As an educator, I’ve broken graphic design into three components: Message, Typography, Layout.

I’m not the first educator to do this – just happened to constantly notice these three elements staring back at me in all the student pieces I evaluate. In my opinion, careful appreciation, understanding and implementation of the three can lead to beautiful work.

message
Graphic design is a communication field, so Message should always drive the project. Today we are bombarded by thousands of Messages on a daily basis, so being on Message is critical. And yes, this usually involves language and writing – which is why I love when students take their written studies seriously.

typography
I’ve seen an (often not cited/supported) statistic that graphic design is 95% typography. Scientific or not, I agree with this. Type is important. I like comparing the exploration of lettering to that of music – there’s enough complexity for it to become a lifetime endeavor. And most of what I teach is type, from multiple angles.

form
Graphic designers are taught to use grids for layout – though relying on ‘grid’ as a catch all way of handling form can be misleading. Grids provide support, a fallback position for dealing with massive amounts of information. Though important, grids have their limitations. Building structure using symmetry, asymmetry, balance, color – some elements obvious, some not – involves continuous practice, a trained eye, instinct.

These three are not formulas, can’t be added together. They need to work in tandem, like cooking a great stew where the ingredients are based on what feels just right.

Click to view/jump

On a related note, the above film – Edward Tufte’s Ingre Druckrey: Teaching to See – found its way into my Twitter feed. It’s about graphic design and beauty. And much more.

In January I’m going to be teaching my first non-type course on Form and Space. I’m starting prep now because I consider form so important – so powerful, so delicate.

And beautiful when done right.

Video found via ayana baltrip

Reading glass case with outlined Helvetica. Genuine 1970s soft plastic.

Some light reading. Graphics designed by the Saul Bass studio.

Found via Spokane7

‘These things are becoming harder to find these days and I wish to have a record of their fine existence.’

Photographs from Sam Platz’s Pay Phone Tribute Album (on Facebook).

‘next door to Cricket’s Cafe off Auburn Blvd  . . .  in Citrus Heights, CA’

Photograph by Ian Webb.

‘This film was made by his company as a presentation to AT&T executives. It would have extended to be shown to the public, but a number of his ideas in the film were not ultimately adopted, like his phone booth designs, and men’s and women’s uniforms.’

Complete pitch by the master. It’s everything anyone ever wanted to know about how good logos and visual identity systems work. From 1969. Historical details here.

Found via Scott Stowell

Control panel from my mother’s Clairol ‘True-To-Light’ makeup mirror.

Still in daily use after all these years. Here’s the original, original commercial.

Ad for Hermes typewriters, designed by Josef Müller-Brockmann, 1950.

Müller-Brockmann video homage here.

Found via Josef Muller-Brockmann: Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design

‘Andy Warhol’s posters for the French film, Querelle, 1982.’

Found via Mom’s Basement

‘The ‘ella’ on Barbarella was probably suggested by Feiffer’s Passionella, a brilliant satire on the Cinderella theme and much of American culture.’

In 1966, French scifi comic Barbarella was published in a the US in a translated edition.

Minimal color, racy stories. Robot sex.

The original, a serialized comic strip, was created in 1962 by Jean-Claude Forest for V magazine.

Pictured, images from the American edition – which designwise is rather Lichtenstein in its visual approach (see bottom).

Here’s The San Francisco Chronicle’s take on the book – from July 17, 1966 – the clipped review was found in my thrift-store-grabbed copy.

By 1968, Roger Vadim, Paco Rabanne and Jane Fonda made Barbarella into ‘something else.’ And up next, (allegedly) Anne Hathaway.

More original Barbarella here.

‘The sneakers, a pair of Nike Air Force Ones are called ‘Haute Charcuterie”

Meat shoes designed by Swiss design firm BlackYard, presented at Art Clash 2009. More info here.

Found via Modern Urban Style

Just my mindset this morning.

Set in Alte Hass Grotesk, a free font based on the ‘cold type’ version of Helvetica. Download here.

