Ace Jet 170

Flights of the Castelao

Argentinian illustrator Leandro Castelao has some lovely work.

(Via butdoesitfloat)

Help

 

Does anyone recognize these images? They were pulled off a website or blog ages ago and came my way recently. The one on the dark background is especially lovely. I'd really like to know where they came from. Who do they belong to?

Thanks Yotam. Thanks Guy. Andy Gilmore it is. Beautiful work.

Go Give (again)

If you didn't know already, David's going to walk about a bit for charity. And all you need 

to do is pop over here and make a small donation. I mean, he's doing all the hard work, 

you don't even have to leave your seat.

OK, so there appears to have been a technical problem over on David's donation mechanism so if you've already tried - of course you have! - and been unsuccessful, please try again. Actually, try right now - I've just been over there to check and it seems to be fixed now but if it still doesn't work, don't give up. You can guarantee David won't be giving, he's got 20km to do and all the blisters and arse chaffing that goes with that. Put it in your diary, "Must give lots of money to David" and mark it as "Most extremely urgent".

Theoretical Reconstructions of Imaginary Objects etc.

 

Well that was easy and I have to say, really enjoyable...funny even. I was expecting it to be heavy going, like Ways of Seeing from the same Penguin series - which, I'm reluctant to admit to be struggling with...again. It seems to me that Ways is one of those books that every designer is supposed to have read but everytime I give it a go, well, it just leaves me with a headache.

Munari's Design as Art (originally published in english in 1971), on the other hand was a joy: insightful, broad, macro, micro and witty. If you don't know it, and I didn't until recently, it's a collection of, kind of random, essays on aspects of design; not unlike Beirut's and Vignelli's books. Munari covers topics like: colour education for all; central images in posters (which, I thought, had parallels with something Ben had reported on recently); fit for purpose; how (unnecessarily) complicated Western life is; making a lampshade out of a nylon stocking; how to geometrically construct the thorn of a rose; how many things are (unnecessarily) made to look like other things; the similarity between the growth of a tree and a nuclear explosion; and loads of other things. But what surprised me was how accessible it all is. There's no high-brow, over-intellectualising; just plain wisdom and perceptive observation. And you can get it for just a few quid so it's damn good value for money.

   

Incidentally, I haven't given up on Ways. A lame, perhaps vacuous, strategy it may be but what I've decided to do is re-purchase it in the new format/design, in the hope that I'll be more inspired to persevere. You see, there's something about the Yes designs. I particularly like how the uncoated cover board deteriorates almost the minute you handle the book...not sure if it's an intentional aspect of the design but I welcome it either way; I love a dog-eared book. Anyway, I'll let you know how I get on.

Tea but no seas

 

A few weeks ago Michael Hodgson from Ph.D in Santa Monica very generously sent me a pile of stuff he'd picked up in a local thrift shop; numerous copies of the Ford Times, which I'll be posting about over the next couple of weeks; they're really interesting. He also slipped in a copy of their little self-promotional booklet, Terms and Conditions. It's a kind of dictionary, the book explains, "This particular version of the dictionary gathers together 16 years' worth of biases, interests, opinions and obsessions". It's small and beautifully formed.

    

It's a lovely piece of work and so is Michael's letterpress printed business card...

Fulltron

Cheesecake eaten in Belfast by Nicholas Felton: 1.

So last Thursday we were very privileged to have Nicholas Felton in town for his first UK appearance and an evening of fun and figures at Ulster University, and beyond. The official talk was fascinating: Nicholas took us back to his early days at Rhode Island School of Design and his search for content that he could convert into something interesting. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 came to the rescue with Nicholas cataloguing a whole pile of details and developing systems by which it could be displayed.

Copyright issues came to bear and self-authored gathered-info was needed to further develop the technique. Early experiments included a vintage postcard powered, imaginary road trip across the US manifesting itself as an online map (Playcation) and a Logo Taxonomy in which Nicholas determined that there aren't any logos that use the sea slug as a motif.

 

2004 saw a Feltron Report forerunner and in 2006 Nicholas produced the inspired Valentine Index Worksheet. But of course, it was the Reports (and beyond) we were most interested in so we were shown the early version. The first print version was just given away and NF expressed his surprise at the interest it got. So for the next version production values were increased and small price tag added. Sales went well and that brought us up to the last edition. Then it was on to commissioned info graphics for Metropolis, Print and New York Magazine's Intelligencer and of course Daytum, which seemed to me to be a natural progression from NF's increasing obsessions.

