“However, the works that caught my eyes was that of Stefanie Posavec. Stefanie’s maps capture something above and beyond that of the others. Rather than mapping physical geography, her maps capture regularities and patterns within a literary space. The pieces featured in On the Map focused on Kerouac’s On the Road. The maps visually represent the rhythm and structure of Kerouac’s literary space, creating works that are not only gorgeous from the point of view of graphic design, but also exhibit scientific rigor and precision in their formulation: meticulous scouring the surface of the text, highlighting and noting sentence length, prosody and themes, Posavec’s approach to the text is not unlike that of a surveyor.” (Thanks kottke.org!)

This is awesome: “Video Demonstration of a work in relief filled with ingenuity: on each page deploy forms cut from paper. The book by Marion Battle is a lively primer in three colors: red, black and white. “

“How do we ensure that our Web sites actually give users what they need? What are the best ways to understand our users’ goals, behaviors, and attitudes, and then turn that understanding into business results? Personas bring user research to life and make it actionable, ensuring we’re making the right decisions based on the right information. This practical guide explains how to create and use personas to make your site more successful.”

“For writers, few steps in the publishing process are as strange as the state of suspended animation between submitting a manuscript and seeing the book appear in stores. The sudden change in cabin pressure from writing to waiting can be jarring — and can last a very long time. ‘It comes as a huge shock when it happens the first time,’ said the Irish writer Colm Toibin, whose first novel, ‘The South,’ appeared in 1990, a year and a half after he turned it in. ‘It was all slow and strange.’”

“I’m not sure any author is ever completely satisfied with his or her publisher. With my own two ears, I’ve heard folks who’d realized projects with houses I can still only dream of - Penguin, Vintage, MIT Press - issue the selfsame complaints about sloppy copy-editing and limp marketing those of us a notch or three down the ladder make.

Nevertheless, I’ve always regretted publishing Everyware, a think piece if ever there was one, with an imprint primarily known for how-to manuals for aspiring Web developers and Photoshop jockeys. It was a mistake, and it was my own; I was both overeager and insufficiently confident in my book’s merits. And as we’ll see, I paid for it…

Therefore, be it resolved: inspired by the luminous example of Edward Tufte’s Graphics Press, as well as that of our good friends at Chin Music, we’re going to try a little experiment. We’re going to publish my next book, The City Is Here For You To Use, ourselves.”

“Brian Dettmer carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures.” (Thanks Airbag!)

“Need to know the capital of Vanuatu? Interested to find out the major export of Madagascar? Itching to find out about the (homo)sexual tension on Columbus’ trips to The New World? Then we have just the book for you!

Atlas, Schmatlas is a 128 page hardback book chock-a-block with essential information (fact and fiction), maps, and illustrations about every country in the world.” (Thanks Chris Glass!)

“I can’t imagine that a modern day pharmaceutical company would produce a book like this one. Although this was produced by Pentagram in 1971, the diagrams look as contemporary as any found today. A truly splendid book to lay your hands on if you can. This is one of the sad things about so many great books, they are in such rare supply. This book must be considered one of the definitive examples of diagram heaven.” (Thanks Heath!)

“Although some of the topics are universal to all fields of design, this book is designed for the graphic designer. It’s well-suited for students and emerging professionals as a
handy reference guide. It would be perfect for a freelance designer working on their own, providing them with information that will benefit their designs and business.”

“Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. The images / book covers contained in our database may be accessed via a number of categories including by Photographer, Author, Publisher, Publication Date and Designer.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“I put together this list of my favorite figure drawing, sketching and anatomy books for fellow artists and student friends. You can download any and all of these books for free. I hope you’ll find them useful.”

“Regrettably I don’t have as much time as I’d like to author this article in polished format, but I wanted to put my thoughts out there while they’re fresh. You’d think I’d have time to slow down now that the book is done, but with running a job site, preparing material for several presentations before the year is over (including a ginormous workshop), maintaining this site, oh and a family and full-time job, “busy” is a severe understatement… I could probably summarize my thoughts in one sentence: The process of self-publishing isn’t as glamorous as some (myself) thought it would be.

One evening shortly after the book was published, I recounted with Suzanne everything I had done over the last 10 months to go from an idea for a book to a finished, published book. Having already co-authored one book through a publisher, I compared the experience of self-publishing, and here’s roughly what I described…”

Congrats to the fine folks at Smashing — it seems like it’s been much longer than a year since the magazine launched, considering all the comprehensive roundups they’ve published. Anyway, your humble xBlog editor is happy to be participating in the anniversary festivities so be sure to check out Smashing every day this week.

Turn on the music, break out the champaign, get out the balloons and whistles, but — more importantly — keep track on what will be happening this week on Smashing Magazine.

World’s leading designers, developers and graphic designers will be celebrating with us. We’ll also have some giveaways for each and every one of you.

Be prepared. This week we’re going to smash you big time. Really.

UPDATES:
7 Sep: Smashing Freefont and Wordpress Theme (free downloads for all)
7 Sep: 170+ Expert Ideas From World’s Leading Developers (part two of the piece I contributed to)
6 Sep: 1st Anniversary Giveaway (48 free software packages, licenses, accounts and credit giveaways)
5 Sep: 50 Designers x 6 Questions (part one of the piece I contributed to)
4 Sep: 40+ Books For Professional Design & Development (free book giveaway)
3 Sep: Get Out The Balloons: Smashing’s 1st Anniversary (celebration announcement)

This week, the newly formed XPLANE Press achieved its first milestone: The reprinting of Bob Horn’s classic book Visual Language. Horn’s book makes the case that visual language is truly an emerging international language, and – like all languages – it has an inherent order, syntax, and grammar that can be learned and applied. While the world of information design has come a long way in the 10 years since Visual Language was first published, the book’s core message remains relevant today.

Visual Language has been out of print for the last few years, but is now back on the market via the XPLANE store. We will soon be offering it on Amazon as well, where used copies have been selling for upwards of $100. Here’s more from XPLANE founder Dave Gray.

“To my mind Graphis Diagrams has to be one of the seminal publications on diagrams. Less acedemic than Tufte, this book showcases a wealth of styles from the crazy to the intensely Swiss. Here are some of my favourite parts.” (Thanks Noah Brier!)