Meanwhile #056

This is an old edition of Meanwhile from an inferior, more simian newsletter platform that has unhelpfully severed all the hyperlinks. It’s included here in the archive simply for sake of completeness.

What make a great book cover? Book designers on what book designs they like by other book designers.

The site is a bit of a labyrinth, but the Society for the Preservation of Letraset Action Transfers is wonderful. Loads of 70s/80s promotional transfers for Star Wars, Doctor Who, Tintin, Transformers, etc. Warning: after a few minutes you may find yourself scribbling over the screen with an HB pencil.

Over 200 Guggenheim exhibition catalogues and art books have been digitised and are now available for free on the Internet Archive. Fantastic resource.

Defy the staircase! And nine more valuable lessons for designersfrom Paula Scher's recent talk in London. Her new monograph from Unit Editions looks lovely.

When your store is a photo op – on the problems of having a beautiful bookstore. Reminds me of one of my favourite little places in London: the piranha tank that used to be in the Foyles children's section. So very sinister and brilliant. 

Do some people see colour better than others? My latest Creative Review column, which features the phrase "hypercolor fugue of chromatic nega-synesthesia" for some reason.

Is nothing a colour? Some thoughts on the meaning of absence in design. Featuring Dave Eggers, Italo Calvino and The Beatles.

Booktuber Holly Dunn on the mystery and magic of what lies beneath the dust jacket. It's like I've always said: more books should have concealed nifflers.

Can you judge a book by its odour? Cocoa, wood, rusks – every book has a distinctive smell. And each smell says something about how and when it was made, and where it has been. Living with a recovering anosmic, I find this stuff absolutely fascinating. 

Typesetting is an archive of publicly sourced images of found typography in the Leeds area. Love this project – makes me want to head out onto the streets of York to just … find. Made by the jolly nice folks at Colours May Vary.

Dealing with the solitude of self-employment – freelancers reveal how they overcame feelings of isolation and created new communities as a result.  

Very much looking forward to Anime Architecture, the House of Illustration's new exhibition of background illustrations for classic Japanese sci-fi. It's worth watching the original Ghost in the Shell just to lose yourself in Hiromasa Ogura’s beautiful watercolour cityscapes. 

Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez and Nobrow Press is all sorts of wonderful. Basically a fable about the the tension between creativity and fame, with gorgeous artwork and … oh just get it already. You'll love it.

That is all.