I just came across this article on Japanese rubber stamps on Ping Mag. Go read.

I came across this site on vintage RC cars today, well, more specifically I came across the decals on the site. There’s quite an impressive collection here, kept presumably until the guy can get them all converted to EPS files. If they were higher resolution scans, I guess it wouldn’t be too difficult a process to use LiveTrace in Illustrator. Mind you, looking closely, a fair few of them have slight registration problems in the printing, so auto tracing would necessitate a fair amount of rework.

Still, just look at all those logos! All those swooshes and go-faster stripes! I love racing decals anyway, ever since I got to go with my Dad to vintage races at Oulton and Donnington Parks. They’re great. Vroom!

I was reading about Postopolis! on City of Sound, and came across a short writeup of Timescapes, a multimedia exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York (scroll down a bit). I love the design of this map (click for larger version) - looking closely I think that’s Eccentric ¹ isn’t it? Until now, I’ve never seen that font used on anything that makes it look good. Here, it looks rather dignified. [Update] I actually think that it’s Democratica. I thought it was the freeware Eccentric because (sigh) that’s what a company I work with was using.

Also, while hunting for more examples of the work online, I realise that it’s usually museums who completely fail to show off their exhibits to any great effect. Looking at the official page on the museum’s site, would you be enticed to go see it? Where’s the gallery? I mean, it’s a multimedia piece, so putting a few screenshots of the thing online wouldn’t hurt them one little bit - you still have to go to the museum to get the full effect of it, and seeing some examples online might actually get you to go.

1. The crappy freeware one that is. (If you search on fonts.com for ‘Eccentric’ you get a very different font indeed, though while I was searching for uncial types, I came across this rather nice font: Fusion, which I might get and use for something.

I came across the hi site today via Computerlove. There’s some great work on there, but one in particular caught my eye, this very simple and effective signage treatment. The back is painted with a UV-reactive paint that causes the shadow behind the sign (which are mounted at a distance from the wall) to have a greenish glow. My limited German leads me to understand the writing on the wall below are the names and interests (Chuck Norris?) of the new student intake for a particular year, though I couldn’t be quite certain.

I need to know so much more about the typeface in this image. I found the image in this pingmag article on Dainippon Type Organization, where there’s a little bit of info, but I can’t find anything beyond that. Feed me facts!

Seen on a trailer on Hallmark for ‘Intelligence’. Love that ‘g’. Using the amazing ‘What The Font’ tool on MyFonts I’ve identified this as Libel Suit.

Another one I had to do some clever re-Googling for. A while back I was sent a link to Si Scott’s portfolio site. Once you get past the mystery-meat navigation, you’re in for a treat.

You know that floral, bling style that’s been so popular lately that it’s rapidly becoming a cliché? Well, this guy is the master of it - so much so I wouldn’t lump him in with the rest of them. I think his work is too finely executed to be called a cliché. Check these out.

Found on KSTP Twin Cities News. I love that 5! So much so, I had to sketch it.

I recently rediscovered Mouneer Al-Shaárani’s work after trawling Google Images for the original of an image I had saved. His portfolio site has had (see update below) some wonderful examples of quite remarkable calligraphy on it. The three examples of his work below show some of what’s possible with Arabic calligraphy, which may well be unreadable, but is definitely beautiful.

It’s also worth checking this collection of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic calligraphy on this post on BibliOdyssey. I gather from reading around the subject that the idea of doing this may have come from the prohibition on creating images of animals - this isn’t a picture of the animal, it’s just a description of it, written down. Whether that’s true or not is open to interpretation, but it makes a nice story. Would that defence stand up in court, I wonder?

Update (May 2009): The portfolio site is now some crappy link-farming thing. Some of his work is available for sale on Artnet though.

From Penny Arcade. I love the big serial number, and I also love the idea of a ping pong robot. Quoting the site:

So our ping pong games have not been going so well. We’ve taken steps recently to ensure that our future games go better. I don’t want to say too much right now but here’s a picture. This arrived yesterday morning.

Nice.