Vintage book cover redesigns for James M. Cain Classic backlist books often see many cover repackagings throughout the years. But, the new cover designs for novels by author James M. Cain caught our attention. According to John Gall’s Spine Out, the new editions should be available in Spring 2011. The new look is a collaboration between book cover designers Megan Wilson and Evan Gaffney. The design for “The Postman Always Rings Twice” does a beautiful job at paying homage to Arthur Hawkins, Jr.’s typographic style for the first edition dust jacket  (published by Knopf, c. 1934). Mildred Pierce looks like it draws inspiration from the 1945 movie rather than the original dust jacket design from 1941. (view three new Cain book cover designs larger via Spine Out)

Vintage book cover redesigns for James M. Cain

Classic backlist books often see many cover repackagings throughout the years. But, the new cover designs for novels by author James M. Cain caught our attention. According to John Gall’s Spine Out, the new editions should be available in Spring 2011. The new look is a collaboration between book cover designers Megan Wilson and Evan Gaffney.

The design for “The Postman Always Rings Twice” does a beautiful job at paying homage to Arthur Hawkins, Jr.’s typographic style for the first edition dust jacket  (published by Knopf, c. 1934). Mildred Pierce looks like it draws inspiration from the 1945 movie rather than the original dust jacket design from 1941.

(view three new Cain book cover designs larger via Spine Out)

Fonts In Use takes a look at the typefaces behind the Esquire and Condé Nast Traveler magazine redesigns.

Fonts In Use takes a look at the typefaces behind the Esquire and Condé Nast Traveler magazine redesigns.

A Redesign for the Oscars Envelope To honor the 70th anniversary of the Academy Awards, designer Marc Friedland brings out the bling with iridescent gold paper for his “iconic” makeover of the ordinary white envelope and plain announcement cards. “…The outside of the envelope and flap is an Art Deco-inspired satin gold foil frame with an ecru inset panel bearing the name of the award category in a rich charcoal ink. The envelope will contain a heavyweight ecru card featuring gold foil accents and a gold leaf-embossed Oscar statuette along with the phrase, “And the Oscar goes to….”  The winner’s name will be printed in charcoal ink and mounted onto a matching, red lacquer hand-wrapped frame…” —press release from The Academy   We look forward to seeing these designs on the screen on ABC this upcoming Sunday, February 27, 2011 and appreciate the extra attention to detail this year. (photo credit: Patrick Prather / ©A.M.P.A.S., video via LAT via AP)

A Redesign for the Oscars Envelope

To honor the 70th anniversary of the Academy Awards, designer Marc Friedland brings out the bling with iridescent gold paper for his “iconic” makeover of the ordinary white envelope and plain announcement cards.

oscars best picture envelope back seal for pwc

“…The outside of the envelope and flap is an Art Deco-inspired satin gold foil frame with an ecru inset panel bearing the name of the award category in a rich charcoal ink. The envelope will contain a heavyweight ecru card featuring gold foil accents and a gold leaf-embossed Oscar statuette along with the phrase, “And the Oscar goes to….”  The winner’s name will be printed in charcoal ink and mounted onto a matching, red lacquer hand-wrapped frame…” —press release from The Academy

 


We look forward to seeing these designs on the screen on ABC this upcoming Sunday, February 27, 2011 and appreciate the extra attention to detail this year.

(photo credit: Patrick Prather / ©A.M.P.A.S., video via LAT via AP)

The Tampa Bay Lightning redesigned their logo and uniforms to “return to a classic hockey experience,” says Ed O’Hara, SME Branding CEO. “They wanted it to look and feel original six-ish,” in reference to the original six teams in the NHL. The New York Times reports that “redesigning the Lightning’s uniforms took six painstaking months.” They reduced the logo and uniforms to two colors and went with a more traditional and minimal look.    As a Tampa native and Tampa Bay Lightning fan, I found this redesign to be quite successful in achieving this goal. The crest itself is a throwback to the foundations of Hockey graphics, and I for one am looking forward to seeing the team in action.  The last major sports team in Tampa to get a redesign, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won the Superbowl after donning their new logo and uniform designs. Perhaps the Lightning will take the Stanley cup for the 2nd time in its short history.   Post by: Matt Sung

The Tampa Bay Lightning redesigned their logo and uniforms to “return to a classic hockey experience,” says Ed O’Hara, SME Branding CEO. “They wanted it to look and feel original six-ish,” in reference to the original six teams in the NHL.

