Rosscott, Inc.

At least, I will now.

This comes from a collection of posters advertising against Syphilis, collected at the  “The Passion of Former Days” blog, which are worth checking out if you have a moment and want to see some interesting posters. I just can’t get over the design decisions that led to this poster. Can you see a Don Draper-style meeting between a “creative” and his boss on this project?

BOSS: “Good news, Jimmy!”

JIMMY: “What’s that, boss?”

BOSS: ”The eggheads and pointdexters over in R&D have finally come up with something useful. Seems as though Syphilis is now curable.”

JIMMY: “Criminy! Can’t wait to tell the wife! She’s been on my back about getting that checked out for ages.”

BOSS: “Don’t I know it. Anywho, we need a new campaign to let the world know. Something with some whiz-bang. A real socko poster that says ‘Hey, got Syph? Not for long!’”

JIMMY: “Hmm, maybe it’s the Syphilis talking, but what about dinosaurs?”

BOSS: “A sexually transmitted disease poster featuring an extinct animal. I don’t know if it’s my Syphilis talking, but I think that’s gangbusters. Can we set the whole thing in Neuland?”

JIMMY: ”You bet your ass we can, boss.”

BOSS: “Jimmy, this is why you’re our best ad man. You really keep your finger on the pulse of things. Real cutting-edge thinking. That’s what’s gonna beat the Krauts, don’t cha know.”

JIMMY: “Now if only they’d find a way to get rid of my herpes!”

BOSS: ”That’ll be the day, Jimmy. That’ll be the day.”

And oh good, now I have the “Syphilis” tag on my website. Let’s all hope that doesn’t come up much, or if it does it goes away quickly.

Thanks to @ryanqnorth, @dirtbagg (via @annakrentz) for all the linkage that brought this to my attention.

A while back I did a comic about the International Standards Organization (ISO) and their attempts to standardize the shit-ton. It’s here, if you want to see it. An anonymous fan (he signed it “Anonymous System Fan”), sent me the following note:

Hey! So I read your System Comic about how much a “Sh*t-ton” is in comparison to a “Sh*t-load”. Well, I found the iPhone conversion app that settles that argument

Well, good thing we answered that question. Now we know how to convert between shit-loads and shit-tons. How to convert to a “Metric Shit-Ton” is anyone’s guess, but I suppose the Queen’s Measurements make more sense for this kind of shit anyway.

By the way, if you want to send anything my way, send it over to systemcomic at gmail dot com. It might sit in my inbox for two months, but I’ll get to it. Eventually.

As seen on Kottke.org:

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

A new (and free!) font based upon the style of lettering seen on Art Deco Cassandre posters. To celebrate, the creators (a design firm called Atip0) recreated a series of his posters (seen above). The video on the site is worth checking out, as is the font!

I don’t get a chance to do enough classy Art Deco work. Maybe I need to drink more wine…

See more at Cassannet.Net »

Over at Slate, there’s a great article about the “Best of Show” map at the annual competition of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society. Unlike most other maps, it was created painstakingly by one man. Much like yesterday’s post about the Roboto typeface, there is a very subtle art to maps that most people haven’t ever thought about. This article does a great job of discussing the multitude of decisions made by the cartographer in the creation of this map. It took him FIVE YEARS to make!

Normally, this is where I’d mention that I found it on Kottke.org, one of my main sources for great content. But this time, I’m the one who sent it to @jkottke. That’s one step closer to getting him to post one of my comics on his site, which is next on my “awesome blogs I wish would link to me” list.

The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You’ll Ever See »

Oh, and if you want to buy the map, here’s the link to Imus’ website. It’s only $40.00, and only $80.00 for a 10-pack. Get some friends together and tell people you have the best map of them all.

Over at BoingBoing, there’s a great article about the typeface used throughout the Android 4.0 interface (or “Ice Cream Sandwich” as it’s known), and the controversy surrounding it’s Frankenstein-like nature. Also, I consider typography the unsung art. Something you only notice when it’s wrong, and never when it’s done right. This article talks about this exact process. Check it.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto (via BoingBoing) »

Because I’m a full time professor and can do whatever I want, I had Jami “Angry Zen Master” Noguchi come to campus this week to do a Photoshop painting tutorial for my students. Beyond melting some faces off with his Photoshop jitsu, he also took the time to paint a portrait of me.

I was invited by American University’s Design Club to give a digital illustration master class. I took the opportunity to draw a screwy portrait of my Super Art Fight cohort, Ross. No audio because YouTube hates my audio tracks and gives me grief about monetization and shiz like that which makes no sense since I recorded the damn things, but whatever. Here’s a timelapse of the illustration.

I’m uploading the entire presentation which is about an hour and half, so if you want to something to lull you sleep on a restless night, I’ll hook it up as soon as it’s ready.

You can find his original post here.

UPDATE: Oh! And here’s a picture of me for reference:

Jimmy was recently spotted by Systemic James “Jimmy Hat” Hatton in this video by Devo Spice. Luckily, it’s early in the video so you don’t have to watch the whole thing (unless you really want to):

Made something silly and posted it to my Tumblr, goes along with all the other “poster jokes” I’ve put there recently. They’re a fun change of pace from The System. If you like these “poster jokes”, let me know. Think they should go here on the site?

Rosscott.Tumblr.com »

Apologies for the horrible updating schedule (what updating schedule?) lately. Working basically three jobs including the comic can sometimes be a bit much, and unfortunately it’s been last on my list. More comics are on their way soon, and by “soon” I mean this coming week. Thanks for being patient, Systemics!

–Rosscott