We finally got back our latest project, Sentence. It’s an illustrated loosely around a poem by Grant Leuning and was worked on between the two YWFT Studio’s. We created the publication so that it can be viewed/displayed two different ways. You can read it like a magazine, from left to right or you can unfold it for larger spreads. It was created around a grid, so the pages somewhat relate to each other, even when out of context.

It’s true. Surfstation is back. It’s interesting to have witnessed the history of design portals on the internet. It seemed like yesterday when K10k, Surfstation, and Design is Kinky ruled the design news planet. I am sure I already forgot about a couple. Check it out though, looks nice.

Its a Friday, so a little extra fun was in store while I took a break from coding. Reading Gizmodo, came across this delicious link. That guy on the front page video is on pure maniac status, who in the hell shaves without gel? I mean common, at least use some soap? That being said, I cannot get Hannibal Lector out of my mind now..

My friend, Emily Anderson has just updated her portfolio with a solid array of work. Of particular interest is her work for American Craft Magazine. It is there that you will see her top notch sense of balance and color. Go have a look.

These days, I would say what one might call himself is very confusing, if your working in the business of ‘Graphic Design’ and work mainly online or in a digital medium. I could get into a long drawn out post here, I originally just wanted to post something about how great a current PHP framework (Code Igniter) is that I am working in. That got me to thinking, do I have any right to say something is good in the programming world? I have no college degree in anything and just learn from forums and guides. I have been a self taught graphic designer and business man for the past 12 years. But at the same time, I have learned the print process, web programming, accounting, shipping business (!?) and many other random bits (plumbing, electrician, janitor), well that just are necessary for my role as a graphic designer, running a business and overall survival. That then begs to ask the question, are you a graphic designer then, if not, what are you?
Read more…

This last year’s show was an open entry exhibit. Normally when you do something like this, you get a couple of good pieces and a lot of not so good ones. This was not at all the case for this show. Shu and I saw that we had enough room (barely) to get all the posters up if we used the walls and fabricated cardboard walls. The posters that did not make it up were ones that did not arrive, or the ones that were too large or heavy that they kept falling down, thus removing themselves from the show. It felt good being able to have everyone’s work up.

The poster show was very well received, a lot of people complimented it and asked questions. A local gallery, Western New York Book Arts Collaborative, asked if they could display it in their gallery and the show may also travel again to ATypeI, the largest type conference in the world. This year it is being held in Russia. That was a great feeling as it has a home and can travel if needed.

Thank you and congratulations to everyone who submitted work. It really was a positive reflection of the current state of typographic design. The pictures shown are primarily close-ups, as the room was dark and I would have needed a professional lighting set up to get decent shots of the posters. These are the best photos that I have of the show, you probably can see random shots if you look around Flickr for some. In no way are these displayed as “the best posters in the show.” They are just the pictures that turned out and fit the vertical format.

Thanks again and next years show will be even better! Thank you to everyone that helped with the show and entered work, it would have been literally nothing without you.

First thing first, thank you to our families, customers and supporters!

Six years ago, YouWorkForThem started out as two guys (Michael Cina & Michael Young) running the business from a spare bedroom in the suburbs of Minneapolis, MN with less than 50 products. Many people doubted us and what we were going to do with this store. But we kept on working and we now handle over 200 fonts, 1300 book titles, 14,000 stock art items, and many more various products. Read more…

Stumbled on this inspiring poster work from Gunter Rambow (prime name right?). It’s perhaps most interesting to look through the work created during a designer, like Gunter’s, entire career.

I met Renata at TypeCon and we got to talking about music, Brazilian music in specific. Anyway she just sent me a movie to check out and clicked on her companies site, Plural. Some great work in there for sure, the navigation took a bit to pick up on, but really like how it works. For sure worth a visit!

Time for another round of staff picks. Download the full PDF here.

All of the links are as follows:

Two Lines Align
Geometry of feelings
Milton Glaser
Pino Tovaglia: The Rule That Corrects Emotion
Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns
AGI: Graphic Design Since 1950
Jan Van Toorn: Critical Practice
Karel Martens: Counterprint
It is Beautiful…Then Gone
Idea Magazine #328
Idea Magazine #316
Typographie: Emil Ruder
Giancarlo Iliprandi: Disengagement

Just got back from TypeCon 2008 and thought I would give a little run down. It was held in Buffalo, NY and was great to see what the home of the Chicken Wing was like.

I got there on Wednesday, July 16th and said my hellos and checked on the poster show. Shu was in charge of the set up so we talked about everything, looked over what came in and was very impressed with the submissions. We decided to put all the submissions in the show, so if you entered, your poster was up (unless it got lost in post or something). I will write another blog entry on the poster show so give me a couple of days to get that up. I have tons of pictures to share of the poster show.

Later that night there was a Stefan Sagmeister event at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum so I hopped on a bus to check it out. Stefan’s speech was great, it was about his book, Things I have Learned in My Life. I really enjoyed his presentation. I really like how he thinks a couple steps beyond design and brings ideas to the masses.

All of the days were packed solid with workshops and presentations. Friday I spoke on a panel about Indie Font Marketing that was moderated by Jan Middendorp. The panel went good, we got to talk about the Black Slabbath punk rock type release party, show the Fred and Sharon Movie and talk about how we really are different from any other type foundry out there. So if you make fonts, hit us up.

Friday night Erik Spiekermann spoke at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. He was his out-spoken “funny” self, but can get a little much after a while. I had to take an extended break in the middle of his presentation and check out the Gallery. I really liked the Gallery a lot, it had a very informal feel to it, very welcoming.

My favorite night was on Sunday night with a trip to the Roycrofter compound. I got to see the community, hear some history and talk to some of the artists there. They had a great dinner for us there and was a great time with great people.

I think my favorite part of TypeCon and why I keep going back is how personal and intimate the conference is. You get to talk to everyone you want to, and everyone is extremely nice. I never will forget when I went to the first TypeCon in Boston, Matthew Carter shows up and we were all geeking out over the fact that he was there. He strolls in when we were eating breakfast on the second day and sits down at my table and just starts talking away. We were all totally nerding out that THE Matthew Carter came to us and was just chatting it up. At the end, he picks up the tab and walks away. I personally think that Matthew set the tone for the conference by being such a humble and caring man. If you have never been to TypeCon, you may want to consider it if you are into type, it really is a unique experience. The next one is in Atlanta, so get ready!