What's Your Type 2010

Watch this masterful tribute to legendary designer, Paul Rand. This film was produced by one of my favorite studios called Imaginary Forces.

It’s important to learn from the masters, because that’s the only way you’ll truly learn and grow as an artist. So I think this short video is a must see. My favorite part is when Paul Rand says, “don’t try to be original, just be good”. Wow. Such simple, brilliant and humble advice.

Watch it here, and learn from the master: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yOjts0tpco&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What are some things from the clip that resonate with you?

Which other artists inspire you?

I’m always amazed at how fast the summer flies by. Not so long ago, we were just getting familiar with type and type crimes—and now you are all typographers with your own typeface.

I hope you take a further interest in typography and keep in touch with your future projects. Good luck this school year, enjoy the rest of the summer, and in the words of the Sounds of Music, Adieu, adiu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.

For tomorrow, 7/22/2010:

If anyone is interested in having their own copies of the light workshop photos, I will bring a disk of all the photos tomorrow. You must bring your own external hard drive (or laptop) if you want copies of the pictures.

Today’s type history lecture was about an overview of typography, typographers, and the development of visual styles from the 15th Century to today.

If you are interested in learning more, I recommend Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles, Volumes 1 & 2. These are great references that provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of type and its development. In order to accommodate a vast amount of material, the writers have divided the text into two volumes. Volume 1 covers 1600-1900, Volume 2 covers 1900 to the mid-20th century.

This book offers an overview of typeface design, exploring the most beautiful and remarkable examples of font catalogs from the history of publishing, with a special emphasis on the period from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, when color catalogs were at their height. Taken from a Dutch collection, this selection traverses the evolution of the printed letter in all its various incarnations via designed catalogs displaying not only type specimens in roman, italic, bold, semi-bold, narrow, and broad, but also characters, borders, ornaments, initial letters and decorations as well as often spectacular examples of the use of the letters. The Victorian fonts are accorded a prominent place in this book. In addition to lead letters, examples from lithography and letters by window-dressers, inscription carvers, and calligraphers are also displayed and described.

Featuring works by type designers including: William Caslon, Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, Peter Behrens, Rudolf Koch, Eric Gill, Jan van Krimpen, Paul Renner, Jan Tschichold, A. M. Cassandre, Aldo Novarese, Adrian Frutiger

Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles, 1901-1938 (Volume 2)

This book offers an overview of typeface design, exploring the most elegant fonts from the history of publishing.
Featuring works by type designers including: William Caslon, Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, Peter Behrens, Rudolf Koch, Eric Gill, Jan van Krimpen, Paul Renner, Jan Tschichold, A. M. Cassandre, Aldo Novarese, and Adrian Frutiger.

Why is knowing the history of typography important?

How can your knowledge of type history help you in approaching projects and work?

What other type history books can you recommend?

By wit and delight