Stumbleupon really is a huge treasure vault of  incredible and talented artists.

A while ago I found this guy that makes amazing images from cut-out pulp book covers.

As I’ve already stated here and there in this blog I like vintage stuff and imagery, and seeing those creations really made me stunned.

Inspired by children pop-up books he loves, Thomas has had one of those ideas each creative always starves for, but his work goes beyond that.

His job is not limited to cut the paper and putting in position the slices.

He is an inspired director of stage, light, and composition, really bringing  photos to life, projecting you in the  world he’s seeing.

By making tri-dimensional sets of what once was a bi-dimensional picture, all carved pieces becomes part of a whole new story to tell, adding to it mistery, tension, irony, just like in a typical ’50 movie, a western, a noir, a spy story.
Decay of the paper itself is part of the tale.
Then, a spotlight and a new shot, make the  image bi-dimensional back again to freeze the moment to eternity.

Am I a bit visionary?

It may be, but considering the success the man is having I’m not the only one.

He takes part in several exhibitions and has even printed a book Thomas Allen: Uncovered, a 48 page “jewel” featured in Amazon Top 100  Best book of Year 2007, and whose reviewers speak of very highly (not to mention that his blog really worth reading).

Recently Thomas has teamed up with the webdesigner and blogger Kitsune Noir (another blog I follow) for his “Desktop Wallpaper Project”, so now all of us can have a piece of his creativity to download for our desktop at various resolutions even for Iphone and PSP.

This is called “INFECTIOUS” and features a man with a wrapped slightly bloodied hand, looking worried toward the woman standing at his shoulder.

Still there? What are you waiting to download?

The Brazilian design studio PS2 created this beautiful self promotional typographic memory card game.

This concentration game consist of 20 pairs of card, each one with a different type family.

Set has some extra cards with a typographical glossary and the explanation of the sentence that names the gift: “the quick brown fox jumps to over the lazy dog”.
The package also contains a text about the evolution of type design, locating in history each font used in the cards.

Set is the annual gift to customers and friends of the graphic design universe and of the agency and comes in a limited edition of 300 numbered copies.

JUST BRILLIANT.

Some Spec:
Principal Type: Univers Condensed, by Adrian Frutiger
Paper: Condat Silk + Matte
Colors: Pantone
Finishing: Lustre Lamination + Die Cut

Click to view a larger image

Here it is again the list of my 10 favorite readings of the week.
Let’s start.

• Most brilliant is new Zippo advertising campaign. Even if message clearly exaggerate the amount of space taken by discarded lighters, it shows an interesting point of view that probably few of us had considered before. Read a full article on StillAd ;
• Most Useful is The 13 most essential plugin for WordPress by Net-tuts. Even if I don’t agree to all of them because I think some plugin in list are not strictly necessary (don’t forget that each plugin you activate eats resources and slows a bit your wordpress!), there are some I didn’t know. I would add to list Login Lockdown: detect and record IP addresses of every failed login attempt and if more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range;
  
• Most stunning is Step into my Cardboard Office from CR Blog. Their article tells about Nothing, a new Amsterdam creative agency that built its internal working spaces with cardboard. Article has plenty of amazing pictures of the studio;
• Most funny is Comments you won’t have seen by DavidAirey.com. I read this clever and wit blog very often and surely there are a lot of graphic design post to point out (I especially like the “Logo of the month” series), but this one was, really, exhilarating;
• Most Interesting is Achieve your goals with Incremental Persistence. I’ve found this article on DevLounge. Very powerful explanation about how persistence conquers all. You can’t miss the linked John Reese article on Income.com too;
• Most Beautiful is a showcase of SmashingMagazine of 40 typography-related websites and blogs. Astounding creativity and a lot of knowledge here;
• Most Inspiring is a DesignM.ag Showcase about landscape photography. Incredibly, the shot of the cypresses has been taken not far away from where I live. Those trees are really famous among photographers here;
• Most Valuable is The Ups and Downs of Business by Chris Tomlison. I’ve found by chance this 5th and last article of an interesting series, so, my advice is to read them all;
• My favorite artist is Jay Horinouchi creates dreamy and intriguing worlds filled with Japanese-inspired creatures. Amazing painting technique. He is having a solo exhibition at Möbius Gallery in Los Angeles until April 7, 2009.

This Sunday, I’ll list my 10 favourite websites of the week.
They may include articles, video and portfolios.
Let’s start.

