A new book, 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design, written by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, sets out some of the more powerful ideas and concepts that shaped graphic design:

From concepts like manifestos (#25), pictograms (#45), propaganda (#22), found typography (#38), and the Dieter-Rams-coined philosophy that “less is more” (#73) to favorite creators like Alex Steinweiss, Noma Bar, Saul Bass, Paula Scher, and Stefan Sagmeister, the sum of these carefully constructed parts amounts to an astute lens not only on what design is and does, but also on what it should be and do.

A selection of works created by Chinese graphic designers during the earlier decades of the twentieth century.

The 12 paradoxes of graphic design, a set of images created by Tobias Bergdahl after attending a lecture given by London based designer Adrian Shaugnhnessy.

An image of an astronaut – with spacesuit a blazing – crossing a city street created by by British graphic designer Jack Crossing, is reminiscent of a photo that appears on a certain Pink Floyd album cover.

New York’s MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) has recently added 23 fonts to its Architecture and Design Collection, which were chosen on account of the significant role each had in the development of font design during the last 50 years of the twentieth century.

This first selection of 23 typefaces represent a new branch in our collection tree. They are all digital or designed with a foresight of the scope of the digital revolution, and they all significantly respond to the technological advancements occurring in the second half of the twentieth century. Each is a milestone in the history of typography. These newly acquired typefaces will all be on display in Standard Deviations, an installation of the contemporary design galleries opening March 2 on the third floor.

For anyone curious as to how an institution such as a museum can add commercially available fonts for their permanent collections, Jason Kottke recently interviewed Jonathan Hoefler of font foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones – four of their typefaces joined the MoMA collection – about the legalities of the acquisition.

New York illustrator and graphic designer Bob Gill, established his reputation by putting the design needs of his clients ahead of his desire to create beautiful imagery for them.

“I stopped trying to ram my aesthetic prejudices down their throats. Why should clients have my tastes? … I talked to them about solutions and ideas instead of design.” It is because of this attitude towards “inevitable” solutions that Gill’s clients thought so fondly of him. He was giving them tailored work that was concept driven and so well considered that he was able to effectively describe them over the phone. He started to consider what the solution should be first, worrying about appearance second.

Since I can’t get enough of minimal design and illustration… graphic designer Eric Slager’s Minimalist Muppets illustration series.

No Cookie Monster then?

(Thanks Jessica)

Back in the day when I was a Photoshop power user – it once used to be the very first app I opened after switching on my computer each day – I too used to see the world pretty much as just a series of Photoshop canvases and tool palettes.

Photoshop dexterity (PSD) is a skillset acquired by proficient users of Adobe Photoshop, the world’s most ubiquitous digital tool for creating visual ideas. Qualities of PSD include supernatural powers of imagination and an overwhelming desire to constantly make the world more beautiful. PSD affects people from different walks of life. In fact, there is a high probability that you have PSD.

Swedish graphic design student Kiko has created some nice infographic inspired work: Informative Prints.

Australian INfront’s third Visual Response is underway, and this time the theme word is “portrait”… there’s some seriously good prizes up for grabs also.