As our modern creatives adapt to the youth entertainment of yore, it so follows that the classic forms of entertainment must adapt themselves to modern creators. It is with that evolutionary step in mind that Mobile Art Lab has produced PhoneBook – Popo and Momo Ride! Ride!, a traditional picturebook that incorporates a custom iPhone app inside windows of the pages:

You see, Popo and Momo are experiencing a variety of modes of transportation, always sitting near a window to the outside world, represented by the iPhone screen. The reader (or the being-read-to) gets to watch out the window as trees pass by their train, clouds outside their plane, fish outside their submarine, and more. Along with the benefit of animation, the iPhone interaction also bring music and sound effects to the book along with, most excitingly, interaction. Tilting the book affects the speed of the vehicle you’re in and tapping the screen allows you to play with the world outside your window, something kids dream about doing well into adulthood.

The iPhone interaction clearly constructs a much deeper level of immersion by allowing both the book to come alive and for the child to become a part of the imaginary world on the pages/screen. Sure, this is only a modernization of the fifty-year-old Pat The Bunny method of playing with what’s in the window of a picture book, but the interactive nature of this small innovation is certain to increase the child’s engagement exponentially. The game-like nature of the window ensures that the parent playing along will likely remain interested far longer than if they were reading their child the same story again and again (after all, I doubt many parent/guardians would be cool leaving their iPhone with their infant unattended). Unfortunately, the desire to tap and swipe the screen endlessly means this is not a book you’ll want to share with your kid before putting them down for a nap as they’ll likely be full of pep at the end of the story and want to play some more. Still, this is just the first of what I imagine will be a whole new generation of “PhoneBook”s, and bedtime stories can’t be too far behind!

For last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Campbell produced a twelve-month wall calendar with racy interpretations of fairie tale femmes. They were mostly innocuously cheesecake, but nearly a year later are gaining attention. Nobody seems to mind the cheeky renditions of Little Miss Muffet and Red Riding Hood, but the following eight are clearly inspired by Walt Disney animated films, and people get pretty hot under the collar when you sexualize icons from youth culture:

Honestly, Tinkerbell looks okay. Her feet look like they’re in pain, but the representation of her and Hook seen here is pretty much in keeping with what we’ve seen from the House of Mouse. Similarly, Malificent from Sleeping Beauty sports an entirely different type of robe than in the Disney picture, but the headdress and mirror on the wall clearly tie her to the motion picture. Besides, that’s probably the kind of robe they’d draw her in now, given the opportunity. Snow White isn’t too far over the line, just a little sexed-up with the needless bows on her stockings and a good deal more skin than I remember. Sleeping Beauty, on the other hand… whaaaaaaat? She is clearly completely nude, save for the tiara on her head. Did she happen to be naked when she was playing with that spinning wheel or did her clothes just dissolve over her many years of sleep? At least that matter distracts from the curious apparent size/shape differences between each of her hands, feet and breasts. Cinderella and Belle from Beauty and the Beast seem to each be wearing shiny lingerie. It’s a wonder that the Little Mermaid can wear so much eye makeup without it running in the water (I guess that’s just a fish thing) though I do applaud Campbell’s restraint in not having beads of water dripping down her implausible curves.

Let’s not even talk about Alice. That one’s just creepy.

In another further attempt at the quest for knowledge (a never-ending journey for the true geek), Munroe conducted a survey last week to determine how men and women identify colors differently. The results, while somewhat predictable, are nevertheless shocking and thought-provoking.

As seen here, apparently men only have one “green” and no “hot pink,” women don’t perceive “salmon,” but both see the same “teal” and “magenta,” have no problem discerning “orange” from “yellow,” and identify the same periwinkle shade of pink-purple inexplicably as “blue.” Does this mean that women see more colors than men? No. That they just don’t care as much? Probably.

As with all good surveys, Munroe learned a lot of little things that he did not expect. For example:

Color names most disproportionately popular among women:

1. Dusty Teal
2. Blush Pink
3. Dusty Lavender
4. Butter Yellow
5. Dusky Rose

Color names most disproportionately popular among men:

1. Penis
2. Gay
3. WTF
4. Dunno
5. Baige

Yes, the men couldn’t even spell “beige” properly.

There’s a lot more to this very interesting study, such as the relationship between spelling “fuchsia” and matching a computer’s values of the color and the fact that, invariably, one person in your study will fill in the same racial slur over two-thousand times.

