MetaFilter posts tagged with typography and fonts

Talking about Type

Mngo — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:42:41 -0800

Type Design on the Radio. TTBOOK (previously) does an hour-long program about typography (podcast here, RM stream here). Segments include interviews with Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones of Gotham fame (they say their "Obama Font" worked best of those in the campaign; others agree), a Verdana-centric interview with Matthew Carter (he comments on the IKEA kerfluffle), and interview Kitty Burns Florey, author of Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting . The podcast link will age out, but archives should be available here as a stream. The discussion is very non-technical.

Ikea de-Futurafies

joeclark — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:26:20 -0800

Ikea de-Futurafies. You may have noticed something at once familiar and unfamiliar about the 2009 Ikea catalogue: The company switched from a custom variant of Futura to the font you stare at all day in your browser, Verdana. And type nerds are losing their shit! Verdana is now being used company-wide – even for double-page newspaper ads and illegal urban graffiti campaigns. “They want to be able to give the same visual impression both in print and the Web,” says a report.

The London 7/7 Memorial

joeclark — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:23:57 -0800

Stelae for 7/7. The London 7/7 Memorial consists of “52 pillars (or ‘stelae’), cast in rough textured stainless steel, each representing one of the victims” of the 2005 terrorist bombing attack. Typographer Phil Baines (profile) explains the development of the rough-hewn yet “British” typeface, based on “the 19th-century, untutored signmakers’ sansserif you see on buildings around the city,” that is moulded into the living steel.

The H&FJ Institute for Unapplied Mathematics

netbros — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:27:28 -0800

Joe Palca, a science correspondent for NPR's Morning Edition, was meditating on the best way to convey the magnitude of the world's largest known prime number, 2^43112609-1. He contacted H&FJ at Typography.com to discuss the implications of typesetting a number with more than twelve million digits. Crunching of numbers and fonts ensued.

You Are My Type

netbros — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:23:09 -0800

The Ministry of Type is a weblog about type, typography, lettering, calligraphy and other related things. The FontFeed, from the folks at FontShop, is a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. Articles of interest in the archives include: Passenger and pedestrian symbols created in the early 20th Century; as part of the Isotype project set up by Otto Neurath to provide information to the often-illiterate proletariat. Central to banknote designs are Guilloche patterns, which can be created mechanically with a geometric lathe, or more likely these days, mathematically. Travel posters promoting travel to exotic eras and destinations, such as the Crimson Canyons of Mars, Tranquil Miranda, or the Winter Wonderland of the Ice Age. It’s not just the latest font technology, but also the most advanced, poised to replace the old TrueType and PostScript formats. Embrace the open type hype. The best contemporary handwriting typefaces in various writing styles — from print to cursive, simple to swashy. Sometimes, flat just doesn’t cut it, and we need to find other, more attractive ways to present designs. Tutorial: Photorealistic Perspective

I had always wanted to do this

Rinku — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:26:48 -0800

Make your handwriting into a font with Yourfonts. Download the PDF, draw your alphabet, scan and upload, then download the finished result. Examples. Via Drawn!

Cartype - gives a whole new meaning to E-type

1f2frfbf — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:51:30 -0800

Cartype has a huge repository of vehicle logos and other related typography. In addition, you can see collections such as shield and crest emblems, emblems with animals, and hand-painted type on cars. They cover European automotive history from the near mythic to the exotic. They also cover American iron from the old to the malaise years to the cutting edge of new.

The wrong fonts in ‘Mad Men’ (and sometimes the right ones)

joeclark — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:18:48 -0800

Definitive guide to fonts on Mad Men. Mostly the fonts that didn’t exist during the time of the show. Not every single thing is “historically accurate,” apparently. Improves on the various blog posts (and Flickr photos, like mine) on the topic, as you’d expect from Mark Simonson, ace spotter of typographic ahistoricism.

