Edmonton, Alberta
Truth is where you find it… and sometimes in the most unexpected of places—such as the tailgate of this beat-up pickup truck that I encountered a few years back while in Edmonton (capital of Alberta, Canada’s equivalent to Texas—with cowboys, red-necks, and rig-pigs* from the oil industry in the majority) to give a lecture at the University of Alberta. Pleasant surprises and “exceptions to the rule” are thankfully everywhere…
*Seriously. That’s what these guys call themselves.
Thanks to David Busch (North Georgia) for this aphorism…
(found at @issue | written by Delphine Hirasuna)
The Leo Burnett India ad agency commemorated the 141st anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth (on 2 October 2010) by creating an alphabetical font in the Devanagari script in the style of Gandhi’s trademark wireframe eyeglasses. The special typeface was the brainchild of Burnett’s national creative director KV “Pops” Sridhar, who wanted to inspire younger generations with the teachings of Gandhi. The glasses symbolize Gandhi’s vision and his visionary thoughts on truth and nonviolence.
Sridhar explains, “The way he saw the world is completely different than the way we do—and hence the glasses, to subtly nudge people into thinking like him again.” Gandhi had originally given the glasses in the 1930s to an Indian army colonel who had asked the great leader for inspiration. Gandhi reportedly gave him his glasses and said, “These gave me the vision to free India.”
Burnett staff designers and typographers spent several weeks working on the digital eyeglass font. Visitors to their site can download six posters, each featuring one saying of Gandhi, as well as the font as wallpaper or a screensaver. (Originally only in Devanagari, the font is now also available in English). The educational website also made Gandhi’s eyeglasses interactive. By clicking on the glasses, different parts fly off to become part of the font, forming a mantra or a letter of the alphabet. The site also contains a message board so people can specify which Gandhi saying they want on their poster, or make their own Gandhi sayings and proverbs for use in a nameplate or other medium.
Leo Burnett India is also promoting the font on Facebook, Twitter and other social network platforms and allowing Facebook users the option of having their profile page transformed entirely into the Gandhiji font. Plans also call for the creation of typeface imprinted merchandise such as postcards, mugs and T-shirts…
Watching live-streaming news on Al Jazeera with a hopeful heart…
Paris, France
“Death is Not Justice” exhibitions organised by poster for tomorrow opened in some 50 locations around the world on 10/10/10… exhibiting 100 of the 2094 poster submissions received from 81 different countries. While last year’s initiative was coalescing opposition against the Death Penalty, this year’s focus for poster for tomorrow is “The Right to Education.” View past poster galleries and learn about the latest call for entries here.
Images: It must be stopped by Natalia Lazarashvili, Georgia; We need the time to reflect, Tomoko Miyagawa, Japan; a spread from the available catalogue.
Memphis, Tennessee…
This is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a fitting moment in time to honor the visionary activist and civil rights leader. Earlier today I was sent a link to a compelling clip from the embattled National Public Radio in the U.S.—four minutes well worth listening to (please listen to the end), here.
(thanks Gregor)
Barcelona, Spain
I shot this pic of an elegant and clever sign hack (No Stopping becomes No Bombing) back in 2003, as the U.S. was raining down bombs on Iraq.
