Television Test Pattern
Everything you wanted to know about the (once ubiquitous) television test pattern but were afraid to ask.
via Design Observer — Graphics

Pretty Sketchy
Sketch books; creative purpose and examples.
via Veer — Graphics

A graphic history
A feast for the eyes, just a sliver of which is shown in this post. Follow the link to Miguel Oks Flickr photostream (Flickr user Iliazd) for an avalanche of graphic design goodies.
via Design Observer — Graphics

Super logos
A history of Super Bowl logos... see all (underwhelming) XLIII of them, plus a gallery of alternative proposals.
via NY Times — Graphics

Tokyo in Pictograms
Graphic designer Kazuhisa Yamamoto a.k.a. Donny Grafiks takes a walk around Tokyo’s streets to pick out some favorite pictogram signage.
via PingMag — Graphics

Business Card Booklets
Booklets of 20 perforated business cards complete with protective cover, from shineboxprint. Good idea.
via swissmiss — Graphics

Tape it
Gaffer Tape Art in Tokyo’s Train Stations
via PingMag — Graphics

Vision and Clarity on US roads
The redesign of America's road signs began with the creation of the typeface Clearview, the brainchild of Don Meeker, an environmental graphic designer, and James Montalbano, a type designer. [slideshow]
via NY Times — Graphics

discovering Helvetica... that's right... the typeface!
An intriguing and quirky movie/documentary about a typeface that is anywhere and everywhere globally (!)... "His (director Gary Hustwit) first attempt at a full-length documentary, shot on a credit-card budget and made up of interviews with designers and typographers, has somehow become a global phenomenon." Andrew Dickson tells us more.
via Guardian — Graphics

Sake it to me, baby
An exploration of the groovy graphics of Awamori (Okinawan sake) bottles... and some alcoholic education too.
via PingMag — Graphics

Graphic goodness
Maryellen McFadden's Flickr photostream is like a walk throught graphic design history.
via swissmiss — Graphics

Dutch design icon postage stamps
The Dutch post company has commissioned a new line of stamps designed by Amsterdam based ...,Staat. The stamps feature an overview of Dutch design classics.
via Reluct — Graphics

Engineers race to steal nature's secrets
"Giant wind turbines based on a seed, and desalination plant that mimics a beetle."
via Guardian — Graphics

Iconwerk
German graphic designer Iconwerk develops icons, symbols and pictograms.
via Newstoday — Graphics

The Mysterious Power of Context
"The pleasure of recognition and the promise of meaning." A great article on the difficulty of creating enduring design.
via Design Observer — Graphics

"Blueprints" for US national park icons
A smart ad campaign for the preservation of US national parks created by Y&R featuring blueprints for theme-park type recreations of Delicate Arch, a giant sequoia tree, and Yosemite Falls.
via BLDGBLOG — Graphics