Laramée’s talents extend across various disciplines, including painting, composing, sculpting, stage writing and stage directing. The multidisciplinary artist holds the belief that knowledge is gained through erosion rather than accumulation.

His artistic statement explains:

“So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.”

To create the sculptures, the books are pressed by clamps so that they become as hard as wood. His intricate landscapes can take anywhere from two days to four months.

Among Laramée’s works are two series entitled Biblios and The Great Wall, which represent the degradation of human nature.

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Grand Larousse" (2010)

"Grand Larousse" detail

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Historia das americas" (2009)

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Ryoanji" (2010)

Guy Laramée — from The Great Wall series

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Jades"

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series, "Longmen" (2010)

Guy Laramée — The Great Wall series

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Book People"

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Tectonic"

Guy Laramée — Biblios series, "Petras"

Learn more about Guy Laramée here.

While most infographics require substantial time and skill to create, the end result is worth the effort—and designing them can be super fun!

We stumbled over these nicely done infographics below for designers and programmers and thought we’d share. We’ve also included some random, funny topics that just look cool.

Click on the images below to view their full infographic.

If Web Browsers Were Celebs

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The Creative Process

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The Value of Being LinkedIn

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How do Colors Affect Purchases?

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The Darwinian Evolution of Photoshop

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Where’s Google Making its Money?

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Top Email Marketing Irritations

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How Would You Like Your Graphic Design?

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The QR Invation

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The Current State of Social Networks

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Graphic Designer’s Road Map

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The Science of Social Timing

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Evolution of Web Design

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Geek vs Nerd

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Do You Need a New Logo?

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Global Internet Traffic is Expected to Quadruple by the Year 2015

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Periodic Table of Typefaces

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The Ultimate Guide to Business Cards

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A World Without Facebook

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Typefaces of the World

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Web Designers vs Web Developers

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…and some other cool, random infographics

2012 Election Social Media Rankings

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Making & Breaking of New Years Resolutions

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The Royal Wedding’s Social Impact

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Follow @keithglantz

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

For more information on the history of Letterpress, although not as beautiful as this film, click here.

Most people dismiss street art as vandalism and hold conceptions that the artists responsible are mindless delinquents. However—if you are truly looking—street art can be both beautiful and brilliant.

To be clear, I do not consider the thoughtless vandalism you see everyday on the side of railroad boxcars or school buildings to be street art. It’s unfortunate the majority of graffiti is done by the bored youth as a tool to “tag” their name and deface public property at the same time. It’s ugly and the only thought it provokes to those who pass by is, “Clearly no one cares about this place.”

But with the help of influential artists such as Blek le Rat, Banksy, and BLU, the public has fostered a new appreciation for the street art that reshapes the way we see the world. These are the artists that desire to “create”—rather than “destroy”— and put the beauty back into places where it was once taken away.

“Smart vandalism” often serves as an outlet to critique and comment on socially relevant themes using public spaces. It’s a way for artists to take a conceptual thought or vision and bring it to life for the broad population to see (rather than be viewed by the few that visit galleries).

Street art is as subjective and varied as the artists themselves. And most beautiful street art can be hard to see, unless you are really looking. So, we’ve compiled some of our favorite pieces from several talented street artists that will undoubtedly leave an impression.

Banksy

Banksy's "Follow Your Dreams Cancelled" can be found in the Chinatown district of Boston.

Banksy, image is on the wall of a sexual health clinic visible from Park Street in central Bristol.

"Agency Job" by Banksy. Original piece is “The Gleaners” by Jean-François Millet.

BLU

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Edgar Müller

Edgar Müller, "The Crevasse"

Edgar Müller, "The Cave"

Edgar Müller, "Lava Burst"

Vinchen

Vinchen, “Capital Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?”

Vinchen, “Retail Chain”

Vinchen, “An Apology"

Zevs

A Mix from Various Artists

Dolk, "The Mushroom Girl" in Borg, Lofoten

Leon Keer was inspired by Terracotta Army of China, a collection of sculptures modeled after Qin Shi Huang’s armies, the First Emperor of China.

MTO, “Heeeeere's Kreuzberg!” at Heinrichplatz in Kreuzberg.

Felice Varini created an optical illusion, by painting on dozens of homes in Vercorin, Switzerland.

Benoit Lemoine, "The Zipper Tape Project"

Graffiti Moves its Way into Modern Mainstream

Shepard Fairey was a cult graphic artist best known for plastering city landscapes with his “obey” stickers, featuring the mug of wrestler Andre the Giant. Today…he is recognized as the artist behind the iconic “HOPE” portrait supporting Barack Obama’s 2008 candidacy for President of the United States.