• Most Comprehensive is Your Rights as a Photographer by Tutorial9.net: a complete and extensive guide about commercial and legal rights when you use your fotocamera, there also are two downloadable samples of models releases;

• Most Creative is A little something to remind me… by CR Blog that shows how photographer Michael Hughes renew the concept of tourist attractions in his new book Souvenirs, where he take a shot of a postcard of them, skillfully merged with the real view;

• Most Outrageous is Shavethepussy.com. Yes, as the name says, you have all the tools to shave a pussy and get a score to win the foam/moisturizer set. Honestly, I didn’t understand if this site was made to really promote the set or the amazing mastery of the flash design, but one thing for sure it gets noticed!!;

• Most Funny is Make my logo bigger video on YouTube. How often customers obstruct us from doing our work with request of the kind: “I want my logo bigger”, “All of that white space is wasted”, “I want more colors”?. Well, it has been created a new set of tools right for this purpose.

• Most Useful is How to Write An Effective Design Brief By JCD Blog. Starting from the definition of design brief itself it analyzes what goals of design could be, then it draws a roadmap through target market, design specifications, benchmark and deadline.

• Most Interesting is Typographic Nostalgia: Bell Centennial by Speak Up. This article talks of the creation of the typeface Bell Centennial, used for the AT&T telephone book, as an update of old Bell Gothic. A lot of good pics of the rare booklet that illustrate the process.

• Most Beautiful is The beauty of old maps by Design Daily. I just love vintage photos and illustrations. Period.

• Most Valuable is 10 Timeless Business Tips From 10 Millionaires by Quick Sprout. From venture capital to savings, from starting a business to investing in ourselves.

• My favourite portfolio: Philipp Zurmoehle at http://www.phillennium.com/ is a fine and creative graphic and web designer from Norway.

It must be some kind of “universal law”, I guess.
As you say his dreadful name you can see around you horrified, astounded, disgusted faces, wondering if you’re serious or if you’re only joking, when you’re talking about including it in your project (none of two: just testing the law ).

Every graphic and web designers in the world agree in hating poor dear Comic Sans.
Even those that use Microsoft Word to layout books, booklet and brochure.
Even those that use Photoshop to project a logo.
Even those that use Dreamveaver to write a post because they’re not able to hand-write a tag directly in WordPress.(*)

All of them, however, have one certainty: Comic Sans is ugly and despicable and everyone that use it and/ or denies it is as crappy as it is.

I wonder how does it feel about it that poor guy, Vincent Connare that created it in 1994.
Who knows… it could be he uses Oscar Wilde philosophy “I don’t care of your ill talking… as long as you keep on talking”.
But since he is a big professional and he probably makes big laughs of all this fuss…

Let’s say it.
Where does all of this hatred for Comic Sans comes from?
My opinion is that Comic Sans is a good font (I don’t fear to be considered crappy if I deny the universal truth!).
Good leading, good kerning. And it is nice and suitable for its destination: comics.
PERIOD.

My opinion is that truth lies somewhere else.
For years this font has been used and abused A LOT in web and editorial projects from “wannabe” designers (which it means that it was appreciated!) in an improper way, and I think that this is the real reason that lead to such saturation.

It has even been created a website, BanComicSans.Com that has started a petition to ban Comic Sans because, it states, “it threaten to erode the very foundations upon which centuries of typographic history are built”. There also is a section where you can download all kind of comics fonts to use in your project to make you stop using Comic Sans (what’s the sense of this?).
I don’t understand if the intention of this website is serious (oh my God!), controversial, or just a joke (I hope so).

Banning a font?
Ridiculous. Bad designer would use something else.
Why this makes some people upset?
After all bad allows to good to stand out, isn’t it?

(*)
YES! I’ve seen and read about people doing those things. Really.

Filthysmutpeddlers.com is a Website (with a nice graphic design, I have to say) born from from a collaboration between photographers, models, graphic and motion artists.

Filthysmutpeddlers.com provides a selection of pictures of pin-up and you have to create a design to enter the challenge.
It is not well explained how long each challenge lasts, but as they states everything is growing and subjet to change at the time that I am writing.

They address to all creatives with the aim, they say, to create “works of art to hang over the fireplace”, but it is true indeed that this initiative really is something different, with some fifties years flavour that we all love (don’t we?) and leaves the doors open to a lot of other opportunities.

If you want to give a look to the Website to apply for the challenge or just propose a wallpaper of the month, click HERE