January 2012
2 posts
signage, type, numbers, etc. around Portland
surreal shop windows
amazing shop windows from the 50s and 60s, more here.
August 2011
2 posts
Elementary Brutalism
Random web research recently informed me that my elementary school was designed by Paul Rudolph, a main figure in Brutalist architecture which boomed in the 60s. He studied with Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. He served as dean of Yale’s architecture school. An example of his work, a Rudolph residence, can be seen in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (Chas...
June 2011
1 post
Calligraphic Works: A.J. Liebling piece
I was recently commissioned to write out a 230-word excerpt from A.J. Liebling’s “Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris.” This is the longest piece I’ve done and includes an illustrated oyster. The lettering is a formal italic style that was used by French scribes in the 1500s.
May 2011
1 post
Doeuh t-shirts are in!
Just received samples of shirts I designed for the European tour of Group Doueh, a fantastic band from Western Sahara on the Sublime Frequencies label. A stateside tour is scheduled to begin late June – it’s gonna be a blast!
April 2011
2 posts
mind-blowing japanese design, 20s-30s
more here.
Group Doueh CD packaging
Just back from the pressing plant, another sweet digipak, this one for Sublime Frequencies.
March 2011
3 posts
new website for me
Having spent the winter immersing myself in Dreamweaver, HTML and CSS, I couldn’t resist a re-design of my own design site. A million times better than the old one!
FINGER website is up. Again, Dreamweaver and CSS. Also did the illustrations on listen and about pages.
More Portland signage
February 2011
1 post
new website
The new website for Katharina Tunicata is up. I made the site in Dreamweaver using CSS for layout, no tables. Woohoo!
January 2011
2 posts
Digipak Loveliness
Just got my 300 Katharina Tunicata factory-made CDs a couple days ago. Quite happy with the print job and the overall look of it! Was printed at a place in Texas called Nationwide Disc. The paintings and calligraphy were done by me as well.
POP LIFE
Amazing poster series for a pop music event by Spanish designer Marisa Gallén.
December 2010
2 posts
Found a book of illustrated American birds last week. The egg pages are my favorite:
I’m in a book : Part 2
Finally got my hands on a copy of Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills (HOW Press) from the author, my amazing teacher-mentor David Sherwin. Below are some more spreads from it that include my pieces, although this is not even all of them! (Red arrows point to my pieces.)
November 2010
8 posts
Street Breakfast
Dutch artist Henk Hofstra fries humongous eggs on the pavement in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, from Zeutch.
Vaughan Oliver
Ran across an article on Vaughan Oliver recently, about his work on the new Pixies box set, Minotaur. I had almost completely forgotten about his amazing work in the early- and mid-90s for 4AD. I’m glad to remember. I realize now his work touches a unique place where design and art intersect. Feast for the eyes and the soul.
Past Pictures new logo
Last week I constructed new logos for photographer and vintage photo collector-seller Mark Sullo’s website, Past Pictures. With Sullo’s art direction, I reconstructed words and letters using old type found on the backs of 100 year old postcards. I love the deterioration and imperfections! Screen shot of the homepage with the new logo, scan of postcard backs,...
I’m in a book
David Sherwin’s Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills (HOW Press) is almost out – here’s some shots of an advance copy; the second spread below displays my wayfinding project solution. Looks great David! Congrats!
Spiekermann on DesignChat
If you can listen to Erik Spiekermann talk forever like I can, check out this great hour-long interview from DesignChat. Very inspiring. Very nerdy typophile stuff. Love it.
My new website is up!
I finally finished my design site. See it here: www.kwiddows.com
Bantjes process
A few images from an amazing sketch-by-sketch article on Marian Bantjes’ process for designing the cover of her new book, I Wonder. Oh how I do admire her!
October 2010
3 posts
Portland signage
Cute Hand-built Books
I put these together last week really quickly for a self-promo opportunity. I only made a few but it was a good test for a possible larger run of outsourced printing in the near future. And I’m happy with how cute and neat they turned out! More photos of the project here.
Print Camp results
Last weekend I spent 2 days getting schooled on the awesome facilities at the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) here in Portland: platen-style letterpresses, the book-binding (perfect-bind) machine, silkscreening and linocuts (my results pictured). It was super fun and inspiring. Now I’m an IPRC member so I can go in and go crazy self-publishing! Woohoo!
More...
September 2010
2 posts
Not just simplicity…
I’m excited to be taking a book-binding workshop this weekend. Found these images randomly. I’d love to make something as simple yet essential and pleasing as this. Design house is meeusontwerpt in the Netherlands.
Cactussen
Found this fantastic Dutch book published in 1931, Cactussen by A.J. Van Laren. Gorgeous tipped-in color plates are still vivid, despite other damage.
August 2010
2 posts
Syriac Letters
Beautiful, unique form of Arabic type from the first printing press in the Middle East, which originates from Lebanon in the 16th Century. From 29Letters, article here.
Final set of NYC signage / street art
July 2010
1 post
more NYC signage
June 2010
5 posts
Finally got my hands on the Omar Souleyman tshirts I designed at the Omar Souleyman party weekend here in New York. Examples below, more designs plus show photos on my flickr.
Found this linotype machine in the hallway at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn this weekend. Love that lowercase g !
New York City signage
Islamic pottery
In my ongoing love affair with arabic scripts, I photographed a number of bowls in the Islamic Art wing of the Brooklyn Museum yesterday. Most of these are from Iran and Syria, made between the 14th and 17th centuries.
Email error ends up on road sign, from BBC: The English is clear enough to lorry drivers - but the Welsh reads “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”
May 2010
7 posts
Dichotomies
Interesting graphic in the New York Times today illustrating war casualties. Article here. Design studio is Rumors.
Recent LP design I did for Sublime Frequencies, Ecstatic Music of the Jemaa El Fna. The record is just out and is amazing.
front cover:
back cover:
gatefold spread:
left inside close-up:
right inside close-up:
LP:
Federico Cimatti, Argentine poster artist
This guy is one of my flickr contacts. He lives in Buenos Aires and is cranking out some fantastic letterpress and collage pieces. I don’t know Spanish at all, so I am assuming they are all by him. Examples below, and more on his flickr.
South Asian book covers
many more at ephemera assemblyman.
Recently I was in London and saw some great exhibits at the Design Museum. Here are some highlights:
poster by M/M.
WM Schmidt.
WM Schmidt.
Dieter Rams record players for Braun.
I’m teaching myself calligraphy right now, from the ground up. From the most basic, Roman lowercase, then Roman capitals (below) and soon on to italics, scripts and flourishes. Even in this most basic alphabet, I am learning a TON about typography and letterforms, things I didn’t think I needed to learn but are blowing my mind a bit. One of my goals for this year is to be well on my...
Signage and other images from Portland, Oregon.
April 2010
3 posts
Signage of Lisbon
tons more photos of Lisbon and Europe on my flickr page.
Tiles of Lisbon
London.
March 2010
9 posts
Penryn, England.
Bristol, England.
The posters of Morden Tower
Morden Tower in Newcastle, England was built as part of a fortification wall that surrounded the old city in the early 1100s. Since the 1960s, the space in this tower has been used for arts events, with an emphasis on poetry happenings, especially those of the beat generation.
Inside the tower you can see many posters from the early days, announcing reading events...