The Casual Optimist

Books, Design & Culture

March 22, 2012
by Dan
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Q & A with Alistair Hall, We Made This

I first came across the London-based (and wonderfully-named) design studio We Made This by way of founder Alistair Hall’s prodigious collections of ephemera and found type on Flickr. The chances are I found these either via Ace Jet 170, a fellow designer … Continue reading

February 29, 2012
by Dan
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Midweek Miscellany

Elegant Simplicity — A nice profile of book designer David Pearson at Spitalfields Life: On the basis of “Penguin By Design,” David was given the job to design the covers for Penguin Great Ideas, an experimental series of low-budget books … Continue reading

December 13, 2011
by Dan
9 Comments

Favourite Covers of 2011

After posting my long overdue picks for 2010 last week, here are my selections for my favourite book covers of 2011. I’m currently reading Where The Stress Falls a collection of writing by Susan Sontag published in 2001. In an … Continue reading

December 7, 2011
by Dan
2 Comments

My Favourite Covers of 2010

At the end of last year, Joseph Sullivan, curator of the late lamented The Book Design Review, asked me to write about my favourite covers of 2010. I’d always stayed away from such posts in the past because it was Joseph’s … Continue reading