Helvettaca

My friends Lori and Matthew are graphic designers and they are bonafide typenerds. This shows in the fact that they named their sons after typefaces; Cooper Hudson and Holden Rockwell. Now, Cooper, who is 5, recently asked his teacher not to use Comic Sans in the classroom. The teacher, having a hard time making sense of Cooper’s typeface suggestion, sent this email to his parents:

You can’t make this stuff up. Oh, and watch Cooper (at age 3!) try to convince the internet that his dad loves Zapfino.

Being Elmo

On my flight back from SF last saturday I watched the incredibly moving documentary Being Elmo. It was touching for several reasons, but I must say, it definitely hit home from a parent’s perspective. I truly hope I’ll be able to nurture and respect my kids’ interests and talents as much as Kevin Clash’s parents did. Kevin knew he wanted to become a puppeteer as a kid and his parents let him follow his dream. Here’s the trailer:

(Thank you Rusty)

original ideas

“It’s hard to have original ideas when you are surrounded by people who all have the same experiences as you.”
– Jonathan Harris

A quote by Jonathan Harris, Founder of Cowbird, via Hot Tub Crime Machine

  • 04 / 10 / 2012
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Design Is A Job

Mike Monteiro wrote a (Book Apart) book, which is going on sale today. Last I heard, Mike will deliver it himself. (image above, by darth)

I was able to get my hands on it early and I wish it would have been around when I started working as a designer and most of all when I started my own studio 6 years back. Needless to say, I devoured the book. Mike covers everything from contracts to selling design, from working with clients to working with each other. It’s a short book, packed with knowledge you can’t afford not to know.

Get it here: Design is a job

(Have you seen his CreativeMornigns talk F*ck you, Pay Me?)

Spherovelo

The Spherovelo is a futuristic looking new bike for 1-2 year olds. Consider it a pre-cursor to a balance bike. Spherovelo has me smile from ear to ear and wonder: Can I have a grown up version, please?

Watch a video of a kid scooting around on it.

Welcome back, Ze Frank!

Ze Frank is back.

(via kottke)

Intuition

“Intuition is a very powerful thing—more powerful than intellect, in my opinion.” – Steve Jobs

(Thanks Rusty)

Lille Huset

Chicago based designer Alyson Beaton is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to launch a kids product line called Lille Huset. It’s a series of modular doll houses, made out of eco friendly materials. What makes me especially happy is that all manufacturing will be done in the USA.

Totally backing this. My daughter will be psyched.

(Thank you Gary)

Rui Alves

This beauty of a stool-wardrobe-thingy is by Rui Alves, force behind My Own Superstudio.

(thank you Catarina)

How to Bathe a Chicken

Last night, I asked G to Google how to remove chicken giblets for me, as I was trying this Roast Chicken Recipe. A few minutes later he walked into the kitchen, giggling, showing me this link: How To Bathe a Chicken. My favorite part is when you scroll down to “Things You’ll Need”: List item number one is “A dirty chicken”. So, in case you ever wondered how to bathe a chicken, here you go:

Chalktrail

Chalktrail. Yup. Totally awesome. I want one for my own bike.

(via designmom)

Friday Link Pack

(via thekidschouldseethis)

– In case you feel like building La Tour Eiffel out of paper this weekend, here you go.

– The Twitter account @RealTimeWWII is live tweeting World War II on this day and time, from 1940 through 1946. (via gomakethings)

– Opena is an iphone case and a bottle opener, all in one. File that under conversation starter.

– Don Draper presents Facebook timeline (Video presented by Oliver Reichenstein at TypoSF)

– Texts from Hillary. #yes (via coudal)

– Know your type? The fine folks of Hoefler & Frere-Jones are hiring a Front End Web Developer.

– Joanna says this is the best roasted chicken you’ll ever have.

Visual Notes

Eva-Lotta Lamm just tweeted a link to the visual notes she took during my and Khoi’s TYPOSF talk yesterday. #mademesmile

The Muppet Show

Jim Henson made this pitch video to sell The Muppet Show to CBS.

(via @kottke)

  • 04 / 06 / 2012
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Collaboration

“Collaboration is a good way to step away from ego.”
– Joshua Davis

(A quote from Joshua Davis‘ lively talk at TYPOSF, which I am currently attending)

TYPOSF Livestream Today

I have the huge, crazy honor to open the TYPOSF conference at 10am, here in San Francisco today. I was told that they are going to livestream some of the talks, and mine is one of them. YAY! Here’s the link where the live stream will be.

You can also watch: Khoi Vinh at 2pm, Joshua Davis at 6pm and Mike Monteiro’s talk tomorrow, friday, at 6pm. Remember, this is all on west coast time! Here’s a timezone converter if you’re not sure what time that will be where you are in the world.

Typotalks livestream

Hole To Another Universe



I have to find a spot for this Hole to Another Universe wall graphic in my home. I *must*! Made me smile ear to ear. File this under “I-heart-Blik“!

(via bblinks)

Abstract City

This is one of the many wonderful illustrations you can find in Christoph Niemann’s latest book called Abstract City, a collection of visual essays. If you’re as much of a fan of Christoph’s as I am, you might enjoy his humorous CreativeMornings talk.

(via explore)

Love Yourself

“Love Yourself” art print. Illustration by Lim Heng Swee. All kinds of wonderful.

Subtle Patterns

Subtle Patterns, by Atle Mo, offers high quality tilable textured patterns for web designers, free to use.

(via howaboutorange)

Tribe

“Human beings can’t help it: we need to belong. One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe, to contribute to (and take from) a group of like-minded people. We are drawn to leaders and to their ideas, and we can’t resist the rush of belonging and the thrill of the new. … We want to belong not to just one tribe, it turns out, but to many. And if you give us tools and make it easy, we’ll keep joining. Tribes make our lives better. And leading a tribe is the best life of all.”
– Seth Godin

Tribes, by Seth Godin

Charlie and the Seal

Oh my, my job seems quite boring and ordinary after watching this video of Charlie Bird meeting seals while travelling through Antarctica.

(via thekidshouldseethis)

Levato

Typenerds unite: Levato is a brand-new typeface by Monotype and has been optimized for print, web and skin. #makesmehappy

Diagramming Sentences

These diagrams are from a recent post over at The Opinionator about the curious art of diagramming sentences, invented 165 years ago by S.W. Clark.

(via @bobulate)