(For some reason my mind was spinning with thoughts of Paul Auster and Nicholson Baker).

One of the most interesting and exciting aspects of the journey (his early search for material, the discovery of data and the subsequent conversion of that data into beautiful graphics) was how all that highly personal work has led Nicholas to real-life, paying commissions and I for one found that very encouraging; unlike many designers who choose a path of self-expression NF has developed something that is unquestionably useful, very cool, extremely beautiful and not just a graphic style.

Questions afterwards centred around the manipulation and privacy of data, and of editorial control. And then after all that, we got boozed up and had dinner.

   

   

It was a great night and it was only made possible thanks to a few very committed parties. So special thanks have to go to Rita and the Creative Entrepreneurs Club for funding the event, to the other Nicklas (ehem, that's Nicklas from Web Standardistas) for taking Nicholas on the Belfast Tour, to UU for the use of the room and to everyone else who helped with sticking up posters, taking the money on the door and for doing the posters in the first place (thank you me...don't mention it).

Oh, and of course, again, big thanks to the star of the show for coming all that way! I hope I got all this right, if I didn't, do let me know.

"...more than just a traitor to modernism..."

  

I've just started reading the classic Hochuli/Kinross book Designing books: practice and theory and although I'm really just a few pages in I'm already excited and encouraged to read on. It's already very interesting. Hochuli kicks off by exploring the concepts of symmetry and asymmetry and suggests the idea that what we tend to consider to be typographic symmetry is really, specifically and merely axial symmetry and that the original, broader idea of symmetry (referencing the word's Greek origin) is more about harmony and balance than what is actually bilateral similarity; inferring that a symmetrical page doesn't really have to have a central axis within it, about which the typography sits or have an exactly reflective layout. That's interesting isn't it? Hochuli, being Hochuli, goes on to argue that bilateral symmetry isn't really symmetrical in the way we think it is anyway because if you look at it in detail (as Hochuli does) the words of course, aren't bilaterally symmetrical. 

Another, related, thing he explains is that while many consider the starting point for book design to be the double page spread, it is in fact the central spine axis and the relationship of elements to it. I'd never thought about that before. But then, I'm not a book designer...perhaps all this is common knowledge to those that are. 

And then there's a bit that I found most encouraging and reassuring to read. He talks about his modernist (Swiss) background and how his colleague, Rudolf Hostettler, helped him break away from it's dogma. Hochuli relates this to Tschichold and how he turned his back on modernism in favour of traditional typography. After a discussion with Hostettler, Hochuli realised that not everything could be dressed up in the trappings of modernism and that, in his own words, "...Tschichold was more than just a traitor to modernism..."; that rather than subscribing dogmatically to one particular orthodoxy it is better to find the most appropriate solution for the job in hand. 

This seemed very important to me. Tschichold's call to "uphold the principle of identity between content and expression" formed the backbone of practically everything I've done as a designer and I always felt that while many, I think, see his shift in position to have been contradictory, I always thought he hadn't moved that far; he'd just decided to do a different kind of work; a kind of work more suited to traditional typography. I've always felt that he'd remained true to his "identity principle". 

Not sure quite how valid that is; I'm not a design historian or anything, I've just read a bit of stuff here and there. Anyway, a great book so far. Hope it stays this interesting. 

02.04.09

 

I am excessively delighted to announce that Nicolas Felton is talking in Belfast on April 2nd (venue to be confirmed). Put the date in your diary, iPhone, on the back of your hand and on your Good House Keeping calender. Tie a knot in your hanky, tattoo it inside your eyelids, ask your Mom to remind you, put a note on the dog, spell it out in alphabet spaghetti. Book your flight, check train times. Tell all your clients you can't work late that night, pack a quiet snack, bring a note book, shine your shoes and trim those nostril hairs. Blow your nose, sharpen your pencil, sit back. Sit up, pay attention, stop talking (you, at the back, be quiet). Clear your throat, ask questions. Clap.

Fancy that!

Local boys have new blog and pigeons.

Stuff and Lotsofsense

That man Terrett's in The Guardian. Read it here.