Test Your Typeface and Brand Knowledge With Two Cool Memory Games

The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog is a Typeface Memory Game based on the classic game of matching two images.




This very attractively finished typographic memory game includes 25 variations of the letter ‘A’, each in a different letter type. Players attempt to find the matching A’s in the same letter type. The player who has the highest number of matching letters wins the game. 
Typographic information about the letter is included on the card, and a separate folder provides a general history of the typography. This is an enjoyable and instructive game for graphic designers and anyone who is fascinated by letter types.
 As you play, you increasingly recognize what are often very subtle differences between the letters and more about the details of the letter types. They become progressively easier to recognize and distinguish from one another (even Univers and Helvetica!)



Among the letter types included in the game are Akzidenz Grotesk, Baskerville, Centaur, Garamond, Helvetica Rockwell, Times New Roman, Univers and many more. 
The game was assembled and designed by the Brazilian design studio, ps.2 arquitetura + design.



Design: ps.2 arquitetura + design
Format: hardcover
Dimensions: 2 x 25 cards






The Brand Memory Gameis another addition to the successful BIS memory games series, a new game about the knowledge of brands. 
For this game, Hendrik-Jan Grievink has made a selection of 30 internationally
 well-known brands, showing neither logo nor name on the images of the matching pairs.

The challenge is to find matching pairs of a brand, based solely on their characteristic colors and style elements and a short description of the brand.




Playing this game is great fun and offers an excellent test of your brand
 knowledge. 

Hendrik-Jan Grievink is also one of the creators of the Fake for Real Memory Game, which has already gone into its fifth edition.

Design: Hendrik-Jan Grievink
Format: hardcover
Dimensions: 2 x 30 cards

Alphabet Factory Blocks From House Industries and Uncle Goose.

Beautiful handmade wooden blocks from Uncle Goose are inspired by the original House Industries factory logo and feature a selection of letters, numbers and symbols from House's renowned font collections. The 31 interlocking blocks are made in the USA from replenishable Michigan-grown, kiln-dried basswood and printed with non-toxic, lead-free child-safe inks.





Like all products from House Industries and Uncle Goose, the blocks come in beautiful keepsake packaging and are the kind of blocks that will fascinate children and adults alike.




Compatible with all human neurosensory systems and powered by finger oil, children's mucus and a love for learning, the Factory Blocks do not require batteries, software updates or hand wringing over obsolescence.

24 1.75" cubes (44mm)
Ages 3+



Alphabet Factory Blocks, $70 USD
buy them here or here

The Key To A Great Housewarming Gift. Actually, Four Of Them.

The Goodworth & Co. makes four different specially designed brass keys that are made to fit all Kwikset K1 locks. Each key measures 1" x 3" and is decorated on both sides. At only $8.00 each (and available to order online) they make awesome housewarming gifts. All they have to do it take it to any hardware store or key cutter.

The Sweet Leaf Key for your 420-friendly friends:



The Best Wishes Key For Those Who Favor Their Middle Finger:



The Heads and Tails Key For People Who Like To Take Chances:




The Six Shooter Key For Pistol Packing Mommas and members of the NRA:





Shop for them here.

This Year's 10 Hippest Stocking Stuffers For Pop Culture Enthusiasts.

My picks for the ten most fun (and functional) stocking stuffers for fans of popular culture. Most are under $10 and all are creative, imaginative and most definitely hip.

One Up Designs' Printed Pencil Sets:

The $6 pencil sets from One Up designs are a great gift for lovers of pop culture and trends. Pencils printed with quotes from books, movies and music, the #2 pencils come in several colors and lots of options. Buy them here.

Tattly Temporary Tattoos:


The coolest (and safest) way to get inked. Tattly temporary tattoos are fun and imaginative gifts for everyone from designers to children. At only $5 a set, they are the perfect stocking stuffer for those who like to change their body art without a needle. Buy them here.

AJ's Toy Boarders:


Green, little and cool, Toy Boarders are an urban take on the classic plastic toy soldiers that promote action sports over violence. The designers at AJ's roots are skate, surf, & snow so when they design each rider they use real moves that would be used by today. Each Art Piece is hand molded with attention to detail and style. Toy Boarders now offers two sets of skateboarding figurines, the newest set of thrashers even includes a girl and a videographer (shown above). You can get a good look at the first set here.
Buy Them Here.

