was just so romantic.

I wore black rubber bracelets a la Madonna up both my arms. I could not have enough black rubber bracelets.

I thought Who's the Boss was the. coolest. show. ever. because it took place in Fairfield, and Samantha Micelli and I were the same age. I felt we were living parallel lives (with the exception that my father was not a housekeeper for a rich divorcée).

I grew up on MTV, when they played videos, and only videos. There was no other programming, save for Remote Control, which I tolerated. I looked up to Martha Quinn. I wanted to cut Adam Curry's hair while he was sleeping.

I was in college when Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

In college, I was a "commercial art" major. I had to learn how to operate a stat machine, and had many mishaps with rubylith, xacto knives, and rubber cement (these are all pre-computer layout relics). I owned, and used, a T-square.

When we finally graduated to computer use, I learned Photoshop version 3; this version introduced layers to the world of computer graphics. I could save all of my Photoshop work on one 3.5" floppy (remember the stink Apple cause when it discontinued floppy drives on the iMac?).

There was no internet in college. It was a great event when my school got Zip drives for the computers--after I graduated, of course.

My second "real" job had email. I hated the job itself, but was afraid to leave because email was so new at that time, I was afraid other companies hadn't caught on yet. I lasted a year; and yes, the company I went to after that had email.

Coach has pretty things, fonts

I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of graffiti-inspired fashion. I wasn't a big fan in the early 2000s, when Stephan Sprouse did it for Louis Vuitton (which they have just relaunched); and I can honestly say my reaction was the same when I got this email from Coach yesterday:



Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's some Carrie-Bradshaw type out there that could totally pull this off. It's just not for me. However, my attention lingered on the bag for only a second, because, hello? What's the gorgeous font there?

Let me just go to Coach's website... Oh my! There is beauty is everywhere! And for once, I'm not talking about the handbags (although, I won't say no to a leather Zoe in silver Or the Carla Sandal in green. Oooooh, yum, yum.). I love, love, love the Bodoni Poster-inspired font. And the colors! Absolutely gorgeous.

Bravo Coach, for not only making pretty things that I covet; but making me see the beauty beyond said pretty things.

PS. I used a version of a very similar font for a client who's opening up her own salon. Her new place should be open in a few short weeks, at which point I will be bursting at the seams to show you her gorgeous letterpress business cards. Stay tuned!

Design we can believe in

In honor of Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow, I thought it appropriate to present the many ideas that could have been the official Barack Obama campaign logo; the other contenders, besides the iconic "O".

Personally, I think the logos (even the ones that weren't even presented)--much like the campaign itself--were a refreshing change from the norm. Sol Sender, the designer, apparently never worked on a campaign logo before--which I think worked to his advantage. So nice to see a portfolio of ideas that isn't "Candidate's Name/Running Mate's Name" on either a red or blue background, with some stars thrown in for good measure.

Much thanks goes out to David Airey, who compiled this post; and who's logodesignlove website I could not live without.

Tilt a whirl

I love the effects of a tilt-shift photo: you know, those pictures that look as though they're made of teeny-tiny models, but are in fact, real photographs of real settings.

You can check out a gallery of tilt-shift photos here (which are way cooler than mine), or better yet, make your own via tiltshiftmaker.com!

Here's 2 I made from photos of the final game at Yankee Stadium--look at that tiny model Derek Jeter!

Objectified

Gary Hustwit is at it again: this time, instead of the story behind a font, he's telling the story behind some of the products we use every day in Objectified.

Sounds like it's going to be a way more cool How it's Made--which is one of our favorites (except when their making bacon. Or little baby chicks. But it is pretty cool to see how things like soap, bubble gum, and fluorescent lights are made). Premiering Spring 09--can't wait!

Life is a highway

To compliment yesterday's post, I thought this was pretty cool: a map of all the streets in the lower 48 states. That's it, just the streets. No outlines, no borders, nothing but roads.

I thought this was so beautiful, yet so interesting; the map is divided almost equally in half. The roads are much more sparse on the western half of the US. And they abruptly end--there's no gradual fade or anything.

The major cities almost remind me of the constellations--look south of Chicago and you'll see what I mean. I also love the swirls defining the Appalachian Mountains. Very, very cool.

Environmental graphics

My friend Cyndy, of art + interiors fame, represents an artist who takes these gorgeous ariel photos of environmental waste. To see them, you would have no idea; they are so abstract, so beautiful. I can only imagine what they look like blown up to humongous sizes.

I was immediately reminded of J. Henry Fair's images when I came across these: satellite images of Earth taken from 400 miles away. These photos are stunning; some look like satellite imagery, most look like works of art (and let's face it, when else would Bolivian deforestation be considered a work of art?).

