Design Jones

The disciplined grid-based design of the Inventory site HERE really caught my eye. Great to see some lovely type like this online, all too rare! Obviously this site takes strong visual cues from the print version but the application works really well. You can see some of Stuart Hobday’s other work HERE on The Behance Network.

Portland based agency, Bureau of Betterment have created a “modular ‘patchwork’ design [which] spans easily from web and print to signage applications. Iconic illustrations speak to the natural diversity The Intertwine offers and accessible, playful language evokes the simple pleasure of being outdoors”.

Some really nice clean, open illustrations and great typography, find out more HERE.

(via DesignWorkLife)

Some lovely, quirky and cost effective packaging from Able. You can view more images HERE at thedieline.com and learn more about Able’s work and creative process HERE. Fantastic how it conveys so many brand messages whilst retaining a sense of simplicity and humour.

My first car was a VW Beetle (or Bug to my American readers), aside from that one of my dream cars is a split-screen VW Camper Van. CarType has a gallery HERE featuring scans from original brochures with various branded vans – there’s some fantastic typography and retro styling – I’d love to create a Design Jones version!

Check out Segura Inc HERE for a look at their recent project creating a custom series of fonts for Jack Daniel Distillery. “For the project, the three prominent lettering styles from the famous Black Label (c.1904) were developed into complete fonts.” What a cool project to work on, creating and building on something so instantly recognisable!

This week I’ve been looking at some handset fonts and opentype faces that aim to replicate handwriting. Have to say I absolutely love this one from Veer called ‘Business Penmanship’ thanks to DesignWorkLife for the tip – it’s really beautiful and manages to find that tricky balance between clean and practical without losing the personality of real handwriting. You can see it HERE or purchase it from Veer HERE.

I’ve metioned Graphic Exchange on this blog many times. I’m constantly blown away by the quality of work they feature along with other examples of excellent design work, interiors and branding. A few of recent gems include a link through to a set of great 90’s magazine covers (HERE) including RAYGUN, Grafik and Blah.

Some beautiful envelope calligraphy by eithersnow HERE, why oh why did I not practice my handwriting growing up?

And finally a great branding showcase for coalesse, created by Toleson HERE.

One of my new business year resolutions is to attend a couple of design conferences and make time to visit some interesting exhibitions. Whilst ‘Type As Image’ may be a little too far to travel for me this time it certainly looks like it would be a great event plus there is a pop up store to many many of the beautiful objects. You can read more HERE. (Via CoolHunting)

Loving the work and play on Nick’s site and in particular this print available through his shop HERE.

Thinaire is currently my favourite font! Mainly due to it being used on so many independant movie posters and that kind of thing. Only down side is that it’s a hand-set font so each character has to be laid out by hand! I’m all for old school but this might a bit much even for me. Available HERE from You Work For Them.