Justy my type - Simon Garfield

Just my type: a book about fonts - Garfield, Simon

Summary: A romp through the history of fonts and the lives of the great typographers, revealing the extent to which fonts are not only shaped by but also define the world in which we live.

Booklist Reviews
After confessing his stamp-collecting obsession in The Error World (2008), Garfield shares his ardor for typefaces in this ambushing and revelatory celebration. He begins by praising the computer's role in making us all font-savvy as we select among familiar and exotic offerings, from Arial to Ravie. But this easy access belies the deep story of the creation of alphabets from Gutenberg on. Garfield opens our eyes to type's technical evolution, the subtleties of font design (beauty versus readability), how type has gender, and even "type etiquette." But this isn't all p's and q's. Garfield matches flesh to type in avid profiles of gifted typographers, including the scandalous Eric Gill, Claude Garamond, John Baskerville, Frederic Goudy, and Luc(as) de Groot, creator of Calibri, which "has changed the whole look of mass communication." Signage, political campaigns, newspapers, websites, the ubiquitous Helvetica—how profoundly type shapes our world! Garfield's romping history (with multitype text) is zestfully informative. And who can resist a book with the sentence, "Hermann Zapf will always be remembered for his dingbats"? Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

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Eames the architect and the painter (DVD)

Eames the architect and the painter (DVD)

Summary: The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames is widely regarded as America's most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, this is the first film dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work.

Video Librarian Reviews
Charles Eames (1907–78) and his second wife, Ray (1912–88), were among the most innovative and influential American designers of the mid-20th century. Narrated by James Franco, this documentary by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey serves up a chronicle of their lives and achievements, alternating archival material with comments from family, colleagues, and still-adoring members of their studio staff. Eames briefly covers the early years of both—Charles the architect and Ray the painter—but the emphasis here is on the groundbreaking work they accomplished in the circus-like atmosphere of their company headquarters in Venice, CA. The revolutionary design of the so-called Eames chair, made of malleable material and contoured to fit the human body, and the house they built—rightfully considered a milestone of modern architecture—receive due attention, but so do the advertising films they devised for major American companies like IBM, the extravagant museum exhibition on the colonial period they spearheaded for the U.S. Bicentennial, and the impressionistic film about America they created for public showing in the Soviet Union. And the filmmakers take time to reflect on the Eames' personal relationship (noting that Ray consciously deferred to the more charismatic Charles) and on the charge that the pair failed to adequately acknowledge the contributions of their staff. DVD extras include bonus scenes. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.

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Design Sponge at home - Grace Bonney

Design Sponge at home - Bonney, Grace

Summary: Presents seventy design interiors provided by the readers of the DesignSponge website, along with fifty projects with before and after pictures showing transformed rooms, furniture, and accessories.


Library Journal Reviews
Bonney started the popular Design*Sponge website in 2004. Here she has collected projects and interiors submitted by her readers, illustrated with close to 550 color photographs. The "Sneak Peek" section showcases interiors created by 70 individuals. Fifty DIY projects feature clear instructions and materials lists as well as realistic difficulty and time-required labels. Although no instructions are given for the 50 "Before+After" projects, the variety of transformed furniture and decorative accessories will surely inspire readers. Also included is a vast list of resources for secondhand finds and inexpensive designer goods. A highly recommended compendium of ideas to inspire amateur decorators.


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The BUST DIY guide to life - Laurie Henzel

The BUST DIY guide to life: making your way through every day - Laurie Henzel

Summary: Collects do-it-yourself and craft projects from Bust magazine covering such topics as food and entertaining, travel, and career and finance.
Whether it’s sewing clothes, making cheese, or growing a garden, the modern appeal of “do-it-yourself” projects has a broader reach than ever. And who better to teach us how to DIY our lives than the über-crafty editors of BUST, the quirky, raw, and real magazine “for women who have something to get off their chests”? In The BUST DIY Guide to Life, magazine founders Debbie Stoller (of Stitch ’n Bitch fame) and Laurie Henzel have culled more than 250 of the best DIY and craft projects from its 15-year history. Organized by category—beauty and health, fashion, food and entertaining, career, finance, travel, and sex—and written in BUST’s trademark brazen and witty style, this quintessential DIY encyclopedia from the quintessential DIY magazine is eclectic, empowering, hilarious, and downright practical, truly capturing the spirit of women today.


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Humble masterpieces - Paola Antonelli

Humble masterpieces: everyday marvels of design - Antonelli, Paola

Summary: From M & Ms to Post–It Notes, a charming and insightful collection of design marvels from everyday life, celebrated by the curator of the MoMA's department of architecture and design.

Every day we use dozens of tiny objects, from Post–It notes to Band–Aids. If they work well, chances are we do not pay them much attention. But although modest in size and price, some of these objects are true masterpieces of the art of design.

Paola Antonelli, curator of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Design and Architecture, is a highly celebrated figure in the world of design (she was just ranked among the top 100 most powerful people in the world of art). Paola has long been passionate about the subject of everyday objects that are marvels of design. The response to her recent MoMA show, also called Humble Masterpieces, was electric. In addition to lively coverage in dozens of publications, the museum goers spread the word about the fun of learning about and nominating their own picks for humble masterpieces.

Now, in this colorful visual feast, Antonelli chooses 100 fabulous objects, from Chupa Chup lollipops to Legos to Chopsticks and Scotch tape. Each object will be portrayed with a gorgeous close–up detail, a brisk and informative text on its origin and special design features, as well as a silhouette image of the object as we see it each day. Certain to appeal to a broad audience, and to lend itself to fun, creative promotional opportunities, Humble Masterpieces will celebrate the possibility of looking at our everyday lives in an all–new way.
- (HARPERCOLL)

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