As designer Dave Farey described himself, facetiously but with an undercurrent of truth, “Nothing I have done is original. It’s all based on the 26 letters of the alphabet and the Arabic numerals.”

via The Font Wars: A Story On Rivalry Between Type Foundries | Smashing Magazine.

I usually send students to Ellen Lupton’s great list of A Few Good Fonts, but this infographic is pretty fun to follow.

I especially enjoyed the bit about choosing a Stylus.

Check out this article if you’re interested in logos or redesigns:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-12/how-to-design-a-logo-sagi-haviv

What happens when a brand consultant sips coffee next to a typeface designer?

Chattype.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, population 167,000, must be loved by D.J. Trischler and Jeremy Dooley, who raised over their goal of $10,000 on Kickstarter to fund their pet project: creating a new, tech-friendly font to represent Chattanooga’s history (an industrial city where the first coca cola bottling plant was located, and the infamous song named for the trains running through the city) and future-tech aspirations.

Although New York City has been, perhaps unintentionally, branded  through Milton Glaser’s I heart New York  type and heart iconic relationship, Chattype will be the first font created to brand an American city with visual unity across a variety of messaging systems.

Ein Fotographisches Alphabet, Lisa Rienermann 2007

When my friend sent me a link to Lisa Rienermann’s Type the Sky/A Photographic Alphabet (above), I immediately made a visual free-association with Stefan Sagmeister’s word installations (below, from Hillman Curtis’ short film).

"To Look," from a short film about Stefan Sagmeister on HillmanCurtis.com (2005)

This Wednesday, 1/25/12, The Art Institute of CA-OC AIGA Club will be hosting a Skype discussion with Stefan Sagmeister, a graphic designer known for running a small scale design agency and taking time off. His work follows the dictum that the end result should reflect the creative process.  The AIGA Detroit poster he designed in 1999 seems to be the seminal example of his ideology. In order to demonstrate the pain integrated in the design process, and therefore the lives of designers, Sagmeister had his intern carve the typography into his skin before being photographed as the literal “poster boy.” As he writes on his website, “Yes, it did hurt real bad.”

Stefan Sagmeister, AIGA Detroit Poster, 1999

His professional career has proven largely successful in the last thirteen years. But what really endears myself, and likely other educators, to Stefan is his willingness to give back to the community of design students. There is an area on his website devoted to “answers;” and in that section, a sub-division about “Being a Design Student.” It’s moments of coming to media like this that I just can’t help but wonder where this sort of openness was hiding when I was a student. The first question he posts is: Have you ever had doubts about what you wanted to do, or about whether or not you were good at it? In response, he writes:

Yes. Especially during school. I knew I wanted to become a designer (not many doubts there) but very much doubted the quality of the work. Had constant doubts in Hong Kong. Wanted to quit every week.

So there you go. One of our most admired and well-known graphic designers wanted to quit every week. If you can make it to Orange County on Wednesday, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a superbly inspired discussion. But please, do us all two favors:

1. RSVP on the AiOC AIGA Facebook page, and
2. Read the questions and answers already posted on his website!

A hand crafted New Year's resolution list by Woody Guthrie

My favorite part of New Year’s day is the traditional list format indicating that one year has come to an end and a new one will begin. You can find editor’s choices on the top books in art and design (which inevitably include Saul Bass) or photography (such as Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage) published in 2011 on a variety of online lists. But have you seen Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions list from 1942 (above, via BoingBoing)? Or how about John Lennon’s to-do list (believed to be written by John for his personal assistant)?

A "to do" list penned by John Lennon

Finally, if you are a genuine fan of list making, you might check out the 1977 book, The People’s Almanac Presents the Book of Lists.

Here’s to a productive new year, and a many a new list to be drafted, revised, underlined, slashed, wrinkled, unfolded, lost, found, and checked.

Christoph Niemann illustrates his pre-race worries

Christoph Niemann is an illustrator, designer and author of Abstract Sunday, a column for the New York Times Magazine. This year he performed a combination of activities that may not have ever been performed before in one complete running of the New York City Marathon: he illustrated his run, tweeted his illustrations, and ate a much desired banana.

Finally, bananas.

The drawings and accompanying tweet-length descriptions narrate Christoph’s experience of the marathon from the moment he awoke to the crossing of the finish line (images below).

His first-image tweet: "Good Morning."

Crossing the finish line. His tweet: "Mile 26.1: Finished."

