As you probably know, we are big fans of good typography. I recently discovered typographicposters.com. It’s a design directory of typography mixed with poster style artwork, focused to inspire the graphic design community. If you get a chance, check it out.

The Baleout is a Vintage Fashion and Accessories store located in the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. With an extremely large product inventory (acquired in 1 ton clothing bales – thus their name) they have one of the biggest collections of vintage sweaters, ties, jeans, and dresses in the midwest.

Big Wheel lent our hand to The Baleout with a new logo representing the large clothing bales their product was acquired in, a website landing page with a bit of animated eye candy, sales promotion cards, and a business card system.

To learn more about The Baleout, please visit www.thebaleout.com and be sure to stop by the 4th Floor of the City Museum to check out their store.

Serif. Sans Serif. Slab Serif. Wood Cut. Script. Display Type. Ornamental. Condensed. Extended. Hairline. Outline. Web Font. Pixel Font…

There are quite a few to pick from when working through a design strategy and process. Being a creative you get to learn how to identify them in major nerd fashion when they are on television, in a movie, or floating around all over the place. Does my wife think I’m cool that I can ruin every movie intro by naming the typeface used? No… But hey… I still have to try…

Check out typography.com to further geektify yourself with all the newest typefaces.

If you are from St. Louis, you have probably heard of the Women’s Closet Exchange.

Recognized nationally as the Best Designer Resale Shop by the National Association of Resale and Thrift Stores, it offers so many name brands and selection of merchandise that it draws intrigued customers from all over the country.

This fall, Big Wheel has worked closely with the Women’s Closet Exchange and is proud to have helped them launch their new graphic identity system and website.

The new site showcases latest product arrivals, speaks about their resale process, features a “Be the First to Know” email sign up, and delivers key information all served up in an easy to navigate website.

To learn more about the Women’s Closet Exchange and view their new site, please visit  www.womensclosetexchange.net.

Since 2003, team members from Big Wheel have been collaborating with our friends at Mark Andy on a variety of media for web, interactive, branding, advertising, print, and trade show creative.

Throughout the year, there are several packaging and label trade shows, with Label Expo being one of the largest. The show typically alternates between Chicago, Illinois and Brussels, Belgium. This year it was held in Brussels. The turnout was excellent and Mark Andy caught a lot of attention with the launch of its newly anticipated press, the Performance Series.

The Performance Series was well received and is a true game changer in work flow and productivity. We would like to express our sincerest appreciation to the good team at Mark Andy for letting us be a part of the experience.

Above are a few snaps of the trade show booth and show traffic.

To learn more about Mark Andy, please visit www.markandy.com.

Since most people these days have developed a reluctance to ever put down their cell phones, board games creator Hasbro has now found a way to include them in the quintessential family activity: game night. Their new edition of Clue: Secrets & Spies not only updates the look and story of the game with a Tom Clancy feel, but introduces text messaging into the game play. Players send texts to a Hasbro number during the game and receive replies with new clues.

For me, the new design is another example of a strategy that latches on to a technology for the sake of trendiness, of being ‘with it’, versus truly enhancing the result. I’m all for companies staying up to date with the technology of the day, and finding creative new ways to use that technology, but there is something disappointing about the picture of friends and family sitting down together to play a board game only to all pull out their cell phones once more. Perhaps I’m just old fashioned, being a member of the last generation to grow up with phones that were attached to the wall, a time when answering the phone (with no caller ID) felt like playing a lottery.

For others of the old-fashioned mindset who enjoy disconnecting from the grid once in a while and re-connecting with friends and family through clever and engaging gameplay, I recommend the game Settlers of Catan.

Most designers with a passion for what they do will tell you that design is present in everything they do – the clothes they wear, the way they decorate their house, the art they make for their walls, the publications they subscribe to.  Design as a way of life is also very present in much of traditional Japanese culture, which is perhaps why it’s always struck a chord with me. Their sushi, zen gardens, tea ceremonies, and kimono patterns are all designed precisely and symbolically.

A creation from Flickr user 'Bentomom'

Bento boxes, a traditional format of Japanese meal preparation, are apparently making a big hit right now in the US as a way to add appeal and variety to food as well as limit portions. This certainly appeals to me as a designer, as a novel and creative way to think about lunch (not sure I want to spend 30 minutes every day making lunch, however). The New York Times has recently posted a slideshow on people and their Bento habits, which you can view here.

When most people think of web strategy or building a web presence, they think of developing a sophisticated looking web site that shows off all that their company can do, and showcases their brand identity. For global ad agency Modernista!, whose focus lies decidedly in thinking outside the box, the solution for their web strategy didn’t involve a flashy web site at all. Instead, they harnessed all of the existing tools of the internet and used them to create an information cloud, simultaneously showing their web savvy and their intent on thinking differently.

Instead of having a portfolio page, they link to their Flickr stream for still images and their YouTube library for video content. Instead of an About Us page, they link to their Wikipedia entry, Facebook profile, and Twitter feed. All of their content is managed through existing tools and social media on the internet. As I navigate through their non-site, I can’t help but think that someone either had a really clever idea, or the design/development team found an easy way out of a lot of work.

What do you think? See it for yourself: Modernista!

If you’re fond of Classic American Muscle Cars, you have to agree that the Dodge Challenger SRT8 is a refreshing sight to the auto industry. With classic lines and details like the retro styled front grill, it takes you back to the 60’s and 70’s where these type of cars reigned supreme. Brains meets brawn in this rendition of the Challenger. The 6.1-liter Hemi engine gives you 425 horse power with 420 foot pounds of torque all the while reducing overall emissions. With all this performance and size, you still manage to pull 22 mpg highway. The Electronic Vehicle Information Center gives you all the stats like average mpg, miles to empty, maintenance intervals, digital speedometer, braking distance, 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile timers to name a few.

It’s not going to get any environmentalists cheering but still gives you cleaner emissions and better gas mileage than those of yesteryear, without sacrificing the extreme power and performance for which most enthusiasts yearn.

You definitely can’t fault the design department for the financial problems the auto companies are having. With all the style of classic lines and the latest technology, the Dodge Challenger SRT8 is one great looking car.

I’m sure you have seen the font Comic Sans. The playful typeface was created to look like the same font used in comic books. Currently, in the design underworld, there is a relatively big feud between font enthusiasts as to whether or not it should be banned. Certainly there couldn’t be an official ban, but with its increasing popularity, font purist seem to be rebelling at its lack of beauty. Check out the Wall Street Journals recent article for the full story on Comic Sans.