No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols
arrived at beforehand and stuck in… I tried to make a real
old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks.
But if I made them good and true enough they would mean
many things.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY speaking about The Old Man and the Sea (1951)

Wim Crouwel is the Dutch typographer and designer largely to blame for my love of grid-based posters and the International Style in general. See more from his incredible body of work »

1. You can only work for people that you like.

2. If you have a choice, never have a job.

3. Some people are toxic. Avoid them.

4. Professionalism is not enough.

5. Less is not necessarily more.

6. Style is not to be trusted.

7. How you live changes your brain.

8. Doubt is better than certainty.

9. On Aging: It doesn’t matter.

10. Tell the Truth.

From Milton Glaser’s AIGA talk in London | November 22, 2001 | Read the rest »

Josef Müller-Brockmann, 1914 – 1996  |  The Swiss maestro of poster design. More on Flickr »

Recently received a reissued edition of John Coltrane’s 1957 masterpiece Blue Train and was reminded of just how incredible Blue Note album covers tend to be.

The cream of the crop has got to be the work done by Reid Miles through the fifties and early sixties. During his eleven year tenure, he created some of the most iconic and enduring images of jazz to date. His distinct approach of combining bold color, funky lettering, and clean typography with half-toned images by photographer and Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff left an indelible mark on mid-century graphic design. Not to mention everything that’s come since.

Before I knew anything about graphic design or music, I knew these had some serious mojo.