Tag Archives: typography

Print Matters

Welcome back, Photo-Lettering.

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 12, 2011

Photo-Lettering becomes more than just a dated catalog of typographic treasures.

Design world, meet Photo-Lettering, Inc.

House Industries, in collaboration with Erik van Blokland and Christian Schwartz, has just re-released the expansive library of display type from the seminal type house Photo-Lettering. The unveiling of Photo-Lettering’s web platform brings long-unavailable typography straight to the desktops of the world’s designers: a series of simple steps allows users to set their headline and then purchase an affordable vector version of the setting with liberal licensing restrictions.

How exactly did House Industries come to release a collection of dated decorative typography? The original Photo-Lettering type house closed its doors in 1985 after 57 years of operation, and eighteen years later in 2003 House Industries purchased the remaining assets and got to work making the typographical treasures available on a mass digital scale.

The website’s extensive history section reveals the passion and energy of the PLINC team; these folks are serious about the resurrection of the type library and have done endess research to power the project. The History, Ideas and Films sections contain enough rich content to keep you busy for hours, and that’s not even considering the time you could spend typesetting headlines in the extensive lettering catalog.

Go forth. Resurrect historical typography. Make beautiful headlines.

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Book Report

Book review: Tobias Frere-Jones | Gerrit Noordzij Prize Exhibition monograph

By Ian Lynam | Published: February 4, 2011

TFJ's typographic monograph shines.

Though published in 2009, I didn’t come across Tobias Frere-Jones’ first monograph until this year. In 2006, Frere-Jones became the first American to receive the Gerrit Noordzij prize, presented by the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in honor of his unique contributions to type design, typography and type education. Responsible for almost 50 font designs, Frere-Jones’ irrepressible investigations are heavily influenced by older American typography and signage. This publication documents his different typeface designs and is accompanied by essays, observations and photographs taken from the designer’s archives, all presented in a fittingly well-designed edition.

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Fresh Ink

The Ultimate Chipboard Trio

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: February 1, 2011

TRLA gets a new look.

When Will Bryant and Mark Menjivar join forces, terrific things happen. Terrific chipboard things, to be specific.

Will and Mark worked together to create this identity system for the youth advocacy arm of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA). Mark works with TRLA to offer aid to youth experiencing homelessness. He got in touch with Will to help him create a series of print items that could be at once beautiful, useful and durable. From that collaboration came three print pieces: a business card, a pocket postcard, and a Scout Book with custom-printed interiors that acts as a Youth Rights Booklet. Will also did the lettering and design for the snazzy TRLA Youth website. Chipboard internet? We’re into it.

In addition to being a chance to create a set of fun printed pieces, Will looks at this collaboration as an opportunity to help out: ”Enabling youth [with] the opportunity to better their circumstances is huge! Most of the kids come from rough backgrounds, so having access to this knowledge empowers them and provides hope for the future,” he told us. “It’s a blessing to be involved with a project that does this.”

And that, print friends, is why we think of Scout Books as little books for big ideas.

Check out print details and see more photos below.

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Book Report

Ray Fenwick’s MASCOTS, coming soon.

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 18, 2010

Bound in one volume: paint, typography, language and humor.

Ray Fenwick is not just an image maker. He has a command for language that places his work on the border between the personal and the universal, creating a bizarre balance of playful irreverence and poignant humor. The man makes smart work, and it looks good too.

A new book called Mascots, forthcoming from Fantagraphics, collects a myriad of bright-colored typography and image work, pulling in original paintings, quick sketches, comics and art.

We haven’t seen it yet, so there will be no talk of what the ink smells like or what the cover stock feels like. However, we can safely assume that print details will be overshadowed by the exuberant content.

Pre-order a copy here, and be sure to watch Ray’s homemade trailer for Mascots.

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Print Matters

The Book Cover Archive

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: September 30, 2010

An online bookshelf of beautiful things.

This week on Bangback, we’ve looked at an online archive of book covers and some beautifully designed specimens of print. Here’s an entry that is at once both of those things. The Book Cover Archive is an online catalog of, well, book covers. Its glory is in your ability to search the collection by publisher, designer, author, illustrator, and a whole slew of other attributes. This is a valuable resource for any design student and eye candy for any typography nerds. My one complaint is that the image compression makes everything a bit grainy. The good design of the site sets me up to expect crisp, clear images, but I suppose I can just head to a bookstore to browse these covers in super high resolution.

