There's a lot of great identity work out there (of course still far out-numbered by the bad) but a lot of that great work is being done by Turner Duckworth. They have an office just a block away from my previous agency's home in San Francisco, and possess a top-notch portfolio. Their process of reductionism when applied to Coke's packaging woes is one of my favorite recent projects – but I just discovered this: An interwoven identity for a vodka/cognac liquor called Truce. Not sure how I missed it, but I love it. Too bad, TD didn't design their website too. Eek.

Not too long ago, Baseline magazine (before their identity redesign mess) had a feature article on Jan Tischold and his influence on Penguin book covers - good stuff. Well, here's a gallery of Pelican cover designs from the 1930's through the 1980's. Beautiful things. According to their website, "Pelican was introduced to cover serious contemporary issues and represented the first new and original books to be published by Penguin; all titles so far had been paperbacks of books previously published by other companies." Some further reading about their history uncoverend this little gem: The Penguincubator - a vending machine of sorts for paperback books. Seriously, look it up.

A little (a lot?) pretentious - but still kind of fun. (Thanks Jessica.) It reminds me of the old Bad Design Kills site (this is all that's left of it) run by illustrator Von Glitschka, though not quite as deep of a concept.

The VCU Adcenter has unveiled a new name and identity today that reflects the importance of not just traditional advertising but all of marketing’s touch points. From now on, the highly regarded school will be called the VCU Brandcenter. This coincides with an address change too, from a dingy building downtown to a brand new facility near the heart of VCU’s academic campus. (More photos via rm116 can be seen here.)The new building was designed by architect, Clive Wilkinson, famous for his work for Google, Disney and some of the leading creative ad agencies and is part historic renovation and modern new construction. The new identity work is an even bigger change. Designed by David Hartman, its meaning is open to interpretation which may be quite appropriate for an ever-changing curriculum that consistently prepares graduates for an ever-changing industry. After a couple years at VCU, it’s become clear that Director Rick Boyko is not afraid of change and that he is quite adept at steering the school in a way that makes an alumni such as myself, proud. He promises that despite the change(es), VCU is "...more committed than ever to creative thinking, brilliant executions and deep collaborations. And to helping smart hard-working students become the highest caliber graduates in their fields."

I will still miss the old mark, designed under the watch of Jelly Helm. (Below:)

Having designed some coffee packaging in the past, it was a delight to see Union Hand-Roasted’s coffee packs resist the norms of the industry and do something a little different. You’ll notice the lack of coffee beans in the background, the lack of burlap, or photographs of the Columbian countryside. In their place is a brilliant choice of material matched up with crisp & clean icons that work on the same level of information graphics. Very well done. There are some slight inconsistencies in individual pieces, but overall the merchandising and materials look great and you immediately recognize their look. Check out their website for more. Via TheDieLine ( a great packaging resource.)

Coming off his victory in the Iowa caucus last night, Obama is looking like a pretty strong candidate. So, I decided to go back to his site after reviewing most of the candidates identity design a while ago here. What I didn’t expect to find was an even greater attention to design details than before. The Obama O is being used much like a corporate brand logo – witness the demographic banner graphics here. This craft is carried into the individual states’ pages too, though not as effective and a little clunky when there isn’t an O in the state name. I’m not saying that some of this doesn’t border on cliché or stereotypes, but I definitely applaud the thought that was given to the smallest of details by the Obama campaign graphic designers. I have to admit this makes me like Obama a little bit more – though much like buying a product because of the pretty packaging, I won’t be voting for him (or any candidate) based on their design consistency. I’m far more intelligent than that. I think.