*Amazing*

I hate PAPYRUS more than life itself ... maybe even more than Comic Sans. This is a dirty card and would find myself struggling if I were given a card with it on it. Papyrus is SEVERELY overused and I'm SICK AND TIRED of seeing spas use it. Give me a break! It's called expanding your type horizons people! What mad me even more upset ... I realized that Avatar used Papyrus for its subheadings for the native people in the film. The film should have been tossed from the Academy Awards for the sole purpose of using that terrible font. Grrr.

Bad to the bone ...

As gross as these may seem, I absolutely love them. My obsession with fonts is very intricate and layered. They aren't just letters or pixels, they're a means of communicating ... giving life to something. These images, although they may seem graphic, illustrate the life that the letters hold themselves. I really think people don't see the power and potential a typeface can hold over a design. When it comes down to it, the face can either make or break the design. This images are apart of a whole series in which the type are operated on, exposing the life that is within them. It's a very interesting concept, one that I very much admire.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Evolution-of-Type-Exhibits-6-9-12/1022967

Sexy, Sexy Type

I love love LOVE type posters such as the ones above. When designers take type and make it malleable ... it usually turns out pretty cool. There was one Harry Potter film (I think it was the Half-Blood Prince) where the ending sequence looked like black ink being dropped into water, which really got to me. Frankly, it was my favourite part of the movie (sorry, hope you're not a HP fan). With that in mind ... the above type fits into that image. It seems like a combination between ink and film being burned. Very cool combo.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Disorder-Type/379966

Text + Sex = WOW!

As a type nerd, I couldn't resist posting this (even as inappropriate as it is). I'm always fascinated by images made out of type and this one ... I'm speechless. I will say this however, I don't like the typeface whatsoever. Clever idea, bad type choice. I also don't like how rigid the image is ... doesn't seem to have much cohesion or flow to it. You'd think that creating such an image would involve flow. I know this was a student's creation and with a few changes ... it would turn out pretty cool. Granted, it would never get printed in North America but ... could have an opportunity in Europe?

Typeface Packaging

I'm too much of a self-obsessed type geek ... these are *amazing* and would love to get my hands on them at some point ... I can only imagine how interesting they are. It gets me thinking ... it would be amazing to create a type series on some of the newer type that has been gaining attention. I've been following a type designer, Ale Paul, and even thinking about seeing his work in something like this ... just gives me chills. The examples above seem to represent older type, ones with rich history ... but expanding into a new line would again, create some very cool reads. I'm not much of a serif girl but even so, would love to have these in my expanding collection.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/TYPEFACES-PACKAGING/295858

Alphabeasties

I came across this book last term when I went to the type show at the North Campus. Since seeing it, it has inspired me in a number of design projects that I've worked on this term. What was even better, we were asked to design our very own alphabet book and immediately ... I came to this book for inspiration. Each letter was carefully created to look and even FEEL like the animal they are representing. To make it more interactive, some of the animals fold out into larger and more intricate beasts.

'Alphabeasties' was written by Sharon Werner who successfully mixes the art of typography and design into book not only for children. After seeing this, I bought the book and even when I need a good smile ... I go to this book. Amazing :)

Funky Font on Website

I'm really not a fan of outlined text. To me, doesn't look as sexy as a solid sans serif. In this particular case ... I actually really like it and finds that it adds well to the site design. It's simple and playful, which is something that the type conveys perfectly. When I think of an ad agency ... I think Don Draper-esque people who like sleek and sexy designs. This ... this seems to be the opposite, but ... it totally works. As the website says, they aren't some run-of-the-mill agency and so ... makes complete sense that they go about advertising themselves much differently. Even the jargon works to showcase the agency as something unique and playful.

Check out the site, it's pretty awesome!

http://www.project365.co.uk/

Fontstaches

I couldn't resist not putting this up. After a stressful day, this proved to be most amusing and rather ... a stress reliever. Since we've been playing with type as a means to build and create objects, this poster seemed to take a new approach. Mustaches, especially in the month of November, have been making an appearance in popular culture and so this poster seems fitting. The thing I love about this particular poster is that the different weights come to represent the style they are portrayed as. Adding "Mr." in front of the font family merely adds to the humour of the poster.

Mixing Type + Images

Since I have a cat, I was introduced to the show "Kid vs Kat," which has proven to be quite hilarious for a cartoon show. My boyfriend thinks the cat in the show is my cat, however, I don't think so. What I really liked about the show was the "a" in the Kat. It's such a clever interpretation of a cat and to be honest, very creative. I love the flow and how it completely looks like a cat. Love it so much ... I might try to do this in illustrator and see what I can come up with.

