Noisy Decent Graphics

This could be the best book ever.

I'll read it and let you know.

Wouldn't it be better if it said 'Please Reuse'?

I know that 'Please Recycle' is very good. I know. But it's a big box and it could easily be reused.

I Mean, Grand

I don't know about you, but I love the smell of a fresh new Tube station first thing in the morning.

This is Shepherd's Bush. Brand spanking new. Lovely new signage.

All clean and nice. Strong, non faded colours.

Like a blank canvas.

The only thing they've lost is the funny little sign which used to tell you the origin of the name. Oh well.

This Fiat Is Very Unreliable

I saw this earlier today and rushed up to take a photo.

Obviously I know very little about it apart from what I can see;

1. It's on a Fiat.

2. It's a new Fiat, March 2007.

3. This is looks like a genuine van for a genuine tradesman. It has contact details.

So we can assume that it's a authentically pissed off van owner and not a TV prop or a stunt or something. It looks like a pretty effective way to take revenge. I bet Fiat hate it if he turns up at the local dealership. And it's highly visible on the road, and now thanks to me, on search engines.

I'm sure there's a name for this. Antivertising or something. But that's for other people. It made me smile, so I thought I'd share it with you.

D&AD 45 Years Exhibition Book

Anyone want this? I don't.

I don't mean that to sound ungrateful. It's a very nice thing. It's just that it'll sit on the shelf and you know, just sit there. Doing nothing. Adding no value to the world. So I thought someone might be able to give it a better home.

Errr, you can't read that, sorry.

It's designed by Build (I bet you lot love Build, don't you?) and it features all the text from the excellent D&AD exhibition. It's all the Presidents talking about their favourite piece of work from their year. Very good.

So pop over to the FAQ's, find my email address (think of that as an initiation test) and send me your address. First address I get - gets the book. Simple. Bosh. Break it down.

UPDATE: Competition closed. It's going to Matthew in North Yorkshire.

Life In The Muddle

Not graphic design related at all, but I know that lots of you would like to know that Life In The Middle is back.

The Economist cover this week

Gratefully received from one of our readers.

Credit Crunch Graphics

I'm gonna start a new, loosely curated, series on Credit Crunch Graphics.

I love this Economist cover. This sort of stark, powerful illustration is the reason I first started buying The Economist.

This is a nice little in-joke from the FT. Promoting their well known, regular supplement 'How to Spend It' on the top left and promoting the one off Credit Crunch special with the line 'How to Survive It' on the top right.

I guess this is the first financial crisis in the era of "You can't move in London without someone giving you the news". That's why it has to have a catchy name and it has to be the biggest crash and the biggest bail out. This is also why it has to be happening NOW. Whereas history will probably have the Credit Crunch dated as 2007 -2010. Something like that.

Here's Robert Peston the unbiased bringer of many leaked scoops (you knew his father was a Labour peer, right?). But ignore him (go on, please) and look at that Global Financial Crisis logo. What's the point of the bloody arrow?

Sure the arrow signals down, which is the way everything is travelling, but is it necessary? Is it helpful? Surely the word Crisis communicates enough. A better use of the arrow would be on I in Financial and then we could lose the Crisis. Sort of.

To be continued.

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, I've created the Credit Crunch Graphics flickr pool.

This Is Not A Joke

Look carefully on the top left. Pizza Hut has changed it's name to Pasta Hut.

No joke of a lie. Pizza Hut is now Pasta Hut.

Go to the website and watch the cheesiest flash video (again top left) of two workmen replacing the neon Pizza with a neon Pasta. Unbelievable.

And here's a picture of a new Pasta Hut restaurant from the Daily Telegraph. I was starting to wonder why they keep saying, "these are strange times" on the news...

Panic Room Film Titles

I thought I'd written about how much I love the Panic Room film titles before. Turns out I haven't.

I love the Panic Room film titles. You can now watch them here courtesy of a great site called Art of the Title which has oodles and oodles of lovely film titles and end credits online. Found via Design Observer.

It should be noted that the Panic Room titles owe an inspiration debt to Saul Bass' titles for North by Northwest.