‘Stronger than silent e, able to leap capital T in a single bound’
Before David Letterman had a show, I used to watch Letterman.
Joan Rivers narrated the Letterman spots with Gene Wilder as the voice of the hero.
These shorts were from the original Electric Company (1972-77), which was the coolest childrens show ever. Even had Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks and Spider-man.
‘Tipoteca Italiana is a private foundation that was founded in 1995 to advance printing knowledge and preserve venerable printing technologies. Its founder, Silvio Antiga, a 65-year-old printer who owns a printing firm in the Veneto region, has collected more than 20 vintage presses and typesetting machines, along with hundreds of wood and metal type ‘fonts”
This spring, my Digital Typography students set out to make a short film about type history.
The class – held at The Art Institute of California Sacramento – was set up like a working design studio – with myself as ‘hands off creative director.’ All students had a role, from art direction to project management, web design, editing and production.
At one point, songsmith John Slingerland threw a party at his home – and invited a few unwitting guests – just to record the background vocals for the film’s gets stuck in your head musical number.
And, featured in the credits, a very early beta version of Jeanne Texte – which I had to prep for them as my homework assignment.
It was a fun quarter; this was a great team to work with, their enthusiasm snagged everyone in their handmade typographic web.
I’ve known Marian Bantjes a few years – mostly thru emails and online notes. I found her work years ago, it blew me away so I put it in an exhibition.
And in watching her recent TED video (above), I’ve noticed some career parallels. Though I’m not looking at a parallel of work (not even close), what I see is a parallel of thinking.
design rut
I’ve been a designer working ‘behind the scenes’ for over two decades.
I was a paste up artist and I have the scars to prove it. My first graphic design courses were part of a drafting program – no computers – and today I’m shocked at how important work habits developed during that time have become. I don’t consider my work innovative or new – simply bulletproof. And I’ve made a lot of money for a lot of other people. And mostly, I’ve never quite fit in with my contemporaries. And the battles that come from this have raged on for a long time.
A few years ago I had to ask myself this tough question:
Why the fuck do I no longer enjoy what I do??
The answer was telling. And not very simple. Part of it involves the temporary nature of my field. Most of what I’ve designed, doesn’t exist anymore.
But most of the problems I saw came from letting too many other people have control over what I do and how I do it. Working within perceptions of how others see my field – graphic design – really took the wind out of my sails. For this simple reason:
Graphic design can be so much more than people who work in our field think it is.
I seem to see this. But not many others do.
turnaround
About two years ago I made the conscious decision that I will only work on jobs that I enjoy.
This is a key decision, in that I’d reached a bottomed out, enough is enough point in my career. I had some serious work and financial setbacks and had to put a stop to the . . . bleeding. For lack of a better term.
And the work I have in right now, I love doing.
I love teaching, so I just took on SEVEN classes (all typography, one design history course) and this was one of the most fun quarters/semesters I’ve had. And in my spare time, I draw fonts, design really goofy stuff and post whatever inspires me to this blog. Because I love it.
Will it lead to something else? Who knows? Who cares?
But enough about me. Watch Marian’s talk. She’s figured it out, mostly. And what she does – what all visual artists do – is very important.
‘Now that we’ve got you interested in learning CPR and the abdominal thrust, go get properly certified by taking a class through one of the many certifying authorities in your local area’ –Super Sexy CPR
If someone strips down to their underwear in order to Heimlich me, I’m going to feel a tad awkward. Just sayin.
Found via Victoria Arriaga (another former student of mine)
‘This five-part series tells the story of design from the Industrial Revolution through 20s modernism, the swinging 60s, the designer 80s and up to the present day. Features interviews with star designers like Philippe Starck and creatives from Apple and Ford; as well as design fans like Stephen Fry.’
Finally in the US we have a peek at the BBC’s brilliant series on design history, The Genius of Design. Posted above are episodes one and two. With logotype set in Museo, of course.
Update: The BBC blocked the Vimeo postings of these episodes – but – I found the bloody things posted on a server in China. Really. Click on the above images/links to jump/watch. And hey at this point, I’m not posting them myself. Just providing links.
Would love to have the entire series on a US-friendly (Region 1) DVD.
Found via (former student) James Saturnio and (other former student) Ai Buenafe
‘Real time: 1 hour 28 minutes, footage was recorded nonstop in one sitting. I was going as fast as I could so there are some imperfections here and there.’
Student Tony Wang’s final project from my experimental typography course at The Art Institute of California Sacramento. Tony spent the past eleven weeks doing a multifaceted study of the work of Hermann Zapf.
It culminated in the above video – vector-based drawings/tracings of Zapfino caps.
Each drawing was hand rendered (no live trace) in Adobe Illustrator. (For my beginning courses, students have to draft letterforms by hand with pencil/compass. Tony’s beautifully realized final is the next logical step in the process.)
