The above is a trailer for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by ex-Pixar animator William Joyce. It looks amazing with loads of interaction throughout the app and really rich animation and graphics. Check out Moonbot Studios as well.

I know what I’ll be purchasing and playing with tonight!

These amazing structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s. They were built to commemorate were WWII battles took place or where concentration camps stood. More of these amazing monuments can be seen here.

The images above are from a series by Jan Kempenaers called “Spomenik: The End of History”. Between 2006 to 2009 Kempenaers trekked through the Balkans to photograph these amazing structures.

I’d love to visit a few of these in person just to have a real idea of the scale of them.

Tomorrow I am going to crack into this little beauty of a book, Just My Type by Simon Garfield. What a great Xmas present.

From what I have read on the inside cover it is a book detailing how fonts took over the world. Why did Barack Obama chose Gotham for his presidential campaign? how did great originators of type from Baskerville and Gill through to Zapf develop fonts?

It also covers the pivotal moments when fonts left Letraset catalogues and were loaded onto computers… and typefaces became something we realised we all have an opinion about. Looking forward to the chapter on Comic Sans then!

It looks a great read, I suggest you check it out.

You can view more info on Simon Garfield’s website.
Also on Amazon and Guardianbookshop.

The point of some of the last posts on this site have been to showcase what people are doing with cutting edge technology, this post is to showcase the everlasting beauty of old school technology. Namely letterpress and the art of relief printing.

I have always loved the process and results generated by letterpress. I still have a couple of mini presses and drawers full of type at my mums house from when I experimented with it an university. Sometimes you just can’t beat getting your hands dirty and being surrounded by physical type and the smell of the inks.

Reverting to Type is an exhibition curated by Graham Bignell & Richard Ardagh, showcasing the work of 20 contemporary letterpress practitioners from around the world.

It looks absolutely stunning, I shall be popping along I suggest you do the same if you’re in or around London over Christmas.

10th–24th Dec 2010 and 4th–22nd Jan 2011
Standpoint Gallery, 45 Coronet Street, London N1 6HD
Open daily 10AM–6PM

Ok so I am obviously like a moth to the flame with info graphics but Francesco Franchi’s work is far too nice not to share with everyone. An Art Director for ‘IL — Intelligence in Lifestyle’ he has amassed a pretty nice body of work.

Lovely Flickr photostream, I like the fact that he has taken the time to photograph his work properly, nice attention to detail.

I had to make a trip into my loft this weekend to get a few things and while I was there I noticed this black box. I had forgotten all about this box, it holds a collection of graphic material that I have collected since I was at college (15 years ago!). So I obviously neglected what I was supposed to be doing and took a trip down memory lane.

I was amazed at what I had collected over the years. Everything is pre-digital and is an incredible array of books, brochures, leaflets, flyers, business cards, post cards etc. It was lovely to hold and feel tangible objects that had numerous printing and binding techniques, there wasn’t a single printed pdf in the whole box.

Now as much as I love digital and archive lots of digital movies, pdf’s, banners, emails, jpgs etc and using the mac I have numerous ways of efficiently browsing and finding exactly the file(s) I’m looking for I haven’t been this excited about looking through an archive for years.

Above is just a small number of items from the box. If you’re interested or are a graphic nerd then there is a brochure by Jonathan Barnbrook for the Virus font, House Industries type brochure, One Dot Zero film festival brochure, D&AD invite, T26 font leaflets, Zip design promo, Designers Republic (RIP) invite, Fuse 11 typeface postcard, Letraset catalogue (which is about 20 years old) and a couple more items going off shot.

I’ll have to post some more as there is some really lovely pieces of print design, especially one from Artomatic.

This is the book that I am currently working my way through at the moment. Ever since I attended Click London last year I have made it a goal to be more aware of what is happening in the advertising world and to follow the biggest transformation in it’s history.

There are a huge number of blogs, press articles, industry talks etc discussing and debating the demise of the traditional ad agency, the role of the traditional creative director and whether or not creative teams are the way future. I have no answers but I know working in digital for the past 12 years that now is one of the most challenging and exciting times within our industry.

Consumers are now infinitely more savvy, networked, social, and importantly more vocal and critical than ever before. We’re all having to work harder to make our campaigns memorable, persuasive and relevant.

Sometimes my head hurts just trying to keep up with everything these days!

Continuing with the advertising influence I grabbed these favourites from the bookshelves this weekend. They’re a continual source of inspiration and are small enough to have a good flick through.

Words of wisdom on every page, from advertising legend Paul Arden.

If you’re going to buy one book this week/month then Creative Mischief by Dave Trott is the one I would pick up. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It works for every creative discipline.

I won’t tell you why. You’ll understand once you’ve read it. Genius.

Dave Trott’s Blog

Very elegant branding, typography and layout from B&W Studio up in Leeds. The minimal application of colour and styling make for very strong, effective pieces of communication. They cleaned up at this years Roses design awards and will no doubt go from strength to strength next year.