This summer the School of Visual Arts is offering a two week seminar studying design and typography in Venice and Rome – the birthplace Western typography. Students will study typography and design history and put into practice what they learn, observe and encounter by drawing type, working with letterpress type and collaborating with fellow designers and teachers on contemporary design projects.
[Hard at work at Yee-Haw. Nice brim, Kevin.]
The New York Times Travel section featured an article about Knoxville, the latest hotbed of art, music and southern charm and had the audacity to dub Knoxville "Austin without the hype." The article featured a striking image of Kevin Bradley and one of his cohorts at Yee-Haw Industries working diligently on the press as well as a beautiful slideshow of Knoxville.
What does this article have to do with design? As Yee-Haw and many of the other businesses in Knoxville prove, you can be a success anywhere if you follow your passion and do it beautifully.
[Cupcakes from MagPies -- Yeah, Peg!]
Type Camp is a concept that absolutely tickles me. I loved going to camp when I was a kid and I love to learn new things and I especially like type so the idea of going to camp as an adult to talk about type in an exotic location like London, Galiano Island in Canada or Chennai (formerly Madras, India) is totally intriguing. Its time to play the lottery so I can scrap up the cash to attend one of the four (heck, if I win the lottery I'll go to all four!) Type Camps of 2008
This has got to be the single most exhaustive photo collection of motel signage gathered by one person. They weren't collected by just any person either, but the venerable world-traveller, DJ Jennings. DJ is a graphic designer by trade and a current resident of Antarctica. Keep shootin', DJ!
Clever luggage labels from knockknock.biz compliments of a Flickr post by Justin Heideman. Have fun thumbing your nose at airport security if you can get your hands on a set of these.
{Thanks to Annie for the tip.}
A new typeface has gotten interim approval by the Federal Highway Administration and has been adopted by 20 states already. The new face called Clearview is replacing Highway Gothic which has been in service for over 50 years. The new typeface has larger counters and a higher x-height to increase legibility while taking up less space overall. Clearview was created by enviromental designer, Don Meeker and type designer, James Montalbano. Even Tobias Frere-Jones comments on the brashness of Highway Gothic (which he recreated with his own typeface Interstate) and the need to re-evalute the letterforms.
The font has already been used in the new branding for AT&T.
Get more information about the redesign of the highway signage and the development of Highway Gothic, check out the full New York Times article or visit:
Typographica's in-depth analysis
Clearview Highway
{Thanks to Bob at Skylab Letterpress for the tip!}
{Travel photo by Doug Wilson}
Photography of urban landscapes, signage and views from an airplane window always appeal to my sense of adventure. I'm also amazed at how similar (and how odd) our modern travel lives are. Doug Wilson has some wonderful travel images on his site. He captures the same aesthetic of "displaced time" that Troy Litten and many of the Lomo movement Lomographers have explored.
The LomoHome of the Day actually features a collection of views from ann airplane window. Coincidence? I think not.
{Photo by Troy Litten}
