Observed | December 10
What a new retrospective
reveals about Andy Warhol, and about our swerve away from humanism. [BV]
The 1st printing of the
Bolted Book sold out so fast that it’s going into a second printing in January 2019. Sign up now to receive a free custom-designed book display stand. [BV]
Observed | December 07
The boozy and violent story behind
America‘s Eggnog Riot. [BV]
Observed | December 06
#TBT: Vintage tech:
the ballpoint pen. [BV]
#TBT:
The beauty of a well-designed knob. [BV]
Observed | December 05
The
competitive book sorters who spread knowledge around New York. [BV]
What do Dick Bruna’s covers have to do with Japanese matchboxes? This exhibition finally answers that question. [BV]
Observed | December 04
During World War I, in the ensnarled disputes about wartime deception and the equal rights of women, conspicuous “dazzle-painted” ships were condemned as “painted women.”
Social Repercussions of World War I Ship Camouflage. [BV]
Rumsey Taylor, from the New York Times, on All of It from WNYC, about his story “The Mystery Font That Took Over New York.” Joined by Steven Heller about the history of storefront signs in NYC. (17.00 mins or thereabouts) [BV]
Observed | December 03
Mourned by many:
Glamour magazine is gone. [BV]
The new font Berthe, from Abyme,
is featured in the new online publication of Caractères ordinaires. [BV]
Observed | November 30
Beautifully-designed Bauhaus books and journals by Gropius, Klee, Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy and more,
now available for free download. [MB]
Observed | November 29
We live at the end of an era characterized by relentless anxiety around
the self as a product: what it means, who owns it, what it costs, what it’s worth. [BV]
Three innovations that started out as
inclusive design solutions. [BV]
Observed | November 28
A new model for social design? The NYC Democratic Socialists of America offers an interesting example for systematizing volunteer political design work. [BV]
Observed | November 27
Likely the United States’ first woman employee,
Mary Katharine Goddard signed the Declaration of Independence and was a key figure in promoting the ideas that fomented the Revolution. [BV]
Fighting an outlaw biker gang by...
seizing the rights to its logo? [MB]
Observed | November 26
A working guide to the repair of rust, dust, cracks, and corrupted code in our cities, our homes, and our social relations. [BV]
In this age of data and its manipulation, it’s important to remember algorithms are opinions, not truth machines, and demand the application of ethics. Don’t believe us?
Watch this short animated video. [BV]
Observed | November 23
With 26 million TONS of plastic ending up in the ocean every year, we’re thankful for
entrepreneurs like this who can turn a plastic bottle into a fashion statement. [BV]
Ever wondered where Hogwarts is located? Or the Castle of Aaagggghhhh? Check out
Fake Britain: a map of fictional locations in England, Scotland and Wales. (via Blake Eskin) [BV]
Observed | November 21
Glenn Gould’s
heavily marked-up score for the Goldberg variations surfaces, letting us look inside his creative process. [BV]
A visual indulgence:
Brassaï, the outsider who photographed Paris after dark. [BV]
Observed | November 20
Prolific title designer Pablo Ferro is recognized for introducing narrative and nonlinear dimensions to films spanning from
Dr. Strangelove to
Men in Black. Ferro passed on Saturday.
His legacy lives on. [BV]
Because bullshit is almost everywhere, we assume we know how to recognize it and thus what it is.
Subjectivity and its discontents. [BV]
Observed | November 19
Super recognizers: the people who never forget a face. (via Blake Eskin) [BV]
Amazon’s “stealth brands” are represented by $299 crowdsourced logos. (via
James I. Bowie) [BV]
Observed | November 15
Juan Ángel Cotta’s work,
especially a collection of hardback books he illustrated in 1960, is one of the missing links between South American publishing and the European modernist traditions. —Steven Heller. [BV]
Need some inspiration?
25 reasons to keep on making stuff “in this time of rampant assholery.” [BV]
Observed | November 13
Are we confusing readability with literary value?
The case for difficult books. [BV]
Adrian Shaughnessy is a graphic designer and writer based in London. He is a senior tutor in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art and a founding partner in Unit Editions a publishing company producing books on design and visual culture. Scratching the Surface, a collection of his journalism, has recently been published. 