The success of artists like Fairey—who made the transition from anonymous street rebel to being commissioned by big name clients including Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape—thrust the once underground movement into a popular culture phenomenon. Today, you can find prestigious galleries putting on street art exhibits.

Banksy is another artist who has received international acclaim, selling his work for astronomical sums of money. He went on to direct the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, which gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into urban street culture. The Oscar nominated film calls into question the hype surrounding street art and what it means to be an artist in the first place. Highly entertaining, and revealing—if you haven’t seen it already, I suggest you do.

While more and more graffiti artists are migrating their work from the streets into mainstream media, the spray paint medium is being used as a stepping-stone for artists hoping to find commercial success. Does this mean street art is losing its “authenticity?” Maybe. But that’s up to the public to decide.

Relax, have a seat…

or maybe you’d prefer to stand.

How many of you reading this have desk jobs? Feeling sloth-like? Got ants in your pants from sitting so long? In need of a healthier, more comfortable sitting situation?

As a designer, I find myself sitting at my desk in front of my computer for most, if not all, of the workday. Yes, my mind gets a lot of exercise, and maybe my fingers, but my body?…Not so much. After more than three years of sitting at a desk from 9 to 5, five days a week, I’m beginning to see and feel unsatisfactory consequences.

After coming across some astonishing research about how horrible sitting all day can be and then talking to a few certified health and fitness experts about ways to combat this, I have a new motivation for taking action against the effects of the deadly desk chair.

2012 is a new year people. As cliché as it may be, make it a resolution to change your sitting-all-day habits and tighten up that booty! Hopefully, you’ll gain some insight from what you’re about to read, and share this new knowledge with other designers or friends with sedentary jobs.

The scary research that sparked my interest

According to a Men’s Health article, Marc Hamilton, a physiologist and professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, warns sitting for prolonged periods of time (at a desk job for example) is damaging to your health. The more hours a day you sit, the greater chance you have of dying an earlier death—no matter how much exercise you get or how lean you are.

You would think working out before or after an 8 hour work day would somehow compensate for all of that sitting; but it doesn’t! The amount of time you exercise and the amount of time you spend sitting are completely separate variables when weighing the risk of heart-disease.

Hamilton says, “The cure for too much sitting isn’t more exercise. Exercise is good, of course, but the average person could never do enough to counteract the effect of hours and hours of chair time.”

So even you skinny people and super lean six-pack machines who are sitting in a chair right now and for most of the day are still victims.

One scientist even compared the effects of prolonged sitting to being a regular smoker. This sounds pretty drastic, but when an activity is compared to smoking, it can’t be a good thing.

Besides lowering your life expectancy, putting you at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, over time sitting can really put a strain on your hips, spine, and shoulders. Your entire body—from head to toe—suffers!

Is there any escaping the risk?

After speaking with a couple of experts, there appears to be a few lifestyle changing options to help prevent a flabby butt and a weak heart!

Karen Jashinsky, a Certified Personal Trainer, and Kevin Cronin, a Licensed Physical Therapist have given us desk sloths some hope. They’ve provided us with some insight and a few specific exercises we can incorporate into our workday; some without even leaving our desks!

Karen’s Advice

Staying in tip-top shape may present a huge challenge when one lacks a healthy eating and exercising regime. Moreover, alleviating stress may become difficult if it has taken a backseat to all the other priorities and responsibilities in one’s life. THEN, to top it all off many of us have sedentary jobs that make us sit at a desk all day. This in itself can contribute to slouching and tight shoulders, hips getting tight and back soreness. Fret not because there are things you can actually do to maximize your time at your desk by being strategic about fitting little workouts, exercises and stretches into your day.

For starters, I would highly encourage a fitness ball as a permanent chair or as a temporary chair that you can play around with during the day. Sitting on an exercise ball will help activate your core and leg muscles even while sitting. It is best to use the ball for short periods of time at first and to alternate it with a good ergonomically-designed desk chair. You can also use the ball for other exercises.

Think of sitting in your chair (or on your ball) all day as a way to get your core and stretch exercises in. You can fit your “cardio” in when you take breaks for lunch, coffee and calls. You can walk the stairs, take your calls on the cell and use it as a walking workout as well. The more you plan, the more effective you will be with fitting in a fair amount of cardio, core and stretching even while being productive at the office!

3 Easy Exercises from Karen

UPRIGHT BIRD DOG

(for your back and abs)

1. Sit on edge of chair with feet flat on the floor, resting hands on the seat next to your hips
2. Keep hips, knees and ankles bent 90 degrees
3. Shift weight forward off seat so all of your weight rests on your hands and feet
4. Brace abs and keep torso stable while lifting left foot of the floor and right arm straight out in front of you
5. Hold for 10 seconds then repeat with opposite arm and leg
6. Repeat 3 times at once or throughout the day

SEATED HIP STRETCH

1. Sit up right in your chair
2. Start with one leg and cross leg over the thigh of the other leg. Inhale while sitting up tall and exhale as you fold over your legs. Try to drape your hands over your legs and grab onto the calve of the leg that is on the floor. This will help pull your chest lower which will help you get a deeper hip stretch.  Hold for 30-45 seconds and switch sides.

