I don’t normally review books—indeed I hardly even buy physical books any more. Every so often, though, I will step out of the digital sphere and buy one that I really want to read. My recent purchase was LOGO DESIGN LOVE: a guide to creating brand identities by well-known graphic designer and blogger, David Airey.
◥ The first thing I noticed about the book was the wonderfully-embossed text on the front cover. Nice.
I must admit, this isn’t a full in-depth review of the book. To be honest I’m only half way through it, but I thought I’d share some thoughts on what I’ve read and seen so far in this short post.
◥ The content of the book is great. It’s simple to follow and easy to digest. It’s been hard work putting it down, but I have several projects to do so I’ve forced myself to read a little at a time. The way the book is written is rather different to other books I’ve read—and I’ve found myself learning new things already.
◥ In both colour and black and white, this book uses samples of logo and identity work from across the globe. Working process’s are looked at, logos are reviewed and solutions revealed.
On the whole, I’d recommend this to any designer. I have come to respect David’s opinions and expertise over the last couple of years, so reading this has been a real pleasure.
Just a quick post about a poster design I recently produced for the Bob Cheevers tour, which also featured Dominic Finley and Lizzie Nunnery. My last post was about the CD Sleeve I designed for Dominic—and this poster was done straight after to announce that he was touring with the other two musicians.
◥ These PDF Proofs show two versions of the poster design, which announce varied dates and venues.
◥ The posters were supplied in three [European] sizes (A3, A4 and A5)—and also in black & white. Notice that the B+W one isn’t just a direct copy of the coloured one converted to greyscale. I individually lightened the text shades so the whole thing looked sharp and legible.
I love to collect paper samples. As a designer, you never know when one will come in handy—plus they look cool on your shelf! This is one of my favourite collections, Colours by GF Smith Paper. What’s so stunning about this box set is the vast array samples it actually contains. The box set holds four beautifully made books that are packed with textured and smooth paper samples.
If you’re into print design I definitely recommend a set like this. I received it from GF Smith a few years back (for free) and it has been a source of inspiration for me when considering paper types.
As can be seen in the image gallery below, there’s everything from smooth coated stock, to parchment/marbled paper and “Specials“, which contain Metallic Gold, Pearl Ridged and Carbon Papers. Okay, enough waffling, here are the photos which don’t do this fabulous book any real justice…
Do you collect paper samples? Which one’s are your favourite? How often do you use speciality paper stock?
Recently, I had over 4000 My New Business Cards printed, and I had planned to write a post about it. Moreover, I had been toying with the idea of producing a video for this blog for a while now, so I whipped out my HandyCam and filmed this 5-minute video explaining the new business card design.
Okay, it’s my first attempt, so I set the recording resolution too low, it has some random boxes showing at the top of the frame, it was unrehearsed and for some strange reason, I kept saying “urrrr” every 10 seconds. However, I hope you get the gist of what I’m trying the explain.
I discuss the Equest® card I used, 10mm round-cornering, Pantone® spot colors and typography. Here goes:
Every-so-often, I read either a blog article or comments section where a designer has mentioned how great the Moleskine® collection of notebooks and diaries are. The last time I read about one was in an article about journal designs by designer, Kyle Steed. I’m not one to follow the sheep, but on this occasion I thought I’d buy one and see what all the fuss is about.
After ordering my Moleskine® Squared Notebook, I received it after about 3 days (shown below). I must admit, I wasn’t overwhelmed by it at first-glance…after all, it was just a notebook.
I looked inside to reveal 240 double-sided square-printed-pages. At this point, I did start to see the quality of the acid-free paper it was made from (image below).
The notebook isn’t a diary, although there is quite an extensive range of these notebooks available to cater for various tastes and uses. Overall, the design is I think is rather classy―and very functional. It has an elegant elastic band that keeps the whole thing together when closed, and has a page-separating tassel.
Why did I buy it? Well, when I’m out and about measuring-up large-format prints, etc, it sounds like a better prospect than having a stack of loose pieces of paper…which is usually the case. I also plan to carry it with me anywhere I go, so if I have a logo, poster or other design-related idea, I can jot it down and keep my musings in one place.
Have you ever had a Moleskine®? If so, which one did you buy―and did it aid your designs and idea development in any way?
