design – Three Percent

50/50

N. J. Furl — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:00:00 +0000

AIGA announced the selections from its most recent competition over the summer. Having missed that, though, the recent highlighting these books at the AIGA National Design Center offers a handy excuse to bring it up here.

It’s a well-known competition, but did you know it’s been running since 1923? Take a look at the winners and an almost endless plethora of other great time-wasting eye-candy (or “research” of you may like to rationalize it) in the . If you’ve never visited, it’s a great place to destroy your afternoon.

Our Favorite Cover Design Trend

N. J. Furl — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Cover designs without titles. The brings note to cover. Unfortunately, the book itself is not notable, but we’re a fan of this movement (seemingly, an all-in wet dream by the designer and a gutsy marketing move, to boot) that one can imagine must have a dickens of a time making it through the cover-by-committee processes.

Really, I don’t know if this qualifies as a “trend” or just a random occurrence. The other time I’ve seen this (and, perhaps, the best occurrence to date) is on Ecco’s supper sexy by Zbigniew Herbert (also, a selection, by the way). If anyone else has examples of this—new or old—please do comment . . .

The Faces and How We Typed Them

N. J. Furl — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:30:00 +0000

It’s not comprehensive. It’s debatable. It’s hardly adequate, really. Nevertheless, if you like font pornography, then well-illustrated article/list of great typefaces should still be pretty masturbatory.

It’s difficult to tell if they are supposed to be ordered by rank (I hope not), alphabetically (I, certainly, hope not), or randomly (perhaps). Whichever it is, #1 is Helvetica, and I’m sure you remember Chad’s post earlier this week about the eponymous font and its forthcoming documentary.

Seasonal Catalogues : Seasonal Catalogs

N. J. Furl — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:30:00 +0000

Who doesn’t enjoy reading through publisher’s new seasonal catalogues? Well, the certainly doesn’t not like it. Read and be reminded why these catalogues are about literature, design, and marketing. In this case, it also happens to be a bit self-serving, but the sentiment remains:

Other than browsing a bookstore’s shelves, there’s probably nothing better for this bookophile than browsing publisher’s catalogs—if only the books themselves took up as little space.