dConstruct is all over for another year.

Highlights for me were the insanely personable Tom Coates and his talk, “Designing for a Web of Data” and Cameron Moll on “Good vs Great Design“. No real lowlights, other than that I wished Denise Wilton and George Oates had a bit of a Q&A at the end of their talk… actually, a bit more Q&A all round would have been nice. Oh, and free coffee during the day would have been cool too.

What I really enjoyed, though, was meeting (meatspace social networking?) a lot of lovely like-minded folk. What’s even better is I’ve come out feeling incredibly invigorated and excited about what I do for a living — which really is a superb and unexpected bonus!

And the beer was nice too.

Actually, I have another low: Because I’m feeling more excited I’m up at eleven thirty on a Sunday finishing off a draft for an antikewl redesign — when I really should be in bed!

Through June, Creative Review are following the daily life of a graphic designer.

Michael Place, from London agency Build, “has agreed to record everything that he does during this period. Every piece of work. Every idea. Every presentation. Every meeting.”

“You’ll thrill as he meets his bank manager. Gasp as he checks some proofs. Marvel as he tours exotic locations such as Walthamstow and Epping Forest. All will be revealed.”

After forgetting about the new London 2012 Olympics logo for a week I stumbled upon this post at Design Observer. I did love that Sun headline. Anyway, to try to forget this “cool” new rave identity (at least until it gets plastered over every billboard in town) I decided to do a little search for one of my favourite Olympics identities of the past: Otl Aicher’s work for Munich 1972.

Here’s what I found:

72 Exhibition
1972 Munich Design Report Flickr set
1972 Munich Olympics Flickr set
Otl Aitcher and the Munich Olympiad Flickr set
Otl Aicher: Utilitarian Design

The typographic geek inside me finds this two-sided notebook from Veer incredibly amusing. Featuring quotes from Helvetica, the documentary film by Gary Hustwit, in 3pt type it’s available direct for $22 if you’re in the US. If you’re outside the US I’m afraid you’re out of luck. (via swissmiss)

Jenny at The Blackwing Diaries has a great set of scans from this 60s Disneyland book “How to Draw Goofy: A Walt Disney Character Model Guide”. I particularly like the quote from Walt Disney himself.

Part one: Cover and Walt’s quote.
Part two: Page scans.

John K has a great post on Feodor Rojankovsky’s illustrative paintings over at his blog today.

Rojankovsky (1891-1970) was a Russian-born artist best known for his animal-filled childrens illustrations. “Two great events determined the course of my childhood. I was taken to the zoo and saw the most marvellous creatures on earth: bears, tigers, monkeys and reindeer, and, while my admiration was running high, I was given a set of color crayons.”

More of his work for children can be found here and here. He also drew lady parts. Um, that last link probably isn’t safe for work.

The Skirball Cultural Center in LA is currently hosting an exhibition of Saul Bass’ film-based work until April 1st. I missed the show at the Design Museum in London a couple of years ago and kicked myself that I did. If you’re near to the sunny part of California it might be worth taking a look.

A bit early, but it’s the last chance I’ll get. Thanks for reading! I’ll leave you with another great post from Stuff from the Park. Not only does he have a fantastic poster from Disneyland, New Year 1962 but there’s also a fantastic photo of the Pirates of the Caribbean model used in the 1965 Disneyland 10th anniversary show.

See you next year!

I think I’m going to forget all I’ve read about Die Hard 4’s title and who it’s being directed by and move swiftly on — possibly forgetting that the whole thing ever happened. Perhaps I should just be grateful that it’s no longer called Die Hard 4.0… on account of the plot revolving around an internet-based terrorist organisation… *lone cough in silence*

Here’s something that caught my eye… Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) are collaborating to produce an exploitation horror/slasher double bill called “Grind House” in the vein of those 70s horror flicks with fantastic posters (but were actually total crap). Both filmed in Texas, Death Proof, Tarantino’s movie, stars Kurt Russell as a mad man hell-bent on killing hot chicks with his big car (”sort of a slasher film, but instead of a knife, it’s a car”), and Planet Terror, Rodriguez’ half, is a zombie movie starring Rose McGowan with a machine gun for a leg.

It all sounds too good to be true… but there’s more! They’re also shooting fake trailers for spaghetti western, blaxploitation, sexploitation and kung fu movies which will show between the two films. Want more? One of the trailers will be directed by Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead) and another by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel). If all that wasn’t enough, check out these gorgeous teaser posters.

It’s unusual to see the flip side to the debate on web site accessibility. Jeff Croft offers one here:
“I believe too many people are trying to make accessibility a binary (yes or no) matter. It can’t be. It has to be a continuum.”

read more | digg story