Informational Typography

This is another one of those informational typography posters I enjoy oh so much. It is set up in the style of a periodic table of elements from chemistry.  Although this chart is not large enough to hold all of the different font types the world has to offer, it definitely highlights some of the more important ones. Each typeface's box is represented by the font itself, showing some of the individual characteristics of them. 

typographic "flair" that ruins work

Ok, technically, this is not a typo. Practice can be spelled "practise", it is a form of the word in the dictionary... However, I really don't think it has much of a place in this piece. It looks like more of a typo than a typographic statement. I actually like the concept of this piece, but cannot seem to get away from the odd spelling of the word "practise". Overall, my point is that the spelling in a composition is incredibly important. Regardless if it is spelled correctly, it may not be the visually acceptable way to spell it.

Animated Typography

I think this is a great example of animated typography. I had been looking at a few examples of animated type clips, and was sorely disappointed at the lack of coordination in most of them. This one actually reads very well.  It moves fast enough to keep the reader interested and on their toes, without running the words together making it look like one big blur. Plus, if you recognize the dialogue, this is a funny part in a great movie... Snatch!

Who the "Flick" signed off on this!

 

Wow! In all actuality, someone had to sign off on this.  If you haven't caught on yet, this actually says Mega"Flicks", not to be confused with its optical name "MegaFucks". Either way, I would imagine that someone was paid for this horrible blunder of a storefront logo. How many people wander into this store looking for a specific genre of product...? "Do you guys sell blow-up dolls?"

Informational Poster Designs

If you can see this poster well enough, it is awesome! This is a map of typographical history, with many of its creators listed as well.  The piece is also showing where these more popular type-faces originated from around the globe.  I really enjoy informational posters and layouts that are meant to be displayed in a large fashion, like this one. Something like this would look great in a studio environment, spanning the whole of a small wall in a think tank room, just waiting to inspire the next big idea. I would love to take the time and research a certain topic, and be able to display it in an informational and graphically pleasing layout such as this one. One other example of posters like this I have seen, was a giant poster of the Periodic Table of Elements. Each element had its own informational box, placed in the corresponding spot that it would be in a normal periodic chart. The layout also included precisely drawn diagrams of the Earth and the galaxy around us, and how the elements were tied into them. Some more diagrams on the poster included the elemental make-up of some living organisms on Earth, such as humans and trees, along with some more informational bits here and there. Basically is what  I am getting at, is that designs like these, leave you staring at the piece for what seems like forever, and yet, there is still more information to soak in! It leaves you wanting to come back for more. Something you can easily use as inspiration, or information, or both! To me, this is one aspect of good design; a design that can be viewed over and over again and not necessarily get old.

Helvetica???

Helvetica... Why is it so popular? Helvetica is definitely pleasant in many ways. It is very friendly to the reader and a san serif style font, making it more modern-like. It has excellent symmetry throughout its structure; shown for example by the letter "e", being sculpted out of what looks like a perfect circle. The lower-case letters are tall in comparison to the capitals, giving the font style as a whole, a very dominant and visually pronounced look. Simply put, you just cant miss it. Also, I cannot seem to draw my eyes away from the minuscule size tail on the lower-case letter "a". This is just another characteristic of the Helvetica font family that leaves others, including myself, puzzled as to why it just works so well.

I thought this picture showed how much variety was in this font family, and maybe an insight into how useful it can be. After writing the first paragraph of this post, I never realized how much I actually enjoy Helvetica. To be honest, I never really thought about it. I always just thought it was trendy and a font students heard their teachers reference over and over... That just goes to show you how ignorant I was to it, literally, until I came across this image. Now, I cannot just look at it as another regular font used for body copy or headings. Although, it does serve great for those purposes, but so many more as well. I look forward to creatively trying to incorporate it into some of my work throughout the future.

Label Critique

Overall I dig it. I really like the concept, and there is a ton of typography tied into it. The fonts chosen are appropriate, they are modern and clean; neatly kerned. The logo is the initials, and at the same time, is showing the concept of piano and music. Nicely done. However, I would want to see what it looks like with a bit less leading between the logo and the name. Aside from that, the hierarchy is displayed very nicely, and the concept is totally clear. Before you even read the words "Piano Service" you already know that it is about pianos. Putting those actual words there only furthers the understanding to the viewer of the services offered. Without them the logo would still work, but you might wonder if they sell pianos, teach music, deal with more than just pianos, etc... So all in all, leading issue aside, this logo is very effective in communicating hierarchy, significant elements, and overall purpose.

