Traditional letterpress printing as a contrast to the “perfect” look of today’s laser-printing enjoys a growing interest over the past decade. Unfortunately much of the letterpress’s traditional technology was lost over the last 30 years and what’s left fetches premium collector prices. LetterMpress is an interesting kickstarter project committed to recreate the experience of authentic-looking letterpress design and print in a virtual environment released first on the iPad.
In a time where most typography is created digitally, designers, artists, and printmakers can draw a lot of inspiration from the handcrafted appearance of traditional letterpress printing. A real luminary in this field is Alan Kitching. Having worked as graphic designer, typographer, letterpress printmaker and teacher, Kitching is internationally renowned for his expressive use of letterpress type, process and materials in creating typographic designs for publishing, advertising and his own limited edition prints and ‘Broadside’ publications.
Photo: Celia Stothard
Renown National Geographic Photographer Gerd Ludwig is documenting the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in his long-term project “The long shadow of Chernobyl“. To commemorate the tragedy 25 years later, Ludwig is recently visiting the reactor and the areas around to investigate the current state of contamination to the land, to report on the progress of its cleanup and to examine the health consequences in the fallout regions. The fact, that he was able to raise over $23.000 for this trip over the kickstarter platform, shows the strong interest for in-depth photo-journalism content, that isn’t covered by traditional media.
In the light of recent events I digged out an older post that I find very fitting: This FRANCE24 ad uses the metaphor of an iceberg whose biggest parts are under water to cleverly visualize the danger of nuclear power.
Laura Brunow Miner compiled a nice photo essay “Infrastructure – The Underpinnings that make Civilization civilized”. Below are some of my favorite shots. See the complete photo essay with background information about each picture and photographer at Pictory.
Formally, infrastructure is the physical and organizational structure that enables society to operate. It allows economies to function, and services and facilities to run smoothly. Personally, infrastructure allows us the illusion that we can insulate ourselves from the forces of nature. Look, appreciate, and enjoy, but please don’t take any of these structures for granted.
—Todd Lappin, Telstar Logistics
Design for Japan features a collection of artwork from different designers made in the hope of raising money for Japan after the earthquake and tsunami on 11th March 2011. A great way to help!
Here’s a funny stop-motion animation for the BBC Knowledge Channel by Seattle based artist Sean Pecknold.
The data visualization “Conductor” by Alexander Chen turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA’s actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. Each time a train crossed the line of another train, you hear a cello pizzicato sound pitched according to the length of the line. You can find the interactive version (where you can also pluck the strings at will) at www.mta.me or watch the video below.
Special Tip: Open www.mta.me in 2 or 3 tabs simultaneously to get a great sound experience.
If you are interested in the technical implementation of “Conductor”, read the project description at Chen’s Blog.
TED announced the 10 winners of it’s inaugural Ads Worth Spreading initiative. Selected from more than 1,000 submissions from around the world, they are some of the most creative and compelling communications of the past year. “We’re seeking to reverse the trend of ads being aggressively forced on users. We want to nurture ads so good you choose to watch – and share”, said TED-curator Chris Anderson about the effort.
Here are my favorites. See all winners and honorable mentions on the Ads Worth Spreading initiative site.
