Bolt!

At least once a week I stumble across the website of some designer, typographer, or illustrator (or combination of any of those three) that makes me realize that I am clearly not doing enough with my craft.

Take for example, Martijn Rijven's BOLTgraphics. His style tends to get a bit cartoony sometimes, but hot damn he knows how to work those illustrations with typography. I mean, check out that header graphic on his blog. Sweet.

Oh, the irony

Um... Of course it's in stock if you've got it. Duh.

Mobile Blahgging

Checking out the mobile blogging feature of Blogger. How does it look?

FontShop's Top Ten

FontShop has finally released their Top Ten Typefaces for 2007 list. They've got a good list going, and I'm not really surprised (nor disappointed) to see Meta Serif in the list even though it was just recently released in November. They also have a few distressed typefaces from Rian Hughes' Device studio, of whom I'm a fan despite my reluctance to use any typeface designed as distressed (similar to handwriting fonts, a distressed letter will always look the same when it shouldn't - I prefer to use regular typefaces and distress the design using Machine Wash filters from Mister Retro).

Stefan Hattenbach's Anziano (of MAC Rhino Fonts) got a spot on the list even though it comes in as number eleven (so does it count?). Anziano is a great lookin' typeface (you can download small caps for free) but I prefer his Oxtail set:



I had a brief encounter with Stefan from the Typophile forums a few months ago. He's a nice guy and fairly considerate, which goes a long way. He also has four typefaces available for free at his website. Go wild.

Michael Bierut talks about type

I found this little gem on Quips yesterday, (via Typographica). This is my preferred method for receiving information from someone else, if engaging in a conversation with them is not an option. Printed articles and interviews are fine fodder when that's all one can have, however live action videos are most fantastical.

This is a good time to also look at the Hillman Curtis videos. Great discussions with several notable designers.

I love the internet.

Hubba Hubba, Meta Serif

This is one post that I've been itching to make. I became a very large fan of the FF Meta typeface when doing some extensive research for a recent project. For a sans serif, Meta offers impressive readability for body/text copy. So when I heard that there was work on a serif version, I drooled.

And now, just recently, it's here: FF Meta Serif. The FontFeed is keeping track of some of the reactions across the inter-web regarding the release.

On Slant Six Creative, Armin provides a guest post with his prediction for the trends of 2008. He focuses on sans serif typography and even cites Meta as a popular choice for the coming year. While I enthusiastically agree with him, I think Meta Serif is going to surprise everyone with its surging popularity.

A great '08!

I really need to hang out with some new friends, because conversations with my current friends don't go like this:

"Last night, after the clock struck pumpkin time, conversation turned, as it often does, to handwriting and type design. Who's a continuous stroke 8 writer? Any snowman-style two circle drawers? Should the bottom and top circles be the same size, or should the bottom orb be bigger? What shape should the counter be: perfect circle? Tall oval or fat oval? Tear-drop? And thus, the search began."

Head over to the Chicagoist and let them know what your favorite 8 is.

Oh yeah: Happy New Year y'all!

i love typography

One of the fantastic things to come out in 2007 for designers (or anyone really) who love type is a blog called i love typography. For one, it's beautifully designed. Second, it's a phenomenal unbiased resource for typography developments around the world. Sure one can go to Veer's Ideas, the FontFeed, and Show & Tell but since they all sell fonts, it's a good guess they'll mostly focus on stories about the fonts they sell. There's nothing really wrong with that as it's expected and I know I'll get good info on their respective fonts at their respective sites, however an unbiased resource is a great thing to have.

This already impressive site by John D. Boardley contains book reviews, tutorials, font reviews, interviews... many things that a type lover would want to have in one place, and now we do.

Thanks for the site John.

Saul Bass & Associates

Lookee at what Santa brought me. I've had my eye on this book for a while now thanks to the recommendation of my friend DM. To date, this is possibly the most comprehensive Bass book around. It's found a spot on my book shelf between Paul Rand and Tibor Kalman, which is next to Paula Scher.

Rob Liefeld sucks

A friend sent me a link a few weeks ago pointing to this entry at Progressive Boink that provides a scathing yet very accurate critique of comic book illustrator Rob Liefeld's work. My friend sent this link to me because he knows that I think Liefeld is the worst popularized illustrator in the comic book industry. The worst. I can't emphasize that enough. The. Worst.

In the early 90's Liefeld began in moderate obscurity until Levi's was running their campaign "What do you do in your Levi's" or something like that in which Liefeld appears in a commercial directed by Spike Lee. There he is in his Levi's with a white t-shirt and a backwards baseball cap sitting at his drawing table talking about drawing comics in his Levi's. During the commercial he proudly states that he's never had a drawing lesson in his life. The irony is, it shows. Even now, nearly two decades later the only real improvements in the comics he touches is what the colorist can do with Photoshop.

I will say that I laughed myself silly reading the critique. Nearly all the bases are coverd except the X-Men #245 cover in which Longshot is drawn with five fingers. Longshot is an alien who has only four fingers. It didn't take a die-hard fanboy to know this, just a decently skilled and talented illustrator who knew how to do his research. That cover was the early tale-tale sign for the legacy of illustrative style that is Rob Liefeld.



There are many more that can be found on this Google results page. As you can see, it's no secret that he sucks. His continued popularity (diminished as it is) is still a mystery to me, but I suppose there's no accounting for bad taste.

After several years with Liefeld at Image Comics, Todd McFarlane even came out and said (paraphrasing here) that he'd "never work with that kid again." Lovely.