2013-12-03
Happy Holidays! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Yule, Kwanzaa, or just the turn of the new year, this time of year is regarded worldwide as a time of giving. But what does one give to graphic designers, illustrators, fashion designers, product designers, Web designers, and other creative professionals? After all, we are often a difficult-to-buy-for bunch. To help you find the perfect present for your favorite creative, I scoured the Web for gifts that help designers do their work, celebrate creativity, and express themselves as creatives.
I found so many that I couldn’t publish them all in one place. On CreativePro.com I crammed as many creative gifts as possible into the acceptable length of not one but two articles (part 1 here and part 2 here). And still I was left with more than 30 amazing gifts your beloved designer would be delighted to receive from you. Thus, here’s the unofficial part 3–33 more amazing designer gifts!
Merry! Happy! Joyous!
Creative Cloud Burst Converse Shoes
$125
Introduced and almost instantly sold out at AdobeMAX 2013, these shoes combine the classic style of Converse with the unmistakable flair of the Creative Cloud branding.
Whooz Iz It iDevice Charger Skins
$12.95
The plugs and charging bricks that come with Apple products are white and bland. Help your designer giftee make them his or her own with these inexpensive custom labels. Sold in sets of 4.
Alphabet of Typography Poster
$28
An alphabetical primer on the wonders of typography, including serifs, hooks, diacritics, spines, ligatures, and more. 18 x 24-inches. Hand signed and numbered by the artists. Printed with Vegan friendly vegetable based inks.
Graphic Design Trivia Games
$60
Volumes 1, 2, and 3 available. Impress your peers and increase your memory skills with this fun, social, and educational game of graphic design trivia.
Grayscale Ultra Thin Wall Clock
$48
Features accurate whisper quiet stepping movement. One of the thinnest clocks in the world. Design by Thomas Buchheim
Model Leonardo Da Vinci Printing Press
$19.95
The invention that inspired this snap-together replica is taken from the pages of Da Vinci’s priceless and awe-inspiring notebooks. This model is made of plastic, snaps together and requires no special tools. No batteries required.
The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog
$25
A typeface memory game. With twenty-five pairs of cards, each presenting a different type family, this is a very stylish and interesting typographic concentration game. The kit includes a typographical glossary with the main terms used in typography as well as a text about the evolution of type design, locating in history each one of the fonts used in the game.
Multifont Belt Buckle
$45
Get your type on! This is a buckle cast in lead free pewter from actual letterpress pieces. Perfect for all those graphic designers, font lovers in your life. Try it with the brand new recycled rubber belt, sold separately. Fits belts up to 1.5" in width.
Typographic Tote Bags
$26
Fun, typographic tote bags including “The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over A Lazy Dog,” a sentence is used by graphic designers when working with typefaces, because the phrase contains all of the letters of the English alphabet.
Will Design for Money Zip Hoodie
$36–42
The perfect hoodie for the designer in your life. Available in numerous colors.
Pixel Hand Tool Ovenmitts
$14.99
These pixelated oven gloves are definitely the coolest gloves to hold a hot plate! Generously padded, they’ll protect your hands like any oven glove while providing some geek chic flair!
Lorem Ipsum Tie
$30
In publishing and graphic design, “Lorem ipsum” is common placeholder text used to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document without adding implied meaning of words the reader could understand. Made of a soft microfiber, having almost the same hand as real silk and is printed with high-quality, non-toxic, waterbased ink. Available in three colors and two widths—standard (3.5–4 inch) and narrow (2.5–3 inch). All new materials. Vegan safe.
Undo CMD+Z Necklace
$22
Necklace is for those designers out there that just want to hit “undo.” The pendent is cut from 3mm black acrylic and is 1.75" wide and 1" tall. It hangs from a silver-plated chain approximately 18" in total length.
Font Snob T-Shirt
$26.99
The perfect shirt for your favorite font snob. Available in a variety of styles and colors.
Helvetica (Documentary) DVD or Blu-ray
$20–26
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
MIMOBOT Independent/Artists Series USB Drives
$24.95–69.99
Available in 76 different styles and 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB sizes.
