We should keep this blog going!

Shows still open until the 26th everyone welcome to pop in, just ask at reception. 

Imprint

Having perused http://www.magmabooks.com/  I came across Daniel Eatock's 'Imprint', he's the Graphic Designer who created the Big Brother's 'Eye' design.  I must admit it has kept me thoroughly amused and that is something.  He has a crazy sense of humour and has noticed how people leave abandoned car battery's in random places, so he has left photos of abandoned car battery's in blank spaces throughout his book.

Pomme Chan

Given a choice I would always go for hand-rendered typography, this suits my leaning towards illustration.  I learnt quite a lot researching Peter Bilak,  but his style generally left me cold.  But I guess experiencing what he is all about gave me a clearer judgement on my own taste.  I particularly liked that he co-produced dance with  a choreographer, I'm always impressed when creatives branch out in unexpected ways.  This is a really inspiring designer I have come across, you can see more of her work at www.pommepomme.com/news.

She borders a very fine line between hand-rendered typography and illustration in this particular piece of work.

Heidi Rodriguez

Ringling School of Art and Design graduate Heidi Rodriguez has got a nice site. Pictured is a project called ‘Dress’, can't really tell you much about it.

www.iamher.net

References

Really helpful for essays and the Hussien Chalayan project. 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/index.html

This website also has a lot of good references and link. Bit of everything is available on there really good for graphic design and other random things. Images added are from this site.

www.itsnicethat.com

Jamie Delaney

Came across this website it has some nice pieces of work worth taking a look at :) http://jamiedelaney.com/

Jan tSchichold

Jan tSchichold, born in April 2, 1902, Leipzig, Germany and died in August 11, 1974. Locarno, Switzerland. He is a German typographer in the 20th century. Jan Tshishold is one of the most influential and important typographic designers of the 20th Century.

Tshishold was not a member of the Bauhaus himself but was heavily influenced by the new typography which emanated from this school of modernism. He himself helped to define this style of modernist typography which is characterised by its use of geometric sans-serif type and simplified asymmetric layouts. Tshishold applied the principals of constructivism to his minimal precise typography using extended and condensed versions of sans serif gothic typefaces, and preferred the use of a single type face in his designs. Occasionally he may have introduced a serif type for the header such as Bodini if the subject warranted, but on the whole he kept to a single type face.

In October 1925 he published an article in the German trade journal Typographische Mitteilungen in which he outlined his own manifesto of modern typography and what he saw as the ten elementary principles of typography. He continued as spokes person for this form of typography advocating typefaces which were stripped of all decoration to highlight functionality, whilst using layouts which emphasised dynamic asymmetric forms. Most influential of all were the principals he set out by constructing a method in which typographers and printers could apply these systems to their daily work, a series of grids which would later be developed by the Swiss into the grid systems we still use today. These systems work extremely well with modern computer programs.

Tshisholds first book Die Neue Typographie became a text book for this new movement.All of the New Typographers made use of "white space" in their designs with only minimal use of colour, sometimes only a single colour would be utilised to compliment black type or a monochrome photograph. Red, orange and brown were most commonly used with the occasional addition of dark green or blue.

In 1933 Tshishold was forced to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland to escape persecution, here he abandoned the new typography for a more classical style- going back to symmetrical layouts and more decorative typefaces- apparently associating modern typography with fascism. From this time forward he worked predominantly on book design. Most notable of this was his three year stint at penguin books in London where he redesigned both the internal and external layout of the books. he utilised the same asymmetric forms and type for which he first became Known. He redesigned their entire range of books, thus also helping to reaffirm the brand of the book, a consumer could instinctively now they were reading a penguin book just by its uniform format. He also helped to design special edition books for the company. It is also worth mentioning, though not an illustrator, he redesigned the Penguin logo itself, from a slightly rounder more realistic looking bird to the slick stylized graphic style bird we have come to associate with these books still. Jan Tshichold continued to practise and write about typographic matters until the early 1970's.

8vo

8vo is a graphic design company hailing from London. Started in 1985 by Simon Johnston, it also consists of Mark Holt and Hamish Muir. 

8vo produced a series of magazines betwen 1986 and 1992 which were called Octavo. Here is a little information about these magazines.

8vo also produced a lot of the record sleeve for Factory Records. You can see some example here

You can view Simon Johnstons website here 

Mark Holts website is here 

Hamish Muirs website is here

A 'fan site' all about 8vo is available for viewing here

A2/SW/HK

Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel are the group A2/SW/HK. They met at the Royal College of Art in London, after graduating they set up a design company in London.
They have a wide range of design ideas and materials that are used in their pieces. If you look at their work you will see that the designs they have produced are all very well planned and structured.
Simon and Henrik are recognized internationally with awards such as; D&AD, ADCNY, TDCNY, Design Week Awards, DDC, ISTD, AGI, etc...
A few of their big clients are; Tate Britain, V&A Museum, Vogue UK, Royal Mail and many more...

Konstfack Film

"Film for Konstfack, University Collage of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Director: RBG6. Production: The Producers. Music/SFX: RBG6"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xyhbhZJj04

Sony "Colours"

Film for Sony Bravia HD Technique. Director: RBG6. Agency: Fallon. Production: Nexus Productions. Music: Björn Carlberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csshVatZ-no

Kada Font - RBG6

"Bold, graphic headline font with a full character set."

Interesting typeface designed by RBG6.

