« March 2012 | Main | May 2012 »
Gijs Sierman emailed me through my Flickr account last week. Knowing of my deep-rooted love of the pelecanidae waterfowl named paperbacks, he thought I might be interested in his limited edition, and I must say, strangely magnificent shirts. For his someshirt project, bespoke fabrics are printed in order to cut and craft just 60 shirts. Too tailored for my ever expanding self and somewhat out of my price range, they are, undeniably unique. It's not a shirt you'd…ehum…leave on the…you know…
Franklin Gothic was my first favourite typeface. Way back in…ehum…19…ehum…when I was just starting out as a typographer it was Morris Fuller Benton's no-nonsense 1902 hit that became a staple for my enthusiastic Piet Zwart mimicry. Whether it was a technically correct tie-in, I'm not sure.
So I was delighted to see, a few months back, a homage to the condensed version of the typeface letterpressed by Blush Publishing as part of their Assorted Types series.
More recently, they've printed a sheet for Bauer Bodoni and the voluptuous Clarendon.
Pauline Clancy is an MA student at the University of Ulster studying Mutlidisciplinary Design. Pauline very kindly sent me a copy of her new self-promotional piece: A set of screen printed cards that piece together and reveal her pre-occupation with semiotics. Check out her website or blog for more typographics.
I think it was my finest hour. Well, my finest 850(ish) days. Veteran readers may remember the beginning. So much drama. The thrills! The excitement! Chicken Watch charted the rise and, eventually, the tragic fall of our three feathery providers. After the death of the last foul standing, Virgil? Penelope? Scott? (to be honest, I lost track after a while) the coop has remained barren. Bereft of birds.
But, with spring all around, lambs frolicking in the meadows, the thought of a new set of layers has been aroused. Stimulated somewhat by an Easter strip to a nearby open farm. A potential supplier, it has a whole heap of varieties on show and, we hope in July, on offer.
Personally, I fancy a Dark Brahma.
Perhaps I've just become more aware of things around me but I feel that one of the most interesting aspects of Belfast is underpinned by how compact it is. For example: We take our boys to Victoria Park because it's very flat for Seth to get to grips with cycling. There's also a BMX track and Noah loves whizzing around it at top speed. It's a park so it's hardly surprising that there's ducks to feed. But take a little stroll around the lake, a cheeky right through the trees and you're at an inlet from the harbour where private boats are moored. And just across the water is the end of Belfast City Airport's runway, so planes swoop in low over your head frequently. Bikes, Boats and Aeroplanes. And actually yes, Trains and Automobiles just over the fence.
After reading that great big book about Saul Bass, and thinly disguised as a Valentine's present for Karen, I bought this lovely thing a little while back. Classic.
Much to the delight of the rest of my family, I got ALL of my Penguin and Pelican paperbacks out last week. Took a few photos but also updated my Flickr sets with design credits for Main Series, Crime, Education, Specials and Pelicans.
You might already know Font Bureau have just released Neue Haas Grotesk. It's Helvetica but better and proper and long overdue.
Graphic design history is punctuated with stand-out trends. Stylistic preferences that over time become so familiar it can be very easy to push them aside. Not your kind of thing. Passé. Frivolous.
The prevaiing style of the late 60s, Psychedelia, is one of these isn't it? I don't know about you but I'm of an age that, although I wasn't old enough to have experienced it firsthand, I've seen enough of it to feel I know what it's about. But I've learned over the years that to think like that is often wrong. It's not until you dig that you can really get to grips with the forces at work. It's not until you dig that you can dig…it. If you know what I mean.
I didn't like the psychedelic style. It was all a bit too hippie. But then, of course, that's wrong. Because to think like that is to side step, a bit too conveniently, just what it was that "made" this style.
Along comes Electric Banana by Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel (complete with a foreword interview with Paul McCartney). Lifting the lid on psychedelic art, it reveals the major influencers; the seven artists that brought the most to the hippie table. Seeing so much of their work in one book suggests that while their styles are so familiar and so evocative of the era, they are more different from one another than you might first think and have much more substance than you ever imagined.
It's a great book that gives respectful credit where it's been long overdue.
We went back today, this time with the boys. The weather wasn't so good which meant the building was kind of monochrome. Looking good, whatever the weather.