DESIGN: Inspiration for the Logo-less

(C) 2010 Thomas V Hartmann (Click to view full-size)

I’m wandering off of my patch a bit, I know, but logo design has been on my mind lately. Hardly a day goes by, it seems, when I don’t find myself coveting the clever abstraction on someone’s business card or filled with envy over the cool symbol or mascot they use as their Twitter avatar.

When I made my debut in the Twitterverse, I struggled over what I could use to replace that newbie’s egg. I didn’t have a logo (my business cards were the templated variety from MOO, and I wasn’t crazy about using a photo of myself as my avatar (alas, like many other photographers I am camera-shy). I could have cooked up a simple type treatment of my initials, but I didn’t want people to mistake me for the element Thorium, and another photographer, Tomas Van Houtryve of VII (@TomasVH), was already using a simple, dignified “TVH”.

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MUSIC: 'There She Goes Again,' and Again

Electric Youth

The Velvet Underground’s “There She Goes Again” is about addiction / prostitution / dependency of some kind, or as Lou Reed says—and only he knows—“The story of lost love in America.” The La’s did their version, which is significantly more literal in its reference to heroin. And there have been many, many covers. But College (featuring Electric Youth) borrows the line, “There she goes again,” for their song, “She Never Came Back,” in what just might finally end the cycle of addiction…

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MUSIC: Carrie Manolakos' 'Creep' Video Goes Viral

We’re a bit late in sharing this, but if you haven’t already seen Carrie Manolakos’ ridiculous (in the best way) cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” watch it. Now.

Recorded live during her recent set at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Manolakos breathes new life into the song and reminds us what made it great in the first place, and folks are taking notice.

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DESIGN: Debbie Millman's 'Look Both Ways' at Chicago Design Museum

(Image via Chicago Design Museum)

Debbie Millman—author, designer, AIGA President Emeritus, President of the design devision at Sterling Brands, host of the Design Matters podcast, Chair of the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts, and past featured stated artist—will show her work, Look Both Ways, at the Chicago Design Museum, June 1-30.

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MUSIC: Busdriver at Santos Party House, NYC

(Photo: David English)

Get a call the other day from Scott Chappell, “Hey you want to see this guy Busdriver?” It’s a Wednesday night. Why the hell not. I’ll bring Dave. (Dave English, Photographer)

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