MetaFilter posts tagged with design

Wayne Whipple's Peace Flag

jazon — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:33:09 -0800

A well-designed flag The US flag is made up of two distinct elements: Stars and Stripes. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed its Flag Resolution which described the flag only in general terms. "Resolved that the flag of the United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white, that the union be 13 stars white in a blue field representing a new constellation." Nothing in the resolution dictated how the stars and stripes were to be arranged, resulting in some interesting designs. Among these are the Bennington flag, the Guilford Flag, the Easton Flag, and this unique "betsy-ross-like" design. Up until the 1920's, star arrangement was a varied and creative endeavor, but one of the most interesting designs is the Whipple Flag. Designed in 1912 by Wayne Whipple, and approved by President W.H. Taft, the Whipple was striking in design and symbolism. "Its 48 stars are arranged in a central six-pointed "Great Star" to symbolize the 13 original states similar to both the Great Seal and the 'Great Star' patterns of many early flags. The ring of stars around the "Great Star" represents the states admitted to the Union up to the time of the First Centennial exposition of 1876. An outer ring -- with space for future additions -- symbolizes the states admitted since the Centennial." Unfortunately, the Whipple design quickly fell out of popularity. In 1923 the Flag Code was developed, codifying the rules for American flags. The Code became federal law in 1942, locking down the rectangular layout of the star field. We've held steady at 50 stars, and while the United States Army Institute of Heraldry has plans for flags with up to 56 stars (boring 51 star, alternate 51 star), the Whipple could have easily expanded to 65 or more. Interested in getting your own Whipple? I think your only option is to stitch your own.

Analog Art (mostly)

Miko — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:33:25 -0800

The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

Type Tart Cards

carsonb — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:32:02 -0800

Tart cards [NSFW] are the means by which many London prostitutes advertise their services. Step into almost any central London phone box and you can contemplate up to 80 cards inviting you to be tied, teased, spanked or massaged.... [Wallpaper Magazine] asked designers – from students to superstars – to find the tart hiding in every typeface and create their own graphic numbers.... all 450 cards can be viewed here. [NSFW]

In among this plethora of brilliant, witty graphic designs we would like to highlight the serious issue that lies at the heart of the world of tart cards – the plight of trafficked women in the sex industry. It is a subject touched eloquently on by Mike Dempsey of Studio Dempsey, who is a volunteer at the Helen Bamber Foundation which helps rebuild lives broken by human rights violations. While our exhibition is an ode to the graphic qualities of the tart card phenomena, Dempsey's design is a pertinent reminder of the sinister world that lies beneath every card.

Read Mike Dempsey's letter and design.

Artistic Suburban Culture

netbros — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:33:58 -0800

Ross Racine's work may be interpreted as models for planned communities as much as aerial views of fictional suburbs, referencing the computer as a tool for urban planning as well as image capture.

But you'll look sweet / upon the seat / of a ... what?

not_on_display — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:48:52 -0800

In 1991, SNL unveiled the prototype for The Love Toilet. Almost two decades later, the dream has finally been realized: presenting The Love Seat Toilet and the TwoDaLoo.

Awards can't save forests.

divabat — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:25:57 -0800

Awards can't feed the hungry. (via, with supporting links)

Poster design and The Beggarstaffs

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:57:06 -0800

"Pryde and I came across it one day in an old stable, on a sack of fodder. It is a good, hearty, old English name, and it appealed to us, so we adopted it immediately." That's how The Beggarstaffs, a short lived but influential paring of graphic designers, got their name. The Beggarstaffs were William Nicholson and James Pryde, brothers-in-law who wanted to use their artist talents to get rich at commerical art to fund their private art. While their grand plans for making money didn't work out, they did create some groundbreaking images as J & W Beggarstaff, such The Beefeater, Don Quixote, Kassam Corn Flour, Rowntree's Elect Cocoa, Pantomime Poster and A Trip to Chinatown After the duo professionally went their ways, both continued working in the arts. Nichlson returned to printmaking, creating the Nicholson Alphabet, An Almanac of 12 sports, a poster of Sarah Bernhardt and various other prints. Pryde returned to painting and did a series of paintings known as the Human Comedy. He sometimes was an actor and set designer, including the designs for Paul Robeson's Othello run at the Savoy Theatre.

You sure don't see a lot of sidecars nowadays.

Afroblanco — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:36:48 -0800

15 Classic PC Design Mistakes, along with explanations as to what exactly they were thinking at the time.

Heigh-Ho, The Merry-O, The Designer Takes A Wife.

mattdidthat — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:28:55 -0800

Matt Dorfman is one of the creators of Mammal Magazine. Here's his client work, personal work, blog, and his wedding invitation.

A bowling alley? What the Frick?

ericbop — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:41:35 -0800

Old bowling alleys are often things of beauty. Some are (in)famous. The NYTimes just had a wonderful feature on a little-known bowling alley in the basement of the Frick collection, complete with pristine antique bowling balls and a gravity-driven return mechanism. [Previously] (mandatory Big Lebowski reference)

But what would Frank Lloyd Wright say?

spiderskull — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:50:15 -0800

"[Jax de Leon's] last project as a student was a graphic representation of every note, word, instrument and voice from Come on, Feel the Illinoise! by Sufjan Stevens." Read an interview with him here.

