Nice gift for brother

September 10, 2006 1:53 PM

What to get a high maintenance graphic design brother for his birthday?
posted by octomato to Shopping (17 answers total)

an imaginary foundation t-shirt.
posted by krautland at 1:56 PM on September 10, 2006

what's the budget?
posted by wubbie at 2:08 PM on September 10, 2006

oddica has some great stuff.
posted by jedrek at 2:08 PM on September 10, 2006

Response by poster: max $100. he never has a budget for mine and i've saved up for his...
posted by octomato at 2:27 PM on September 10, 2006

He might already own some of Edward Tufte's books about information design, and his new one Beautiful Evidence, looks pretty good. $52

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_be
posted by donp17 at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2006

Ask him which font he really wishes he owned?
posted by mmdei at 2:54 PM on September 10, 2006

A gift certificate for threadless, perhaps.
posted by thinman at 2:57 PM on September 10, 2006

One of my favorite graphic-geeky gifts was a calendar from the design group Pentagram (Clients: Tiffany, Godiva, America the Book - Jon Stewart, United Airlines, Citibank, just to name a few). Got one copy for use, and another autographed copy from members in the New York and San Francisco offices for posterity. As it is my favorite design studio, the gift really meant a lot to me. Pehaps that will give you a direction.

More ideas:
PMS color matching booklet
Print magazine
Communication Arts
AIGA membership
LCD Tablet ($$$)

At least those are the things I would love to have.
posted by idiotfactory at 2:59 PM on September 10, 2006

What interests does he have other than his job?
posted by mendel at 3:17 PM on September 10, 2006

Pantone dinnerwear. I'm also a fan of this dinnerwear set, but it might be a little racy for a relative.
Poketo has a huge selection of wallets by various artists. I like the Derek Kirk Kim wallet myself.
Print in Fashion : tons of gorgeous samples of patterns and prints of every type.
Lettering for Architects and Designers looks like a good book, but it's always risky buying someone a book about what they do, expecially an instructional book like that. If they needed it, they would have already bought it.
posted by Juliet Banana at 3:25 PM on September 10, 2006

Take a look at Unica. Their prices are high, but they have a nice collection of well-designed barware and household items, and if you find something you like you can probably find it elsewhere for a better price.

Retromodern is another good site, but their search function is very clumsy.
posted by wryly at 3:44 PM on September 10, 2006

Moma's nice. Definite street cred in that line o work.
posted by DenOfSizer at 4:35 PM on September 10, 2006

The Museum of Modern Art store might have some really cool stuff that he hasn't seen before.
posted by Brian James at 6:57 PM on September 10, 2006

Rats.
posted by Brian James at 6:57 PM on September 10, 2006

Jimi Wallet
posted by donp17 at 8:06 PM on September 10, 2006

I'd warn against using threadless if he's a designer. I have noticed that absolutely everyone in my industry nowadays knows and uses them. they are good but there is a decent chance he'll already have the shirt.

agreed on pentagram, they rock. but I am biased, kit hinrichs is a friend.
posted by krautland at 8:23 PM on September 10, 2006

Second the LCD tablet. I know an artist who is testing one of these and he can't stop raving about it. Expensive though, so if he doesn't have a regular Wacom tablet, that would be a great gift. I was a little disappointed in my Jimi Wallet when it came, because it's a lot bigger than I expected. But after using it for a while I'm digging the ergonomics in the checkout line.
posted by Manjusri at 10:04 PM on September 10, 2006