What with libraries offering pole-dancing lessons and Amazon giving away books, you’ve got to wonder: is anybody out there, you know…reading? I mean, why bother?
Well, it turns out that it just might save your life.
What with libraries offering pole-dancing lessons and Amazon giving away books, you’ve got to wonder: is anybody out there, you know…reading? I mean, why bother?
Well, it turns out that it just might save your life.
Florence, New Jersey, population 12,109, is home to one of the more unusual artifacts from World War II: Hitler’s toilet. From the story:
“…the toilet has all the traits of a toilet from a ship—including an open side slot for seawater to be pumped in. The knobs on the faucet bear text written in Blackletter—the famous and classically German family of typefaces that Hitler adored. (The Nazis, in 1933, chased typographer Jan Tschichold out of Germany for advocating use of sans-serif fonts instead of Blackletter, among other design travesties.)”
Gasp! Sans serif?!? Just when you thought the Nazis couldn’t be any more evil.
Tschichold went on to design the Sabon font in 1967; one of its earliest uses is in Bradbury Thompson‘s Washburn College Bible.
In 1978, a helicopter pilot spotted something deep in the Siberian wilderness that shouldn’t have been there: a large garden.
Here’s the fascinating story—and a follow-up.
Want to succeed in life? An academic at the University of Virginia recommends expanding your vocabulary.
But don’t just grab the nearest dictionary, cautions E. D. Hirsch, Jr., professor emeritus of education and humanities: “A large vocabulary results not from memorizing word lists but from acquiring knowledge about the social and natural worlds.”
So…pick up a book. And read it.
Squee! Shetland ponies wearing cardigans made of Shetland wool! (And a video of them getting dressed for their photo shoot.)
Scotland already has haggis and Scotch; now this? I’m booking my trip even as we speak…
It’s been nearly a month now, but I can’t let another day go by without acknowledging the great Charles Durning, who died Christmas Eve at the age of 89. Take just a moment of your time to read about this extraordinary man’s life. I promise you won’t regret it.
Along with all that re-branding and name-changing and whatnot (you may have heard about it—if not, go here), it seems we’ve done something most creative firms around here haven’t: design a dedicated mobile website.
No, not just a landing page with a phone number and directions; not just a responsive design that adapts the same website to fit individual screen sizes; but an actual mobile site.
Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Just type “helveticka.com” in your phone’s browser—don’t worry, we’ll take care of that pesky mobile-specific URL—and you’ll see a site that was created to get you the information you need in a way that you can not only see, but (gasp!) use.
Now. Imagine what we can do for you.
*If upon reading this you immediately began singing the second song on side two of Who’s Next, the 1971 album by The Who, well…you’re awesome.
So. It’s my first time posting on the new site. I think I’m finally ready. Just…please be gentle with me.
Thylacine caught on video! Or not.
Belgian woman leaves for a train station 38 miles away; a glitch in her GPS sends her to Croatia.
From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground? The answer may surprise you.
Slow-mo video of fireworks exploding inside buckets of paint.
The Periodic Table of Typefaces. Hmmm…I wonder which font is numero uno?
Last week we launched our name-change video. Hopefully, you’re among those who saw it—but if you missed it, you can see it here.
A couple of Spokane collaborators assisting in the development of the video are worth noting. The voice talent was from out of town, but the animation, voiceover recording and editing, and sound engineering were handled by local firms. Thanks to Mike Bold of Digital Itch for his beautiful and sensitive animation of the world’s greatest typeface, and to Dan Mortimore and Ray Gross of Mortimore Productions (who recently celebrated their own 25th anniversary) for all things audio.
Another testament to the importance of collaboration and the talented folks working right here in Spokane. Thanks guys.
Today marks the very first day of helveticka. (In case you missed it, here’s a link to learn more.)
While the spirit of Anderson Mraz Design lives on, the name itself is no longer relevant. There are a lot of reasons for making this change, most of which are way too dull to get into here. But I will give you one:
It’s simply better.
Better because it represents something that we’ve known for many years now: that good design is driven by good creative. Our evolution from a pure design firm to one that places creative thinking at a premium has come naturally to us. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we continue to strive to set our clients’ brands apart with elegant yet simple visual solutions that express their unique personalities. (And occasionally, we actually achieve this goal.)
So, with that creativity in mind—and thankful for never having to spell “Mraz” again, we now have a new name.
Now, before you make too much fun of the photo…
Celebrating one’s 25th birthday is nice and all (I should know, I’ve done it more than once), but reaching that milestone as a business is, well…not so easy. You set out to succeed, but you don’t set out to hit an anniversary like this. When John Mraz—my former partner and co-founder—and I formed Anderson Mraz Design on January 1, 1988, we simply wanted to create meaningful design. And, frankly, help support our families. It really was that elementary.
I’m grateful to all who have been a part of the firm’s 25-year history. I’d like to thank John for his many contributions over the years. And to a few others, from family members to employees, former clients to new patrons, talented collaborators to kind landlords, and so many more… I humbly say “thank you.” Without all of you, hitting this milestone wouldn’t be possible.
We wish all of you a prosperous new year, while we look forward to adding more candles to our cake.
Do you prefer red wine or white? Chances are, you can’t tell the difference. So why bother with wine labels? The answer goes back a few thousand years.
Why do so many people insist that you can’t begin a sentence with a conjunction? Or end one with a preposition? Anthony Esolen thinks our high school English teachers are to blame.
I’m normally loath to point fingers at teachers, whose jobs are not for the faint of heart. But in this instance, I’m with Esolen. My son’s English teacher, for example, won’t allow split infinitives or sentence-ending prepositions. (Both, by the way, are nothing more than shibboleths.)
I shouldn’t complain, though. Knowing how and when to bend the “rules” of grammar and usage is what pays my mortgage.
