Bluray

This is my result for the final brief, unfortunately I'm having hard time uploading my other images due to my shitty internet connection but here is my final typeface

I also made some inline stroke versions same as the color variations shown in the triangles. Creating this type face was much tougher than I had imagined it would be. It really forced me to acknowledge the tedious hours of labour it takes typographers to create typefaces which are not only legible but also beautiful. This project was a nice way to end of the semester I'm pleased with the final results and plan to continue experimenting and perfecting this typeface as a portfolio piece.

Typography on the runway

Well they do say what you wear is reflective of your personality, designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoereno of Viktor&Rolf took this adage literally with their fall 2008 collection.


Interesting use of typography.

Alphabet: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography

Alphabets: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography is a gallery show in which 51 artists and designers from around the worls were asked to re-interpret the alphabet."The alphabets in the exhibition reflect a range of thinking about letters that encompasses the conceptual, illustrative, typographic, and beyond. Some of the artists have created their alphabets from a variety of non-traditional media or found objects, while others render their forms with pen and ink in obsessive detail. By presenting each alphabet removed from the context of words and typography, we focus on these 26 shapes as forms unto themselves rather than just the building blocks of words."http://www.posttypography.com/alphabet/alphabet.html

This experimentation brought about some interesting and diverse results. I've been contemplating making an alphabet from found objects for this brief and the images from this gallery show serve as great inspiration.

ANDREW BYROM / INTERIORS / 2003
A set of 26 table and chair frames built from steel tubing, Interiors forms a lowercase alphabet when viewed from certain angles. While some of the letters such as the h, m, and b look like basic chairs or tables, others like the e, t, and x become abstract, rather than functional, furniture.
Fabrication: Joel Wolter

APIRAT INFAHSAENG / SEVEN BOARD OF CUNNING / 2004
Constructed with Chinese Tangram puzzle tiles, Seven Board of Cunning takes the concept of Tangrams--that the tiles may be arranged into a variety of shapes--and applies it to typography, creating multiple versions of each letter.

MICHAEL STOUT (VISUALINGUAL) / IMAGEABILITY, PATHS / 2002
Pushing the limits of legibility, Imageability is a series of five fonts based on ideas from the book of the same title by Kevin Lynch. By reducing each letter to a minimal set of forms, Imageability explores the identifiers we use to navigate our landscape and language.

NANCY GUIRAGOSSIAN / DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE / 2004
Using her camera to document letter-shaped elements in her surroundings, Guiragossian created her alphabet while wandering the streets of Montreal.

HJARTA SMARTA / SELECTED / 2002
Hjarta Smarta used a sewing machine to stitch the letters of Selected for a museum exhibition on Swedish crafts

REAGAN MARSHALL / BODY LANGUAGE / 2005
In the typographic ballet Body Language, a dancer contorts herself inside a specially-constructed spandex bag to create letters from the human form.
Performed by: Amy Oldham

photos and captions: http://www.posttypography.com/alphabet/gallery.html

Collage Typeface

I stumbled upon this typeface and thought I'd share it with you all.
It's the work of German graphic designer Silja Goetz. I think the use
Victorian clip art, 1950's photography and illustration works very well to create and intricate, interesting typeface.

Hand Made

Hand rendered typefaces have been a dominant trend in graphic design for a little while now. I really appreciate this style and its endless treatments and applications. The use of hand renedered typefaces lends itself well to the design of t-shirt graphics, a venue I would possibly like to persue for the open brief. While researching I found this book entitled, Hand Job: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry. Scandolous title aside this book features some great examples of hand rendered type which range from ironic to elegant.

I know this is not necessarily typography related but I just have to share my love for the beautiful textiles of Finnish design company Marimekko. Marimekko was founded in 1951 in Helsinki by Armi and Viljo Ratia. Viljo tapped into his previous experience working at an unsuccessful oilcloth company and recognized the lack of creativity in the textile industry. He enlisted Armi to seek out graphic designers and applied their works to textiles. In order to promote their new high-quality fabrics they designed and produced a well received line of dresses. Marimekko has since grown from its humble beginnings, boasting flagship stores around the world, with clothing lines for men women and children; as well as a ready-made home furnishing collection.













