photographer bela borsodi

I completely needed this.

by Sawyer Hollenshead/ quote by Ira Glass.

----- Wish I've Done That -----

Tony Ziebetski "Type Scan" Typography

Source

----- A Kerning Game! -----

*NERD ALERT* Kerning is the spacing between two individual character. So when you kern in creative software, it means you are selecting how much space goes between, for example here, the "v" and the "e". There's a game for it!

Play

This adorable typographic illustration is actually making me feel more positive; not just from the encouraging words but the fact i can relate to each single phrase, thus proving all the fuss and stress I carry daily are also felt by other creatives; i'm not alone and I belong.  "Clean your workspace", I thought I had OCD! I really do that when i've struck a creative block—reorganize work station, closet, or entire bedroom.

I'm working on "take risks" "break the rules" "finish something" "stop trying to be someone else's perfect".

May I add: #30 Stop logging in and out of facebook profusely
                    #31 Stop perusing online shopping sites
                    #31 Get off the internet. period.
                    #32 But keep blogging ;)

Handmade Type from Tien-Min Liao on Vimeo.

----- Comic Without Sans! -----

What if Comic Sans took over logos?

For those readers who don't speak French — but, seriously who is even reading my blog— 'sans' in French mean 'without'; in type, it means without serif, which are the little stroke in the letters. In my world, Comic Sans is ironically named because we really can go "without" it. I remember in my childhood days, when home desktop computers were happening, Comic Sans was kind of cool because honestly there wasn't much to offer in the font book. Now it has become the world's most hated font. There are so many jokes, mockery and essays against it (there is even a ban comic sans group); the reason? Comin Sans is like an indirect, kick in the groin insult to typographers. The time it takes to design a set of typeface is so strenuous and detailed, accurate and planned, the job is not haphazard, and it is what Comic Sans look like: a lazy, child job. We have no excuse now for lazy-looking fonts; yesteryear, we didn't have many fonts to begin with; todayyear, floods of excellent, I-could-cry-because-it's-so-beautiful fonts bombard our repertoire, and hand-written font look less lazy.

Comic Sans, designed by Vincent Connare, was modeled after comic books (no way!), and introduced it in Windows 95 (ah, the good old days). Connare, while on job, discovered the wrong use of Time News Roman in a software that is meant to be casual, Times News Roman seemed too serious. Thus he created the softer font with curves. Initially the results were positive, like I said, there weren't anything similar back then. Type was not not a priority at offices and homes, people never thought emotions can be projected through the choice of font.

Office workers unfortunately still use it, probably to send spam mail to each other (remember the crazy ones telling you must send it to 20 friends else you will have no love life, IN COMIC SANS). To me, Comic Sans cannot be used for text due to its lack of readability, and be seldom used as header. Children is probably the only exception; though there are much better suited fonts today.

Time to waste? Youtube: comic sans.

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole from joehollier on Vimeo.

BBC Article
Ban Comic Sans

http://youtu.be/eGG_UZE0Rxs

- Is that a gram ?
- New card. What do you think ? 
Whoa-ho. Very nice.  Look at that.
Picked them up from the printer's yesterday. 
Good coloring.
That's bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Rail.
It's very cool, Bateman, but that's nothing. Look at this.
That is really nice.
Eggshell with Romalian type. What do you think ?
Nice.
Jesus. That is really super. How'da nitwit like you get so tasteful?
I can't believe that Bryce... prefers Van Patten's card to mine.
But wait. You ain't seen nothin' yet.  
Raised lettering, pale nimbus... white.
Impressive. Very nice. Hmm. Let's see Paul Allen's card.
Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it.
Oh, my God. It even has a watermark.
Is something wrong, Patrick ?  You're sweating.

The famous business card scene in American Psycho.

----- "Words Have Meaning, And Type Has Spirit" -----

amen.

