A few weeks ago my colleague, Doug Avery recommended I check out a book that he recently read called the Geometry of Design. The book was incredibly interesting, illustrating how mathematics can enhance design and take it to a whole new level. A whole section of the book showed the geometric foundation behind the design of the Volkswagen Beetle.

If you aren’t aware I had a very rocky but passionate obsession with the Volkswagen Beetle from 1986- 2007 and a very intimate relationship with one for about 9 years. Though the car painfully fell apart one piece at a time, the design always managed to make me Happy. Every day I would walk out my front door and see that beetle and honest to truth (as my grandmother says), that damn car smiled at me. It was the happiest little vehicle in the world despite its laundry-list of mechanical problems. The bubbly round dashboard, the perfectly perky antenna, every inch of that car brought joy to my life.

Stefan Sagmeister does an amazing Ted Talk about how Design can make you happy. He lists all the times in his life that he can remember design making him happy and in an exercise I decided to repeat for myself I realized more than 80% of my design related memories centered around joyful Volkswagen beetle experiences.

There are more memories than I can name here, but they ranged from staring down at dune a the beach to see that feisty little guy proudly dwarfed by a surfboard strapped to it, to the animated reactions of my high school friend’s faces lighting up the first time I turned on my interior lights to show them the violet blue dashboard controls (which in 1999 was very exciting).

Doug recently wrote a spectacular blog post where he shows how he took what he learned from the book Geometry of Design and used it on a recent logo design for Viget’s new Pointless Corp. The transformation from sketchy hunchback bear to refined geometric bear is inspiring… but what really struck me was the finished product. The final bear logo makes me happy in a way that is only comparable to the way my Volkswagen Beetle made me feel happy. You should check it out.

Since I have been light over the holidays with posts I thought I would share with you guys a fantastic short animated film. Right now it is airing on current.com which is where my friend Keith saw it when he passed it along to me, but after a little bit of investigation I found that it has won numerous awards and was even an academy award nominee. I found the piece to be very inspiring.

In 1969 Jerry Levitan was 14 and an enormous Beatles fan, so much that he went looking for Mr Lennon himself… knocking on every door in the hotel he thought to be housing the Beatle. When Jerry finally found the room, John was kind enough to let the 14 year old stay and even conduct his own interview.

Years later Jerry Levitan breathes a whole new life into that short conversation with the help of Josh Raskin, director and animator. The delightful timeless wisdom of John Lennon is complimented by charming drawings and illustrations by Alex Kurina and James Braithwaite. I found this film so engaging I watched it over and over, what a wonderful way to breath a magical second life into a simple simple reel- to -reel tape recording!

John Boardley of “I Love Typography” has started a Flickr Pool where you can share you favorite letters of your favorite typefaces. It is fantastic to browse all the unique letterforms displayed as ornate pieces of art, and super fun to create one for yourself. Throughout the group there are a number specimens that make elegant desktop wallpapers.

Check out the Flickr Group by clicking here, and check out my letters:

Click here to Download 1920 x 1200

Click Here to Download 1024 x 640