Overall, yes, the study shows that men just don’t identify color as widely as women do, which is curious considering fields like fine art, film-making and interior decorating – fields that thrive on the recognition of color – are still largely dominated by men. Maybe those men are just super-men, and that’s what allows them to dominate. Maybe women just have more spare time to analyze the minute differences between chromatic tones (I doubt it). Whatever the case, I wouldn’t be surprised if this informal study led to some very serious questions in the coming years.

Jamie S. Rich is in a unique position. As former editor-in-chief of Oni Press – the wildly successful and popular independent comic publisher responsible for Whiteout, Blue Monday and Scott Pilgrim – he has a lot of cartoonist friends who are willing to put that little bit of extra oomph in personalized art. He’s also a big fan of Audrey Hepburn. Ooh, now wouldn’t that make an elegant theme for a sketchbook? As luck would have it, that’s exactly what Jamie asks for, and here are just a few of the pieces he’s received, including wonderful versions by Craig Thompson, Christine Norrie, Joëlle Jones, Dan Krall and Mike Allred.

The ultimate culmination of the project came in EatAChiquita.com, where users can design their own face for the Chiquita sticker, share it with friends, slap it on some merchandise and even engage in a breakdance battle against bananas that have gone bad. Safe to say these bananas are definitely fun.

Bananas have always been “in” with the infant and health-aware markets because of their softness (teeth are rarely necessary to enjoy) and potassium content. They’re also absolutely essential for smoothies. The cartoon graphics naturally make the fruit seem more friendly and playful, likely attracting the coveted young-and-hip demographic (it’s no accident the graphics are not unlike those of the ever trendy Kid Robot brand). Social networking aspects always help with the with-it 2.0 generation as well and provide a source of free advertising, as EatAChiquita proudly sports both Facebook and Twitter integration.

Play a 'Dance Dance Revolution'-type game to play with your banana and post your sticker on this public wall or view other people's banana stickers.

Bananas have always been my favorite raw fruit for sheer portability, so anything to make them more socially acceptable is sweet in my book. Let’s all embrace this hip new branding and be trendsetters by eating bananas in public! We’ll be *snicker* taste-makers!

In recent years, Marvel Comics has tried to solve this problem with more graphic trade dresses that speak to the book store demographic, most notably with major crossover events like “Civil War” and “X-Men: Messiah Complex” (see examples below). The problem here was that, when all of the issues of a single Captain America or X-Men comic book for a year were laid out, the crossover issues stood out like sore thumbs and looked nothing like the regular monthly issues of the books. The recent “Stark: Disassembled” arc of Invincible Iron Man has demonstrated spectacular design simplicity with duotoned graphics and clean Futura type, but again these stand in contrast with the other generic covers of the same series (as seen above). How does one make these “events” and storylines stand out in their trade dressings without disrupting the visual flow of the series?

Crossover covers for New Avengers and Uncanny X-Men are more sparse and restrained. Standard issues are louder and prominently feature violence and breasts.

'Rise and Fall' tie-in issues and unbranded issues of Green Arrow and Justice League of America

In order to brand the books tied in to “Rise and Fall,” Muller designed both a logotype and an incredibly basic ornament for the trade dress, a monochromatic three-layered tear along the left and top edges of the cover. The books involved in “Rise and Fall” are clearly connected by the similar elements, but the illustrative style and logos of the regular monthly issues are maintained as well, meaning these issues won’t stand out as markedly when held side-by-side with other issues of the same books. Fans of the crossover are happy and fans who only read Justice League and not Green Arrow are happy.

Will these issues still stand out because of their trade dress? Almost certainly, but nowhere near as badly as “Civil War” and “Messiah Complex” which look like entirely different books. Maybe I’m obsessing over nothing, but just look at the Fantastic Four issues below. Yes, the “Civil War” cover looks great, but it stands out to the point of making all other issues seem mundane, and that is a serious design problem.

