Bond Book Covers > Michael Gillette

Images courtesy of Michael Gillette (www.michaelgillette.com/enter.html).

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Bond Book Covers > Michael Gillette

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To celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the birth of Ian Flemming, publishing powerhourse Penguin recently commissioned the very talented British born, San Francisco painter Michael Gillette to paint iconic covers of 14 James Bond novels. Amazing work. His sexy interpretation of the infamous Bond girls, with a striking minimal colour palette overlayed with interlocking 60′s inspire type treatments are so good they’re sure to bounce off the shelf.

You can see more of Michaels work at his blog, Pencil Squeezing (www.pencilsqueezing.blogspot.com) and you can purchase some of his work as prints, courtesy of the Cosh Gallery (www.coshuk.com). Michael is represented by the Heart Agency (www.heartagency.com).

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Filed under: Books, Illustrators

Subway by Paul Shaw

Images courtesy of Helvetica Subway (www.helveticasubway.com).

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Subway by Paul Shaw

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Lettering artist, type designer, teacher, design historian, and all around type nut Paul Shaw has recently released the book, Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story, representing over 30 years of research on the complicated history of NYC’s subway signage.

Paul Shaw places the New York City subway system signage in the context of 1960s transportation sign systems worldwide, the collapse of the American passenger railroad system that same decade, and the decline and rebirth of New York City from the Lindsay administration to today. He also offers a fresh and revealing look at the history of Helvetica from an American perspective.

Containing over 300 illustrations & photographs, the level of detail in research for such an obscure topic is staggering. For anyone familiar with Paul, however, this comes as no surprise, check out his blog, Blue Pencil (www.paulshawletterdesign.blogspot.com) for a taste of his detail-oriented fanaticism.

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System was originally written as an essay for AIGA Voice, an online magazine. It was posted in November 2008 and subsequently translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian blog logobr (www.logobr.wordpress.com) and into Chinese for the AIGA Speaks: Thoughts on Design 2009 series. Shaw lectured on the subject in February 2009 to a standing-room only crowd at the Type Directors Club in New York and in July 2009 at TypeCon 2009 in Atlanta.

The book, designed by Paul Shaw and Abby Goldstein is published by Blue Pencil Editions in a limited edition of 500 copies. Printing is by Capital Offset of Concord, New Hampshire and binding by Acme Bookbinding of Charlestown, Massachusetts. The $85 price tag might cause some hesitation, but for those interested in type or design history it’s well worth the investment. For more info or to order a copy, check the official website (www.helveticasubway.com).

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Filed under: Books, Typography, Visual Reference