Thursday January 26, 2012
Filed under:
Links
Miscellany
Posterity and How We Save Stuff
Earlier today I watched this wonderful presentation by Jeremy Keith that he gave at the Build conference. He touches on something I’ve thought about for a long time, going back even before personal computers: The long term prospect of the media we record things on—paper, records, magnetic tape, film, video tape, floppy disks, compact disc, DVDs, hard drives and servers.
I had almost the same thought as Jeremy: I picture archaeologists in the distant future studying what remains of our culture and finding lots of documents and records right up until around the end of the twentieth century—and then almost nothing that can be read or decoded.
Printed books, artwork, typed and written manuscripts, photos on film and paper, with all of these media, you can either read and decode it directly with your eyes. It may be faded or fragile, but if it survives, whatever is recorded on it will survive. Even movies on film and phonograph records could be reverse-engineered just by using observations and common sense, even if some of the nuances may be lost.
Then you get to magnetic tape. If you’ve never seen it before, it’s not obvious what it is, and even if you guessed correctly, the magnetic signals on the tape fade over time and the tape itself deteriorates.
Things start getting really bad when you go to analog video tape. To even make sense of what’s on the tape—assuming you figure out that it’s some kind of motion picture medium—you would need to reinvent the television and video tape player. Very difficult, but conceivable.
All bets are off when you get to digital storage, which Jeremy gets into in detail in his presentation. To me, it seems that it would be nearly impossible to recover anything stored digitally if, in some cataclysm, the knowledge of computer technology was lost.
Even things from the recent past are getting difficult to access. I switched to digital tools for most of my design and artwork in the late 1980s. Some of the work I did—in the form of PageMaker files, for example—I would have a difficult time retrieving. Yes, technically, much of this stuff can be accessed if you have old enough hardware and software. But hardware doesn’t last forever, and what about more recent software that requires internet activation?
When I look back through my old artwork, I have less and less in the form of physical objects—drawings, photos, printed samples. Physical objects get old, faded, and damaged, but you can still hold them, and look at them. Digital stuff never gets old or faded, but if even a few bits of data are corrupted, an entire file or disk can be lost forever, even if you still have something to read the media.
Then I think, who cares, other than pack rats like me? I thought the same thing watching Jeremy’s talk. Sure, huge amounts of digital culture may be—probably will be—lost to the future. But remember, there are many things from the past that are lost to us now because they happened before sound and picture recording—musical performances, theatrical performances and speeches, historical events. But lots of stuff did survive and will survive. We still print tons of books and magazines (so far). People still keep journals and diaries, and artists still keep sketchbooks.
Ultimately, culture is for the living. If it survives to be studied and appreciated by people in the future, great, and I hope it does. If not, I’m sure they’ll be busy making their own anyway.
Wednesday January 4, 2012
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Links
Type & Lettering
Dan Picasso
I just discovered today that my old pal, illustrator Dan Picasso, has a new website. (danpicassoillustration.com). Back in the eighties, Dan and I worked together at MPR and later shared an office together as freelancers. We’ve drifted apart since then.
Dan uses a real airbrush in his work—none of this Photoshop nonsense. Most of the works displayed on his site are new to me. He’s done some amazing pieces of lettering design. He definitely had an influence on my taste for lettering and type. And I love the car paintings. I don’t think I’ve seen them before.
Friday March 18, 2011
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Links
Personal Archaeology
Field Notes Goes Old School, Seventies Style
Love this whole idea. This is how I set headlines when I was a young graphic designer. No way would I use a pencil, though. Too much risk of warping the sheet. I had a nylon-tipped burnisher, specially designed for the job of rubbing down transfer type. (Via Draplin)
Field Notes: Dry Transfer Edition Instructions from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.
Monday February 28, 2011
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Links
Type & Lettering
Virtual Letterpress for iPad
LetterMPress is a virtual letterpress app for the iPad—at least that’s the idea. The project is using Kickstarter to raise funds to complete the app and to acquire wood type fonts to include (virtually) in the app. More info on Kickstarter.
I think it’s a neat idea. Not only will you be able to make compositions on a virtual press bed with virtual wood type, mix and apply virtual ink, and make virtual prints, if all goes according to plan, you will be able to send them your design and have it all done for real, with real wood type, ink, and paper.
Some letterpress purists may scoff, but I think it has the potential to introduce the joys of letterpress printing to a much wider audience.
Tuesday February 22, 2011
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Links
Technique
Curious About My Lettering Process?
wwword, a website about words, did an interview with me, where I talked about some of my favorite lettering pieces and how I did them.
The images that accompany the article are a bit small, so I’m hoping to put larger versions up here on my site when I get the chance.
February 25 Update:
Here are the images (below). Click on them to see a larger view.
Friday May 7, 2010
Filed under:
Miscellany
Links
The Daily Pangram
Craig Eliason has been writing a pangram almost every day for over two years on his site The Daily Pangram. For the last week, they’ve been about me or my fonts, which is quite an honor.
Pangrams are tricky enough to write without having to keep track of all the letters, so Craig uses my Pangrammer Helper so he can focus on the creative part of the task. He’s gotten quite good at it.
Craig and I both work in St. Paul, so we see each other from time to time, traveling in similar circles (he teaches art history at the University of St. Thomas and is learning to design type).
I should really just end this with a pangram, except I can’t quite think of any words that fit that have a z. Hmm…
Thursday February 25, 2010
Filed under:
Links
Recent Work
Layer Tennis
Just a note to say, this Friday afternoon, I’ll be pitting my type chops against (with?) fellow type designer Peter Bruhn for a “exhibition” game of Layer Tennis. I expect this to be a friendly match, more improvisational than competitive. But we’ll see.
