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RECENT COMMENTS

Today: Holiday Cards 2009 (1)
Tim Brown (1)
DESIS (1)
The Stonework of Jon Piasecki (5)
Stefan Sagmeister (12)

OBSERVED

A teaser trailer has been released for the upcoming documentary The Visual Language of Herbert Matter by Reto Caduff. Here, Jessica Helfand reflects on "All Things Matter" and her personal experience in the darkroom making photograms with this master designer. [WD]

AOL releases its new logo design and brand identity. The redesign by Wolff Olins is reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Christian Science Monitor, Gigaom, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Agency Spy, Brand New and parodied by others... Video of Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, talking about the new logo. [JSC]

Via Citiwire, Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, proposes what he calls "button parks" — networks of small, informal green spaces that could be created by citizen-activists in collaboration with local land trusts.  [NL]

Of the many things we are thankful for, Maira Kalman might just top the list.
[JH]

"Disregarding the fact that you have still not paid me for work I completed earlier this year despite several assertions that you would do so, I would be delighted to spend my free time creating logos and pie charts for you based on further vague promises of future possible payment. Please find attached pie chart as requested and let me know of any changes required." I can safely say that these are my most favorite information graphics of the year, and perhaps ever. (Thanks to James Nesbitt.) [MB]

Instead of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, this online exhibition of more than 250 Polish cinema posters is organized along the lines of "letters, girls and fear," and then when they've exhausted that, there is more letters, more girls and more fear. A beautiful online collection. (Thanks to Marc Alt.) [WD]

"A game of international runic one-upmanship ensued, in which the band with the least legible logo was the most authentic." The evolution of heavy metal design. [MB]

"Beep beep, who got the keys to the jeep?" Behold the power and the glory of Hype Williams. [MB]

In Paris, everything looks like dessert. And previously on DO. [MB]

46 cities from 27 countries applied for the designation of World Design Capital 2012. Guess who won? [JL]

Celebrate the end of 2009, The International Year of Astronomy, with exquisite retro posters by self-taught "math nerd" Simon Page. [MB]

A spectacular gallery of Christmas cards by artists, from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. (Click on the image to see all the others.) (Thanks to Victoria Brown.)
[JH]

New York University’s Urban Design and Architecture Studies program, along with The Sir John Soane’s Museum, is offering an M.A. degree in Historical and Sustainable Architecture. The London-based program will combine “the multiple perspectives of finance, environmentalism, education, tourism, and government policy” to “explore older buildings as assets, not hindrances, to development.” [JL]

Design Observer's Job Board has new jobs in Baltimore, Tel Aviv, SF, Chicago, Seattle, NYC, Menlo Park, Singapore and Minneapolis. Companies hiring include Maryland College of Art, Hewlett Packard, ODA, Vendorsbay, Checkerboard, IA Collaborative, Key Tech, SRI International and Emmis Communication. Post your job today. [JSC]

"Oh my god, it even has a watermark." 100 (really) creative (and really overdesigned) business cards. And, from the good old days: Your business card is CRAP! Paul Allen's card, and the greatest business card of all time. (Via MeFi.) [MB]

The design aesthetics of vampires. [MB]

Packaging something colorless, odorless and nearly tasteless: vodka. [MB]

The story of a beautiful failure: the print redesign for the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger by iA, the Tokyo and Zurich-based firm. The design work was rejected, but it's inspiring. In fact, they applaud the work of the winner of the competition, Tom Menzi. (Thanks to Jay Rosen.) [WD]

The George W. Bush Presidential Library by Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Says Laura Bush: "We're very aware that the presidents are men. They are people. We wanted it to be human in scale." [MB]

Today, thanks to the nonprofit Publicolor, which brightens New York City public schools with coats of paint, Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia is painting the walls of Albert Einstein Intermediate School in the Bronx, having lost a World Series wager with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. [JL]

Jeanne-Claude, who with her husband Christo’ created memorable installations around the world including The Gates (2005), dies at 74. "We will do only what we want, how we want, where we want...but you know, not always when we want." [MB]

A new blog visual theme, Basic Math, has been launched for WordPress. It's designed and developed by Khoi Vinh (of Subtraction) with Allan Cole (of fthrwght). For sale here for $45. We bought our copy today for a new Winterhouse travel blog, so we are clearly fans. [WD]

No kidding, it's World Toilet Day. (Thanks to Cameron Sinclair.) [JL]

Design Observer's Job Board has new jobs in Baltimore, SF, Helsinki, NYC, Barcelona, Blacksburg, Chicago, Savannah and Philadelphia. Companies hiring include Maryland College of Art, Wagic, Nokia, Smart Design, Steelcase Inc., Ziba, Modea, Shure Inc., Acer and Webb Scarlett deVlam. Post your job today. [JSC]

DesigNYC is a new pro-bono design resource with leading designers committing time and resources to a single project. November 30 is deadline for non-profits to apply, according to Architect's Newspaper. [WD]

Early Christmas Shopping Alert: Pop-Up Flea Market this weekend in New York City, with vintage objects by designer/collector extraordinaire JP Williams, and others. [JH]

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