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Google Material Design

Today, as part of the Google I/O developer conference, Google announced Material Design, their unified user interface design language across all products and platforms.

To help celebrate the launch Material Design, Manual created a printed expression of Google’s new design principles, which was distributed to several thousand attendees as a limited edition printed kit. The kits—which include a set of graphic postcards and a sketchbook—quickly ran out, and started appearing on Twitter, Instagram, and Ebay.

A big thanks to Oscar Printing and Celeste McMullen in helping to produce such a lavish printed piece in a short timeframe.

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Letterform Archive talk: Color as Character

Last week we filled a room at Letterform Archive for Tom Crabtree’s salon talk, Color as Character.

Surrounded by a chromatic array of artifacts pulled from the Archive’s collection, Tom traced a path from early sources of inspiration to the identities we create today, with color as the main character throughout. Along the way: a rainbow sweater from childhood, fluorescent screen prints from college, and a kaleidoscopic mix of historical influences, including David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, Piet Zwart, Otl Aicher, and Wim Crouwel.

The evening offered a personal look at Tom’s relationship with color, and the role it continues to play in shaping the way we design at Manual.

Thanks to everyone who came out, and to our friends and neighbors at Letterform Archive for hosting, especially Stephen and Angie.