CoinOp

Here’s a view of our latest addition to the Pinball Designer Card Deck, created by indefatigable graphic design powerhouse, Aaron Draplin. The card is a tough love homage to Aaron’s weiner dog, Gary. Get yours free with every order and at select locations worldwide (let us know if you’d like a stack for your store, shop, or office), and learn everything there is to know about this cute, small, yet ear-shatteringly shrill Dachshund. Start now, so you can collect ‘em all!

A nod on Aaron’s own blog.

Look for new designs each month, featuring fresh work from a talented team of graphic designers, illustrators, and artists, expertly printed by Pinball’s savvy production team. Stay tuned for next month’s design by Jessie Whipple of Pattern People.

For all you who’ve been missing the business card posts, here’s a recent roundup.This print feast for the eyes includes cards for fmyi, Pail Design, Caffé Pallino, Tumbleweed, and the new PDX boutique Hermitage (to name only a few). 

Feast your eyes on two of our recent giganto poster projects, both created by Tokyo-based design-a-holic Ian Lynam. Both of these beauties are true works of art, printed on 100% post-consumer waste 100# text stock and trimmed to a sizable 16X20 for maximum noticeability. Spruce up your nearest telephone pole with a poster printed by Pinball!

2/1 topographic folding poster for LA-based Arroyo Arts Collective:

2/0 festival poster for the upcoming, not-to-be-missed PDX Film Fest:

Print & Pattern, a UK-based design blog for pattern-o-philes, recently highlighted the latest from our paper goods line Tenth & Grant. This website curated by Bowie Style is a beacon for all things pattern-based, and we’re thrilled to be included.

Thanks, Print & Pattern!

We’re opening up new production possibilities with the addition of Shinny to the Pinball team!

Moved in on a pleasant spring morning, the Shinohara 52 IIP is happily adjusting to its new home in the Pinball Annex. This Japanese-made two-color offset press is sized to run 14″ X 20″ press sheets, and will help us keep up with our heavy production demands, as well as add more four-color (CMYK) print item options this year.

Welcome home, Shinny!

-Vines, by Lisa DeJohn

One of our latest Tenth & Grant creations, a painterly perfect bound notebook by surface design artist Lisa DeJohn, was recently featured on design*sponge! You can read all about it here. This handy journal is 100% recycled, includes 144 pages of grid paper + a heavy duty recycled chipboard cover, and can be purchased through our online catalog. The perfect complement to a springtime afternoon in the park (or a rainy day spent in a cozy café, if you live in Portland).

Thanks for the nod, d*s!

We thought you’d enjoy a few pics from the recent DOUBLEDUTCH photo shoot. The portraits of the duo were shot by our talented friend Melanie Brown in a mysteriously “haunted” Vancouver, WA location. We’ll keep you posted on the full details about the upcoming release of their CD, gungle dungn, on bangback records.

A million high fives to Ian Lynam, one of the finest graphic design gurus working in the industry today. We have had the pleasure of working with Ian for many years, and are thrilled to spread the news about his new book on graffiti, typography, letterforms, and more.

About Parallel Strokes:

Parallel Strokes is a collection of interviews with twenty-plus contemporary typeface designers, graffiti writers, and lettering artists around the world. The book is introduced with a comprehensive essay charting the history of graffiti, its relation to type design, and how the two practices relate in the wider context of lettering.

Interviews within include conversations with pan-European type design collective Underware, Japanese type designer Akira Kobayashi, American graffiti writer and fine artist Barry McGee/Twist, German graffiti writers Daim and Seak, American lettering artist, graphic designer, and design educator Ed Fella, among others. Parallel Strokes is an enquiry into the history, context, and development of lettering today, both culturally approved and illicit.

The result of six years of research in the combined arts of lettering, graffiti, and typeface design, Parallel Strokes is a collection of interviews with some of the best letterform creators in the world today.

Chaz Bojorquez talks about the origins of barrio graffiti in Los Angeles and the evolution of the craft. Fellow Angeleno, vernacular graphic designer Ed Fella, speaks about his history in lettering and how he earned the title “The King of Zing” in Detroit design and illustration circles. Famed Japanese type designer Akira Kobayashi discusses Roman and Japanese letterforms while showcasing a lifetime of type design work. European graffiti writers Daim, Seak, and Delta share their thoughts on dimensional graffiti lettering while American graffiti writer Mike Giant talks about vernacular lettering, typeface design, and the evolution of graffiti handstyles.

Parallel Strokes is richly illustrated throughout, featuring copious previously unpublished work by the interviewed artists, as well as supplementary illustrations and photographs detailing contemporary and historical trends in graffiti and type design.

The first 100 orders come with a two-color 16X20 Parallel Strokes poster printed using recycled paper and soy inks at Portland, Oregon’s Pinball Publishing!

Parallel Strokes is 244 pages thick and available for $25 with free shipping worldwide.

Buy it here now!

A beautiful and informative folding brochure can really help boost your business, whether you sling coffee for a quaint neighborhood café or fix dead PCs for a living. Here are a couple of our recent folding brochure projects that we found particularly eye-catching:

Clink your cup to these wonderfully designed 3-color folding menus for New York City-based tea house, Sympathy for the Kettle, designed by Laurence Martin of Editorial Pinch.

Read all about what local computer repair extraordinaires Old Town Computers have to offer in this handsome tri-fold brochure, printed in black and cherry red on Environment 80# Cover Desert Storm.

Here’s a peak at our latest project, the designer card series. Get yours free with every order, and at select locations worldwide (let us know if you’d like a stack for your store, shop or office). Start now, so you can collect ‘em all.

Look for new designs each month, featuring fresh work from a talented team of graphic designers, illustrators, and artists, expertly printed by Pinball’s savvy production team. Sometimes the printers are also the artists around here! Case in point, the first illustration, an intricate rendering of a hare, was created by none other than Brent Wick, our fearless ink slinger.

Stay tuned for next month’s installment by Aaron Draplin