Print Matters
Business Card Rant

“It took me 25 years to design this business card.”

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 5, 2011
Business Card Rant

Let this guy break it down for you.

We all know how important print is. But this guy? He really understands.

Watch the video below.

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Print Crush

Hot metal type in Portland, Oregon

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 24, 2011

The C.C. Stern Type Foundry opens its doors to the public this weekend, their collection of aged foundry equipment and metal type on display.

The C.C. Stern Type Foundry will say hello to the world this weekend, excited to share the heavy equipment and hard work they’ve been wrapped up in for the last few months. Self-described as a working museum (“with an emphasis on ‘working’”), C.C. Stern boasts one of the largest collections of Monotype casting matricies in the United States. As one of the only working type foundries on the West Coast, the museum is stepping in to fill a void as a resource for the Pacific Northwest’s growing community of designers, book artists and letterpress printers.

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Fresh Ink

Death Magazine, Issue #3

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 21, 2011

Death Magazine #3: The Sex Issue

You might remember Death Magazine from our interview with editor Forrest Martin late last year. The third issue became available last week, and if the idea of a publication about death made you squeamish, get ready for a double dose. Death Magazine #3 is the Sex Issue, which, in Forrest’s words, “means sexy and/or deathy content from a variety of artists, in literal and figurative ways.”

This issue features cover artwork by Creativity Explored artist John Patrick McKenzie, made specially for the issue. Contributors include Slava Mogutin, Joel Gibb (The Hidden Cameras), Anna Huff (Anna Oxygen/Cloud Eye Control), Chris Hornbecker, Sara Marcus (Girls to the Front), David Neevel, and Clark Goolsby.

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Fresh Ink

Helping Japan through the power of print

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 18, 2011

Ink and paper lend themselves to fundraising efforts.

In the week since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we’ve seen a number of print items pop up across the internet as fundraising tools. Proceeds benefit a variety of humanitarian organizations, and formats range from art prints to oversized posters to pocket notebooks. Print is stepping into a role as a fundraising tool; though not a new role, it is an interesting one to consider.

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Print Matters

Flatstock 29

By Laura Whipple | Published: March 14, 2011

The Grackle!

Thanks to a surprise visit from one of our favorite PDX poster designers Mike King, we were reminded that Flatstock, the poster convention dedicated to rock posters and all their glory, will be taking place this week at SXSW. Mike King will be there, as well as many other amazing poster designers and printers.

This year’s poster design for Flatstock 29 – SXSW is by Pittsburgh based artist strawberryluna. It features a famous bird from Austin – The Grackle! This beauty is hand screenprinted in 4 colors, in a limited edition of 115 posters.

Sponsored by the American Poster Institute, Flatstock takes place from March 16-19, 2011 at the Austin Convention Center. And y’all, it’s free for the public to attend, so no excuses!

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Print Matters

Letterpress printing…on an iPad?

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 4, 2011

Wood type goes digital.

LetterMpress is a proposed virtual letterpress application for the iPad that allows users to push around simulated wood type and create letterpress-inspired compositions. Spearheaded by John Bonadies, a graphic designer from Illinois, the project is currently seeking funding through Kickstarter.

Hmm.

This project is an interesting embodiment of the crossroads of antiquated and contemporary, of utilitarian and fetishized production methods, of analog and digital. But is it fair to claim that you can “experience the art and craft of letterpress printing on your iPad?” Can one really experience craft on an iPad? Or any sort of “printing,” for that matter?

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Print Matters

A new kind of design book?

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 2, 2011

You won't find this publication on a bookshelf.

Video, sound lectures, interactive slideshows, 3D animations—we expect none of these things from books. But the release of PYRAMYD EDITIONS‘ new design book might just change that.

Open Projects: Non Standard Identities, the first digital book from the French publisher, takes advantage of the interaction inherent in the iPad to share content through a variety of media. “Based on the notion of interaction itself,” Open Projects is aimed at the design-savvy and covers a myriad of innovative graphic identity projects that turn standard branding work on its head.

What is most compelling about this publication is that it is offered exclusively in digital format. We’ve come to expect e-versions of print publications, and with the launch of projects like Apple’s The Daily can stomach the thought of iPad-only content. But to release a digital-only book for designers? To release a publication for a critical audience of makers that thwarts our accustomed understanding of the concept of “book”? That’s gutsy.

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Print Matters

I Heart Maira

By Laura Whipple | Published: March 1, 2011

If you happen to be in NYC between March 11 and July 31, 2011, you are in luck!

During that time, Maira Kalman, the amazing illustrator, author, designer and all around creative wonder will be having a major show at The Jewish Museum in New York.

Titled Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World), It is the first major museum survey of her work. On display will be the original cover artwork used for The New Yorker magazine, Ooh-la-la (Max in Love), drawings from The Elements of Style, and more.

Plan to attend the opening next week? Then you can also check out the Houdini: Art and Magic show that is up until March 27 at the same museum. Double awesome!

Image courtesy Maira Kalman.

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Fresh Ink

Coffee Common, Scout Books, TED 2011

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: March 1, 2011

“The people serving you coffee today come from a movement, not a company.”

So reads the first line of the Coffee Common Scout Book, just one branded piece of the Coffee Common movement that debuted yesterday at the 2011 TED conference in Long Beach, California.

All week long, an all-star cast of baristas will be serving up specially curated roasts of coffee from their myriad roasteries to lucky TED attendees. They assemble in Long Beach under the name Coffee Common, the latest incarnation of the newly-launched Common Brand.

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Print Matters

The Manual: A printed guide for building the web

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: February 24, 2011

"Putting ink to paper crystallizes reasoning."

The latest conversation piece in the ongoing discussion about the tension between print and digital has one foot in each world.

The Manual is a new print magazine that covers web design, deliberately offered in print format under the premise that valuable reflection comes not from poking around on a screen but instead from taking a moment away from devices to think.

Spearheaded by an all-star team comprised of web man Andy McMillan, writer Carolyn Wood and illustrator/designer Jez Burrows, the Manual promises to deliver six illustrated, feature-length articles per issue, aimed at “bringing a greater depth and maturity to [the] craft and profession” of interactive design.

The first issue will be offered exclusively through Kickstarter, where the Manual is currently seeking funding. If you’d like to get your hands on this tactile addition to the conversation surrounding the emergent discipline of interaction design, pledge now.

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