Happy New Year

© Nelly Charbonneaux

Ten Dollar Fonts

© Ten Dollar Fonts


"Ten Dollar Fonts" is the name of a group of designers from around the world that does exactly that; sell fonts for ten dollars. What you may not know is that their experimental fonts are absolutely stunning!"WOW!" is right!

http://www.tendollarfonts.com

Shirotokuro

© Shirotokuro

Shiroi means white in Japanese and kuroi means black, so literally it means white and black not black and white!  Here is a very nice curated gallery of different forms of design all in B&W. Although color is an important element of design, I always think that it is best to think first without. If a design is to work it should first work in black and white otherwise if it doesn't, adding color won't help.

http://shirotokuro.com

Julien Priez

© Julien Priez

 Julien Priez finished his studies at l'Ecole Supérieure Estienne in Paris,  with more than deserved honors in june 2010. His resumé is already very impressive, and it's obviously just the beginning. As he says it so well, you had better know the rules before you start breaking them! This is definitely a "must-see" designer.

http://www.julienpriez.com
http://en.etapes.com/julien-priez

Links

Following are some very interesting typography links (in french or english) that you may want to check out! 

http://mashable.com/2011/12/08/typeface-font-history-infographic/
http://www.theoriedesigngraphique.org
http://www.typeworkshop.com/index.php?id1=type-basics&id2=&id3=&id4=&id5=&idpic=01#pictloader 
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/quick-guide-to-typography-learn-and-be-inspired/
http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/index.php 
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/typography-articles/a-beginners-guide-to-pairing-fonts/ 
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/ 
http://weddingphotography.com.ph/7427/guide-typefaces-life-quotes-creative-typography/
http://ruskhasanov.com/8719/395861/home/liquid-calligraphy
http://letyposcope.wordpress.com/ 
http://opentype.info/blog/ 
http://www.colourlovers.com/web/blog/2012/02/16/bold-justified-the-huge-world-of-typography-infographic
http://www.100besttypefaces.com/
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/
http://www.typographicposters.com/
http://typographyshop.com/ 

Les Puces

© Nelly Charbonneaux

These two pictures were taken somewhere in the Paris flea market porte de Clignancourt. They both look like art work, but actually the left one is a detail of a rusted pillar (not a painting!), and the one the right is a bunch of old stacked radiators (not a sculpture!). They both have someything in common. First the color harmony, and second something random about them. Nature and weather did their work on the first and some employees of the antique dealer must have stacked the radiators as well as possible, not thinking about making a work of art. My point is there is something about random accidents which can be most interesting in art and also design.

Le Bon Marché

Last month there was a very interesting exhibit at "Le Bon Marché", actually 2! The first was on Aristide Boucicaut who created what is considered the first department store 160 years ago. The second exhibit above, showed 160 years of graphic design done for the store, which I would say was characterized by amazing creativity and variety. Click to blow up!
Uh Oh... just checked and saw that the picture above was ridiculously tiny, sorry about that!
You can always drag the document on your desktop then click on cmd and + until it is big enough to see in detail.

A quote by Seymour Chwast

Oh my it's been donkey's years as they say in Great Britain!!!
Nothing to see today, but a quote to meditate from one of my favourite designers!

"If you dig a hole and it's in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn't going to help." (Seymour Chwast)

Emotions

© Nelly Charbonneaux

As it's been raining a lot lately, I noticed the gutter in front of my house was clogged; so I went upstairs to see what to do about it and this what I found! I usually don't post ugly things but this is the most disgusting thing I ever saw and wanted to share it with you! Yes this is a child's teddy bear! How it got up there, I do not know. Heavens! What I do know however is that usually such toys are cute, soft, and cuddly, which makes this one, that much more horrible. Communicating visually includes striking the viewers' emotions.

Mark Laita

© Mark Laita

Mark Laita is a commercial photographer originally from Detroit, who is based in L.A. His work is both straightforward and witty. His animals caught my eye, and when I saw these snakes posing in the most calligraphic positions I thought, "Oh! I absolutely have to show you these!" Look at the way they draw their beautiful curves like chinese and japanese calligraphers; truly wonderful!

http://marklaita.com/serpentine.html

http://www.marklaita.com