Summer Olympic Emblems

With the games of the 30th Olympiad set to open in exactly three months, we're in full Olympic mode over here at Duckpin HQ. The hurdles are set up, the cauldron is lit, and we're giggling every time we hear the term "coxswain". Over the next three months, we're gearing up to provide both our readers with design-related Olympic coverage.

First things first. Below we've assembled the official emblems from the past 19 summer games, plus this year's London 2012 logo. Pretty much every design trend from the 20th century is represented here, from the heraldic '30s to the Op Art '70s to the abomination that was the '80s. Share your personal favorite(s) in the comments section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hammering it Home

Jeff Holmberg has found an inventive way to use the metal type he bought at an antique store. Above is one in a series of wooden posters he produced using stencils, rubber stamps, paint, ink, and reclaimed wood. For a unique finish, he pounded the type into the wood fibers to leave a blind impression.

There are more photos of the posters here, as well as a lively comment thread on whether roughing-up type in this manner is a desecration. Why not weigh in?

Spring Cleaning

Spring's renewal is evident in the Duckpin Press printshop. A weekend spent cleaning has eradicated a winter's worth of dust, clutter, and loneliness. That was good. However, after we cleaned off the ol' type cabinet (above), its top was looking awfully lonely.

In day's of yore, the cabinet top was a popular repository for strip material or forms in progress. Explore the background in this photo as an example of the former, and the righthand side of this photo as the latter.

Compared to these cabinets, ours has an regrettably underutilized top. That needs to change. Currently we have our hellbox, string to tie up forms, and our printers cap. Oh, and our official shop clock and non-duckpin-sized pin. But there's something missing that we can't put our finger on. Do you have a suitable tchotchke that would be at home in the shop? The requirements are minor:

• it's gotta inspire or make us laugh
• it's gotta be able to spend the winter alone under a coat of dust and not get lonely

Any suggestions that fit the bill?

Less Than 100g

We definitely have the collector's gene. We're not talking a Hoarders-like compulsion to gather stuff, just the propensity to collect and make sense of objects. Our collections include tiki mugs, squished pennies, obituary aptronyms, and advertising images of cannibalistic animals. Naturally we were excited to explore the site Less Than 100g, a curated assemblage of "tiny and beautiful stuff". Each issue of the blog (a dozen in all) is thematic: guitar picks, bookmarks, Polaroids, buttons, etc. The site proves that sometimes the biggest collectors are drawn to the smallest objects.

Thanks to Kim for the tip.

2012 Calendars

What better way to start the year than with a fresh letterpress calendar?

Pictured above is Studio on Fire's 2012 desktop calendar. The theme of the set, "positive apocalypse", is appropriate for both the mom and the emo kid in your life. And how about calendars for those others in your life?: the bicyclist, the Chiroptera enthusiast, the naturalist, and that preachy designer-type.

Enjoy, and a happy, inky new year!

Giving Thanks

A few photos from a Duckpin Thanksgiving spent out in Shenandoah National Park: a log, a sign, a cola dispenser, and Neoproterozoic columnar basalt jointing.

Click photos for wicked big versions.

Thank you card

For the Amalgamated Printer's Association's monthly bundle, we created this piece using just wood type. We received a couple inquiries on how we did it. Here's the scoop:

First we printed the backsides of wood type to create a field of brown. We added strip material between the blocks so one could see each individual one, rather than a monolithic rectangle. We selected the pieces to include a wide variety of wood grain patterns.

Next we mixed up 3 batches of ink side-by-side: blue, white, blue. Then we took a wide brayer and commingled them so the color on the brayer transitioned from blue on one edge to white in the middle to blue on the other edge. They're mixed well so the gradient is smooth all the way across.

We locked up the rightside-up type in the proof press and hand inked it with the brayer from corner to corner. This created the blueish hues near the "T" and exclamation point . Next came the paper and a pull of the press. Presto, a thank you card!

Each of the 155 copies had to be individually hand inked to get the gradient effect. We don't have fancy equipment like a cylinder press with a split fountain, so it's all manual, all the time. The side benefit is now our biceps are jacked. Printing is the new steroids.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Pantone

Now that Columbus Day has passed, it's time to decorate for Christmas!
Get a colorful jump with these Pantone-licensed "Xmas Balls" from Seletti.

