I just got finished watching Helvetica, a documentary about the typeface. I wish I could write something informative to you about the film, but I’m feeling kinda out-of-it so to speak (hung over). What I liked about the film was being able to connect the names of famous designers to a profile. The film interviews a lot of famous typographers and designers about Helvetica, and although I could care less about the font, I liked hearing their opinions. For instance, I’ve heard of Hoefler & Frere-Jones and have known they design fonts, but actually seeing them and hearing from Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones makes me feel like I know them more. So if you’re interested in typography or design, watch it!

• Communication Arts - I had a subscription for a year. I didn’t renew because it bored me. Maybe it was all the text.
• HOW - I have a couple here that my friend gave me. I like their forum more than their magazine. Nothing really to say about the magazine. It has stuff in it.
• Print - I perused through it, and found it very artsy. That may sound weird coming from a guy like me, but I just didn’t find anything in it very practical.
• Photoshop Creative & Advanced Photoshop - I always pick these up at Barnes & Noble. I like these. I just never buy them because the news stand price is $15 and a subscription is $150. Its a magazine from the UK. I’ll break down one day and get a subscription.
• Before&After Magazine - I really like this one. Straight up design. No ads, no software, just tips and tricks on how to make your designs better. They focus on the elements of design like color, shape, texture, etc. instead of trends and tricks. I already have some of their PDFs, but I just purchased the PDF/Print subscription because I prefer to read in books on REAL paper.
• Create Magazine - Yuck. I thought it would be good and ordered a subscription. What a crock! The magazine is just chocked full of ads and inserts. Plus it’s not just a design magazine. It has articles on “Advertising, Design, Photography, Printing, Film & Video, Audio & Music, Animation, and New Media”. Wow! I didn’t know one magazine could hold so much crap!

“Don’t Try To Be Original, Just Try To Be Good” -Paul Rand

A quote from Paul Rand, taken from Paul-Rand.com:

“Business has a strong tendency to wait for a few brave pioneers to produce or underwrite original work, then rush to climb on the bandwagon. The bandwagon, of course, may not even be going in the right direction. The attention and admiration evoked by the high calibre of XYZ’s advertising have induced many an advertiser to say ‘Let’s do something like XYZ’ without considering that it might not be at all suited to his needs. Specific problems require specific visual solutions. But both XYZ’s and ABC’s advertising and products can be made to fulfil their functions and also be aesthetically gratifying. Both can express respect for and concern with the broadest interests of the consumer. Against the outstanding achievements in design by some companies, there stands the great Artistic Integrity”

Paul Rand is one of the most influential graphic designers of all time, and some of his most notable work includes logo designs for UPS, IBM, and ABC.