Much is written about the quality of artwork that London Underground has historically produced, and rightly so. An excellent range of advertising and design has been created over its 145 year history.

I believe though, that present LU work doesn't receive the praise that it deserves.

For example, the posters currently used to promote the ongoing improvements being carried out on the Underground; the juxtaposition of the famous simplification of the Underground line (used on the tube map) with a life like illustration of an engineer, results in an imaginative, witty and informative advert.

I think that this campaign is well considered and (illustratively at least) skillfully executed. The featured poster (above) and this piece in particular really deserve to be added to TfL's vault of good design, so that they can be celebrated in the future along with the past greats.

When I think of the Victorians I imagine stern people, too busy being industrious and ruling the world for pratical jokes. That is until I happened upon this monument.

It is a large and impressive statue that sits to the south of St. James Park, just behind the Prime Ministers house on Downing Street. You would expect it to be emblazoned with titles in the manner of Lord or Duke, names like Nelson or Horatio suffixed with a double-barrled surname.

But no, all that is written on the statue is Clive! Yes, just Clive.

Now Clive is one of those names isn't it? One of those names that only a certain kind of person has. One of those names, like Dean or Barry, that could never be associated with grand deeds or heroic bravery.

So I figured it had to be the Victorians having a laugh. An out of character joke that juxtaposed a magnificent monument with a joke name. Sadly not.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I did a little bit of research. It turns out that it is in fact a tribute to Major-General Robert Clive, a soldier who helped colonise India back in the 1700's.

Now, while it is nice to learn new things and broaden your understanding, I will never again be able to walk past this cenotaph and snigger to myself about it being named Clive. And that makes me a little bit sad :(

You have only yourself to blame I hear you cry. Yes, that is true, but I had a partner in this crime of over-education, and maybe this is a conundrum of the modern age that we must all consider; do Wikipedia and Google et al. provide us with too much easily accessible information? Was it more fun to live in ignorance in the past and more rewarding to have to put a bit of work into researching our inquiries?

Answers on a postcard please.

Jon Dyer once said "growing a beard is one of the simplest, zero-effort, macho things you can do". So the question begging to be asked is why don't more men sport them?

God only knows is the answer! There are a lot of things wrong with the world, and a lack of beards is just one of them.

Mr Dyer has taken it upon himself to address this problem to some extent though, by vowing to grow every type of beard from the chart above! At the time of writing he has managed 25 out of the 34 listed, an incredible feat you will no doubt agree.

Please, if you have a soul, get in touch with Jon and support him in his bid to achieve all 34 styles.

25 down; the facial hair types Jon Dyer has grown so far: A La Souvarov, The Anchor, Balbo, Chin Puff, Copstash Standard, Ducktail, El Insecto, Federation Standard, French Fork, Friendly Mutton Chops, Fu Manchu, Goatee, Handlebar, Hollywoodian, Hulihee, The Klingon, Old Dutch, The Pencil, Petit Goatee, Rap Industry Standard, Short Boxed Beard, Soul Patch, Toothbrush, Van Dyke and The Zappa.

This is the mind bending cover for Animal Collective's forthcoming album Merriweather Post Pavilion. I guess the cover achieves this trippy effect in the same way that Magic Eye did back in those halcyon days of the 90's.

The process of creating this effect is apparently called 'autostereogram', (good ol' Wikipedia).

I am a fan of this poster. While I'm not too sure about the sentiment of the message, I'm really partial to the naively illustrated pattern Mr Pate has created here. It's vaguely reminiscent of the illustrations Paul Rand produced for his children's books.

Visit Good Shape Design to see more of Wayne Pate's work.

The London Underground Roundel celebrates its 100th birthday this autumn. It's one of the most recognisable logos in use today. It was perfected nine years after its conception by Edward Johnston in 1917 and has unofficially grown to become an icon for London itself.

To celebrate this centenary Transport for London have commissioned 100 contemporary artists to create artwork inspired by the famous logo. I've picked a few of my favourites above, but you can see all 100 at the Rochelle School in Shoreditch, and they'll be on display until the 30th of October.

Artwork (top to bottom, left to right) James Ireland, Pen & Tape Roundel; Torsten Lauschmann, Balaclava & Sweatband; Henry Coleman, Poster design (Venn Roundel); Lothar Hempel, UNDERGROUND (all 2008)

This great beard poster is available to purchase. All proceeds go to the 826 centre in San Francisco.

Have a look at Brand New for the full story on 826 visual identity.

Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for good design, but I find I can't help judging Penguins' books by their covers.

The publisher have revealed their dark sides by putting together another series of books, 'Gothic Reds', with the theme this time being horror. The ten novels feature a set of wonderfully designed covers that manage to tie in the books as a series, but still represent each story individually.

I am a fancier of the beard. An admirer of the moustache. A lover of the hirsute. Through this blog I wish to celebrate and share the greatest examples of facial hair that I encounter or recall.

My first subject is American singer and songwriter Will Oldham a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Oldham has performed country tinged folk music through a career that has spanned sixteen albums in as many years under a variety of monikers.

In this picture, taken from the cover of the 'Master and Everyone' album (twenty-five minutes of melancholy folk and well worth adding to your record collection), Oldham apppears to be sporting a Garibaldi*.

I'm sure that we can all agree that Mr Oldham wears his beard off with aplomb. His is an assured demonstration of a truly handsome beard and he is thoroughly deserving of being the first focus of 'The Pursuit Of Hirsute'.

*The World Beard & Moustache Championship category guide (the credentials of which are not to be quibbled with) defines the Garibaldi as 'Broad, full and round. Length not to exceed 20cm. Moustache integrated. Aids not allowed'.

Every day's a school day. Listen and learn from Paul Rand.

Here are a couple of bits from my 'Charles Wilkin phase' that I put together a few years back. I don't think that I really got there, but you can see what I was aiming for here.

Alison Carmichael is a hand lettering supremo. This is a self promotional piece, but check out her site to see an abundance of other great work, much of which you'll no doubt have seen around already.

This picture makes me smile every time I see it. It's taken from a short film by Jean Julien called Monsters.

I was recently given the task of branding the Labour Party's recent Conference gala dinner.

This involved creating a logo to be applied to the various materials that would be produced for the event. It needed to look classy (tables sell for up to twelve grand), and fit in with Labour's existing style guidelines (typeface, colours etc).

Anyway, you can see what I came up with above. The second image is a proposed brochure cover featuring the Imperial War Museum in Manchester (this years Conference was held in the Lancastrian conurbation). As well as the brochure, the logo was used on invites, reply cards, admittance cards and signage and branding at the function itself.

It's always a treat when I stumble upon one of these street collages. A collection of posters, graffiti, stickers, peeling paint, door frames and brick work that have built up and eroded away over the years to make an amazing piece of street art.

These pictures were taken on a recent trip to Brussels.

A logo I put together for an on-line seller of plays and musical texts. Hopefully there will be the opportunity to have a look at redesigning the site as a whole in the future. See the logo in context here.