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Architecture in Music

New Zealand-based photographer Charles Brooks, who happens to have spent years as a professional cellist, brings us some astonishing inside-the-instrument shots, including this one:

1780 Lockey Hill Cello. © Charles Brooks

The Colossal post, where I ran across this, is definitely worth a read. But let me just add one thing: He’s using an L-mount (yes!) Laowa probe lens, an insightful choice driven by curiosity. Well done, sir.

His levitation shots are killer, too. And there’s behind-the-scenes (literally) stuff on his blog. Oh, and his logo is fantastic.

Score! (Sorry — had to say it.) Go visit.

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NPR’s Books We Love, 2021 Edition

NPR's Books We Love 2021

Books We Love is NPR’s annual, interactive, year-end reading guide. (You might have known us as the Book Concierge, but this year we got a makeover! We’ve changed our name and adopted a warm and welcoming new look.) What hasn’t changed is the annual bounty of hand-picked books. Mix and match tags such as Book Club Ideas, Biography & Memoir or Eye-Opening Reads to filter results and find the book that’s perfect for you or someone you love.

Always a dependable list, this year in a slightly different wrapper. Enjoy. (Previously: 2020, 2019.)

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Letterpress Typeface from Plymouth Press

Letterpress type, digitally

James Brocklehurst is leading a new kind of innovation method for typography, harking back to the good old days of the letterpress. The technology uses scanned letterpress prints for each letter, and through scripting, randomly cycl[ing] through a range of alternate letterforms whilst you type.

The font uses OpenType scripting to automatically cycle through a range of alternate glyphs for each character, giving a ‘random’ appearance as you type. (Alternates can also be chosen manually in supported applications.) Very nice, and if you jump through some hoops, some neat results:

Letterpress type, digitally

It’s display only — no numbers, limited punctuation — but absolutely worth the download. And did I mention it’s free? Go!

(Via It’s Nice That. Thank you.)

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Washington Post’s Best Book Covers 2021

WP Best Book Design 2021

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.

Check her “best of” at the WP, and stay tuned for more 2021 lists next month.

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Peace, Ken Garland

RIP Ken Garland

All of us recognize this symbol:

Peace!

Now, let’s take a moment to celebrate the creator: Ken Garland. Not your typical graphic designer, he reached out, embraced the 1960’s and ’70s, and never looked back.

I couldn’t remember where I’d heard his name until I realized he was in toy and game design, and likely mentioned in one of the toy books I’ve worked on over the years. But there’s so much more. Read more of his life story at Dezeen (“Graphic designer Ken Garland dies aged 92“) and It’s Nice That (“Adrian Shaughnessy on Ken Garland, a ‘disruptive and questioning spirit‘”).

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Mercer University Gallery Updated

Memorial Day weekend brought what is likely the last of the spring-like weather to Middle Georgia, and while it lasted, I was out with the camera. This time, the beautiful, historic Mercer University campus here in Macon:

That building is from the 1800’s. The bear — and the building in the background — are not:

Had my black-and-white “classic camera” filters handy, too (same building in the background, FYI):

Mercer2021-3

Thirty new photographs join the Mercer University gallery. Peruse, purchase, or just enjoy.

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A History of Arab Graphic Design

A History of Arab Graphic Design is easily the best introduction to the history of modern Arab visual culture on the market today. It lacks the jargon of exhibition catalogues, leans heavily on visual sources, and dismisses some previously held assumptions about Arab art[.]

Something for those of us in the West who sometimes suffer from Western-centricity. More at the Brooklyn Rail.

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In Stitches (of CMYK)

In “XXXX Swatchbook,” Evelin Kasikov explores all of the variables of CMYK printing without a single drop of ink. She catalogs primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, two-dozen combinations showing how rotation affects the final pigment, and a full spectrum of rich gradients. In total, the printing-focused book is comprised of four base tones, 16 elements, and 400 swatches of color entirely hand-embroidered in 219,647 stitches.

Six years. Six years.

More @ Colossal.