i’m digging all this
I’ve had these merchandise ideas for a few years and just never got around to building them until recently. Production issues always held me up   . . .  so did fulfillment, pricing   . . .  inventory   . . .  

Then Café Press and Zazzle invented themselves. What is known as Printing Upon Demand made it possible to have a product line – without it actually existing.

So I’ve set up stores at Café Press and Zazzle.

The product ideas come from “what would I actually like to own?” and I’m going from there.

at café press
is my Moderno Collection; which I’m going to keep as limited as possible, swapping out designs seasonally. Featured are shirts and buttons highlighting “Moderno” and a few dingbats from my Jeanne Moderno fonts. The style is simple, clean, wearable.

The “Waffffles!” shirt is a favorite, it features the Jeanne Moderno fonts’ “ffffl” ligature, an unusual take on traditional typesetting’s standard “fl” ligature. The color reminds me of the old IHOP days. Which, as a side note, I was happy to see IHOP’s current interiors now harken back to IHOP as comfort food. They were always a Sunday morning treat. Wear your Waffffles! shirt when heading out for a stack.

over at zazzle
I’ve amped it up a little. Because of their large product assortment, I’m only really limited by time.

The Font Me mug – based on vintage printers rules and type gauges – was an idea I had several years ago. All elements came from rare type resources, and I’m glad to finally see it produced.

Zazzle makes it possible to actually do a series of shirts where you can pick your favorite style/color/etc. And then I thought, why not have your favorite letter printed on it? Really BIG.

This is my “Jeanne Moderno Lettres” product line – and I absolutely love that there’s NO WASTE. No extra letter shirts lying around because they didn’t sell. Each one is custom made, you pick your favorite letter and put it on ANY of Zazzle’s shirts   . . . and that’s really cool.

The Theatre, from the 20th Century Obsolete series

I’ve gotten requests over the years, so I’ve also posted prints of some of my work. Some of my pieces are now available up to around 6 feet, if you have the money and wall space.

going green
I also love that it’s sort of green in that each of these products only exist if one orders it. All retail should be like that, no waste. And hopefully, that’s where we’re headed.

pricing
I’m finding these are not entirely cheap – and yes, if I want my own merch, I have to buy my own merch. But I think the trade off is really worth it for what is really as close as one can get to one-of-a-kind items in the retail universe.

We live in an environment of excess, making a purchase on one good mug – or one good shirt – is a great way to think about shopping in today’s world. There’s really no need to own a zillion items, just pick one and make it a good pick (Tim Gunn supports this thinking in his book on personal style; tho I’m paraphrasing).

so
Please click on any of the images above to drop by either shop. There’s also links to the shops in the sidebar at right. Everything has been fun to put together – and as of today, I have both the Font Me and Master of Typography mugs on my desk. Zazzle ships FAST. And I’ll say the 15 oz. is a good size for anything.

Happy shopping and thanks for the support!

o yeah
Most of these designs are based on type and elements from my font collections. And of course, they can be found in their own store at MyFonts.

Click the image and read thru:

Found via Twitter.com/Colorburned

F.T. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto as film, by D. Christie
‘An animated/live action interpretation of F.T. Marinetti’s 1909 Futurist Manifesto. Inspired by the artwork and design of Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy.’

Marcel Duchamp’s Anemic Cinema (1926)
(turn off the sound if you’re a purist)

Walther Ruttmann’s Opus I (1921)

Hans Richter’s Rhythmus 23 (1923)
Info: weirdwildrealm.com/f-hans-richter.html

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Light Space Modulator (experimental short film, 1930)
Info: cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/enthusiast/acquisitions/2000-2001/moholy_text_e.jsp

Moholy Nagy film preview: Lichtspiel Schwarz Weiss Grau (1930)
Titles feature types by Paul Renner (Futura Black) and Herbert Bayer (Universal)

Moholy-Nagy’s Light Space Modulator, recreation
‘a short documentation from the replica of moholy nagy’s light space modulator in Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, Holland’

Viking Eggeling’s Symphonie Diagonale (1921-24)
Info: myspace.com/vikingeggeling

Man Ray: Le Retour a la Raison (1923)

Fernand Leger and Man Ray’s Ballet Mécanique (1924)
Info: antheil.org

Hans Richter: Inflation (1928)

Fluxus: Fluxfilm 8 (1966)
Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus

Tony Conrad: Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain (1972)
‘Performance of Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain by Tony Conrad, assisted by Mick “Mike” Flower (of Vibracathedral Orchestra), Angharad Davies and Ryoko Kuwajima – at Leeds City Art Gallery, UK on Monday 3rd April 2006. Extract recorded live to camera, though the other 88 minutes were pretty similar to this.’

Harry Everett Smith: Early Abstractions (1946-57)
Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Everett_Smith

Brian Eno and Harold Budd: The Plateaux of First Light
‘Music by Brian Eno H.Budd Album:The Plateaux of Mirror. First Light. This video takes the point of view of a fly flying in cigarette smoke.’