The New York Times reports that “redesigning the Lightning’s uniforms took six painstaking months.” They reduced the logo and uniforms to two colors and went with a more traditional and minimal look.   

As a Tampa native and Tampa Bay Lightning fan, I found this redesign to be quite successful in achieving this goal. The crest itself is a throwback to the foundations of Hockey graphics, and I for one am looking forward to seeing the team in action. 

The last major sports team in Tampa to get a redesign, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won the Superbowl after donning their new logo and uniform designs. Perhaps the Lightning will take the Stanley cup for the 2nd time in its short history.
 
 

Post by: Matt Sung

The New York Times

The Gawker Network unveiled their latest redesign to their platform of content sites yesterday with some… hiccups. First, the network crashed, then came the flood of mixed reviews (many not too flattering), and, of course, some press from Nick Denton on the Observer saying how the platform redesign will boost page views for their Oct. 2011 traffic (sales) goals. Seeing how everything is now a click, this would seemingly inflate pageviews as long as the viewers are not bothered by things like rich media flash units running up and down the page, colors changing on once favored sites like Gizmodo and Lifehacker every time they have a major advertiser, and a tablet-style UI.  We don’t often post strong opinions one way or the other—we held back on Tropicana, iTunes and the Gap—but, when something is self-proclaimed as “the biggest event in Gawker Media history,” coming from someone whose business model revolves around cutthroat editorial, satire comes naturally. Click on the image above to see my visual mapping and annotations on the “big event.”   Post and annotations by: Matt Sung

The Gawker Network unveiled their latest redesign to their platform of content sites yesterday with some… hiccups.

First, the network crashed, then came the flood of mixed reviews (many not too flattering), and, of course, some press from Nick Denton on the Observer saying how the platform redesign will boost page views for their Oct. 2011 traffic (sales) goals. Seeing how everything is now a click, this would seemingly inflate pageviews as long as the viewers are not bothered by things like rich media flash units running up and down the page, colors changing on once favored sites like Gizmodo and Lifehacker every time they have a major advertiser, and a tablet-style UI. 

We don’t often post strong opinions one way or the other—we held back on Tropicana, iTunes and the Gap—but, when something is self-proclaimed as “the biggest event in Gawker Media history,” coming from someone whose business model revolves around cutthroat editorial, satire comes naturally.

Click on the image above to see my visual mapping and annotations on the “big event.”
 
 

Post and annotations by: Matt Sung

Ouch. The idsgn design blog offers thoughts on the recent redesign of Print magazine in a feature titled: Print magazine, dead or alive?. Back in January 2010, we shared a few of our own opinions in the post Print magazine’s 70th: “Print Lives!” (we hope so…).

Ouch. The idsgn design blog offers thoughts on the recent redesign of Print magazine in a feature titled: Print magazine, dead or alive?.

Back in January 2010, we shared a few of our own opinions in the post Print magazine’s 70th: “Print Lives!” (we hope so…).

idsgn.org

Starbucks redesigns yet again with their revised, more minimal logo version for 2011. Not only did they remove the “Starbucks Coffee” text, but they also reduced the mark to one color. MSNBC reports: Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history. Adfreak has some interesting insights as well: The inspiration for the siren logo—early versions of which have been called obscene by some—goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler. (images and more history on the logo evolution via Starbucks)

Starbucks redesigns yet again with their revised, more minimal logo version for 2011. Not only did they remove the “Starbucks Coffee” text, but they also reduced the mark to one color.

MSNBC reports:

Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history.

Evolution of starbucks logomark

Adfreak has some interesting insights as well:

The inspiration for the siren logo—early versions of which have been called obscene by some—goes back to a 16th century Norse woodcut found by Seattle graphic designer Terry Heckler.

(images and more history on the logo evolution via Starbucks)