The Mastery of Alvin & Elaine Lustig

This afternoon I wandered over to the gallery at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul to check out a fabulous exhibit filled with the work of Alvin and Elaine Lustig. There were almost 500 book, album and magazine covers designed by the amazing couple.

Alvin Lustig accomplished so much in his short life, he died at the young age of forty due to complications with diabetes. He lost his vision towards the end of his life and his wife basically became his eyes, as he would dictate his design ideas to her and she would execute them.

I need to go back again to fully soak in all of the design goodness, and I must order this book asap. If you like books, design or anything from the mid-century era, I highly recommend this exhibit! 

 

 

My Weekly Internet Collection

A short list of things that I found fascinating this week.

1. This article on The Book Deal about book jacket design.

2. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the illustrated version of Food Rules: An Eaters Manual by Michael Pollen, illustrated by Maria Kalman (my idol). 

3. I am obsessed with listening to podcasts of Design Matters with Debbie Millman. She recently interviewed Jake and Pum Lefebure of Design Army. Have a listen.

4. I absolutely LOVE the cover of this book, and I can't wait to check it out. The book trailer animates some of the lovely illustrations by Carson Ellis (The Mysterious Benedict Society). Apparently the baby brother in the story is abducted by a murder of crows and is taken to the impassable wilderness. Sounds wonderfully creepy and weird.

5. I really want to make these Crispy Squash Rounds via How Sweet It Is, such an interesting idea!

Chicago: Part 1

I just returned from a five day adventure in Chicago for the How Design Conference, which was completely inspiring and amazing! I am still organizing all of my notes and thoughts so my first post is all photos. I can't wait to tell you all about the speakers and what I took away from the conference, more soon!

I love this camera store. The sign, as well as the inside are so old school. The place is stocked floor to ceiling with Leica, Mamiya and Rolleiflex cameras, as well as REAL film and many other goodies. I wish there were more stores around like this, it's a little gem!

We stumbled upon this cool Obey mural, it was huge!

The Picasso sculpture in Daley plaza was one of the first major public artworks in Chicago.

The Corn Cob buildings are among my favorite structures in Chicago.

Loved this window display, such crazy detail in the paper cutouts.

I Heart NY

I recently found out that I was accepted into the Milton Glaser summer program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I will spend a week this summer studying with Mr. Glaser himself! He designed the popular I Love NY logo, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2009. He is such a legend in the design world, it will be quite the honor just to be in the same room with him!

I found this video on the Milton Glaser website, and had to share!

New Business Cards?

I am attempting to redesign/update my business cards, as I was still in school the last time I made some, so you could say that I am quite overdue for a new look. My sweet little guy above is on the front of my card now and I would like to do something a bit more sophisticated this time around (see below).



I apologize for not linking correctly to the above images, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I found them! I really like the use of pattern on one side of the card and the simple, yet elegant type on the other. I would love to have a few different patterns on the back side of my cards-how fun would that be? This is more of a longer term project, as I have no dire need for new cards at the moment, just something I like to daydream about in my spare time. Fun!

Daily Type

6/23/09

6/11/09

6/12/09

I love Daily Type, it's truly one of my favorites and unfortunately I forgot about it for a while with so much going on in my Google Reader as of late. The website is run by a couple of Russian Type designers, with the intent of creating and posting daily projects. I love daily goals like this and find them so motivating and inspiring. Anyway, I just wanted to remind myself and share with you all this great site. They really do a great job of posting daily (or close to it!) and I wish I could force myself to be that diligent!

Hot off the Press!

I was too excited to share this project with you, so please excuse the mediocre photos (better ones will be posted on the website soon). I gave you a super lame sneak peek, many posts ago, of the wedding invites I designed for a friend and now they are here! Yay! This was my first letterpress project and now I am truly in love-wooo! And yes, I did indeed make the flower pattern myself!

KT, I hope you like them and thanks so much for including me in the making of your special, special day! xoxo!

Inspiration: Yulia Brodskaya

Found via Design Dust, I couldn't resist posting these amazing paper illustrations by Yulia Brodskaya. I recommend checking out the rest of her portfolio, as it is most impressive. Don't these just jazz up your Wednesday a bit?