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Not quite sure why but I really like this. There's just something about seeing all those photo's together that makes them and the idea funny and interesting.
Special thanks to my mate Pete, International Jet Setter and one time bassist with now defunct Cape Canaveral, for pointing this out.
I have to say a very special thank you to Gregory in Brussels for sending me a link to his friend Jack's amazing blog, the brilliantly titled Jules Vernacular. Jack has photographed an incredible collection of French signs and displays them on a beautifully maintained site.
Anne's found an excellent Flickr set. No, not Helvetica; it's David's "favourite" Standard.
One day I hope to meet up with Chris Murphy from Fehler and Fällt so he can explain what it's all about. Adrian Shaughnessy seems to understand it. Fällt did a very interesting thing here and Chris gave a brief but excellent talk here and Chris is at least partly responsible for this. He also played a part in bringing Bruno to Belfast, which was brilliant for us designers and subsequently for Ace Jet. And he's very kindly added me to his links page. Thanks Chris.
Fontastic stuff over on Noisy Decent Graphics including a masterclass from the uncompromising Mighty Maagster.
Note to self: Stop giving Bruno silly nicknames.
Ever since Matt sent me this I've been meaning to get this out of the loft and blog it.
Two typewriters featured in my childhood. There was the ancient black enameled Remington No.12 that was almost too heavy to move and that we were allowed to play on and then there was the more modern black cased portable that my Dad still has, which he would pull down from it's shelf to type letters of complaint to the council. That one we rarely touched but both were fascinating.
I bought this thing of great beauty at a car boot sale for £5. Hardly used, it came complete with all it's documentation.
I won't say any more, just examine it's details and long for one of your own.
It was Simon who first tipped me off about The Guardian this week (thanks Simon and also David who followed very soon after) and later sent me a scan of his remarkable ruler, about which he says:
"The folding-ruler...reminded me of similar measurement-based typographical delight when I once visited the UK's foremost manufacturer of rulers and tape measures, Rabone Chesterman (an amalgamation of two long-standing - C18 - firms in Birmingham and Sheffield). They made a huge variety of superbly detailed steel rulers (amongst other things) with really sharp crisp lettering. I was particularly taken by one done for export to America, with imperial/metric on one side, and an astonishing number of weird and wonderful measures on the other (see scan). One perk enjoyed by the finishing department was the permission to sell on the few 'seconds', rulers which for one reason or another didn't come up to scratch. Before selling on, these had the company name ground out - a case of lost rather than found type? (I'm not going to land anyone at the firm in trouble; the place was raised to the ground about 15 years ago to be replaced by a dull office block bolted onto the old facade to house insurers). An inveterate scrounger they let me take an example of each away with me, and I've used the smaller of the two just about every working day since."
You've got to love "Just a hair" which for a while I suspected was a bit of digital trickery but believe it to be a genuine if surprising feature of the device. Perhaps someone will tell me it's a legitimate unit of measure for something.
Continuing last week's toilet theme, Loïc from Bureau L'Imprimante sent me a link that took me to this French public urinal on Thierry Weyd's blog. Loïc very kindly translates Theirry's text:
"In his text, he [Theirry] explains how great slate (ardoise) can be, especially to pee on (or for anything in the bathroom to tell the truth). He also points out the similarities between this AAA thing, and the KKK iconography."
David's been routing through his Gran's cupboards (while her back was turned I'll wager) and discovered these old chestnuts.
I have a suspicion that the Quality Street tin was actually designed (well before my time) at Hurlston's in Birmingham, the now defunct Design Company where I cut my teeth, whilst the Soap Flakes and Starch packs were clearly the main source of influence for Sanna Annukka's acclaimed artwork for last year's, liked by some, Keane album.
As ever, many thanks for going out of your way to send stuff in. Loïc says he's got some more things to send (looking forward to it) and if anyone else would like to join in, do please email your found type through.
I'd forgotten that I'd signed up for updates from The optimism of modernity, which I did rather hurriedly and didn't fully understand what it was. It just sounded interesting.
This morning this popped into my inbox proving that I was right, it is interesting. This is what the email said:
Edward Wright: design work
Born to South American parents, British citizen, cosmopolitan at heart, Edward Wright – painter and object-maker, typographer, writer, teacher – was an enigmatic presence in London’s post-War art and design scene. Robin Kinross has described Wright thus: ‘His subjects: human communication, the mundane, the street. His manner: sparing, self-critical, yet the work had vigorous attack and full conviction. His typical method: assemblage, with what was to hand.’
The exhibition, which is open from Monday 21 January until March 2007, is based on materials held in archives at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading, and is supplemented by works lent by family and friends of Edward Wright. The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of Edward Wright: readings, writings. This exhibition arises from ‘The optimism of modernity’ project which is funded by Arts & Humanities Research Council.
The exhibition is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.
It's in Reading so not very convenient for me but if you're interested contact:
Petra Cerne Oven
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
University of Reading
2 Earley Gate, Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AU
t: 0118 378 8081
I'm sure I'm not alone. Eye Test charts: they're brilliant aren't they? Infact, not just these charts. All that opthalmic stuff and nonsense is ace. And, I suspect, will be taken over by technology and disappear one day. But that means there'll be a short period of time when, if you're lucky, you'll find some of it turning up at car boot sales or on ebay.