WORKING YOUR CORE WHILE SITTING

1. Uncross your legs and plant your feet on the floor
2. Adjust your chair height so your hips are slightly higher than your knees
3. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and roll your shoulders back and down. Your shoulders should be relaxed and open
4. Think about tucking your pelvis under and engaging your abdominal muscles
5. Your keyboard and mouse should be right in front of you and your screen should be at eye level

Kevin’s Advice

Sitting for most of the day working at a desk or computer station may not seem physically demanding, but it is. The muscles in your neck, back, and arms work very hard to maintain the body’s posture. Circulation to the muscles is reduced, and irritating waste products build up inside the muscles as a result.

Learning how to reduce strain on the neck, shoulders, and low back will help to make you more comfortable, healthy, and efficient on the job.

Feeling discomfort is very common in today’s office environment and it is usually the result of sustained poor sitting posture or repetitive arm and hand motions. These are referred to as Cumulative Trauma Disorders, or CTD’s, and they account for half of all worker’s compensation claims today. The good news is that they are preventable!

If you work for an employer, it is their job to provide a safe working environment, but it’s your responsibility to properly use and care for your working body by paying attention to posture, body mechanics, and by doing regular, preventative stretching exercises to reduce strain on your low back, neck, and arms. By learning a few simple ergonomic principles, and applying them to desktop work, you can help to prevent injury and avoid pain problems.

The Workstation

1. The computer work surface should be deep enough to fit your laptop or monitor, keyboard and wrist rest (unless you use a keyboard tray)
2. Place the CPU on the floor if possible to save desktop space
3. Place your monitor directly in front of you with the top of the monitor at or slightly below eye level. The monitor should be a comfortable distance from your eyes depending on your vision
4. Relax your shoulders and allow your elbows to rest at an approximate 90 degree angle with wrists neutral while typing
5. Sit with your back against the backrest of your chair in a virtually upright position in order to maximize back support
6. Sit with your knees slightly lower than your hips, and feet resting flat on the floor, or on a footrest

The One Minute Muscle Manager

Frequent stretching of a few hard-working muscles is one way to relax muscular tension and discomfort by restoring blood flow to the muscles. This group of stretching exercises can easily be performed once every hour on the job. Since the entire stretching plan takes only one minute to complete, it will not reduce your productivity. Instead, it will reduce muscle fatigue, increase your comfort level, and help prevent injury to your working body, which will result in greater productivity overall.

Try out these exercises and you’ll be looking like a celebrity in no time! *wink wink

1. SHOULDER ELEVATION/DEPRESSION

1. Sit or stand as shown
2. Shrug shoulders up for 6 sec., then depress for 6 sec. stretching gently

2. UPPER BACK SIDE BENDING

1. Sit or stand with hands clasped behind head as shown
2. Raise tip of one elbow upward as you move tip of other downward
3. Bend without allowing hips to move so you feel a stretch in upper back
4. Stretch gently for 6 sec. each side

3. NECK EXTENSION/SHOULDER STRETCH

1. Sit or stand with hands behind neck as shown
2. Bend neck and shoulders backward until a stretch is felt
3. Gently stretch for 6 sec.

4. WRIST FLEXION

1. Hold wrist as shown
2. Bend the wrist until you feel a mild stretch
3. Stretch gently for 6 sec.
4. Repeat on the opposite wrist

5. WRIST EXTENSION BILATERAL

1. Hold palms together as shown
2. Keeping palms closely together, bring wrists down and elbows up to gently stretch wrists for 6 sec.

6. BACK FLEXION

1. Sit in chair
2. Bend forward as shown with hands crossed and placed on your knees
3. Gently stretch for 6 sec.

Give this advice a try and let us know what you think. Feeling refreshed and taking a minute to stretch and clear your mind will help you to be more productive and feel great all day, as well as prolonging your life!

Thank you Karen and Kevin!

Karen Jashinsky
Founder, CEO and Chief Fitness Officer of O2 MAX
Karen is a certified personal trainer with a BS/BA from Washington University and an MBA from USC.

O2 MAX is a fitness and media company that creates hybrid fitness solutions for busy people, with a large focus on students. As the founder, Karen is the recipient of the First “Emerging Female Leader” Award by The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, the fitness industry’s only global trade association. In 2007, she was also named one of the 25 most influential young leaders in the fitness industry by IHRSA. She is a frequent speaker at fitness conferences and trade-shows on youth fitness, social media and entrepreneurship.

