It has been said that 90% of what we need to know most about life was learned at our grandmother’s knee. It just takes most another 30 years to apply her lessons. Chicagoland author, designer, speaker Justin Ahrens reminds us in this new book that it’s never too late to start applying good lessons in order to lead a more fulfilling life. “You may be closer ...

The Way They Were: In her latest book, Debbie Millman sets out to prove that someone can cut through the mindless brand babble and reveal something new about this shopworn subject. She does this by deploying her special gift of making interesting friends in interesting places say interesting things as though Millman were their one friend left on earth. They know ...

"The time I take to answer this question I'll never get back," says Christopher Simmons, "...Everything we do — create, love, mourn, worry, work, play, and so on — draws from a pool of nanoseconds into which no tributary flows. We can give away our time however we choose — just remember that you're not going to get any of it back." For the next 12 weeks ...

How Now Monster Maker? HOW Design LIVE in Chicago offers a smorgasboard of high calorie information. Among them, Turning Brainstorming Into Brainsqualling by Wendy Oldfied and Stefan Mumaw, the author of the latest smart book, Chasing the Monster Idea. In this book Stefan demonstrates how one may determine whether or not they have an explosive idea — or fizzling ...

It's Design Ranch time in the Texas Hill Country. Not going? Follow all the action on Against the Grain and its Tweets. This small conference in the lovely Texas Hill Country reminds all lucky goers that you have to play to win.

Book editor Emily Potts writes, "Richard Poulin is co-founder and design director of Poulin + Morris Inc., in New York City with his life and business partner, Doug Morris. He is charming and affable. I first met Poulin in person last fall at his studio. He had just finished writing and designing his first book for Rockport, titled The Language of Graphic Design. ...

Although legendary for thousands of fonts and logotypes that he contributed to the American visual landscape, Doyald Young regarded himself as a teacher, first and foremost. As he told The Dotted Line, “I firmly believe that if you have the gift for teaching, you must pass it on. As Woodrow Wilson said, ‘You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish ...

To redesign or not to redesign... that is the question. Or is it? Sometimes, "improvements" cause more harm than good. Sometimes some logos are not redeemable. Mick Hodgson's new book, Recycling & Redesigning Logos, proves the point. Reviewer Michael Osborne of MOSF call 'em like he sees 'em in this review.

Last week the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) hosted a symposium on the future of illustration and graphic design organized by SCAD professor of illustration Julie Lieberman and co-hosted by the departments of design and illustration. The purpose of the symposium was to showcase the work of leading practitioners who view rapid technological changes ...

“Student projects rarely get seen by the public,” said Jerry Burns, director of photography at PC and a leader in Atlanta photography himself. “Their work often exists only within the walls of the school, seen by instructors, peers and recruiters. In this case, we conceived an exhibition and publicity campaign for a leading non-profit that was seen by thousands ...