The other day I received a letter in the mail informing me that I had something in the newly released Best of Business Card Design 8. It wasn’t until I got the book in the mail this week, that I found out which pieces made the cut. Kind of strange timing to get a two-page spread in a design book in the same month that you are shutting the featured website down (i.e. this site).

I was also pleased to find out that the business cards I did for my wife made it in.

Watch and see 15 of the possible cover designs to Stefan’s new book appear before your eyes.

So Sagmeister has done it again. Although we have already seen many different pieces that are in this book, it is great to see and read about the entire project. It is fascinating to have all the work in one place, see the process it took to make these creations and discover the meaning behind it all. What has always struck me about Stefan’s work is the complete originality behind it and the guts that it takes to produce work like his own. We can make all the naked Sagmeister jokes we want (but please stop, it is very old) but he really has put himself out there and it isn’t based on arrogance.

While it would be amazing to have encountered some of this work in its original setting, I assume that the majority of this work was mainly designed for the end photograph and publication. If he created this work to be mainly viewed in these public spaces then his work would teeter over the design/art line very heavily into art. This work is interesting in that it is so much about self expression, but Stefan also has a message to say, and clients are willing to pay him to make the work.

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To start off, I thought this little video I shot would be the best way to show you the design of The Learners.

I have to admit that since I first learned that Chip was working on a follow-up to The Cheese Monkeys, I have been eagerly waiting to see layout, kerning, and typeface decisions weaved into a work of fiction again. While there was plenty of graphic design geekery to be enjoyed, the emotional and psychological aspects of Happy’s life are much more in the spotlight. Having previously worked at several small ad agencies it was very entertaining to follow the politics of a similar size office of yesteryear. The domineering boss, the talent that should have moved to the big city, the eager newbie, the burnt-out hack copywriter … they are all part of the ensemble.

While there are plenty of basic descriptions out there on this book, here is my two sentence summary (the summary from the publisher is more clear). After Happy has graduated from State he goes out to find his dream job at the firm his (de)mentor Winter Sorbeck, worked at. We follow Happy from his interview, to his first weeks and subsequent perils of dealing with clients and the things they promote.

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The name of the book is “Post Modern Bible Stories: Sunday School Never Looked Like This.”

The book is a collection of 45 postcards created by a assortment of designers and illustrators. Each postcard has an illustration on the front and a short paragraph sumarizing the story on the back accompanied by a few words by the artist. First of all, this is not an easy task for an illustrator! Not only did they have to illustrate some of the most widely recognized stories in the world, the format was a 4×6 postcard. If that weren’t enough, the whole piece needed to stand on its own with little more than a few sentences found on the back of each card. My hat is off to the illustrators for accepting the challenge and boldly proclaiming their faith.

As you would expect from 45 relatively unknown illustrators (at least unknown to me), some of the postcards are good and some aren’t that great. At the worst, the skill level reminds me of those montage things you make when you are first learning Photoshop. At the best, the illustrations were ispirational and moving. The illustrations that stood out for me were by Chris Koelle. His illustration for the prodical son was the highpoint of the book for me. Not only is it a strong symbolic story, it was one of the few illustrations that broke free of mediocrity and actually touched me. Chris’s other contribution was an illustration of Jacob wrestling with God that you can see on the right. Chris’s site is worth a visit, too, he is a fine illustrator.

Aside from the few truely inspiring moments, this book has left me scratching my head. First of all, what am I supposed to do with 45 postcards? Second, who is the intended audience for this book? That second question is where my real criticism is directed…

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Almost perfectly timed with the units on Renaissance and Pre-Renaissance document design that I’ve been studying with my students in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design lately, the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha is currently exhibiting multiple pages from the continuing St. John’s Bible Project commissioned by St. John’s University / Abbey. I won’t take up an extensive amount of space describing here what the Joslyn describes in detail on their own site, but I will briefly comment on what a wonder this project is to behold in person.

Those interested should also visit the principle site for the St. John’s Bible.

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