Last Poster (I Promise)

This was another type poster that I came across tonight and really thoroughly enjoyed. Again, I'm a sucker for type posters and this one really stuck out. I really, really, like the colour scheme as it plays nicely with the primary and secondary colours on the colour wheel. It's simple and clean-cut design allows for the evolution of type to truly come out. I really wish that I had more walls in my apartment to post this. Rather, I'd love to find an actual print of it online. Girls have problems with buying shoes, I have problems with type posters. I'm ok with it though, I think it will act in my favour later on in my career ;)

Type Table

How could I resist posting this?! I came across this tonight when I was aimlessly searching the internet for type news (lame, I know). Playing off the Periodic Table, this typeface table playful labels the older and established faces based on their name and appearance. Even when you're searching for a typeface, inspiration can be drawn from posters such as these. I'm a more modern girl but even then, I can still look to this table as a means to generate some type ideas.

More Sexy Posters

This is another poster that I have hanging in my apartment due to its 'font humour.' I'm a sucker for type jokes so this one really made me laugh. I even tried to recreate it just to play with the type itself. I'm usually not a fan of serif fonts (I'm more of a sans serif girl), but this ... this is very cool. I've seen multiple versions of this on the internet but this one seemed to be the nicest version. I'll even admit, I've seen t-shirts with this on it and no, I didn't buy it. I was tempted ... but ... might be pushing it (just a little).

What is Typography?

This is probably one of the best examples of kinetic typography I've seen but also, one of the coolest videos describing type lingo. I love it, there's no other way to put it. It's as if my love of type could be made into a video. What I like most about it is its playfulness as well as visually explaining and showing the significance of type design. The old-school feel to the video is also a nice touch to it.

Pretty much sums up my life

Finally!

I'm sooooo happy!! I found this article that will truly allow me to learn so many cool and badass techniques when playing with type. I'm getting more confident with Illustrator but it never really occurred to me that after creating cool type in Illustrator, to move it into Photoshop to give it some cool aftereffects. The article mentions some other programs that I've never heard of (Inkscape, 3D Studio Max), which would be cool to explore later on. What makes me really happy is that one of the tutorials shows me a step-by-step guide to making portraits out of text. FINALLY! I'm so excited to try this out and see what I can come up with. My friend has been playing with it in Photoshop but to no avail. Let's see if I can beat him to the punch and create something badass.

Sudtipos

This has to be one of the coolest type foundries out there. Based out of Argentina, it is run by 4 unique and pretty interesting guys from different corners of design. Mostly creating type for branding, Sudtipos has become world renown for its creation of script type as well as digitizing older script fonts from earlier in the century. I learned about this foundry from Alejandro Paul, one of the founders of the company. His work has truly influenced me into using more script-based fonts for my material that I'm working on. As as font girl, I go through phases and have never really gotten into script fonts before ... until now. Thanks to another teacher, I've been given some of Paul's fonts and since then, have been using them non-stop in a variety of different mediums. Paul is very interactive with his fans and has also been in contact with me about gaining more information about his typefaces.

Check out www.sudtipos.com for more information!

Adding to the list ...

Filling outlines with text has come to be one of my top "learn how to do" items lately. Even in classes, I'm finding that making objects out of text has become a theme, which makes me very happy as it's something that I really, really want to learn how to do. Even the example above from Smarties, manipulates text to create a funky-looking cat while emphasizing the pink Smartie for the nose. I know text manipulation will work best in illustrator ... it's just finding out "how". I know in some images, the text isn't tweaked but rather the shapes of the letters are used to create an image by stacking. I've found that I've become comfortable stacking, it's just moving onto the next step of manipulation. I'm assuming it's fitting text to outline but again, just gotta figure out how and finding the time to actually do it. This is will be on my list this coming summer when I have a little more time to play with the programs.

More Kinetic Type

I could NOT NOT put this video up. It's bright colours mixed with kinetic typography ... plus, a pretty cool song = one pretty cool video. A friend showed me this video and since then, I have to play it at least once a week. The sans serif type and playing with the hierarchy allows this video to have a pretty interesting appeal. Visualizing the words themselves gave greater meaning to the song too. It's just an overall fun and playful video :)

Kinetic Type

Feel like I'm going to go on a bit of a type-roll with my next few posts. In class one day when I should have been paying attention, I came across this video on YouTube. First of all, American Beauty is one of my favourite movies and mixing that with type, it was like a dream come true. Working with the final speech of the film with Kevin Spacey, the type moves and flows giving greater meaning to the words. Visually showing gave me greater appreciation for both the film and type. It's just one of those things that I'd really like to learn how to do. Creating my own kinetic type ... I'm adding it to my never-ending list of things I'd love to learn.

This makes me happy

I was asked to research a type designer who I admired and through this process was introduced to Alejandro Paul, a designer working out of Argentina. His work focuses primarily on digitizing script fonts and as such, has become world renown due to his typefaces. His intricate work with ligatures and swashes allow his faces to be very useful for packaging design. Forming a Argentina's only type foundry with four other members, Sudtipos has become the go-to place for amazing script fonts.

I'm a big fan of typography in motion. Through this means, we're able to fully understand the playfulness of the type as well as its connotations. Researching Paul on YouTube, I came across this interesting video featuring Sudtipos' new face: Brownstone. With the accompanying music, the font stands alone to show its features and the uniqueness as a font. It really put a smile on my face :)