Holiday shopping is always tough. Shopping for a gift for a designer is even tougher. You could cop out and give a boring gift from a run-of-the-mill department store. Or, you could take a second to check out our list of unique, design related items that a designer might appreciate more than just another gift card.
While this is just a selection of goods we recommend, there are plenty more books and other design related material that you may like coming soon on this site. Happy Holidays everyone!
The Guide
Type Trumps
Rick Banks, has created a set of Top Trumps style cards where classic typefaces are the subject matter - hence the name, Type Trumps. Type Trumps players can battle it out using such statistics as year of design, the amount of weights, cost etc to win their opponent's cards. Banks has given each typeface a 'rating' score, a 'legibility' score and even a 'special power'."
Grid Systems T-Shirt
Grid Systems dates from antiquity and originated in multiple cultures; some of the earliest shirts and cities were built using grids. Grid Systems is a limited edition T-Shirt designed and produced by YouWorkForThem.
Outliers
From designer favorite Malcolm Galdwell, this is his latest social analysis on what constitutes high levels of success. It’s been getting a little bit of flack from critics, but we promise it’s just as solid as his other books.
Muji Sketchbooks
Simple "No Brand Goods" from Muji. While we love the Chrononotebook, it’s rather hard to come by and I don’t believe the stores are carrying them at the moment. These sketchbooks on the other hand are a simple, elegant take on the traditional designer notebook. And best of all, they’re really affordable.
IDEO Method Cards
IDEO Method Cards is a collection of 51 cards representing diverse ways that design teams can understand the people they are designing for. They are used to make a number of different methods accessible to all members of a design team, to explain how and when the methods are best used, and to demonstrate how they have been applied to real design projects.
Bubble Calendar
Handmade calendars from Brooklyn, combining two of the greatest things ever, Helvetica and Bubble Wrap.
Murakami
Takashi Murakami is one of contemporary art’s most innovative and important figures. Drawing from street culture, high art, and traditional Japanese painting, Murakami takes the contemporary art trend of mixing high and low to an unprecedented level (critics call him the new Warhol), producing original paintings and sculptures as well as mass-produced consumer objects such as toys, books, and most famously, a line of handbags for Louis Vuitton.
The Typographic Desk Reference
A quick reference guide of typographic terms and classification with definitions of form and usage for Latin based writing systems. Handy for the desk, the TDR contains over a thousands facts on typography.
Aesthetic Apparatus's Entire Catalog
Designers love hand made screen printed posters just as much as indie music, so fulfill both of those requirements with any one of the posters offered by Aesthetic Apparatus.
A Bathing Ape
One of my personal favorites, Nigo releases a book cataloging his amazing body of work over the past 15 years.
Pantone Coffee Mugs
Mugs to help you mix your favorite brew to just-how-you-like-it by matching the color guide on the inside. Kind of dorky design goods, but sometimes cheesy gifts are the best for the holidays.
Wall and Piece
The collected works of Britain’s most wanted artist. Artistic genius, political activist, painter and decorator, mythic legend or notorious graffiti artist? The work of Banksy is unmistakable (except maybe when it’s squatting in the New York’s Metropolitan Museum or Museum of Modern Art.) Banksy is responsible for decorating the streets, walls, bridges and zoos of towns and cites throughout the world.
Original Apple Sac
This stylish and functional sleeve is made from burlap and 100% polyester sherpa fleece. Its rugged surface is engineered to handle the rough world while its inside provides soft, scratch-free protection for your Apple’s surface. It also fits perfectly snugly around your MacBook.
Further Reading
Comments
2 Comments
Kurniawan Sopandi says:
January 14, 2009
I want those mugs… :(
Dennis Eusebio says:
January 01, 2009
I actually ended up getting a couple of these items for the holidays. Go figure.