76. The Illustrative Designer.

Just a quick link to a great podcast that Von Glitschka has started called The Illustrative Designer. The most recent episode is an interview with Paul Howalt, who I worked with on a project last fall. Both are very talented fellas. I would say that the two of them and Joey Mason are my three favorite illustrators out there right now, so check them out.

NOTE: Proving that he isn't just talented, but also a nice guy – Von Glitschka graciously sent me his keyboard characters just for mentioning his site(s) in a post a few months ago. (I have yet to take them out of the package.)

75. The Art of Presenting – Bart Cleveland.

One of my favorite things about this blog has been interviewing the subjects of the presenting series. I have found their insight rewarding, helpful and occasionally surprising. No matter how experienced (or inexperienced) one may be with presenting – there is always room for improvement. For the sixth edition, I dropped the questions and simply asked Bart Cleveland to share his thoughts.

Bart is the Creative Director at McKee Wallwork Cleveland in Albuquerque, NM. His leadership experience at big agencies and his countless creative awards speak volumes, but it was his perspective shared on Advertising Age's Small Agency Diary that prompted me to ask him to participate. Enjoy - you won't be disappointed. (Thanks, Bart.)

74. Ad of the Week + Pentagram Calendar.

I like it when I see a company doing something daring and dramatic with their advertising. Saatchi and Saatchi has produced some great print for Tide promoting the use of cool water detergents and the subsequent energy-savings. Done mostly with computer generated art from Saddington & Baynes, the print drives home the strategy in city-specific executions. I think it would be even more outstanding as an outdoor placement on the wall of a building or something, but not bad at all.

Also, I ordered the 2007 Classic Typography Calendar from Pentagram and Ken Knight yesterday morning online. It was delivered right after lunch the same day! Apparently their offices are close to Grant, Scott & Hurley - and they decided to waive the shipping charges and bring one over. That ladies and gents, is customer service. (They have great portfolios if you are looking...)

73. TDC's Letterspace Downloads.

It had been awhile since I visited the Type Director's Club website, and I was pleasantly surprised to see their Letterspace newsletter available to download for free. It's a great resource about typography from every perspective - I particularly like their fy(t)i series (for your typographic information.)

72. Helvetica - Clips.

A few clips have been posted for the upcoming documentary film, Helvetica by Gary Hustwit. You can view the clips here. (The first one with Erik Spiekermann is a gem.) I can no longer make fun of all those 'nerds' who wait for two days in front of the theater for a sci-fi movie release or in front of Best Buy for the new Nintendo console - because I could totally see myself doing that for this film. (Not that I will have to, mind you.) The film starts screening at the festivals in March.

71. Journals from Old Books.

Just a quick link to a site where you can buy some great journals, made from using old books: bookjournals.com. They still include some of the original pages plus ample new blanks for all your rambling thoughts and creativity. Normally I would prefer to keep vintage books in their original state, but they seem to choose their 'materials' wisely.

70. Ad of the Week.

I'm not on the liberal fringe by any means, but I do like this new campaign for Greenpeace - done by Zig in Toronto. A lot of work done in this genre (like PETA) is purposely offensive and you can debate the effectiveness of that strategy ad nauseam, but I like that this work didn't go in that direction. Guilty Since 1971 (a tag since their early days), finally has the same courageous spirit as the group itself and lends to that rebellious attitude, a legitimacy the organization sometimes lacks. Justifying disobedience – if convincing enough – can be a powerful tool for social change.

68. Monday Links.

1. Coffee Art 2. Venn Diagrams 3. Cool Calligrams 4. The Pentagram Papers 5. French Explorers 6. What are you optimistic about? 7. Little Golden Books & Color 8. Boy, do I love old signs. 9. ...and album art. 10. Non-Hallmark Greeting Cards. 11. The Reasons Behind Stupid Decisions 12. Battle of the Fans 13. Book Plate Junkie 14. Russian Corporate Identity (some are quite nice.) 15. Insect Lab 16. Blog of the Week: Ace Jet 170. A kindred soul, no doubt. (Found type Fridays rocks.)

67. Pentagram's New Work for Saks.

Ok, so we all know that the guys at Pentagram rock. And we expect everything they do to be uber-cool and crafted, and somehow they always meet these high expectations. Take their new identity for Saks Fifth Avenue, it's elegant and gives all the collateral and interior packaging a consistent look without becoming repetitive – using a thought process that is simple yet profound. Check it out and read Partner Michael Bierut's explanation on their blog.

66. Two Typography Articles.

The new year has arrived, and it finds me quite busy on many fronts. We have a lot of projects in the works here at Grant, Scott & Hurley of course, but in addition to that I'll be teaching an 11 week class at the Miami Ad School starting next week and I also plan on attending a letterpress workshop at the SF Center for the Book in the coming weeks. I'll be blogging about both of those in the near future.

Yesterday I came across a little typography resource that I'd like to share. It's an entry on a blog called Typies about choosing a good body copy typeface. It's not perfect by any means and the English is broken a bit - but it does bring up the majority of things one should consider when choosing a face for longer copy. (#11 is a pet peeve of mine about some font designers, as I've seen this 'm' many times. It can only be moderately corrected with kerning.)

And while we're on the subject of typography, here's another helpful entry on a blog by Mark Boulton giving five simple steps to better typography. And let me say, it's sad that most designers and art directors neglect these simple, yet important considerations.