Kevin Cronin
Founder and CEO of Advanced Rehabilitation Clinics (ARC Physical Therapy)
Kevin received his education from Northwestern University’s Medical School and is a Licensed Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainer, and is also certified in the Jones Strain Counterstrain technique.

Kevin is grateful for the opportunity to direct an organization that really makes a difference in the lives of the people they serve. It is a thrill for him to see his patients reclaim their abilities, to function pain-free, and to enjoy more active and productive lifestyles.

As a side note…

We’d like to mention that we just created a new website for Dietrich Horsey, a great new client of ours and a certified personal trainer located in Evanston, IL. He is whipping us into shape and we highly recommend using him! Check out the site at pxdtraining.com.

As a designer, I often notice things that others may never notice. Ligatures that are misaligned, kerning tables that are not spaced properly, and terrible number glyphs that don’t match the alphabet styles.

These “aesthetic details” may go overlooked by many… but to someone who cares about design—an obnoxious font can drive you crazy.

So I asked a few people, who are all entwined in various degrees in the design community to name their least favorite font(s). What we got in return is quite amusing and certainly better than a list of the 10 worst fonts. Although, many of these clearly would be in the fonts Hall of Shame.

Responses to: “What’s your least favorite font?”

Matt Kuttan: Papyrus. Because it evokes thoughts of an Egyptian overachieving tweener girl trying to write on a foam board to vote for her for a Cairo middle-school president.

Jill Smokler: Comic sans is just tragic and overused.

Greg Hinkle: Comic sans. Obviously.

And Trebuchet. It’s an annoying Arial variant that Microsoft thought would be
so cool, but just shows how shortsighted and megalomaniacal they are (since
it only looks right on Windows PCs).

Amit Savyon: WingDings!

Stuart Cohn: Whoa, only one? I think half of the stock decorative fonts that are the default fonts on your computer.

These are cop-out fonts:

1. Comic Sans
2. Papyrus
3. Jazz
4. Party
5. Mona Lisa

At one point they might have been designed for ease of use for non-design community to develop notes cards, invites, etc., for the casual home user. But over the years they have become staples to the uncreative, unimaginative and untalented set and they have opened the door to mediocrity to become common place.

It has contributed to anyone with a computer to think they can be designer or art director etc.

Frank Oros: Franklin Gothic. In college I learned to set type by hand –– metal castings placed individually into galleys. A painstaking and laborious process. I was late on a particular assignment and was rushing to set the type. I picked Franklin Gothic because it’s my name (no, not Gothic), and because I figured it was bold enough to carry ink adequately (what did I know).

After setting the type and adding slugs and such I threw in some pictorial elements to fill space and hurriedly began to bind the “chase”, the form that ends up on the flat bed. The chase is bound under tremendous pressure to hold all type, slugs, pictorial elements, etc. together. You shouldn’t rush this process because if the elements aren’t aligned perfectly they’ll literally explode out of the form and you’ll have “pied the chase” as I believe it’s called in type setting circles. I rushed it. It ‘sploded. I spent hours after class searching the cruddy press floor for hundreds of castings, cleaning them and rearranging them in the job case under the wary eye of my humorless professor. I hate Franklin Gothic. It performs poorly under pressure.

Mike Segawa: I honestly hate-with-a-passion the “Chicago” font. Mainly because Chicago’s my favorite city, and it’s already got a reputation for being an underrated city, it sucks that a totally boring font is titled after my favorite city. And the negative space created is unflattering, except for the spot in the “a”. That’s my favorite part of this most hated font. If I could spit on it I would. Ptooie!

Alana Zussman: Comic sans makes me cringe! All the teachers and students use it in the school. The worst is it is the preset typeface on the programs they use.

I also can’t stand Curlz MT, Mistral (which was used everywhere in Amsterdam) or Zapfino. I don’t think they are appropriate for any subject.

Eric Liao: For me, it’s hard to pinpoint a particular font I don’t like. It all depends on the context in which it’s used. I feel like almost any font has it’s “place” in the design world depending on the brand or the messaging. But if I had to choose, I’d say script fonts like Mistral. These fonts are meant to mimic natural cursive handwriting, but unless you get the right letter combinations and the perfect kerning, it won’t look natural. For example, starting a word with a lowercase “t” or “o” using Mistral will look odd, because these letters were designed to be connected to another letter that precedes it.

Ian Whitmore: Impact — Because it makes no impact on the viewer whatsoever and at certain sizes it borders on unreadable. The lowercase ‘p’ in Impact is one of the more awkward and repulsive letter forms I have seen.