Monday August 24, 2009
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Links
Type History
Typedia is Here
Typedia, a shared, online encyclopedia of typefaces, just launched today.
It’s the brainchild of Jason Santa Maria, who invited me to contribute when it was in its early planning stage. I helped mostly with the classification system. (I actually have mixed feelings about classification systems in general and I think the tags will be ultimately more useful. But the classifications will at least provide a starting point.)
I’m very excited about Typedia. I’m hoping it will be the online equivalent of resources like Matt McGrew’s American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century or Jaspert, Berry & Johnson’s Encyclopeadia of Type Faces, two books I rely on when I want to know the history of a typeface (see my Son of Typecasting series).
However, unlike a printed book, Typedia will be continuously updated and will grow in its usefulness as more and more people contribute to it.
Friday July 31, 2009
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Links
Type Industry
Type Radio Video
Type Radio is my favorite podcast. Now there is a video about it. So, that’s what they look like. (Thanks to Paul Hunt for posting a link to the video on WeLoveTypography.)
Friday May 1, 2009
Filed under:
Font News
Links
Veer Premieres "F is for Fail"
Proxima Nova stars in a new animated short film by Brent Barson, sponsored by Veer: “F is for Fail” (and co-starring Adobe’s Arno Pro). The still from the film (above) sums up my reaction. Well done, Brent! (And thanks to Veer, too.)
Thursday April 23, 2009
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Font News
Links
Lakeside and Filmotype Zanzibar Favorited
I’m really honored to have my Lakeside and Filmotype Zanzibar among the 40 typefaces chosen in Typographica’s “Our Favorite Typefaces of 2008”. Thanks so much, Dyana and J.F.
I participate in this annual tradition from the other side of the fence as well. I chose Nick Shinn’s Modern Suite, which blew me away when I saw the specimen book for it at last year’s TypeCon in Buffalo.
Sunday April 5, 2009
Filed under:
Type Industry
Links
You Say Font, I Say Typeface...
The results of a survey on the meanings of the words typeface and font among both “type industry professionals” and graphic designers, conducted by Thomas Phinney. My opinions on the matter fall squarely with the “type industry professionals” for the most part.
(via Typophile.com.)
Wednesday March 25, 2009
Filed under:
Links
Personal Archaeology
Interview on ArtBistro.com
Sorry for not posting more stuff here lately. I’ve been busy working on fonts (probably a better use of my time anyway). In the mean time, here is another interview with me, this time with Grant Friedman of ArtBistro.com.
Sunday March 15, 2009
Filed under:
Links
Personal Archaeology
RBtL Interview
I’m the featured guest on episode #6 of the typography and design podcast Read Between the Leading.
Wednesday February 25, 2009
Filed under:
Links
Type & Lettering
Township Type
On his blog, Shane Durant is sharing his collection of photos of South African township type and signage.
Sunday February 22, 2009
Filed under:
Son of Typecasting
Links
Art of the Title Sequence
I purposely exempt titles from my nitpicking about anachronistic type in movies. I consider them part of the world in which the film was created, not the world in which the story is set. They may be appropriate or inappropriate, but they can’t be anachronistic.
Nevertheless, it’s one of my favorite parts of watching movies. A friend alerted me to an op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times, Credit Where Credits are Due, about how there ought to be Oscars for movie title sequences. Perhaps, but the lack of an award hasn’t stopped title designers from doing brilliant work.
This reminded me of my favorite site on the topic. The Art of the Title Sequence maintained by a pair of fans, Ian and Alex, who have compiled a growing list of their favorites from movies and TV shows. You can watch most of the sequences in their entirety, some in HD. Many include short articles or interviews with the designers.
Thursday February 12, 2009
Filed under:
Links
Font Haikus
Extensis is having a font love haiku contest (with prizes) to help promote Suitcase Fusion. Kind of silly, but could be fun.
Sunday January 25, 2009
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Links
ADDA Slide Show from 1962
AIGA New Orleans has posted a really cool video on Vimeo: A slide show from 1962 created by the Art Directors and Designers Association of New Orleans (now an AIGA New Orleans). The pace is almost painfully slow by today’s standards, but patience yields a fascinating glimpse into the design world of the early 1960s.
Several things caught my eye as I watched it, including two Filmotype typefaces I recently revived: Ginger (at 4:43) and Glenlake (at 14:16). But I did a double take, and then a triple take when I saw this slide (at 30:52):
First of all, it looks like a White Stripes CD cover.
Second, the gizmo in the guy’s hand is a Scaleograph, an aid for sizing photos and art that was commonplace before computers made their way into design studios.
Third, according to the narrator, the guy in the photo, New Orleans designer Bob Brandt, invented it.
I still have one of these once handy gizmos hanging in my office for sentimental reasons. Sure enough, in small print it says: MFD. BY THE BRANDT CORP., NEW ORLEANS, LA.
Cool.
(Via Typohile.com.)
Wednesday January 14, 2009
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Links
Eric Hanson Has a Blog
Long-time friend and colleague Eric Hanson has a blog now (ER-H Blog). Eric is an illustrator and writer. I used to hire him quite a lot to do spot illustrations back in my art director days. He just published a wonderful book called A Book Of Ages this last Fall.
Wednesday November 19, 2008
Filed under:
Son of Typecasting
Links
Yves Peters Gets In on the Fun
Fellow type geek Yves Peters gets in on the fun of spotting typographic anachronisms at FontShop’s FontFeed blog today with a post about some odd props on the TV series Dexter.
Wednesday September 17, 2008
Filed under:
Links
Miscellany
Typographunnies
Click at your risk: Typographunnies.