Today is Independent Bookstore Day across the United States. It’s an annual party to celebrate independent bookstores, authors, readers, and literacy. If you are in the U.S., you can find one of the 500+ participating indies right here. All of the bookstores will be hosting special events, including readings, concerts, games, give-aways, book sales, political rallies, and much more.
You might not agree with all of the choices that Mike Nudelman made for this literary map of the U.S. —I certainly didn’t—but it’s a good effort.
I was surprised to discover that up until very recently Helsinki never had a single or consistent brand system. Last summer, Finland’s capital finally commissioned the creative group Werklig to develop a contemporary brand design that would work across all municipal agencies.
Werklig was tasked with creating a consistent look that had aesthetic appeal. was recognizable for residents and visitors alike, and worked graphically. The agency chose to base the new brand on Helsinki’s historic city crest, the cupola of the Helsinki Cathedral, the coastal geography, and the color palette of the municipal transit companies.
The resulting branding is cohesive and consistent, but doesn’t say Helsinki to me. A city’s identity is so much more than fonts and graphic design. While I haven’t spent much time in Helsinki recently, when I think of the city what resonates the most to me is the natural setting, the architecture, the urban topology, the history, and the big northern skies.
BOOK POWER
by Gwendolyn Brooks
BOOKS FEED AND CURE AND
CHORTLE AND COLLIDE
In all this willful world
of thud and thump and thunder
man’s relevance to books
continues to declare.
Books are meat and medicine
and flame and flight and flower,
steel, stitch, and cloud and clout,
and drumbeats in the air.
Pulitzer Prize winning author would have been 100 years=old this week. In 1969, she wrote this wonderful poem to celebrate National Children’s Book Week. Later, the poem was printed on bookmarks for national distribution in schools and libraries.
I hadn’t heard the expression “library rat” since my undergraduate university days until I stumbled across this new mural by the Spanish street artist known as Xav. The work, which was commissioned by the Barcelona-based Contorno Urbano Foundation, celebrates those of us who happily hang-out in libraries. Part of the mural art project 12 + 1, the work is located in the town of L’Hospitalet de Llobreqat just outside of Barcelona.
A big h/t to Cameron Booth for the link to this marvelous Middle Earth “transit” map. Commissioned by Empire magazine,the brilliant map which plots the journeys of the key characters through the Peter Jackson film adaptations of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, was created by British illustrator Christian Tate.
Who doesn’t love an anime inspired gif ? The Central Japan Railway (JR Central) has commissioned a series of fifteen fun gifs by Japanese and international artists and animators to celebrate the world famous bullet train. The Art of Shinkansen project illustrates many features of the iconic train and aims to make Japanese rail travel more accessible for foreign visitors to Japan. You can see all of the gifs in the series right here.
Last year, British cartoonist, artist, and children’s book writer Chris Riddell published this wonderful series of sketches that illustrate comments by the great Neil Gaiman on a variety of book related topics.
A few years ago, a disused 15th century church in Zwolle, Netherlands was transformed into a modern library. Now, a 19th century church in ‘s- Hertogenbosch has been turned into a stunning 21st century combined library/museum/community center. What a great idea—we’ve got hundreds of churches that would serve the community better as libraries.
This week, New York City transit riders have been lining up to purchase special edition David Bowie MetroCards. The city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority has teamed up with Spotify to offer five different options each celebrating the late artist’s varied personas. The limited edition of 250,000 MetroCards is only available at vending machines in Manhattan subway stations.
The project is also accompanied by an art show of Bowie-inspired fan art and a Bowie subway map that covers city locations important to the musician’s time in New York.
Travel Between The Pages 