Iain is Three

My best boy, my little prince, my creative muse and inspiration for all things turned 3 on Sunday. He didn't want a party and didn't want "people to come over to the house." So we had a quiet, lazy day of opening presents, re-hiding them in a box, and opening them again. In the early evening we went to the beach. I selfishly made my favorite cake: carrot with loads of cream cheese frosting. It was a perfect day. Thanks for being born, Iain.

Moving Type

My students are all abuzz about motion type animations on youtube. They are very cool: like little type studies that exist in time and space, set to a soundtrack. A student just showed me this today (and I love it):

Posh as Mulch

I am neither a very experienced, nor competent, gardener, but I like to read books by them. I also have an ongoing fantasy that my rather barren backyard houses a lovely potager overflowing with colorful chard, sweet sugar snap peas, and an array of fragrant herbs. Alas, my backyard contains no such thing, but I did work up the motivation to stick a few tomatoes and peppers in the ground. I've heard from serious gardeners that newspaper makes great mulch and, hey, what a wonderful form of recycling.

So when I planted my little tomatoes a few weeks ago, I had the serendipitous experience of using Posh as mulch. I love that Juergen Teller shot Victoria Beckham being devoured by a giant Marc Jacobs shopping bag. Truth be told, I don't always get Juergen Teller, but I certainly appreciate his twisted sense of humor on this one. Besides, Posh always looks so extreme and alien-like with that ironed bob and skeletal face, but one can't deny that the gal has great gams.

One Precocious Designer

Let me introduce you to an utterly charming young designer. His name is Ethan Bodnar, "graphic designer, author and entrepreneur." He is currently working on a project (Grab Bag Book) to be published by HOW Books in which artists will make visual contributions based on creative tasks selected at random and distributed by Mr. Bodnar. His belief and mission is: "To use creative thinking to change the world. To spread messages and share ideas through my life and work." What lovely thoughts.

Upon investigating his spiffy little website, I discovered that Ethan Bodnar is an 18-year old high school senior. Since I regularly come into contact with 18-year old designers in training, I was surprised at the level of professionalism and passion for design exhibited by this precocious young man. I hope that after four years of design school his optimism and zest for design remains intact. To learn more about Ethan, check out the Speak Up site.

Starbucks: Old vs. New Logo

For a short time only, Starbucks has returned to their original twin-tailed, Rubenesque mermaid logo. People are all whipped up into a cappuccino lather. Why depart from the ubiquitous green gal? Is the old logo drab and lifeless? What's up with the new-old gimmick? According to CEO Howard Schultz: “I think the logo’s going to be somewhat disruptive. . . .We want people to talk about it.”

My understanding about the development and re-design of the Starbucks logo is that it was simplified to remove the shocking parts: breasts (!), voluptuous flesh, unkempt siren's hair, and worst of all, that tail crotch (?!). I don't know; I find her quirky and appealing in that small, independent coffee shop with a hideous amateur logo kind of way. Let's just say that I don't frequent my favorite local coffee shop based on their identity, but on the artistry of their foam and caramel smoothness of their espresso shots.

Starbucks, I'm afraid you can never go back. You're a slick, corporate coffee giant. Better bring back the green gal before your loyal customers get confused.

Official Olympic Mascots 2008

I am totally non-athletic/non-sporty in any way, but I love love love the Olympics. Especially the Summer Olympics with all the bad-ass track stars and super sexy, super high-tech swimsuits. How excited am I for the academic quarter to end and the Olympics to begin—well, there are no words to describe it.

From a design standpoint, past Olympics serve as fantastic case studies in identity and icon design. Mexico 1968: a design classic. Barcelona 1992: Javier Mariscal's controversial Cobi, the Cubist Catalan sheepdog. Nogano 1998: that sweet and poetic Snowflower. London 2012: an absolute debacle.

I haven't had time to thoroughly investigate the Beijing graphics, but I did just discover the Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Beibei the Fish, Jingjing the Panda, Huanhuan the Olympic Flame, Yingying the Tibetan Antelope and Nini the Swallow. They are just lovable in the way that only Asian cuties can be.

As a side note, I feel that the Olympics should be free of politics and that protestors/boycotters are naive fools whose actions primarily harm the athletes who deserve to compete on the global stage. I was shocked to find that I agree with President Bush (or his handlers) who said that the U.S. would take a stance of "quiet diplomacy" rather than boycotting the Olympics' Opening Ceremony (sorry, Hillary, I'm not with you on this one). Eight years in is a little late for diplomacy, but hey, better late than never.

Stay tuned for a thorough analysis of the Beijing 2008 graphics.

Free Little Font

I just found this sweet little free font—Unibody—available for free download from Underwear. It's only intended to be used at 8pt., which makes it just right for captions or other applications where small text is appropriate. Thanks to the folks at i love typography for continuously finding cool, sometimes free, fonts.