breaking bread identity

Aside from the obvious, "OMG mid-century vectors!" Nathan Hintz's identity for Breaking Bread is seriously clever but obvious. They're turning those patterns into notecards for the public, right?

(via Graphic Exchange)

heading home for the holidays y'all.

yeehaw.

coolest dad ever?

well, my dad is pretty rockin, so I'm going to say 2nd coolest dad...
anyway, Christoph Niemann is incredibly clever, witty, and talented. He received well-earned recognition for "I Lego NY" and has a really fun exploration blog through the New York Times. He and his three boys had fun with cookie dough, and it's just the best. Click through to see the full collection (really you must!), but these were some of my favorites.

The eternity one is especially clever and accurate.
Now I've got cookies on the brain...

umbrella ella ella

OKGreat released a shopping alert earlier this week for UK shop Darkroom. Among other things, they featured this wonderful umbrella hand screened by David David.

Finally some shelter from the rain that's less floral and more delightful.

Studio On Fire did it again.

Is it just me, or does the 2011 Studio On Fire letterpress calendar seem like a total steal? With contributions from Adam Garcia, Brian Gunderson, Jessica Hische, We Make It So, and Aesthetic Apparatus printed in four inks by artisans and experts of Studio On Fire, I think they could be charging a lot more for these beauties. I'm in serious love. Order yours (or mine!) through Studio On Fire's delight-full website.

united states

Chicago is full of all kinds of people. I have a (poorly developed) theory that moving into increased diversity makes you own your identity with more awareness. This, combined with the fact that natives of the lower-Midwest are fiercely proud of their respective home states*, makes me very excited to see the fruit of 50 and 50: The State Mottos. A designer from each of the 50 states will be illustrating their state motto...awesome, right?

"Fifty and Fifty is a curated project which attempts to construct a handsome new way of looking at our country. Fifty designers, one per state, will illustrate their state motto, creating something steeped in history but completely modern and unique: a kind of designer's atlas."

The project is still progress, but you can bet your butt I'll be checking back and cheering for Kansan (and fellow Wichitan) Luke Bott. 

*I could drop all kinds of Kansas knowledge right here, but I'll refrain. Check back on Kansas Day: January 29.

(via design work life)

+this is nice for a few reasons

(via design work life)

cupcake characters.

The free typefaces Matilde is noteworthy primarily because it contains a cupcake character. Can you imagine how much more wonderful the world would be if all typefaces were designed to include a cupcake character? Way to give the people what they want Alexander Nedelev and Veronika Slavova. Excellent work.

(via Victoria Pater)

jazz journal

Love these type treatments and patterns from Jazz Journal featured on typegoodness today. 

"The Jazz 2009 Journal is a newspaper sized publication for the 2009 Guimarães Jazz event. Created by Atelier Martino&Jaña, their goal was to create a classic revival object layed with rigurous typography and interesting details that would, at the same time, contrast with the energic handmade graphics of the posters, and still, not look boring."

signs

Anna of Door Sixteen posted an amazing set of photos of "environmental typography" from her collection. Wonderful! 

Children Watching St George Slay The Dragon at The Puppet Theater - Paris, 1963

+binding

(Sarah McReading via The Best Part)

sea power & change

Quiet, tight typography is powerful & wonderful when paired with monochromatic texture. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time.

(album art for Sea Power & Change)

the state bird of Kansas is the meadowlark

Like a good little Kansan, I've been waiting patiently for the fine folks at Dutch Door Press to release a meadowlark print ever since their state birds series got blog props (last year?).
In the meantime, I could definitely find a home for this screen print by bee things. I love the color palette, especially the moss green paper. bee things also has a very appealing gallery of all past work. 

(originally spotted on ffffound!)

+friends of type

(via friends of type)

making economics magical

mad appreciation for these digital Wall Street Journal by the ridiculously talented David Habben. 

(via HABBENINK on Behance)

+classy

(love you friends of type)

farm to city

Sometimes I feel a bit ridiculous trying to verbalize context for the things that I'm posting, because it's all essentially the same: I like it. Otherwise I wouldn't catalog it here, right?
And so it goes. design work life featured a beautiful project by Douglas Richard a few days ago for a Pennsylvania initiative to connect people with local farmer's markets and CSAs. Aside from being kind of a dream job, the results are wonderful.

yup, tis the season!

We're figuring out our family Christmas letter and listening to Sufjan Steven's Songs for Christmas.
(image via Apartment Therapy)

Vasel-what?

Sometime around sixth grade, I decided I wanted to be a food stylist when I grew up. I'm not sure where that idea came from, or where it went, but this article in defense of food stylists was interesting to me. Also, it's Thanksgiving, which makes this slightly more relevant.

(via seesaw)

typozon

I've got a big ole design crush on Cristian Vargas of Typozon, starting with his pretty web navigation and reaching near infatuation with the vibrant colors and clever typography. This kind of energy is contagious, and I'm super psyched about these business cards, among other things. I wanted to include everything, but isn't that the story of my life.

+appreciated.

(via design work life)

mmmm green.

(Christian Flatscher, via pitch)