A book cover has to work that much harder than say, a CD cover for the obvious reason that sampling a book actually requires you to read it. In the case of the best work, a books narrative begins with the visual narrative of the front page.

The Book Archive not only gives kudos to book artwork that works harder than most, it acts as a pretty resource into the book designers, their use of fonts and the genres in which they specialize. The archive lets you view over 1350 covers for the ‘Purposes and Appreciation and Cateragization’, meaning in this case, you can judge a book by its cover.

I’ve been known to do a little doddle on my shoes, even had the fabulous Brennan & Burch doodle on some old Adidas trainers for me. So when Bucketfeet caught my eye it nearly made me open up a new pack of felt tips.

Bucketfeet is a footwear company that collaborates with global artists to produce colourful graphics for basic pumps. The philosophy is that each pair of pumps are a blank canvas for a means of expression and an opportunity to contribute to the founders passions. Providing arts and sports programmes for poor children around the world, with 5% of their profits going to their charitable partners.

Love the concept. Love the product. However what I wasn’t so amoured with the ‘brand’. The fashion industry is a tough market and taste maker fashion is an even tougher gig, usually reliant on a bunch of trendies to take said style to heart and proliferate to the masses while they move on to the next thing.

For a style conscious brand with an actual conscious, it’s important to be able to compete on all levels as your competitors. That means paying attention to the total communications package. A slick website, beautiful photography and a brand proposition that screams ‘buy me’ are must haves. The good news is that this is something Bucketfeet can easily rectify in time, allowing them to access an even wider market and share more profits with their chosen causes.

Bored with your over sized headphones already? Looking for alternative amplification? Well Mr Simo have got you covered with their Boomcases.

Take a leather or wood vintage suitcase, add a couple of sub woofers, top with a few customised features and there you have it; your own super stylish sound system.

Definitely targeted at the discerning muso and those with an undying love of handmade craftsmanship. The Boomcases are a quirky example of an up-cycled product made for new technology. A perfect pairing me thinks.

The world’s economic paradigm is shifting quicker than Lewis Hamilton would in a Red Bull. Brazil has officially overtaken the UK to be the 6th largest economy and Africa is the new China.

The relatively recent growth of the African nations is based on rich commodity resources (but that’s nothing new), improved infrastructure and a generation of young folk wholly embracing technology.

However, the perception of change on the continent will be a tad slower. Decades of mediated images and reports of famine, war and dictators has left westerners with a single vision perspective.

Afrographique is a blog that consciously aims to change that through infographics based on economic and lifestyle data from the African continent. From countries broadband speeds, Co2 emissions to foreign investment in Africa. Created by Ivan Colic, an art director at Zoom Advertising Cape Town part of the Ogilvy and WPP group, is an interesting story in itself.

The repositioning of the African continent for the 21st century has only just begun. First step first though, and it’s an important one. Repeat after me; Africa is not a country.

Illustrator Matt Green turns his hand to 3-dimensional merchandise with Brenda; a laser engraved, hand finished bamboo iPhone case made by Grove that is arguably more impressive than the phone itself.

If you know anything about the living legend that is Lance Armstrong then you’ll know that he’s still alive because he is a legend, which is why the Live Strong adage makes sense. For those of you that need bringing up to speed, Armstrong is a record-holding seven-time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation unites, inspires and empowers people affected by cancer and anyone with a pulse. When it comes to a story like Lance’s you don’t really need to sell it, you just need to tell it, courtesy of a minimalist booklet designed by Hort and co-signed by Nike.

We popped down to St. Pauls a few weeks back to finally see the Occupy London camp for our selves. Whilst talking to a young fella, we came across another occupant who happened to be giving his mum – who was apparently checking up on him on her way home from work – a tour of the site before she left. The story makes the last image in this series particularly poignant. The others speak for themselves.

Banksy pays real attention to the world around him, which is why unlike many artists – musical, visual or otherwise – his work will always be around us.

Apparently the bearded man is nowt but a myth. I didn’t want to be the one to break it you, but if you’re gonna hear it, best to hear from LBB and illustrator Christina Guitian.

