You gotta give it to Steven Heller. Aside from being the most prolific design writer out there, he really does have a knack for mining history and coming up with some seriously mind-fucking artifacts.

We sometimes forget that a lot of the conventions in contemporary graphic design has roots in Modernist thinking which, despite a seemingly positive rationale of making the world a better place, can also be attributed to some of the worst things about our world. Granted, the Nazis simply used apparatuses already in place; The Germans, after all, were at the forefront of early modernist design. But, consider how well they employed their graphic identity. That taken with Goebbels propaganda machine and you might say The Nazis are looking a lot like, say, Apple, Inc. This isn’t to draw comparison to the two but to point out that both Apple and The Nazi’s are utilizing the same techniques of persuasion and communication devised in the early twentieth century. I guess what it points to is the fact that graphic design history, unlike world history or even art history, is relatively tidy and linear. Also, that the efficacy of graphic identity systems can be used for evil.

I’m wondering if there’s a link between the kind of thinking that brought about Third Reich style eugenics and the kind of thinking that brought about The Bauhaus. The Jedi and The Dark Side were essentially using the same magic, no?

http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=24358

On my hard drive right now is a new design for this site that’s halfway coded. Who knows when I’ll get around to finishing that? For now, look at the brilliant image above. Juxtapositions are always better when there’s rap music involved.

as temperatures drop
i am thinking of commuting
of nights like this
the city and its plums.

The interplay of the hand and the machine.
The juxtaposition of decay and creation.
A condo probably exists here now.

Recent conversations have led me here, The House of Terror. If I ever make it to Budapest, it’s on the itinerary.

One of the things I miss (sort of) about working in an office is the near-infinite supply of goodies. This past week, I stopped in at one of my clients’ headquarters to work on a project for an hour or so. An hour or so quickly turned into 5 hours, over the course of which the editor and I developed a serious case of the munchies. He led me to a giant yellow cupboard and pulled out a box of something called De Lish Fruit Wonders.

“Interesting packaging,” I thought. Turns out they’re part of Duane Reade’s private label.

I placed one on my tongue and immediately doves flew through the office window accompanied by the Chariots of Fire theme.

SRSLY, these cookies are so good. I went home, bought a pack, and haven’t stopped eating them since. I may very well have diabetes.

“Like a cop, a designer is on duty 24/7/365. Only instead of eating donuts we like croissants and other fancy crap.” -Angry Paul Rand

Paul Rand Retrospective from Jeremy Cox on Vimeo.

via Swiss Miss

This one is from the vaults. It was my last day of work at my first job out of school. My co-worker and I had always talked about throwing down together, so we had a little friendly battle. No worries, that’s one of my bosses there in the foreground. You really have to appreciate his holding it down on the beats.

Good times.