I have to admit my bias towards conceptual projects like this. And I really do love this idea. But what I am even more enamored by is Niemann’s craft. The illustrations and tweeted captions narrate the minutiae of his marathon experience (see the many drawings of Niemann trying to replace a lost marker cap, for instance) and the characters he encounters (like Louana, who ran the race in hair rollers, the person running in sandals, and the man who passed security carrying a giant Italian flag). Yet, as someone who has never run a marathon (and never intends to do such a thing), it seems like this illustration of the experience likely captures the essence of running a marathon for most people: from personal pre-race worries to running out of energy, feeling runners high, and finally crossing that finish line.

In 26.2 miles Niemann drew and tweeted 46 sketches.

Well, with my jaw still hanging open from the beauty of this project, all I can think is this: thank you Christoph. You just made the Turkey Trot seem a lot more feasible.

See all of Christoph Niemann’s marathon sketches on his NY Times blog.

Occupy Wall Street (1% is the Loneliest Number)
cc-by xtine burrough

Last weekend I was in NYC for a few reasons: I had a book launch event for Net Works at Eyebeam Center for Art+Technology on Thursday night, I showed the Let’s Go Crazy student project at the Mobility Shifts Conference at the New School on Saturday afternoon, and I also wanted to join the Occupy Wall Street rally in Times Square on Saturday evening.

Occupy Wall Street (I'm Angry), cc-by xtine burrough

My session at the New School ended on Saturday at 4:30 and the rally was set to begin at 5 o’clock, so I thought I would hop on a subway and find myself in Times Square right on time. To my surprise (and this would probably only happen to a tourist), the protesters marched beneath the window of the room where my session took place at 4pm. Since we were nearing the end of the Q&A part of the session, I packed up my belongings and joined the march from 12th Street to Times Square. We walked for about two and a half hours, taking over both sides of the street on the sidewalks. I couldn’t help but to take a series of photographs while walking. Of course there were people in costume (or in nearly no costume, in the case of the cowboy below), but mostly there were families and well-mannered citizens.

Occupy Wall Street (Naked Cowboy)
cc-by xtine burrough

The obvious and most used chant was, “We are the 99 percent.” Though my favorite was the call and response, “Show me what democracy looks like: This is what democracy looks like.” When the police reminded us to stay on the sidewalk, we would answer with, “This is a non-violent protest.” And when the police told us to make way for pedestrians crossing, we responded, “We are a pedestrian crossing.”

Occupy Wall Street (Pig in a Suit), cc-by xtine burrough

As a person interested in all things visual, I took a special interest in the signage. Despite our seemingly techno-influenced hyper-Adobe-fied surroundings these days, most signs were drawn with marker on taped together cardboard. In the duration of my walk, I only saw the pig in a suit (see above) carrying a glossy, printed sign.

Occupy Wall Street (We Are the 99% Kids), cc-by xtine burrough

If you plan to walk with the Occupy Wall Street protesters – and I highly recommend you do if you are near the city (or any city as this movement picks up speed) you have three choices: walk without a sign (as I did, because I prefer to walk with a camera), walk with a hand-drawn sign, or walk with printed signage. If you choose the third, you can check out Occupy Design. The website intends to “build a visual language for the 99 percent.” I’d love to see some of these icons drawn in marker on cardboard. And if you’re not near a protest, and you don’t feel like starting one yourself, you can contribute to the visual language on the Occupy Design website.

Occupy Design Website

As designers, or educators, or both, it is our duty to foster digital citizenship. After all, this is what democracy looks like.

Unity is created within the Macy's star by extending the QR code patterning to each apex.

I have finally noticed a shift in the visual display of QR codes as designers are thinking about how to unify a layout or identity with these oversized black and white squares. Two sightings occurred in a single week—one in a shopping mall and the other in the newspaper.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera or the wisdom to shoot with my cell phone at Ted Baker London (if you’re in SoCal you can visit the store at Santa Monica Place). However, I did scan the Macy’s Advertisement where the QR code appears nested inside the star logo shape. Hooray for thinking outside of the QR box! The designer created unity by extending the red and white patterning within the tag to the outer edges of the star.

Ian Gotts lists fifty ways a QR code could be used on his blog, Making You Think. His ideas for QR usage ranges from the banal (examples of advertising and public relations scenarios such as for sale signage on homes or flyers left on your car) to the innovative. My favorite execution to date is Boston Chef José Duart’s QR code on the plate by way of calamari ink in his North End restaurant, Taranta.

Edible QR tag made from calamari ink. © http://bostinnovation.com/

Interested in learning more about customizing your QR code display? Check out How To Embed A Custom Logo Design In A QR Code.