It's a quote from renown graphic designer Paula Scher in this featured documentary on typography. The video is a little short but enough to satisfy our sweet brain (like as in sweet tooth but for the mind, get it? haha?). It's really gratifying to listen and watch graphic designers discuss passionately about, what seems to be, day-to-day things because when they finish, the ordinary stuff is nothing but unordinary. Here are a few favorite quotes from the designers in the clip:

"Type faces are not toys, they're tools; they're designed to solve problems."
Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones

"Types are not merely about forms, they're about design systems and how they relate with one another."
"Typeface is little bit like a carpet. I kinda look at it from a point of view of texture and how readable that texture is"
- Eddie Opara

"Everything is about identity; everything is about expressing individuality."
"It's the joy of what happens with colour and form and information."
- Paula Scher

It's hard to explain the feeling and connection graphic designers have with typography. You may see them merely as the dreadful Times New Roman in your essay papers; or the overused Arial on your screen. I, speaking for myself, see every letter in a typeface as individual art work designed to communicate harmoniously together with other visual shapes, colours and forms, building a synchronized system. It's about the way fonts can communicate emotions; talk and speak visually; adding depth and experience. My inner GD geek moment comes out when I spot beautifully used and/or designed typography, and I find myself in awe, literally, like witnessing a miracle, watching an adorable toddler, watching Youtube puppy videos, or like an emotional foodie eating a plate of aphrodisiac. Simply: Sigh.

ps. Shout out to PBS: i'm sorry I grew up and stopped watching your channel. Pappyland
was my favorite art show; my love for food and cooking was started with watching Julia Child and Jacque Pepin shows (I went berserk when they collaborated). I'm happy you're doing this series.

----- Mmm Typographic Deliciousness -----

This one is from Pentagram for Max Lamb who was commissioned by a London HSBC Private Bank to create a sculpture and this piece is a recording of the process for that special occasion. I really fell in love with the typography as the leading role in the project. The simplicity, the black, off-white, and gray format: bliss.

----- Typographic Hierarchy -----

Typographic Hierarchy from tonypritchard on Vimeo.

This video may start off rather dull and slow, but if you have a keen interest for graphic design and how things come together, stay on because it is a great video explaining how text structure comes together in the order of importance, which we call typographic hierarchy. It's amazing how much thought is put into a graphic design work, and sadly no one has a clue.

----- Matthew Carter -----

Verdana, Snell Roundhand, Bell Centennial — sound familiar? Probably not for most people. These are typefaces commonly found in most design and word processing software. And these typefaces aren't usually developed out from the bloom or by random process; type designers exists.

Really? They do? But what kind of a job is that?

Well it's quite a big one. Imagine every letter of the alphabet is treated attentively like an individual art piece, that's 26 pieces to work on! Think about height, symmetry, shape, balance, and uniform —it's complex. If you study closely at two similar typefaces, from far you probably won't notice any difference, but details in the curves and thickness are there. A reason is created for every space and size of the letter, so when you type out your next email or letter, everything looks readable and together.

One of the famous type designer living today is Matthew Carter. He is the Godfather of type design. He designed all the types I mentioned at the start of the blog. Quick facts: he came and studied from London; father was a typographer, book designer; spend most of his youthful years studying type, hand making type —the old fashioned way, none the less; designed for Microsoft and AT&T. Anyway, long story short: he finally introduced a new font under his name. It's a humanist sans serif type: a casual calligraphy-like, more organic shaped letters. A whole new blog will be required just to explain what that meant.

Buy Carter Sans, click here.
More info on Mr. Carter, click here.
Now, you are wondering why typefaces are so expensive—but they're just letters! Well, that could be said for many things that have been designed and made with care and time. I think I'd pay $150 for a typeface over a fois gras truffle burger, or something as steep as that, anytime.

----- Prints! Prints! Prints! -----

After looking and reading around about "Keep Calm and Carry On", I fortuitously found this site called Keep Calm Gallery, which coincidentally is also selling the posters, features all sorts of typographic posters, both old and new. I'm very fond of it because typography makes me giggle with glee. And these are definitely making me want to design some posters.


Keep Calm Gallery

----- Keep Calm and Say What? -----

I guess I really have been living under rock because it's been confirmed by these posters that has gone viral for sometime. "Keep Calm and Carry On", the message passed on from King George VI, were hand painted war posters of the British Ministry of Information during WWII when they were attempting to encourage its citizens to keep their heads up during history's most tremendous suffering. As the war ended, these posters were rolled up and stored away, mostly disposed, except for two copies. It was not until a store keeper found them, and from there, it blew up into a mass produced phenomenon. See them on mugs, towels, notepads, thermos, paper bags; anything you can think of; milking as much as it can lasts. Nostalgia is often the perfect formula to draw attention, and money. This classic typographic design has unfortunately become clichéd. Overused and ubiquitous to the point it is mocking itself. Parodies are drawn up everywhere. I decided to join the bandwagon and made a parody of my own.

Source

-----I see myself as a Courier kind of person-----

A really engaging and entertaining interactive questionnaire to determine which "type" you are. Made by Pentagram!

What Type Are You?