Matthew Williams Design

Travel

Monday, September 28, 2009

1553 Fairfax

I was in Los Angeles for the weekend and I spotted these beautiful and cleverly-designed address numbers—which appear to be fabricated from bent strips of bar stock, painted, and pin-mounted to the facade—an excellent example of creating elegant typography with simple, inexpensive fabrication techniques.

Posted by matthew on 09/28 at 10:46 PM
Architecture • Design • Environmental Graphic Design • Signage • Travel • Typography • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Somethin’ New From Chemistry

Invented by Finnish designer and architect Samuli Naamanka, Graphic Concrete is a process with which textures, patterns, typography, images, or works of art can be “printed” on concrete surfaces, producing subtle and dramatic results. Currently, Graphic Concrete is being used mostly in Europe, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to add a project to the Google map.

Posted by matthew on 09/10 at 09:34 PM
Architecture • Design • Environmental Graphic Design • Graphics • Signage • Travel • Typography • Art • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Fire on the Mountain

Time-lapse videos of the Southern California wildfires. NASA image of the fires, as seen from space. The Boston Globe’s Big Picture set of photographs. Flickr group and images. Google map.

Posted by matthew on 09/03 at 09:59 AM
History • Photography • Travel • (0) Comments • Permalink

Monday, August 31, 2009

Brick House

James May built his own house with Lego™ bricks.

Posted by matthew on 08/31 at 12:34 PM
Architecture • Engineering • Travel • (0) Comments • Permalink

Saturday, August 22, 2009

L’Aventurier

Christoph Rehage filmed himself every day for a year as he grew a beard and walked across China. Many other videos of his journey on his YouTube channel.

Posted by matthew on 08/22 at 04:59 PM
Video • Music • Travel • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A Fair To Remember

Vintage Seattle’s Erecting The Needle is a photo essay featuring concept proposals for the Space Needle, its construction (1, 2, 3, 4), and a picture of the rarely-seen gas-flame beacon in action. More design sketches and images, from the University of Washington’s image database. In 2008, crews from Kärcher GmbH & Co. cleaned the Space Needle for the first time, and this morning, the Space Needle was briefly for sale!

Posted by matthew on 08/12 at 02:41 AM
Architecture • Engineering • History • Photography • Travel • (0) Comments • Permalink

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Muni Don’t Take My Kodachrome

Since September 11, photographers have been stopped, harassed, and intimidated into handing over their personal property simply because they were photographing subjects that made other people uncomfortable, such as ship locks, trains, buildings, bridges, and bus stations. If you live in the United States, here’s a guide to print and carry with you: The Legal Handbook for Photographers. British photographers should carry The UK Photographer’s Rights Guide, since photography is slowly becoming illegal in the United Kingdom.

With that in mind (and with advice from my lawyer), I’ve designed these entirely fictitious Photographer’s Licenses.

This license is intended as art and political commentary in that one does not need a license to take photographs. This license is not an official government-issued document, nor is it intended as an imitation of an official government document, and it should not be used as such. The author expressly disclaims all liability for any use to which this artwork is put. This license is a work of fiction and is not to be used as official identification or authorization. Know your rights, and please support the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Posted by matthew on 05/14 at 04:05 PM
Design • Graphics • Identity • Photography • Projects • Travel • Art • (17) Comments • Permalink

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Good Morning America, How Are You?

The last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific has a rich and dignified history. Delivered in 1944, No. 844 pulled the Overland Limited, the Los Angeles Limited, the Portland Rose, and the Challenger. After Union Pacific began using diesel locomotives to pull passenger trains, No. 844 was transferred in 1957 to freight service, and in 1960 she was retired for special service. Today, No. 844 travels the country as one of Union Pacific’s remaining “living legends”. Here’s her schedule and route.

If you’re in the Bay Area, No. 844 is on display today, from 8a to 6p at the Union Pacific yard. She pulls out of Oakland tomorrow morning at 9a sharp.