Ace Jet 170

Holiday Reading

For holiday reading last week I took away Bomber Command and Michael Bierut's new book. Both were excellent and while I don't think Ace Jet is the place to explain the finer points of the the Air Ministry's bombing campaign against the Axis powers, it is perhaps the place to say something about Mr B's book.

Now, I haven't finished it yet and that's partly because I set myself the task of discerning (and noting down) one clear and interesting point from each of of the 79 essays, which means that there are quite a few that require greater study than might usually be needed (by me anyway). Quite a few required multiple read-throughs. Not because they're particularly high brow or anything but just because I only wanted one clear and interesting point.

Most of the essays are taken from Design Observer so you may have already read some of them. I'm not very good at reading "long" copy on screen so really welcomed the chance to read this stuff sitting on the beach or in the bath (not a picture to dwell on).

I'm up to number 40 and while I fear I may be doing Mr B a terrible disservice by vastly oversimplifying and possibly even dumbing down his brilliant writing, I've managed to get a clear and interesting point from almost all so far. For what it's worth, and if you're interested, they're here. I'll add more as I get through them.

Back from the North of the South

Isn't it brilliant? You've only been away for a week but it feels like a month.

I'm on holiday! Be back in a week.

The carrier pigeon we carried laid an egg during the attack

No FTF this week just another car boot find. This time The Air Ministry Account of Bomber Command's Offensive Against the Axis (September 1939-July 1941). A little holiday reading; next week Mr and Mrs Ace Jet and sons are off to the North West corner of the South for a week of solitude and sand.

Postal Attraction

Been to a couple of car boot sales lately and had a surprisingly successful time. That's where I picked up the Cape Wrath map. And then last Saturday I picked this lot up.

Feast upon the ephemeral lovelyness.

Kevin asked last week if I could post higher res. images. His wish is my command and as if by magic there are a few more and better quality images of these on Flickr.

Cape Wrath and West Riding

It's pure coincidence that I found this Cape Wrath map just a week before the new TV show started. I've only seen a bit of the programme so can't comment on whether it's any good.

The map, on the other hand, is another story. There's something extremely beautiful about the proportions of the covers that these maps have: 4:6:9?. There's clearly a strict grid there; the consistency is lovely, as is the positioning of the type, particularly that bit in the top right-hand corner.

They're from around the late 60s although I don't know much about Bartholomew Maps; there only seems to be these two colours, for example, and I'm not sure what they mean; I'd guess the blue is for paper maps and the orange for cloth.

Found Type Friday #26

Ever since we moved over here, I've been fascinated by this sign. When I first saw it the shop was closed up, as it is now, but the sign was complete. Over the years letters have disappeared and the general condition has deteriorated.

It's that colour combination: that rich red, darkened a little around the edges over time, on that pale green; and those chunky Helvetica Bold Extended letters, that remind me of Chermayeff and Geismar's enormous number 9 at 9 West 57th Street, NYC; only a lot smaller and considerably less sexy. Considerably.

Unfortunately, one day those letters will be pulled down and thrown in a skip; I've half a mind to go down there with a step ladder and liberate them before they go for good.

I don't think I can do that, but there is a glimmer of hope: I was discussing the sign with one of our signmakers; telling him how cool I thought it was and what a shame it was that it's fate looked so gloomy when he asked me for, and noted down, the sign's exact location, checking with me that the building was deserted and giving me a wink. He didn't actually say what was precisely on his mind, he didn't need to, so who knows...

As ever, if anyone would like to contribute to FTF please feel free to send stuff here.

Life Science Library

In Grafik 150 David Quay's contribution is a lovely story from his childhood and specifically a brief account of how he came to own a copy of The World in our Time.

I particularly like his entry because, ever since I picked up that old atlas, I've become increasingly interested in books of knowledge. Partly because of the knowledge they hold, for some reason I'm now actually interested in the things they tried to teach us at school; partly because of their covers, these Life Science Library editions have part green/part cream cloth covers with foil blocked logo and title; and partly because, inside their musty smelling covers, are many hidden visual gems. Some, like the full colour, nearly full page illustrations are stunning.

I picked up Flight and Sound and Hearing.

See more here.

The Not So Old Man and the Foil Blocking

Ever since David posted an entry about a nice bit of foil blocking he'd found I've been meaning to dig this one out. Over the years I've spent a lot of time loitering in second-hand bookshops and have often had to resist to temptation to buy a book simply for it's cover. Needless to say, more often than not that temptation is too great. Like with this Hemingway classic.

