Then I visited Shaz Madani's Portfolio (Click "Your Journey Made Simple") and marveled at the brilliant function of such a simple design.
12.01.2008
Ahhhhhhmazing.
I was really taken by the visual here:
Then I visited Shaz Madani's Portfolio (Click "Your Journey Made Simple") and marveled at the brilliant function of such a simple design.
Then I visited Shaz Madani's Portfolio (Click "Your Journey Made Simple") and marveled at the brilliant function of such a simple design.
11.29.2008
Say What?
I don't know if there's a practical use for this but it sure is inspiring.
Typeflash is an interesting site that stretches the imagination in terms of type design, format and application. Give yourself some time to really explore all of the possibilities.
ps- It takes a minute for my animation to load.
Typeflash is an interesting site that stretches the imagination in terms of type design, format and application. Give yourself some time to really explore all of the possibilities.
ps- It takes a minute for my animation to load.
11.21.2008
11.13.2008
I Wish This Were Mine:
Paper letter forms created with simple scoring. Definitely a "wish I made that" design.
Find it here.
Find it here.
11.11.2008
Helvetica is:
Apparently a lot of people have given a lot of thought to what Helvetica is despite the unanimous critique that if ever there were a universal and unassuming font that blended casually into the landscape, Helvetica would be it. The consensus in Gary Hustwit's film is that Helvetica is everywhere, it's unavoidable, "it's air" even. Yet air it seems can be a sweet perfume smell or even the subtle scents of a gentle breeze or it can be stale or thick or even stifling. It seems that's exactly how Erik Spiekermann feels about Helvetica. It is what it is and "There's no choice."
Maybe the best quote from the film belongs to Spikermann, who responds to the question "Why is Helvetica so popular?" with "Why is bad taste ubiquitous?"
Personally I'm drawn to Helvetica. It's clean and nondescript (that's very revealing of me maybe). It's a blank slate and as modernist designer Massimo Vignelli points out in the opening minutes of the film, Helvetica can say whatever you want it to say.
As for the film, I liked it. Did I find it educational? Not really. It's a pretty film (from a design/photography perspective) with a host of appearances from designers and critics that are as entertaining as they are knowledgeable and opinionated. But it's not a very informative movie like you'd maybe expect from something like this.
Here are some more of my favorite quotes:
"The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much." - Wim Crouwel
"And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal." - Jonathan Hoefler
"I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. It just makes my words visible." - Erik Spiekermann
"It's The Real Thing. Period. Coke. Period. Any Questions? Of course not." - Michael Bierut
Maybe the best quote from the film belongs to Spikermann, who responds to the question "Why is Helvetica so popular?" with "Why is bad taste ubiquitous?"
Personally I'm drawn to Helvetica. It's clean and nondescript (that's very revealing of me maybe). It's a blank slate and as modernist designer Massimo Vignelli points out in the opening minutes of the film, Helvetica can say whatever you want it to say.
As for the film, I liked it. Did I find it educational? Not really. It's a pretty film (from a design/photography perspective) with a host of appearances from designers and critics that are as entertaining as they are knowledgeable and opinionated. But it's not a very informative movie like you'd maybe expect from something like this.
Here are some more of my favorite quotes:
"The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much." - Wim Crouwel
"And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal." - Jonathan Hoefler
"I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. It just makes my words visible." - Erik Spiekermann
"It's The Real Thing. Period. Coke. Period. Any Questions? Of course not." - Michael Bierut
11.09.2008
Martin Majoor and the Emergence of Digital Type
For Martin Majoor, design is a problem solving exercise. In the late 1980’s along with fellow font designers Eirk and Joan Spiekermann and Neville Brody, Majoor was faced with the age-old problem of pairing serifed and sans-serifed fonts for publication. After much research, Majoor found himself conflicted as most of the traditional combinations were too dissimilar and therefore, inconsistent in their message, regardless of content. “In my opinion, mixing serif with sans only makes sense when the seriffed typeface and the sans are designed from the same basis, or even from the same skeleton” he would reveal in an article for typotheque.com. And in 1987 while designing for Vredenburg Music Center in his native Netherlands, Majoor began designing the font family that would earn him international acclaim as a font designer.
Scala was born out of necessity as Majoor, working on an early Mac was severely limited by dozen Postscript-fonts available. Postscript is a programming language developed in the early 1980’s as a universal base for a wide array of digital devices like displays and printers. The earliest use of this language can be seen in the original Mac and the Apple Laserwriter. The limitation of early font choices led to the development of FontShop International which pioneered the licensing and selling of digital fonts.