Phil Adams: How about the most pretentious face ever designed? Has to be Avant Garde; so hot at the time but now—maybe it should be re-named Passe.

Eduardo Nieuwenhuyzen: Curlz—just makes me think of people using multiple colors with each letter. Oh yes, and freakin’ confetti! I hate confetti.

Octane Super is an example of fonts using too think of strokes making readability almost impossible. Etiquette is just just wrong, themed fonts should work harder than that. But then again I hate themed fonts.

But the winner—Sand Bureau. Looks like someone with a mental handicap drank too much Redbull and used some the generic type building kits to make a font set. YIKES.

Tracy Camparone: Ok, I despise that scripty font that some people use in their email signature (which they think makes them look official), makes me cringe!

Steev Szafranski:
Dear Papyrus,

You are the worst. Your dizzying scale shifts and roughed edges make me feel bad inside. Anybody looking to recreate a parchment map of Frodo’s journey through Middle Earth, please use traditional calligraphy and let this font slowly fade from our collections.

*No offense to Chris Costello, the designer of Papyrus. All in good fun.

Meg Cronin: I hate comic sans. It makes me nauseous, I’m not in kindergarten, and there is nothing comedic about it.

Kim Volk: Stencil. Something about it reminds me of getting bills in the mail. Depressing…

Keith Glantz (me): This wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t include my all time least favorite font. So, drum roll please…..

COPPERPLATE.

Curious choice, you may say. If you are thinking, ‘that font is okay,’ or ‘I kinda like it’… you are entitled to your opinion (although poor). I must tell you that when I see that font, all I see is the letters LAZY replace whatever message was intended to be read.

Copperplate has spread like a virus. People think they are “smart” or “sophisticated” when they use it. Or for that matter “official looking” with its all cap glyphic serifs. It’s often a default font on many computers who pretend they are designers.

Really people—this font is embarrassing. Do the rest of the world a favor and please refrain from using this it for any reason. In my opinion, if you have ever used this font on a wedding invitation, you are increasing your odds of divorce. Seriously, anyone who agrees to use that font is bound for failure.

On a side note: Copperplate was originally designed by Frederic Goudy. His other known font, Goudy Old Style, is rather nice.

What is your least favorite font? We would love to hear, so comment below.

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One of the more notorious moments in recent food industry history had nothing to do with the poor quality of the product, a food safety violation, high-carb content, or some other nefarious health effect.

No, a very large American company lost more than $30 million because of bad design.

I’m referring, of course, to the Tropicana debacle. To refresh your memory, in January of 2009, PepsiCo, parent of the juice brand, introduced a new look. Instead of an orange skewered with a straw, the new Tropicana Pure Premium OJ carton centered on a photo of juice. The creative force behind this change, brand-guru Peter Arnell, said the focus of the orange-less look was on squeezing—fresh-squeezed juice.

Sales suffered almost instantly. Consumers complained. The design was widely described as looking like a “generic” or “discount store brand.” Just seven weeks after its launch, PepsiCo scrapped it, and returned to the orange with a straw.

The Tropicana fiasco was a rare moment where the details of food packaging design and branding became headline news. An orange juice carton was one of the world’s most-blogged-about topics for a week. The New York Times’ Stuart Elliot likened the design debacle to one of the grandest brand flops of all. “It took 24 years, but PepsiCo now has its own version of New Coke.”

In Search of Packaging Design that Boosted Sales

About a week ago, I started wondering if there was an anti-Tropicana—that is, a situation where a package change, or a logo design change caused a surge in product sales in the beverage or food world. Off the top of my head, none came to mind.

Now, there are plenty of examples of legendary packaging successes in the food and beverage world. But in almost all cases, they’re legendary because they have a clear functional benefit—convenience, ease of use, shelf-stability. A survey of food packaging designers listed the “Top Packages of the Last Century.” Not surprisingly, the list highlighted bags, which extend produce shelf life, safer baby bottles, resealable bags, microwave-friendly packaging. Every year, food makers pour billions into developing packages that make life easier.

But I was curious about the cases in which it was only a change in aesthetics—a new logo, a rebranding—that caused a surge in popularity in the product.

Making a splash on the shelves of an American grocery store, circa 2011, is not an easy task. Not only does a product package need to “pop” off the shelf, but it also needs to establish brand recognition. After all, there is plenty of competition to choose from.

Consider this:

One UK design consultant described the food marketer’s challenge as “Being the 1 in 1000.” (For everything the average consumer buys, there are 999 things they don’t buy.)

Over the past few days, I’ve browsed local grocery store aisles, casually looking for signs of good design in the fruit juice category—I quickly discovered that the juice world isn’t rife with radical packaging design approaches. Minute Maid, the leading juice maker, pulls from the same design playbook as Tropicana. Simply Orange and Florida’s Natural also have an orange split in half. Odwalla, ditto. No one dare tries what doomed Tropicana—a fruitless design.

