Nature in abundance

A lovely time at the Allan Gardens

(and yes, the third picture is a banana tree with a banana flower!)

The countdown begins

4 weeks until Istanbul...

Above: Nazar boncuğu ornament to ward off the evil eye

Slice and dice

Love this type treatment - delicious!

Weekend wisdom

"To be calm is the highest achievement of the self."

-attributed to Yogi Bhajan

"Typocalypse"

Amazing.

Spring blooms

Truth and lies

“If good design tells the truth, poor design tells a lie, a lie usually related ... to the getting or abusing of power.”

-from Design and Truth by Robert Grudin

Constructing letters

From Ludovicus Simonneau's Design of the Grandjean type for the Imprimerie royale, Paris, 1695

City words

New commission by Barbara Kruger spans the entire length of the AGO facade.

From the AGO's press release:

Barbara Kruger’s graphic works—declarative texts juxtaposed with found images—point to photography’s complicity in reinforcing ideologies of power and control, in maintaining gender stereotypes, and in stimulating consumer desire.

(Another Kruger favourite here)

I am a child.

Meet my new bulldog, Rufus. He's very friendly.

(Get yours here)

That boy is a monster

After winning 8 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes theatre awards in Edmonton, Catalyst Theatre's "phantasmagorical" adaption of Frankenstein arrives at Toronto's Canadian Stage

Runs until April 29th

D.I.Y. is the new black

Three points on the state of design today:

1. Many people have a high level of design awareness and visual literacy.
2. There is an unprecedented demand for / access to tools of self-publishing; people want to make and share their own media.
3. Consumers want to be less reliant on the corporate empire, and aim to redirect the flow of consumption for their own purposes.

-from D.I.Y Design it Yourself

Gaga on top

"She isn't a pop act, she is a performance artist. She herself is the art. She is the sculpture."

-Cyndi Lauper re: Lady Gaga making the Time Magazine 2010 Time 100 World's Most Influential People

Stay for the Shakespeare

After a successful rebrand this winter, The Shakespeare Company launches their first show of their season with Love's Labour's Lost, running May 5-22. If you're in Calgary, check it out!

(They've also producing some promotion videos on YouTube - so great!)

Language of the universe

"You cannot understand the universe without learning first to understand the language in which it was written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its letters are triangles, circles and other geometric forms. Without this language humans cannot understand a single word of the universe. Without it we wander in a dark labyrinth."

-Galileo Galilei

How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

Fantastic new font by FaceType: Motto Family

Available here.

(The geometry makes me weak in the knees...)

Type treasures

More fabulous used bookstore finds!

Lovely letters

I keep seeing this type treatment around Toronto for The Autists concert series - how much do I LOVE this font?!?

(Reminds me of History...)

Leaving on a jet plane...

My first trip outside Canada has been booked - to Istanbul, Turkey!

More details to come...