Thus, while at Vredenburg, Majoor found that “the concert programmes, booklets and posters containted very different information, such as composers, titles, conductors, orchestras, solosists, time, date and place. To design this information in a good way I needed these lowercase numbers, small caps and ligatures.” And from this need, Scala blossomed especially for the theatre and named after the Teatro all Scala in Milan.
While considering the new design and how it would contrast with earlier Postrscript-fonts, Majoor settled upon a humanist design influenced by fonts like Bembo and the later Monotype faces of the 1920’s. Postscript-fonts, he found were too thin, often losing their serifs and thin strokes on early computer screens and primitive laser printers and so the goal was set for Scala to maintain a more solid feel with stronger serifs.
The result has been a unanimous success and Scala soon became one of the largest and most widely used fonts in the Netherlands earning a mention in the Dutch Best Books catalog for most-used contemporary typeface. Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad utilized Scala for a major redesign and the high-profile publisher Taschen adopts the face as its primary font. Soon Scala becomes synonomous for twentieth-century Dutch design with its “clarity, simplicity and innovative yet historically conscious approach.”
The success of Scala however was widely outdone as Majoor began working on Scala Sans, later published in 1993. The evolution of Scala into a sans-serif font pushed the family’s popularity even further and soon, Scala and Scala Sans would be licensed by FontShop International. “When I was designing Scala and Scala Sans I had great freedom in executing my ideas on serif and sans. My motto became: ‘two typefaces, one form principle’.” In the 1930’s designer Jan Van Krimpen had considered this approach, fashioning his Romulus sansserif by coupling “classic roman and low-contrast humanist sansserif” but in many ways Van Krimpen’s work had been considered only experimental. Well versed in Van Krimpen’s theory behind Romulous, Majoor insists that the addition of Scala Sans was purely based on function rather than historical context citing his previous work with PageMaker’s Postscript capabilities. Majoor admits however that the inclusion of an italic face to the Scala family has historical context as better known sanserifs like Univers, Frutiger and Syntax “all had sloped romans for italics while Scala’s italics were derived from 16th century Italian writing masters like Arrighi.
Following the popularity of the Scala family, Majoor began working on Telefont List and Telefont Text for the Dutch national telephone book. It would be a much more restrictive project than Scala as Telefont required extensive consideration to its readability. The phone listing would require extremely small size and be printed on cheap paper. The goal was to save space as well as cost. Majoor set out ultimately to better Adrian Frutiger’s Universe, previously used in the phone listing. Adding to the complication of the job, Majoor considered and reconsidered the typographic layout of the phone book so changes to the type face itself had to be considered alongside changes to the four-column layout of the book. Majoor credits his experience as a book designer when citing the problem solving process of designing the phone book, which has used Majoor’s design since 1994.
Finally, in 1996 Majoor would begin work on his third “serious” typeface, creating the initial sketches for Seria on dining-car napkins while on a train from Berlin to Warsaw. While considering the universal appeal of Scala, Majoor found himself increasingly unhappy with Scala’s use as a literary font. As a book designer, Majoor measured the face’s success by its usage and he began to find Scala’s short ascenders and descenders unacceptable for literature or poetry. He considered a revision of Scala that would appear longer and thus more elegant but further consideration led to a laundry list of details that needed revision. The deal practically sealed itself as Majoor was approached by the art critic Hector Obalk in the fall of 1996. Obalk had begun working on book using original correspondence from Marcel Duchamp who’s complex handwriting needed to be paired with the perfect text for the book. From this need, Seria emerged a jumble of “subtle details and unconventional curves” and while Majoor admits the average reader would not notice the intricate quirks of Seria, there is a certain “feel” to the text even at small sizes.
Soon, Seria needed a sans serif partner and again Majoor began working in much the way he had with Scala, by refining the existing humanist feel of its serifed counterpart. Seria Sans grew from the original serifed sketches and Majoor began “using black marker and some white paint” to alter the characters into a sans. Consistency is uniquely and organically maintained as the sans version is a directly reworked version of its older brother. The result is a sans serif with unusually long ascenders and descenders and perfectly aligning with Majoor’s criticism of Scala.
In retrospect, Majoor views the sans serif as a contemporary serif citing a wide division between the historic and tradition rich serifed fonts and the “empty-headed idea of how sans should look.” By considering the effective marriage of a serif to its sans, a more complete face is created, rich in tradition and sophistication that still has the opportunity to appear contemporary and ultimately lends itself to wider appeal.