(Hat tip to Santa James)

Yer Old

Happy Most-Common-U.S.-Birthday Day!
According to all the smart people on the Internet, today is the most popular birth date in the United States. Fittingly, Duckpin Press' own mom -- always part of the popular cowd -- is celebrating her birthday today. That gives us an excuse to show off the above piece we made earlier in the summer on the Pilot press. Enjoy. And happy birthday, Jackie!

Paper is Crane Lettra; Gray text is 24pt Ombree; orange text is unnamed wood typeface (well, unnamed to me, anyway -- suggestions, anyone?); 4.25" x 5.5"

Magazine covers

We usually feature sites that are heavy on inspiration for type or poster design. In this post, we feature a selection of magazine covers taken from nascapas. The Brazilian site captures the best magazine covers from around the world, posting up to a dozen different issues a day. Covers often include captivating photos, lively type treatments, and intelligent conceptual illustration. (Plus some funny-looking words from countries that don't talk American.)

Click on covers for a larger view.

Duckpin Goes Duckpinning

The Duckpin Press staff of two has just wrapped up our summer duckpin bowling league. In honor of the workhorse typeface, our team name was the Zapf Dingbats. We certainly lived up to the second part of that moniker. A total of 18 teams took to the lanes, and we finished.... uh, let's just say we didn't finish in the top 17. But when you're out on the town throwin' ducks with the love of your life, who cares what your record is?

There's always next year...

Sophia Stationery

My how they grow up fast. Seems like just yesterday we were making a 5th birthday card for Duckpin's youngest printer. Fast-forward a year and and half and she's now a full-fledged intern. To congratulate our newest assistant, we made her her very own stationery. She did us the favor of adorning it with a self portrait. Thank you, Sophia, for spicing up our refrigerator door art collection.

Click on photos for wicked big versions.

Siding Signage

While traveling through the small town of Aquasco, Maryland, this summer, we spied this old building embalmed in it's own kudzu. Fittingly, it advertises various undertaker services -- including embalming.

Also fitting is that this phenomenon of faded advertisements is referred to as ghost signage. There are several collections of images out, and we sometimes visit them for typographic inspiration. Perhaps the most apropos one we've stumbled across is a ghost sign advertising Casper Beer. Boo!

Ink-scented Wretches

Sniff your screen.
That's right, sniff up here close and tell me what you smell. What? Nothing?

That's right. As much as this blog might stink, it doesn't stink. Absent in electronic communique is the familiar scent of ink on paper, a nasal elixir for us printers. For those missing the olfactory experience of reading, enter The Times of New York candle. Combining “hints of guaiacwood, cedar, musk, spice, with a powdery note and velvet nuance," this candle will emit everything you love about your morning paper–except the ink.

What'll it cost you to capture that ol' smell? Just $65. (Or you can subscribe to the real thing for $7.40 a week.)

Look: A Book on Curling. Oh, Wait...

New to the annals of "don't judge a book by its cover" comes this gem. Available from Amazon, the book purports to teach you all you need to know about bowling. So what kind of expert is teaching us about bowling? Well, according to the book's description, "this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing..." So it's basically the internet borrowed and reprinted on paper.

You'd think that the "author" of the book would be able to borrow a better image for a book on bowling. You know, one that actually pictures bowling.

Cashspiel Smackdown

Since you did such a great job last time, we're again turning to you readers for some design feedback.

Above are two possible designs for a poster. The task is to create an announcement for the National Capital Cashspiel at the Potomac Curling Club. Basically it's a tournament for seasoned curlers to compete and maybe make a few bucks. The design brief that the poster should be "very DC".

I decided to take two design paths. To the left, the political convention design, celebrating 19th century broadsides that advertised political party gatherings. On the right is the monument design, with a nod to the federal architecture of DC.

Since we can only use one, do you have a preference—convention or monument?

Click on image for larger view.

Yeah, When Monkeys Fly Out of My Butt

We love a great combo of letterpress and die-cutting, so we had to highlight this promo piece for A Hundred Flying Monkeys, an outfit based in California. Funky illustration, beautiful printing, AND it'll put your eye out.