Jon and Kjell have done it again! Here are a couple screens from a handful of animated wallpapers they produced for Japanese mobile phone company, Iida. Other new work includes a Haiti benefit tshirt, and have you SEEN the Delphic album cover they did recently? If not, its certainly worth a look.

You can pretty much rest assured that anytime there’s a Non-Format update, you will reconsider your purpose as a designer.

TYPEFORCE : The Annual Chicago Show of Emerging Typographic Allstars

Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S Morgan St in Bridgeport [Chicago]

Opening: Friday, February 26, 2010
Runs through: March 14, 2010

Allstars Include:
Jeremiah Chiu, Renata Graw, David Weik, Billy Baumann, Matthew Hoffman, Chris Eichenseer, Chad Kouri, Ryan Thurwell, Luke Williams, Tnop, Andy Luce, John Pobojewski, Darren McPherson, Lora Fosberg, Margot Harrington, Greg Calvert, Aaron Pedersen, Duncan MacKenzie, Will Miller, Nick Adam, Damian Abraham

Brought to you by Public Media Institute and Firebelly Design

Sponsored by AIGA Chicago, Graphic Arts Studio, Unisource Paper & I Shoot Rockstars

Hello, Vintage Collective! Yes, you are bookmark-worthy aren’t you?

My personal favorite sets are the ones featuring lettering, calligraphy, fonts… I’m such a nerd.

I’ve been on the lookout for old books on lettering and proper techniques lately. I like to read about what is traditionally considered fine practice, and recently stumbled upon the index of The New Spencerian Compendium of Penmanship, from 1879.

Wow!

The pages cover the craft of not only lettering, but also embellishment and pen drawing and shading. This might be more heavy lifting than the average lunch break permits, but I encourage book marking the index for later reading, if you’re at all interested in the foundation of drawing letters.

Seeing her new website, I am quite proud to say I graduated with Sara Frantzman! Under the surname, Maito Maito, her portfolio site shines with such well-crafted lettering and design. Featured above is a broad view of Sara’s undergrad thesis work: a custom doll house, with thematic letterforms covering (nearly) every square inch of the walls, the ceilings, and the rooftop! Out of all the work that I saw that year, this house was by far one of my top favorite pieces.

Check out the rest of Sara’s portfolio here!

I’ve been invited to exhibit original work in this year’s My Type of Town: The Annual Chicago Exhibition of Typographic Excellence. I’m honored and excited to take part in the event, which will be held in the beautiful Co-Prosperity Sphere, an experimental cultural center just outside of the city.

I have a few ideas making their rounds through my sketch pads, but I think I’ve decided to focus on ornamental vowels for my contribution. Here is a page of very preliminary sketches to give you an idea.

First obstacle I’ve encountered: I would really like to screen print my work for the show, but I am new to Chicago and although I have the supplies, I’m lacking the facilities. I have about a month to figure this out, so if anyone knows of a small shop in the area, I would be very grateful!

I plan to post progress along the way, and I welcome any feedback!

Geez Louise! I’m all about being productive, but lately, this ‘one-a-day’ trend has got me wondering if small bursts of creativity are more like horrible distractions, getting in the way of precious minutes. Although, I suppose people with a lot of time on their hands wouldn’t mind this sort of thing…

I will say this, I’m diggin’ the idea of a new ampersand every day! Plus, each image links to its respective type family page, earning this mini blog bonus cool points.

Check out 300&65 Ampersands.

Discovered while browsing Hayley Griffin’s lovely blog, things that make me happy.

A conversation about ‘sweet websites’ arose, and someone mentioned the portfolio site belonging to advertising group, DDB Brazil. Yea, its cool… for a flash website in an age of dying flash websites. But more important than how ‘slick’ the navigation is through the site, is the floating lettering between each category. From over a coworker’s shoulder, I immediately sent some apologetic vibes through the air, in Ms. Bantjes’ direction.

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Theres at least six or seven examples of this lettering on the site, but it wasn’t until I started editing photos for this post that I noticed how miserable the craftsmanship truly was. Really, DDB — this is the best you’ve got?

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For those unfamiliar with Marian Bantjes’ work, here are two examples from her website, created as long ago as 2004 for various clients. Although Marian has been battling copycats for some time now, the cream always has, and always will rise to the top.

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A link to Marian Bantjes.
A link to DDB Brazil, and you better have the latest Flash Player installed.