Slo-Mo-Graf Layer Tennis

And They Were

Tomorrow we continue our series of live, experimental Layer Tennis Exhibitions with a motion graphics match between Matt Smithson and Daniel Oeffinger. As usual, the action starts at 2pm Chicago time. Check the time in your area. What is unusual is that the match won't finish until next Thursday. We'll be posting two layers per weekday. We've always wondered what would happen if we gave a couple artists a lot more time to do each volley and this week we'll find out. Commentary is by Jason Koxvold, who knows a little something about LYT and mo-graf. Jason's Match Preview has been posted and as usual, the coin-flip is above.

Field Notes Colors

Packets of Sunshine

The newest Field Notes COLORS limited-edition memo books provide plenty of direct light for optimum growing conditions. Available individually and through a COLORS subscription. Dum dah dee dum.

How Smart Are Your People?

Check Out the
Big Brain on Brad

Our logic puzzlers are perfect for starting arguments at home or at work. Einstein's Fish, School of Government, Da Vinci's Other Code and, of course, Which Porn Star Ate the Most Hot Dogs? C'mon Brainiac, let's show 'em what you got.

A Job Opening at Coudal

Who’s Next?

Want to get out of Chicago? Our last two fabulous part-timers, Jen and Amy each worked with us for a good while and then eventually decided to pick up and move, one to the West Coast and one to the East. Maybe you're next? We need a person to help us with shipping and fulfillment at our studio west of the Loop in the Fulton Market area. It's not a design job, it's approximately three days a week filling Field Notes orders and other various things. It's a laid back, fun place to work and lunch is always awesome on Thursdays. Write Michele at coudal dot com if you're interested.

A Project on the Attack

Going Negative

Fresh off the series of promo trailers we'd made for their new book REWORK, our office mates at 37signals dropped us a frantic line late Thursday afternoon with an idea. Their book was ranked just behind Karl Rove's in the Amazon sales rankings. Since Rove has a history of playing dirty in political media advertising, could we come up with a tongue-in-cheek attack ad about his book? And get it done in time to show it at one of their talks at SXSW on Sunday morning? It was going to be tight, but why not? Steve checked out political ads on YouTube to get the look just right, swapped some jokes back and forth with the 37s crew, practiced imitating that ominous, whispery narration every spot seems to use, and loaded up on iStock credits for footage, music and photos. Come Sunday, the video premiered at David Heinemeir Hansson's talk and, at least in that particular conference room, Karl Rove was finished.

Layer Tennis Season 3 So Far

In Perspective

Two photographers in two cities shooting and posting a photographic dialogue live while a musician creates a sound track. That was Week #3's Exhibition Match #3 of live Layer Tennis. Man, that was some fun. Here's the back story from the shooters. Match #2 was amazing, two expert typographers created and modified a new typeface in real time. Check Mark Simonson's recap, Beneath the Volley of the Fonts. The Season Opener was Khoi Vinh and Nicholas Felton with comments by John Nack and the guys have posted a terrific recap of what they did during the game, and why. It should be required reading for future players.

The Museum of Online Museums

Collections Department

We're getting The Spring Exhibitions ready. In the meantime take a last look through Winter at The Museum of Online Museums. Enjoy the collected collections and then please consider joining the Museum Board of Directors and receive some nice swag, including a DVD of our soon-to-be-released MoOMumentary, The Curators, and also that warm, smug feeling that comes with knowing you're much more generous than your low-rent friends.

The Museum of Online Museums has been featured on All Things Considered, in the NY Times, Chicago Tribune and Time Magazine and was discussed at length on an episode of NPR's Hello Beautiful!

2010 Tournament of Books

Books in Brackets

The 6th Annual Morning News Tournament of Books is in full swing with a great field and lots of interesting match-ups. Our Field Notes Brand is proud to be the presenting sponsor for this year's edition and we're making a special offer for ToB readers that will also help out underprivileged kids. Thanks to Marshall Sokoloff for the photo above.

A Very Short Attention Span

Passing Fancy

Are you better suited for starting things than you are for finishing them? Pay attention.

John Hughes Noted

A Place of Honor

A photo accompanying an article in this month's Vanity Fair about director John Hughes finds our Field Notes Memo Books in a real place of honor.

March Guest CDR / Motherbrand

Northernly Neighbours

It would be one thing to try and put together a collection of a single favorite designer's work, but assembling a mass from all the great designers in an entire country? Such is the monumental task the brave souls at the Canadian Design Resource (cdr) have set for themselves. If it's design and it's Canadian, they've likely either already cataloged it or it's on their to-do list. The Resource itself is an offshoot of their wider umbrella, Motherbrand, which consists of Todd Falkowsky, Michael Erdmann and John Ryan who describe the firm as "a creative studio with broad expertise in content, experience and brand design," which between the lines means "they do a lot of different stuff," much of it intent on showing just how cool Canadian design is. So expect a lot of great links from north of the border as all three step in as our Guest Editors for March.

A list of all the brilliant people who have helped us by guest editing Fresh Signals can be found here.

Other recent features are listed on Page Two.

