Is this someone you want working in YOUR library?

Read this excerpt from this blog.

"Censorship Love Note by ALA Councilor Rory Litwin

American Library Association [ALA] Councilor Rory Litwin has written a contemptible note proudly announcing his censorship of publicly available information and his permanent censorship of any future comments from me. This while defending the ALA for repeatedly refusing to assist Cuban librarians beaten and jailed for political reasons--including opposing censorship!"

Read more about this encounter with UMD Librarian Rory Litwin

Pentagram Hops on the GeoFont Train.

Pentagram recently posted a new identity design for the Museum of Arts and Design which was quickly posted on Brand New.

Pentagram describes the new identity like this:
"The museum’s new graphic identity can already be seen throughout the city, on the sides of buses, on street banners, in print ads and in the subways. The geometric-based mark reflects the circles and squares present in the building’s shape; its location, on Columbus Circle; and the building’s iconic “lollipop” columns retained in the redesign."

Here are some more images from Pentagram's blog:



I love the craft, implementation, and restraint used in this system, but it feels so incredibly trendy. I was a bit surprised to see this kind of work coming out of Pentagram, which I always felt made work that transcends trendiness. This style of geometric type has been around for ages, but seems to be extremely prevalent in the current design landscape.

Here are a few examples from ffffound:





Don't forget Milton Glaser's contribution, Baby Teeth, done in 1968.


To Pentagram's credit; when comparing their iteration on the geometric typeface to others, theirs holds its own. It is disciplined, quirky, and recognizable among the sea of geo-fonts. The identity is well designed and well implemented, and it has flexibility to work well over many mediums.

…Not to mention my friend from back in Duluth Kai Salmela worked on this project.


I'm pretty sure that's him there. Hi Kai!

Face Lift and a little liposuction

You may have noticed a change around these parts. This site's old design was starting to feel pretty worn, so I trashed it and made a new one using blueprint css. Let me know your thoughts.

I also plan on blogging again sometime soon…