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kottke.org posts about design

Build your own Apple Store. Oobject tracked

Build your own Apple Store. Oobject tracked down the materials, furniture, fixtures, and finishes used in the Apple Stores, giving anyone enough information to turn their living room into one.


A video and accompanying text from Edward

A video and accompanying text from Edward Tufte on Interface Design and the iPhone.

Update: Christopher Fahey posted a thoughtful critique of Tufte’s iPhone thoughts.


I feel like this happens to a

I feel like this happens to a lot of authors…the covers of their books end up being the opposite of what they should be.


Emigre is posting some essays from the

Emigre is posting some essays from the back issues of its dearly departed magazine.


If you’re curious as to what designers

If you’re curious as to what designers mean when they talk about design, check out Paola Antonelli’s talk from last year’s TED conference. (BTW, TED has made publicly available a great number of talks from their conferences…like 40-50 hours of material.)


Grading the world’s flags. Gambia is a

Grading the world’s flags. Gambia is a surprise #1. (via marginal revolution)


An apt visual metaphor from the world

An apt visual metaphor from the world of sports for the client/designer relationship.


A taxonomy of animals that are mascots

A taxonomy of animals that are mascots or logos of companies.


Video interview with Michael Bierut about typography

Video interview with Michael Bierut about typography and design. (via typographica)


Clever shower design; the water pipe also

Clever shower design; the water pipe also holds the curtain up.


A collection of rap, hip hop, and

A collection of rap, hip hop, and roller-disco flyers from the 70s and 80s.


The stories of three exemplary information graphics.

The stories of three exemplary information graphics. If you’re up on your Tufte, they’ll be known to you already but always worth a look.


Logo trends for 2007. (via airbag)

Logo trends for 2007. (via airbag)


Really interesting interview with artist/designer Tobias

Really interesting interview with artist/designer Tobias Wong by Rob Walker.

That question hits an important point in my work (and pet peeve), because many people are always interested in how I get work out there, financially. And it’s quite simple. If there’s something I really believe in, I just find a way to make it happen. No daily Starbucks (US$4) or cigs ($8) or dining out ($20), and before you know it you’ve got the money to do something.


Sean Ohlencamp works at Chiat Day and

Sean Ohlencamp works at Chiat Day and recorded his computer desktop once a day for the past year. (via le monoscope)


Advice from a photo editor at a

Advice from a photo editor at a national magazine on how to talk about photography, particularly to those who know little about it.

I have a sweet technique I use for finding the great images from a shoot that really tends to piss-off the editors: I edit the film without reading the story. This helps me tune into which images have the most impact on me and which ones transcend subject matter and become forces in their own right.

His description of defending good photography applies to design as well.


John Maeda is leaving his position at

John Maeda is leaving his position at The MIT Media Lab for the Presidency of RISD. Good luck, John.

Update: Here’s a video of Maeda introducing himself as president.


The 25 best rock posters of all time,

The 25 best rock posters of all time, according to Billboard. A hit-or-miss list at best. (via quipsologies)


The design of the iPhone is such

The design of the iPhone is such that all other mobile phones, including those released after the iPhone, look not only old but antiquated and even defective. IMO.


Michael Frumin’s grandfather passed along to him

Michael Frumin’s grandfather passed along to him a campaign poster from when Norman Mailer ran for mayor of NYC in 1969. The scans of the poster are wonderful.

I’m about as far from a knowledgeable design critic as you can get, but this thing is an undeniable work of art, especially in the eye of any native New Yorker.

Does anyone know who designed the poster for Mailer?


The 2008 version of Pentagram’s big-ass wall calendar

The 2008 version of Pentagram’s big-ass wall calendar is now available, featuring the typefaces of Matthew Carter. If that’s not to your liking, there’s always this calendar by Massimo Vignelli set in, you guessed it, Helvetica.


Design challenge: design a business card-sized year-long

Design challenge: design a business card-sized year-long calendar that doesn’t feature absurdly small type. Some intriguing solutions.


Jon Hicks has a nice slideshow of

Jon Hicks has a nice slideshow of typography from the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (via waxy) Design Observer did a piece on the typography of Order of the Phoenix becoming its own character.

It is The Daily Prophet which emerges in this film as a secondary character, performing interstitial cameos made all the more exhilarating because the camera sweeps in and out, ricocheting off the page, magnifying and dramatizing a typographic vocabulary that combines a slightly mottled, letterpress-like display face with great portions of illegible calligraphy.


Paper laptop interfaces designed by 7-9 year-olds.

Paper laptop interfaces designed by 7-9 year-olds.

The children started making these laptops last year and dubbed themselves “the laptop club.” This was truly an innovation of kid culture without adult coaching. The children were in second and third grade last year, and are continuing to create and play with new designs this year. […] All of the kids played with their laptops so much that many of the laptops have been worn out or lost.

The desires and preoccupations of the kids come through quite clearly in these drawings. Reminds me of the letters to Santa we wrote in grade school.


The Book Design Review blog offers up

The Book Design Review blog offers up its picks for the best book covers of the year.


The American Society of Magazine Editors picks

The American Society of Magazine Editors picks their magazine favorite covers of 2007.


The annual report for Podravka, a Croatian

The annual report for Podravka, a Croatian food company, has to be heated in the oven before you can read it.

Called Well Done, the report features blank pages printed with thermo-reactive ink that, after being wrapped in foil and cooked for 25 minutes, reveal text and images.

Well done, indeed. (thx, judson)


I can’t see how on earth Julie

I can’t see how on earth Julie Jackson’s Subversive Cross Stitch didn’t make it into the Museum of Arts & Design show on Extreme Embroidery. Maybe it’s too straightforward but still…


The movie poster for The Savages was

The movie poster for The Savages was done nicely by Chris Ware.


Tobias Wong has made a slick all-black

Tobias Wong has made a slick all-black iPhone called the ccPhone. It comes preloaded with videos, photos, music, and the company address book of Citizen:Citizen, the company selling it. Available as a limited edition of 50, each phone is $2000. Another of Wong’s projects that I really like is the Tiffany diamond solitaire engagement ring with the diamond turned upside down so the point sticks out (possibly for slashing attackers). A nice play on the marital security that an engagement ring offers the wearer. (via core77)