the mehallo blog. beta.

Maps of War’s Imperial History of the Middle East

Found via Twitter.com/mehallokitty

Tags: design, education by steve
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Student work from Sweden: Tomas Nilsson reinterprets Little Red Riding Hood (above). Music by Slagsmålsklubben. You know, I never did understand why the wolf – with the big ol’ teeth – never actually chewed his food.

Nilsson’s animation was inspired by Röyksopps’ Remind Me (below).

Found via Twitter.com/grain edit

Tags: cool finds, design, education, illustration, music by steve
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If you’re wondering why Type Daily says ‘since 1455’ up top  . . .  this historical atlas will fill in some of the blanks.

After Johann Gutenberg did his thing, the technology of printing spread across Europe in just around 50 years.

This interactive map from the University of Iowa charts its progress – with timeline, zoom features, trade routes, locations of paper mills and more. Also included is a briefly animated model of what we know of Gutenberg’s press.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education by steve
1 comment  . . .   

From the Histeria! series, here’s a cartoon overview of the invention of printing   . . .   well, actually the invention of moveable type   . . .   well, whatever it was that ‘Type A’ Gutenberg guy did.

Found via Twitter.com/MyFonts

Tags: design, design history, education, typography by steve
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If you’ve been thru San Francisco, this sign should seem familiar.

Originally planned as a driving promotion for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, the 49 Mile Scenic Drive [map] passes thru all the visual highlights and lowlights of The City. Rex May is credited with designing the iconic signs – for more dope on the drive, check out this handy guidebook.

And Annie Galvin of 3 Fish Studios made a big splash last year with her multicolored acrylic paintings, also available as nifty postcards (seen above).

Tags: art, cool finds, design history, education by steve
1 comment  . . .   

Designer Erik Spiekermann on what it’s like to be a typomaniac

Extra footage from Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica film. I still use Spiekermann’s Stop Stealing Sheep as the introductory text in my beginning typography courses.

Tags: design, education, thoughts, typography by steve
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‘Foo-der-ah’ – as one of my students once called it. Paul Renner’s Futura is everywhere – and here’s a write up in idsgn’s ongoing know your type series.

Or – if you really want to get your hands dirty – snag a copy of the expanded edition of Christopher Burke’s wonderful biography of Paul Renner – detailing the creation of Futura – how knock offs were released before he even finished his drawings, his arrest by the Nazis, other fonts, sketches, experiments  . . .  But even more, the book details philosophy, beliefs and how they contributed to the creation of types that are as fresh today as they were in the 1920s.

Did you hear that IKEA???

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, fonts, typography by steve
1 comment  . . .   

Illustration for my high school yearbook, 1985

Fill out this survey about your senior year of high school!

1. Did you date someone from your school?
No one would date me.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
Nope. Married someone whose father went to my high school. Suzanne Somers went to my high school. We all talked about that. Her father was my father’s drinking buddy. She married a guy named Allen. He didn’t go to our school. He was Canadian. [Read more →]

Tags: art, design, education, flom by steve
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Storytelling is universal. Kseniya Simonova’s powerful recounting of Germany’s conquest of the Ukraine during WWII; featured on Ukraine’s Got Talent. More info here.

Found via Twitter.com/LyndsieRoss

Tags: art, cool finds, education, illustration by steve
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Gore Vidal’s style quote, found via vi.sualize.us

I include a discussion about ‘style’ and ‘taste’ as applied to design in my classes. Far as I’m concerned, Gore Vidal always had whole thing nailed.

Tags: design, education, thoughts by steve
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Behind every well-made font is, typically, an obsessive individual who is out to make the world a beautiful place. And individuals, human beings, can be rather screwy. And here’s a book (now in paperback) about all the screwiness.

Simon Loxley’s Type: The Secret History of Letters blows the lid off of William Caslon’s wicked right cross; Stanley Morison and the Wardes; Frederic Goudy’s tarnished shining star, M.F.Benton’s ulcers and what really happened with John Baskerville’s dead body. And Eric Gill, religious sex junkie. Don’t even know where to start with that.

If you don’t think type is anything more than what’s on the font menu, stay away from this book. Because it’ll drag you into a world of intrigue, ego and dalliances with God and dog.

(Okay, that was a good sentence, but truth be told, the dog stuff isn’t in this book. You’ll need other sources for that)

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
2 comments  . . .