So I took to the Internet, browsing juice packages on designerly web sites, like Packaging World and The Dieline. The Dieline, which bills itself as the world’s # 1 package design web site, featured several interesting juice cartons, including this modern design from a Swedish brand ICA and this ultra-simple glass bottle from micro-juicer Organic Avenue.

But the most arresting discovery on my short search of juice packaging was clearly this one—which you might call “literal packaging.” Created by the industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa, the package embodies the actual fruit in the juice. The strawberry drink package is made to have texture of a strawberry. The kiwi juice has the feel of the fuzzy exterior of a kiwi.

I learned about Fukasawa’s juice design from Eva Maddox, the renowned Chicago designer and brand strategist. Earlier this year in the wake of the Starbucks logo change blog-a-thon, Maddox wrote an interesting Huffington Post piece that singled out 10 food packaging designs that succeed: ie: attract our attention, deliver a brand message, compel people to buy.

One of her favorites is Kashi Lean, a sleek design that has the added benefit of encouraging portion control. Another was the “extreme carrot” package. With baby carrot sales flattening, a bunch of carrot growers deployed ad giant Crispin Porter Bogusky to present carrots in packaging that looks eerily like Doritos. The hope: that $25 million in junk food marketing-tactics (including “extreme carrot vending machines”) will persuade kids and teens that baby carrots as just as cool as other neon-orange chips and snacks.

Next Stop: The Land of Hello Kitty

In a forthcoming post, I’ll take a look at some innovative food and beverage packaging from the country that spawned the “literal juice” package—Japan is widely lauded for its steady stream of food packaging ideas.

In the meantime, what’s a food or beverage design that recently caught your eye? And if nothing in Dominick’s or Jewel is grabbing you, here’s one designer’s gallery of the 50 Most Beautiful Food Packages of all time.

by Josh Schonwald

Josh Schonwald is an Evanston-based writer. He’s the author of the The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food, which will be published this April by Harper.

As a directionally-challenged designer who loves to travel, I can appreciate a well-designed map. When traveling to a new city, transit maps often represent the first impression of that destination. If a map is cluttered, disorganized and confusing, then I judge that city accordingly. Conversely, if a rail map is easy to navigate and pleasing to look at, it makes exploring that city much more enjoyable. Not to mention, the design of the subway map can directly influence ridership numbers and can indirectly have an effect on traffic congestion and pollution.

Designing a transit map for one of the biggest cities in the world is no easy task. However, Harry Beck, mastered the art of communicating a complex system into a minimalistic diagram when he designed the London Underground map in 1931. Pushing geographic accuracy aside, Harry laid out underground routes using beveled edges turning at clean 90- and 45-degree angles. London’s transit map set the bar for succeeding maps around the world. It combines functionality with beauty, and survives as an inspiration to designers today.

Over the years, transit maps have evolved from geographic representations to simplified diagrams. In effect, modern maps have been exponentially easier to navigate and much better looking.

Below is a collection of transit maps that top the list in both beauty and utility.

The Map that Revolutionized Transit Design—LONDON

London

Harry Beck’s London Tube Map is arguably the most famous map in the world. The map’s iconic status is due in part to its exemplary design principles and its utility for easy journey planning. Although geographically inaccurate, its timeless design has become the prototype for most of the world’s transportation systems.

Soft and Simple—MADRID

Madrid Metro Map

Its soft color palate, thin line weights and use of white space make Madrid’s metro map very pleasant to navigate.

Brightly Colored—WASHINGTON D.C.

Washington D.C. Metro Map

D.C.’s metro system map is wonderfully designed with transfer points that really pop out against its thick and brightly colored lines. I also appreciate the icons that direct tourists to important sites (Arlington Cemetery, the Smithsonian), while others direct locals to commute options (parking lots, buses, and light rail stations).

Pretty in Plaid—BANGKOK, THAILAND

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) serving the Bangkok Metropolitan Region in Thailand

Bangkok’s metro map resembles a plaid shirt that I want to wear. I love everything from its soft color palette to its faintly transparent rivers and streets.

A Bold Background that Works—MONTREAL

Montréal Metro Map

Montreal stands out amongst the rest with its intense choice of background. Because the city’s rail is pretty simple (with only four lines running in a small area), a black background suits this map, making it extremely easy to navigate routes and transfers.

Magnifique!—PARIS

Paris Metro Map

If only the actual trains in Paris were as clean and beautiful as this map.

Naturally Pleasant—AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam Metro Map

Amsterdam’s green and blue topography complement the geometric representations of the rail system. Its balance between nature and modernity is characteristic of the Dutch city.

