Here are some pages from The Speedball Lettering Textbook 20th Edition. There is a Type 101 course in there for sure. Continue reading →
21
Feb 11
Speedball Lettering Text Books
My first exposure to typography was through a Speedball Lettering Textbook. Looking back on them now, I am surprised at how much useful information they contain.
The Speedball Text Book Cover 11th Edition
The Speedball Text Book Cover 14th Edition
The Speedball Text Book Cover 17th Edition
20
Jan 11
Ayao Yamana, Japan, 1963
Photo’s of concert pamphlet for Tomingekijo Music Circle, 1960. These images are from an article found at http://grainedit.com/2010/09/01/ayao-yamana
16
Dec 10
Logotypes
The simplicity of these logotypes gives them their strength. Some Herb Lubalin classics and few more recent examples.
Jens Wickelgren, The Chase UK
The Chase UK
Paul Driver, Social UK
Herb Lubalin, 1980
Herb Lubalin, 1966
Design Herb Lubalin, 1965
13
Nov 10
Bratislav Milenkovic
Some really nice type experiments in grey from Bratislav Milenkovic, Belgrade. Serbia.
06
Oct 10
Red, Black, Circle and Square: The Suprematist Code
Malika Maxwell with the painting “Painterly Realism. Boy with Knapsack — Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension”, Kasimir Malevich, 1915, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
On a recent visit to The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, my five-year old daughter, Malika, and I were standing in front of the painting Boy with Knapsack–Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension by Russian Suprematist Kasimir Malevich. I have always regarded his work as an important turning point in art and graphic design. The strength and power of that painting, took my breath away. As I was admiring it my daughter looked up at looked up at me and asked “what’s the big deal dad?” As I fumbled to formulate a simple answer that a five-year old may understand, I realized how little I knew about Malevich and the Suprematist movement.
In this article I will examine the use of red and black and geometric shapes by Russian Suprematist and present a Russian children’s book that illustrates these Suprematist ideas.
In the first decade of the twentieth century Fauvism, Cubism, and Expressionism emerged. While these movements were progressive, they still hung onto objective forms, Matisse’s portraits, Picasso’s still life’s and Van Gogh’s landscapes.
In 1909 Filippo Marinetti, an Italian painter and poet shocked the world by publishing The Futurist Manifesto in Paris. It called for the destruction of museums, glorified speed, violence and warfare. Malevich studied Futurism. He said Marinetti’s nihilistic and provocative statements encouraged philippics about the ‘museum-cemeteries’ which emasculated the authority of eternal values.1 Continue reading →
03
Sep 10
Why does it look like that?
Figure 1. Detail of the Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johannes Gutenberg 1445, Hof Humbrect, Germany. The typeface is designed to mimic manuscripts of the day.
Figure 2. A detail from Italian publisher Aldus Manutius’ edition of Aetna showing the Roman typeface that would later be known as Bembo, 1495
In the mid fifteenth century, the famous forty-two line bible attributed to Johannes Gutenberg is considered the first book printed with movable type. His movable type was adapted from handwritten medieval manuscripts. Within fifty years of Gutenberg’s revolutionary accomplishment, the Italian publisher Aldus Manutius (fig. 2) had created type designs that exploited the physical properties of metal and were no longer entirely based on manuscripts.1 Continue reading →
03
Aug 10
Typology: The Digital Version
The digital version of Typology presents data similar to the poster version. However the viewer now assumes a cinematic point-of-view. The timeline becomes a three dimensional matrix in virtual space. The viewer can maneuver the camera’s eye through the data – over, under or around the images. As the camera approaches an image or a point in time, additional information will be revealed by animating images or text, by changing their relative size, bringing them into and out of focus, or manipulating their transparency. Links will appear that allow the viewer to dig deeper into the database. Continue reading →
03
Aug 10
Typology: 1915–1928
Cover, Typology Booklet #1, 1915–1919. Each booklet features typography from the respective period.
My visual thesis presents Roman typefaces designed during the years 1915–1928 in Europe and the United States. This is an exciting period of typographic history. The period was influenced by the Craftsman Style, Art Deco, Modern Expressionists, Dada, Cubism and the great modern institutions from Bauhaus to Hollywood. It offers designers rich grounds for exploration and appropriation.
The project is titled Typology. The word typology is a construction of type and ology meaning the study of type. The timeline format provides a chronological framework or matrix on which to hang samples of typefaces commercially released during the period. A type sample, designer’s profile, foundry and country of origin are included. The typefaces were drawn from multiple sources including the Linotype corporate website1, Global Type’s database2, Neil Macmillian’s, An A-Z of Type Designers3 and David Consuegra’s American Type Design and Designers.4 Continue reading →
03
Aug 10
Typology: Intro
Typology — Smart Typography
As an art director and graphic designer, I have found that most typographic references designers access, both in print and online, provide little information about type application, type design, type designers or the social or political events that may have affected their design. While much has been written about typography, busy designers working against deadlines rarely take the time to do research when making typographic decisions.
Online resources are often disorganized, incomplete or unreliable. Thus designers tend to make selections from the type menu on the computer or from specimen books that list typefaces with technical specifications. Most designers have limited type libraries due to the high cost. This results in typographic decisions being made based upon availability or formal attributes rather than with an understanding of the typeface origin and historical associations.
Typology is a visual-based resource for designers. It uses a timeline format with images of typefaces; social and political movements and events. It presents formal information in historical context. Designers and visual thinkers are able to quickly identify typeface designs in context of the visual landscape that existed at the time.
The following few posts present the Typology series and will attempt to put into words the thinking behind it. This work began as my MFA thesis at the University of Massachusetts. I am now developing the digital version which will be accessible online or as a application for mobile devices.
Read further here.