If you fancy spreading Xmas cheer to your loved ones, the card is available from Christina’s studion in Dalston, London. Just drop her a line. Ho Ho Ho…

As Europe battles with a harsh economic reality, it also struggles with the notion that the very future of the eurozone rests in the hands of a woman. Sometimes an image masquerading as commentary says more about the commentator – Steve Bell – and society at large than it does the commentated upon.

The semiotics of this image – run in The Guardian on Friday – features Angela Merkel in the role of dominatrix. For insecure men with cahoonas issues, such images are probably the only way of quantifying the German Chancellors influence in Europe without their already fragile sense of masculinity falling into ruins like the Greek economy.

Even tougher economic times lay ahead. This 2010 illustration proves again that through his message, Banksy always stays ahead of the curve.

In the right hands typefaces can really come alive. This type experiment – courtesy of graphic designer, photographer and illustrator Paul Hollingworth –uses repetitive linear shapes to form letter forms.

Expect to see this one bouncing merrily down your stairs soon.

A really nice minimalist player and visual mechanism by Build for ‘Close’ – an anonymous music collective – comes slightly undone by a webpage that annoyingly rescales the image and has no pause on the player. The beautifully shot images by Benjamin Grillon are in a very high resolution, so you can scale them until your hearts content. but it’s the ‘scaling down’ that is the issue.

Bit of a shame, as this promo site looks pretty damn sexy. The music’s not too shabby either (I’m particularly feeling Beam Me Up). It’s worth noting that the Build boys are some of our favourites in the design stakes. It’s just that a little bit of polish in the programming / coding department would have seen this project do more than come close, but hit the mark entirely.

Before texts, before email, there was pen and paper; two ancient mediums that were as precious as they were personal.

Annie Vought takes the precious to new levels with her work that includes the painstaking process of enlarging hand-written letters/doodles and cutting away the negative spaces with an X-ACTO knife.

If you’re folks used to pass letters in the playground when they were kids at school, show them this and watch their jaws drop.

A retrospective twist on an old sci-fi favourite by Olly Moss, who has the uncanny ability knack of bringing a touch of ‘film noir’ to film classics ranging from Blues Brothers, Rocky and Robocop.

These posters have a real art house feel to them, which when considering the production process involved in making Star Wars in particular, is pretty apt. In the Return of the Jedi poster, I can almost smell the humid air of the Dagobah planet. I go too far? OK I’ll stop now.

I don’t know when in 2012 this film is coming out. Christian Bale aside, I don’t even know who’ll be starring in it. I do know however that this teaser poster is simply dope.

An image of anarchy and apocalypse depicted with such craft can only bode well for the film itself.

New music from The Insomniax. The Love She Wants is the music you need. If you have bass bins then I suggest you turn them up, because laptop speakers won’t cut it.

New type by super lick foundry HypeForType, who just turned two and are looking good for it.

Custom type is all the rage didn’t you know, which is why HypeForType offer the latest in Haute Fonture. I didn’t make that up, they did.

Nick Mcqueen and Josh Walsh, two recent graduate from Camberwell College of Arts developed their own DIY camera track and dolly. Using skateboard wheels, mdf and a heap of planning, they manage to make a super sexy piece of grip equipment.

With their Graphic Design course now costing £9,000 a year, more and more students will likely be doing the same. SOZ GRIP HIRE COMPANIES.

Ordio Kid of Urban Nerds goes in hard on his May mixtape which is free to download via his DJ Ordio Kid Mixcloud page.

In the mix you’ll find more big tunes and remixes than you can poke a stick at, with artwork produced by the twenty%extra crew.

Wiley isn’t so much raising the bar, as he is defining where it should be set.

Apparently music is supposed to be a young man’s game. Over the last few years in particular, Wiley is showing that it’s really a smart mans game, with an alternative approach that continues to keep his growing audience guessing.

1:10 -1:17, second from left – an old skool move that may not show his age, but definitely shows mine.