One of the most venerable independent sites devoted to all things typographic recently pulled off the difficult task of renewing itself, by combining a radical redesign with a strenghening of its editorial voice.

Posters to advertise live musical events go back a long way and can be found in many countries. But there's something about American rock posters, starting in the turbulent 60's, that commands a unique place in the history of graphic design.

We're at the point where we can keep track of not only great new design work in general but also, thanks to specialized sites, specific genres such as posters, business cards, advertising and book covers, the latter of which are surprisingly well represented.

I can't quite put my finger on what's so fascinating about corporate rebranding. But to watch an entity attempting to emerge butterfly-like from its discarded cocoon of public perception is without a doubt one of the more compelling spectator sports available to those in the design industry.

At one point, not that long ago, it looked as if it was too late. As if powers beyond our control had spun things on a global level to the point of no return, where an individual's struggles to do the right thing and attempt, even if in a small way, to slow, if not reverse, clearly disastrous trends, were futile. But designers such as David B. Berman show clearly that those dark times have passed, and that each of our efforts to "do good" is now critical in slowly turning the global boat in a new direction.

We'd all like it to be. And sometimes when we design an HTML newsletter we even pretend it is, typically with horrendous consequences. Because the brutal reality is that readers will open your newsletter in a hodge-podge of email clients, resulting in a litany of display anomalies—notably, thanks to the unspeakable evil known as Outlook 2007. But fear not, noble designer, help is on the way in the form of Campaign Monitor.

When it comes to design inspiration, one of the best practices is to immerse yourself in the work of your peers. It's not about borrowing the design solutions of others but more to get a boost of energy, to become even more confident in your ability to generate original, effective work.

Design contests provide a good way to stretch out and create fresh work beyond day-to-day requirements. One of the more lightweight, but amusing, ongoing contests is HUGO Create, now in its eighth iteration.

All around us we see people rising to meet the challenges of our time. So how can designers put their talents to work to help make a difference? One route is through work for charities, with the recent call for entries from Good 50x70 providing a worthy platform.

Click, Click, Click. Boing, Boing, Boing. That will be the sound of volleys being exchanged in an upcoming new series of Layer Tennis matchups. Courtside... er, screenside seats are still available on request for what should prove to be a satisfying display of digital dexterity.