Over the next month, Michael C Place of Build and Creative Review will be conducting a unique experiment. We are going to document one month in the life of a graphic designer.

Regular readers will remember our post a few months ago about a book of postcards called Lost Heroes by illustrator Ian Stevenson, published by Concrete Hermit. Now the independent publisher has released three new postcard size volumes by three more illustrators: Sweaty Goolabs by Jon Burgerman, Monstruos & Maestros by Motomichi and Von by Hellovon (covers shown above)…

The winning cover of the inaugural Penguin Design Awards, by student Ara Youn

Penguin Books, with its history of innovative and elegant book covers, is renowned for its support of graphic designers and this has recently extended to the launch of the publishing company’s first design award. Aimed at final year designers on a degree or HND art or design course, the award offers the chance for the students to experience real jacket design briefs, by designing a cover for a Penguin title. The judging panel of the first award included author Ali Smith, Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, and Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett.

Behold, the FAC51-Y3. No, it’s not a late addition to the musical catalogue of Mancunian record label Factory Records, clearly, but a highly limited trainer from Y-3 (the brand created by adidas and Yohji Yamamoto), devised especially to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of legendary Manchester nightclub The Haçienda. The shoe’s design is a collaboration between Peter Saville (the original Factory Records graphic designer), Ben Kelly (the architect who designed the original Haçienda interiors) and Joy Division/New Order bass player, Peter Hook…

Airside’s animated SOS contribution

SOS, a film campaign to help promote the Live Earth global concerts held on July 7, saw Dilly Gent commission 60 films to be made in just five months.

Although stamps are a form of graphic design that we interact with daily, it is rare that we ever get to see the faces of those that have created them. This makes a recent commemorative miniature sheet of stamps particularly significant, for it bears the face of Arnold Machin, the artist behind the iconic image of the Queen that has graced the UK’s stamps since 1967. The stamps were released last week on June 5, 40 years after the first stamps went on sale.