The February Roundup

While not necessarily about creativity or design, I loved this piece from (one of my personal heroes) Leandra of Man Repeller all about self-esteem. It’s a really refreshing take on the struggles a lot of us face (or rather hide from) day to day, from someone who seems to have so much confidence the world at her very well-dressed feet.

2. The most influential female designers of the last century

On the centenary of women’s suffrage in the UK, have created mini profiles on some of the female designers who have made an impact on everything from graphics to textiles over the past 100 years. It’s an inspiring list and includes one of my personal heroes Margaret Calvert.

LONG READS, IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH STUCK INTO:

1. The Consumers Book

The Consumers Book is a manifesto on consuming more inspiration and combinational creativity. Made up of quotes and stories lifted from elsewhere and patched together it’s well worth a read. It’s beautifully put together as well. I know you shouldn’t judge a book on how it looks, but damn sometimes beautiful things do just work, or rather read, better.

2. Why Accessible Design Isn’t a Niche Market

In last month’s longer form piece I talked about assumptions and accessible design. If you enjoyed that post, or it got you thinking you’ll really like this too. Aiga’s eye on design reflects on a new exhibition at Cooper Hewitt which reminds us that all design is fundamentally assistive, and asks what can designing for accessibility teach us about designing universally?

PS – I love pretty much everything Eye on Design publishes

3. How One Typeface Landed on the Moon

I feel like most people associate Futura with Wes Anderson movies, and all of the aesthetic dupes of his work. But it started off as an avant-garde contribution to 1920s Modernism. Then by the 1960s, it had become part of NASA’s authoritative image. This is the story of how that happened

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT:

This is an odd and all-encompassing favourite for the month, but I have been really loving music again. I go through phases of listening to only podcasts or music (or in rare cases nothing) but I’m back on the hunt for great new music at the minute, and dreaming of spending my days dancing around the kitchen like Gene Kelly.