Penguin Potters'

Sweet! Designer / illustrator M.S. Corley imagines Harry Potter covers as early Penguin Classics. I don't know how I missed these much earlier, but think you'll agree they're worth the revisit. 

Scrabble Game Gets an A

It is hard to take on the original iconic Scrabble game with the beautiful wooden letter tiles, but Andrew Clifford Capener has turned over the gameboard entirely. He intends to create alphabet anarchy with his new designer edition he calls the A-1 Scrabble game. His protoType is designed to excite people about typography (doesn't everyone love it already?) as it provides the customer a choice of preferred font packs. Additional packs of assorted font designs can be ordered. His game is packaged in a beautiful birch wood box set with slots that contain the 6 magnetized board pieces. These fit nicely together to form the handsome black gameboard. The chances of Capener to make a move to produce the A-1 Scrabble set will be greatly increased if you sign his website. No promises yet or prices set, but let him know if it is a get.

:: Via: Good > Design

Angst Inspires

Happy birthday Kurt Vonnegut. We should all be so imaginative.
Via this isn't happiness.

Little Black Books

Moleskine planners continue to evolve in all directions. Here you can customize it as a travel journal on your next world adventure. And submit your own journal artwork for Moleskine's permanent collection. This is not a paid advertisement for Moleskine planners. It's just that they're a brilliantly designed product.

Moleskine papercut art by Toord Boontje via Little Black Books article in Print Magazine.

eBooks eVolve

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

In the future, reading a book may not be such a linear experience and there is no doubt, there is an evolution going on. Or maybe it is a revolution as the debate between books and eBooks continues. The verb to read is taking on a new context as well. The dictionary now defines reading as comprehending the meaning of printed material and interpreting the characters and symbols of which it is composed. It is what you are doing now. Doh! However it can also be a conversation or debate–as IDEO explores their notions of books with us here–and it can be a series of hyperlinks that whisk us away on an entirely new adventure. It should be called readertainment as it makes reading fun, much like a video game or movie. And it certainly invites non-readers to the party too. But these frequent hyperlinks can also be really annoying and inhibit our imagination as it disrupts the reading process. As a reader, what are your thoughts? The last word has not been said on this topic, nor will it ever be. I personally believe there is room for both linear and non-linear reading–analog books and the digital–and the common goal is to make it a pleasant and rewarding experience. Just practice good typographic hygiene and mind your Ps & Qs.

You can also enter into the conversation over on IDEOs Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ideobigconversations

Where Ideas Come From

Thinking Is Fun from Davis Silis on Vimeo.