Photos from Saveur

Time: 1:00 p.m., January 26, 2003

Place: Svetlogorsk, Russia

Ladies who lunch by the Baltic Sea make a vodka toast over their winter picnic.

Photograph by Landon Nordeman

Time: 3:00 p.m., December 22, 1959
Place: Rome
On a break from toy store duty, Signore Claus and his, er, reindeer dine on spaghetti and oats.
Photograph by Bettman, courtesy of Corbis

The other day my mother spontaneously loaned me some issues of Saveur magazine, which at first I thought would go unread, but instead quickly got thoroughly perused. But the thing that snagged my emotions the most was the last page of each issue. It is a single-page feature simply called "Moment", where they print photos that exemplify an enjoyment of food in unusual circumstances.

My favorite is the top one, the Baltic version of "Ladies Who Lunch" which in New York City means something vastly different. Why haven't I had a picnic by the sea in winter? This seems important to me. Very sinfully I have long been daydreaming of unearthing an old fur coat and wrapping it around myself at the cabin. It takes hours for the log fire to heat the place up, even with the gas heat on in the basement, and I want to be like the children in Narnia dressed in a nigh royal robe of floor length fur. But I will not buy one and so dream I'll just come across one, in a trunk somewhere, magically. And then I will wear it to a picnic by the sea in winter and toast either my friends or just the ocean, with icy diamond-clear vodka.

Brilliant work, brilliant marketing believe it or not

Believe it or not, this is a mockup of a book made by Laura Varsky to promote her new illustrated font Lady René for the font studio Sudtipos.

There are five things I love about this project:
1. The illustrations
2. The topsy turvy use of the font
3. Acknowledging that endpapers are important
4. The butthole on the cat at the end of the book (American publishers often don't allow that in children's books)
5. The obvious time and care put into something that only tangentially might get you attention for your product

This is a prime example of how marketing can be not only done right, or well, but done beautifully. I have no idea how long it took her to make this nor whether it has garnered sales for the font, but for the sake of added beauty to the world it was worth it. She even made it free to download (go here) and perhaps should consider putting it on Blurb where people could buy a little copy of it. I'm not sure I personally would since this classic song is about trying to kill a cat in the most imaginative ways possible but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it.

One thought on working fantastically hard to market a project. I wonder, how much time does it take out of your life? I'm sure it generally produces a great return, especially when it is as creative and beautiful as this. Things that people can get for free are also an effective tactic, and just a downright generous thing to do. I've never made such a thing for my business (other than little printables which are mostly fun for me to make and a way to break from thinking commercially), I've never put that kind of effort into marketing. And seeing this makes me want to, like hearing about someone crocheting giant coral and thinking, "I should learn how to crochet!". Or hearing a friend's story about driving cross-country with their 3 month-old and thinking, "I should dare to do something like that with August!". It makes me think, "I should create a grand project that will gather attention and snowball into huge exposure and bring people to my site and make them want to buy our stationery!"

And then I stop and think, "I am working at capacity. I am a person with limited energy. And I really want to make that recipe for spicy corn pakoras with mango-tamarind chutney I saw in the New York Times the other day. And also, in my spare time I want to make art". In a way I am not terribly ambitious, and am fine with that, even when I think, "I should do something amazing for marketing like that..."And then stop and think, "... some other time. Right now I want to watch Kooky again and sketch leaves." Thoughts on ambition will be in a whole other long post.

Seems like I can write a lot about working!

Found via designrelated, all images courtesy Laura Varsky and Sudtipos

Post Mother's Day Mothering Part V

My last random thought on mothering for the week—
Everybody play in the dirt.

Post Mother's Day Mothering Part IV

To-do list:
Find out how Maira Kalman handles being a mother.

When she was younger, illustrating and thinking and following strangers down the street to photograph them from behind, married to one of the most famous designers in the world. How did she mother her children?

When I was pregnant I went to a talk of hers, and she was even more quietly and reservedly nutty than I imagined. Wonderfully so. In an unself-conscious way that I wish with all my heart that I could be. How does nuttiness go with being a mother? I didn't ask her because it was terribly off-topic, since the talk was about her recently published "And the Pursuit of Happiness" which is all about the United States and government and searching for ideals. Hallelujah, she says, for many things—

Post Mother's Day Mothering Part III

Embrace kid-created mess

Photos from WeekdayCarnival, top three are by RK Design, bottom photo (so far as I can interpret) by Femke Dik

Master penmen

To follow up on the dirge in my heart for schools giving up cursive, I wanted to share a wonderful site I found long ago. It is the site of The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting. Otherwise known as IAMPETH. Founded in 1949, it is pretty much encapsulated in the name (except I don't know what Engrossers are). Its dedication is worn on its sleeve.

These are artists, like calligraphers in Japan who are considered national treasures. These people are treasures. And these are the images that new swoopy gorgeous script fonts are based on. These are the examples of masters and lovers of the written word, meaning written and not typed. Who are these incredible souls?

All images are courtesy the IAMPETH website

Oh cursive

Do you know what I just learned? That some states will no longer be requiring students to learn cursive. My life insurance guy told me this.

I know that the keyboard is not going to go away and even I type more than I write by hand, but it still oddly makes my heart hurt a little. It's not just that there could be an apocalypse and all electricity might disappear and that people's hands will cramp from the time-consuming activity of writing only in block letters, there is the fact that no matter what people will write less by hand if they do not know a fast way to write by hand. And then there is the removal of beauty.

It's also so odd to me considering that cursive, script fonts, calligraphy, have had an increasing popularity. And not just that uber-smooth perfect calligraphy, I mean fonts that imitate plain ol' cursive handwriting—the roughness, the personality, the swoopiness. Real-life calligraphers (and not just font-designers) are making a comeback, as are all artisans.



I don't think that script/cursive/calligraphy is ever going to die. It will become an art form like jewelry-making and draftsmanship and embroidery, and who knows, perhaps it's okay for cursive to remain in the hands of the devoted. Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class and changed the world with accessibility to amazing fonts. Genius.

But... if cursive really does stop getting taught... I'll mourn a little. I just remembered that in 4th grade I won a little silver pen for best penmanship.

Top images by Betsy Dunlap

Next images by Laura Hooper