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Websites for Visual Inspiration

Websites for Visual Inspiration

If you're looking for instant graphic inspiration, great visual ideas, or just want to see some cool images, check out these visual blogs and websites: Words & Eggs, Stephen Kroninger on Drawger, A Journey Round My Skull, Ethan Persoff, and All My Eyes. These five sites are all strong in illustration and publication design, as well as book covers, comics, posters, and much more. I look at all five of these every day, and am filled with respect and admiration for their dedication, love, and overall smartness towards graphic design and visuals of all kinds.

(Above: The Masses, November 1916, illustration by Hugo Gellert, from Words & Eggs.)


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Woodtyper

Woodtyper

Nick Sherman is a young type designer at MyFonts.com, and a lover of wood type. He did a residency at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, has taught typography and letterpress printing at MassArt, and advised on Typeface, a documentary about the Hamilton Museum. 


I met Nick last year at TypeCon in Atlanta, and recently came across his blog, Woodtyper: Notes on Large and Ornamented Type and Related Matters. Definitely a person to watch, and clearly, to read. http://woodtyper.com/



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Film Titles Galore

Film Titles Galore

Christian Annyas is a web designer who created an exhaustive, rich site, for his collection of screenshots of film titles. The site's organization and design make it easy to navigate and a great type resource. There's even a quick synopsis of each film plot, end cards, trailers, and Amazon links for purchase. Thank you, Christian.




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Wonderwall: Our current favorite portfolio display

Wonderwall: Our current favorite portfolio display

Wonderwall is a Japanese interior design firm with the coolest, sleekest display of their work. Their interior and product design portfolio is displayed in a series of boxes. When you roll your curser over each box it pulses and bulges and twists, making an elegant little popping sound. Words can't describe just how well Wonderwall exhibits their work, but it offers much inspiration for both print and digital design.

If you know of other neat online displays, please post them in the comments section and we'll add them on.

Thanks to Jeremy Lacroix for the research.
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Life at Hollywoodlife.com

Life at Hollywoodlife.com

Coverage of this weekend's Oscars will generate a multitude of digital media. Bonnie Fuller's  Holllywoodlife.com is a newcomer to online celebrity news , launched November 2009. They will be generating their own fair share of buzz. After the jump Wilbert Gutierrez, the Creative Director, talks about life at Hollywoodlife. 
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All My Eyes visual blog

All My Eyes visual blog

All My Eyes is the new visual blog by former Fortune magazine graphics editor Linda Eckstein. Brilliantly edited, written, and curated, All My Eyes features visual inspiration from many visual disciplines, including poster design, packaging, photography, illustration, information graphics, found objects, historical paraphernalia, and much more. Eckstein draws on an impressive knowledge of contemporary and archival sources to present images that delight, inspire, and educate. 

Recent posts include: photos from the Life archive of 1950s ice skaters, Chinese Tiger firecracker labels, the photography of Dora Kallmus, vintage copies of early 1900s NAACP magazine The Crisis, 1960 jewelry advertisements, and a collection of Argentinian bus tickets. The images are accompanied by simple, elegant prose. This is hands-down my favorite visual blog of the moment, and it keeps getting better with every post. All My Eyes is essential viewing.

(Pictured above): Part of a post on duotone movie posters, this one from Persona
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Nypost.com: A User-friendly Redesign

Nypost.com: A User-friendly Redesign

The New York Post's website, nypost.com, re-launched this past September with new features and a new design. Whether you admire the daily's vibe or just find guilty pleasure in PageSix, fans of user-centric web design will admire its user-friendly nature. I chatted recently with Nick Gould, CEO of Catalyst Group, the folks behind the new look and feel.… MORE
Vibe Is... Back

Vibe Is... Back

From our Facebook fan page, Glen Karpowich shares news of a Vibe relaunch with digital focus.

NPR.org to relaunch Monday

NPR.org.jpgApparently NPR has a new site launching Monday. The video tour they have put together is quite nice and offers some insight into what makes a good news site, view it here:

http://www.npr.org/services/new_site/index.html?sc=nl&cc=progserv-20090723

I urge any of you that can spare a few minutes this weekend to check out the current NPR.org site to get a feel for the changes that will roll out next Monday. Even better if any of you are fans of NPR.org let us know what you think works (or doesn't) in the new version of the site.

*Note : The above screengrab is of NPR.org before the relaunch
The New York Times: NPR Moves to Rewire Its Approach to the Web

Via Subtraction: After the jump, a pretty savvy promo video of NPR's Weekend Edition Host Scott Simon touring the site for the first time...

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Jeremy LaCroix on Web Design: Name that Site

Jeremy LaCroix on Web Design: Name that Site

A nice little clip from last summer. SPD's very own Pub 44 Online Chair Jeremy LaCroix dishes out a few great lessons on web design at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course. Video after the jump.  … MORE
Spotlight on 'The Big Picture' from Boston.com

Spotlight on 'The Big Picture' from Boston.com

MediaShift has done a profile of both The Big Picture and Alan Taylor, the web developer behind it, in Big Pictures Help Tell Big Stories at Boston.com.

It's worth a read and The Big Picture is definitely worth a look, especially the spectacular Year in Review: Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.



PREVIOUSLY: Powerful Web Photojournalism

The Daily Beast: A Q&A

The Daily Beast: A Q&A

Tina Brown's much talked about -- and visited -- online launch The Daily Beast is now two months old. Self described as not just another news aggregate, but as a site that "sifts, sorts and curates"...

"We're as much about what's not there as what is. And we freshen the stream with a good helping of our own original content from a wonderfully diverse group of contributors ..."
 
In mid-November I got in touch with Brandon Ralph the CD and co-founder of Code and Theory, an interactive agency responsible for the new site's interactive and visual design, to do a Q&A.
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Designing 'The Knot'

Designing 'The Knot'

If you've gotten engaged in the last ten years, then you've probably heard of The Knot -- one of the leading wedding brands online, also in print and video. As an online destination, TheKnot.com is a place where engaged couples and their friends find ideas, up-to-date wedding advice and inspiration.

I recently got in touch with Lori Richmond, Design Director of Online Editorial, and Kristen Dudish, Online Designer, for some insight into designing and working for The Knot. We also discussed some of the recent changes made to the site when they redesigned a few months ago.… MORE
Words as Art

Words as Art

Oh the insanity! Custom typography?

Have you noticed that more and more magazines are using custom typography? If you are like me, whenever you come across one it's like finding a $5 bill in your pocket. Every time I open up a magazine and see some custom type I eat it up. These little works of art are scrumptuous. Also, if you are like me you look at the credit to see who did the work. And if you are really like me you read the name or at least sound it out and try to figure out where they found this guy or girl.

Well here is one place to find some great talent.
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Inspiration Found

Inspiration Found

Need some inspiration? Something to get those creative juices flowing? Check out ffffound. That's right, four f's. It's like a bulletin board of cool shit. Design, photography, graphics, typography. If you're a visual person there's something here for you.

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