Somehow, this led me to (stupidly) ask everyone for their favorite vintage covers, particularly from their childhood. I was quickly snowed under with jpgs and links.

Christina was first in line with Fitzgerald. True story: Christina wears flapper dresses while she works.

Nick, in Brooklyn, read Robbins when he was five. Another true story: Nick lives next door to a Polish sausage maker.

Bess, in Seattle, clarified her wicked debugging skills with her choices. Also: Bess owns a flashlight.

I’m not so literary. But I loved The Teddy Bear Habit and it’s cover. (PS. I did not become a winner.)

Kaye had books she couldn’t read, but were pretty. This may be why she loves art direction: pictures and lorem ipsum.

Cover above, spread below:

Adam topped us all with help from his mother. His collection of Oz books is enviable:

Book covers are such a vital ingredient of our lives, marking off milestones and creating a wayfinding system for our brains whenever we conjure up the past.

Clever trompe-l’œil campaign for a book swap program. More at Headvertising

Anne Emond’s Comiques are trés smart.

Via Doodlers Anonymous.

It’s that time of the day when we bow in reverence to the funniest women alive.

Can’t wait for Downton S3? Make your own drama with Vulture’s paper doll series.

For a President of few words, Abe Lincoln gets a tribute with a lot of books.

Pickpocketed from the streams of Charlie Kate and Tara Lazar.

While hunting for a file I recently came across Tyler’s early design explorations for Bluebird, the name we initially chose for Storybird (but wasn’t available or for sale). If you like identity design, mood boards, and ephemera—scroll on.

Our starting point was to soak up ephemera from the ’30s to the ’50s to keep us focused on a slower, non-digital visual culture. We loved anything with a faded texture that suggested time and tactility. (Can I say “tactility” in a blog post and not sound pretentious?) Note: click the images for a larger version/detail.

We also explored book brands we love. Penguin for their cover system, Ladybug for their simplicity, and Eric Carle for his color and texture.

Tyler took all these inputs and began sketching several logo ideas. We were resolute on a logo and adjoining name rather than a wordmark. (I think we wound up with the perfect logo, but we’re still debating how to treat our actual name.)

Notice the two facing birds to the bottom right of the beetle on the left page? Those (rather angry looking) birds spun out into a crucial idea: using apostrophes as the sole ingredient of our logo.

Ah, our pudgy little baby. I love the trompe l’oeil—the whole bird facing right vs the bird head facing left. I was sold the minute I laid eyes on it.

PS. Speaking of laid, let’s not forget the eggs. (’Though we haven’t figured out how to use them yet.)

I’ll see if I can dig up the cover system sketches for a future post.