on order: it’s nice that 4

the it's nice that guys know what they're doing, i have just placed my order for issue 4.

frietag: my daily reference

one of the best projects i've seen this year, i reckon - stunning design work, an inspiring space for the length of the project and a great, engaging idea using social media. tick, tick, tick!

(admittedly i'm a little biased towards publishing!)

frietag reference: interesting snippets were cut from international newspapers, published online, commented on, collated, printed and distributed as a reference... every day for the month of september.

you can download the whole shebang here.

a good outline of the process here (thanks swissmiss).

wallpaper cover diy…

so the wallpaper diy covers have now been released... and they have released the app to have your own go, here.

...we gave you the chance to play art director for the day and create your own Wallpaper* cover. creative luminaries... contributed a wide selection of images, graphics and patterns to our online cover application, for you to assemble any way you like...

interesting thing is, they all look quite 'wallpaper'... so its a great example of the range that is possible from a limited supply of elements. view here!

such a shame!

grafik magazine has folded.

magculture here is spot on: the magazine’s recent history shows the restrictions of the current publishing models. to succeed, it seems, you must either be a small, independent magazine building slowly from hobby to business, or a multinational business with millions to spend on marketing. anywhere inbetween these two poles is tricky. grafik was stuck exactly between these extremes.

seems unclear yet whether grafik will continue in a digital form...

(via magculture)

after escher

the dilemma for an art director, dealing with a long-running story, can be the same for those actually involved: “how do you deal with a nightmare that’s not going away?”

and so it was for françoise mouly, art editor of the new yorker, in capturing another cover that depicts the bp oil spill. bob staake's after escher: gulf sky and water is a thoughtful depiction of this ecological disaster (detail, left).

staake says “it’s really the ugliest color scheme you could ever imagine... as an artist, it’s completely the opposite of what I’d want to do, but you have to remain faithful to your concept and your idea.” more insights (by writer samantha henig) here.

awesome book

dallas clayton's an awesome book is a beautifully illustrated, self-published book inspiring kids to keep dreaming big...

the awesome world foundation is clayton's project (video here) to donate one book for every one sold. an generous and thoughtful initiative from a generous and thoughtful guy.

please dream for those who've given up, for those who've never tried

(via interview on its nice that)

magculture

excellent resource: mag culture is a blog by renowned magazine designer jeremy leslie.

i remember being shown a copy of a magazine years ago... as leslie notes, the magazine is still going, however under the name of a magazine curated by. the latest issue is curated by proenzer schouler...

the site for this magazine is a great resource in itself. images of the current issue are stunning.

in summary: plonked squarely in my happy place!

time of month…

...when all the interesting magazines seem to be re-hitting the shelves... i picked up the 2nd edition of elephant this week, and it is just as impressively good (!) as the first.

i hope this magazine sticks around - it is beautifully designed, intelligent and inspiring.

it also, i think, avoids drawing too thick a line between artistic and commercial creative work. very relevant to a lot of us.

oh yes… very nice… how much?

the next issue of the fantastic journal its nice that just landed in my letterbox and - for pre-ordering - it came with a beautiful typographic poster by parra...