the mehallo blog. beta.

‘We’ll explore the hot button topic of web fonts; antique type and lettering of the textile trade; the typography of Disneyland; making smart fonts even smarter; the influence of Charles Eames; liquid typography; west coast ‘Cholo’ style graffiti; and so much more.’

typecon 2010: babel
Big typography conference next week in Los Angeles. Wood Type preview in Carson today. Designer talks, workshops, dealer room, font makers, stuff.

and me
I’ll be giving my first ever TypeCon talk as part of their Type & Design Education Forum. My title is Tell Lies in the Classroom and Get Away With It. It will be as weird as what I normally do in a classroom.

Promise. [Read more →]

Tags: design history, education, events, exhibitions, fonts, typography by steve
1 comment  . . .   

‘The broadside is printed on Mohawk Superfine Eggshell, White, 100t. Everyone attending TypeCon 2010 will receive a copy, courtesy of type quizmaster Allan Haley.’

A broadside tribute to ITC’s new Elegy font – printed in letterpress at Patrick Reagh Printers in Sebastopol, CA. The poster was typeset by the wonderful Ilene Striver – who’s managed to talk me into giving a presentation as part of TypeCon’s Education Forum – next Thursday. More about TypeCon in my next post.

More info about the broadsheet here.

Tags: design history, fonts, typography by steve
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Original ITC logotype handlettered by Ed Benguiat, 1970

Elegy typeface designed by Jim Wasco, 2010

“Where can I get a font of the script used for the ITC logo?’ For almost four decades, this has been one of the most frequently asked questions of ITC. The answer has always been the same: ‘You can’t. The ITC script logo is handlettering and it is not available as a font.”

Now it is. Introducing: ITC Elegy. Two years in production, Jim Wasco took apart Ed Benguiat’s original Spencerian-style script and put it back together with updated spacing and a bunch of stylistic changes.

Detailed article here.

Comparison: Elegy and the original

Found via Delve Withrington

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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‘The resulting font is based on the physical movements of two Oregon ballet dancers  . . .  The dancers were fitted with infrared LED lights, which captured their steps in real time as they danced all 26 letters of the alphabet.’

Typography combined with ballet. Details (and final font) here.

Found via Lyndsie Ross

Tags: design, fonts, typography by steve
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Everyone has their inspirations, their muses. And on the music front, one of mine is the incredible Chelsea Davis. I draw fonts, listen to her tracks. Design some stuff for her. She does a lot.

Chelsea’s classically trained, plays drums for theSTART, Normandie, among a few others. Her personal project is iVellora – and  . . .  great voice.

Her newest project is Volcano Dolls – a collaboration with Suicide Girl Jessica Goodwin (Google Zoli). They’ll be playing LA’s Viper Room this Friday.

Flyer (above) designed by Lux Nova. It features my 2491 font. Volcano Dolls Facebook page here – with new tracks posting soon.

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, music, typography by steve
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‘Kamali has partnered with ScanLife mobile technology to bring a new dimension to her new mannequin.’

If in NYC, here’s a chance to hook up with a mannequin.

The parade of mannequins is part of The Fashion Center Sidewalk Catwalk show, which runs thru September 3, 2010.

Details about the wired in Kamali mannequin here. Complete mannequin gallery here.

Tags: design, fashion, typography by steve
3 comments  . . .   

Did Arial kill Helvetica? Or is it just bullshit?

Australia-based Hungry Beast correspondent Marc Fennell thinks it’s an ‘usurping bitch.’

Tags: education, fonts, typography by steve
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‘Bruno Maag is so enraged by Helvetica that he has designed a typeface aimed specifically at wiping it off the face of the planet.’

Details here. Snag Maag’s Aktiv Grotesk fonts here.

Tags: design, fonts, thoughts, typography by steve
2 comments  . . .   

‘CMYK Alphabet is a typographic experiment  . . .  Each letter is hand embroidered using a combination of two overlapping CMYK colours.’

Evelin Kasikov recreates a process color rosette using thread. Details here.

Tags: art, cool finds, design, typography by steve
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Edward Johnston (1872-1944) developed the ‘look’ of the London Underground – thru type and image.

These are snaps of the work of student Grady Fike. Grady spent eleven weeks jumping thru many hoops in my experimental typography course at The Art Institute of California Sacramento.

For the class, I’ve set up an evolving work process – where students are assigned a ‘famous typographer’ (one that I pick, so they have to work within these limitations) and interpret their work thru both loose and strict design iterations.

It’s similar to Project Runway, but for much of it, students often only have about an hour to produce their work. And based on the outcome, their solutions dictate what the next homework assignment will be. It’s all very fluid. [Read more →]

Tags: design, design history, education, illustration, typography by steve
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‘Hi-Fi is a promotional music video for last year’s concert season at the Bellavista Social Pub, one of the best bars in Siena, Tuscany, according to Where’s Cool.’

Hi-Fi video, directed by Bante. More details at The Font Feed.

Found via LookingAroun.D

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