Arial Mouspad
$12.95
Note: This is for a gag only! Designers hate Arial (the font), so give this only as a gag.
Multiple Ampersands Coffee Mug
$13.99
Express yourself with our premium-sized ceramic coffee mug. With its large easy-to-grip handle, steady base, and hefty 15 oz. capacity, this mug allows for comfortable sipping and slosh-free use, at home or at the office. Dishwasher & microwave safe, it’s easy to clean and for reheating.
& Hoody
$52
The ampersand (the “&” mark) is typically the most beautiful glyph (character) in a typeface (font), and type designers often truly express their creativity when drawing the ampersand. Thus this humble little contraction (for “and per se and”) is almost universally loved by every typophile (font aficionado) and designer.
Make It Pop! T-Shirt
$27
“Make It Pop!” is a phrase designers hear all the time from clients who don’t know what they want and who can’t say anything helpful. This shirt is height of irony, allowing any designer to laugh off the frustration.
Scrabble Typography 2nd Edition
$199.99
Signed and numbered limited edition set designed by Andrew Capener combines the beauty of typography with classic Scrabble gameplay. Features fifteen fonts never used before on any Scrabble set. Walnut covered gameplay surface on maple base.
CMYK Playing Cards
$12
Featuring 54 cards of different ink percentages and suits swapped fro printer’s ink colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Outside the Lines: An Artists’ Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations
$18
A striking collection of illustrations from more than 100 creative masterminds, including animators, cartoonists, fine artists, graphic artists, illustrators, musicians, outsider artists, photographers, street artists, and video game artists.
AlphabeTies
$30.00-45.00
Customizable typographic ties available in five different letter styles, numerous fabric and ink colors, and various letter placements.
PANTONE Bone China Mug Set
$90
Three different sets of six mugs each. Each mug is fine bone china.
TYPE Letterpress Calendar
$31.49
Printed on a thick, 100% cotton stock, each calendar card passes through the press twice, once per color (black and gray). The stock is then cut down to size with a die cutting machine. The 100% eco-friendly stand is crafted from premium bamboo and is hand sanded, then laser engraved.
Lumi Kit
$29.95
A DIY alternative to screen printing that prints onto fabric with light. Works on cotton, linen, silk, rayon, canvas, and any other natural & absorbent fiber. Prints are permanent machine-washable without fading. Kits available in red, orange, and blue inks.
Converge
$39.99
Converge docking station shows off your electronics while they charge. Wires slip in easily, stay in place with the help of soft TPE grips, and stay out of sight. Your gadgets face you, so you can check on ’em whenever you need to.
Moleskine Sketchbook
$13.95–35.00
An essential item in any creative’s go bag, Moleskin sketchbooks and notebooks are the gold standard in on-the-go sketching and notetaking.
Type. A visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles
$59.99
A connoisseur’s overview of typeface design, exploring the most elegant fonts from the history of publishing, 1628–1938.
Rainbow Umbrella with Adobe Logo
$42.5
24 brightly colored panels make this umbrella sturdier and, of course, much more stylish than the typical rain stopper.
The Hand of the Designer
$70
By Moleskine. A collection of 462 reproductions of hand made sketches by 150 internationally recognized designers.
The Christmas Story from Gutenberg’s 42-Line Bible (Colored)
$29
Produced by the Gutenberg Museum’s printer on the finest handmade paper using traditional printing methods and historic machines, this absolute gem is a work of great craftsmanship. This is the Christmas story as related by St Luke the Evangelist from one of the most precious books in the world: the first printed Bible created by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz in c. 1450-1455. Available in English, German, French, and Latin translations. 16.5 x 11.8 inches.
Have a happy and safe holiday season from me, Pariah Burke, the Burke family, and the entire staff.
Pariah Burke
Digital content and publishing expert, author, and trainer with 20+ years empowering creative professionals through customized software instruction. Author of InDesign Masterclass: Type & Tables and ePulishing with InDesign.