Hey look where I turned up over the weekend! How thrilling.
Big thanks to The Guardian which, of course, I would normally have bought (especially if the shop's run out of The Indepenent!?!) only this weekend I didn't. Thanks too to Simon and David for pointing it out to me.
Oh, and welcome any Guardian readers that followed the link.
A while back I mentioned the Penguin Collectors' Society and suggested that if you're interested in Penguin Books then it's well worth joining. Their journal, The Penguin Collector, is published twice a year, June and December. This is great because it's just infrequently enough for me to forget it's coming so it's always a nice surprise when it drops through the door, the December edition especially because it arrives just before the Christmas holiday so I get plenty of time to scrutinise it.
The latest edition is packed full of interesting stuff: It kicks off with a Fletcher obituary (he designed both Penguin and Pelican covers); then there's an article about collecting ephemera by Jo Lunt (who, incidentally, is a great source of Penguin first editions); a damning review of Richard Doubleday's Jan Tschichold, Designer, by Phil Baines (welcome because that's one I might otherwise have bought); an excellent article on Penguin's Designer Classics by Steve Hare ; a short article on the Penguin Classics 60th Anniversary Campaign with contributions from Al MacCuish and Darren Bailes from Mother.
But the best bit for me, and the reason I'm rambling on about it here, is the article by Graham Moss on Elizabeth Friedlander who, I now know, designed the pattern for this cover as well as this one from months back. Freidlander was forced to leave Germany, then Italy and came to Britain in 1939, where she forged documents for British Intelligence (what a great job!). In '48 Tschichold introduced Penguin to Freidlander partly because she'd designed patterned papers for Curwen Press.
It seems that she was rarely credited; I've certainly never come across her name before - there's no mention of her in these books. I could and will guess at others she might have designed; she apparently did lots of Penguin Music scores too although I don't know if she did these (I'd guess she did the Mendelssohn).
Freidlander's covers are clearly quite different from those of Russ*; his are quirky and fun, her's are "traditional" but always beautiful.
* Incidentally, it was Russ who drew the illustration for the Penguin edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover, basing it on a sketch by Lawrence apparently.
Whoo hoo! It's back. Must say a big thanks you to Philip, Paul and Ian for sending in stuff.
A nice bit of Perpetua from Philip "Piehead" Slade, along with a rather beautiful library label. Philip also sent me a link to his Flickr set which includes interesting Pan Paperbacks. I'd like to do something on Pan sometime. If anyone knows anything clever about Pan, please let me know.
Paul has a book cover blog which is where I nicked these from. Some really nice stuff including Pelicans.
Finally, Ian's been spending far too long in the Gents in Venlo taking these photos but has highlighted the interesting things you can find inside toilet rolls. I'd spotted this myself and often have a look down a roll to see what distressed type there might be lurking down there.
Again, many thanks for the contributions.
If anyone else would like to contribute, try using Email Me in my About thing.
In the interests of inter-blog harmony and to show I have nothing to hide, here's my desk today. Please note: tasteful Mac-top pen pot made by my oldest boy featuring Super Gran hat, Books to be blogged and a donkey's arse on screen.
Over Christmas I ventured forth into the loft, to see what I could see. Amongst the blog fodder I found was my very small collection of vinyl. Mainly Prestige and Blue Note Jazz but hidden in between was this Hawkwind classic from my unfashionable youth.
You see, during the 80s I was much more interested in retro Prog than the prevailing trends, drawn in by the cover art of Hipgnosis and Roger Dean. And this superb piece by iconic and tragic designer Barney Bubbles.
It wasn't until I heard Hatful of Hollow that I experienced a life changing shift in taste. Strangely though (or perhaps not so strangely), I've always thought it was my liking for The Hawks' that led me to, my now long standing favourite, Stereolab.
Where's Found Type Friday? No dead waterfowl this week?
Well, I was just about to sought it out when I happen to spot on Design Observer that Michael Bierut has highlighted the plight of the quite brilliant St Bride Library and I thought that perhaps it might be a good opportunity to do what little I can to support what is a priceless archive for the design/advertising/print industries.
You can find out much more about The Library here. Please, go find out more. If you're at all interested in type, typography, graphic design etc, it's worth getting to know St Bride Library.
When I lived on the mainland I used The Library a little, to do some research on Penguin Books. They had lots of stuff and were really helpful. It's probably the only place you can go and look at things like this, this and (probably) this. Although, almost certainly not this. If you live in London it's got to be a major resource for you and anyone visiting from elsewhere should arrange a visit.
Of course what they really need is your money and you can make donations here. I would have thought the best thing to do is to enroll as a Friend for £30, then you'll even get something back. So you'll probably learn something too. That's what I'm going to do.
Hope no one minds me doing that rather than FTF this week. If you've got any found type by the way, please feel free to email it through via About.
