(source unknown)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

In 1971, my dear Argentinian friend Ronald Shakespear was commissioned by BA’s City Hall to undertake a design project that would eventually grow to be called the “Visual Plan for Buenos Aires.” The project was unique in its context (certainly the first in South America) not only because of its massive scale, but also due to the dynamic interaction it entailed with both “the client” and ultimately “the client’s clients” (the city’s citizens). This turned out to be the first time that the Helvetica font was used in Argentina’s urban landscape… and among the hundreds of sign iterations generated, resulted in (I will argue here) the best design of a Taxi sign ever…

You can read more about the full project scope and its sustained impact in Eye #63 (UK), Domus #159 (Italy), and Graphis #168 (Switzerland).

Taxi!

Winnipeg, Canada

It’s been a busy weekend, helping Ev set up and then disassemble her Handmade Holiday Sale craft table at the West End Cultural Centre. An unexpected bonus was the discovery of some beautiful silk-screened posters in the venue’s lobby and hallways… bearing socialist quotables by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Dom Hélder Câmara, and Bertold Brecht. (My apologies for the crappy photos—low light and shiny glass made for less than ideal conditions).

Brooklyn, New York

Friend Wendy Richmond’s book Art Without Compromise* has just hit the shelves… the scuttlebutt and some reviews follow, and you can read the Introduction here:

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Art Without Compromise* will inspire artists to change the way they think about their creative landscapes, from personal goals to cultural influences to technological realities. Author Wendy Richmond helps artists to look closely at what they see every day, both in their own art-making and in the world around them. Readers will learn to develop an uncompromising commitment to finding and protecting their own unique process for making their strongest art.

This thought-provoking book covers such topics as:

• understanding the artist’s unique identity in relation to the larger culture

• building systems of support and collaboration

• explaining how an artist’s needs can lead to innovation and authenticity

• responding to the Internet and changing concepts of what is public and private

• accepting digression as a creative necessity

Artists will come away with a clearer perspective of their past and future work, a critical eye for personal relevance, and an abundance of inspiration.

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A few reviews:

“Personal and personable, a first-hand account of the essentials of the creative process, written in an indomitable and penetrating voice and style.”

—Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder, MIT Media Lab; founder and chairman, One Laptop Per Child

“Reading Wendy Richmond is like a conversation with a wise friend. The topic of art and its place in our lives is something we have all thought about; it’s just that she has thought about it more usefully and can explain her ideas with a jargon-free clarity that is an art in itself.”

—Matthew Carter, type designer

“Richmond is absorbed by life and so aware of what is happening around her that she is compelled to make a mental note of it and then speculate later on its significance. Her insights are ironically drawn from the opposite kind of awareness: outsight. Outsight means the ability to see and understand external things clearly. Richmond’s ability to observe and derive is what feeds these chapters.”

—Chris Pullman, artist and former vice president for design, WGBH Boston

A few that stand out… (sources unknown).

Winnipeg, Canada

This Friday (16:00 to 22:00) and Saturday (10:00 to 15:00) Ev will be at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg (586 Ellice at Sherbrook) along with 15 other local artisans. Please do drop by to check out her unique “handmade wares”… Friday night will also feature live entertainment and a cash bar.

Teheran, Iran

I just received an e-mail from Iranian photographer Morteza Majidi, inviting me to create a poster to help support Iran’s opposition movement. Many in the international visual communication community have already responded to the call… view an online gallery of poster submissions here; read more about the poster initiative here; view a collection of “green bird” photos here.

Glasgow, Scotland

SWING was created from discarded items of clothing collected from the back alleys and bin areas of tenements in Glasgow. The clothes were then laundered and dried, cut into strips, and woven together to fashion ropes, to which parts of chairs (also found on the streets) were attached to form swings. These were hung from the guardrails on the Botanic Gardens Bridge that crosses the river Kelvin and forms part of the busy Kelvin Walkway.

The clothes that were collected and used for this project were imbued with a personality and invoked very powerfully notions of the abject, each piece telling a story of sorts, albeit ambiguously, about its previous owners and their lives and experiences. The cutting and braiding together of these items seemed almost like weaving together small fragments of narratives from the lives of a myriad of unknown people, creating an object that at once juxtaposes these fragments while creating a new narrative of its own.

A project by Jen Grant—I like it!

(found at Wooster Collective)

Lisbon, Portugal

Anyone working in a creative field knows the challenge of bringing a good idea to fruition. Some days it feels like you’re battling a veritable conspiracy of idea-killers—diminishing budgets, focus groups, the client’s legal department, etc., etc. The depiction of good ideas and their respective enemies was the premise of these clever illustrations (lots more here) done by Scott Campbell as part of a Portuguese ad campaign promoting the film company Show Off! View the full ads here.

Thanks for the link Gregor.