In 2004 Majoor would be involved with another important first in the storied history of Font Shop Internation. The foundry released Majoor’s newest family in Nexus, one of the first OpenType fonts released by the company, that includes a “connected” serif and sans serif version as well as typewriter versions and elegant swash capitals. Majoor furthers his study and theory of font design by teaching and lecturing for conferences in Antwerp, Paris, San Francisco, Barcelona and Prague. Majoor received several awards for both of his Scala and Seria families. He continues to work as a book typographer and type designer sharing time between a home in his native Netherlands and Poland.
B: In addition to the Scala, Seria and Telefont families, Majoor has designed Nexus Mix, Nexus Sans, Nexus Sans Bold, Nexus Serif, Nexus Typewriter as well as a series of display faces called Scala Jewel.
Since Scala has emerged as a defining and integral piece of Dutch design history I have focused the above information on its origin and history. Scala is a humanist font with short ascenders and descenders, as well as strong serifs and a relatively tall x-height. While Scala’s early incarnations had little or no variation in stroke width the wide array of fonts in its family show more variation.
C: Culturally, Majoor is directly linked with the development of early computers and their subsequent fonts. The emergence of the personal computer and PostScript type is inextricably tied to designers like the Spiekerman’s, Neville Brody, Zuzana Licko and a host of others. Without their important contributions and dedication to the origins of type personal computing may well have suffered or at the very least lain victim to the world of ugly design.
Works Cited:
http://www.identifont.com/show?16F
Majoor, Martin. My Type Design Philosophy. tipoGrafica, #53 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2002.
Crewdson, Andy; Serial Motives: How Martin Majoor developed his literary typeface. Druk #13-14, 2002.
Middendorp, Jan. Dutch Type. 248-252. 010 Publishers, 2004.
Bartl, Peter. Some Thoughts on the Vernacular Illustrations. Design Issues: Vol9, No 2 (Autumn, 1993), 32-33. MIT Press.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~detrie/pages/fundamentals_fonts/pages/digital_fonts.html
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-digital-past-when-typefaces-were-experimental
Scala was born out of necessity as Majoor, working on an early Mac was severely limited by dozen Postscript-fonts available. Postscript is a programming language developed in the early 1980’s as a universal base for a wide array of digital devices like displays and printers. The earliest use of this language can be seen in the original Mac and the Apple Laserwriter. The limitation of early font choices led to the development of FontShop International which pioneered the licensing and selling of digital fonts.
Thus, while at Vredenburg, Majoor found that “the concert programmes, booklets and posters containted very different information, such as composers, titles, conductors, orchestras, solosists, time, date and place. To design this information in a good way I needed these lowercase numbers, small caps and ligatures.” And from this need, Scala blossomed especially for the theatre and named after the Teatro all Scala in Milan.
While considering the new design and how it would contrast with earlier Postrscript-fonts, Majoor settled upon a humanist design influenced by fonts like Bembo and the later Monotype faces of the 1920’s. Postscript-fonts, he found were too thin, often losing their serifs and thin strokes on early computer screens and primitive laser printers and so the goal was set for Scala to maintain a more solid feel with stronger serifs.
The result has been a unanimous success and Scala soon became one of the largest and most widely used fonts in the Netherlands earning a mention in the Dutch Best Books catalog for most-used contemporary typeface. Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad utilized Scala for a major redesign and the high-profile publisher Taschen adopts the face as its primary font. Soon Scala becomes synonomous for twentieth-century Dutch design with its “clarity, simplicity and innovative yet historically conscious approach.”
The success of Scala however was widely outdone as Majoor began working on Scala Sans, later published in 1993. The evolution of Scala into a sans-serif font pushed the family’s popularity even further and soon, Scala and Scala Sans would be licensed by FontShop International. “When I was designing Scala and Scala Sans I had great freedom in executing my ideas on serif and sans. My motto became: ‘two typefaces, one form principle’.” In the 1930’s designer Jan Van Krimpen had considered this approach, fashioning his Romulus sansserif by coupling “classic roman and low-contrast humanist sansserif” but in many ways Van Krimpen’s work had been considered only experimental. Well versed in Van Krimpen’s theory behind Romulous, Majoor insists that the addition of Scala Sans was purely based on function rather than historical context citing his previous work with PageMaker’s Postscript capabilities. Majoor admits however that the inclusion of an italic face to the Scala family has historical context as better known sanserifs like Univers, Frutiger and Syntax “all had sloped romans for italics while Scala’s italics were derived from 16th century Italian writing masters like Arrighi.
