the mehallo blog. beta. » calligraphy

Blackletter in Mainz

steve — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:52:26 +0000

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

Article here.

Joos Italic

steve — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:23:49 +0000

‘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

The Book of Kells

steve — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:38:36 +0000

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

Coming Together: Ampersands for Haiti

steve — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:17:25 +0000

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

Julien Breton: More

steve — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:15:41 +0000

Interview with calligrapher Julien Breton (in French, above); Virtual calligraphy v.0.1. performed in real time with the Digital Slaves (below).

Julien Breton: Light calligraphy

steve — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:04:39 +0000

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

The art of Calligraffiti

steve — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:41:49 +0000

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 . . . . ”

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):