Remember those adorable “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters? They were like WPA posters, but more minimalist and had that certain British flair that we all know and love when it’s not connected with mad cow disease.
Well, them days are over. The parodies have come and not only have they come with a vengeance, they now come in different flavors to suit your hipster needs!
Holiday Flavor
Indie Rocker Flavor
Tinnovator Flavor
Snark Flavor
‘Tis the season for space heaters and scarves. Wool coats and whinging about how cold it is and how this is only the beginning, it’s all downhill from here and you’ll never be truly warm again until May, and in California it’s 92 degrees and why was it again you ever moved to this god forsaken state with its four seasons and trees that change colors?
Gigposters.com, that repository of awesome design, has a just the stuff to get you in the mood for autumn…or at least fun stuff to look at while you’re huddled inside trying to convince yourself that mittens are perfectly acceptable for 50 degree weather.
...designed by Dan McCarthy
...designed by Jon Johnson
...designed by Weapons Of Mass Design
...designed by Alan Hynes
Font selection is usually something only graphic designers get excited about. It’s one of those instances when even the hippest hipster lets their inner dork out for an extended rant on Papyrus or Comic Sans. (But then again, having an inner dork is of course a prerequisite for being a cooler-than-thou hipster in the first place).
Generally, I find it all a little meh. Sure, I tried to get in on the action. I watched Helvetica (snooze-a-thon). These fonts created by Vladamir Koncar, however, are something even I can get behind.
Best. Idea. Ever! Threadless, purveyor of awesome t-shirts, is running a contest wherein people who are much cooler than I could ever hope to be recreate the designs on Threadless shirts in cake form. CAKE, people. CAKE. It is, indeed, crazy delicious.
Big to do a few weeks ago about the whole moon landing hitting the big 4-0. Perhaps it was because I don’t have cable anymore and thus missed out on what I’m sure was some exciting programming from the Discovery Channel, but I was pretty meh about the whole anniversary. I think space in general is getting a little passe for us post-cold war kids. Maybe it has something to do with the moon being old news, mars being so far away, and the Internet being so much more tangible and exciting. There’s also the chance that the very idea that defunct boy band member Lance Bass might engage in space travel made the whole thing seem a lot less cool. Although, to be fair, I’m sure a lot of people were very excited about the prospect of Lance Bass leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.
What has not fallen out of favor after all this time, is awesome space art. I’m not talking about your tacky sci-fi book cover illustrations, I’m talking about matchbook artwork. Yes! Somehow that too has declined in popularity amongst my generation. Go figure.
I randomly came across these amazing Russian (or was it the USSR back then, I have no idea) matchbooks celebrating space. I like to imagine that if the WPA had changed their minds about the whole let’s focus on rebuilding America thing and focused on jetpacks and satellites this is what it would have looked like. On second thought, maybe that’s exactly what the space program needs. Beautifully designed propaganda posters advertising the tomorrowland of the final frontier. See the Milky Way! Loose lips sink space ships! We can do it…in space!
If you’ve been paying even the slightest attention over the past year or so you may have noticed an undercurrent of reverence for the undead. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, zombies are having their moment! They’ve joined the ranks of pirates and ninjas on the super hot fantasy occupation/hobby list–although technically it’s more of a “state of existence” but there’s no need for semantics. I would trace the beginnings of the resurgence of this trend back to the 2003 tome The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead (the reader reviews alone are comedy gold).
And then of course, there was Shaun of the Dead and more recent, guerrilla efforts such as this:
But the kicker, is the new sub-genre of Zombie literature. Unlike The Zombie Survival Guide, this sub-grene reinterprets the classics (and by classics I mean Jane Austen, not Night of the Living Dead) by inserting zombies into the plot and cover art. The NYT has a nice little article/blog post by Ben Schott about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (now with “ultra-violent zombie mayhem”), as well as forthcoming, similarly themed books.
Incidentally, I feel it necessary to state for the record that while I endorse this particular musing from Mr. Schott, I cannot abide by the majority of Schott’s Vocab and its insufferable quest to publicize modern portmanteaus and tortured turns of phrase that have no business inserting themselves into the vernacular.
My dad was once in a battle of the bands against Rigor Mortis and the Standstills. It is, in my opinion and yours, the greatest band name in the history of music. In other cleverly named band news, it’s that time of year when Harry Potter hits the big screens and Harry and the Potters hit the…um mp3 players…or something.
Harry and the Potters is a band that plays songs about Harry Potter (no doy) and tend to sell out gigs at the library (but have they played at the opening of a Curves for Women fitness center? I think not. You still got ‘em beat there, dad!).
Lest you think this is some kind of gentle entertainment for throngs of pre-teens, let me assure you that Harry and the Potters is completely genuine and is one of (according to wikipedia) 600 bands to have spawned the genre known as “wizard rock.” Wikipedia also informs me that there is a new wizard rock documentary with the swoonfully clever title: The Wizard Rockumentary: A Movie About Rocking and Rowling.
The delightful gigposters.com, aside from being consistently inspirational, has some fantastic posters designed for various Harry and the Potters shows.
...designed by Dan McCarthy
...designed by Dan McCarthy
...designed by Ryan Dyck
...designed by Thomas Scott
And there you have it, your nerd culture lesson for the day. You’re welcome.
It has been far too long since we last heard about the exciting adventures of Harry Potter and friends. Hooray for Hollywood! …or London-wood, whatever. While I consider my mad dash to read the final book before the internet spoiled the ending to be my greatest Harry Potter-related accomplishment, others have actually done something a bit more creative with their time. Case in point, M.S. Corley who designed some exceedingly cool retro covers for the Harry Potter series.
Design Was Here has a great post entitled 50+ excellent posters about design (all taken from the “What is graphic design” photo pool on flickr). What? No love for the copywriters in the crowd? Where’s my poster about excellent copy? On the other hand, the posters are pretty awesome, and if you’ll notice, most of them rely pretty heavily on copy to make their point. Yey words!
...by Frank Chimero
...by Frank Chimero
...by Ancient Wisdom Productions
…see all the posters in the pool here.
