I just read this interesting NY Times article on Clearview, the new typeface that’s being used for highway signs. The article should be understandable by non typography-geeks, and perhaps of interest to those who want to understand why designers care about superficially similar typefaces so much. Oddly no mention is made of spacing between letters (kerning), which seems much more regular in Clearview.
This is an instance of typography saving lives. Clearview signs can be read 200-300 feet further away than signs of the same size set in Highway Gothic. This gives drivers extra seconds to process information and make decisions.
I’m sorta ashamed i never noticed how badly suited the old Highway Gothic is for highway use, but i guess you never get a chance to spend much time looking at the typography of the signs.
It occurred to me that some of you may not be outraged by the new 2012 Olympic Logo because you are unaware of it. I feel the need to share my pain, and burden you with the knowledge. Behold:
It’s as if Dr. Frankenstein had unearthed the coffins of all the worst logo-design of the 80’s, and somehow combined the parts into a great reanimated design monster. The best thing i can say about it is that it grabs your attention, similar to the way that 1200 fingers scratching of chalkboards grabs attention.
It is not surprising that such a brand mark is accompanied by meaningless drivel by way of explanation:
London 2012 will be everyone’s Games, everyone’s 2012. This is the vision at the very heart of the new London 2012 brand. It will define the venues that are built and the Games that London and the UK will host. The new 2012 emblem will use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people. It is an invitation to take part and be involved.
These will be a Games where everyone is invited to join in. A Games where people are inspired to either take part in the many sports, cultural, educational and community events leading up to 2012 or inspired to achieve personal goals.
…
The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible. It will work with new technology and across traditional and new media networks.
As if other emblems don’t work with new technology…
The official site (to prove i’m not making it up)
Here’s some design discussion.
I recently ran accross this site, and i’m impressed. Most free font site that i’ve seen seem to grovel in the worst web-design of 5 years ago. Dafont.com is different. It has an attractive, clean interface. It sorts fonts into numerous categories. It credits the creator of the font. But most importantly it allows you to preview your own words in all the typefaces. What more is there to ask of a font website?
Tonight i put togther this invitation for my sister’s big art show. (with her over-my-shoulder input) I’m proud of it. The typeface is Avignon. Naturally the image is from her show. Click it to see the whole thing.
You can preview some of the stuff that will be in the show at her under-construction website. Continue reading ‘Annalisa’s Senior Art Exibition’
I spent quite a bit of time tweaking Brown as Milk the theme i used for the first month of attempting:Lucidity’s life. It’s the direct decendant of Azeem Azeez’s beautiful White as Milk theme. Probably i messed some stuff up, but i altered the CSS to support a bunch of plugins & Widgets, along with altering the already great design to something i like better. But i’ve been allured by some of the AJAX features being included in K2, so i’m dropping Brown as Milk, & making what i’ve accomplished available for other WordPress Bloggers. In my opinion it’s far from the ugliest WordPress theme out there.
You can download Brown as Milk here. Continue reading ‘Brown as Milk’
This little video has been out for a while, but it certainly worth seeing especially if you care about design. While nothing i’ve worked on has gone nearly so wrong, i can empathize with the pain of a good design being killed (or at least maimed) by the forced addition of little extras.
Supposedly created by some of Microsoft’s designers, this video parodies the design process that the iPod packaging might go through if Microsoft was suddenly entrusted with a redesign. Microsoft redesigns iPod packaging presented by Google Video.
Continue reading ‘Design gone Wrong’
One of the advantages of being a Graphic Designer, is that the fruit of your labor is tanglible & easily observable. A Designer’s portfolio is generally considered more interesting than samples of an accountant’s work.
However, the accessibility of our craft is a two edged sword. Because anybody can look at, for instance, a book cover, & instantly form an opinion, clients often believe that their gut reaction is as valuable (or more so) that the designer’s.
To address this belief, we need to consider something so natural & automatic, that most people don’t ever give it a thought: seeing. Continue reading ‘Seeing they do not Percieve’
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