Benny Hill: Avant Garde Cinema

+ my very first tweet:

mehallo forming a band called SpinachCan, with this one-eyed guy as lead singer and this sqawky skinny chick on bass.
2:04 PM Nov 26th, 2008 from web

I just finished designing the MySpace page for Normandie, a side project of Aimee, Jamie and Chelsea of theSTART. (Did the custom lettering for the logo too)

The key word in this design project was ‘decadent.’ Click on either image for the link.

I’ve been a fan of David Letterman for years. Back when he used to guest host the Tonight Show and he did a long, long bit on how thick the chili was in the NBC commissary, when he once mentioned that the word ‘snacks’ never, ever appeared in the Bible, and asked a store called ‘just light bulbs’ if they sold anything else.

He had ‘dancing waters’, confetti canons and parades of circus freaks running thru the studio and the Sky Cam or the monkey cam – any time there was a lull. Fights with Cheryl Tiegs, Cher, Stevie Nicks, The Phil Donahue countdown calendar, Bill Murray throwing raw meat at Julia Child, Larry ‘Bud’ Melman mispronouncing ‘tater tots.’

What was cool was Dave was doing things on tee vee that no one had ever thought of (Except Steve Allen, who inspired Dave to do his own thing). Before Howard Stern, before reality tee vee, one would stay up late to see what Dave was going to do. It didn’t matter who the guests were, if Dave had something to bitch about, that’s what the show was.

And of course, due credit must go to Merrill Markoe – who was Dave’s head writer for many, many years. When she left, the void was felt. I can safely say her humor really synced with a whole generation.

The very first thing I ever videotaped was Letterman’s first anniversary show (1983) – because it was my birthday and it took most of the evening to get that BIG AS A BOAT VHS MONSTER actually hooked up. Had it up and running by 12:30 a.m. Just in time for Dave.

Here’s a couple of cool links with great content:

Laughing Squid: David Letterman NBC Years and Earlier

And

the comic’s comic: Great Moments in David Letterman interviews

Swiss International Style guru Massimo Vignelli has released a new book on using type in graphic design. In it he explains in concise detail how it’s done. And as with all his work, it’s precise, clean, neat. Also, it’s free.

Download here: The Vignelli Canon [PDF]

As one student put it, “in this class I learned not to be gangsta  . . . . ”

There’s a time and a place.

So I actually consider urban lettering to be an advanced form of type; an evolution from forms we’ve been using for hundreds of years into something personal, different.

Which is nothing new: our lowercase alphabet evolved thru what was basically personal expression in lettering. And it makes sense that our letterforms will continue to evolve.

In that, I ran across this post today in the Upscale Typography blog. It’s about the work of Niels Shoe Meulman, who practices Calligraffiti: traditional lettering mixed with urban style.

Click on the image for a video and more info:

Then go look at Daid Daragones’ work. It’s also just as cool (also click image):

get modern[o]
This is what I’ve been up to for the past year. Instead of plopping down in front of the tee vee, I decided to do something a bit more productive.

Last January I started working on a font idea I’ve had brewing for about 10 years. Sketched a lot, poured thru my collection of type books, fired up Fontlab, put on some music (bands of choice: theSTART and iVellora) (and actually, I could only draw these letters when listening to Aimee, Chelsea + co) and I basically took myself through one letter after another  . . .  and

with some final tweaks this week by Rod Cavazos and his team at Psy/Ops in San Francisco, I am happy to announce today the release of my newest fonts!

Jeanne Moderno is a synthesis of Bodoni Italic, 19th Century Fat Faces and elements from early 20th century (pre-bauhaus) modernism.

Jeanne Moderno is a ‘revisionary’ typeface, in that it incorporates elements that sort of existed, and also didn’t exist. Kind of modern, a bit steampunk, with a twist of fashion  . . .  all together raw and elegant.

With a geometric version just for anyone who wants a change from Futura Black or font menu standby, Braggadocio.

purchasing options
You can download your very own copy of Jeanne Moderno thru the steve mehallo foundry at MyFonts. MyFonts also has a set of my historical ‘specimen’ images in the gallery section.

Psy/Ops was the first foundry to release Jeanne Moderno, and you can order your copy here. Jeanne Moderno is also available thru my friends at Ascender.

We’ve set up a few different purchasing options for Jeanne Moderno. We have the fonts available as a superset (9 fonts for 99 bucks US) or individually (32 bucks US) – basically, whatever you choose, Jeanne Moderno is about the same price you’d pay for a really good book.

Huge thanks to everyone who has supported me in this endeavor. Especially my wife, who is the namesake of this particular type family.

Plus, check out The National Science Foundation’s official Birth of the Internet page.

I keep meaning to add a short web history component to my graphic design history class – and found some great classroom-friendly sound bytes in NSF’s collection.

Also found this fun little history of Twitter ditty.

Bob Wilkins was this incredible host of a late night horror television show back in the 1970s. And he really hated horror movies, which made the show all the more sublime.

As a kid, forcing myself to stay up late to watch his show led me to this life of staying up all night drawing fonts. His dry wit predated David Letterman by many, many years.

He passed away January 7.

