What's Your Type 2010

via vneckandacardigan: Helvetica Cookie Cutters

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:52:46 -0500

via vneckandacardigan:

Helvetica Cookie Cutters

"Don’t be original, just be good."

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:01:01 -0400

“Don’t be original, just be good.”

- Paul Rand

Words of Wisdom

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:20:43 -0400

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?

So long, Farewell, Auf weidersehen, Good-bye

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:20:31 -0400

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.

Inclass Glitch Art Workshop Glitch art is an experimental type...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Inclass Glitch Art Workshop

Glitch art is an experimental type of art where digital or analog errors are intentionally made by either corrupting digital code/data or by physically manipulating electronic devices. The term is thought to derive from the German glitschig, meaning ‘slippery.’

In our inclass workshop, we manipulated a scanner to create glitch art from typography. We also filmed short videos using datamoshing.

What movement of your paper on the scanner produced the best result?

What other experimental glitch art techniques have you tried?

Why is glitch art an important experimental tool?

Datamoshing an experimental video technique where the I-frames...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Datamoshing an experimental video technique where the I-frames or key-frames of a temporally compressed video are removed, causing frames from different video sequences to bleed together.

One of the examples we discussed in class of applying datamoshing to work was this music video, “Evident Utensil” for the band Chairlift, directed by Ray Tintori of Court 13.

Final Type Specimen Posters The final type specimen posters are...

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Final Type Specimen Posters

The final type specimen posters are a solid proof that great typography skills is all about patience and refining your letterforms. Looking back at how these typefaces began and where they ended up today, it’s rewarding to see everyone’s progress. Great job all around.

What did you learn about creating a typeface?

What would you do differently?

Light Workshop Photos

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:42:29 -0400

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.

So you think you can tell Arial from Helvetica?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:35:45 -0400

So you think you can tell Arial from Helvetica?:

Take this quick quiz to test your Arial/Helvetica chops!

Amazing stop-motion music video made with typography.

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:20:45 -0400

Amazing stop-motion music video made with typography.

17 Amazing Inspirational Typography Videos

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:46:00 -0400

17 Amazing Inspirational Typography Videos

Type History in 2 Volumes!

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:24:29 -0400

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.

Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles, Volume 1

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?

Type Specimen Sheets The Type Specimen Sheets were due on...

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:11:48 -0400

Pesto type specimen sheet

Gashinamu type specimen sheet

Type Specimen Sheets

The Type Specimen Sheets were due on Thursday. The type specimen sheet layout should be printed on a single piece of paper and contain your typeface Title, all letters, numbers and punctuation. The design needs to be simple and minimal. The PESTO sheet was beautiful! Gashinamu came out great as well, and could be simplified by removing extraneous design elements.

The Type Specimen Posters are due tomorrow 7/20 (print it out on 11x17 paper). Remember to use color to make the posters beautiful and use contrast of size/direction/etc., to create a focal point.

Is your type specimen sheet and poster set up on a grid?

Check the blog for ideas for inspiration of existing type specimen posters. See everyone tomorrow!

What makes a successful type specimen poster?

Do you have any favorite type specimen sheets or posters we can share here?

Light Painting Typography Workshop Have you ever worked with...

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Light Painting Typography Workshop

Have you ever worked with long exposures on your camera? Long exposure photos allow you to get really creative if you have the right ideas. One of the coolest ideas is to make light graffiti. Steven Smith lead the light type workshop where we used different sources of light, a dark room and our camera set to a long exposure ranging from 5sec-30sec. The results are stellar!

We played with different options and created a whole alphabet. I also made a type specimen sheet from everyone’s letters. Here are a few of the pics from the light workshop.

What other examples of experimental typography can you name?

Ever think about where your favorite fonts are derived from?...

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:52:52 -0400

Ever think about where your favorite fonts are derived from? Bram Pitoyo, a self proclaimed “type nerd”, tells us about the secret history of fonts.

"A typeface’s name should reflect its best characters."

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:09:14 -0400

“A typeface’s name should reflect its best characters.”

- Ed Benguiat, legendary typeface designer, on choosing name for a typeface. (via Julia D.)

With the final type specimen sheets being due on Tuesday, here...

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:12:00 -0400

With the final type specimen sheets being due on Tuesday, here are a few notes to consider from Thursday’s crit:

- Ask a friend to look over your typeface to help you identify inconsistencies. Every letter, number and punctuation needs to be cohesive and feel like a seamless continuation of the typeface family.

- You may want to consider offering several versions of specific letters. For example, maybe your typeface offers 3 versions of the capital “A”: one standard, one slightly flourished, and one highly decorative (like a drop cap).

- How will you name your typeface? A name can leave a strong impression, so choose wisely.

- Be ready to tell your story that talks about the meaning, inspiration, process, etc., of your typeface. A personal narrative will always make your presentation engaging and compelling.

- Document your progress!

Good luck! See you tue!

The personal display typefaces are due next week. Many of you...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:19:27 -0400

The personal display typefaces are due next week. Many of you are making real progress, and successfully resolving details of proportion and contrast in your work. Chaska’s hand-embroidered script is impressive! I’m excited to see everyone’s final typefaces.

Few things to keep in mind:

- Sketch by hand! (not on the computer)

- Work on a grid. Look at the previous post “Anatomy of Type” to see how to set up a grid.

- Once the final typeface is finished, how will you photograph the final piece? Will you digitize your typeface?

- Remember to document your progress and efforts!

Thanks to Jamie for the in-class documentation photos!

The in-progress drop caps look great. Remember to emphasize a...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:17:05 -0400

The in-progress drop caps look great. Remember to emphasize a focal point through use of contrast, and paying attention to details to create a cohesive and balanced composition.

Type Mustaches

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:27:00 -0400

By wit and delight