things are getting quacky

Yesterday I turned in my first typography project.  I was pretty proud of my work and the effort I put into the project.  I'm also excited to start working with flash — something I have zero experience with.

We've pretty much wrapped up the first part of our symbol project in Viscom.  Here are my final choices for the sixteen categories.  Feel free to leave comments / suggestions!

I'm excited for the next part of this project as well!  Creating a food truck business sounds exciting :)

chug chug chugging along

Phew, one more set of 90 drawings away from final refinements.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Here is what I've got so far, my finals for the first ten categories:

Let me know what you think!

Also, today I finished some refinements for my type weather grids.  I feel like I've got good variation and I think they look even better printed large.  I guess we'll see what the class says tomorrow.  For the first time since classes started I feel like I can finally take a breath.  (Just can't hold it for too long).

Pioneers and Trailblazers of Type Design

Living Designers, Current Trailblazers:

Frere-Jones and Hoefler.

Tobias Frere-Jones: In 2000, Hoefler and Frere-Jones was commissioned by GQ magazine to design a typeface with a geometric structure that felt fresh and masculine.  Out of this commission came Frere-Jone’s Gotham.  In 2002 Gotham became a favorite of designers because of its versatility.  Also in 2000, Frere-Jones designed Knockout.  This family contains a numbering system much like Frutiger’s Univers. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 378/79)

Jonathan Hoefler: In the late 80s and early 90s, type foundries began translating their typefaces to digital fonts.  Hoefler stated some of the best typefaces were becoming the worst fonts.  He wanted to establish a family that would establish a standard for what typeface design and development in the digital age should be.  Hoefler works with Tobias Frere-Jones and is a modern type foundry making great strides. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 380)

Zuzana Licko: In 1996 Licko designed Mrs. Eaves for Émigré Fonts.  Licko attempted to reinterpret an old classic in Baskerville (designed in the 1750s).  It is an elegant and versatile design and stood apart from the grunge and display typefaces of the 1990s. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 381)

Bell Centennial.

Matthew Carter: Carter designed Bell Centennial over the period of 1976-78 for AT&T.  Carter was working for Linotype and was commissioned by Mike Parker to update Bell Gothic.  There were many constraints Carter had to work around when designing this typeface. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 382)

Barry Deck: Deck designed Template Gothic in 1990 for Émigré Fonts.  An old hand-drawn laundry sign inspired this font.  He said the typeface was designed to look “as if it had suffered the distortive ravages of photomechanical reproduction.”  Barry Deck studied at CalArts where Ed Fella and Jeffery Keedy encouraged type experimentation.  This typeface was both praised and criticized as a representative of the 1990s. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 382)

Deceased Designers, Pioneers of type:

Claude Garamond: Garamond has many varied families, styles and widths.  Claude Garamond was believed to have designed the first version in the fifteenth century and since then it has been interpreted and redesigned numerous times. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 364)

Firmin Didot: Firmin Didot designed Didot in 1784 in France.  Didot wanted to create a cleaner and more legible font than those of the day.  He used a high contrast in the strokes.  This style personified a modern style. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 367)

Gill Sans.

Eric Gill: In 1927 Eric Gill released Gill Sans through Monotype Corporation.  This typeface is a sans serif inspired by serif fonts, giving it a less mechanic feel.  The various weights in the font allow for flexibility in its applications. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 370)

Max Miedinger: Oh Helvetica.  Designed by Miedinger and Edouard Hoffman, this font is one of the most widely used and versatile — also making it one of the most controversial in the sense that many see it as overused.  Helvetica was designed in 1957 and was one of the most used typefaces in the 1960s and 70s.In 2007 a documentary on the font was directed by Gary Hustwit and showcased a lot of that “love it or hate it” mentality that comes with the font. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 373)

Robert Besley: In 1845 Besley designed Clarendon for the Fann St. Foundry.  During this time period, the industrial revolution was going on and typography expanded in support of the production of large posters and advertisements.  Bold fonts were the rage, as were decorative fonts.  Besley’s font was only protected for three year and after that was widely pirated. (Graphic Design Referenced, Page 375)

Clarendon.

who is Adrian Frutiger?

So... do to some confusion on my half, this is a little late.  But hey — better late than never, right?

Adrian Frutiger

     Adrian Frutiger is a well-known typeface designer born in Switzerland in 1928.  He was a prolific type designer with many typefaces to his name including: Frutiger, Univers, President, Apollo, Serifa, Avenir, OCR-B, Glyfia and Vectora.  At the age of 16 he started working as a printer’s apprentice.  From there he moved to Zurich and studied at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts.

     In 1952 Frutiger began his working career at Deberny and Peignot in Paris after being persuaded by type-founder Charles Peignot.  Frutiger was always interested in embracing new technology and applying it during his design process.  Besides solely designing original fonts, he would also interpret other type including Didot and Courier.  He has also produced numerous books on type, font and design.  He is still alive and has been working on revising his typefaces with Linotype.

Grid from Graphic Design Referenced.

     One of his most famous typefaces, Univers, was the first family to use numbers as a naming system for its various weights (21 variations when first released).  The system was built around its Roman version — Univers 55.  In 1997 Frutiger reworked and expanded the typeface in conjunction with Linotype to include 63 fonts.  The numbering system is placed in a grid organized from thin to extra black in columns and from extended to condensed in rows.  Odd numbers are italic and even numbers are roman.

The Types of Adrian Frutiger:

President (1952)

Phoebus (1953)

Ondine (1954)

Méridien (1955)

Egyptienne (1956)

Univers (1956)

Apollo (1962)

Serifa (1967)

OCR-B (1968)

Iridium (1975)

Frutiger (1975)

Glypha (1979)

Icone (1980)

Breughel (1982)

Versailles (1982)

Avenir (1988)

Vectora (1990)

List of types found Here

type

one more thing for today

Meet the cutest cat in the world — Ber Ber (short for Berlioz).

update

So it's been a busy first few weeks of school.  Here's where I'm at.
     Today in Visc 204 I moved one step closer to choosing my drawings for the first five categories.  My favorite of those five is to the right — my graphical representation.  Now I am finalizing those first five drawings while at the same time working on a new set of 5 categories.  I can already tell one line is going to be one of my favorite, probably because I love simple shapes and am a firm believer in "less is more."
     Over in Type 101 we are still hard at work on our weather grids.  We created layouts showing hierarchy.  First in order to see the "Currently 78" and then to single out either the Highs or the Lows.  Now that we've done some experimentation with both those and have began introducing new elements, it seems to be time to put it all together.  Tonight I am working on 14 layouts that are completely new and original as compared to what I've already done.  Here is one of my favorites so far.  Normally I am not a fan of the staggered "flag" look, but for some reason I can't stop looking at this layout.  Maybe that's not a good thing?

     Anyway, as always I'll be keeping busy with this work.  I am also reading "The Dispossessed" for my English class.  I'll let you know how that goes when I actually sit down to do the readings.  In my Modern Art history class we've got our first quiz tomorrow!  I'm feeling alright about it — we're talking about movements that I'm already somewhat familiar with.  And I really need to start working on my next two essays due in my Impressionism art history class.

Also, Cee Lo is providing my playlist for tonight's work.  So that's exciting.