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]
“
Big Mike Takes Lunch” by filmmaker Nicolas Heller, is a documentary that captures a day in the life of Michael Saviello, manager for 40 years of the iconic East Village barber shop, Astor Place Hairstylists, who paints on his lunch break. [BV]
Observed | November 12
Artificial Intelligence is
mapping the Pacific ocean’s secret soundscape in hopes of building the most comprehensive dataset of its kind – an enormous “sound postcard of the ocean.” [BV]
Metal band accused of quitting a tour because their logo was too small on the flyer
responds with a tiny logo t-shirt. (via
James I. Bowie) [BV]
Observed | November 09
Brilliant Maps is “making sense of the world, one map at a time” and includes maps of “Countries Which Have At Some Point Claimed To Be Rome’s Successor” and “A Map of Superheroes in NYC & The Areas They Protect”. [BV]
“
Bob Neill’s Book of Typewriter Art” from 1982 contains instructions for creating a likeness of Queen Elizabeth, Elvis Presley, numerous cats, and a mystery picture all in ascii. (via Blake Eskin) [BV]
Observed | November 08
Should I delete my social media? Five artists + writers weigh in. [BV]
Fabulous
1970s stock photo model shots: these were the archetypal 1970s faces and fashions. [BV]
What do our oldest books say about us? On the ineffable magic of four little manuscripts of Old English poetry. [BV]
Observed | November 07
The epic rise and fall of the name
Heather. [BV]
Sixty-four extreme
human emotions visualized, long before the emoji. [BV]
Observed | November 05
Almost published a number of times over the last 30 years,
Julius Scott’s manuscript about slaves and sailors in the Caribbean has been an underground sensation and is finally being published. [BV]
While rumors of
humans wiping out 60% of animal species been widely mischaracterized, the actual news is still grim. [BV]
Observed | October 31
“I see each commission as a challenge: write a piece of music which lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes, for an orchestra comprising the following 65 instruments, and we’d like it by this date.”
Nico Muhly on designing music. [BV]
Boo! The spooky evolution of
text message-based horror stories. [BV]
Observed | October 30
In case you need a distraction:
A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions. [BV]
The singular, cultlike status of
the Kit Kat bar in Japan. [BV]
Observed | October 29
The use of skulls as design elements in American logos quintupled as the US went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. (via
James I. Bowie) [BV]
Observed | October 26
The question of whether time moves in a loop or a line has occupied human minds for millennia. Has physics found the answer? [BV]
Apple’s radical approach to news curation:
have humans make selections rather than machines. [BV]
Observed | October 25
“What you do is you contribute these little background moments to people’s lives, and if you can do it in a way that brings a little beauty or pleasure along the way, it’s a home run.”
Michael Bierut on his career as a designer. [BV]
The
New York Times was one of the last American daily newspapers to add color to its news pages.
Here’s why. (via Steven Heller) [BV]
Why are we still
arguing for the business value of design? [BV]
Observed | October 24
Social media is not literature, and tweeting is not writing.
Imagining Herzog as status updates. (via
Arts and Letters Daily) [BV]
So. Is “
hipster design” really a thing? [BV]
Observed | October 23
“Even after the word disruption lost its meaning from overuse, it still suffused our understanding of why the ground beneath our feet felt so shaky.”
An alternative history of Silicon Valley disruption. [BV]
US political campaigns seem to be
moving away from the traditional red, white, and blue color palette. (via
James I. Bowie) [BV]
Observed | October 22
Brutally Honest is a new book out from Emily Ruth Cohen with advice, insights, and best practice business strategies. [BV]
