Another blast from the past

I LOVE the Woolworth "O." Gone are the days. Gone, too, is the floppy disk, wittily resuscitated by the savvy n' sassy folks at the
Webby Awards.

Let it $now!

Happy holidays...
This fabulous window display is at the antique shop The Lively Set over on Bedford Street. The "O" in Noel is one of 2 original Woolworth's signage O's. Only $1200 for the pair, Santa dear!

Please don't enter

By the time you read this sign, I'm guessing you will already have run into the hospital. Maybe not the best design, eh?

We've got you covered (in gloom and doom) this holiday season

Did Allstate (and their new ad agency) cook up another ridiculous promotion with the New York Times?

You may remember that they previously had just swiped some Saul Bass looking type for some banner ads (discussed here.)

Now they're full-on sponsoring NY Times Casts, supposed little time capsules about what happened on this day in history. Guess what happened? Catastrophes! Airplane Crashes! Bad health insurance! Nukes! Auto accidents! Would things have gone better if the TimesCastees were in Allstate's good hands?

Covering Philadelphia

Philadelphia's Independence Hall is having a little work done. Its temporary veil is sheer (and oddly chic). On the opposite site of coverage, this knit tree a few cobbled stone's-throws away brings a nice DIY moment to the city.

The last bit of coverage is about something defunct: Lit Brothers Department store, which covered its facade in more than one spot with "Hats Trimmed Free of Charge." Gone are the days.


For information about another issue that's getting a lot of coverage on the news (and interpretation by DIY constitutionalists), The National Constitution Center is wonderfully informative, with an impressive and inspiring introductory show.

Non-stuffed ballot box

Currently, I have no info whatsoever about this 19th-century ballot box. Perhaps I'll be able to find the former owner / seller and learn its provenance, age, back story. In the meantime, I could be political and simply create my own version of its history.

Recycling a la Steinway

This moving sale sign has some creative recycling of a Steinway top, perfect for a table top. Just add legs. Now that's an easy recipe!

Shampoo Bubbles Revisited

Your September post about Shampoo Bubbles spawned a new sport for me: seeing how cellular bubbles work—or don't—in logos. There seems to be a trend of using sans serif type with the dynamic (or sometimes not so) bubbles. So far, your Glynn Jones Salon siting (your shot is the second "figure" down) and Thomson Reuters get my thumbs up for energy. Global Fluency is the one that's hardest for me to translate. And just for the heckuvvit,I've thrown in a shot that's not a logo but is sort of related.









When I did shallow research on the designer of the Thomson Reuters logo (which turns out to be Interbrand), I found a characteristically-articulate and witty review from 2008 by Armin Vit on the Brand New. Although Armin savages the big collection of dots, I still like it.