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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/health/webmd/main4186005.shtml

(WebMD) Coffee drinkers, rejoice. While you might be using it for a “pick-me-up,” coffee may also be extending your life.

Whether you are on a first-name basis with your barista or simply refueling from the office coffee pot during the day, new research suggests that drinking coffee, even in large amounts, might help you live longer.
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I picked up Graphic Design: A New History by Stephen F. Eskilson a few weeks ago, and have meant to post this ever since. I’ve just skimmed it mostly so far, but it looks like a nice companion, but not likely replacement, to Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.

Shout outs:

WTG Art Chantry. I’d be surprised if you weren’t included in some way or another.

But I was totally impressed when I got to nearly the last page and saw this!

AWESOME!!!  WAY TO GO LEIA BELL!!!!!
Here’s a blurry shot of the text…

Over at DesignObserver.com Steven Heller has a great article up about the use of Letraset press-type. 

Somehow, over the years I’ve stumbled upon sheet after sheet of this abandoned typographic technology. And when I would use these sheets in various design projects around people who were forced to actually rely on them back in the days before computers, I would get rolled-eyes and long sighs of remembered frustration. But for me, they are so much more interesting and expressive due to the tedious nature and inherent flaws. Not to mention the fact that many of my press-type sheets are SO old and crusty, that even when applied with the greatest of care, the letters crack and move and land on the page looking like they’ve been run over with a steamroller. Perfect!

Each time I use these letters, they go away forever. More or less. And so sometimes I have to really weigh out whether or not I feel like a particular project is *worth* using these letters on. Because before we know it, these little gems will be pretty hard to come by. So I’m going to hang onto mine and maybe scan them in at some point. Who knows. And who knows in 10 or 20 years if we’ll look back and laugh at ourselves for wading through endless fonts, and actually typing with our fingers rather than just designing with our minds or something.

Some examples…

detail ^

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Variants:

I found a few nice buys on a recent outing to the Community Thrift Store with my wife and her sister. One was a stupid non-ironic t-shirt with a family of white-tigers lounging in the jungle, another was a blue striped polo shirt worn by some senior citizen in 1983, next was an amazingly illustrated Family Health book, and the last was a true thrift-SCORE.

It’s a copy of Eric F. Goldman’s Rendezvous with Destiny:A History of Modern American Reform. WOW! I’m sure you’re reeling with excitement, just as I was when I saw the title! What could make for a better summer read than a commentary on American political reform written in 1955? OK. Honestly? I looked at the cover and was immediatly willing to throw down 44 cents on this amazing bookcover. The title is in this fantastic hand-rendered lettering which is clearly by the same hand that drew a striped, minimal, yet messy eagle. 

Then below the eagle, I saw a signature that I was almost certain said Ben Shahn, or something like that. HEY I know that name! He did the… poster? Of the… uh… I KNOW THAT NAME.

Of course Shahn is most widely known for his disturbing depiction of Nazi brutality in this poster. But there are many other great works that I’ve stared at for hours in my Meggs’ History of Graphic Design attributed to Shahn. And you can see many of them at the Art Directors Hall of Fame.

Enough with the bloggery, here are the pictures:

Not only am I busy feeding/changing/entertaining/etc… this awesome little guy

I’ve also got a TON of projects going on. And there’s something about this time of year that makes me get out and catch up on all of that yard-work that I’ve been putting off for a really R-E-A-L-L-Y long time. I mowed, weedeating is tomorrow, planted some grass seed in some bald spots in the front yard, trimmed some trees and bushes, bagged up a bunch of clippings including about a hundred billion acorns that have been accumulating to the side of our driveway. Things look much better. 

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