Silhouettes from Popular Culture by Olly Moss

I've been a fan of Olly Moss for quite some time, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a review copy (back in October, I'm a bit behind guys) of "Silhouettes from Popular Culture". Since it came in the mail, it has made a home on my coffee table. Everyone who visits picks it up and loves it, most likely for the perfect combination of simple art and nostalgia.

In the book's introduction, Olly writes that he's always been drawn to silhouettes.

"There is, in all of art history, no simpler way of capturing a likeness—and I'd always thought that making pop culture-infused silhouettes would be a devious way of sneaking girlfriend-safe nerd art onto the walls of my own home."

When offered his first solo exhibit Olly tested the idea. I remember seeing these silhouettes, titled "Paper Cuts", popping up everywhere on the internet, design nerds everywhere wishing they could attend the exhibit and order prints of their own.

To create each piece, Olly drew characters from the side and used powerful industrial lasers to cut them out of black paper, which just sounds awesome. 300 characters later a book was basically necessary, and now we have "Silhouettes from Popular Culture" (most of those 300 are included in the book).

More about Olly Moss / Order the book for your own coffee table

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One of Olly's book covers
More Batman, because why not?

You Are Not a Gadget

If you follow design work at all and think you've never seen work by Olly Moss, you're probably wrong.

Moss has created a number of illustrations and designs, and his work can be found on apparel at Urban Outfitters, Threadless and more.

One of my favorite Moss works is his cover design for "You Are Not A Gadget", a technology manifesto written by Jaron Lanier.



I absolutely love the irony of this cover. To design the cover as an electronic reader seems almost obvious, and yet, the original cover was much different.

I am still on the fence about e-readers in general, though. I would personally love if I could use one for my college textbooks but that's about it. I still love the feeling of the weight of a book in my hands, and the sense of accomplishment from physically turning the last page of a great story. I also worry a bit about what e-readers will do to the art of cover design. The situation is obviously out of my hands, so for now I am enjoying watching the trend evolve and still love seeing great print covers like Moss'.