TYPE1,P3

Redesigning NYLON was hard. Layout is definitely my weak point. I started working on the illustration for the cover first. I got it to where I wanted using some rad photoshop brushes. Next, I took a good look over the magazine's cover, and went to work mimicking some of it's more predominate elements. These were: gradients, colored names, gray colored characters, and the UPC lable. I think the cover came out looking awesome. I added a nice paper texture behind everything to make it look like it was all colored by hand.

The table of contents was where the fight with systems based layout began. Not being the best at these, I took the route of mimicking the layout that NYLON had made. I used their ideas for heirarchy and layout, but took away a column of text, and added my own copy and article names. I learned a lot from doing this actually. Like how the page numbers are the biggest thing on the page, then the article names are bold and smaller, then the explanations of the articles are in a thin version of the typeface being used. It works really well.

The opening spread was a lot of fun. Small amounts of text were a nice break from the toc and I got a chance to really get into the gradients and use really big typography for the headline of the article. This was nice, and a good page to play around on, and not worry about being so formal.

Next, I tackled the two pages of text. This was hard. I'm not super comfortable with this yet, but I think I'm getting better. The first issue was when I went to print it out and everything was HUGE! I downsized the body copy, and printed again...still too big. I finally got it to where it was looking appropriately, then I noticed that the line length was looking TOO long, but then I looked back at my copy of NYLON and thankfully, they had similar non-conventionally long lines of text. Saved me a headache.

In all, I think this project turned out well. It still needs some work and I think that's good. There's a lot of potential awesomeness here to discover later on down the road.

TYPE1,P2

Wild West Supper is sweet. Yeeehaw! This project came a long way from its initial conception. The hardest part of this project was figuring which typefaces complimented each other and didn't end up looking gimmicky. I decided to use just one family of type for the body copy, and one totally different type for the headlines (Menu, Guest list, etc.).

Staining the card rather than printing a color onto it makes it so much better. I used coffee to turn it yellow. What's awesome is that it still smells a little like it...so it's like a scratch and sniff dinner invite! Yes.

I had tons of fun writing about the people coming to the party, and about the party in general. Copy writing is fun, and it's nice when you can get silly and make things up, or use words from actually wild west vernacular like, "table-muscle," or "dough wrangler." Those are my two favorites. I think that it might be something that gets lost to a lot of people who just glance over the card, but those who look at it closely are in for a treat.

TYPE1,P1

I think, "Hella Sweet" was really fun to design and came out looking awesome, even though whoever reviewed me said it was "#1" on their "weakest projects" list. Everyone who sees it says it makes them hungry, and that it's way better looking than the ice cream on those Tillamook ice cream ads around town, which is something that tells me people enjoy it. I think as an actual typeface that people can use in day to day design work, it has no place. It's more of a fun, expressive typeface that can really only be implemented in small doses here and there. It would work best when used for the name of a shop, or as an excited "happy birthday" on a child's greeting card. I had a lot of fun making all of the melting, dripping pieces of the letters. The colors were another part of the project I really enjoyed. At first, I considered making each letter a different flavor that corresponded to the letter, but decided that I would run out of flavors pretty quickly. This project went through a lot of changes throughout the process of its completion. The first versions looked like drippy blobs of goo, and not ice cream like at all. After those I decided on a scoop theme, which ended up being what I used for the entire project.

The deliverable were cool. My buttons came out great! The mailing tube could use some postage info to make it look more official, but I think it's good beyond that. The posters that are inside the tube came out nicely too. I think if I print them again, I'll make the type spec. bigger, because you can't really see all the nice drips on the ice cream, and some of the shading gets lost.

Animated Type Music Video

Check out this video from rapper Kanye West. It's got some cool animated type, and the chick in it is super HOT. But that's not the important part...the type is. lol.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_zrW9WBVk

Snickers Campaign

Snickers has be running this campaign for a few months now. Most of the phrases I don't really get, but the one that says, "Get funky on the 'Snaxaphone,'" actually works.

Hilarious Beer Brand

Ummm,yes. This is awesome. And surprisingly good beer to spite the gimmicky label.

Photo Shoot

These are unedited and the background isn't taken out, but this is what some of the photos for my magazine remake will look like.

Typography-Independence,Oregon

Here's some signage and lettering I found when I was in Independence, Oregon this weekend. Also, here's a cool one from San Francisco. Check it out!

RAD Last Thursday scores.

This is a poster I found on a telephone pole on Alberta. It's really cool. I like the neon colors, and the overlapping printed letters are awesome also. I thought everyone should check it out. Let me know if you like it too!


Ummm, yes. I saw these letters for sale on Alberta tonight, and I had to get the three that spelled the word rad. I'm pretty happy with my find (only $18). Maybe the signage museum will call me up and make me an offer on them. I'm stoked on these!

History of Type Response

I think the most interesting piece of information in this whole history is that Gutenberg had his shop repossessed before he ever mass-produced a book! If his investors only knew that he would make them their money back 100x over with his breakthrough in technology...or maybe they did.

This reading really makes me appreciate how much printed material we have at our fingertips. The reading said that to have a dozen (only 12!) volumes of a book constituted a library back in the early 1400s! And, 100 was an awe-inspiring collection. Now, you can go the the library, and there are so many books that when you look from one end of an aisle to the other, the people on the opposite end from you look small and blurry!

I learned that in the 1950s they came out with photo-compositional type. This new way of using light projected onto light-sensitive paper allowed for negative kerning and tracking to occur, giving the typesetters more creative freedom.

Now, we have all sorts of digital typefaces and methods of printing. What's next? Is there a next set of have we reached the pinnacle of the creative freedom and experimentation that can be experienced with type?

I think a mash-up between digital and manual--like letterpress-- will occur. People might start printing letterpress--using only one or two colors--and then switch the paper out onto an inkjet printer to get multiple colors onto the paper, and have some sweet debossed typography with colorful, digital images in the background. That's what I would do anyways!

I found this on I heart Typography. I've seen something simalar to it done before, but not in the gallery setting. It must have been a cool experience to be in that room as the seemingly randomly placed boxes reviled themselves to have order and intention!

Check out the video:

Sweet Light Typeface

I'm not sure if they used photoshop, or composited photos together to make this...Any ideas? I think it's pretty rad. It has a lot of energy and movement going on, and the colors are nice and bright. I like it!

Traced Typefaces

Here are 2 traced typefaces. You really learn a lot about the subtleties of the characters when you trace their curves and angles.

10 Favorite Typefaces

Using type deliberately is still something I'm getting used to. Before last term, the process went: get you assignment, scroll through the font list in Illustrator, and pick the typeface you think 'looks' good without really knowing why your picking it other than that it's aesthetically appealing. Now, the process is different. I'm getting used to picking serif fonts for body copy in publication design, and learning that maybe it's not a good idea to typeset your copy in certain typefaces (ie Times New Roman).

So, here are some more 'traditional,'or 'normal' typfaces I like at this point in time...And, some that are more edgy and push the limits of how type can be drawn!