‘Legend has it that Helvetica came in and vanquished the competition. Paul Shaw shows that it didn’t happen that way’

In his new book, Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story, designer and historian Paul Shaw (below) takes a look at some Swiss type and the trains of the MTA.

Pre-order your copy here (book drops March 11, 2011). Official site here. Idsgn interview with Shaw here.

Found via Delve Withrington

Found via gif anime

Helvetica leggings by James Lillis. Available here.

Check out krystian ‘junkyard dogs’ kujda’s photostream at Flickr.

Reminds me of things in my garage.

Picking fonts, not the easiest thing to do. But design student Julian Hansen has created a poster that kinda breaks it down into easy solutions.

Click the above image for a full size version.

Are there really easy solutions?

Swiss design uberguru Massimo Vignelli believes so. Here’s I Love Typography’s take on The Vignelli Twelve.

Found via Typekit

The Words of Barack Obama, designed by Hyperakt.

Click to view larger/jump.

Here’s a brief history of NASA’s logos, including the ‘meatball’ (above) and the ‘worm’ (below).

The worm was put to rest in 1992. If you wish, condolences can be left here.

NASA Worm

When it comes to official type, NASA is Helvetica, Futura, Times, Garamond and something  . . .  Victorian?

Article here.

Plus
Here’s a look at some goofy names for some other classic ‘bugs.’

Designed by Beverly Hsu. Info.

Found via MyFonts

Designer Florent Guerlain’s Swiss take on the Monopoly game board.

Found via Doobybrain

‘TeuxDeux is a simple, designy, free, browser-based to-do app.’

A collaborative product from swissmiss and Fictive Kin. And it’s FREE.

Demo video above. Grab it here.

I read somewhere that this novel sent Gene Roddenberry into a tizzy. Don’t know if it were true, but this book has some nasty religion stuff, nymphomaniac Ensign Sara George, lots of sex and the crew in a nakkid crucifiction in the rain something or other. I remember reading this as a kid and thinking about the rather frank, adult content, This is NOT going to be made into a movie is it? Also thought: This Star Trek thing is pretty damn interesting (teenage hormones speaking, of course).

‘Ensign George was pure, unadulterated, wanton sex.’

Yeah.

This was one of the first original Trek novels, released in 1976. I loved the stark whiteness of the original glossy Helvetica-set cover (now faded); paired with wonderful artwork by Gene Szafran. Unfortunately, future printings ended up with more literal interpretations up front.

Here’s a blow by blow review. Snag a copy here (is this thing even still in print?)

‘Transparent plastics and wooden veneers were mixed and colour schemes were limited to tones of pure whites and greys, the only splash of colour being allocated to switches and dials’

Designer Dieter Rams’ work for Braun inspired Jonathan Ive at Apple. And just opened at the London’s Design Museum is a Rams retrospective. Details here.

I’m not much of a purist. Well, that’s a lie. When it comes to type I am. Well, not always. I argue with myself a lot about it. It either works or it doesn’t. My litmus test: ‘Does it communicate?’ And if the goal for the local business is not to be read, then often, it works.

An article in this Sunday’s New York Times is all about this. Once one starts to see type, it’s all over. Read here.

Thanks to Susan and Jonathan for forwarding

Congress Hall in Biel, Switzerland. Not Photoshop, it’s real. Responsible party: Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann. Details here.

Click image for larger version/jump.

Found via Twitter.com/Typegirl

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

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!

Take the quiz.

It ain’t easy. I actually got 19/20 and I supposedly know what I’m doing.

A bunch of Helvetica posters here.

My old store clock is noisy and uses big batteries. But it looks neat.

For as long as I could remember, San Francisco’s KFOG would play The Toyes’ Smoke Two Joints at quitting time on a Friday afternoon. Here’s three versions, including takes by Bob Marley and Sublime  . . .
 

get the playlist or create your own at mixpod.com
please support the musicians on my player by legally purchasing their music

Köln-based graphic designer Tobias Battenberg projects Akzidenz Grotesk (the forerunner of Helvetica) onto industrial surfaces.

Found via Flores en el Atico

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]