360 : my collection

Ok, ok. Just to make a little disclaimer here, you will not be needing to call Hoarders on me. I usually don't like my life cluttered, and seriously despised all my mom's little "dust collectors" when I was growing up. But I guess I have become a collector. At least for now. Surprisingly, I'm ok with that.

359 : letterpress ampersands

My current obsession.

349 : type calendar

Coolest calendar ever. A different font every day of 2011? I think I need to order me one of these. Although I have a strange suspicion that it'll cause my font "wish-list" to grow. Which may or may not be a bad thing :)

341 : distressed signage

I love photography. Taking pictures soothes my soul. I've already talked about my love for photographing rust and spider webs in this blog, but I've also really gotten into photographing distressed signage (Big shocker, I know). There's something about paint chipping off letters, and (another shocker) rusty letters that makes my heart happy.

340 : ampersand finds

I've been good. For the past few months, I've curbed my ampersand addiction. But tonight while putting some finishing touches on my holiday shopping, I found this beauty. It's solid wood and about 4" wide x 6" high. It's amazing how happy one little hunk of wood made me tonight. <3

334 : wrapping presents

I'm sure by now you may have touched on the fact that I can be a little neurotic in my quest for perfection during the holidays. What's funny, is as much as I like shopping for loved loves, I like wrapping presents even more.

My mom doesn't understand why I'd buy wrapping paper when she has tons of rolls in her garage (snowmen and Santa printed, no doubt) and I'm sure Jeff thought I was nuts when I took forever picking out the perfect paper. But in the end, my neurosis paid off... super cute presents now fill the living room.

333 : letter ornaments

Last year the type lover in me wanted a typography themed tree. So being the resource girl that I am, I grabbed my white chip board letters and went to town. The result was cute, but the letters, not being ornaments, didn't cooperate quite as I was hoping, and would constantly fall off.

This year, I found some amazing metal letters from Restoration Hardware to adorn my tree. Who knew little metal letters could make a girl so happy. If only they had ampersands...

322 : linotype : the film

You have no idea how bad I want to see this... Hurry up and come out already!

286 : body type

I have no plans of ever getting a tattoo, but I think some of the reasoning behind getting a tattoo can be rather interesting. Being the lover of typography that I am, this book titled, Body Type by Ina Saltz, caught my attention. An entire book (with a Body Type 2) dedicated to typographic tattoos and the reasoning behind each tattoo. I've seen the ampersand done numerous times, and it's a pretty graphic, I'll give them that, but tattooing the name of a typeface on your arm? Now that's just ridiculous.

Check out the website to find out more.

279 : good fucking design advice

Today I stumbled upon the website, goodfuckingdesignadvice.com. Yes, I know it's kinda harsh, but that is what makes it's funny... its blatant, no nonsense statements related to design (ironically, I got the one above about Comic Sans). And the site is full of advice. Each time you visit the site (or click the button for more advice), you'll be taken to a new statement.

Offended by the use of the f-bomb? You're in luck. There's a family friendly version...

277 : comic sans (gasp!)

Clearly, I'm no stranger to typography. I've posted about it dozens of times on this blog. But today, I feel compelled to post about the black sheep of fonts, Comic Sans.

I really like what Tom Fauls has to say about Comic Sans in the above video. I do however disagree with the argument that it's not a well designed font because the default kerning is bad. Um, we're designers, people, we shouldn't be dependent on default kerning anyway. And it's overused? Seriously? What about Helvetica? Should we all hate that because you can't drive down the street without seeing it? I think not.

While I get the majority of the design world absolutely despises the font, I think it's ironic that one single font can't cause so much negative emotion in people. Love it, or hate it, I really don't care. Comic Sans has it's place in the world, just like every other typeface out there. I really don't see the sense in devoting so much time and energy into hating something that you have no control over. Don't want to see CS? Then don't use it.

"Good typography should be like a wonderful, clear crystal goblet that holds wine. Much better than a golden goblet, with jewels on the outside. Because the point of the crystal goblet is that you can see the wine on the inside; you can appreciate the colors of it." Tom Fauls

I completely agree. And if you can do this and use Comic Sans...well, the more power to you.

I did however, get a laugh out of this...

276 : house industries fish

For the past few years House Industries has been full of fun and interesting objects and type; many of which have been talked about on this very blog. Well, they seem to be doing it again. These wooden fish are super cool and oh-so minimal.

275 : flow charts

I like things neatly organized, and I'm also a terrible decision maker. Maybe that's why I find flowcharts so interesting. Some of them have so much thought put into them, it's pretty amazing; and some are just plain comical. And although I like the way they look and the organization and thought process that goes into it, do I think you should use a chart to make decisions....absolutely not.

 

I'd say, if you even need to ask whether you can date a person or not, the answer is probably "no". But hey, that's just me.

270 : type memory

Some of you may be thinking that this is yet another typography post... and you're right. But this was just too cool to pass up: a typography memory game. No longer are you matching barn animals or cartoon characters; this set of memory is for the serious type lover. The game includes 25 different typefaces including Akzidenz Grotesk, Baskerville, Centaur, Garamond, Helvetica Rockwell, Times New Roman, Univers and many more. So cool.

To get your own set click here.

269 : moonstruck packaging

I'm definitely a minimalist girl. Clean, modern lines, and tons of negative space makes me one happy girl. But occasionally, I'll see something elaborate that speaks to me. The newly designed chocolate bar packaging for Moonstruck was designed by typographer Kate Forrester, is one of those things. Love the hand-drawn lettering and drawings. So pretty.

268 : ampersand tote

I love these ampersand totes. In the time of everyone going green, and bringing their own reusable bags, these bags are way more me than the traditional ones found in the stores. Funky fonts and bright colors make them scream "type nerd" and that, my friends, is a title I wear proudly.

262 : bare essentials for the graphic designer

This poster by gridlondon.com cracked me up today. But more than just a humorous take on the profession I love so much, I realized just how true a lot of this was...and luckily how many of these things I actually posses (if I do say so myself). Would love to have this on my wall (although I'm not really a "posters on the wall" kinda girl, and the underline under the title bugs me...come to think if it, scratch that about putting it on the wall) I would however, love to know why a gun made the list...I know my office can be (shall we say) colorful, but a gun, really? I think I'll do without that one.

249 : welovetypography.com

When I have the desire (which is often) to look at beautiful typography, I head over to welovetypography.com. A compilation of various images of type from all over the web, this site definitely feeds my need for visual stimulation.

241 : type nerd t

LOVE this.

239 : house industries

Over the past few years, I've become seriously obsessed with House Industries. Not only do they have some amazing fonts (Day 191) but they've come out with some crazy beautiful products. In addition to the Alexander Girard blocks from Day 16, there are also these beauties:

Between the Girard alphabet blocks and this set, I know no regular ol' blocks are gonna cut it for my future kids.

And how seriously amazing is this Girard memory game. Love it.