the history of visual communication

(grandjean's mathematical drawings for his romain du roi)

the history of visual communication is a lovely, fantastically rich site that "attempts to walk you through the long and diverse history of a particular aspect of the human endeavour: the translation of ideas, stories and concepts that are largely textural and/or word based in a visual format." it does a pretty good job (to put it mildly).

it takes a viewer through rocks and caves, ideograms, the alphabet, the printing press, all the way through the computer. AND it's loaded with beautiful images. enjoy!

michael bierut talks type

a nice little interview with michael bierut, originally with an article by virginia postrel in the atlantic. enjoy!

(and i'll try to be better about posting again, i promise.)

oh, and by the way...

our first round of prints (with the theme of "firsts") are now up at redblackbrown. check 'em out!

paul rand

because who can't glean some insight from paul rand???

city neighborhoods

though i know that these fantastic typographic maps by jenny beorkrem have been all over the blogs, i love them dearly. and i'm hoping she might just design one for our lovely twin cities...

but until then, boston, brooklyn, chicago, manhattan and san francisco are available for purchase here.

whose type says change?

it's super tuesday, so here's a little piece from sam berlow and cyrus highsmith on what they think the type says about the candidates (even those who have dropped out).

from boston.com.

typographic illustration

very cool bits of illistration over at ni9e. set to music, so it's even better.

obsessing

i have become slightly obsessed with archer, the newest release from hoefler & frere-jones. the ridiculous number of weights available make it so versatile: it holds up well in body copy and it's gorgeous in large sizes too. i am especially in love with the thin and hairline weights.

i can't wait to get my mitts on this one.

play with type blog

play with type has a bunch of interesting type experiments.
via the serif.

london transport museum

i came across this flickr set on the new london transport museum and have been obsessing over the "day trips & hikes" poster. so clean! such wonderful color! what a great 2-color job!

plus, as a bonus, the transport museum offers about 5,000 of their posters in an online gallery. it's nothing short of heaven to me.

mixed media typography

i love artwork on pages of old books and think this is especially dear.
compliments of ffffound.

tramp typography

there are a ton of ridiculously cool type videos on youtube. i rather like this one from stevehooley.

two in a row

i am loving the vintage type here.
(and the beards, of course.)

via ffffound.

bearded

a little something fun, via jordan.

sweet

though this is probably not the most flattering photograph of katherine heigl, i love this poster for her newest movie, 27 dresses. what a wonderful, fresh way to play with the movie title and the tons of information required on a movie poster. well done!

giggle

from ask h&fj, the hoefler & frere-jones blog.

tauba auerbach

i don't know much about tauba auerbach, other than what i've read (like this), but i so admire her work. beautiful.

helvetica (again)

you knew it would happen, right? the minute i declare that i typically find helvetica rather dull, i would find a ton of ridiculously cool designs using it.

by god, i think i'm reevaluating my relationship with helvetica. and thinking about using it in a design where it is not mandated by a style guide.

but back to the point: damn, helvetica looks cool on these retro posters, doesn't it?

(product)red

i admit that i try to be socially conscious. i may fail, but i try. and i am impressed with bono's ability to take an issue that he feels passionate about and create a movement around it, especially one that creates such an easy opportunity for one to take action. like shopping, for crying out loud. who knew you could be an activist and shop? (product)red and edun have taken social responsibility to the mall.

but all that aside, let's talk about the hand-drawn type in this ad. could it be more perfect? talk about communicating (product)red's belief that the simplest personal choices we make everyday can have an impact. not to mention the fantastic illustration. wow.

herb lubalin

when i was a type student, i did a report on herb lubalin and absolutely fell in love with his work.

his work is classic, elegant, timeless. it looks as fresh today as it did forty years ago.

soccer and helvetica, in that order

i love soccer. and i just showed my typography 2 students helvetica: the film, so this poster seemed like a good idea (the film is excellent, by the way. rent it if you haven't already seen it). personally, i am generally not a fan of helvetica (it's just so ubiquitous), but i really like it here.

urban outfitters gift tags

though i'm not particularly fond of the primary type on their website currently, i've kept this gift tag image from urban outfitters for about a year. i love the juxtaposition of the blackletter and hand drawn type.

fingertype

originally for a brochure, lowman (aka jonathan looman) is in the process of developing a full typeface. i can't wait. it's fantastic.