Flickr Find: The beautiful nostalgia of Penguin books

Walk into any used bookstore, and you’ll see shelves full of classicly designed Penguin books. These cheap, unassuming little paperbacks take you back, pointing to an era before fancy computers and today’s gluttony of typefaces. In celebration of these books, designer Joe Kral has compiled an inspirational Flickr set of some of Penguin’s best […]

Don’t buy cosmetics without Paula Begoun, the Cosmetics Cop

Whether or not you’re a designer, we all want to look devastingly hot. Unfortunately, this often means having to choose from a dizzying array of grooming products. Paula Begoun, the Cosmetics Cop, is my hero for publishing Don’t Go to The Cosmetics Counter Without Me, a tome of product reviews for virtually every major skincare […]

Stay hip and cool with Flavorpill

Even if you’ve turned into a yuppy without realizing it, you can still be cool again. Just visit Flavorpill and subscribe to one of the free weekly newsletters listing the latest local cultural events in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and London. Topics covered include art, books, music, fashion, and world news.

The newsletters […]

Better typography in Microsoft Word

Aaron Shepard’s guide, Perfect Pages, shows you how to achieve the impossible: good typography in Microsoft Word. An excerpt of the book with basic tips is available free on his website. For a much more in-depth guide, the complete book’s available on Amazon.

Designers might find it hard to imagine a world without fancy layout programs […]

Bind your own professional-looking book

Comic book artist, Toby Craig has an excellent tutorial on do-it-yourself bookbinding. The process requires some sewing and gluing, but his instructions are thorough and comes with lots and lots of pictures (which we like). The materials and tools he used should also all be available at your local arts and crafts store.

For artists, writers, […]

Edward Tufte’s new book, Beautiful Evidence, is now available

Edward Tufte, the guru of data visualization and information design, has just released his new book, Beautiful Evidence. It’s been long anticipated and is the fourth in a series of books on displaying and designing information.

Those unfamiliar with Tufte can check out his website for information on his other books and his nationwide tour of […]