From the toxic landscapes of J. Henry Fair's photography, to the beauty of NASA's satellite pictures, either way it makes me appreciate our planet and it's beauty that much more.

Dear Adobe...

In case you haven't been paying attention all this time, I am a graphic designer (shocking, I know; what with all the shoe and shopping and shoe shopping references). So my livelyhood depends on a few things: Apple Computers (Feel better, Steve Jobs!) and Adobe software. I have unconditional love for the former--in my eyes, Apple can do no wrong (OK, so the hockey puck mouse wasn't such a good idea. But it's a mere hiccup in the Apple timeline, as far as I'm concerned). The latter? Let's just call it a love/hate relationship.

99.9% of what I do depends on Adobe software. And sometimes Adobe software just. doesn't. do. what. I. want. it. to. dammit. Don't get me wrong--Adobe products have gotten their share of love from me... but they're also heard the truck driver/pirate side of me; the one that spews expletives thinking that a couple of swears strung together will get Dreamweaver to do what I want it to (hint: it never, ever works).



So when I found Dear Adobe (thanks, Fathom!), I felt like finally! And whew! (it's not just me!) Some actual gripes:

Dear Adobe, why doesn't Illustrator have a history palette?

Dear Adobe, please ditch this application [Premiere], you are confusing potential Final Cut Pro users from being productive and having spare time to see their children.

Dear Adobe (this one's a favorite), Do you ever get useful comments from people when you ask them to submit a crash report? And, do you ever actually read them??

Dear Adobe, now I can go on loving you... for now.

2008 in pictures

Came across the NY Times Year in Pictures... some are so beautiful, I had to share.

Enjoy. And Happy New Year.

Best/Worst logos of 2008

As 2008 comes to a close, there's a ton of "Best of/Worst of" lists: movies, music, television... everybody has a list. Over on Brand New, they've compiled a list of the best and worst logo redesigns of 2008.

For the most part, I agree with everything they said. I think out of the best category, the 826 Valencia and Mousey logos, and Camel repackaging stand out as the best of the best.

The worst... well, it doesn't get much worse (does it?). 'Nuff said.

In case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow... Happy, happy new year! I'll see you on the flip side.

All I want for Christmas...

Earlier this month, I was asked what I wanted for Christmas (wasn't everybody?). Technically, I never sat on Santa's lap, instead my list was delivered to my pal Amy Graver (of Elements/AIGA CT fame), who was compiling wish lists for an article on conncreatives. And no, I didn't have to sit on her lap.

What We Really Wanted for Christmas! is online now; check out what 7 other Connecticut creatives--along with me--asked for this year. Thanks again to Amy for including me!

And thanks to Chelsea (also of Elements/AIGA CT fame) for pointing out that the article had been published.

Saving this for next year...

I love this idea... but hate that it's A) so late in the game--far too late for me to pull this off; and B) would take much, much longer than writing someone's name on a gift tag.



But still cute.

Actually, I love the idea of using brown craft paper as wrapping paper, with Christmas-themed letters. Hmmm... the more I think about it, the more I think that this might be the way to go next year (provided I start cutting out letters in September).

Christmas countdown

My stockings are not yet hung. My mother in law knit (crocheted? I don't know the difference--but either way they are hand made and I love them) stockings for all of us; and Eleanor's is still up at her house. So one part all of our stockings are not here, one part sheer laziness, I have not hung the stockings yet.

Cookies? Done. Baked, plated, and all but delivered. I even packaged some up for Ashlee's friends at school tomorrow.

Presents are bought and wrapped. The big snowstorm on Friday made me a bit nervous about when we would wrap the kid's gifts--we had plans to do it Friday AM, before the kids got the day off--but we got it done Friday night and this morning. One of my girlfriends even stopped by today with gifts for my kids, which meant that I got to give her the gifts for her kids, so technically you could say that I'm even handing gifts out.

In my errands today, I got tights for the girls, shoes for the girls, and took care of any other Christmas Day outfit finagling that needed to get done.

Cards: personal cards got mailed out weeks ago. Business cards are sitting in a box at my feet. Hmmmm, I should probably do those...

The only other things I have left to do are bake some pies, and make a salad and antipasta for Christmas Day. Oh, and work. Usually around the holidays things tend to slow down for me. Not so much, this year (although, with the current economy, that's just fine by me!).

God, I love Alejandro Paul. For those not in the know, he is the designer of the fabulous Burgues Script font that I love so much (c'mon, who doesn't love a great flourish?). Well, he's gone and done it again, this time, with a little typeface called Compendium.