Archie Grand's "[BLANK] I Met and Liked" Notebooks:

Colored blank notebooks are embossed with titles of various occupations and characters that "I met and liked." With tons of options (From Models to Capitalists, Gardeners to Politicians, Brits to Architects and Fashionistas to Bloggers), these make hilarious and useful stocking stuffers. They have a rigid cover, are tread sewn and have a mate leathery lamination. The size is 160x115 mm to fit the pocket of a suit or a small evening bag. The notebooks / journals / scrapbooks contain 120 blank pages of high quality paper with a low emission signature. They are individually shrink-wrapped to keep the clean and protected. €9.95 each. Buy them here

Bandages worth cutting yourself for:

Okay, so I realize that was insensitive to self-mutilators. However, these bandages and the tins they come in are wickedly funny and worth giving yourself an intentional papercut.

Each tin includes between 15 and 25 flexible bandages, depending on the selection.
buy them here

Blue Q's Breath Sprays are packaged in hilarious blister packs with promises like "Enjoy Yor Job", "Understand Men" and "Accept The Fact That you Are Aging."

With 11 to choose from at only $5.49 each, you'll want to buy them all. Buy them here.

We Are Dorothy's Movie and Song lovers Maps:
The Film Map is based on the style of a vintage LA street map, but is made up entirely from film titles. The Map, which features over 900 films is the second in their series of 'Map' prints and is available to buy as a signed and stamped Limited Edition print and an Open Edition print.

The Song maps:

Two new editions of their Song Map are now available. A Special Edition Large Format print which is over twice the size of the original Map and a Saint Etienne Edition which is a print of the artwork they did for the band's 'Words and Music' album cover. buy the movie and song maps here.

Mimico Mimbots (USB flash drives):


Most everyone could make use a USB drive. Mimico has become THE company for designer USB drives that capitalize on popular culture. The Mimbots are available in various storage capacities and feature the likenesses of everything from Star Trek and Star Wars to Hello Kitty and Ugly Dolls.

buy them here.

Fred and Friends Keycaps:
Not only cute, but super useful. These fun keycaps will help you to identify individual keys on your overloaded keychain. Some even glow in the dark. Trendy imagery like Luche Libre masks, Sock Monkeys, Unicorns, Robots, Tikis, Skulls and more are affordable and fun.

Buy Fred Keycaps here

Showtime Series Goodies:
Fans of Showtime series Dexter, Weeds, Homeland, Shameless, Californication, Nurse Jackie, The L Word, House of Lies, the Borgias, etc. will appreciate the numerous t-shirts, mugs, caps, bobbleheads and exclusives to the online store.

The Dexter Garbage Bags, Weeds 420 T-Shirt, Nurse Jackie Coffee Mug and Shameless Sleep mask are a few of my favorites:

Shop for many more Showtime gifts here.

And there you have it, a bunch of hip stocking stuffers - most of which are under 10$ - and none of which will be regifted.

Typographic Chess Set by Hat Trick Design Is Letter Perfect.

The ultimate gift for the font-loving chess player, Hat-trick design's Jim Sutherland has created a typographic chess set based on the character forms from the Hoefler & Frere-Jones typeface Champion Gothic.





The limited edition - only 50 sets have been produced, uses laser-cut acrylic for the pieces. The King, represented by a capital K, is 50mm tall, the pawns 30mm. While Champion lends itself well to this new use, Sutherland says he had to make a couple of adjustments – the Q and P have been redrawn to make them more stable and the Kt ligature (for the Knight) has been redrawn.


Sutherland's sketches for the playing pieces:


The board itself is made from 2mm greyboard foiled in black. "It was a really tricky production in order to get the fine detail and the counters sharp, plus making sure everything stood up properly," Sutherland says. "The hope is that we will go into a longer production run in the future."





A sheet in the packaging includes information about moves and chess notation as well as a selection of chess-themed quotations. A set of postcards, also included in the pack, show how each piece moves.



Type Chess Set Details, Price and Ordering info:


A typographic chess set based on chess notation designed by Jim Sutherland.
The forms are based on typeface Champion (Lightweight) by Hoefler Frere Jones.

Limited edition: 50 sets
Pieces: Laser cut from 25mm acrylic
The King is 50mm tall, the pawn is 30mm
Packaging: 2mm greyboard foiled in black
Board size 364mm X 364mm
Published 2012

Price £275 ($440.419 USD)
Delivered by registered post
UK: £6.50 Outside UK: £22

Buy it here.

Brought to my attention via Creative Review, all images courtesy of Hat-Trick