Android Fonts

I recently got an Android phone -- Motorolla/Verizon's answer to the I-Phone. Given that I haven't been able to get an internet connection to my computer through the phone yet, I've been having to do lots of internet interactions through this little bitty screen. I've noticed more than ever that special considerations in typography have to be taken into account with hand held devices. Apparently, Ascender Corporation provides "advanced font products" (not sure what that means, exactly) and developed a type specifically for Android phones. Here are samples:

 

I was disappointed because I really like the numbers that appear on the front of the phone. It doesn't look like they match any of these fonts...I'm going to look at more info about typography for hand held devices. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting.

Story Shop Brief

To:           Story Project Committee

From:       Lori Davis

Date:        February 3, 2010

Project:    Story Project Book

Overview

Story Shop is a program sponsored by Parkland College. Seventh and eigth grade students submit 1500 word/5 page stories for review. Every author receives written comments and 20 stories are chosen based on quality of creativity, uniqueness, voice, character development, and consistency to be featured in a published book.

This is the third year the Story Shop Committee has enlisted the help of Graphic Design students to design the cover and body of the final compilation of stories. This year, the Typography II class has been invited to submit book design options.

The overall message of the design will be an energetic invitation to look inside to see the unique voices of young storytellers.

Target Audience

There are several target audiences in this project:

Authors of the stories

Teachers

Parents

Librarians

Book store shoppers

School administrators

Parkland administrators (as funding body)

Design Objectives

We will enlist principles of unity, emphasis, balance, rhythm, depth and color to convey energy, creativity, and movement.  We want the design to be warm, playful, timeless and fresh. The color pallette will be bold and we will consider including the green used in the two previous designs in order to create an element of unity across publication years. Our designs will be unique in their

Parts of the design already determined are:

Logo design (color can vary)

ISBN number

Content

Order of stories

Book dimensions

Year and Story Shop logo on spine

Goal

The intended response depends on the audience. For kids, we'd like them to feel that their work has been taken seriously and that they're treated with respect. For parents, we want a more sophisticated, mature design. For librarians and book store shoppers we want the book to tempt them to take the book off the shelf and see what's inside. Once they look inside, we want them to stay engaged by the subtle interest of the design. Overall, the intent of the design is to feature the stories and not to distract from them.

Format

The committee will choose cover design and body design separately. The book will be 5.5” high X 4.25” wide. Number of pages will depend on number of stories and body design. The cover can use a 4-color printing process. Internal pages will use one color only. The logo will remain the same although the color may vary.

Schedule

February 5, 2010              Stories are due to Committee by authors

March 1, 2010                  Electronic copies of stories will be provided by Committee

                                        Present design ideas to the Committee on or before this date

March 19, 2010                Provide print-ready file to the Committee

Phipps Font

 

I recently visited my sister in Pittsburgh, PA and we went to Phipps Conservatory. Really beautiful place. I took a picture of the logo and type on the entry doors. The image and type are really cohesive. The curves of the type mimic the curves of plants. I just used What the Font for the first time -- that is cool! The font is Aperto Semi-Bold. Very nice font and reasonably priced too!

Gunter Rambow

Discovered this designer in Graphic Design history. Love his work! Here are some posters he did for a Theater in Wiesbaden, Germany. There are lots and lots of images on his website -- really interesting design. 

I think these two are my favorites. They kinda hurt my eyes but I love the intricacies of them. If you look at the "Love Counts" poster, you can see the use of numbers (clever!) to create the image. You can also see the theater name in one of the lines toward the bottom but you have to work for it. They're mostly in German so I don't know what half of them say.

I've tried to identify these fonts but I give up. There's always one little thing off. It's also possible that since the designer is German (Austrian?) he's using different fonts than what I can find. They're all sans serif and pretty classic, though. The font itself seems less important than the way he uses it.

He seems to like a black, white, gray, red palette.  He also likes to use type in curves.

 

Many of his designs for the theater are type-focused. He's really able to use type and some imagery to capture attention in a simple way.

 

Some of his designs get a little "messy" too, though.

Things Made up of Things

I found this in an ad placed in American Craft magazine. I really liked the treatment of the S. It's a gallery that represents glass artists. I'm not sure I fully understand the definition of silica (or silicone in the singular) but I think it's one of the contents of glass. The S is a larger curved thing made of smaller curved things. This could refer to both glass (a substance made up of a number of other substances) or to several artists making up the gallery. The color actually looks nicer in the ad than it does reproduced here. 

Fragments

This is a wall hanging that was pictured in an American Craft magazine (vol. 69, no. 3, Jun/July 2009). It was designed by Paul Loebach & Jessie Henson. I couldn't get the dimensions on it but it was hanging in one of the spreads and looks like it must be about 3' X 5'. The type treatment is interesting. I like the hand lettered look. Seems to match the sentiment. 

I was interested in the saying so I looked it up and found that it comes from a Bible verse (John 6:12). After a meal, Jesus, tells his disciples to "gather up the fragments that remain that nothing will be lost." Good sentiment for today -- don't waste the leftovers! Wish I could afford the wall hanging for my dining room.

Research for New Year Card

The last project in my typography class this semester involves designing a greeting card. If you're interested, you can see the full instructions here.


Client
Me. I'm looking for an interesting card to send to friends and family and maybe even people who refer clients my way. The designer can have free reign on the design. Whatever she likes, I'm sure I'll like too. 

Research 
I started by searching online for cards that I liked. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find cards that just used type rather than type and image. I did find some wonderful examples, though. Etsy actually has some beautiful handmade cards and stationery. I'd love to be able to make a letter press card. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment so Adobe Illustrator will have to do. I went to Promenade and Art Mart because they often have interesting cards but I found nothing in terms of typography cards. Here are some cards from the web that I particularly liked:

I'm hoping to incorporate this cutout design. The card itself doesn't do much for me but this was a good example of what might work for numbers of the new year. When I was a kid, I really loved pop-up books. Not sure why. I just thought it was so cool that the book was 3-D and that little pieces would sort of jump off the page. 




Clever use of words to create images:

The 12 Days of Christmas cards below are just plain clever. I don't think I could ever be a copywriter because I can't seem to come up with such clever ways to use words. Occasionally, I'll hit on something cool but usually, I just come up with something goofy and dorky!

I included this girlfriends card because my girlfriends are my lifesavers and also because I thought the use of typography was interesting.

The 2010 card has an interesting texture -- looks like woven textile.

I did some more specific research on pop-up or cut out cards so I can figure out if I want to incorporate something like that. The first is from a "maths and art" page and was made by a mathematician as part of his work with Maths and Arts club in York, Ontario. Painting the cut out part red, makes it stand out a lot more...good idea.

Some more cards with letter cut outs along with instructions:

Finally, a nice set of cut out wings:

 








Speaking of which -- it's late and I gotta fly.