The Romantic—LISBON

Lisbon Metro Map

This map feels very soft and romantic in comparison to the popular geometric maps we are used to seeing. The routes flow more in correlation to their actual paths and the lines have icons that add character, almost as if the map is telling a story.

The Ring Leader—MOSCOW

Moscow Metro Map

The circular line pops out immediately, drawing your eyes to the center of the city. The weights of the circles for each station are thicker than the lines, helping give more white space to the map. This design clearly takes inspiration from the London Underground Map.

A Much Needed Map Makeover—NYC

New York City is referred to as the “biggest,” “best” and “trendiest” city for a variety of reasons. However, when it comes to “beautiful map design”—the “Big Apple” falls flat. NYC’s subway is one of the oldest and most extensive public transportation systems in the world. And its map design is continuously in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Many feel it attempts to convey too much information in a single diagram—resulting in a congested, overall ugly design.

Current version of New York City Subway Map first designed by Michael Hertz Associates in 1979

Over the years, several artists have taken a crack at redesigning the NYC transit map. Perhaps the most prominent and most talked about design is that of Massimo Vignelli. Vignelli simplified New York’s complex subway system into a clean graphical diagram, using bold bands of color that turned at 45- and 90-degree angles. The subway map was published by the MTA between 1974 and 1979. However, the over-simplification of geographical elements left many New Yorkers confused, and the MTA replaced Vignelli’s map with a more traditional, typographic map that persists in revised form to this day.

1972 Subway Map designed by Massimo Vignelli

Take a look at the collection of revamped NYC maps below. Most aren’t practical in functionality, but all are uniquely interpreted through beautiful design.

New York City’s map by Korean design studio Zero Per Zero

ZERO PER ZERO, a design duo of two graphic designers in Seoul, Republic of Korea, were inspired by the shape of heart from Milton Glaser’s ‘I Love NY’ logo.

Triboro’s One-Color Subway Map

New York-based design duo David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler of Triboro Design builds upon the Vignelli-style map using only one color—Florescent red.

The KickMap designed by Eddie Jabbour in 2007

Eddie Jabbour designed the KickMap with ease of use to encourage more people to ride New York City’s complex subway system. The subway map acts as a hybrid combining both diagrammatic and topographic features. Jabbour felt strongly about offering his design as the official map to replace the current MTA map. Unfortunately, the MTA was quick to reject his design.

Disappointing Design—CHICAGO

Chicago Transit Map

We can’t forget about our own city of Chicago’s transit map. Though the Windy City’s map isn’t “I-want-to-scratch-my-eyes-out” awful, it doesn’t quite make our list of greatest designs. Yes, it’s simple to navigate. Yes, it adheres to most of the visual rules we see in most systems. But, nothing sets it apart from other maps, nor does it visually do justice to the great city of Chicago.

Glantz Design has its own opinion on how the Chicago transit map could be improved. If you are reading, CTA, give us a call and we would love to show you how your map could look.

How would you change the design of Chicago’s CTA map?

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In certain circumstances, controversy can be a good thing for a brand. Press surrounding controversy often creates excitement, gets people talking and increases brand awareness. However, controversy is not guaranteed to benefit a brand. It can easily backfire, creating more damage than good.

Logos are one of the most important and effective ways to market a company or product image. An appropriate and clever design can amplify brand recognition, help tell the story and create an identity that resonates with consumers. A logo can essentially make or break a company. Thus, it’s crucial for designers to be mindful when crafting a new logo so that its meaning will not be misinterpreted or subject to controversy.

History has witnessed the criticism and debate over several famous logos… some of which we’ve decided to share here.

In honor of Thanksgiving, we’ll begin with the surplus of Native American logos that have been largely controversial in sports history. Some of these scrutinized team names and logos have been ordered to change due to their offensive nature.

Here’s a quick rundown for those who slept through American History…

Native Americans were exploited from the moment Europeans first arrived in America. They were driven from their land, their homes and confined to reservations that are now common across the South and Midwestern parts of the United States. When sports teams began creating names, logos and mascots to represent them, many drew inspiration from the Native American culture. In effect, there has been backlash from groups that see these team names and images as demeaning to native traditions, and perpetuate a negative stereotype.

Among those teams that have names derived from Native American references include, the Chicago Blackhawks, Chief Illiniwek of the University of Illinois, Chief Wahoo of Cleveland Indians, and the Washington Redskins (just to name a few).

Chicago Blackhawks Logo

The NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks use a Native American’s profile on their jerseys. The team was named in honor of the team’s founder’s military unit, which was named the “Blackhawk Division” after Black Hawk, a Native American chief.

Although some argue the current logo is offensive, knowing the origin behind the team name makes it a difficult case for those deeming it racially insensitive. If you ask me, the current Blackhawks logo is much less offensive then some of those from the past.

