I was in Piedmont Stationers today and I saw these georgous notecards from a company called Iota.
Not cheap at $12 a pack, but definitely heads and shoulders above the rest. They could even motivate me to finish writing thank-you notes from my wedding nearly two years ago.
(OK, so no notecard seems to have that much power, but still...)
A long time ago, I got into a bit of a snit via email with an ex-boyfriend. A big fan of cult movie The Matrix, he emailed me waxing rhapsodic about how "the combination of love and technology is such a powerful combination." I snottily emailed back, "The only thing I got out of that movie is that Keanu Reeves looks hot in black leather!"
Ahem.
I mean, I enjoyed the first Matrix well enough, even if I didn't quite get The Big Message, but the second and third installments convinced me that the whole thing — and its creators — were full of s**t.
But then again, maybe I should give the Weirdo brothers another chance. The new movie, V. for Vendetta, has been earning decent reviews. Beyond that, though, I think this is simply the most attractive movie poster I've seen in some time. I love the typography, with its invocation of Soviet-era graphic design.
(And the Keanu-free cast? A definite plus.)
I admit it. I often buy books just because I like the way they look. I adore trade paperbacks and hardly read those little tiny cheesy mass-market things anymore. It's good to know I'm not alone. This website showcases a variety of recent book covers and offers a forum in which to disect and discuss them.
My favorite exchange, about a book with a map of Manhattan on the cover shaped like a dangling rat:
- I passed by this book three or four times before I realized why it was so clever. While I'm not especially impressed by the type or layout of the cover, Peter Sis did such a nice job with the illustration, I can?t help but like it. Plus the concept is fairly spot on. The uneven streets where the guts would be is an especially nice touch.- Thats not guts, thats the paths through central park.
Penguin Books recently launched its "Great Ideas" series in the United States after its successful debut in the United Kingdom. Each book in the series features the writing of a particular thinker deemed to be influential on modern Western culture. While there has been some debate on whether the selections are truly representative and sufficiently diverse, there is no argument about the quality of the book designs themselves. Largely eschewing the use of photographs or "normal" illustrations, the designers carefully use typography to match the theme and historical context of the book. You can't tell from the photo, but the covers look as if they were printed on a letterpress — the letters are "debossed" into the paper.
Not bad for paperback!