Linden Tree Presentation: August 12th (at) 7pm

TODAY is a jewel box of seemingly random, yet thoughtfully selected, images created and dispatched daily via email. At times tender, wicked, nostalgic, amusing, and dazzling, each edition is presented without narration, editing or explanation by its author, designer Eric Baker.

"It all began as a goof. One day I sent a good friend about 50 random pictures of cheese. I don't know why, but to me cheese is funny, perhaps it is the word itself and its various connotations. Eventually I began looking closer, or should I say broader at 'things'. Things lost on the fringes... ordinary, odd, beautiful things. Esoteric images, old diagrams, typography, cartography – visions of a once promising but now extinct future."

This month, fellow graphic designer and Linden Tree co-founder, Michael Cronan will interview Eric to learn more about his inspiration, motivation and the process behind this unique and thought provoking email series.

To view an archive of TODAY installments please go to www.designobserver.com

Eric Baker As Design Director for The O Group in Manhattan, Eric strategizes design for all things luxury. Heis the author of 'Great Inventions/Good Intentions, an Illustrated History of American Design Patents' - 'Hitting The Road, The Art of The American Road Map' - 'Invitation to The Voyage — A Poem Illustrated by Charles Baudelaire',and “You’re The Top” by Cole Porter.His newest book, 'American Trademarks: A Compendium', will be published by Chronicle Books in fall 2009.
A native of California, Eric studied at the San Francisco Academy of Art and the California College of the Arts. Heis on the faculties of The School of Visual Arts in New York and SUNY, Purchase, where he teaches the history of graphic design, corporate identity and independent studies. He lecturers frequently at various conferences and design schools. A self-proclaimed 'mag-pie', this inveterate collector of books and ephemera has twice received the National Endowment for the Arts.

Michael Cronan A graphic designer, painter, thinker, design philosopher and wordsmith, Cronan was most recently sited as one of the country's 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. His unique strength for nomenclature has won national attention for names like TiVo, and Kindle. Cronan'swork is represented in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute, the permanent Design Collection of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, London's Victoria & Albert Museum, and was featured in the Museo Fortuny (Venice, Italy) exhibition Pacific Wave,California Graphic Design.
A native Californian, Michael studied at the California College of the Arts and graduated with a degree in Fine Art from California State University, Sacramento. From 1982-1999, he served as an adjunct professor of graphic design at the California College of the Arts. He is a founding member and former president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts San Francisco chapter and served on the AIGA national board and presidential nomination committees.