James Datz




James Datz is a freelance designer/ art director who used to work on the Urban Outfitters account.
He is pretty much the coolest ever and I thought I should share him with you.
Even though, Brian, I think you are the only one who reads this blog.
But who knows.

Found Type



So I was browsing the Cold War Kids webpage and thought, “Their logo has a sweet typface. I wonder what it is?”
Turns out, it’s in the Bodoni family of fonts called Bodoni Poster Itallic. It’s not a common one though, so if you wanted it you would probably have to buy it from myfonts.com (I think it was $24).
As you can see from what CWKs did with it, it looks nice with black and white treatments.
Awesome.

Alvin Lustig – the lost ad man





In Issue 44 of Baseline, Setven Heller wrote, “Advertising may be the mother of graphic design, but during the early 20th century graphic design in the United States was an unwanted child and remained that way until the late 1930′s when Paul Rand became art director of the Weintraub Advertising Agency in New York.” He went on to say, “nonetheless not every designer in his place could have employed modern graphic forms as successfully, even with all the freedom in the world.”
It’s easy to look at the work of Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, or Tibor Kalman and find inspiration from the greats. When you study Lustig’s work, it makes you wonder why you haven’t seen it before.
Oh, and you can buy limited prints of his work from the website linked at the title.

Christopher Silas Neal





This is one of my favorite illustrators lately. He’s popular…so I am sure I am not his only fan.

Design of the Day


I found this blog of another designer who also blogs for visual inspiration. Not only did she have some great links, but she also did this little design.

Mopa Design Studio



Mopa is an eviromentally and socially conscious design studio in Brazil. Some of thier illustration work is incredible and bold.

Think Smaller



There is this street artist in London that is doing some amazing things with photography and small objects. So refreshing! In a world of “let’s make the biggest, most obtrusive, loudest thing out there!” it is nice when the tiniest art gets noticed.
Thanks Andrea for the link!

What I learned at AdSchool…


Last year, in school, an Art Direction instructor reminded us of something that I feel has lasting significance in the creative industry and life in general. He said, “If you take anything away with you from this class, it’s this: Don’t forget to be generous.”
It is one of those things that stuck in my head because it holds so much truth. The thing about generosity is that it goes beyond kindess. Generosity is like kindness + selflessness. Both can be powerful and can make life easier for everyone.
It’s not about giving money or things; often it is so much more practicle. If someone has a good idea and you use it, giving them the credit for that is being generous. When someone does some really good work, telling them you admire their work and thing they did a great job is a simple but lost form of generosity. Trying to make time for people, instead of rushing around like you are the busiest person on Earth, being friendly, saying hi, smiling, being honest, caring for the enviroment: Generosity.

New Projects

So, I just got a new project. It seems simple: design a promo folder for the client, make it look great.
I started by making a layout so I can organize my thoughts.
This is the worst part. Sweaty palms, blank white space, a deadline.

A good font.


Anisa Suthayalai is a prolific New York based designer who has been in the industry since 1998. She designed this font that is similar to Futura, but sits low on the baseline. If a font could smile, it would be this one.

Also, check out some of her other works.

Marian Bantjes



A photo rep turned me on to this designer the other day. Bantjes is also a very good type designer, but has a scripty feel to her work. A is a fun comparison to Eduardo’s type work.

Designer of the day


I love this guys work. I am sure you all have seen or been to www.misprintedtype.com (it is a great place to pick up a few well designed fonts and inspiration). Eduardo Recife is the guy behind it all.