The state of hipster typography

mediocre — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:20:25 -0800

Ever since Napoleon Dynamite became a surprise hit in the summer of 2003, and the subsequent rise of Judd Apatow a trend in sentimental but cynical film comedy was born. But this post isn't about the comedy.. Napoleon Dynamite was a film dominated by artwork, specifically the pencil sketches of the protagonist. The child-like scrawlings meant to incite the memories of unbridled enthusiasm that youth brings. Moreso then any other specific typography, the words in the film were either a crude script of dubious penmanship or something akin to Action Jackson. Variants are seen, but it is most often seen as a hand-drawn, blocky font, often shadowed for added awesome. Soon, more movies with similarly quirky characters started coming out. The colored-pencil scrawl style has become a means of pandering to a specific demographic. The hip ster. When your movie poster needs to convey a youthful romanticism, go for Action Jackson. When you need to appeal to the ironic sentimentality of your late teenage years, Action Jackson is where it's at. It doesn't stop at movies and television either. Are you a comedian and need to convey cynicism but with a childlike wink and a nod? Go for Action Jackson. Or just write it poorly, possibly with the wrong hand. What does the future of Action Jackson hold? Only time will tell..

Empire Poster Thread.

daHIFI — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:02:36 -0800

Can you guess these movies from just one letter of the poster? Empire has put together a little quiz to test your movie font knowledge. Guess the movies from just one letter in the film's poster title. Via Neatorama

the quick brown fox

oneirodynia — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:19:11 -0800

The handwriting of typographers.

Synaesthesia Ho!

geos — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:45:03 -0800

The MeeK FM Typographic Synthesizer(tube.)

He kissed me, he kissed me. Yecch.

growabrain — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:12:42 -0800

The story behind Woody Allen's signature typeface (with screengrabs from each film). Via. Bonus: 11 minutes from the opening of Annie Hall redone with Getty Stock Video by Aleksandra Domanovic

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.

A Website about Corporate Identity.

JBennett — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:16:12 -0800

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)

Stereotypography

litfit — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:50:29 -0800

Why is Lithos is so pervasive on the covers of books by African American authors? What does Hot Tamale, or Bagel, or Faux Chinese imply? Rob Giampietro and Jessica Helfand share ruminations on stereotypography.[3quarksdaily] [Design Observer] [Giampietro+Smith]

"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.

Type in the Toronto Subway

chunking express — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:39:27 -0800

Inscribed in the living tile: Type in the Toronto subway by Joe Clark From the abstract:

The Toronto subway has a typographic heritage all its own, starting with a unique font. But, with renovation after renovation and after a series of new station additions, signage and wayfinding in the system are a total mess. The latest “standard” in Toronto subway signage uses fake Helvetica and is a clone of Massimo Vignelli’s work from 40 years ago.

TypoWiki

amberglow — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:46:31 -0800

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)

Type, handwriting, and lettering

persona non grata — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:50:25 -0800

Type, handwriting, and lettering

Sub-Pixel Rendering

falconred — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:51:29 -0800

How Sub-Pixel Rendering Works: a method of anti-aliasing, sub-pixel rendering (or ClearType as Microsoft calls it) exploits the fact that pixels on LCD screens are actually made up of three sub-pixels: red, blue, and green. By constructing fonts using the sub-pixels, the results are arguably smoother lines and easier-to-read type. Sadly (or happily) CRTs benefit little, if at all, from the technology.

fonted bookend

plexi — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:50:09 -0800

Typographica's Favorite Fonts of 2005

Cheap Pixel Fonts

dobbs — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:18:22 -0800

The Pixel Plant offers 150 Pixel Fonts for between Free and 45 cents each.

Not My Type

sjvilla79 — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 05:45:34 -0800

Not My Type - An office and its occupants, made entirely of typographic characters, create a theatre of emotion. View the separate animations (Flash) 1, 2, 3 and 4. Also, visit an article on the work's concept development and storyboarding process. And there's more via Google.

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...