While doing some Dr. Leslie project research, I stumbled across an impressive collection of World War Two information that includes a very large collection of propoganda posters. These include tons of US and Allies posters.

The posters are organized by categories—Allies, Canning/Rationing, Civil defense, Conserve materials for the war effort, Defense work, Don't Talk, Home efforts, OPA (Office of Price Administration), Presence of the President, Recruiting, Save materials for the war effort, Stay healthy, Victory gardens/Save the forests, War bonds—and within each category are several posters with their relevant information as well as a large version of the poster (accessed by clicking the small poster).

The About sections reveals that “WWII Tech.net is a open project” and the sections are fleshed out with the efforts of volunteers.

Nice site, nice collection.

Jeffrey Zeldman waxes poetic over at A List Apart about the differences between Design and Art Direction. He also comments about the lack of Art Direction on the web.

I would have to agree - I have worked as an Art Director, as a designer and as a UI / IA person on the web and with software and I think the best art direction I have seen over the course of my career was in the ad agencies - where Art Direction is a practiced and learned craft. He is also correct in stating that they don't teach art direction in school. It is one of those things learned on the job - much in the same vein as apprentices used to learn from the master painters.

Is interviewed at speak up.

The interview asks some good questions about Steven's thoughts on the field of graphic design.

There are also interviews with Rudy Vanderlans (Emigre), Art Chantry and the co-founder of 2 Rebels.

The interviews are interspersed throughout this really nice blog on graphic design.

Massimo Vignelli was awarded an honorary doctorate at my alma mater RIT this past fall as part of the centennial celebration of the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences of which the School of Design is a part.

From the RIT News:

"Massimo Vignelli has dedicated his efforts to helping people understand the important role that design plays in business and life," explains Nancy Ciolek, RIT associate professor of design. "He has given freely of his time and knowledge to assist design students by lecturing and holding workshops at numerous schools and universities, including RIT."

I met Mr. Vignelli on several occasions while in grad school and afterwards when I was on the board of the Rochester chapter of the AIGA. I met him again in NY in 2000 when I was attending a conference on design history and criticism.

A few things have transpired over the past few days. Work has gone through some real turmoil - layoffs. I lost several folks on my team, as well as my boss. I am now dealing with the aftermath and what that means. I have a new boss that I am really looking forward to working with - but she is on the East Coast. I have my core team intact, but no visual designers or user researchers. So we are figuring out how to work without these folks and already miss our friends who are gone.

On another note, Philip Meggs, the author of the landmark History of Graphic Design, died November 24. Long, a part of the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University, Meggs was instrumental in developing a serious chronicle of the history of graphic design.
Nice post on Meggs at Typographi.ca
Newsday Obit
NYTimes Obit
NY Times Obit on GoogObits - a Salon blog that compiles Obits from Google

Interesting article over at Boxes and Arrows, by the co-author of the Web Style Guide. Sarah Horton writes that "Beauty is Only Screen Deep" and speaks about her perception of the Web designer's job. Many think this article is unnecessary or obvious. The first comment on the piece simply says "Duh" But as editor of B&A, and a designer myself, I thought that the message still needs to be said. And it needs to be spoken by folks who were guilty of the very things Sarah speaks about and now "get" that the web is no different than other medium for the designer - in that the first lesson is to understand and embrace the medium.

Wired News redesigns and is W3C standards compliant. That's a big deal for a major commercial site to attempt this. I also like that they talk a bit about what has changed and why.

They have kept the same initial departments - and icons representing them (after 7 years we should know what they mean) but have altered the navigation structure and layout, as well as the colors.

I've always like Wired News and despite them now being owned by Lycos, am encouraged that they are continuing to pave the way.

jon coltz interviews Jessica Helfand about her design thoughts, process and typography decisions for the book Econometrics, by Fumio Hayashi. He also speaks with her about her own book Reinventing the Wheel.

The rest of his site is pretty interesting to read as well.

Nice one page collection of work by A. M. Cassandre. Cassandre was a master poster designer in the 20s and 30s. Perhaps his most iconic works are the travel posters and the Dubonnet man. I have two of his posters - reprints from the MOMA - hanging in my house. This man was a genius at composition, scale and typography.

Josef Muller-Brockmann was one of the modernist greats. His poster designs are the epitome of Swiss graphic design and his use of the grid system shows that structure can be flexible. I studied the work of Brockmann in graduate school. This site features a nice gallery of his work and a brief bio. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in more on his work.