May 17, 2013
by Dan
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Seeing as it’s a long weekend in Canada, and The Independent, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and countless other fly-by-night operations are jumping on the book design blog train (and doing it far better than me, damn it), here’s another round … Continue reading
February 22, 2013
by Dan
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Or a Few Thoughts on the Cover Design of The Bell Jar (An Illustrated Essay of Sorts) In his recent essay ‘Graphic Design Criticism as a Spectator Sport’ designer Michael Bierut (author of 79 Short Essays on Design) suggested that … Continue reading
February 8, 2013
by Dan
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Snowstorm…something, something… Snowstorm… Hmm, what? Oh right. Here we go… Pick Up a Pearson — A profile of book designer David Pearson in the New York Times: The chillingly eloquent jacket of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is the work of the British … Continue reading
December 20, 2012
by Dan
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Although I’ve only just posted my favourite book covers of 2012, here’s an early contender for the 2013 list: George Orwell’s 1984 designed by David Pearson for Penguin UK. According to David, his initial proposal was a die-cut version of the … Continue reading
September 21, 2012
by Dan
10 Comments
The Casual Optimist turned 4 years old at the end of last week. While not exactly a historic achievement, the blog has lasted the length of a presidency and exactly 3 years, 11 months longer than I thought it would. … Continue reading