Karmic Moments: A Conversation with Christina Chiu
Christina Chiu discusses her forthcoming novel, BEAUTY.
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Posts Tagged: design
Picturing a New Shakespeare
At Hyperallergic, Allison Meier reviews a new collection that gathers posters for productions of Shakespeare from around the world. This collection has posters from fifty-five countries, ranging from the earliest advertisements for Shakespeare’s plays into productions from the present day.
...moreBooks as Beautiful Objects
Perhaps some buyers do judge books by their covers. A designer has been turning classic literature into beautiful objects. Coralie Bickford-Smith, a London-based book jacket designer for Penguin, convinced the publisher to begin a line of books with traditional cloth covers and stunning jacket designs, turning the book into a object of aesthetic desire as […]
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Sound & Vision: Spencer Drate & Judith Salavetz
Spencer Drate and Judith Salavetz on their long collaborative career designing for artists like John Lennon, the Talking Heads, and more.
...moreWeimar’s Book Jacket Renaissance
In a fascinating article for the Design Observer Group, Steven Heller shares some beautiful book jackets from the Weimar Republic: a veritable outpouring of artistry backed by young liberals pushing the boundaries of acceptability to look for art wholly original. Perhaps something Mendelsund owes debts to, as do other book designers.
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The Rumpus Interview with Mark Danielewski
Mark Danielewski talks about the “maddening energy of violence” and why he’s writing a 27–volume novel, starting with his first 850-page installment in the series, The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May.
...moreThe Roots of the Paperback
“Gutenberg may have invented the movable-type printing press,” but the father of the paperback is a different man: Aldus Manutius. As reported in the New York Times, an exhibition opened at the Grolier Club in Manhattan this week to commemorate the 500th year anniversary of his death.
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The Rumpus Interview with Peter Mendelsund
Writer, designer, and thinker Peter Mendelsund talks about book design, the tangled process of reading and perception, and his two new books, Cover and What We See When We Read.
...moreDesigning the Future with the Past
Holding it in your hand now, we hope it feels familiar and warm, at once reminding you of the great history of The Review, while also giving you a sense that you’re being handed the very future of writing and art. It’s Nice That talks to Charlotte Strick, art editor of the Paris Review, about […]
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Sound & Vision: Nate Duval
Designer and illustrator Nate Duval talks to Allyson McCabe about how he started creating concert posters, what it was like to break into the field, and where he sees it going next.
...moreSometimes Judge A Book By Its Cover
Cover designer Peter Mendelsund has released two new books about cover design. Cover collects many of the images Mendelsund has designed over his career and What We See When We Read explores the relationship between cover art and the books behind it. Mendelsund spoke with PBS Newshour in a short video and transcript about judging […]
...moreThe Future of Libraries
Librarian Justin Wadland attempts to answer the question “What is the future of libraries?” at the Los Angeles Review of Books by reading three recent books about them. He suggests the future of libraries depends on our relationship with them. He also explains that the question is in no way simple: Flooded with data as […]
...moreSeeing is Reading
For those of us who haven’t glanced at e.e. cummings since high school, it’s easy to forget that literature is a visual medium. When we think about reading, our minds often go straight to content. But rockstar cover designer Peter Mendelsund’s masterful work of phenomenology, What We See When We Read (Random House), minces popular […]
...moreThe Cover Design Exams
A heart, the source of empathy, or at least what we use as a visual for love, was an initial starting point. As a nod to the medical part of the essay, a graphic illustration of a heart is used. Kimberly Glyder was responsible for designing the cover of Leslie Jamison‘s essay collection, The Empathy Exams. […]
...moreBooks by Their Covers
London-based artist Jamie Kennan has designed covers for books by Franz Kafka, T.S. Eliot, and Vladimir Nabokov. In an interview with It’s Nice That, Kennan talks about why he loves designing book covers: Designing a book cover is great because you can treat it as a piece of packaging, a mini poster, corporate identity, something […]
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The New York Comics and Picture-Story Symposium: Ralph Moreau & A.T. Pratt
The New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium is a weekly forum for discussing the tradition and future of text/image work. Open to the public, it meets Monday nights at 7-9 p.m. EST in New York City.
...moreSocial Network Library
A new social networking site allows you to share snippets from longer pieces (so long as the source is electronic). With the help of a bookmarklet installed in your browser, text-sharing can be completed at the click of a button. “By adding a Twitter-like interface layer to Highlights, Findings gives e-books an innovative edge on […]
...moreLetter Play
“The challenge is simple: Create an image from a word, using only the letters contained in the word itself—and using only the shapes of the letters, without adding extra parts.” Facebook creative director Ji Lee has released a new collection, titled Word as Image. Here’s a sampling of his creations, along with some tips for […]
...moreInvention-Cartooning
This Atlantic article explores the “alternate realities” imagined by one Steven M. Johnson. The “inventor-cartoonist” has had many transformations since his design-beginnings back in the 1970s. Over the years his focus has moved from the purely “funny, funky or silly,” to tackling social issues; from designs that could be “actual, useful products,” to Utopian ideas. […]
...moreData Flow
This one goes out to all those who like their data visually organized before them and those who like design, and also those who dabble in “how-to” books. If you like all three, then this book and corresponding video couldn’t be any more relevant and exciting. Here it is: how to organize your data into […]
...moreMorning Coffee
Dolphins are really tired of all this “trying to swim with them” crap. Looking for a job? Flavorwire wants to show you their favorite pieces of SoCal architecture. Exploring the world of Arabic design. (via JourneyRoundMySkull.) On the personhood of animals.
...moreMorning Coffee
Behold the (wildly impractical) coffee-powered car. Still more vintage matchbook covers (these ones have animals on them!) The Maldives have commissioned the building of several floating star-shaped islands. In related news: the Maldives evidently are totally awesome. The Maskatorium. Take a look inside a chinese toy factory. In the name of starting your Monday off […]
...moreMorning Coffee
Wednesdays can be hard, so its either this or reading the GG Allin Wikipedia page in its entirety. Literally the best thing NPR has ever been responsible for (and that includes every episode of Car Talk): dinosaurs vs snakes! Neatorama ponders one of the less talked about casualties of e-book business. Sometimes I really like […]
...moreMorning Coffee
Scientifically speaking, we are all really boring. I don’t really understand how this works at all, but the code organ is a mighty fine way to kill some time. Diary Type is here to supply you with your weekly dose of font porn. Slate brings you the story of 1930s government sponsored alcohol poisoning. Rad! […]
...moreProofs of Concept for Legal Pot Packaging
Print Magazine, anticipating the legalization of pot in the US within 15 years or so, asked four design firms to come up with commercial packaging for marijuana cigarettes. Strømme Throndsen designed an attractive box that holds 16, with an optional case to carry only the ones you’ll be wanting to consume. The Heads of State […]
...moreMorning Coffee
The swedes have us beat on totally bad ass bank robberies. More Russian book jackets. The city of Sydney was engulfed in red dust yesterday. Here are some pictures. I’m sure you’ve already heard about this, but sometimes these things bare repeating: water found on the moon! Lack of sleep may help cause Alzheimer’s, which […]
...moreWorld’s most sinister dingbats
While browsing the web during a slow pre-holiday weekend day at work, I stumbled across a font family called Vialog, which is intended to be used primarily in signage. One of the fonts in the family, Vialog Signs Conduct, contains some of the most sinister glyphs I’ve ever seen. You could practically storyboard a thriller, […]
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