—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

—Buddha

—Jack London (1876-1916)

New York, New York

“The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine was facing a plague of pooches whose owners wouldn’t pick up after them, but instead of banning the beasts, the church elders turned to New York design firm Pentagram* for a scriptural solution… that would preach the values of respect, fellowship, and proper poop removal etiquette. Fine tuning the balance between sass and sacrilege was the key challenge… the designs were blessed by the church’s leadership and have become so popular that they’re considering enshrining them in a place of great honor — the gift shop.”

*Pentagram partner Michael Bierut had refreshed the church’s identity in 2009, creating a minimal system that leveraged a modernized blackletter font, bright colors, and cheeky copy to help spread the good word to jaded New Yorkers.

(source) Thanks to my colleague Adrian Shum for the link.

—Erich Fromm (1900-1980)

Boston, Massachusetts

Fonts in Use is a public online archive of typography, indexed by “industries, formats, and typefaces.” Its stated intent is to document and examine graphic design with the goal of improving typographic literacy and appreciation.

Show above is a tiny sampling of the thousands of examples (spanning many decades) one can view here.

(Thanks to J Ray for the link).

—William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

The Vatican, Rome

It would seem that the Italian State Mint needs a better spellcheck program. The Vatican had to hastily withdraw more than 6,000 papal medals (commemorating the beginning of Pope Francis’ papacy) when the misspelling of “Jesus” as “Lesus” was discovered earlier this week as the medallions went on sale.

“Blame the Lesuits.”

(source)