Ace Jet 170

Found Type Friday #31

Only just made it this week, with just a few hours to go.

I've been off work for most of the week because it's the end of the summer holidays and we thought it'd be fun to do fun things with the kids, which it has been. Yesterday it was Belfast Zoo. On a good day it's pretty good but on a dull day, like lots of old zoos, it can be a little depressing. Also, unlike London Zoo which is lovely and flat, Belfast Zoo is built onto a hillside so it's hard slog at times.

Thankfully, we had a great time, highlights being the sub-aqua views of cheeky penguins and the downright show-off sea lions.

Of course, I secretly hoped for some good found type. But alas, other than the very sad Floral Hall, a derelict dance hall that greets you as soon as you walk in, there's little to be had. Microgramma? No, lower-case, so Eurostile?

Then, just as we were leaving I spotted a pile of telegraph poles.

Contributions to FTF gratefully accepted here.

Paris – Normandie etc.

Of the many things I don't understand, some I like nevertheless and, of course, some I don't. This package thankfully falls into the first category. It's by regular FTF contributor Loïc from Bureau l'Imprimante. Sadly, I don't speak French, so I'm not off to a good start.

Now I don't precisely know what Loïc does, he's never told me (or at least I don't think he has) but he has a keen eye for a nice bit of type and has a generous nature. And a new blog, through which I bought a little booklet that I thought would be interesting which he'd had printed on the reverse side vintage of wallpaper.

When the package arrived I got more than I'd bargained for with the afore mentioned booklet accompanied by a variety of postcards, flyers and another booklet.

I suspect I got preferential treatment - perhaps not. Either way, I'd like to say thanks to Loïc, yet again, for some very interesting French stuff, which I don't understand but really like anyway.

Found Type Friday #30

It's like some kind of Eurovision Found Type Contest...

Loïc's got a new blog and some more stuff for FTF: "These are trophies I brought back from the holidays in cities like Dieppe, Fécamp, and Rouen (where I live actually)."

and Maria Luisa Garcia sent: "Graffiti found in a Spanish bus station, a German balance found cleaning [her] late grandma's house last spring and a number 19 stenciled on stone from a Spanish small town."

Lovely stuff. Many thanks Loïc (again) and Maria Luisa!

If anyone else would like to contribute, please email me here.

Found Map Thursday?

No, just John Furnival's favourite map: a modern British Admiralty map of the North East coast. He also sent me this link to a diagram that shows how such maps use colour.

Herts and Bucks

Andy Welland sent me this Bartholomew map which was really nice of him. It occurred to me, following that last map post, that I'd touched on something interesting: Specifically, how the different publishers have such different styles.

Expect there's someone out there who knows much more about this kind of thing than me, someone really into cartography, but in their absence I thought I'd post some photos of Bartholomew's rich hues.

Coming soon: Boring old Ordnance Survey.

Wake with...

It's an old clock in a box. That's all.

Uncommon knowledge: 007

I haven't done one of these for ages (perhaps for good reason) but then this one just popped into my head so I thought I'd share it. I've been thinking about universal rules and how certain principles can work for all sorts of graphic design stuff and I think this is one of them.

(Yes, there's probably exceptions, but then there usually are with rules.)

I've heard and read this expressly applied to advertising but I think it can work for almost anything, like the student magazine I'm working on (hence simple headline with photo of hamster). It's a basic principle, at times ignored: creative heading with creative image - idea overload; "straight" heading with "straight" image - idea underload*.

So: Really interesting image goes with simple words; Oh so clever copy line with straight forward picture; Si Scott typography over...er...nothing probably; that kind of thing. But you probably knew all that.

* Not sure if that's a word.

"It looks good and it makes the world a better place"

Essay 67 in Michael Bierut's book was written for Design Observer nearly two years ago but I'd never heard of a blog back then and had also never heard of the article's subject: ClearRx, designed by Deborah Adler.

Perhaps it was well reported over here and I just missed it (that wouldn't be the first time) and if that's the case then go and read something else (like Design Observer!). If, however, you're like me and hadn't seen ClearRx before, then go and read Mr Bierut's article here. It's really good.

Spured on by the essay I wanted to see the thing and found this brilliant demo.

Found Type Friday #29

Last weekend me and my oldest boy, after dipping out of film part way through for reasons I won't go into, took the opportunity to go looking for more material for my Belfast Harbour Flickr set. There's so much down there and I'm dead keen to get as much as I can before it's flattened to make way for what promises to be a very exciting Titanic Quarter development.

Contributions to FTF gladly accepted here.

Michelin Man

I think it's quite clear by now that I'm a sucker for a good map.

The other week I picked these up: Published by Michelin's Tourism Service in 1960 and 61 they have a distinct French feel; I'm not sure if it's just the colour scheme or the sans serif, or all of those dots (I think French cartographers really like dots). Of course, it's likely to be all of that stuff mixed up.

I guess I grew up with cool, clinical Ordnance Survey with only an occassional once (but no longer) richly coloured, clearly British Bartholomew to peruse, so these feel quite exotic.