Monday, April 13, 2009

Please buy me these art books.

I'm surrounded by readers. My husband Thurston falls asleep every night with a book on his chest. My friend May went and got a library card as soon as she unpacked her car when she moved here. My friend Steph is a professional book lover. My friend SarahRice reads for pleasure and has a job archiving things other people want to read. And even my desk neighbor Matt Wood carries a book in his pocket at all times.
Me? I read Harry Potter and Twilight. When I do read a book one of the above mentioned recommends to me, I really enjoy it, but it's like pulling teeth to get me started. I also read Readymade and Real Simple cover to cover, and I absolutely love looking through art books. (which Steph keeps me abreast of the best)
The following are the ones I want to call my own:

Fingerprint: The Art of Using Hand-Made Elements in Graphic Design

This is my #1 pick. It's exactly what I'm interested in. The title may as well be, "How Bliss Can Use Hand-Made Elements in Graphic Design".


New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age

I really love typography. It's funny how in college, I didn't care for typography or textiles and now that's what I'm most interested in. I have Mike Perry's book, Hand Job: A Catalog of Type, Over and Over: A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns and they're both really amazing.


Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life

A classic. One day it will be mine. One day.


Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens

This is my porn.


Maps: Finding Our Place in the World

My friend Smitty and I had an on-going joke that maps and puzzles were one in the same. If you like maps, you like puzzles. Like puzzles? Must love maps. At my old job, I ended up drawing/designing a few maps for some residential developments and it was really a lot of fun. I think Smitty was jealous.


Otto Neurath

This book could be the book that Thurston and I read together to reinstate family time. Otto Neurath is an Austrian sociologist who made major achievements in graphic design and philosophy. You know isotypes? Yeah, he made those.

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