We are thrilled to announce that Picnik and Peter Roman (Picnik designer and all around nice guy) have won the prestigious I.D. Magazine 2008 Annual Design Review in the Interactive category! Yeah! We’ve known for a long time that Peter and the rest of the team sport some mad design skills, and now it’s official.

Who are these ID Mag folks anyway? It just so happens that in the world of international design, these guys really know their stuff. ID Magazine has been running this annual juried competition now for over 50 years. That means that a panel of expert designers tapped Picnik to be the winner in our category from over 2000 entries overall. And we’re in great company, as two of our faves also won: Apple’s iPhone and Seattle’s own Olympic Sculpture Park brought home ID 2008 honors. The awards will be published in the July/August edition of I.D. Magazine.

In an semi-related matter, Picnik is looking for another Designer to join our team. Please send your resume to contact@picnik.com.

p.s. Traffic is up a whopping 55% this month - it’s not just the ID mag folk who are digging on Picnik!

Given the fanatical font geekery here at Picnik World HQ, we’re thrilled to finally announce that we’ve unveiled our brand new and exclusive offering of 15 fonts from FontShop®, available only to Premium Picnikers. This collection of typefaces from the FontFont® library was hand-picked just for our users and represents an incredible selection of truly professional, quality fonts. In fact, if you want to use these fonts without the incredibly affordable Picnik Premium membership, you’ll be paying thousands of dollars. No joke, they’re that awesome.

So, without further ado, here’s the list:

FF DIN - Cool, crisp, minimal. Albert Jan-Pool’s skillful reworking of the official traffic type of Germany (DIN stands for Deutsches Institut für Normung, or “German Institute for Standardisation”) will work in any setting, and has been used on ABC’s World News With Charles Gibson, MTV Latin America, JetBlue Airways, and Adidas.

FF Meta - Erik Spiekermann’s humanist typeface is considered by many to be groundbreaking, and the most influential sans serif of the digital age. Designed to be readable and sturdy on a small scale (it was intended for Deutsche Bundespost, to be easily legible on postage stamp scale) and in large letters (or on a mail truck), it can be used for a look that’s both modern and approachable, as has the Stockholm Metro, Imperial College London, Environment Agency of England and Wales, and I.D. Magazine.

FF Meta Serif - It took three years and three designers to create this sturdy serif companion to Spiekermann’s FF Meta. Ideal for a classic look or longer passages of text.

FF Tartine Script - This natural, flowing script drawn by Parisian font designer Xavier Dupré is at home on both greeting cards and cans of gourmet soup.

FF Erikrighthand - The handwriting of Dutch designer Erik van Blokland is bold and legible and yours to pretend ownership of!

FF Pepe - Give your images a vintage, personal touch with the elegant award-winning script by Spanish designer Pepe Gimeno.

FF Brokenscript - Get in touch with your inner Berliner with Just van Rossum’s interpretation of old German type. Known as a “textura blackletter”, FontShoppers might affectionately call it “heavy metal”.

FF Market - H. A. Simon’s script is the kind of casual freestyle lettering you’d see price-pointing produce or refrigerator markdowns.

FF Providence Sans - The basic print letters of a child are often the most human and legible. Drawn with youthful care by Guy Jeffrey Nelson.

FF Oxide - The letters found on shipping containers, warehouse walls, and military munitions can now be found on your pics, thanks to celebrated New York designer Christian Schwartz.

FF Cocon - Curvaceous and organic, the type of Dutch designer Evert Bloemsma has become synonymous with “Web 2.0″.

FF Marker - Legit graffiti can’t be made with a font, but Thomas Marecki’s typeface from FF Tag Team gets you pretty darn close.

FF Confidential - Just van Rossum’s deliciously damaged homage to industrial typography, FF Confidential is good for advertising, displays, or flyers for anarchist organisations.

So check them all out, and let us know what you think!

Easter’s come early this year, but we’re on top of things with a whole slew of shapes to help you photographically celebrate this happy and festive spring day! There are Easter lilies and chocolate rabbits, Easter eggs and the chickens that laid them, and everything else you’d need to embellish your Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Basket Opening, Easter Brunch, kids dressed in their Easter Sunday Best, or anything else that could be improved with jelly beans and peace doves.

It’s true: Picnik is now on MySpace! All kajillion MySpace users can now access photo-editing superstarpowers at myspace.com/getpicnik. And stay tuned, we’ve got some special MySpace-only features cookin’ in the oven.

Don’t forget to add us as a friend!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day (and the fact that this past weekend was our biggest ever, smashing the record for our previous biggest weekend ever), Picnik’s gone from grass green to kelly green! We’ve got everything Oirish in our Shapes: shamrocks, flags, pots of gold, rainbows, harps, hats, and of course, everyone’s favorite perfect pint.

And don’t forget to click on our green-like-the-hills-o’-Ireland link to vote for your very favorite web-based photo-editor in the Publishing & Photography category for the Webware 100!

Now we’ve done all that with plenty of time to get down the pub. Pionta Guinness le do thiol!

(That means “Pint of Guinness, please!”)