The project is powered by Ben Pieratt of General Projects and Eric Jacobsen of Whisky Van Gogh Go. Their blog, though updated infrequently, is full of gems. The above book covers were designed (left to right) by Isaac Tobin with illustration by Ray Fenwick and by Gray 318.

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Print Matters

So You Need A Typeface

By Clifton Burt | Published: September 23, 2010

So You Need A Typeface is a humorous look at the process of selecting type

Danish graphic design student Julian Hansen created So You Need A Typeface, a tongue-in-cheek flow chart to walk you through the process of type selection. There are nuggets of type-selection truths sprinkled throughout this piece. For example:

• Not afraid to be asked if you live in the nineties?

• What is your opinion of Eric Gill?
(If you’re not familiar with the contentious life of Eric Gill, you should probably read up about him so that your usage of Gill Sans or Perpetua can be in used in full knowledge.)

• (Do you need) A champion in usability?
…this one leads to Caslon as a logical conclusion. I couldn’t agree more!

This one made me LOL…
• Everybody loves Garamond

Although this piece was made with humor in mind, in actuality there are far worse methods of arriving at a decision about type (anything that involves the word ‘funky’ would qualify as worse). In fact, following this chart to the letter wouldn’t be a bad strategy because the outcomes of each scenario end in the age-old well-vetted production typefaces such as Garamond, Futura, Palatino, Didot, and Helvetica and the chart routes you into classic usage of each of them. So, a tip of the hat to Julian for creating a useful resource. And he’s made it available as a poster.

Via Inspiration Lab

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Print Matters

Webtype propels us into the future

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: August 20, 2010

Better fonts make better websites.

Ellen Lupton thinks typography is what language looks like. I think the internet is what the future looks like. So is Webtype what the future of language looks like?

This week marked the launch of Webtype, a new resource developed to equip web designers with a palette of quality, appropriate fonts for use online. With SoTA’s TypeCon2010 currently taking place in Los Angeles, the timing of the release of Webtype is apt, to say the least.

Webtype is the brainchild of a diverse cast of experts that include type veterans Font Bureau, Roger Black and Ascender Corporation. While the premise of the project itself is exciting enough–better type makes better websites–Webtype employs new approaches to typography that address new design challenges of our changing information landscape.

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Book Report

A Must-Have Type Catalogue for any Designer

By Austin Whipple | Published: June 23, 2010

7 Lbs of Typography

Title: Specimen Book and Catalogue 1923
Publisher: American Type Founders Company
Published:1923
Available: Used…if you’re lucky

Scrambling from my burning house, the smoke billowing around my head, I return one last time to save my...1923 Type Specimen Book and Catalogue from the American Type Founders Company.

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Book Report

Antique Packaging by Josep Maria Garrofé

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: June 22, 2010

Antique Packaging by Josep Maria Garroté

Title: Antique Packaging
Author: Josep Maria Garrofé
Publisher: Ginko Press, Inc., Corte Madera, California
Published: September 2008
Available: Powell’s Books, $29.95

Our friend Emily Martin brought this book by the shop a few weeks ago, excited to share the beautiful old packaging contained within. We dug into it, amazed by the typography, the texture, and the colors. Filled to the brim with examples of cardboard packaging from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this book serves as a rich library of inspiration for graphic designers, artists, typographers and ephemera fans alike. Though the brief historical introduction to packaging feels incomplete and scattered, the collection of images is the true star of this volume. The packaging speaks for itself.

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Print Matters

Steven Heller, Typography and Book Design

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: June 9, 2010

Steven Heller celebrates an era of deliberate book design

“How genteel are these designers, how wonderful were the days when designers spoke of their types like wine.”

Steven Heller writes the Daily Heller as part of Print Magazine’s online offerings. His recent column, The Bouquet of Type, celebrates the beauty of a well-chosen book typeface and the synergy of legibility and spirit that results from that good choice.

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