The Washington Post has an article from book designer Kimberly Glyder with her favorite book covers of 2021. Her bio:
Kimberly Glyder’s studio specializes in book design, illustration and lettering. Her work has been featured in the AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers show, the Type Director’s Club Annual Exhibition, Print magazine, American Illustration, the American University Presses Book Jacket and Journal Show, and the New York Book Show.
As seen in the last line above, the 2014 logo is a simplification of the 2000 logo, sans the “old-person” wreath, and I thought quite successful:
Fast-foreword (ahem) to 2021, and the monochromatic, flat-logo thing is in full swing. The latest “old-person” target is the Cadillac script, replaced with another trendy item, a custom “Cadillac Gothic” font.
Not only that, but there’s the new trend among luxury automobiles — mere cars aren’t good enough — of illuminated logos;
Specialty paper manufacturer Neenah has announced a refresh to its Classic paper swatchbooks that makes bringing designs from digital workspaces to the physical world, including a significant revamping of the numbering system, optimized for the Neenah Swatch Pro extension for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.
I’m a sucker for good paper — many of you know I started in print work, and to this day, prefer it over digital destinations. Neenah manufactures Classic Textures (think: linen, laid, etc.) that have been with us forever and are still very much appreciated when it comes time to put ink of paper. Literally. An extension that makes it easy to see what that looks like — something as simple as a number, like Pantone — is fantastic.
LitHub has posted an article about what the author terms, “The 25 Most Iconic Book Covers in History.” (See the BBC’s article, previously.) Hard to disagree with LitHub’s choices, either:
Some were less familiar to me —wherein I’m familiar with the work if not the cover — but awesome nonetheless:
2001-29- Matt Flynn 039
And then there are the covers that spawned movie posters, like this one:
My personal favorite, which also falls into the movie category, is a Chip Kidd masterpiece:
Please enjoy the whole article, including both the bonus items at the end and some excellent suggestions in the comments. (Via Kottke.)
“It’s like being a musician in front a big audience. You can’t get it wrong. In that instant, you have to be the best of yourself, you bring your mind to a place, not to lose that unique moment.” Hélène Binet is explaining her commitment to working with the venerable techniques of analogue, as opposed to digital, photography[…].”
She manages to capture exactly the kind of thing I strive for — potentially abstract, detail-oriented, yet somehow . . . different:
Many, many moons ago, my late sister attended Vassar College. I had an occasion to stay in Poughkeepsie, NY, where Vassar is located, and went over on a beautiful morning and spent some time wandering around with the Leica.
It’s a beautiful campus; a mix of modern, mid-century, and classic architecture — with a little mid-century thrown in:
For many years, Vassar was a women’s (-only) college, and it was nice to find the National Landmark observatory building — a reminder that even in the 1800’s, women were doing scientific research:
The New England building:
An enjoyable visit, a beautiful, incredibly well-tended campus, and a tranquil late summer morning at a renowned college. I was delighted to visit, and pleased with the resulting photographs. See the rest here.