Fresh Signals

From and occasional series, Great Moments in Fresh Signals History. Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in the sand. The Paris Metro Map as an astronomical star chart. Martin Schröder's blog about the art of printing, Reden ist Silber. The National Science Foundation's multimedia galleries. jc-today

Hero Josef Muller-Brockmann, beginning to end. Via Antonio Carusone. jc-today

"In the end, the life was largely in song, and the songs all had life, and that's all there is to say, and there isn't anything that can be done." Ben's thoughts on the passing of Alex Chilton. sd-today

Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode, Yaz, and Erasure shows off his vintage synthesizer collection in Maine. Via The Coolest Filipino. bb-today

"Here's an appearance I did on the Joy Behar Show with Lori Gottlieb!" Comedian/author Julie Klausner learns an important lesson of double checking YouTube links before you send them off to television producers. sd-today

Á propos de rien: Anna Karina et Jean-Paul Belmondo. bb-today

Hundreds of instruments to shoot one's eye out with: AirGun, a very simple, yet thorough collection of BB and CO2 guns, and often their packaging, too. sd-today

For BB, how to clean your vinyl records using wood glue. dw-today

A clip from We Ruled London: The Story of the Krays and more from a BBC interview with the gangster twins, who were also the inspiration for The Piranha Brothers. "Dinsdale." jc-today

The art of UFO, the Gerry Anderson tv series. Fab. Via The Cartoonist. jc-today

We rearranged the furniture on Page Two this morning. jc-today

Sterling Cooper may have ripped her Bye Bye Birdie opening for their Patio advertisement, but here's the real deal: Ann-Margret for Canada Dry. It's bizarre. cdr-today

It's Margaret Atwood versus Victor LaValle in the final first-round match today in the The Morning News Tournament of Books, presented by our Field Notes. Also, the Zombie contenders are revealed in KG and John Warner's comments. jc-today

Like baseball and have an extra 5800 bucks lying around? Then head on over to the Hermes men's store in NYC and pick one of these hand-stitched baseball mitts. ms-today

8-Bit NYC. ms-today

"Through the process of decay, ruins offer an aesthetic experience that bypasses the normal designs of the city, often over-regulated, boring and too smooth. In ruins, we can come across unexpected sights, weird vestiges of the past, unfathomable artifacts, cryptic signs, unfamiliar textures and large, impressive objects." British industrial ruins. ms-today

Trailer for The Greatest. ms-today

Royal TNT Post in the Netherlands has created an amazing way to celebrate Dutch Book Week, a tiny book that is also a postage stamp. cdr-yesterday

Dave's head is in the cloud. jc-yesterday

For the day, "a drinker with writing problems." jc-yesterday

Christophe Szpajdel is Lord of the Logos, the black metal band ones anyway. Via @paukee. jc-yesterday

For the day, !8 minutes of The Pogues, live from 1985. jc-yesterday

Just what we need, America's leading 11 year-old film critic hates Alice and loves Extraordinary Measures. jc-yesterday

"Essentially, it is a camera that - using a mobile communication device - takes other's photos. Photos that were created by someone who pressed a button somewhere at the same time as its own button was pressed." Via Jan Chipchase. jc-yesterday

"A sequence of 500 'illuminations' at 250-metre intervals will roll westwards from Segedunum fort, Wallsend, at 5:45pm, reaching Carlisle three quarters of an hour later and ending on the final, largely fragmentary stretch of the wall above the Solway." The public participates in a large scale work of art, lighting up Hadrian's Wall. Check the video here. ms-yesterday

From an occasional series, Great Moments in Fresh Signals History. Richard Nicholson's survey of London's remaining professional darkrooms. Cameron Booth's reinterpretation of the U.S. Eisenhower Interstate System Map. Peter Guthrie's 3D renderings of van der Rohe's Farnsworth House. Stéfan Le Dû's Star Wars Stormtroopers in various situations. J. D. Salinger's letter to a producer interested in filming Catcher in the Rye. jc-yesterday

140. cp-yesterday

Field Notes in Action. jc-yesterday

A new timelapse HD film from Philip Bloom Sky, filmed over five days in Dubai. Here's some background and Bloom's copious production notes. jc-yesterday

What We Talk About When We Talk About Maintaining Dignity in Online Advertising, a chat I had with Wendy Mitchell. jc-yesterday

Chat Roulette piano improv. ms-yesterday

An interactive infographic showing the difference between the quakes in Haiti and Chile. ms-yesterday

For DW, the Periodic Table of Sci-Fi film and television. ms-yesterday

Trailer for Please Give. ms-yesterday

A History of Argentinian Transportation Tickets. Via The DDC by way of Wicked Cobra. jc-yesterday

Page Two contains the previous 35 Fresh Signals, recent features, a key to the icons and the categorical archives.

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The Producers

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Your Name Here

the pitch

You can be an Executive Producer of our new short feature film, 72°. If you've always wanted to be a hotshot Hollywood player, or you just want to lend a hand to the project here's your chance.

A Thing We Made:
Field Notes

Field Notes Brand memo Books and more. "I'm not writing it down to remember it later. I'm writing it down to remember it now." A CP/DDC joint.

Some Other Things We Made:

We hated the options available for custom packaging DVDs and CDs so we created a brand that gives creative professionals and hobbyists the tools to make great stuff. Here's a bit from the latest Jewelboxing weblog entry:

"If you want something that isn't available or doesn't exist, there's no reason not to just make it yourself." Read the entire post.

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