davidthedesigner

give me a 'c'

There's no real method or science in choosing these 52 fonts: I just get to the next letter of the alphabet and then pick out two typefaces that I think might be worth a second look. But, when we get to the end, it'll be interesting to see where the real influences on type design come from. I had expected that they would be European (and especially Swiss), but on the basis of what I've selected so far it looks as though our American friends may run away with the gold medal.

Century Schoolbook was designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1901.

And, 20 years down the line, Cooper Black was designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper.

octavo and after

In case you missed it, there's a great interview with Hamish Muir (one of the three co-founders of octavo) over at Swiss Legacy. What particularly strikes me, as we draw to the end of 2007, is the similarity between what was going on design-wise in the late 1980s and now. As Hamish explains: "In London at the time, design was very ideas oriented – visual jokes, puns, clever copywriting, gimmicky use of printing and finishing techniques. In terms of typography, it was very different to what was happening in Europe – in the UK things generally followed a kind of traditional approach and it seemed type was always there to support the idea or image, it never seemed to be the idea or image itself.

So what we set out to do was to make design where type and typography were central to the idea. Where type would be the image."

It seems to me that the birth of the new ugly may signal a renewed 'call to arms' to those who appreciate the art of typography.

trajan is the movie font

Richard very kindly emailed me the link to this yesterday and suggested that I might want to hold it in reserve until I get to the letter 'T'. But you don't want to wait until next autumn (or fall), now do you?

aaargh!

Well, is Richard correct? Taken in isolation, the Bell Gothic lower-case 'r' is no thing of beauty, is it? So, of course, he's correct.

But don't misinterpret the intention of this little series. I'm not advocating 52 fonts that you could use for any purpose. No, the point is to make us all look more closely at the fonts we use every day and to reconsider their individual merits and the circumstances in which we may, or may not, consider using them. So if you're designing, for instance, a directory, then Bell Gothic would be a very good choice of font. But if you're designing a logo, then it's clearly a pretty stupid idea (mind you, having said that, I'm sure that David Carson could probably get away with it).

b is for bodoni and...

...Bembo, Baker Signet, Baskerville, Bookman Old Style, Broadway, or even Braggadocio. But no, it's Bell Gothic.

You see, spoilt for choice, aren't we? So, when you're stuck in a rut and using the same fonts day in and day out, this little series is here to remind you that there are all sorts of typeface choices available to you. And there's a great deal in what Rob said in his comment to following the first post in this series: "narrowing your view can expand your inspiration". So why not have a bit of Christmas fun and set every job you do for the next week in Braggadocio?

But if it's timeless elegance that you're after, or your client is an Italian fashion house, then choice number one would really have to be Bodoni. And do you know how long Bodoni's been around? Over 200 years (it was designed by Giambattista Bodoni in 1798). The Wikipedia entry is as good a general description as you'll get.

And my second B choice is something a little more modern - Bell Gothic. Designed by Chauncey H. Griffith in 1938, it was commissioned by AT&T as a proprietary typeface for use in their telephone directories, and was superseded (as far as AT&T are concerned) by Matthew Carter's Bell Centennial in 1978, the one hundredth anniversary of AT&T's founding.

i like postcards too

You've just got time to order these for Christmas: the fabulous second set of postcards from I Like (the first set was such a success that they've completely sold out).

it's gone quiet, hasn't it?

Well, that was a manic week last week, thanks to Mike (the one who was standing in for Ben) and Richard Madeley. And then, all of a sudden, it's gone incredibly quiet. And that's the problem with being a designer: you hit the second week in December and suddenly every job you're working on has to be completed by 'close of play' next Wednesday. And you know you have to do it, because there won't be anything else coming along until the third week of January. Funny how Christmas went from being a three-day break to a five-week holiday, isn't it?

And if you happen to have 1,600 pencils to spare, you could always send them down to Cornwall and have the made into a bench.

this made me smile #33

(via OK Blog)

put away that gun, this part is simple

OK, it's Friday, so nothing wrong with a bit of frivolity. So let's continue with the 'title taken from song lyrics' theme, but move up a decade. This one's from the 80s, and thirty brownie points if you can tell me where it's from. As a hint, this is who you were listening to if you were anywhere near an art school in the first half of that decade. And, no, it's not Joy Division. (Look, I know what you're thinking. But if it's good enough for Russell and his horse, it's good enough for me. Right?)

