davidthedesigner

those little telltale signs

You might not know this (if you're not a designer), but we do like to give out little clues as to our true identity. It's a way of sending out a signal - when we're in a meeting with corporate clients, for instance - that is meant to be read as "hey guys, just remember that I'm the creative one here". Michael Wolff, for example, likes to do it in a way more usually associated with architects: with eyewear. And I remember Ken Carroll (once of, and the 'C' in, CDT) explaining (when he was working on the design of The Independent) that he always made sure he turned up at meetings with at least three day's growth of beard - 'designer stubble', if you will: it was his way of signalling to the client that he wasn't going to be intimidated.

Others do it by means of the clothes they wear: which may be that old standby, all black; or maybe something a bit more sophisticated and bought on credit from Paul Smith. And there's always a little sub-group who do it with accessories: the latest electronic device taken along in order to take notes. Or those on a more modest budget might choose a Moleskine. Either way, it's a way of setting ourselves apart from the client - and to remind them that we 'think different'.

As for me: I wear design socks.
 

yet alone another warning sign

i didn't heed the warning signs

I went through the door and now I'm lost. I hope to be back next week.

an optimastic outlook

Yes, I know. But I really couldn't resist that heading. Sorry.

To be honest, I don't really like Optima, and I'd walk a million miles in order to avoid using it. But the whole point of this little avoiding-helvetica series is that sometimes I'm going to have to confront some demons. And at least the story behind Optima is an interesting one: so maybe I'll need to pull it out of my dusty old type drawer and give it another go.

Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf and is his most successful typeface. In 1950, Zapf made his first sketches while visiting the Santa Croce church in Florence. He sketched letters from grave plates that had been cut about 1530, and as he had no other paper with him at the time, the sketches were done on two 1000 lire bank notes. These letters from the floor of the church inspired Optima, a typeface that is classically roman in proportion and character, but without serifs. The letterforms were designed in the proportions of the Golden Ratio.

In 1952, after careful legibility testing, the first drawings were finished. The type was cut by the famous punchcutter August Rosenberger at the D. Stempel AG type foundry in Frankfurt. Optima was produced in matrices for the Linotype typesetting machines and released in 1958. With the clear, simple elegance of its sans serif forms and the warmly human touches of its tapering stems, this family has proved popular around the world. Optima is an all-purpose typeface; it works for just about anything from book text to signage. It is available in 12 weights and 4 companion fonts with Central European characters and accents.

In 2002, more than 50 years after the first sketches, Hermann Zapf and Akira Kobayashi completed Optima Nova, an expansion and redesign of the Optima family.

And now on to Octavian, which was designed by Will Carter and David Kindersley for the Monotype Corporation in 1961.

Will Carter described it thus: "While the ultimate authority is the ancient inscriptional pattern, the physical characteristics of the present rendering are manifest in the economic proportions of the shapes and the modified relations of the strokes. Thus, the letters are narrower than the classical forms and their weight heavier."

Apparently, Octavian is a fine book font and works well for other text settings that are less demanding, such as magazines and brochures. I've never used it, though.

this made me smile #46

Mathematics meets brand design (via Design Observer).

this made me smile #45

"and her boyfriend's an [sic] former space tourist who was in charge of making Word".

Andrew commenting on Ben's blog about Martha Stewart (and her boyfriend).

Makes you feel like such an under-achiever, doesn't it?

the man who detests helvetica

Here's a rather sweet little film about Lawrence Weiner. He apparently splits his time between New York and Amsterdam, but on this showing one rather suspects that he lives in the south east corner of the Hundred Acre Wood, in an area called 'Eyore's Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy and Sad'.

Funky shoes, though.

the green gauge

I know a man (not terribly well, I must admit) who is the embodiment of the term petrol head. And, boy, does he like his cars. Not just any cars, mind you. I haven't seen him for a while, but every time I do he has a different one. Cars like this:

As you might imagine, he has a bob or two. So why not? Good luck to him.

The thing is, though, he emailed me a couple of weeks ago to proudly announce that by 2010 his company is going to be carbon negative. Not even carbon neutral, mind, but negative.

So I'm wondering whether this time he's splashed out on a bandwagon. Shall we all jump on?

tough-choice friday

So here's your choice: either,

lots of designers worried sick about the lack of pencils, or something; or,

chicken watch.

(Richard: can you please set up a webcam on those things? I want to see the first egg - I'm wondering whether it will be yellow or black?)

where location meets price meets style

Yeah, right.