Ottawa, Canada

Canada Post today released its largest stamp to date. Like the wildlife definitives that preceded it, the Blue Whale stamp was produced using a combination of two printing techniques: intaglio (for the whale in the foreground) and offset lithography (for the colours in the background). Each stamp, illustrated by Suzanne Duranceau (and featuring the work of master engraver Jorge Peral), measures 128 x 49 mm (5″ x 1.9″).

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal ever known to inhabit the earth. It can grow up to 33 m (108 ft) long and can weigh up to 180 metric tons (198 tons). The blue whale’s gargantuan proportions remain hidden beneath ocean waves, only to reveal themselves for a brief, awe-inspiring moment whenever this majestic creature rises to the surface to breathe—a whale watcher’s dream on Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic waters. Due to severe hunting practices in the 1900’s, the blue whale is listed as an endangered species under COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada).

Thanks to Matt Warburton for the heads-up.

(all over the world, tonight)

I’ve been hearing from folks around the globe about their promotion of and preparations re: contributing to Mother Tongue, INDIGO’s cross-cultural platform for exchange regarding original languages and the significant role these play in how we understand ourselves and others.

Two days ago, I was happy to be able to give a half-hour introduction regarding Mother Tongue (via a Skype Q&A) to a group of 80 or so graphic design students at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, ARTESIS Hogeschool in Antwerp, Belgium. Thanks to longtime friend and design colleague Frank Andries for this opportunity… I very much look forward to what these students will submit (participating in Mother Tongue forms a part of their coursework this semester).

I’d encourage anyone reading this post to consider making your own contribution to the Mother Tongue exchange. Submission deadline is 1 December 2010…

Winnipeg, Manitoba

I’ve spent the better part of the weekend (with invaluable help from Ev and Simon Statkewich—thanks!) transporting a ton or so of letterpress display type, along with a number of proof presses and assorted letterpress paraphernalia (that I’ve just purchased from colleague Susan McWatt FitzGerald) out to my place in the woods. (Sue, real type fiend, had acquired the entire contents of a letterpress showcard/poster shop from a retired printer some years ago, with full intentions of setting up a viable printing operation in her garage… and that’s where the materiel has languished until now. Her pending move to Newfoundland at the end of this month triggered her offer to sell).

Fonts range in size from around 48 point (mostly lead in sizes under one inch) to about 7 inches in wood, with lots of interstitial sizes including some very condensed faces. Of the dozens of dusty type cases and racks (featuring a wide variety of serif, sans serif, and vintage display faces) most need cleaning and sorting—much of the type was literally “out of sorts” in buckets, crates, boxes, and bags… so it appears that I’ll have plenty of winter-evening activity in the months ahead. Truth be said, I love letterpress typography, and I can hardly wait to sort this all out, clean it all up, and start those presses rolling—lots of poster and card ideas already percolating.

Images above: a sampling of the letterpress display type now in my posession; the proof presses range from about a small DIN A5 size to something like 2′ x 3′; not shown—assorted furniture, quoins, brayers, lots of leading, and hundreds of type-high printer’s cuts and etched illustrations (weighing hundreds of pounds). An online search for the patent number exhibited on the larger press brought up this PDF from 1933.

I’ll post better photos of complete alphabets once I have the chance to clean and sort the type. As I’m very keen to find out the specific names of the fonts I’ve just acquired (all without documentation), I’ll send anyone who can help me identify an actual font name and/or fabricator/origin a nice printers block (advert or editorial illustration) by post—I know there are more than a few typography aficionados who visit here from time to time.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congratulations are in order for my friend Ronald Shakespear, who makes not infrequent appearances here on this blog—he’s just hit 69! (Not to worry, old man… soixante-neuf is a fine number indeed).

Painting by Andrew Lewis… with some help from Michelangelo.

Milan, Italy

The results of this year’s Good50x70 “Social Communication Project” have been posted; 210 posters (including the samples shown above) can now be viewed in online galleries (sorry, link broken), and will go on exhibit in mid-October in downtown Milano, followed by a tour to Istanbul.

I’ve posted about Good50x70 outcomes several times in previous years…

Randburg, South Africa

You do know about DESIGN> MAGAZINE, right?

You don’t!? DESIGN> is a free subscription information platform “where the worlds of creativity, innovation, knowledge, technology and business converge.” It seeks to engage designers from all disciplines, inspiring the design-conscious and the design-curious throughout Africa… and beyond.

DESIGN>’s editorial content is rich and diverse and covers a broad scope including the fields of advertising, architecture, the built environment, cinematography, communication design, construction, exhibitions, fashion and apparel, industrial design, interior design, intellectual property, jewelery, packaging, paper, production design, retail and technology. It also explores “contemporary meta-disciplinary convergences within the fields of arts & crafts, design promotion, education, popular culture and business, among others—so that it appeals to a wide cross section of readers.”

Check out the latest issue online, here. The images above are posters by designer Harry Pierce, from a feature article about his work, values, and process in the current issue (#17).

(Congrats to good friend [and former Icograda board colleague] Jacques Lange, DESIGN>’s Group Editor).

Toronto, Canada

An essay I compiled for Applied Arts Magazine (pulling from various articles I’ve penned over the past years) appears in the current issue (Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2010) with the following pull-quote featured on the cover…

“NEED is the father of thought. I would like to think that designing and dreaming have traveled in lockstep since our species began to walk upright… Graphic design ignites passion, identifies, informs, clarifies, inspires, and enables communication… Design shapes culture and it influences societal values.”

Read or download the whole essay here (384 KB PDF).

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Thanks Gregor—you know I like these… actually static optical illusions that only appear to be animations—fix your eyes on one part of the above image for a moment and the almonds stop moving… cool, eh?

(original image source unknown)

Washington, United States

The By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal (WPA = Works Progress Administration). Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress’s collection of more than 900 is the largest. These striking silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. (The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library’s holdings in the 1940s).

View the WPA poster collection here.

Thanks to Phred Martin for the link.

Prague, Czech Republic

By dent of having an interest in vintage graphics and ephemera, I hear from a fair number of folks around the globe who are really into retro stuff from yesteryear… to wit, the persistent Boris Adamicko from Prague, who would really love to sell you some of his (admittedly impressive) label collection. You can contact him directly at badamicko[a]upcmail.cz

Bonne chance, Boris.