Following the popularity of the Scala family, Majoor began working on Telefont List and Telefont Text for the Dutch national telephone book. It would be a much more restrictive project than Scala as Telefont required extensive consideration to its readability. The phone listing would require extremely small size and be printed on cheap paper. The goal was to save space as well as cost. Majoor set out ultimately to better Adrian Frutiger’s Universe, previously used in the phone listing. Adding to the complication of the job, Majoor considered and reconsidered the typographic layout of the phone book so changes to the type face itself had to be considered alongside changes to the four-column layout of the book. Majoor credits his experience as a book designer when citing the problem solving process of designing the phone book, which has used Majoor’s design since 1994.
Finally, in 1996 Majoor would begin work on his third “serious” typeface, creating the initial sketches for Seria on dining-car napkins while on a train from Berlin to Warsaw. While considering the universal appeal of Scala, Majoor found himself increasingly unhappy with Scala’s use as a literary font. As a book designer, Majoor measured the face’s success by its usage and he began to find Scala’s short ascenders and descenders unacceptable for literature or poetry. He considered a revision of Scala that would appear longer and thus more elegant but further consideration led to a laundry list of details that needed revision. The deal practically sealed itself as Majoor was approached by the art critic Hector Obalk in the fall of 1996. Obalk had begun working on book using original correspondence from Marcel Duchamp who’s complex handwriting needed to be paired with the perfect text for the book. From this need, Seria emerged a jumble of “subtle details and unconventional curves” and while Majoor admits the average reader would not notice the intricate quirks of Seria, there is a certain “feel” to the text even at small sizes.
Soon, Seria needed a sans serif partner and again Majoor began working in much the way he had with Scala, by refining the existing humanist feel of its serifed counterpart. Seria Sans grew from the original serifed sketches and Majoor began “using black marker and some white paint” to alter the characters into a sans. Consistency is uniquely and organically maintained as the sans version is a directly reworked version of its older brother. The result is a sans serif with unusually long ascenders and descenders and perfectly aligning with Majoor’s criticism of Scala.
In retrospect, Majoor views the sans serif as a contemporary serif citing a wide division between the historic and tradition rich serifed fonts and the “empty-headed idea of how sans should look.” By considering the effective marriage of a serif to its sans, a more complete face is created, rich in tradition and sophistication that still has the opportunity to appear contemporary and ultimately lends itself to wider appeal.
In 2004 Majoor would be involved with another important first in the storied history of Font Shop Internation. The foundry released Majoor’s newest family in Nexus, one of the first OpenType fonts released by the company, that includes a “connected” serif and sans serif version as well as typewriter versions and elegant swash capitals. Majoor furthers his study and theory of font design by teaching and lecturing for conferences in Antwerp, Paris, San Francisco, Barcelona and Prague. Majoor received several awards for both of his Scala and Seria families. He continues to work as a book typographer and type designer sharing time between a home in his native Netherlands and Poland.
B: In addition to the Scala, Seria and Telefont families, Majoor has designed Nexus Mix, Nexus Sans, Nexus Sans Bold, Nexus Serif, Nexus Typewriter as well as a series of display faces called Scala Jewel.
Since Scala has emerged as a defining and integral piece of Dutch design history I have focused the above information on its origin and history. Scala is a humanist font with short ascenders and descenders, as well as strong serifs and a relatively tall x-height. While Scala’s early incarnations had little or no variation in stroke width the wide array of fonts in its family show more variation.
C: Culturally, Majoor is directly linked with the development of early computers and their subsequent fonts. The emergence of the personal computer and PostScript type is inextricably tied to designers like the Spiekerman’s, Neville Brody, Zuzana Licko and a host of others. Without their important contributions and dedication to the origins of type personal computing may well have suffered or at the very least lain victim to the world of ugly design.
Works Cited:
http://www.identifont.com/show?16F
Majoor, Martin. My Type Design Philosophy. tipoGrafica, #53 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2002.
Crewdson, Andy; Serial Motives: How Martin Majoor developed his literary typeface. Druk #13-14, 2002.
Middendorp, Jan. Dutch Type. 248-252. 010 Publishers, 2004.
Bartl, Peter. Some Thoughts on the Vernacular Illustrations. Design Issues: Vol9, No 2 (Autumn, 1993), 32-33. MIT Press.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~detrie/pages/fundamentals_fonts/pages/digital_fonts.html
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-digital-past-when-typefaces-were-experimental
10.24.2008
Gary Baseman
Warning: This has very little to do with type.