Chief Illiniwek Logo

Chief Illiniwek, the former athletic symbol for the University of Illinois, has also been a victim of scrutiny. The logo was banned after being ruled “hostile and abusive” and was retired in 2007 to comply with the NCAA rule to no longer allow Native American imagery unless the specific ethnic group being portrayed gives their blessing.

However, the Board of Trustees of the University claimed the chief to be a dignified symbol and that his ceremonial dance was done with grace and beauty. Watch the Chiefs last dance.

Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians have been around since 1901, and if you ask us, this is a drastic improvement from their much more offensive logo from the late 1940s. The Indian logo is more nostalgic than anything and for most, it is simply an image associated with that team. Still, some are deeply offended by the red-faced representation of an Indian that borders on racism.

Where do we draw the line?

Activists have been protesting the use of Chief Wahoo and the Indians for decades. But it hasn’t been changed yet.

Washington Redskins Logo

Used outside of sports terminology, “Redskins” is a radical term for those of Native American decent. But as a team name, is it meant to be offensive? Many people may not even know where the term “redskin” is derived from.

Back in the 19th Century when bounty hunters killed Indians for profit, instead of returning with bodies to prove their kill, all that was necessary was “redskin” which often meant a scalp, the genitalia of a man or the breasts of a woman. If this is what “redskin” means, obviously it’s not a positive word that shows respect to a Native American community.

On the other hand, a 2002 poll conducted by Sports Illustrated found that 75 percent of Native Americans polled had no problem with the team’s nickname, however, the lawsuits and appeals continue.

Some other pretty controversial Native American logos not mentioned here are Florida State Seminoles, North Dakota Fighting Sioux, and Central Michigan University.

And equally not forgotten, although not Native American are Aunt Jemima and Ole Miss.

On a lighter note, here are some other logos that have been subject to debate…

Olympic Logos

London 2012

Designed by Wolff Olins for a whopping £400,000, this terribly ugly logo was received with overwhelmingly negative criticism. 80% of people who participated in a BBC online poll gave the logo the lowest possible score. Others complained that the logo was so horrible that when seen on TV it was causing epileptic seizures.

Iran threatened to pull out of the games, because they saw the logo as racist claiming it spelled “Zion”, or worse some people argue that the logo was derived from the Nazi symbol and can spell out “Nazi” and contains elements of the Swastika.

Montreal 1976

The Montreal 1976 Olympic Logo was apparently supposed to represent the letter “m”, a podium, and a running track. Hmm… since when does an “m” has 3 humps? Some people have scrutinized this logo claiming that it resembles a derogatory hand gesture. Learn more about the thought process behind how this logo was created.

Beijing 2008

The logo for the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China, was created to look like a running figure triumphantly crossing a finish line. However, some Chinese correspondents found the figure offensive stating that it looks weak and that the legs are soft and limp as if bowing down to a master.

Corporate Logos

Apple

Apple’s company logo is an apple with a bite taken out of it. Some claim this signifies that the eating of the forbidden fruit (which was symbolically an apple) by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was a good thing. Occultists teach that taking a bite out of the apple gave the first two humans knowledge, to lead them to self-divinity and godhood, which is otherwise widely thought to have been a negative action for giving into temptation.

BP

A few years ago, BP decided to go through a re-branding. As a “Beyond Petrolium” company, they gave themselves an innocent “green” logo (shown on the left) which does not fit very well with their intention to do business in tar sands and deepwater drilling. Controversy arose over this new logo, as many people were not buying into their new image, regardless of how well designed it is. Greenpeace UK asked it’s activists to create a new logo (one example shown on right) which really shows BP’s “predatoty nature.”

Comedy Central

Comedy Central cleverly created this ‘C within a C’ to logo. Some may not even recognize its genius twist on the copyright symbol. See. It’s turning corporate America on its head. Hilarious.

Starbucks

Some customers were dissatisfied with the new, simplified Starbucks logo. This goes to show people don’t like change. How will they ever find their way to their favorite bean chain with no “Starbucks” or “Coffee” on the logo? All of this fuss was for nothing. Now the logo has been reduced to the three most important elements: the circular shape, the siren and the “Starbucks green.” They could probably just use a green circle and people’s mouths would start watering. Plus, without these labels, Starbucks can create more than just coffee.

There are a million other controversial logos out there and this list could go on and on… Anyone care to share?

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 Create Your Own Road

Painting the Sea

Zipper City

Face vs. Fist

Roadworker’s Coffee Break

Shattered Arms

Deep Cuts

Coffee World

Lazy Dogs

Something Fishy

Crossroads

Upside of the Downside

Road Waterfall

Photos courtesy of Erik Johansson

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