The Daily Drop Cap is an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.
posted by HumanComplex on Oct 30, 2009 - 19 comments

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.
posted by netbros on Sep 19, 2009 - 4 comments

Love Helvetica and modernist typographic design? Seen the film? Now, with the power of browser userscripts, you can have the 20th-century high-modernist experience in your favourite web applications. Scripts exist to Helveticise Gmail, Twitter and Google Reader, and work with a variety of modern browsers. [more inside]
posted by acb on Sep 15, 2009 - 69 comments

AMASSBLOG my name is james phillips williams. most everyone calls me jp. i have been a designer in new york for 20 years. i started this blog at the urging of my friends and fellow designers who were familiar with my manic collecting. my collections are varied but generally have to do with typography or design.
posted by OmieWise on Aug 31, 2009 - 11 comments

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] [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jun 26, 2009 - 39 comments

The Served is a family of sites that brings you a steady supply of top quality creative work in specific categories: Fashion, Industrial Design, Photography [some nsfw], Typography, and Motion Graphics. All projects are streamed directly from the owner's portfolios in the Behance Network, along with proper attribution and a direct link to contact information.
posted by netbros on Jun 8, 2009 - 5 comments

@Issue: is the online blog of The Journal of Business and Design. Topics of recent interest include Drawords, an ongoing caption this drawing project, and Typography in China, an explanation of the availability of Chinese typefaces. Also, @Issue interviews an iconic group that includes captains of industry and design.
posted by netbros on Jun 2, 2009 - 5 comments

"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. [more inside]
posted by netbros on May 30, 2009 - 8 comments

From 1895 to 1982 the Penrose Annual showcased typography and graphic design.
posted by the cuban on May 14, 2009 - 5 comments

Graphic Design Is: 50 Designs About Graphic Design
posted by The Whelk on May 9, 2009 - 26 comments

Can't talk, too busy looking at Andy Smith's art and typography
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Feb 18, 2009 - 7 comments

The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway. Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur? To answer those questions this essay explores several important histories: of the New York City subway system, transportation signage in the 1960s, Unimark International and, of course, Helvetica.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse on Nov 19, 2008 - 16 comments

This f*cking election. A babble tower.
posted by digaman on Nov 2, 2008 - 100 comments

Long-time CBS in-house designer Lou Dorfsman passed away this week. He did a lot of great work, but let's just focus on one part: His cafeteria wall at CBS, dubbed Gastrotypographicalassemblage. More about the wall. And an interview with Mr. Dorfsman about the wall.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Oct 26, 2008 - 14 comments

Marian Bantjes, typographer, designer, and Layer Tennis competitor, received a 419 spam email and turned it into this print. [more inside]
posted by heeeraldo on Jun 27, 2008 - 8 comments

The 2007 Feltron Annual Report . via
posted by signal on Jun 8, 2008 - 13 comments

15 Great Examples of Web Typography. Because 95% of web design is about typography in the first place.
posted by signal on May 8, 2008 - 48 comments

Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 NYC subway map is back Yours for the low, low price of 299 bucks for one copy of the limited edition of 500. (Previous MeFi comments on the famed design, which the New York MTA eventually shitcanned. [Via.])
posted by joeclark on Apr 24, 2008 - 30 comments

"Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage is an international educational exhibition which presents the history of tolerance and cohabitation of various ethnic groups in the territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commowealth and is addressed primarily to foreigners all around the world". This is achieved via a very beautiful flash site.
posted by peacay on Mar 25, 2008 - 11 comments

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.
posted by youarenothere on Jan 9, 2008 - 21 comments

Blue Vertigo | Web Design Resource Links
posted by Gyan on Nov 21, 2007 - 24 comments

Zigzag Zombie.

As part of the recent Dutch Design Week, students were instructed to produce an original typeset using thin, flat material (metal strips, tape, toilet paper, etc.) and then "pick one location, and create a large scale zigzag lettering and make passersby hallucinate."
posted by Terminal Verbosity on Nov 12, 2007 - 15 comments

A Website about Corporate Identity. A large archive of corporation logos with design credits, typeface identification (or, at least the typographic roots of the ID's.) and Pantone color information. Not at all complete, but it's a very nice start. Hopefully it will continue to expand. via: Grain Edit (design blog)
posted by JBennett on Nov 7, 2007 - 11 comments

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.
posted by tepidmonkey on Oct 3, 2007 - 14 comments

How the new type standard for American road signage reduces halation and improves readability.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Aug 11, 2007 - 47 comments

Type The Sky: font project by a student at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
posted by fandango_matt on Aug 6, 2007 - 14 comments

Fontfilter -- ever wondered what font a logo uses? Wonder no more. (site's in German but the chart is simple--there's also a reversed one, by font instead of by company)
posted by amberglow on May 29, 2007 - 14 comments

Lettermade This ongoing project, started in 1998, is aimed at documenting, appreciating, and recontextualizing vernacular letterforms and typography. (Design dorks rejoice!)
posted by ColdChef on May 7, 2007 - 7 comments

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.
posted by Robot Johnny on Mar 8, 2006 - 29 comments

The Pixel Plant offers 150 Pixel Fonts for between Free and 45 cents each.
posted by dobbs on Oct 22, 2005 - 7 comments

Typetester, for web designers. via
posted by btwillig on Sep 30, 2005 - 23 comments

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...
posted by Robot Johnny on Aug 9, 2005 - 97 comments

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.
posted by Robot Johnny on Jun 1, 2005 - 10 comments

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.
posted by Robot Johnny on Jan 31, 2005 - 15 comments

A chapter from Edward Tufte's upcoming book is online. [link contains roughly 2.2 MB of scanned images] Tufte, discussed here previously and author of what could be called the Strunk and White for scientists, statisticians, producers and consumers of visual information, takes a stab at a few issues right up the average MeFite's alley: the 9/11 commission report, fraudulent medical studies, and the rather dubious quantitative work of this unfortunate economist/art historian. For the ShillFilter suspicious, check out some of the great threads that haunt his site.
posted by fatllama on Jan 15, 2005 - 24 comments

Found typography
posted by Robot Johnny on Nov 17, 2004 - 13 comments

The title screens of hundreds of your favourite movies
posted by Robot Johnny on Jul 28, 2004 - 11 comments

Found Typography
... and if you liked that, please also try Hundreds of Thousands, both from Itchy Robot
posted by anastasiav on Jan 22, 2004 - 10 comments

Jakob Nielsen believes that Cleartype can save you $2000/year. Um, yeah, Jakob.
Go just for the experience of seeing the God of Ugly Design say, "We desperately need better-looking computers..."
[link via typographer.com]
posted by Su on Feb 7, 2002 - 34 comments