MetaFilter posts tagged with type and design

Vintage Graphics Resource

netbros — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:53:39 -0800

Grain Edit is focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period. Site content includes interviews, articles, designers’ libraries, as well as examples of rare design annuals, type specimens, ephemera, posters and vintage kids books from their bookshelves.

Design Do's and Don'ts

netbros — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:16:27 -0800

The Design Cubicle articles focus on design tips and resources on all subjects of design; ranging from print, web, logo, branding, advertising and marketing. Popular articles include 10 Common Typography Mistakes and understanding the importance of good type skills; and 12 Common Photoshop Mistakes and Malpractice. The strategies behind designing a successful and memorable logo involve a process which progresses through various stages of listening, research, development, feedback and changes. 11 Steps of a Successful Logo Design Process.

Type Tart Cards

carsonb — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:32:02 -0800

Tart cards [NSFW] are the means by which many London prostitutes advertise their services. Step into almost any central London phone box and you can contemplate up to 80 cards inviting you to be tied, teased, spanked or massaged.... [Wallpaper Magazine] asked designers – from students to superstars – to find the tart hiding in every typeface and create their own graphic numbers.... all 450 cards can be viewed here. [NSFW]

In among this plethora of brilliant, witty graphic designs we would like to highlight the serious issue that lies at the heart of the world of tart cards – the plight of trafficked women in the sex industry. It is a subject touched eloquently on by Mike Dempsey of Studio Dempsey, who is a volunteer at the Helen Bamber Foundation which helps rebuild lives broken by human rights violations. While our exhibition is an ode to the graphic qualities of the tart card phenomena, Dempsey's design is a pertinent reminder of the sinister world that lies beneath every card.

Read Mike Dempsey's letter and design.

Typographic Mobiles

netbros — Sat, 30 May 2009 10:55:09 -0800

"I want our type to jump, scream, whisper and dance..." Ebon Heath and His Visual Poetry. "When I close my eyes I can see the words of great poets like Rakem or Tupac flying thru the air and dancing with the same physicality my body instinctually feels. My mobiles attempt to create a visual sense of rhythm and flow that is alive, not contained." This interview with Heath breaks down his Stereo.type and Purge projects. From the folks at Yatzer.com.

In case your system's fonts don't support the snowman.

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:15:23 -0800

Decodeunicode.org has a useful and full-featured search for the names and glyphs for those Unicode characters that display as a plain box full of despair. It is presented by the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz. Roll the dice ⚅⚄ and try it out. I hear if you know the secret hexadecimal number you can find an Obama glyph. Comment with the funniest candidate wins the internet.

419 spam received; put down, flipped, reversed.

heeeraldo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:31:19 -0800

Marian Bantjes, typographer, designer, and Layer Tennis competitor, received a 419 spam email and turned it into this print. She's also written a number of interesting pieces for Speak Up; my favorites are the ones on design clichés, posters from the War Effort, the design language of heraldry and a (satirical) critique of the alphabet.

¿How do you design a year?

signal — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:16:39 -0800

The 2007 Feltron Annual Report . via

Belles Lettres

youarenothere — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:19:52 -0800

Israeli designer Oded Ezer produces stunning works of experimental typography. He has been lauded for creating [PDF link]"...Hebrew characters that melt," but it is his more unconventional work that is truly breathtaking - made up of letters with vivacity and personality. He calls his gorgeously abstracted work "typo art," existing wholly neither in the space of art or typography, with hope that it might transcend language altogether. See his flickr stream for more sketches, works, and arresting typescapes.

Lines and splines

tepidmonkey — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:45:08 -0800

So You Want to Create a Font (Part 1, Part 2). For something with a less presumptive title, there’s this, this, this, this, this, or even this, Eric Gill’s An Essay on Typography.

"He saw the type designer as a kind of public servant"

tepidmonkey — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:27:25 -0800

It’s easy to talk about Adrian Frutiger in the past tense, since his most influential fonts – Univers, Egyptienne, and the eponymous Frutiger – are all at least thirty years old. But he is still alive, and in the summer of 2006, as he was presented with the Society for Typographic Aficionados’ annual Typography Award, type designer Mark Simonson gave a presentation on how Frutiger [pdf, 18 MB] affected, and continues to affect, him and all others who benefit from good typography.

The Humble and Wonderful Letterpress

The Deej — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:28:21 -0800

I loved this beautifully filmed short documentary on The Letterpress. For those of us who have ever risked our very own fingers for the cause of printing, or had the California Job Case burned into memory, this will be a trip down memory lane. For the rest of you, it may give you an idea for your next hobby.

"Your brain knows the shape of the word."

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:06:01 -0800

How the new type standard for American road signage reduces halation and improves readability.

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me

fandango_matt — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:12:35 -0800

Type The Sky: font project by a student at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Helvetica: The Apotheosis of the Invisible Art

digaman — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 10:07:15 -0800

In 1957, Swiss typographer Max Miedinger invented "the official typeface of the 20th century" -- Helvetica [previously discussed here, via Arts and Letters Daily].

Misprinted Type

hama7 — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:04:04 -0800

Misprinted Type.

Type Righter

Robot Johnny — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:14:10 -0800

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web. Robert Bringhurt's undisputed bible of typography until now has been limited to print design. This site, a work in progress, presents his principles one at a time, and explains how to follow them as a web designer using HTML and CSS.

Typetester

btwillig — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:18:39 -0800

Typetester, for web designers. via

The Scourge of Arial

Robot Johnny — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 12:35:38 -0800

The Scourge of Arial. It has spread like a virus through the typographic landscape and illustrates the pervasiveness of Microsoft's influence in the world. Arial, however, has a rather dubious history and not much character. In fact, Arial is little more than a shameless impostor...

Daily Typography Sketchbook

Robot Johnny — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:55:15 -0800

Daily Type is a creative project run by five russian type designers. Day by day, they create original typefaces and post their results along with routine.

Good type feels good

Robot Johnny — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:42:27 -0800

Thinking with Type The online companion to the book of the same name offers a nice little online primer on the finer points of typography, including my favourite new online game: Dumb Quotes. Remember kids: only you can prevent poor kerning.

Th-th-th-that's a lot of title cards, folks!

Robot Johnny — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 08:51:53 -0800

The Warner Bros. Cartoons Filmography And Title Card Gallery has more title cards and coloured rings than you can shake a carrot at. A great resource that goes hand-in-hand with this and this for all your Looney Tunes-related research.

A B See!

Robot Johnny — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 08:26:08 -0800

F o u n d t y p o g r a p h y

( ( ( I N C I N E M A S C O P E ) ) )

Robot Johnny — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 08:34:29 -0800

The title screens of hundreds of your favourite movies

Movies and fonts: together at last!

Robot Johnny — Wed, 03 Mar 2004 13:57:37 -0800

The Movie Alphabet Game is harder than it looks. I'm stuck on C, O, U, and X. When you're through with that, try the second one.

Let's go crazy, broadway style!

mathowie — Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:15:26 -0800

MetaFilter as a ransom note. Crazified by crazy sites. [via Adactio]