Wordle

Wordle turned my ramblings into a nice type cloud.

"Vintage" Dharma Initiative ads

Being a big fan of Lost, I found these hugely lostgastic. Pretty sure they came from ABC, but they could be fan art, too. Note the use of the old standby, Helvetica. Reminiscent of the old VW ads.

More here.

Watchmen Opening Titles

http://videolog.uol.com.br/video.php?id=418000

Also a great article over on LetterCult about the designer Corey Holms and the typography (Futura Condensed) of the Watchmen.

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Typography

My partner at work, Miguel brought this video to my attention. I forgot how much I liked not only the show, but the opening graphics. The posterized monochromatic animals, the old-school colors, the Indian (Native American, now) logo. But what is really beautiful, is the custom type in the beginning. Look carefully, and you'll see that no two letters are the same.


I noticed that it looked strangely familiar:


Then I realized, that it's highly likely that type designer Ed Benguiat designed the opening titles. I was unable to verify it, so if any one knows, let me know. Here are a couple of other pieces from Ed's type design. Here and here.

To use on bad kearners

From For The Love Of Type

Typoholism

From parachutefonts.com

For all of you out there, typography and twitter junkies, when you feel deprived of your regular dose of typographic inspirations, here is Typoholism, your new addiction. The guys responsible for the Read Between the Leading (Aaron Heth and Matt McInerney) have launched a new twitter aggregator for typography posts, tagged under #typoholism. Come and take your free dose!…

http://typoholism.com/

Helvetica. From a tube.

Download them here: http://www.autobahn.nl/grafisch_ontwerp/typografie/freshfonts.php

Watchmen and keeping with Futura

Just saw The Watchmen (I saw an early screening... NERD!) It was true to the book, but in the end, I think Zach Snyder had a hard time getting all the content into the 2 1/2 hour format. It will be interesting to see how it does at the box office.

On to the typeface... I have a deep fondness for Futura. Sure it's dated, sure it's the old standby for ads in the golden age. But I love it. I was happy to see Snyder and crew, kept the typeface. Here it is in it's condensed version.




It's obvious that Wes Anderson has a similar love for the typeface. As documented here.




Of course, it will always have a substantial link to old school films, too...

Simple typefaces aren't always better

The masses have spoken and have shot down one of The Arnell Group's awful designs. Wish the same could be done with the Pepsi logo. Hear him try to explain it, here.

Clean typography can be good in some instances, but in this case, the previous organic-ness of the straw in the orange was simple, beautiful and said exactly what is needed.

From the New York Times:

The about-face comes after consumers complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls and clamored for a return of the original look.

Some of those commenting described the new packaging as “ugly” or “stupid,” and resembling “a generic bargain brand” or a “store brand.”

“Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?” the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. “Because I do, and the new cartons stink.”

Others described the redesign as making it more difficult to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana or differentiate Tropicana from other orange juices.

The one thing that IS cool about the new design, is the orange twist-top cap. I'm glad to hear, that it is staying.

David Carson at TED

It's 6 years old, now, but still relevant.

Lasers!

Wow. A LASER FONT.
Created using mirrors and of course, lasers. I love the different "weights" in certain lettering. For instance the "O" is fairly light, while the "D" is blazin'.
Check out their site. Word is they've digitized this. designed by created by Oscar & Ewan

Phil Yamada

From graphic designer Phil Yamuda.