Liquid Treat

Ready to "make the world a better place with thoughtful communications"? Check out Lettrs, a New York-based startup that is bringing together modern technology with the art of slower communication in a new digital platform that caters to users who think before they write. "People don’t write letters anymore and we think that is sad -- and a problem," note the founders. "We have forgotten how to really write, see the personality in someone’s written word, and how to slow down the creation of deeper and better communication." Register now to gain free access to the beta version, which allows you to write letters using a variety of themes and fonts, and send them in digital or physical form (hand-addressed and mailed from Collinsville, Connecticut). Choose the "open letter" option to deliver your message to the world.

Try your hand at urban planning with postcards from Make City. Designed by Japanese "paper engineer" Keisuke Saka, each set of five cards can be cut and assembled into mini models of icons from six world cities. New York is represented by not only the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge but also a bagel, while Amsterdam includes a row of canal houses, a windmill and a herring sandwich. But it's Tokyo, Saka's home turf, that takes the cake, with make-them-or-mail them vending machines, the Tokyo Tower (complete with monster) and, of course, sushi.

Long a staple text of designers and design students around the world, Michael Johnson's Problem Solved is now available in an updated and expanded second edition from Phaidon. Conceived as a primer in design, branding and communication, the book is organized as a series of problems -- such as avoiding repetition, reinventing a tired brand, using shock tactics -- that are presented and solved, drawing upon real-world examples. The newly added nineteenth chapter considers the craze for flexible and ever-changing logos. Notes Johnson, "Everyone is exploring the idea that perhaps an identity no longer needs to be static, and could change and modulate with time."

When is a magazine not a magazine? When it's The Thing, a periodical in the form of an object. Each year, editors Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan invite four artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers to create a useful object that somehow incorporates text. That object is then reproduced, hand-wrapped and mailed to subscribers. Past issues of the quirky quarterly have included Trevor Paglen's alien-emblazoned coffee mug and a shower curtain printed with "a monologue told to Dave Eggers by his shower curtain." Subscribe now: $240 will get you four upcoming issues by artists David Shrigley and Tauba Auerbach, author Ben Marcus and the big finish: John Baldessari, who has signed on for issue #22.

Now you can have your Instagram photos and eat them too, with Cocoagraph. The Northern California-based company prints edible Polaroid-style photographs onto artisanal chocolate bars: Choose from milk, white, dark or organic dark varieties along with a rotating line-up of flavorful additions such as dried strawberries and sea salt. The Willy Wonka of this operation is Rae Vittorelli, who earned a BFA from Moore College of Art & Design before trying her hand at sugar arts. Less than a year after launching Cocoagraph, she's already earned major design world street cred, having created mod chocolates for Knoll.

How do I find new clients? How much should I charge for my design work? When should I say no to a client? Answers to all of these questions and more can be found in Work for Money, Design for Love (New Riders), David Airey's handy-dandy guide to starting and running a successful design business, from finding your niche and naming your brand to navigating issues of "legalities, integrity and morality" and dealing with difficult clients. "This is the book I wanted to read when I became a self-employed graphic designer," writes Airey in the book's introduction. "It's the advice I'd give my younger self -- teachings that would have put me years ahead of where I am now."