Kada at lineto.com

Orange Rainbow

Orange "Rainbow"

http://www.rbg6.se/orange-rainbow

Moving billboard for Orange, screened in London Underground stations. Director: RBG6. Agency: Fallon. Production: Nexus Productions. Music: Björn Carlberg



This seems like quite a conceptual piece. I like the effective use of lighting - the glow that the rainbow brings helps focus the eye! Very nice video!

RBG6 Official Site

http://www.rbg6.se/

Gerard Unger

Gerard Unger / Praxis typeface

Gerard Unger (b. Arnherm, Netherlands, in 1942)

Regarded by many as one of the greatest typographic innovators of the last 30 years, Unger has created practical, legible typefaces.

Unger studied graphic design, typography and type design from 1963-67 at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. His extensive career within both graphics and type design has led to him designing stamps, coins, magazines, newspapers, books, logos, corporate identities and annual reports, as well as many typefaces.

M.O.L / Road signage, Netherlands / Gulliver in USA Today / Signs

One of the first typefaces Unger designed was called M.O.L. (1974) and was used for signage on the Amsterdam metro. It is rounded in style, with larger counters, as a device to make the illuminated lettering more "even and legible".

The best-known typefaces Unger designed are said to be Swift (1985), Amerigo (1986), and Flora (1984). His typeface familiar to millions is Gulliver (1993), a newspaper typeface used in "USA Today" and several European newspapers.

Useful links
gerardunger.com
creativepro.com
artyears.com
wikipedia.org

Johanna Bilak

Website of Peter Bilak's wife |

http://www.johanna.sk/

I found these images on vi.sualize.us/ and think that they portray a similar style to that of Bilak. I like the use of mix media ... introducing old images with computerized type and colour.

Helvetica

If you search for Helvetica in Youtube loads comes up.

I'd been told this was good to research.

Catch Me if You Can Opening

I love this opening title sequence of Catch Me if You Can, think how the type and image work together is amazing.

Other interesting typography videos to get infulences form:

A quick lesson in typography

Interesting way of playing with type and portraying a concept. Great references!

Who's on First? Typography

After Effects Assignment

These video's haven't anything to do with Peter Bil'ak but they're inspirational.

Bilak Articles & White Cube

Articles by Peter Bilak:













A view of Latin Typography in Relationship to the world - 2008
http://www.typotheque.com/articles/a_view_of_latin_typography

Family planning, or how type families work - 2008
http://www.typotheque.com/articles/type_families

What is typography? - 2007
http://www.typotheque.com/articles/what_is_typography

Graphic design in the White Cube - 2006
http://www.typotheque.com/articles/graphic_design_in_the_white_cube









Graphic Design in a White Cube:

Exhibition curated by PB. To emphasise the idea that graphic design is the result of a process rather than focusing on a finished outcome, the exhibition material was presented on metal sheets, held in place by small removable magnets. All sketches produced by the designed during the project are presented next to the final posters.

Slovak Euro Stamp

Typotheque has designed the basic typographic template for the Slovak
Euro Stamp (23 Jan' 2009 - http://www.typotheque.com/)

Typography influencing dance?

Peter Bil'ak, together with a dancer Lukas Timulak, directed modern dance pieces inspired by typography.

These are earlier works he did in collaboration with Lukas Timulak
http://www.timulak.com/i-saw-i-was-i.html
http://www.timulak.com/bodily-writing.html

From an interview with 'The Typographic Times' (www.planet-typography.com/news/designer/bilak.html )

DIVERSITY

You're also a teacher and an editor (of the dot-dot-dot Magazine). Do you consider yourself as an educator in addition to your typeface design job?
I also work with contemporary dance, conceiving dance pieces; write for books + magazines; organize and curate exhibitions. These are seemingly very different activities, but I realized that as a designer I am not working with objects but I am able to ask questions. So I can work with various media, across disciplines, and my experience can be still relevant. I think the diversity of my work make each part stronger, I learned so much from the dancers and their approach to movement + tension that I can apply the experience while working on animation and even type design. But as the main thing: working in a medium - independent way, I can usually keep my eye on the larger picture and not to get involved in the tedious detail, which is a very welcome thing for a type designer.
I found this part of the interview very refreshing and I think I can understand this, this way he has a fresh point of view, understanding and experiencing many mediums must strengthen his creativity.

Masculine/Feminine by Peter Bil'ak/Johanna Bil'ak

Typotheque spent a considerable amount of time not only

creating typefaces but also using them in diverse projects.

These projects range from books, postage stamps, posters,

webpages, t-shirt designs and exhibition architecture/design

to more unexpected disciplines such as conceptual proposals for modern dance performances or even organisation.

This folder/poster presents a selection of 62 projects done by Johanna and Peter Bil'ak from 1998 to 2007. The two sides represent the two hemispheres, two methodologies, two different sensitivities, the masculine and the feminine. The combination of the two is Typotheque.

I think this sounds very interesting, we are not purely feminine and masculine beings, in a male in certain areas they may hold more feminine qualities than their feminine counterpart and vica versa.

I'm wondering if the combination of the male and female will give more of a satisfying consumer experience. All sensitivities are catered for, the dry, the emotional, the sharp and the softer look at things.

I really like the look of the pure white background contrasting with vivid colour's.

(Click pictures to enlarge them)

Transparency | Peter Bilak

Transparency|

A study on design and language. The book is not intended to romanticise graphic design; it is about provoking independent thinking. This piece of Bilaks is my favorite of his, I really like the method he has used with the colours being filtered out, an interesting approch to how we see type. 

http://www.peterb.sk/  | images can be found on Bilak's website under book - transparency