“The Lost Art of Postcard Writing”

(postcard c. 1909, via The New York Review of Books)

“Journalism Warning Labels” by Tom Scott
(first discovered via boingboing)

“Happy Birthday, Steven Heller” from Jessica Helfand
(via Design Observer)

The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” cover by Chris Ware

The new Moleskine Passions notebooks

“Moleskine Passions is a collection of six different journals to record and recall memories, thoughts and notes about six different passions: Recipes, Wine, Book, Film, Music and Wellness…” —Moleskine press release

(Last week when I attended the TDC’s “The Night of the Italians,” designer Francesco Cavalli of LeftLoft,
 showed his color-coded redesigns for the Moleskine brand (which most us of are very familiar with). Does anyone know if he worked on this new line too?)

(discovered via NotCot)

Rachel Berger’s 100 Colors, 100 Writings, 100 Days,
a project “generated in Michael Bierut’s 100 Day Workshop at the Yale School of Art”
(discovered via Design Observer)

piquant:

Westinghouse advertisement by Paul Rand

(via Design Observer)

geoweasel: shaneblog: breefield: nath:

The Writers Block Kit is a project by NY designer Elizabeth Dilk.

After researching the many known strategies and exercises that can stimulate creativity, Elizabeth gathered several items that can boost the writers inspiration and give encouragement for them to refocus on their work and turned them into a package. One of the tools, for instance, is a box of pre-chewed pencils so you can skip the chewing and start writing.

“Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami last night accepted Israel’s prestigious literary award, the Jerusalem prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society, despite opposition from pro-Palestinian groups…” (via guardian.co.uk)

The Kindness of Strangers, an excellent article written by Jessica Helfand (via Design Observer)

Writing 101: Visual or Verbal? by Ellen Lupton

On AIGA’s site Ellen Lupton raises some interesting questions:

“…How are graphic designers learning to write? Since the late 1970s, a movement known as Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) has argued that writing should be taught in every course on campus, not just in specialized composition courses. Because each discipline—from art to engineering—has its own standards and conventions, faculty in each field should be teaching its own practitioners how to write. Yet few design educators have the time or confidence to load this duty on to their studio courses…”

Ellen Lupton will be teaching a Writing Course in the Spring 2009 semester for Graphic Design MFA students at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). For most of us not able to take her course, the online syllabus provides a great reading list.

(painting above by Ellen Lupton)