I was going to do a thing on Pan Books because Philip "Piehead" Slade very kindly sent me some stuff through. I'll try and do it over the weekend.
I wasn't familiar with Modern Toss before my old mate Pete, bassist with the recently disbanded and slightly successful Cape Canaveral, sent me a copy this week. Not for the sensitive or faint hearted, two pages in and I was laughing so much I nearly puked.
Never mind all this fuss over the oh so clever la-di-da iPhone thingy, see the real future at Agence Eureka.
Don't know why I haven't mentioned this before: I don't work in advertising (I have mentioned that bit before) but have been watching Billboardom for some time now. Perhaps if you're in advertising you've already seen it but for those that aren't it's a gallery of really interesting outdoor stuff, like this mini-police tape thing promoting a pest control company. I really like the lamp post ad here for ballet lessons.
Amongst the many, many things I can't resist when I spot them are these yellow folding rulers. You don't see them around much in the UK any more. I've got 4 or 5 now: a 1 metre, a few 2 metre rulers and a powerful 3 metre version. All bought, for just a few euros, in French supermarkets during holidays or, more often, booze runs from Leicestershire, via the Chunnel (do people still call it that?). Unfortunately, now I'm in NI such runs are a thing of the past.
These rulers are wonderfully tactile and playful: the measurements are slightly embossed into the wood and the whole thing clatters together nicely. I can spend hours just arranging them into zig zag patterns (the winter nights fly by). Amaze the kids by unfolding them to their remarkable and mighty lengths!
Sad but true, I even had a dream about these things last week.
Mr Bingo's sent me links to his flickr sets. He has a small but well formed collection of Penguin/Pelicans and there's some little gems. The Literary Critics and Chosen Words are designed by Birdsall. The Modern Writer is, Bingo tells me, by Gerald Cinamon, who did a lot of freelance work for Penguin during the 60s. Then there's Self and Others, Laing's follow up to The Divided Self, with a cover based on Martin Bassett's earlier design.
I happen to know Edwin Taylor designed the cover for The Normal Child. But for me Hurry on Down, is the the stand out cover; such restraint. I'm probably wrong but I'd take a wild guess at Paul Hogarth. Anybody know for sure?
Bingo's also got a lot of interesting vintage postcards. (Oh, and, of course, a very silly name).
Actually, no offence meant. Perhaps that's your real name; these things happen.
Thanks for sharing Bing.
Various members of the extremely interesting Planner Blog circuit have been kicking around this question lately and amongst the fruit of their combined search for the elusive creative blogger type is this from the extremely clever David and Phoebe. Courtesy of Beeker.
Dead ducks and the very lovely Clarendon from Anne at I like. One of my most favourite typefaces. To me, Clarendon is like a beautiful curvaceous woman (like my beautiful wife).
Anne took these in the Hall of British Birds at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh which she describes as a, "...fantastic monument to 1970s design. It’s all earth colours, hessian and rounded corners and the titles for the display cases are in this wonderful font".
And while I was flicking through Anne's flickr I couldn't resist this (hope you don't mind Anne):
Meanwhile, Loïc from Bureau L'Imprimante sent me these excellent French labels. He says, "These pieces are tags from a bunch of vintage kids clothes I found one day at a vide-grenier...The clothes were brand new, and the labels were cool too. That year my daughter looked so old-school. These are classic '70s french brands for kids, mostly disappeared by now."
These are brilliant, particularly the frimousset tag (Bodoni Italic?) Do click on them for a closer look.
Many thanks to both Anne and Loïc for taking the trouble.
If anyone else would like to contribute, try using Email Me in my About thing. If that doesn't work leave a comment and I'll give you alternative route.
Over on the We Made This blog, just the other side of Christmas, the subject of "anticipated nostalgia" was brought up in connection with the current London Tube ticket.
It made me think of these. Perhaps not surprisingly I've managed to keep almost every flight ticket I've ever had (or rather what bits you were allowed to keep) and thanks to having, a few years ago, clients around Europe with whom we had monthly meetings, have quite a pile stashed away. Now I mourn their demise. Yes, the e-ticket is very convenient but I did love the old rounded cornered, complex background patterned, dot matrix overprinted cards.
My favourite bit was that 12mm wide strip that carried the staple.
As We Made This suggest, I imagine a similar fate awaits the Tube ticket.
The New Year is a time to wipe the slate clean and make a new start so here's a confession:
You see, the irony is that this Austin's For Police Use brochure is stolen property. When I first started out I worked for a now defunct but at the time very well established design studio in Birmingham that had produced work for Austin Rover for many years. Consequently we had an excellent archive of vintage literature.
This piece was one of my favourites, so to my shame, I nicked it. The cover illustration is fanatastic and look; it uses that transparent colour band thing that I love so much.
I must stress that I've seen the error of my ways and am now a reformed character. Still, this is brilliant! Real Dixon of Dock Green stuff. I love that "happy copper" getting out of the back seat. What's he been up to I wonder?
Design Observer is brilliant and they've just added me to their Recommended Sites list which is terribly nice of them and a great way to start '07. Many thanks! (Oh, and Happy New Year).