More Than a Box

netbros — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:07:44 -0800

Jonathan Ro-Schofield is Jonny Cardboard, an artist and window display designer whose developmental medium is, yes, cardboard. Sure, anyone can fold a box, but can you make incredible sculptures or storefront display-designs and props? Perhaps Jonny Cardboard can cater your wedding cakes. For more fine cardboard art, check out: Alex Uribe Junior Jacquet Chris Gilmour (previously) Mark Langan Dag Weiser

19th century artistic printing

mediareport — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:41:44 -0800

Beautifully designed, quirky, colorful late 19th-century "artistic" and "gaslight" printing at Dick Sheaff's ephemera pages. [via, via] Info here. There's a book, too.

You've Been Served

netbros — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:43:43 -0800

The Served is a family of sites that brings you a steady supply of top quality creative work in specific categories: Fashion, Industrial Design, Photography [some nsfw], Typography, and Motion Graphics. All projects are streamed directly from the owner's portfolios in the Behance Network, along with proper attribution and a direct link to contact information.

Waffle Whiffer: for all your thirtysomething's childhood nostalgia needs

mathowie — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:29:47 -0800

If you love 1970s food-related advertising mascots as much as I do, you'll probably love Waffle Whiffer's blog. Loads of old posts on fast food characters, sugar cereal boxes, and even pogs! The Waffle Whiffer's flickr stream is a similar treasure trove of goodies with too many worth mentioning. Ok, just one: who knew the Thompson Twins had such great iconography (and why did they do a deal with Cap'n Crunch?)?

Milkcrates are also okay

The Whelk — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:41:14 -0800

20 Brilliant Bookcases via ( mightygodking )

Nature's Elegant Solutions

netbros — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:12:04 -0800

Imagine nature's most elegant ideas organized by design and engineering function, so you can enter "filter salt from water" and see how mangroves, penguins, and shorebirds desalinate without fossil fuels. That's the idea behind AskNature, the online inspiration source for the biomimicry community. The featured pages are a good starting point. Cross-pollinating biology with design. Biomimicry is the science and art of emulating Nature's best biological ideas to solve human problems. Non-toxic adhesives inspired by geckos, energy efficient buildings inspired by termite mounds, and resistance-free antibiotics inspired by red seaweed are examples of biomimicry happening today.

The Journal of Business and Design

netbros — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:02:49 -0800

@Issue: is the online blog of The Journal of Business and Design. Topics of recent interest include Drawords, an ongoing caption this drawing project, and Typography in China, an explanation of the availability of Chinese typefaces. Also, @Issue interviews an iconic group that includes captains of industry and design.

Making Policy Public

netbros — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:14:59 -0800

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City's physical environment. They are featuring Making Policy Public, a program of The Center for Urban Pedagogy, through their articles about Vendor Power and Predatory Equity. "Just as we were beginning our collaboration, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, a predatory equity building in the Bronx widely recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop, was being overleveraged by a predatory developer. This was not only a case of people potentially losing their homes; but also of New York City losing its heritage and culture. The threats are social and cultural as well as economic. Through their work helping tenants organize and speaking to lawmakers and media sources, (we) knew that the poster would have to address two different audiences: 1) Tenants who wanted to know how the law and predatory equity practices could directly affect them and 2) decision-makers who would need inside information to take action. They imagined the publication’s goal was to mobilize tenants in affected and at-risk buildings and to convince politicians and banks to recognize the problem and take immediate action. We agreed finding a way to visually explain predatory equity was the best place to start."

Typographic Mobiles

netbros — Sat, 30 May 2009 10:55:09 -0800

"I want our type to jump, scream, whisper and dance..." Ebon Heath and His Visual Poetry. "When I close my eyes I can see the words of great poets like Rakem or Tupac flying thru the air and dancing with the same physicality my body instinctually feels. My mobiles attempt to create a visual sense of rhythm and flow that is alive, not contained." This interview with Heath breaks down his Stereo.type and Purge projects. From the folks at Yatzer.com.

The Creative Mind of Tomas Mankovsky

jeanmari — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:32:35 -0800

Lonely, lovelorn robots (film). Tardiness and sharks (film). Creative sounds with dominoes. (audio) Using Tetris as the inspiration for interior design elements. (visual) Just a few fun things floating around in the mind of Tomas Mankovsky.

"This is the person we have to work with on our next album artwork"

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:51:50 -0800

"How did the contact with Keane come about? / Completely randomly. A friend of the band's, bought one of my prints from a mutual friend's shop. The band saw the print in his house and said 'this is the person we have to work with on our next album artwork'." Sanna Annukka (previously on MeFi) discusses how she came to illustrate Keane's album, Under the Iron Sea, and singles, the artwork of which is playful, lonely, and folklore-like in feel. A blogger shares her visit to the Playful New Finnish Design Shipping Container, part of Meatpacking District Design Week, held May 15-18, 2009 in New York. The industrial container displayed Annukka's latest work, a Kaneleen kutsu pattern for Marimekko. It is based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala (previously).

Clever clever logo logo

maudlin — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:26:06 -0800

You may have already noticed some of the visual tricks in these logos. Or maybe not. (I never saw the b--- in the T-------- logo before.) Or maybe you just think these are too obvious for words and there are much better examples out there. (via)

Online Gallery and Visual Archive

netbros — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:33:24 -0800

Blanka is a collection of original, vintage, and limited edition posters and prints.

Penrose Review of Graphic Arts

the cuban — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:15:57 -0800

From 1895 to 1982 the Penrose Annual showcased typography and graphic design.