I'm not a big fan of Gary Baseman but this I like.
I'm not a big fan of Gary Baseman but this I like.
10.14.2008
Type in Motion: Thank You For Not Smoking.
I love opening credits that are thought out and executed well.
Martin Majoor.
Martin Majoor (b 1960, Baarn, Netherlands):
-has been designing type since the mid-1980's.
-attended the High School of Arts in Utrecht.
-Began working for Oce-Netherlands in 1986 where he researched and produced digital typefaces for laser printing.
-1988 completes Scala and Scala Sans for which he is most widely known.
-Later, FSI releases FF Scala as the first in its FontFont Library.
-1994 helps to design the Dutch Telephone Directory by creating Telefont List and Telefont Text.
-2000 develops the award winning FF Seria.
-has been teaching and lecturing since 1992 as well as writing articles for magazines like Eye.
-basically known as a book designer who says you must understand type completely before you can begin to develop and design book layout.
-Obviously very accomplished in Europe and aside from being a designer cares enough to teach and give plenty of well considered thought to design and type.
10.06.2008
Follow the Line
I'm a sucker for judging a book by its cover and I generally have to explain to my 4-year-old why I'm checking books out of the juvenile section at the library. This weekend we found Follow the Line by Laura Ljungkvist.
I really love the idea of tracing existing faces to give them a hand-drawn quality without looking like handwriting. Some really simple yet engaging illustrations inside too. Check the link above for some of Laura's commercial work (along the same lines...not a pun, I swear).
I really love the idea of tracing existing faces to give them a hand-drawn quality without looking like handwriting. Some really simple yet engaging illustrations inside too. Check the link above for some of Laura's commercial work (along the same lines...not a pun, I swear).
10.01.2008
Do Yourself a Favor.
Click here: mk12.com
And poke around until you find Brazil Inspired: Macho Box under in-house motion graphics.
You're welcome.
And poke around until you find Brazil Inspired: Macho Box under in-house motion graphics.
You're welcome.
9.23.2008
I'm OK, You're OK
By and large the 70's was about bold, geometric and sometimes three-dimensional fonts. Typefaces were often flashy and overly ornate (think Three's Company) as the nature of design demanded that type "work harder" to get the reader's (or consumer's) attention. Furthering the move to digital design, typesetting becomes more and more popular with the help of companies like The International Typeface Corporation (ITC...as in ITC New Baskerville) which began revamping old type in an effort to minimize the threat of font that was photographically copied.
Popular styles continue to repeat and the Art Deco soars during the 70's aiding a transition from the psychedelic 60's to the "business" look of the late 70's and early 80's.
Perhaps the best of all 70's fonts was Bookman, seen in the Spectra Setter ad above and here in a modern (as in recently created) design. It's the quintessential 70's face; it's showy and little too ornate, it's had a tough life and it's trying real hard not to show its age, but somewhere underneath all that glitz and flash is a pretty face with a message.
Quiz Question: What font, which utilizes a charted system of easily recognizable faces was finished in 1976 by Adrian Frutiger?
Popular styles continue to repeat and the Art Deco soars during the 70's aiding a transition from the psychedelic 60's to the "business" look of the late 70's and early 80's.
Perhaps the best of all 70's fonts was Bookman, seen in the Spectra Setter ad above and here in a modern (as in recently created) design. It's the quintessential 70's face; it's showy and little too ornate, it's had a tough life and it's trying real hard not to show its age, but somewhere underneath all that glitz and flash is a pretty face with a message.
Quiz Question: What font, which utilizes a charted system of easily recognizable faces was finished in 1976 by Adrian Frutiger?
9.16.2008
A good type student...
would set these real pretty-like in a poster.
Absolute and Relative Measurement - Points and Picas are absolute measurements (ie they're the same anywhere) while relative measurements relate to a specific font (the em or en for example).
Points - Measurement from baseline to baseline. 12pts = I pica
x-height - Main height of the lowercase letter, without ascenders and descenders.
The em. The en - An “em” is a unit of measurement defined as the point size of the font—12 point type uses a 12 point “em.” An “en” is one-half of an “em.”
The em dash – Used as a break in a sentence or text, the full width of the capital M in any font.
The en dash - Half the width of the em dash, typically used for durations.
The Hyphen – Used to hyphenate words or separate phone numbers.
Alignments: Justifcation, Flush Left, Flush Right -
Letterspacing - refers to the distance between letters which effects the density of a line or block of text. Also called tracking.