Mary’s aim is to make generative font design more spontaneous and personal. Web-active designers like myself are likely to see an immediate connection between TYPEFACE and LAIKA, a similarly interactive font installation by Michael Flückiger and Nicolas Kunz which allowed users to vary the characteristics of a type  sample from a thin and proper Didot to a heavy and slanted Leviathan and a million degrees in-between via any form of input imaginable (as seen at right). TYPEFACE focuses on much more passive input, though, which allows for more uniquely personal flare in the final product. Additionally, while Laika’s approach worked well on big blocky capital glyphs, Mary wanted TYPEFACE to focus on lowercase letterforms. Most people don’t talk in all-caps, after all.

Most importantly, I think, is the fact that facial-recognition input really encourages the user to be goofy and make funny faces, allowing both the typography and the typography to express a great deal of their personality. TYPEFACE is still a work-in-progress, as all good 21st century art is, but you can test drive LAIKA here for a bit more understanding on the degree of interaction available. Keep an eye on Mary Huang’s blog for updates on TYPEFACE as they become available.

ISO50's fourth volley from week twelve of spring 2009's Layer Tennis.

Shaun Inman's first volley in the spring '09 semifinals, sans-music.

With the Winter Olympics upon us, it’s an easy time to get swept up in the spirit of friendly competition. A little competition inspires us to be better than we usually are, and tends to inspire onlookers in the process. And so, while Shaun White and Apolo Ohno continue their press tours in Vancouver, designers and illustrators around the world will gather in front of their computers tomorrow afternoon for the opening bout in a brand new season of Coudal’s Layer Tennis.

The concept is simple. Two artists enter – they send “volleys” of graphic art back and forth, with fifteen minutes for each return – after ten rounds, the match is called and judges declare a winner. There is no prize outside of bragging rights and new friendships. We played a very similar game in college, but we called it Photoshop Street Fighter. We were punks, these guys are masters.

From Aaron Draplin's third volley in the spring '09 playoffs.

Last season was absolutely stunning, with alt-illustrators taking each other on in cartoon wars and motion graphics artists raising the bar with hi-def video and animation. Sitting at my desk at the end of the work week was a delight knowing that every fifteen minutes anything could happen and that I would walk away from it all with hundreds of new ideas.

Joakim Jansson's third volly from week thirteen of spring '09.

One of the big exciting developments last season was the emphasis on community interaction via twitter. A cleverly designed widget on the Layer Tennis site automatically pulled any tweets using the hashtag #lyt, allowing the artists to get real-time feedback from the community and judges to gauge audience reactions.

The first bout of the season, beginning tomorrow at 2pm Chicago time (that’s 3pm New York/real world time) promises to be infographicriffic with New York Times Design Director Khoi Vinh taking on Feltron Annual Reports creator Nicholas Felton with running commentary by John Nack, a member of Adobe’s Photoshop team. It’s Photoshop’s 20th anniversary, so expect these pros to show what can be done without the bells and whistles of the rest of Adobe’s Creative Suite. The Layer Tennis site also suggests that next week’s bout will be a “typographer’s throwdown.”

Even if you’re not a creative professional, Layer Tennis is a fascinating, thought-provoking and often hilarious event to watch. I know what I’m doing tomorrow afternoon, as well as all I’ll be talking about all weekend. See you there!

Coming Soon: Wolfman Valentine's Day? Sounds like another Tracy Jordan holiday classic! Bring the kids!

There's no joke for this. Clearly someone at the store was either inattentive or very passive aggressively upset with their work. Whichever, nobody thought to correct them.

I found this one elsewhere on the internet, but wooooow... Not sure why anyone would agree to being nicknamed "da Crabs Assassin" but doesn't being "da Condom Father" seem contradictory?

On the other hand, at least there’s type out there that’s not effing retarded at all:

These Diesel ads have been all over the New York subways over the past month or two. Despite my last piece of Diesel attire being a watch I wore in college, I find little to no shame in actually really liking them.

A couple of interesting tidbits from the New York Times obituary:

“Their system was a mess,” Mr. Noorda was quoted as saying… “Sometimes pieces of paper taped to the wall were the only indication for the station.”

Yet the project proved disappointing to the designers. The M.T.A. was responsible for executing the designs and producing the signs in its own sign shop, and Mr. Noorda’s directives were not always followed. The sign makers, for example, at first chose to use Standard Medium, a typeface from their own shop. “They did not want to invest in Helvetica,” Ms. Conradi wrote.

Mr. Noorda’s black-on-white signs also got dirty quickly, so the M.T.A. switched to white on black.

The rest of the obit is a quick and interesting read, I recommend it.