For more info about Bob, please visit bobwilkins.net

This is his MySpace page: myspace.com/creaturefeaturesbob

Read my friend Lori’s blog post here.

I will be one of the presenters at Sacramento Pecha Kucha Night 6

Thursday January 8, 2009
at Level Up Lounge
2431 J. Street, Sacramento (look for Thai Basil)
Door: Free. Presentations start at 8:20 p.m.

I’m going to be brought to you by the letter ‘g.’ Just like Sesame Street.

And I’m limited to around SIX MINUTES. If you’ve ever sat thru one of my lectures, I can’t even introduce myself in six minutes! Click on the above poster for more info about Pecha Kucha in Sacramento.

For Pecha Kucha worldwide, go here.

This summer I moved a bunch of my fonts over to MyFonts.com. They have a been a great resource for really interesting fonts, many from independents (like myself) that don’t always make it on to mainstream radar – or get lost in very large catalogs.

Today I found that one of my newest – Escoffier Capitaux – is profiled in the Fall 2008 edition of In Your Face; written up by Joshua Lurie Terrell, founder of the Typographica blog. See: 1st column, part way down.

I’d love to see it being used in a menu somewhere. I’d been tinkering with it on and off for the past 5 years or so.

(I also teach type at The Art Institute of California Sacramento)

The main question typically is: Why in God’s name are you teaching a Friday night type course!!?

And the simple answer is classroom availability.

The only other choice was Thursdays at 6 a.m.

So I’ve decided to post a peek into my philosophy here. The latest questions come from Homaside:

Q.
In you typography class. Is it more about designing with type or designing type. Do you go over design grids? What program are you working with to design type? Fontographer or is there other programs you like to use?

A.
That’s a loaded question. Here’s a loaded answer:

designing with type
sort of, at least the final project is.

designing type
the class shows the basics for how one would need to be thinking to design type. That alone is more powerful than learning software (at least when you use the software, you should know what you’re doing)

grids
No. But I do go over powerful form and composition basics that lead to grids – and how designers can manipulate these elements in order to control where viewers will look and react. And I show some great examples one doesn’t normally see elsewhere.

If you want to know grids, check out: The Designer and the Grid from RotoVision. One of the best books I’ve seen on the subject, not as dry as the other, traditional ones. (sorry jmb, hurlburt)

software I use
Outside of class, for drawing fonts I use Fontlab, because Fontographer’s update is still based on 1980s screen rendering; I can’t see details on screen as well as Fontlab, and there’s some better tools specifically tied into how letters are constructed; and Adobe Illustrator can be a good starting point before bringing into Fontlab. Note: The Fontlab folks also have a basic type drawing program called TypeTool, which I’ve heard has a great student discount.

In short, I teach the class based on how I was taught and how (in some cases) I wish I were taught. A lot of what I cover I had to learn on my own. And I believe strongly that the basics of typography cannot be taught on a computer – the alphabet we use now evolved over the past 2000 years from pen-drawn forms. And frankly, what we’re doing on the computer today simply mimics what came from a broad-edge pen. There’s no substitute for going back to the pen.

So that’s how I teach the class. And students’ work after they take the class is typically amazing to see!

Here’s a preview of my new font package, which will be released soon (it’s in beta right now). And I couldn’t have drawn it if I hadn’t taught this course:

I’ve been working on this one for a few months and as I write this we’re about 1/2 way thru set up.

I am co-curating the FEEEL gallery show with Jiayi Young, and it’s sort of a similar approach as was taken for the Spoken With Eyes exhibit I headed up back in 2006  . . .  only this time, a smaller group of artists.

And we have two openings planned! [1] Monday November 17 at noon AND [2] a huge party with great food and DJ Inue. Both on Friday November 21 from 6 – 9 pm.

And FEEEL will feature a select group of regional and international artists:

Natalie Berwernitz, Marek Goldowski
Rachel Clarke, M. Azevedo
Daid Daragones
Glenda Drew
Girola
George Holden/Abercrome Lights
Kornel
Olivier Lelong
Joe Miller
Marco Rea
Mick Sheldon with ARC Physics
Joel Smith
Justin Wood

and music by
Happyboy
Spazzkid
Machine & Ses Machines

For more information and a map, please visit adac.org/feeel. FEEEL runs thru December 11.

Update: FEEEL slideshow posted here.

Note: The second batch of photos capture the lighting really well – and yes, we did have both regular Twinkies and Red Velvet versions for the Friday opening.

I like to think globally (or at least, I think I do).

This morning I ran across this analysis of the United States – via Gawker, published in Der Spiegel.

I find the P.O.V. fascinating to digest, and decided to repost it – wondering what other opinions would be. It has some inflammatory comments, but I appreciate the blunt language and directness of the text. It is an opinion piece – one agrees, disagrees, digests.

What do you think?

Banned from YouTube (really!) this expose by Cheshire Dave is one of my favorite documentaries. Click the image to watch.

+

College zine logotype by mehallo, 1985

It was a decorative update from a plain Cooper Black version, which first appeared on the zine in 1980. I made this one using presstype and a little bit of nervous sweat.