Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Yuken Teruya
He makes beautiful art out of the most ordinary things!! It's amazing! and i love the layout and design of his website!
The "I can read movies" series.
Great old school design approach for these covers for books...that are also movies. Very simple and clean, i like.
Layer Tennis??
Stumbled upon something that I thought was pretty interesting...to designers anyway. It's called Layer Tennis, see for yourself.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Laptop Battle
So apparently there's an event in New Zealand called the "Laptop Battle." I don't really know what it is, but I dig the advertisement. The designer is a guy named Markus Hofko.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann is an architect, type designer, and author of books and articles on type and typography. He was the founder of MetaDesign, Germany’s largest design firm. In 1988, he and his wife Joan Spiekermann started Fontshop, a company for production and distribution of electronic fonts. He left MetaDesign in 2001 and now runs SpiekermannPartners. He is also a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen. As viewer’s can see in the documentary film, Helvetica, Spiekermann is a proud hater of the typeface that gave the film its name. He has designed many of his own typefaces. Three of them include Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta, and ITC Officina.
Spiekermann’s typeface, Berliner Grotesk (image A), is a san serif typeface. He tends to favor san serifs. It is based on Berthold’s 1913 Berliner, designed by Hausschnitt. Spiekermann redesigned and digitized it for his foundry. All of the strokes are evenly weighted, with few variances. The design is very distinctive, especially the miniscule “g” and the majuscule “R.” All of the letterforms have a high x-height, short descenders, and rough edges. This makes it appropriate for advertising, displays, and short blocks of text. It would work well for book titles and because of its bold weight, it could also work well for some headlines. Although double-story miniscule “g’s” are usually used in serif typefaces, Spiekermann utilizes this kind of “g” in Berliner Grotesk. Berliner Grotesk also gives off an “outdoorsy” feel, so it would be great for the logo and brand identity for an outdoor company. This typeface catches the viewer’s attention in a playful way while still being able to get a serious point across. It is a typeface that one would not get easily bored with.
FF Meta (image B) is the most famous and influential out of all of Erik Spiekermann’s typefaces. In the FF Meta family, there is what seems to be an endless amount of weights and/or styles. It is a very modern typeface that would be very appropriate for advertisements having to do with technology. It would be a great typeface for a computer company to use. It is very clean, simple and it gives off a professional feel. All of the strokes are evenly weighted throughout the typeface, with little to no variances. The dots above the miniscule letters “j” and “i” seem to be larger than those of other typefaces. Just like Spiekermann’s other typeface, Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta also has a miniscule “g” with double stories. Because FF Meta is easy to read, it can require either loose or tight kerning, as long as it is not done to the extreme either way. This makes it very versatile. It is a good alternative to “overused” typefaces such as Helvetica. It is a great typeface that fits in well with the twenty-first century.
A third typeface that was designed by Erik Spiekerman is called ITC Officina (image C). It is a san serif typeface, but the miniscule “i” and “j” and the majuscule “J” have slight serifs on the top of them that sit towards the left. This typeface requires looser kerning and tracking because tighter kerning would make it harder to read. ITC Officina can also be used in many different styles and weights. It is said to be a typeface of the 1990’s and was created for contemporary offices. It was made so it could be read even if the room is not well lit and it is slightly condensed to accommodate more information on a page. Because it is so easy to read, it would also be a perfect typeface for body texts of magazines. It also gives off a professional, serious feel, so it would be good to use for a formal letter or pamphlet. Unlike the other two typefaces by Spiekermann that have been mentioned, ITC Officina does not have a double-story miniscule “g.” It is also the most boring of the three typefaces, which makes it the perfect typeface for all of those boring offices out there.
While Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta, and ITC Officina are only three of Erik Spiekermann’s typefaces, they show his versatility and creativity as a typographer. They also show that his work is always changing as time progresses. All three give off a different feel to the viewer, but each can be used in multiple ways. They are also great alternatives for the mundane typefaces that we seem to see people using everyday. As you can see through his work, Spiekermann is out to make great typefaces so others can see that there’s more to type than just Helvetica.