Ideas like this have always caught my attention. I really don't think type like this has much of an application in actual functional design (unless a very specific one), yet it is still very pleasing to look at and think into. Although you would obviously not use something like this in your body copy to a client, these kinds of hand-rendered fonts serve as an excellent contribution to the elemental aspect of a design. I think one or two of these letters in a background, or bleeding off the edge of a poster, or maybe even cleverly using it as a texture or backdrop for some body copy... What can you come up with?

Stressed Fonts

What do you think? We see stressed fonts everywhere in good design... Unfortunately, we see it even more in bad design. It seems like it is not really hard to find a stressed font-type these days.  Font makers (...or typographists...or whatever you want to call someone who makes fonts...) are flooding websites like dafont.com and fontspace.com with crummy stressed fonts. The example here is put up to really see what people think. To me, this poster is bordering the line of "crummy." It is not yet there, but close. But seeing as we are speaking in terms of text in this blog post, I must say it sucks! Way too many of the letters look the same...

Now, very quickly, let me go over what makes a good stressed font, and what makes a bad one. What makes a bad stressed font is very very simple... REPETITION! The point of a stressed font is for it to look like it has taken on some natural-like elemental texture to it; almost like it has been beaten up to give it character. The problem with majority of the downloadable stressed fonts is that many of the individual letters of the font-styles alphabet look exactly the same. This does not happen in nature, so why should text have the same exact stressed look happening to it? It shouldn't, and that is what makes it a bad stressed font; repetition.

Good stressed fonts are generally NOT downloaded! They are made in photoshop from a combination of the text tool with textures and adjustments... That's it. I am not going to go in depth on the explanation, that is a subject for a whole new blog :) But please let me know if any of you readers are interested in learning, I would love to share the knowledge!

Environmental Type

Just cool. This book was not cut in any way only folded. Somebody had way too much time on their hands... Way too much. None the less, it is a very intricate and well thought out piece. Origami is not the easiest thing to do even when you have instructions for step by step folds. This just goes to show you that if you take enough time on your work, you will eventually figure out the right way it should look. Every designer knows that not all fantastic pieces just happened.  Granted, some were just meant to be and came about effortlessly, but most are cases of trial, tribulation, large-clump hair pulling, and baby punching. Just joking on the last one... Anyhow, I would be willing to put money on it that the artist who created this piece did not just pull it out of his/her origami-folding "cheeks," but took a fair enough amount of time making sure each precise fold was to be in accordance with the next. I truly wonder how many babies were pun- I mean- how long it took this artist to finish such an intricate and stunning piece. ;)

Talk about a typographic message!! I imagine this ad really hits home with designers everywhere.  Not about the smoking part though... Who gives a shit about that. Smoke whatever you want, whenever you want, its your life and you know the risks.  Back to the topic at hand - This composition has a lot of meaning when you look at what the message is saying and what the words are doing. The design is actually acting out the meaning through use of typography! I love it! Yet again, I dig the concept of simplicity to truly carry out the message being set before you as the viewer.

Food, Photography, and Typography

I think this is a great example of how so many elements can all go together so well.  This whole composition is so simply laid out, yet still manages to include art, food, photography, and typography.  Now in all actuality, this is only one font style.  However, the work that went into creating the "sugary" word on the wooden surface must have been a tedious task. From there, it looks like maybe some photo quality adjustments were done to get the right tone, and a radial gradient around the edge.  The remaining text I would imagine was just very easily placed on top. It just goes to show you how the concept of simplicity in design really works.

Would you bring your kids to this doctor??!!!

Wow! I truly wonder what the designer of this logo had running through their mind upon the completion of this. On second thought, I really wonder what was going through the clients head when this example of pure craftsmanship was dropped in their lap... It should be called the Arlington Pedophilia Center! Seriously?

By the way, isn't Arlington in Texas? I know they do things a little different down there, but come on... Actually, don't come on anything... Especially children!  ;)

Bad Design Kills

I was just browsing along, waiting for something to pop out at me, when i came across this picture. I believe whoever created this, hit home with the idea that things built or designed badly can really have a larger impact on life than people may recognize. Obviously this picture of a gun made for suicide is a stretch towards the extreme side of this quip/statement, but none the less, it is simple, straight forward, and to the point. We have all seen that little something that has made us "die a little inside", and wondered to ourselves who actually paid someone for "skat" like the new gap logo, and other total designer meltdowns. I must agree with this, bad design does kill people... Although this applies to more than just design, we as designers, know that form and function are two of the most important aspects of our industry. If it looks cool, it should perform cool... Not kill you from the inside out.