Kerning - The adjustment of letterspacing to balance the negative space between letters.
Tracking - See letterspacing.
Word Spacing - the distance between words, condensed faces require less space while expanded faces need more.
Widow - A short line at the end of a paragraph or column. (does this apply to all type or just paragraphs?)
Orphan - A single word at the beginning of a column or page.
Leading - In short, line spacing, pronounced like the metal (Pb) and refers to the physical strips of lead placed between lines of type (Really?)
Indent, Fist Line Indent, Hanging Indent - A way of aligning text. First line indents are typical of paragraphs where the first line is set in from the rest of the body of text, a hanging indent is the reverse of this where the first line is set regularly, the body of text hangs from it with an indented space.
Absolute and Relative Measurement - Points and Picas are absolute measurements (ie they're the same anywhere) while relative measurements relate to a specific font (the em or en for example).
Points - Measurement from baseline to baseline. 12pts = I pica
x-height - Main height of the lowercase letter, without ascenders and descenders.
The em. The en - An “em” is a unit of measurement defined as the point size of the font—12 point type uses a 12 point “em.” An “en” is one-half of an “em.”
The em dash – Used as a break in a sentence or text, the full width of the capital M in any font.
The en dash - Half the width of the em dash, typically used for durations.
The Hyphen – Used to hyphenate words or separate phone numbers.
Alignments: Justifcation, Flush Left, Flush Right -
Letterspacing - refers to the distance between letters which effects the density of a line or block of text. Also called tracking.
Kerning - The adjustment of letterspacing to balance the negative space between letters.
Tracking - See letterspacing.
Word Spacing - the distance between words, condensed faces require less space while expanded faces need more.
Widow - A short line at the end of a paragraph or column. (does this apply to all type or just paragraphs?)
Orphan - A single word at the beginning of a column or page.
Leading - In short, line spacing, pronounced like the metal (Pb) and refers to the physical strips of lead placed between lines of type (Really?)
Indent, Fist Line Indent, Hanging Indent - A way of aligning text. First line indents are typical of paragraphs where the first line is set in from the rest of the body of text, a hanging indent is the reverse of this where the first line is set regularly, the body of text hangs from it with an indented space.
9.09.2008
Adrian Frutiger is Organized. And Awesome.
Type is a little bit like sculpture. Flat, two-dimensional sculpture. On paper, and with ink. That people read...
It makes sense then that Adrian Frutiger, having been discouraged by his father and school teachers would turn from sculpture to printing. Frutiger's wood-engraved essay on European letter types would get him noticed by the Deberny Et Peignot foundry in Paris where he would eventually develop the typefaces, "Président", "Phoebus", and "Ondine." At Deberny Et Peignot, Frutiger would strive to create a unified font family and, this is where it gets a little obsesive, creates a variation of 21 fonts, numbered according to weight and face. Ultimately the success of his most identifiable font, Univers shows a mastery of both artistic vision and a holistic view of technical process (important points to master for any sculptor) and Frutiger's passion for type design is startlingly evident in his work, which includes a complete overhaul of French transportation signage. Read that again. He's responsible for nearly all of the road and airport signage in France.
In 1987, Frutiger was awarded the TDC medal for those "who have made significant contributions to the life, art, and the craft of typography." Seriously.
Note to self: be more like Adrian Frutiger.
It makes sense then that Adrian Frutiger, having been discouraged by his father and school teachers would turn from sculpture to printing. Frutiger's wood-engraved essay on European letter types would get him noticed by the Deberny Et Peignot foundry in Paris where he would eventually develop the typefaces, "Président", "Phoebus", and "Ondine." At Deberny Et Peignot, Frutiger would strive to create a unified font family and, this is where it gets a little obsesive, creates a variation of 21 fonts, numbered according to weight and face. Ultimately the success of his most identifiable font, Univers shows a mastery of both artistic vision and a holistic view of technical process (important points to master for any sculptor) and Frutiger's passion for type design is startlingly evident in his work, which includes a complete overhaul of French transportation signage. Read that again. He's responsible for nearly all of the road and airport signage in France.
In 1987, Frutiger was awarded the TDC medal for those "who have made significant contributions to the life, art, and the craft of typography." Seriously.
Note to self: be more like Adrian Frutiger.
Thank You, John Baskerville
As a printer, John Baskerville strived only for perfection and insisted on controlling nearly every aspect of the printing process and ultimately brought great change to printing process, producing among other things, a sturdier printing bed, faster drying ink and wove papermakeing. The result is a catalog of tedious yet exemplary publications including a run of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" in 1758 as well as a folio Bible printed for the University of Cambridge in 1763.
