Supplement To The Italian Dictionary

During my recent trip to Italy I visited the legendary Corso Como 10 bookstore and among the many art and fashion books (which I would most certainly not be able to pack and bring back with me) I saw this cute little book. On the cover is perhaps one of the most recognizably italian hand gestures.

I found it very interesting that this is the reinstallment of a 1963 edition. I love the fact that the photos are mainly the same as the first concepts from the 50s and 60s.

Below are two of my favorites. "Magro Cosi" (As thin as this) and "Che Peso!" (How boring!). 

Coincidently, when I came back I found a video (at the end of the post) made by the people at SkyScanner which explains all the rude italian hand gestures.

The Pop-Up Book Of Phobias

This book explores the most common human phobias. There's way too much work in this book, I cannot begin to imagine how they did this! Apparently, though, pop-up stuff are pretty popular these days, with the pop-up office, the pop-up calendar, and Visionnaire also released a pop-up book.

FYI: I counted at least three of my phobias in this book.

(via)

Design For Obama

Barack Obama is a great example of how good design is a powerful weapon. Progressively enough, he was not afraid to invest in design, gaining an excellent brand, a powerful communication package and the respect of artists from all over the world. 

I'm a huge fan of Taschen, and a huge fan of what designers from all over the world did for Obama during the most visually-driven presidential campaign in history. So, this book definitely goes on my Christmas list.

About the book from Taschen.com:
Edited by designforobama.org founder Aaron Perry-Zucker and filmmaker Spike Lee, this collection showcases over 200 of the best pro-Obama posters. Contributors range from prominent graphic and street artists to young up-and-comers. With essays by Spike Lee, Perry-Zucker, and design historian Steven Heller, this outstanding collection serves as a matchless historical document of the widespread visual creativity that helped spur Obama to victory.

(discovered via spreads from Taschen.com)

Random Book Covers

Due to the nature of a recently assigned project, I had to go and do some research on book covers and book designs. I found some very cool book covers over at The Book Design Review. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that one of the authors (Chicago) was my History of Chicago prof. at Columbia College Chicago. There are some amazing designs at TBDR. Anyone who's into books should go and take a peek.

Rewritten Classics

Rewritten and reimagined! Now I am very curious...

(Thanks again Loizos)