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The Making of a Type Sample from FontShop on Vimeo

Once a font is completed, showing the letters and glyphs in their best light is a tricky exercise. FontShop does it right and in this video shows some of the decisions made when creating a good type sample – in this case, the sample for Matthew Carter’s beautiful Miller typefaces, which I used for The Sacramento Union Magazine.

In the 1800s, type foundries used to set their samples in Latin – following the belief that our alphabet looks best in its original language. Marcus Tullius Cicero’s first speech against Lucius Sergius Catilina (below) was popular for samples.

Today, graphic designers use Lorem Ipsum for placeholder text.

Robert Thorne’s Fat-Face type sample, 1821

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, fonts, typography by steve
3 comments  . . .   

Eleisha Pechey’s Windsor typeface (1905) is one of my funky favorites. There’s a hint of it in Jeanne Moderno (believe it or not; even moreso in my upcoming text versions), Woody Allen loves it for titles and Sacramento’s Golden 1 Credit Union uses it for a distinct yellow logo.

Today, Fountain Type releases Göran Söderström’s Heroine, a ‘modern interpretation of this rusty pearl is something that always have been missing in the major type libraries.’

More details here.

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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John Baskerville (1706-1775) was an incredible type designer. His work holds up very well today. He reinvented printing and his ink was beyond compare. And, unfortunately, he was hated by his contemporaries. His type was seen to ‘hurt the eye’ and would be ‘responsible for blinding the nation.’

‘Baskerville the Animated Movie celebrates John Baskerville, the man, the typeface and his future legacy.’

For more about this short film, drop by The Baskerville Project website.

For more detail about John Baskerville and other famous type luminaries, snag a copy of Type: The Secret History of Letters and start reading.

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

Shirley-Ann Dick’s There’s more to life than Helvetica tee

Designed in under 10 minutes.

Found via Whitezine

Tags: cool finds, design, fashion, fonts, typography by steve
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Fonts can’t handle being stretched, they end up looking awkward/slows down reading

Fonts require a lot of massaging in order for them to work for you. Here’s a list of some fairly common mistakes – posted over at The Design Cubicle.

Tags: design, education, fonts, typography by steve
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H (helvetica) from filnug on Vimeo

Found via i love typography

Tags: art, fonts, typography by steve
1 comment  . . .   

Introducing Stephen Coles’ new Fontstruct: WPA Gothic. Based on the posters of the Works Progress Administration.

Click here for free download and more info.

For more about Fontstruct, go here.

And here’s some highlights from the Library of Congress’ WPA collection  . . .

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

Details on my Twitter page here.

Just do what it says (you’ll need a Twitter account, of course). Contest ends Monday September 7, 2009 at 9 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Tags: fonts, mehallo merchandise by steve
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My Jeanne Moderno fonts were spotted on this poster for  . . .

Project Rhythm Multimedia Screening
Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 9 p.m.

At Parlare Euro Lounge, 1009 10th Street (10th & K), Sacramento, CA 95814 [map]

Project Rhythm Multimedia Screening is produced by Dr. Ri and features artists from Dr. Ri’s Advanced Media Editing Course at the Art Institute of California-Sacramento. Also: Live Multimedia VJ: Lai Fong Saelee, original soundtrack composed and edited by Dr. Ri & TCM, Inc.

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, music, typography by steve
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Typefaces give us signals from erik spiekermann on Vimeo

The typomaniac music video! Written by Mike Croft, featuring Erik Spiekermann; produced by Alphabeat and Parson Research.

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, typography by steve
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Here’s some Art Nouveau type based on a certain well-known soft drink logotype. Only different. Check out Rock And Cola Pro, a refreshing new font offering by Manuel Eduardo Corradine.

For a silly, fun, contrasting pairing, set your overlapping kickers in Emigre’s Soda Script.

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