Design Thinking

These simple silk-screened signs from the late 1930s or early 1940s say a lot about the English language and American mores of the times. In just a few words one can guess what kind of establishment (cafe/bar) it was and even speculate as to the clientele. And questions are asked to: Why are ladies not [...]

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I picked up this book years ago because I was astounded by its naïve “design” and its raw unadulterated (hardly PC) presentation of a GI’s view of the Vietnam War.  I also haven’t seen many cartoon-books done by or about Vietnam GI’s. I wouldn’t go as far as comparing it to Bill Mauldin’s “Up Front” [...]

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Let's just agree that this cartoon from 1897 titled "The Impressionist Landscape," needs no explanation. Or does it?

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Core77 2012 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and its practitioners, expanding categories, leveraging online scale, increasing transparency and decreasing plane fuel in the process. "For our second year, we present 17 categories of entry, providing designers, researchers and writers a unique opportunity to communicate the intent, rigor and passion behind their [...]

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You cannot help but love the obsession of designer Mike Joyce. Every chance he gets, he designs a new punk band poster in the Swiss style. Could two aesthetics be so at odds? Apparently not. His website Swissted (go here) is one of the most engaging homages I have ever seen. Though I'm not exactly [...]

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Mad Men season five… about time! But that new outdoor ad of the guy suspended in white space… what's the big idea? It's certainly eye-catching. And it's already become controversial after just a few days. In those respects it may be meant to announce "Don Draper: the George Lois years." People are offended by the [...]

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I spent much of the summer of 2009 locked away studying the visual language of dance notation amongst dancers and choreographers at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Though an abandoned Master's thesis topic, I loved being a guest in their world of taped toes and fingers, listening to headphones blaring classical [...]

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(This piece is a much expanded version of an article co-written with photographer/writer John Gruber for Print Magazine and the British trade mag Ads International in 1998.) The thought of Chicago in the 1920’s usually conjures up images of gangsters, Prohibition, and other Roaring 20’s clichés, but there was another movement in the Chicago area [...]

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Yes, Summer is just a Winter and Spring away, and it is never to early to think of your Summer plans. So, below are a few of the SVA Summer Residency programs that I'm involved with. Covering type, social advocacy, writing and sound. SVA Masters Workshop in Rome May 27 - June 10 Studying graphic [...]

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By Sean Ferry, Senior Producer Creative Development Department It started off as a joke. While the Creative Development Department sat at the captain's table of Fahrenheit 212, they passed ideas around for the annual "dirty Santa," and in an environment where individuals are challenged to exceed expectations, the outcome of "nailing it" is practically expected. [...]

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