“The great benefit of being in the arts [is that] the possibility for learning never disappears…” – Milton Galser

The videos over at Hilman Curtis are always pretty inspiring but I wanted to bring particular attention to this one, it features Milton Glaser, arguably one of the most influential graphic designers.

Probably most famous for his I heart NY logo he is someone that has always inspired me, he has an impressively diverse portfolio – both in terms of style and mediums that spans many decades and is now teaching. Anyway I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

In a bid to free up more spare time, this year I’m making a more conscious effort to get organised and stay on top of things. I’ve started using this amazing, letterpressed year calendar from Magma in Covent Garden as a visual heads up on what’s going on this month.

Also if your interested I’ve also recently purchased Things from Cultured Code, it’s a project management app for mac ($49.99). The UI is fantastic and the whole experience is really polished – every apple app should be this good! I think if we are being honest then this is what is really helping me get organised, but the calendar is beautiful!

This corian timepiece is amazing, made by Alvin Aronson he says the idea behind the project was to add a new characteristic to the digital mediation of time, a physical / third dimension. “The time between 0 and 1″.

Here is one more video of the clock (not as good quality). Really, what an amazing piece of design to kick off the new year with!

I also just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has been reading geenius. I hope you all had a fantastic winter break and are starting the new year on a high (or hangover?). I can’t wait to see what 2009 has in store.

Atelier BomDesign in the Netherlands have been making these amazing chairs and birdhouses out of discarded materials (mainly old billboards). Covered with old type and bright colours, no two are the same – in a word, beautiful. Birdhouses are 99 euro each and can be bought online, i get the impression the chairs are all bespoke… mmm bespoke!

I was watching an interview with Chip Kidd, a book cover designer on iTunes. He was talking about his experiences, the medium & his creative process etc and it really inspired me to look in more depth at this discipline.

This post was a round up of my favourite designs, i’m not saying they are all classics but they stand out to me for one reason or another; type, photography or simply the way they are framed.

As for the video, it definitely struck a cord with me. Anyone who has that sort of passion for what they do has my respect. Jacket design hadn’t really even crossed my mind in terms of career… While I appreciate a good cover, I hadn’t really grasped that it would be possible to design covers for a living. Perhaps it’s only the elite few that are able to actually make a career from such a niche?

I think most importantly it inspired me to give a little hat-tip to everyone who is passionate about what they do – especially to those who are not getting noticed for it!