the mehallo blog. beta.

I Love Typography takes a look at the holdings of the library of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz. More than just Bibles.

Article here.

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

‘Joos is a revival of an upright italic created in 1536 in Gent. This work is not a formal revival but it faithfully fits into the scheme of Joos Lambrecht (punchcutter), which was to idealize roman types by bringing together the characteristic graceful shapes of italics and the angularity of romans.’

Not all Italics are slanted – they have their origins in calligraphy.

More about Laurent Bourcellier’s beautiful Joos fonts here.

Found via Colin M. Ford

Tags: cool finds, design history, fonts, typography by steve
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Right now my history students are freaked out by the study guide they received this week.

Among the many graphic design historical items listed is the Irish Book of Kells, c. 800 A.D.

The Book of Kells is the most elaborate illuminated manuscript ever created – that we know of. A brief overview can be seen in the NBC video above; its origins are the stuff of legend.

book of kells resources
Many different resources exist for study. A detailed history can be found on the Wiki site here. There are also introductory books, official sites, fan sites and more. The most accessible would be The Book of Kells on DVD, which details every page of every folio. Preview video below:

Or
If you simply want a Kells-based journal, you can snag one here.

Today Show video found via MSNBC

Tags: cool finds, design history, education, illustration, typography by steve
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SOTA’s Font Aid IV jumped into action a few weeks ago – to benefit the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.

The result was released today. A collaborative font.

purchase
Snag your copy of the Coming Together font thru any of these sources:

[1] Ascender Fonts

[2] Veer

[3] MyFonts

[4] FontShop

The font sells for 20 bucks (US) and all proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders to help the people of Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake.

all ampersands
The font consists of just under 400 ampersands from type designers from around the world – including myself (see below).

For more about ampersands, history and use, read Steve Matteson’s article here. For more about Font Aid IV, go here.

That be mine

Tags: cool finds, design history, education, fonts, typography by steve
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Interview with calligrapher Julien Breton (in French, above); Virtual calligraphy v.0.1. performed in real time with the Digital Slaves (below).

Tags: cool finds, typography by steve
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Déraciné 2007

Light calligraphy by Julien Breton. Photography by G.J. Plisson. Created without the use of Photoshop. Go here.

Poésie 2007 (photo by Julien Breton)

Kata 2008

Le savoir 2007

Tags: cool finds, photography, typography by steve
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The work of Niels Shoe Meulman, via Some Type of Wonderful

This comes up a lot in my type classes. Urban lettering – graffiti – is often practiced by students in my typography courses. The work is typically great, however, where things tend to fall apart is when I’m teaching traditional form, such as script or italic.

As one student put it, “in this class I learned not to be gangsta  . . . . ” [Read more →]

Tags: art, cool finds, education, originally posted on my myspace blog, thoughts, typography by steve
6 comments  . . .