Adopting a style cleaner and simpler than those of French and Italian printers of the time, Baskerville refined the letterforms of William Caslon, "creating type with more extreme contrast of thick and thin strokes" and produced layouts that highlighted his mastery of the craft, especially his italics which "showed his calligraphic mastery."*
While British rivals shunned Baskerville, American printers took notice and soon Benjamin Franklin introduced Baskerville's type to the States and soon it became the standard type of government documents.
*Quoted from Typophile.com
Adopting a style cleaner and simpler than those of French and Italian printers of the time, Baskerville refined the letterforms of William Caslon, "creating type with more extreme contrast of thick and thin strokes" and produced layouts that highlighted his mastery of the craft, especially his italics which "showed his calligraphic mastery."*
While British rivals shunned Baskerville, American printers took notice and soon Benjamin Franklin introduced Baskerville's type to the States and soon it became the standard type of government documents.
*Quoted from Typophile.com
9.02.2008
Grids=Good
In doing a little research on grids and checking out designbygrid.com per Chris' recommendation the theory and practice of grid structure makes a lot of sense. Initially, while staring down at a handful of tiny little Paul Rand clippings I couldn't help but feel that we were being forced to use some sort of designer's set of training wheels. It's a bit like learning to color inside the lines before you start drawing your own pictures. The catch is, you're in your twenties and you have to prove that you have the motor skills and wherewithal to keep your reds and blues within said lines. A little bit ridiculous...or is it?
Clicking my way through several websites and even thumbing through the latest How mag I realized, like the iPod of the design world, grids are everywhere. And for good reason. First, they make a designers job easier and perhaps more importantly, more efficient. Nothing is as daunting for a designer, artist, writer etc than staring at a blank page. Grids make short work of that first tricky step and off you go, filling in the proper info where necessary.
The second realization I had (and this one's a big one for selfish only children like myself) is that grids take all of your information and make it easier for the viewer too. And we're not just talking about your target audience but also for your client. If everything's laid out in easy to manage modules or columns the viewer can easily find and assess the information they need quickly and again, efficiently.
Here are a couple I found especially nice:
Ungarbage.com gives you a pretty little grid that's clearly defined by the background. Post-it like notes keep all of your information in easy to handle modules.
And 31three.com is nice and simple with a few pretty straightforward columns on a pleasing background. It really doesn't get much simpler than that. Super successful if you ask me.
Clicking my way through several websites and even thumbing through the latest How mag I realized, like the iPod of the design world, grids are everywhere. And for good reason. First, they make a designers job easier and perhaps more importantly, more efficient. Nothing is as daunting for a designer, artist, writer etc than staring at a blank page. Grids make short work of that first tricky step and off you go, filling in the proper info where necessary.
The second realization I had (and this one's a big one for selfish only children like myself) is that grids take all of your information and make it easier for the viewer too. And we're not just talking about your target audience but also for your client. If everything's laid out in easy to manage modules or columns the viewer can easily find and assess the information they need quickly and again, efficiently.
Here are a couple I found especially nice:
Ungarbage.com gives you a pretty little grid that's clearly defined by the background. Post-it like notes keep all of your information in easy to handle modules.
And 31three.com is nice and simple with a few pretty straightforward columns on a pleasing background. It really doesn't get much simpler than that. Super successful if you ask me.
8.31.2008
I Met The Walrus
In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. A spellbinding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit and timeless message, I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short. You can buy it from iTunes or you can see it here via the YouTube Screening Room.
http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
8.26.2008
Paul Rand Was An Overachiever
In a video found here Designer Paul Rand tells us, "No matter how good you do something, it can always be improved." But in scratching the surface that is Paul Rand's career you have to wonder if he really lived by his own advice.
With notable logos like NeXT Computer, ABC and IBM, Rand's work seems effortlessly executed and perfectly balanced between form and content, giving example to the countless designers that follow his influential teachings. Nearly everything you can find on Rand seems so stupidly simple you have to wonder if he ever sketched a thumbnail. Undoubtedly he did and success like Rand's can only be interpreted as the outcome of a lot of hard work and most importantly, good old fashioned smarts. Wikipedia (ever the credible source) quotes Rand as saying, a logo "cannot survive unless it is designed with the utmost simplicity and restraint." Right you are Paul. Rand's UPS logo was completed in 1961 and after 42 years (!) the public begrudgingly accepted a new logo for the company in 2003 who sought to expand their image of "packaged delivery into a broader array of supply chain services."
