Meanwhile #093

Happy Reading – I absolutely adore the new posters for Penguin Classics, by brand director Sam Voulters and designer Tom Etherington. Not sure what the long term plans are, but I can really see this campaign going on indefinitely, a new batch of battered/loved paperbacks appearing on billboards every couple of months. I tweeted about this the other day, and opinion is very split (natch) about whether these books are loved or incredibly unloved.

The Big Book Look – St Bride Foundation have announced this year’s book design event, with designers working across the publishing industry discussing work that has had the high expectations of meeting the difficult ‘big book status’. As well as the talks – pretty much guaranteed to be fantastic – they’re holding a cover design competition for students, recent graduates and amateur designers/illustrators.

Milton Glaser – “Not having anything to do sounds terrible. I fear that more than anything else. It’s greater than the fear of death.” Anne Quito interviews the still very busy design legend on his ninetieth birthday.

Knives Out – Great little behind the scenes video showing Marke Johnson recreate the type from some old Agatha Christie covers, for use on the poster for cousin Rian Johnson’s new whodunnit. Can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for the opening credits.

Reagan Ray – Expect to lose your afternoon perusing Ray’s various logo collections, including those for airlines, record labels, railways, VHS distributors and eighties action figures.

Learning Synths – The design of this free tutorial website from expert synthesizists Ableton is quite something, and you’ll soon be referring to yourself a radiophonic workshop. Warning: as I discovered within minutes of keeping and blooping, the dogs in your neighbourhood will not be best pleased.

Ray Gun – Stack talk to Marvin Scott Jarrett about his new book, a look back at the groundbreaking and headache-inducing nineties music magazine that mercilessly pushed the David Carson aesthetic into people’s retinas.

Johnston – A new memorial to Edward Johnston, designed by Fraser Muggeridge, has just been installed/typeset at Farringdon station. I desperately want to go down there with a massive ink roller and some enormous sheets of paper.

Petshop-Boy – Random wonderful twitter discovery of the week: when Marvel first published comics in the UK in the seventies, they hired Neil Tennant to anglicise the dialogue. More anecdotal bits in 1989’s Pet Shop Boys, Literally.

The John Hamilton Scholarship – In honour of the longtime Art Director who died earlier this year, Penguin have created a new scholarship at The Glasgow School of Art, including a paid internship. A fantastic opportunity for someone.

Take stock – Luke Winnie interviews a couple about what it's like to shoot, and star in, stock photography as a side hustle. Apparently it’s all about mastering the enthusiastic thumbs up and not caring what medical condition your face will be associated with eight years later.

#coversafari – Earlier today I decided to unshackle myself from my desk and go book-hunting around York. There’s some jolly pretty covers out there, old and new. Might make this a regular thing, as long as they don’t ban me from Waterstones for excessive and shameless loitering.