eally digging this poster (designed by Paul Wilson) for the film The American, which is directed by Anton Corbijn and stars George Clooney. This is interesting, because Corbijn’s career consists mostly of directing music videos and even designing album covers, so I’m curious to see how this film will turn out, though I suspect it will be wonderful. The trailer hints at some gorgeous cinematography and a seductive story about romance and assassins.

From IMDB:

Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

he Center for Urban Pedagogy is an organization that makes educational products, bringing together art and design professionals with community-based advocates. CUP’s latest project is called Vendor Power!, a collaboration between The Street Vendor Project and designer Candy Chang who described it as, “translat[ing] the intimidating regulation book into friendly diagrams and minimal text in English, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese and Spanish, so NYC’s diverse street vendors can understand their rights, avoid fines, and earn an honest living.”

While I’m not a street vendor myself, I purchased the poster anyway based on its well-designed attributes and to support CUP’s efforts. Upon closer inspection, I learned a thing or two about the rules and regulations of New York’s 12,000+ street vendors. For one, vendors can get a $1000 ticket for parking more than 18 inches from the curb, which seems incredibly ridiculous based on the fact that the average NYC vendor salary is $14,000. Here are some other interesting facts I picked up:

• Former NYC vendors include Jerry Seinfeld, Jay-Z, and Jean-Michel Basquiat
• Some businesses that started as pushcarts were Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Roc-A-Fella Records and Goldman Sachs
• In 1927, between 10-15% of all produce sold in New York was sold in pushcart markets

There’s obviously a rich history behind pushcarts, and the poster is well worth picking up, not just for its history lesson but as an example on how well-designed infographics can inform and educate citizens around the world.

More Information

• Download the PDF version of the poster
• Chang’s Street Vendor project page
• Chang’s article about the process

his is a new print we finished not too long ago (about a month ago to be exact). The idea behind this piece was to pose a universal question, “What is truth?” I think everyone has asked themselves, or others that question; and is there ever a right answer? Maybe it’s just a question that evokes a subjective response, and that’s it.

Initially we were going to produce it in English, but in the end we thought Latin was a little more appropriate.

The “Quid Est Veritas” typeface we used is a custom typeface we created specifically for this print. Once our store is available, we’ll be adding this to the roster of other prints that we’ll be selling. Meanwhile, you can see the concept sketch and close-in details of the print on Behance.