Exquisite end papers

/


The Persephone Classics series boasts some very colorful book cover art such as the one above for Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (originally published in 1938). As well, all of their books feature exquisitely patterned end papers created by notable textile designers from the period.

A strange and wonderful journey...

/


Insel Verlag books, above, found in an amazing website of epic and curious proportions: Full Table. "It's bigger than you could ever think — just explore — no clues from me," says the site author Dr. Chris Mullen. This is a website experience equivalent to visiting the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Confusing, confounding, crazy… awesome! I'm posting this on Sunday evening so if you happen to be looking for something to take up the last hours of your weekend, I recommend clicking through Full Table.

Designer Scoop

/

The ice cream season is happily upon us. Many thanks to Vicki Lam and Christina Yan for their inspired photography which graces the cover of the summer issue of the magazine (out July 2nd!)

Watch for tasty ice cream recipes in the Sweets column written by Tara O'Brady.

And if you are looking for the mercedez-benz of ice cream scoops, look no further than Sherman Kelly's classic 1935 design (as pictured below.) Made of aluminum and equipped with its own defrosting system, this scoop is easy to use, non-stick and easy on the eyes. Once you try it, you'll never go back. Available at the Moma Store.

 

Type Tuesday: Truck Gallery

/


Here are some shots of a client design project I completed just before my Scandinavian holiday. Resonant Dialogues is a five book box set in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Truck gallery (aka Second Story art Society). Thanks Renato and Linda, it was a pleasure to work with you on this. The book was printed by Printcrafters (they print UPPERCASE magazines and books). Check out the alignment of the Truck logos on the book spines. nice!

Would you like one of these sets? On Friday, I'll draw names from everyone who answers this question for the magazine (leave your comments in the Pantone post). The sets are also available at Truck for $25.

The future of graphic design

/

Vikki Miller has an interesting article on her blog about the future of graphic design in a "communicate it yourself" society.

"I dare say that Communicating It Yourself (CIY) will revolutionise society and the time we dedicate to actually creating something, it will become an outlet for personal communication of thoughts and opinions and a commercial outlet for advertising and branding. Personal expression has already been occurring for years, for example protests are currently a feast of CIY signs and placards that people use to show their upset and, although it’s on-screen, things like My Space and Live Journal have been around, and popularly used to blog personal opinions, thoughts and happenings, for almost a decade. None of this is a new concept or idea, but the volume of usage and the companies and brands that will start to adopt this new CIY style and, therefore, the places we see CIY, will be an utterly new surprise."

Glacial Erratics

/


Glacial Erratics is the occasional paper blog (affectionately called as a "plog"©) written by my husband Glen Dresser. I designed the first edition which was published last May and it features Lisa Brawn's woodcuts and folds out to reveal a poster of Queen Elizabeth. In addition to excerpts from Glen's second novel, Glacial Erratics includes an interview with our friend Correy Baldwin, poet and publisher, as well as musings on the creative writing process.

Swedish Beauty Bible

/


This "Beauty Bible" has a pretty cover design, nice layout and great photography. I kept spotting it in bookstores around Stockholm. It was designed by Eva Lindeberg with photography by Jenny Grimsgard. Since I can't read Swedish—nor do I wear makeup—this is a book like an expensive designer dress: best left to be admired on someone much more glamourous than little ol' me.

Penguins cross the pond

/

 

I was browsing through a local Chapters bookshop yesterday and came across a selection of Penguin classics  with patterned hardcovers so handsome, I was inspired to put Dostoyovesky's Crime and Punishment on my spring reading list.

The series was released in 2008 but exclusively available at Waterstones in the UK. Lucky for us Canucks, these penguins have finally made it across the pond.

Designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith in collaboration with a team of literary theorists, the covers elegantly represent key elements of the books' enduring themes and historical contexts. Candelabras, sheeves of wheat, wandering swans, creeping ivy -- the design icons and motifs convey hints about the stories and their unique settings. The intense geometric pattern on the Dostoyevsky cover matches the narrative's notorious psychological and moral complexity.

 

To read more of Bickford-Smith's insights on book cover design, visit the The Penguin Blog. For a full list of titles in this series and to find a location near you that carries them, visit Penguin.

 

H2O

/

My Art Central neighbours, DaDe Art & Design Lab, have installed an impressive sculpture in their gallery. H2O is a collaborative 10-foot tall sculptural piece by Darcy Lundgren, Greg Fraser & Phillip Baldwin constructed out of approximately 400 empty Christian Lacroix Evian bottles, hand tied and suspended by two lines into a massive droplet shape. The empty bottles were collected by two local restaurants, Teatro & Alloy.

wow.

/


My hands are shaking and my heart is fluttering.

The idea of publishing a magazine has been floating in my mind for many years, but I didn't make the decision to proceed with it until this past Christmas. Deidre and I began working on it in earnest in January. I still can't quite believe that we accomplished so much in just three months. UPPERCASE magazine is really the culmination of a dozen years of freelance graphic design experience and four years of this creative entrepreneurial adventure called UPPERCASE. All the skills I have acquired over the years have been put to use... and then some! It has been an amazing learning experience and so creatively satisfying.

Blanca Gomez provided the perfect cover image. Blanca, I am so grateful for your generosity. Thank you.

Deidre, thank you for your inexhaustable flow of ideas. And for truly putting your heart into it.

Thank you, Glen, for writing some terrific articles and for listening to me talk about the minutiae of the magazine's progression.

The shipment of magazines is on its way from Winnipeg and we expect them tomorrow. Everything's on schedule for the launch celebration this Thursday from 5pm - 9pm. In the meantime, I'm transforming the gallery space for the treehouse show, adding new subscribers (thank you!), filling our biggest Eclectonote order ever, and sending out Jen11 orders. I'm going to leave this post up for a while, to bask in the moment... and I've got a lot more work to do!

See you on Thursday!

Jazz on paper

/

A Paris exhibition entitled,'The Jazz Century' at the Musee du Quai Branly celebrates the genre's dazzling and eclectic impact on 20th Century visual culture. Music enthusiasts will appreciate Lionel Shriver's review essay, 'My Kind of Blue' in the Guardian. If you can't make it to gay Paris, click here to see more images from the exhibition.

Album cover by Alex Steinweiss, 1940. Photograph: Paris, Collection privee (courtesy the Guardian).

Love for Communication Arts

/

Thank you to the fine folks at Communication Arts who have been very supportive of UPPERCASE's publishing endeavors. Today they've included a link to our magazine in their news section. And if you pick up the current issue (with an excellent timeline of the history of Communication Arts magazine) there is a mention of Work/Life: the UPPERCASE directory of Canadian Illustration & Photography in the Resources section. I've been reading CA since 1990 when I was a high school year book editor in small-town Saskatoon. It was my introduction to the profession of graphic design.