H-57 has a created a few Star Wars posters illustrated with typography. The poster also details the typeface that each glyph came from.
Update: Boba Fett in type via @marchodges.
Tag: typography
Finishing Touches
For Hoefler & Frere-Jones, it’s all about the sweating the small stuff. While developing Gotham, they noticed that the fractional one appeared naked and needed a serif. So, they decided to add it to all of the other fractions.
It’s something that we added because we felt it mattered. Even if it helped only a small number of designers solve a subtle and esoteric problem, we couldn’t rest knowing that an unsettling typographic moment might otherwise lie in wait. We’ve always believed that a good typeface is the product of thousands of decisions like these.
That’s called attention to detail.
Typographic Maps
Axis Maps has released a Typographic Maps art project, which accurately depicts the physical features of the cities using nothing but type. So far, they’ve only created maps of Boston and Chicago, but I imagine there will be more down the road. Their blog entry has a few additional details about the process, including the fact that they were created through manual tracing and adjustment, nothing automated.
ATypI 2010 Keynote
Yves Peters reports on the ATypI 2010 Keynote presentation in Dublin, featuring Robert Bringhurst. Noted for the using my photograph of The Elements of Typographic Style.
Helveti.ca
I bought the domain Helveti.ca about four years ago, and had a weblog there for a few months. There was a mixup with hosting, the site was deleted and there was no backup. After languishing for awhile, I revived the site earlier this year and put up a tumblelog.
Obviously, the site is a homage to Helvetica, the ubiquitous typeface created by Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffman. I try to avoid posting anything that just happens to use Helvetica. Opting instead for artwork, articles, videos, etc. that directly reference the typeface in one form or another.
Stop by and have a look around. Subscribe to the RSS feed or follow @helveticablog on Twitter to keep up to date.
Typographer’s Glossary
The Typographer’s Glossary from FontShop provides definitions of all the type terms that you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. Their education section provides a handy PDF of the glossary, as well as a number of other documents to aide in your typographic pursuits.
The origins of abc
Ever wanted to know where our alphabet came from? Read The origins of abc from iLT.
That story spans some 5,000 years. We’ll travel vast distances, meet an emperor, a clever Yorkshireman, a Phoenician princess by the name of Jezebel, and the ‘purple people’; we’ll march across deserts and fertile plains, and sail across oceans. We will begin where civilisation began, meander through the Middle Ages, race through the Renaissance, and in doing so discover where our alphabet originated, how and why it evolved, and why, for example, an A looks, well, like an A.
An excellent read, with a great layout for the web, and a collage from Able Parris to boot.
Matthew Carter interview
Here’s a short interview with Matthew Carter, for the Boston Globe, by Liza Weisstuch. In the video Carter mentions that he has designed more than 70 typeface families, including Georgia and Verdana.
Ligature, Loop & Stem print
The Lesson Plan Print from Ligature, Loop & Stem is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, it’s sold out already. Head over to FontFont for a writeup about the piece and a brief interview with one of the creators, Grant Hutchinson.
8 Faces magazine
My copy of Elliot Jay Stocks’ new magazine, 8 Faces, just arrived in the post this morning. I was lucky enough to snag a copy during the short period before it sold out. Given the nature of the online typography community, I had a feeling the limited print run would be snapped up in short order. There is still a pdf available for purchase if you’re interested.
The magazine is devoted to typography, asking eight leading designers which typefaces they would use if they were limited to just eight for the rest of their lifetime. It features interviews with Erik Spiekermann, Jessica Hische, Ian Coyle, Jason Santa Maria, Jos Buivenga, Jon Tan and Bruce Willen & Nolen Strals. It also features an introduction by John Boardley and artwork by Able Parris (available for download).
I’ve had the pdf sitting around for a couple weeks, but have avoided reading it, because I wanted to see the magazine in print first. Can’t say that I’m disappointed for waiting, there’s been a lot of care and effort put into it. Elliot has written an article about his experiences with getting it published. The magazine is gorgeous and I’m looking forward to sitting down and reading the entire thing.