{"id":4065,"date":"2009-10-14T04:25:03","date_gmt":"2009-10-14T11:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/?p=4065"},"modified":"2012-06-03T21:38:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T04:38:40","slug":"parkinsons-sutro-fonts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/archives\/4065","title":{"rendered":"Parkinson’s Sutro fonts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nADAC 38th season promotional material<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not often one gets to meet one of their heroes.<\/p>\n

When I was in high school, a bunch of kids thought it would be funny to sign me up for every magazine subscription they could find \u2013 by sending in a large pile of subscription cards. My parents were not amused; but it was Rolling Stone<\/em> that I kept. I fell in love with the hand-inked masthead – and decided that that was what I wanted to do. <\/p>\n

Hand-ink mastheads. <\/p>\n

Not a big field. And who knew people actually<\/em> did this? I wanted to do it, and early attempts (for my high school paper) netted not so wonderful results. Who knew that someday I’d actually be drawing fonts as a consequence.<\/p>\n

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\nRolling Stone masthead by Jim Parkinson<\/em><\/p>\n

Around five years ago, I finally met the guy behind the logotype \u2013\u00a0lettering artist Jim Parkinson. And the conversations have been great – as long as I don’t actually call him hero,<\/em> he’s cool. And (who knew?) we both like fresh anchovies. Which I’ve found can gross out anyone who is eating near us.<\/p>\n

using jim’s fonts<\/strong>
\nI used Jim Parkinson\u2019s Sutro fonts<\/a> on promotional materials for the 38th season of the Sacramento Art Directors and Artists Club<\/a>. I was the newly appointed president, so I was determined to use fonts from the best of the best and (of course) Jim was on my list. <\/p>\n

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Some of the collateral included an events calendar (above) where I digitally ‘channeled’ Morris Fuller Benton’s original ATF Cheltenham calendar cuts<\/a> using the Sutro family as well as an experimental t-shirt design (below) listing all speakers and events planned for the season:<\/p>\n

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The pattern was created by setting Sutro Shaded Initials<\/a> with negative leading in two almost identical overlapping text boxes. Each box was in a different color – one aligned justified, the other centered.<\/p>\n

type at the fair<\/strong>
\nThe following summer, I had the honor of giving a talk on California-themed typography – with Jim – at an unusual venue, The State Fair. I gave an historic overview of 19th century typography and Jim showcased how he adapts from these types for contemporary projects. <\/p>\n

It was an odd thing to do (flyer below), but really fun. Spent the week before pouring thru specimen books to make a slide showing ATF Jenson, the forerunner of both the Rolling Stone<\/em> logotype and Jim’s Parkinson fonts.<\/a>
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a california guy<\/strong>
\nMost of Jim’s fonts are named for California locations and he keeps busy designing magazine logotypes and painting. Drop by his website here.<\/a>
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\nJim Parkinson<\/em><\/p>\n

And for a great overview of his body of work, here’s a MyFonts interview<\/a> with Jim. Or if you want to see some interesting posts about a Chilean soap opera going hog wild with the Rolling Stone<\/em> logo, go here<\/a> (I just had to include that one).<\/p>\n

And if you read magazines – even just staring at them while in line at the store \u2013 you’ve seen his work. It is everywhere, which is the coolest part. Can’t pass a magazine rack without thinking of Jim.
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\nJim’s archive, via Stewf<\/a> on Flickr<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\t

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