Say Hello to the latest R29 intern. Steve is joining a long line of coffee running, design creating, production making, and odd task doing interns here at Rule29. He has the distinguished honor of being Intern #18 and in keeping with tradition we’ve grilled him with a few important questions we think everyone wants to know.

R29: How fast can you grow a beard?
Not very, but when I hit puberty it will probably come in a little faster. I can rock the creeper mustache from week to week though.

R29: What is your fav movie?
It depends on the genre, Comedy: Anchorman, Indie: City of God, Drama: Requiem for a Dream, Epic battle movie: Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back

R29: Do you enjoy drama in your ever day life?
I dislike it, but it sometimes can be a little fun if your not in it. Read the rest of the entry >

For those of you who are familiar with the traditional Rule29 trip to the Utopia paper mill in Appleton, Wisconsin, it should come as no surprise that this year was as informative, educational, and enjoyable as years past. In fact, this trip was particularly inspirational since we spent the day with our amigos, the talented team from Grip Design along with our hosts from Appleton Coated. But this year, instead of touring the mill itself, we visited the Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, which was just a short trip from the Appleton farm house.

The Hamilton Wood Type Museum is operated by volunteers from the Two Rivers Historical Society who are dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type. Our tour guide, Jim Van Lanen, taught us about the history of wood type, as well as the functional operations of printing with it. We had the opportunity to see the equipment used to print with wood and metal type and even watched as one of the volunteers carved out a letter “C” with centuries-old machinery.

As we walked through the museum, which looked far more like a workshop, it was amazing to consider the evolution and development of both type and typography. Jim had mentioned to us that the catalyst for the creation of the Hamilton Wood type factory in 1880 was that the local newspaper editor wanted to promote a Grand Ball being hosted at Turner Hall. He requested that Edward Hamilton create a block printing surface to be used in the printing of promotional posters for the event. Sitting on his mother’s porch, using a foot-powered scroll saw, Hamilton carved out the type that would be used for the Grand Ball promotion and become the foundation for the J.E. Hamilton Hollywood Type Company.

Running my fingers over the metal and wood type laid out in California Job Cases and little wooden drawers, it was easy to see how this method could produce such beautiful and tactile works of both art and design. From the walls of the museum, examples of this type of work hung as great impressions of a bygone era. And, even a few locally created samples by our favorite pal Jim Sheridan from Hatch Show Print dangled from the ceilings and walls around the museum.

Returning to the farm, we enjoyed a nice evening of playing shuffle board, chess, tossing a football around, and even watching as the international space station passed overhead silently through the night sky. We all really enjoyed spending the day with our hosts from Appleton and our friends from Grip. Special thanks to Ferko and Nicole for all their help and time spent with us over the years.

Take a look at the good times captured on Flickr.

“Textbook” latin scientific names included, Rule29 was given the honor of curating and designing the latest installment of Rockport’s incredibly popular Best of Business Card Design series. It seems like we just started this project yesterday, but in reality, it was more like 14 months ago (but who’s counting). Regardless, it’s been a great honor to be chosen with the daunting responsibility of following up the great work that was done for the previous editions.

Personally, it was a great experience getting to really immerse myself in the publishing process. From organizing the entries coming in (no small task for our small team, mind you) to overseeing the final layout of the book, I was able to learn something from each step. Over time, I became rather attached to the product that we, as a team, were building.

Read the rest of the entry >

So Superbowl XLIV is over…great game! All the food has been consumed (Jambalaya made the menu at many of the gatherings; recipe here). Also, I was introduced to the “It’s My Solo Cup.” Have you seen them? Great idea!

But now the real and meaningful conversations begin! No, not arguing about which quarterback will have the higher rating next year or how all of us would like to live in south Florida. We now get to rehash, relive and re-quote the Superbowl commercials!!!

This year, the average cost for the 30 second commercial spot was roughly $3 million, so the longer the conversation lasts, the better for these guys! They tried many different tactics to get our attention. There were the animals: chickens, beavers, and Clydesdales. Athletes from the past pimping products (really Joe Montana? Sketcher Shape-Ups?). There were babies & toddlers talking trash – always a crowd favorite! Another one that, unfortunately, made its way into the mix this year was men in tighty whities.

There were a new ideas that entered the game this year. Focus on the Family, along with Tim Tebow & his mother, choose to talk about Right To Life. They might have just gotten their $3 million worth before the spot ever aired! And, Miller decided to “give” its spot and stay online to small businesses who could really use it. Pepsi went with a whole other approach…no commercial! Instead they wanted to help change the world.

Here at Rule29, we took an exceptionally informal poll, and here are some of our favorites:

#1 ) Snickers/Betty White
#2 ) Motorola/Megan Fox
#3 ) Denny’s
#4 ) E*Trade

What were your favorites? Most disappointing? Most amusing? Did you enjoy the game or the commercials more?

For me, I enjoyed both, but I am finding more people are talking about what was on the TV when the game itself wasn’t on!

(Step back over the past few years. Here is what Rule29 thought of the past few year’s Super Bowl Ads for 2009 and 2008.)