References
http://www.identifont.com/show?3MV
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/itc/itc_officina_pro_complete_vp/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Spiekermann
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/designer/erik_spiekermann/
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/berliner-grotesk-bq/familytree.html
Spiekermann’s typeface, Berliner Grotesk (image A), is a san serif typeface. He tends to favor san serifs. It is based on Berthold’s 1913 Berliner, designed by Hausschnitt. Spiekermann redesigned and digitized it for his foundry. All of the strokes are evenly weighted, with few variances. The design is very distinctive, especially the miniscule “g” and the majuscule “R.” All of the letterforms have a high x-height, short descenders, and rough edges. This makes it appropriate for advertising, displays, and short blocks of text. It would work well for book titles and because of its bold weight, it could also work well for some headlines. Although double-story miniscule “g’s” are usually used in serif typefaces, Spiekermann utilizes this kind of “g” in Berliner Grotesk. Berliner Grotesk also gives off an “outdoorsy” feel, so it would be great for the logo and brand identity for an outdoor company. This typeface catches the viewer’s attention in a playful way while still being able to get a serious point across. It is a typeface that one would not get easily bored with.
FF Meta (image B) is the most famous and influential out of all of Erik Spiekermann’s typefaces. In the FF Meta family, there is what seems to be an endless amount of weights and/or styles. It is a very modern typeface that would be very appropriate for advertisements having to do with technology. It would be a great typeface for a computer company to use. It is very clean, simple and it gives off a professional feel. All of the strokes are evenly weighted throughout the typeface, with little to no variances. The dots above the miniscule letters “j” and “i” seem to be larger than those of other typefaces. Just like Spiekermann’s other typeface, Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta also has a miniscule “g” with double stories. Because FF Meta is easy to read, it can require either loose or tight kerning, as long as it is not done to the extreme either way. This makes it very versatile. It is a good alternative to “overused” typefaces such as Helvetica. It is a great typeface that fits in well with the twenty-first century.
A third typeface that was designed by Erik Spiekerman is called ITC Officina (image C). It is a san serif typeface, but the miniscule “i” and “j” and the majuscule “J” have slight serifs on the top of them that sit towards the left. This typeface requires looser kerning and tracking because tighter kerning would make it harder to read. ITC Officina can also be used in many different styles and weights. It is said to be a typeface of the 1990’s and was created for contemporary offices. It was made so it could be read even if the room is not well lit and it is slightly condensed to accommodate more information on a page. Because it is so easy to read, it would also be a perfect typeface for body texts of magazines. It also gives off a professional, serious feel, so it would be good to use for a formal letter or pamphlet. Unlike the other two typefaces by Spiekermann that have been mentioned, ITC Officina does not have a double-story miniscule “g.” It is also the most boring of the three typefaces, which makes it the perfect typeface for all of those boring offices out there.
While Berliner Grotesk, FF Meta, and ITC Officina are only three of Erik Spiekermann’s typefaces, they show his versatility and creativity as a typographer. They also show that his work is always changing as time progresses. All three give off a different feel to the viewer, but each can be used in multiple ways. They are also great alternatives for the mundane typefaces that we seem to see people using everyday. As you can see through his work, Spiekermann is out to make great typefaces so others can see that there’s more to type than just Helvetica.
References
http://www.identifont.com/show?3MV
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/itc/itc_officina_pro_complete_vp/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Spiekermann
http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/designer/erik_spiekermann/
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/berliner-grotesk-bq/familytree.html
Friday, January 9, 2009
Fountain
The way the "Fountain" logo changes with each typeface you click on is very creative. Also, the way they show multiple words as examples for each typeface is very helpful because it allows you to see how the type looks with different words and sentences.
Psy/ops
Because you can just drag the mouse over the type to see the typefaces, instead of clicking everywhere, it makes it easy to see all of the different options. Also, the thin, clean lines don't make it seem to busy or cluttered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)