the mehallo blog. beta.

Nimrod is (secretly) one of my favorite type families. I used it on my father’s memorial booklet (he loved reading the daily newspaper). And Ysobel is a more modern interpretation in the same genre.

Newspaper (and publication design-friendly) Ysobel is now available as a superset thru Monotype. It was a collaborative design project with Robin Nicholas at the helm; Delve Withrington and Alice Savoie all making it work.

More details here.

Here’s an interview with Alice Savoie at i love typography.

And drop by Delve Fonts, where one can – for a limited time – snag a copy of Delve Withrington’s free type teaser, Blasphemy. And do check out the nifty Tilden Sans. I know Delve has some cool stuff up his sleeve (I’ve seen some of it), get on his newsletter mailing list for updates.

Tags: design, fonts, typography by steve
Comments Off on Ysobel fonts

Taking the personality of Baskerville, mixing it with the thinking of Gill Sans (Sans version) and Futura (Modern version)  . . .  Zuzana Licko has finished work on the latest companion fonts for her popular Mrs Eaves typefaces.

Mr Eaves (above) is a sans serif take on the types of John Baskerville (1706-75). It can be snagged here.

And  . . .  also available is Emigre No. 70, a retrospect of Emigre Magazine. Emigre – which ran from 1984-2005 – was ‘the next big thing;’ which was a term they used a lot to describe design trends.

Emigre was a highly-influential, experimental and controversial design magazine that pushed the envelope to where the envelope didn’t look like the envelope anymore. I can safely say its influence can still be seen everywhere today. I miss going to Tower Books (owned by Tower Records) or Printers Inc. to snag the latest issue.

Details about Emigre 70 here.

Tags: design history, fonts, typography by steve
Comments Off on Emigre’s new Baskerville Sans + No. 70

‘Czech graphic design student Marta Maštálková has designed a typeface by pouring liquid caramel onto glass.’

Details (and recipe) here.

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

Bet you didn’t even know they were gone.

Soul, hip hop, R&B. From Sweden. The band was started in 2004 and after some reshuffling (including the bass player suddenly moving to Israel to study Arabic) they’re back. New music is being mastered as I write this.

Font designer Göran Söderström is a band member, writer and producer. Check them out here. That’s Göran’s newest fonts all over their MySpace page.

Also, Göran’s turned me on to UK-based Speech Debelle. Get your type on!

Tags: fonts, music, typography by steve
Comments Off on Downtown Cookin is back

Albrecht Dürer’s contribution to typography took capitals in new directions.

His books on proportions, De Symmetria Partium in Rectis Formis Humanorum Corporum (books on the normal proportions of the parts of the human form) with Underweysung der Messung (instruction in measurement) cover drawing of human form, perspective – with a dissertation on Roman caps as well as gothics.

Both can be snagged in hi-res digital form from Octavo. Their Graphic Arts Bundle option also includes editions from Giabattista Bodoni (1740-1813), Geofroy Tory (c. 1480-1533) and Owen Jones (1809-74).

Dürer’s original letters exist today in the following fonts:

[1] Dürer Caps from P22

[2] Hands on Albrecht from URW

[3] Albrecht Dürer Gothic from Scriptorium

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

Sort of a 16th century fashion magazine spread.

Used as a promo piece for my Jeanne Moderno fonts. Available as a print or on a greeting card/notecard/postcard.

Tags: design, design history, fashion, fonts, mehallo merchandise, typography by steve
Comments Off on Dürer style

‘the font changes shape and colors as it breeds and dies’

Jelte van Abbema’s award-winning bacteria font, Symbiosis. Details here.

Found via Twitter.com/rogerioabreu

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

Just in time for Halloween!

Blasphemy Initials from Delve Fonts is GREAT for titles, drop caps, frightening timid people, crucifictions, things like that. The thorny letters are carefully proportioned and based on classical form.

To snag your own, simply GO HERE and do what you’re told.

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, typography by steve
Comments Off on Free caps font, it’s Blasphemy!

Oak Café interior, art by Craig Smith

One of the reasons I teach at American River College is The Oak Café. Staffed and run by culinary students, the Oak Café is one of the hardest tables to get in Sacramento – with four star ratings [twice from The Sacramento Bee] and mucho local critical acclaim, they don’t skimp on anything. It’s a foodie’s dream tucked away in a corner of a Community College.

Type treatment, set using my Escoffier Capitaux font
 

vincent
A while back, Café instructor Teresa Urkofsky borrowed my copy of Mary and Vincent Price’s A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965). Known for his horror films, Vincent Price (1911-93) was also one of the pioneers of the gourmet movement. He used his celebrity to promote high class eating worldwide. And this over-the-top cookbook – which features funky recipes from the best restaurants in the world (at the time) – is a testament to his love of good food. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, culinary, education, thoughts by steve
Comments Off on Oak Café, Vincent Price and moi

LAIKA from Michael Flückiger on Vimeo

Traditional fonts are static. For their bachelor thesis, Michael Flückiger and Nicholas Kunz created a dynamic typeface called LAIKA.

LAIKA isn’t static. Style, weight, size, kerning and other properties can be adjusted on the fly using a control panel, as seen in the video. LAIKA can also respond to outside stimuli, such as people.

To test drive/interact with LAIKA, go here.

Interactive online interface for LAIKA

Found via Twitter.com/frank000

Tags: cool finds, design, fonts, typography by steve
Comments Off on LAIKA: Interactive typography from Switzerland

This has been a favorite for awhile. Premise: You’re time-honored Helvetica and you get to beat the crap out of sneaky Arial. Unless Arial gets to you first.

Go here.

And call me crazy, but this game seems to go a bit faster these days. That bastard Arial has gotten even more aggressive!

Tags: cool finds, fonts, typography by steve
4 comments  . . .