What draws me to Marimekko's aesthetic is the use of bold color palettes and refined patterns. Their textile designs achieve the rare feat of simultaneously being modern and classic, a testimony to this is the iconic Unikko pattern. This pattern was created in 1964 by designer Maija Isola after Armi Ratia announced that no floral fabrics were to be designed at Marimekko due to their connotations with antiquated aesthetics. Isola broke the rules and instead created a design which proves that florals can be bold and modern. Unikko is just as popular today, with countless products available in the pattern.

Kate Moross

This is Kate Moross.



First off I must say she makes me so jealous. At 21 years old she's already collaborated with reputable companies such as Sony, 55DSL and Cadbury; designed magazine covers and posters and lets not forget her limited edition capsule line for famed UK fashion retailer Topshop. Jealous yet? I appreciate the playful, whimsical quality of her work and the juxtaposition of psychedelic, organic elements with isometric forms. check her out:http://www.katemoross.com/

So wrong...

yet so right?

Half Empty

Here's my process work for the Half Empty brief:

Things I have learned in my life so far

I have been quite a fan of Sagmeister's series "Things that I have learned in my life so far," so I was pleasantly surprised when I came upon these videos on you tube. Sagmeister has created an online community at www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com which encourages his colleagues to post their own interpretations of his now famous pearl of wisdom. The two videos posted below were done by Sagmeister himself, to kick start the project. I have included his comments below each video.

In a couple of minutes I am going to enter a sixty-ton tube that will, unlikely as it is if I just stop and think about it for a second, lift me and another two hundred people thirty thousand feet into a perfectly blue sky. Although this is rather miraculous, I take it for granted.
This is true of my work, of my relationships, of my city. I remember being on a road trip through Arizona, and as mesmerized as I initially was by the big sky and fantastical landscape, after day ten it seemed like just more red rocks to me.
I have lived in New York for seventeen years, and it’s still my favorite place in the world, but like so many of its inhabitants, I get lazy and take it for granted. So for this project we thought of designing typography created by situations we had never been in before in New York (and therefore could not possibly take for granted).

Keeping a diary supports personal development.I have kept a diary since I was twelve years old. During my already mentioned sabbatical in the year 2000, besides the many things I completed, I also found more time for diary writing.
My handwriting has deteriorated into such a scrawl over the years, with whole sections—written down during excited periods—too difficult to decipher, that I switched from writing in handwritten journals to typing on my laptop. I do use the diary to go back and reread certain passages, to see what my thinking was, and, most importantly, to discover things I feel need changing: When I have repeatedly described a circumstance or character trait of mine that I dislike, I eventually wind up doing something about it.
Having tried separate private and business diaries for a while but finding that too fussy, I now write at least once a week into a single file.
I published part of my diary from my client-free year as a little booklet sponsored and given away by the paper company Appleton. I do have to admit this has affected my diary writing every since; a little voice whispering, Other people might read this now seems to make itself heard in my head.
My old acquaintance Richard Johnson from Singapore offered a ticket and a budget to create another sentence there. He specified no particular media; the studio was free to design a book or a newspaper or a film or…
Having lived in Hong Kong in the early nineties I was fascinated by the bamboo scaffolding in service all over Southeast Asia and wanted to utilize this technique typographically. To expedite the permit process we sent location sketches off to Singapore.
The decision to shoot a film** instead of designing a book or billboards was made in a gutsy moment simply because this was the form I knew the least about. My only previous experience with the medium stemmed from codirecting a music video for Lou Reed. Even though the results were fine, I remember the process as being incredibly anxiety-ridden. I was without a doubt the person on the set who knew the least about filmmaking. The most enduring image from that shoot for me was a catering table covered by a cheap plastic tablecloth: Every time I passed it on my way to the loo I had to resist the longing to hide underneath.

Edible Type

I was recently assigned a brief in my DART 392 class which instigated a crazed photo adventure in search of some inspiring signage. Always having had a soft spot for all things of the so bad it's good variety, my group and I decided to focus on hand painted/hand rendered signage of neighborhood mom and pops shops.
Here are some of the highlights:







For the second part of the brief we decided to focus our attention on greasy spoon diners and created a typeface made entirely of food.