Found Type Friday #25

And talking of Anne and I Like: for Helvetica Week she sent me this sign directing us to the shops (they're over there!). Only I didn't get much else so I saved it for FTF. The two other images I surreptitiously swiped from her Flickr stuff. Hope that's OK Anne. (Actually, Anne's on holiday, so she might never know). Anne takes a mighty fine photo and gets to see very interesting things.

Horton sent me these, found on his trip to Tahoe, "...the house we were staying in had an extensive collection of beer coasters. I took the most interesting Bavarian ones up with me onto the gondola and took candids." There are more here.

Following my entry at the beginning of the week about signage, John Furnival very kindly sent me this brilliant image of 3D lettering in the making.

And finally, while I was with our signmaker I spotted these...

It's nice to get back to a good old fashioned FTF. Many thanks to everyone that contributed and especially to those that don't know quite what they've contributed.

If...blah, blah, blah...you know what here.

Funland

Talking of little packages, I got these recently too: a pack of postcards from Anne over on I Like, with bonus badge (we love badges) and vintage postcard of Scarborough.

You can get yours here.

Whatever happened to...

Don't you just love getting an interesting package through the post? Today it was my copy of Michael Bierut's new book, but last week it was this envelope full of type specimens.

It had occurred to me a while back that I hadn't seen anything of Emigre for quite while. Of course, when I was a little younger they were quite the thing and although I've only ever had a passing interest in all that Cranbrook/Carson "deconstructivist" nonsense, I think the vaguely related* Emigre have produced some really nice stuff. Perhaps it's that mixture of old and new, I don't know...

So, I went online and ordered their latest catalogue then promptly forgot about it. Weeks later this lot turned up.

The ever so slightly topical link between Bierut and Emigre being that they were both asked to be involved in the Helvetica film. VanderLans and Licko respectfully declined, prefering to remain out of the spotlight.

* Actually, perhaps that suggested connection, however vague, might be unfair; the Vanderlanses et al have really only ever done their own thing.

Clarendon Extra Bloody Big

What's really great about being a designer is that, if you're lucky, there's not too much routine. Rarely are two jobs quite the same and sometimes you get involved in some really exciting things.

We're doing some very nice work for a restaurant right now: advising on their interior design and designing their graphics. So last week I went over to see our sign maker to see how things were coming along and this is what they had for me.

Now, if you do a lot of signage stuff perhaps this is run-of-the-mill but, quite frankly, the sight of 1000pt 3D Clarendon is more than enough to get my heart pumping.

Movie Haas

So it was a little touch and go for a while on Friday. I got a call around 4/4.30 from Chris to say Gary had had trouble getting out of Dublin and was running late (images of riotous designers appeared in our minds). But, of course, we needn't have worried; he got here and was ready to go pretty much on time.

Now you must understand, I'm not a Helvetica purist, I'm not a hardcore modernist or anything like that. In fact, other than rising to the implied Lars Müller challenge or being prescribed its use by corporate guidelines, I'd be unlikely to choose the font really, taking the Spiekermann position that there's plenty of more interesting typefaces to use. But for what it's worth, I thought the Helvetica film was a very beautiful piece of work.

Whether you're a lover or a hater it's a film about graphic design and as someone who lives and breaths graphic design, that's just about as perfect a film as I could imagine.

Packed full of typographic details and history (including visits to the Linotype archives and the former Haas Type Foundry), opinions from notable and iconic designers, and of course, Helvetica used and abused; it was nicely paced and sensitively produced, with a great soundtrack. I'm no film pundit, so I won't say much more, other than if you don't get to see it on a big screen get the DVD when it's released in October.

Best bits? Michael Beirut's Coke Ad comparison got the loudest laugh. Wim Crouwel, Experimental Jetset and Massimo Vignelli championed Helvetica brilliantly; the latter snearing at "the disease that was called Post-Modernism". While Spiekermann slammed it's ubiquity, despairing that "...you have to breath so you have to use Helvetica?" and Paula Scher blamed it for both the Vietnam and Iraq wars.

Worst bits? Well, it had to end sometime. Actually, I wouldn't have missed David Carson's contribution if I'm being very honest.

On a personal level I thought it was an ace night and can't wait for the DVD. Gary was a top bloke so even though I imagine he's far too busy to read this: BIG THANKS for coming to Belfast Gary. Special thanks for the badges!

Extra special thanks also have to go to the brilliant Chris Murphy for doing all the hard work and organising the event, and to both Fallt and the Creative Entrepreneur's Club for underwriting it.

And if you were there, thanks for coming!