Anyway, it hides my embarrassment because the original title was 'b for blunder' - and I should have posted it on Monday, but I was sort of too busy fighting one or two deadlines. Because it was Ben (no, not that Ben) who pointed out that if I posted two typefaces a week for a year, I'd end up with 104 fonts, not 52. Just as well I'm not in charge of the Bank of England, otherwise yesterday would have seen either a halving or a doubling of interest rates. Still, at least that would have been interesting (pun intended).

But I have had an upsurge of interest in the 52 fonts idea, thanks almost entirely to John's nice recommendation over here (thanks John). So I hope you'll all come back next week to see what 'B' is going to sit snugly opposite Bodoni.

Of course, the really difficult bit for me (well, apart from the mathematics) will arrive when I get to the letter 'X'. But Rob has kindly offered to help me out. He writes:

"After I had finished looking at your site (which I enjoyed very much) I decided to delve deeper into the fonts beginning with 'X' issue. I have a book entitled 'The Encyclopaedia of Fonts' by Gwyn Headley which is an excellent book for dipping in every now and again for inspiration when I come unstuck and end up using 'helvetica'!! (or arial, times etc...) I went straight to the back of the book which lists all the fonts in the book in alphabetical order and looked for 'X'. It wasn't there!! I then opened my (much too large) font library and looked under 'X' I found the aforementioned 'XeroxMalfunction' and a font called 'Xylo'. OK so it's a font beginning with X but it certainly wouldn't be a good font for everyday use, more of a speciality font (minimal contrast, big bubble characters etc.). I then searched the Linotype library and found 'Xander' ...still no good ...very much a script font (does look good though and I will have to use it somewhere as I love the CAPITILISED characters).

I just wanted to tell you about this little voyage of discovery as I would never have gone on it had it not been for your post. It also seems to me that constricting yourself to design/research with fonts that begin with specific letters is an excellent way to bring out creativity with typography. I am extremely interested in the subject of creativity and how narrowing your view can expand your inspiration.

I am sure you will get many emails along your year long font exploration/journey giving you ideas for each and every letter of the alphabet. Good luck narrowing them down to two each time!! instead of giving you an idea I have decided (after 2 years of research into typography) to design my first font. It will begin and end with the letter 'X'!!"

Rob, you have exactly 45 weeks.

Meanwhile, the mystery over whether Richard Madeley is the real Richard Madeley deepens. And both Mike and I are now thoroughly confused. Richard, if you're reading this, do me a favour and tell Vanessa Feltz that Ben will be waiting for her next week. Cheers.

(between the lines of age)*

I've been enjoying Mike Reed's guest week over at Ben's blog. It's a brave move by Ben, I think, because he runs the risk of either alienating his regular audience, or being completely upstaged. But I guess the one thing he hadn't anticipated was that Richard Madeley (yes, Richard & Judy Richard) would drop by and start commenting. (I'm now rooting for Vanessa Feltz to turn up when Ben returns and starts moaning about tea again.)

Seriously though, Mike's intent this week was to "open up the dialogue between designers and writers, and perhaps bring the two a little closer together" - something which he's certainly succeeded in doing.

Take this post, for instance. As Mike say's, "it's like someone stuffed a Howies catalogue and an old Blackadder video into an Innocent blender and hoped for the best". And that's just the words he's talking about. Because the design ain't much better, is it? Just remember that somebody, somewhere made a conscious decision that the paragraphs (including the headline) ought to have THAT MUCH indent, but conversely made the gutter between the two columns really, really tiny. Just as well they haven't yet mastered 'lock to baseline grid'.

But it's a trap that's easy to fall into. Especially if you work for a certain type of client, or a certain type of agency. Richard (no not that Richard again) alluded to it in his guest post on my blog: about Neo Sans being referred to in his studio as 'Technology Company Sans'. I had the misfortune, several years ago, to get involved with a regional advertising agency, and there was a lot of 'technology company' work going on at the time. And the standard formula (because, remember, the task at hand was simply to make money out of a deal) was for the designer to combine an image of a globe with an arrow pointing to the right and upwards, and the copywriter to insert the words 'mission critical' at every available opportunity.

But guess what? That regional agency is still making enough money to enable the directors to run a fleet of black Porsches and ENORMOUS, shiny 4X4s. Which, unfortunately, is why we'll always be surrounded by such crap.

Anyway, I digress. Do pop over and say hello to Mike. You've only got just over 24 hours in which to do so.

*And twenty extra brownie points if you can tell me where the title comes from.