SPD.ORG

Babylon Falling: A website of progressive graphic inspiration

Babylon Falling is a great visual blog/website filled with scans of 60s graphic imagery, flavored by an emphasis on magazines and newspapers and the left-wing politics of the era. Site founder Sean Stewart has packed the site with Ramparts magazine covers, Black Panther Party newspaper pages, political posters, underground comics, book covers, photographs, and lots of cool ads from publications of the period. There's a heavy emphasis on Bay Area 60s left-wing politics, not surprising since Stewart lives out there and ran what he called "the 'anti-revolutionary bookstore' revolutionary bookstore" (Stewart also posts LP covers, photos, and ads from his other great love, hip hop music).

The site was originally the website for the Babylon Falling bookstore that operated from 2007-2009. When the store closed earlier this year, Stewart started posting images from his personal collection on the site. Fans of 60s music, culture and progressive politics will love Babylon Falling and the cool, progressive curative sensibility that Stewart brings to it. We love it because it's one of the best and most fun websites around. (The cover of Scanlan's above is from August 1970, illustration by R. Crumb.)

We talked with Sean Stewart and asked him to share some of his personal favorites from Babylon Falling.

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IN OUR CART

11.23.09posted by
Andrea Dunham

Best Books Ever! (Part 6!)

As promised, compelling submissions from artists and design aficionado friends of SPD... who probably spend a good portion of their incomes on books that ought to make our list. Inspiration from some unique sources follow.
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Websites

11.23.09posted by
Paul Schrynemakers

Nypost.com: A User-friendly Redesign

The New York Post's website, nypost.com, re-launched this past September with new features and a new design. Whether you admire the daily's vibe or just find guilty pleasure in PageSix, fans of user-centric web design will admire its user-friendly nature. I chatted recently with Nick Gould, CEO of Catalyst Group, the folks behind the new look and feel.… MORE

Typography

11.19.09posted by
The Editors

One Day Only: House Industries Pop-Up Shop at TDC

If you're in NYC today, you're in luck: as part of their closing-Friday exhibition at the Type Directors Club, House Industries is celebrating today with a pop-up shop (all the rage!) featuring some of their best posters, t-shirts, wood prints, nativity sets -- all sorts of goodies to gift others, or yourself! 11:30 to 6pm at the TDC hq -- all info here.

Covers

11.19.09posted by
Robert Newman

Minneapolis altweekly paper City Pages goes ROGUE on their latest cover

Alternative newsweekly City Pages has broken new ground with their latest cover: there's no logo!! The current issue (pictured left) features a parody of the new Sarah Palin Going Rogue book, with local Minnesota congresswoman (and professional nutjob) Michelle Bachmann on the cover. In order to pull off the complete homage/parody of the book cover, the folks at City Pages decided to forgo their regular formatted cover and lose their logo entirely. We've all thought about doing this at some time or other, but City Pages art director Nick Vicek and editor Kevin Hoffman have actually done it. Everything about this cover is brilliant, from the concept to the way it ties in with the exceptional story inside. SPD talked with Vicek and Hoffman to get the behind-the-scenes info on how this memorable cover came about.… MORE

Appreciation

11.18.09posted by
Robert Newman

Art director Nai Lee Lum and the Fortune international edition covers

Nai Lee Lum has been an art director at Fortune magazine for over 27 years, longer than many SPD members have been alive. She has been an integral part of the art department there, most notably for her work as international art director for the magazine's Europe and Asia editions. The covers of those editions have featured work from an incredibly talented array of illustrators. In addition, Nai has worked in Hong Kong consulting with Fortune China, and has also consulted on the many Fortune editions from Turkey, Korea, and almost a dozen other countries. We've got a great selection here of some of the best of Nai's work at Fortune over the past decade. Nai will be leaving Fortune in December 2009 as part of the latest round of layoffs and packages from the company, and SPD salutes her and her talent. She tells us that she's hoping to continue her relationship with some of the overseas Fortune editions, so we look forward to more covers in the near future. For a full gallery of over 25 international Fortune covers, visit here.… MORE

44

11.17.09posted by
Nathalie Kirsheh

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another...

Ok folks... for those of you that didn't make it to last week's Pub 44 Book Launch event at Arlo & Esme (where we've put our new mission "more fun, more often" to the test,) NO WORRIES, because the next party is already in the works. Stay tuned for details about our upcoming holiday event.
You can take a peek at the good times shared by all here, courtesy of photographer Antwan Duncan.

See you at the next one!

A special thanks once again to our sponsoring friends at Bear Flag, Hendrick's, Milagro, Reyka and Sailor Jerry for making the night extra special by providing us with TASTY beverages.

New Work

11.17.09posted by
The Editors