I stumbled across Joel's portfolio and didn't stop looking until I had seen it all—I love it (I don't have the slightest idea what it all means but I love it).
http://www.joelnakamura.com/portfolio/portfr.html
Landor tags itself as “the world's most accomplished and internationally recognized branding and design consultancy.”
I love the story quality of this highly-illustrated style of advertising—what someone once described as provoking a “Hey, what's happening here?” reaction. Makes me wonder how I might integrate a modern version of the technique into my own work. EphemeraNow.com treats us to a whole collection of great images.
I came across Fragile Design in OZ Graphix 2002—a showcase book of work from top Australian design studios. I particularly like the way they use photographic collages to illustrate their brochures. They spark some ideas I'll use in future projects.
http://www.fragiledesign.com.au/HTML/portfolio/brochures/brochures.html
If you do not yet carry a Moleskine pocket notebook, you probably have never held one. I find it to be a near-perfect design tool for sketching and note taking. Now available in the ideabook.com store.
http://www.ideabook.com/006_mlsk/moleskine.htm
I've seen lots of online printing vendors but this is among the best—the instructions are comprehensive, the prices are right, the quality is decent, and the people are responsive. For example, I had 250 business cards printed in 4-color on 2 sides for under $60. If you try them I'd be interested in hearing about your experience.
And now for something completely different. Take a tour with Phil Baines (curator of the Central Lettering Record) through central London to see an eclectic collection of public lettering examples.
http://www.publiclettering.org.uk/
One of my favorite things: every morning, more than 100 newspapers from around the world submit their front pages to newseum.org via the Internet. It is not only a great way to get the news, but a great source of newspaper design inspiration.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
Need a dose of perspective? This should do it. For Earth at Night.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020810.html
For The View from Everest.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020723.html
For a Solar Eruption
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030223.html
Years ago Chuck Davis happened across a font software program and decided to use it to translate some of the letters used to hand paint signs into font form. Thank goodness for happenstance. To see the result—Letterhead Fonts.
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/
To see examples of how to use them.
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/gallery/index.php
For free fonts and software.
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/downloads/index.shtml
Is a graphics standards manual overkill for a small organization? Seeing how a large corporation directs the usage of its logo, color palette, and typefaces clearly demonstrates the value of the process.
http://www.dow.com/about/corpid/dowstds.htm
If you ever wonder why you don't get to work on any of the prime design projects, I have the answer—Hornall Anderson Design Works (HADW) has them all. Well maybe not all of them but you will see by their portfolio they do work for many of the world's most coveted clients—Adobe, Blue Nile, Ghirardelli, Nordstrom, Porsche, and Starbucks. Of course it could be the clients are interesting, in some small part, because of HADW.
As stated in its mission, “The National Archives is not a dusty hoard of ancient history.” Among its assets is an enormous collection of fascinating design and photography—I haven't met a designer yet who did not draw inspiration from the imagery of the past. The NARA site offers this ever-changing gallery of exhibits.
While you're there, to catch “Picturing the Century.”...