Got a mail from Family to tell me that they have had a bit of a site update. They also have a shiny new blog as well.

After Yentob making an idiot out of himself touring art galleries with Jaz Z, trying desperately to grasp “ye old Hip Hop”, it was refreshing to catch BBC’s Imagine get its focus back on art with a programme about sculptor/artist Richard Serra.

Serra’s work really strikes a chord with me as I love anything minimal, bold, industrial and stark, so it was great to hear about his work in more depth. Like most of my favorite art and design his work is all about the process and material. Not just the process that was used to create his pieces, but also the process of being a part of his works. Not just the material the piece is made of, but taking the given material and pushing the boundaries of whats physically, chemically and gravitationally possible.

I suppose I love his work because its as much engineering as it is art. The head engineer at Pickhan Heavy Fabrication Germany, where most of his works are created, calculated all the sums to make sure one of Serras’ 65 tonne freestanding steel sculptures wouldn’t topple over , was still very cautious about walking through the struture. I think it’s the way that Serras’ large steel structures make you feel vulnerable ans cautious that make them so spectacular.

Listening to his life story was also very interesting. When an aspiring artist in France his partner in crime was none other than Mr Phillip Glass, who happens to be one of my favorite composers, which further enhanced my enthusiasm for him. I think with Serras’ work it really is a case of seeing it in the flesh. I’ve seen a couple and it really gives you a sense of his other works to have seen t least one. So go investigate where your nearest nearest Serra piece is and have a good look!

Super read on how Helvetica became the typeface for the NYC Subway. I love how an error at the sign shop lead to the black line that still exists today on the Subway. Often mishaps during the  implementation stage of the design process can play just as big a part of a system as the design itself.

To celebrate FEEDs’ third birthday there is a guest seminar by the talented Nic Freeman followed by a party at the Millennium point studio. So if your around Birmingham way this Friday, drop me a line!

Really interesting project by Alan Woo exploring colours within films. I love the simplistic results his work has produced from quite complex information.

Super post over at smashing magazine about 15 Beautiful Free Fonts. It includes one of my old favorites Museo-Sans and a super font called Quicksand (pictured below), which includes the whole family.

Some really sexytime print work from Roane Adams.

Via Original Linkage

I know I posted about their stuff only a couple of weeks ago when their site went live, but they have a few new bits online that I couldn’t help posting about. First up is an interesting in depth chat about Logo’s by Paul that was featured in a logo design book. Secondly for a bit of visual stimuli is their great promotional work for Nest, an online design retailer.

Saw this on ilovetypography and just had to share it. If you haven’t already seen it, it’s well worth a watch. With the advancements over the last few years of digital presses such as the HP Indigo that can produce work in short runs with no extra cost, I wonder how long old print methods can survive for. I’ve got a feeling that it will never disappear. Like vinyl (of which I’m a huge fan), there will always be a die hard few. So here is to good old fashioned printing…

Printing—your life work series (1947) from ilovetypography.com on Vimeo.

Came across this nice little studio and their posters through their shop. They are a little pricey but very, very nice. No doubt you will have spotted many of the poster series all over the blogsphere before..

Got an email from the guys at Dry about their new website/identity project for screen printers Bob Eight Bob (pictured below). They have a really varied body of work with some really interesting content. They seem to straddle the line of quirky illustrations mixed with wonderfully crisp design and finishing skills very well indeed. I particularly love their Deadly knome project for firetrap.

Some really nice simple Swedish design from Stockholm based TheyStudio. Extremely nice use of blocks of colours over type.

Via FFF

Yee got in touch to tell me about Girls who draw’s new postcard book. Its a wonderfully illustrated gem that only costs £5 and it’s here just in time for Christmas. Go on, treat yourself!

Watch the video here.

The Serif version of Erik Spiekermanns’ extremely popular Meta sans-serif font is out now through FontShop. It’s a large family and well worth a butchers. I don’t think it’s as versatile as the original, but together these fonts could lead to some promising results. Also check out the story behind the font here on the Meta Serif mini-site, which is a very interesting read for those of you with the vaguest interest in font design.

I love Darks’ renders of objects, some funny, others beautifully aesthetic.  There is a lot of humor and wit in some of their work as well. Take the Home boy cot for example.

Yulia Brodskaya kindly gave me some pictures of her simply fantastic paper based type and illustrations. So intricate and fluid. I love it!

I don’t have time to post much today other than a couple of really interesting links. As of late I have noticed a trend of logo hate aimed at bigger brands all following the styles of one another like sheep. Whether you agree of disagree both of the following articles are worth a look.

First up is, in my opinion, one of the most thought provoking and interesting design blogs around. Johnson Banks - Thought for the week looks into logo design trends.

Next up is an angry but rather funny rant about logo trends from Noisy Decent Graphics.

Good day!

Ah good old Friday night! I’ve seen much about these becks artist bottles over the last few months and tonight I’ve managed to pick up a crate of the beauties. I will do my very best to sample each one and look at the art whilst I drink. I may even try each one more than once, purely for aesthetic reasons obviously!

Another sexy identity project, this time by Alfio Mazzei studio for O-tech Tecnica.