I know it's a little weird to have reactions like I do over fonts, but man, this typeface really makes me swoon. Such beauty! Such grace! Plus, like it's sister (cousin? friend?) Burges Script, it comes with a ton of swirlies--and God, I love my swirlies.

Says Paul:

Compendium is a sequel to my Burgues font from 2007. Actually it is more like a prequel to Burgues...

...Though Compendium has a naturally more normalized, Spencerian flow, its elegance, expressiveness, movement and precision are no less adventurous than Burgues. Nearing 700 glyphs (ed. note: OMG!!!), its character set contains plenty of variation in each letter, and many ornaments for letter beginnings, endings, and some that can even serve to envelope entire words with swashy calligraphic wonder. Those who love to explore typefaces in detail will be rewarded, thanks to OpenType. I am so in love with the technology now that it’s becoming harder for me to let go of a typeface and call it finished.

OMG, how can you not totally love this guy? To see more of his fonts, visit his site, Sudtipos. To see the rest of Veer's Top 10 of 2008, go here. Actually, there's actually a bunch of fonts I like out of the list... but Compendium was the only one that made me swoon.

Inspire me now!

Being the art-eeest that I am, I'm always looking for inspiration. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes I have to go searching for it, and sometimes--OK, a lot of times--it's from the internets.

Ladies and gentlemen, inspire me now!

A simple site, with almost no text (save for a link at the bottom of each photo), chock full of interesting things, products, ads and photography.

Very, very cool.

Schweddy balls

Since I was baking Christmas cookies all day today, nothing seemed more appropriate than this Saturday Night Live sketch (Ed. note: boo on Hulu for not letting me embed the video). I'm pretty positive I posted this last December, but sorry folks--it's just that good.

I seriously don't know how they keep such straight faces.

SANTA!!!!

I have a couple of things I *could* post... but, it being December and all, I felt this was a little more appropriate:



Elf is, hands down, one of my favorite holiday movies. Will Farrell gets completely lost in the role of Buddy the Elf. He's fantastic, the concept is incredibly clever, and the movie just all around rocks.

Shameless client/self promotion

One of my more fabulous clients, Jill, came to me way back last winter with an idea that was going to rock people's socks off: gluten free cookies. Yeah, yeah, yeah... There's nothing new about gluten free cookies. But have you tasted a gluten free cookie before? They're pretty awful. Try chewing on a sponge--that's about what they taste like.

That is, until Jill came along. Her cookies are delish! And gluten free! Seriously, my kids--who have no sensitivities to gluten at all--love them. Ashlee actually requests them. We love Jill's cookies in our house! (And no, it's not because of the most awesome packaging. Or the sweet-looking logo. Or the gorgeous website that, ahem, was just launched. Don't get me wrong, I mean, sure... we think EVERYTHING associated with Glow Gluten Free is beautiful. But that in NO WAY affects how we feel about the taste.)

Anyway, Jill is going to be at ShopRite down in Stamford tomorrow (Thursday) promoting her cookies. Stop by, say hi, tell her how much you love the packaging, buy a box (or two) of her cookies, and then immediately go run to the store manager to let him/her know how great these cookies are.

ShopRite of Commerce Street
1990 West Main Street
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 978-0464

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Popup by Marion Bataille

When I was a kid, nothing would thrill me more than coming across a pop up book; it was just. so. cool. I'd amuse myself for hours turning wheels, pulling tabs, and examining the book, wondering how on earth did they do that.

To this day pop-up books still fascinate me; so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one designed by a French graphic designer consisting of nothing but the alphabet would keep me occupied for quite some time; especially, ahem, when I was supposed to be Christmas shopping.

Alrighty, then

Well, that was a little more blogging vacation than I had anticipated... I had taken off all last weekend, with the best intentions to return on Monday.

Then, the baby got sick.

Yep, our little Eleanor has a double ear infection; diagnosed on Wednesday. However, she was home with me most of the week. Which meant that I was taking care of sickie most of the day, catching up on work at night.

I'm not quite caught up, but I am getting there. In the meantime, Thanksgiving was lovely here; we did our annual tour of CT, ending up home (and quite full) by 9 that night. Thanksgiving eve was spend watching Helvetica (finally!) via our new Netflix subscription. I was very wary of giving up HBO for Netflix, but, tired of watching the same 3 movies over and over (and over), Mattio had had enough and put the final nail in the HBO coffin.

I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by Netflix. First of all, you can stream a decent amount of stuff (very nice on the 24" monster screen)--which is how we watched Helvetica--and second, you can stream movies while you have a disc out on loan.

So now Eleanor is on the mend (I can't say the same for other members of this household), and life is slowly coming back to normal--well, as normal as it gets for us. Which means that I'm back up and blogging. So apologies for the little hiatus, but I'm back.

For now.