Similarly, Rand's IBM logo has been a staple of American industry since 1956 when Rand was hired by IBM's newest CEO to give the company a more lasting and stately brand. In 1972 Rand updated the logo by adding 8 horizontal lines and adding the suggestion of "speed and dynamism."
Note to self: pick up as many Paul Rand books as possible and study, study, study.
This man obviously knew what he was talking about and professionally speaking, if I can create something that continues to represent the original idea even 42 years after I've created it, well then I'm allowed to pat myself on the back. Frequently. And in public.
This is also very interesting.
Remember Snippets?
Today after class, driving home my mind was abuzz with blogging ideas.
Not really, my mind was more abuzz with apple turnovers than anything else, but I did turn the blogging idea around a little while, it's a long drive.
Initially I thought I'd talk about a book I've been reading and forego any sort of introduction but I guess that's not really fair. Then I remembered how and when I became aware of type as a designer and thought it might make an interesting back story or at least work as a reference for my type knowledge so far.
In 2002 after having dropped out of not one but 2 design programs I was hired by a quirky paper store owner in need of some sort of formal design experience for his budding wedding invitation business. He was *ahem* frugal and I was ready to sell myself short. We got along splendidly. Most of my days were spent politely smiling as bride after bride agonized over pressing decisions like white paper with gold flecks or gold paper with white flecks ("What do you think about the silver flecks, honey?"). There were busy seasons and some challenges and occasionally you got to know and understand a couple better and on a more rewarding level. Sometimes it really felt good to be a part of announcing the marriage of Mr. Thomas So-and-so to Ms. Jennifer So-and-so to the rest the world. After a while though, the invitations all started to look the same, varying only in color choice, quantity or expense.
Additionally they all dealt with type. Some were casually formatted, others followed strict guidelines of appropriateness. Some were a little edgy or experimental (and even a little interesting) in their font choices but most were pretty traditional and bland. The first word I learned that really applied to type was tracking. Mostly because we "tracked" the shit out of just about everything (All in MS Publisher). And once we'd dropped in the text we'd been given (and the clients had corrected it...then updated it...then updated it again...then added the names of their parents) we added as much line spacing as it took to fill out the page. Done and done. Where's my paycheck?
Looking back I'm glad I'll be learning to do it right. I'm glad I learned to do it wrong too. There's something to be said about learning from your mistakes.
There's something else to be said for hundreds of little mistakes that live on happily in hundreds of little wedding albums throughout the Puget Sound.
You're welcome married people of Seattle.
Not really, my mind was more abuzz with apple turnovers than anything else, but I did turn the blogging idea around a little while, it's a long drive.
Initially I thought I'd talk about a book I've been reading and forego any sort of introduction but I guess that's not really fair. Then I remembered how and when I became aware of type as a designer and thought it might make an interesting back story or at least work as a reference for my type knowledge so far.
In 2002 after having dropped out of not one but 2 design programs I was hired by a quirky paper store owner in need of some sort of formal design experience for his budding wedding invitation business. He was *ahem* frugal and I was ready to sell myself short. We got along splendidly. Most of my days were spent politely smiling as bride after bride agonized over pressing decisions like white paper with gold flecks or gold paper with white flecks ("What do you think about the silver flecks, honey?"). There were busy seasons and some challenges and occasionally you got to know and understand a couple better and on a more rewarding level. Sometimes it really felt good to be a part of announcing the marriage of Mr. Thomas So-and-so to Ms. Jennifer So-and-so to the rest the world. After a while though, the invitations all started to look the same, varying only in color choice, quantity or expense.
Additionally they all dealt with type. Some were casually formatted, others followed strict guidelines of appropriateness. Some were a little edgy or experimental (and even a little interesting) in their font choices but most were pretty traditional and bland. The first word I learned that really applied to type was tracking. Mostly because we "tracked" the shit out of just about everything (All in MS Publisher). And once we'd dropped in the text we'd been given (and the clients had corrected it...then updated it...then updated it again...then added the names of their parents) we added as much line spacing as it took to fill out the page. Done and done. Where's my paycheck?
Looking back I'm glad I'll be learning to do it right. I'm glad I learned to do it wrong too. There's something to be said about learning from your mistakes.
There's something else to be said for hundreds of little mistakes that live on happily in hundreds of little wedding albums throughout the Puget Sound.
You're welcome married people of Seattle.
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