CreativePro.Com Type Design

TypeTalk: The Anatomy of a Character

IleneStrizver99 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:18:50 -0700

TypeTalk is a regular blog on typography. Post your questions and comments by clicking on the Comments icon above.

Q. Why should I care what the names are for parts of a character? Does it really matter?

Best of the Blogs: August 1, 2011

Editor in Chief — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:31:01 -0600

Don't have time to read scores of blogs every day? Don't worry, I've done it for you, and picked out the best posts you shouldn't miss.

Typography

Try These Type Webinars from Ilene Strizver

Editor in Chief — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:50:43 -0700

Long-time CreativePro.com columnist and type expert Ilene Strizver is offering a series of online seminars. The first, "Troubling Typesetting Mysteries: Solved!" debuted in December. Don't curse us for telling you about it too late: You can watch the entire webinar for free! Just register as a member on the Type Studio site (that's free, too), and you can be enlightened whenever you have the time.

Hand-Lettering Lovers, Rejoice

Editor in Chief — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:42:04 -0700

You may have heard Lisa Congdon's name before. She's an artist, illustrator, and an avid collector, and in 2010, she documented 365 of those collections. You can see them all on her Collection a Day website.

TypeTalk: Font Games Galore

IleneStrizver99 — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:09:12 -0700

Several type and font games are making the rounds on the Internet. Most are meant to be both entertaining and educational, but not every one hits that mark.

KernType
This is the game everyone’s talking about. The goal of KernType is to slide the letters of a word to the right and left to create even spacing. But while the programming skill that went into this game is impressive, some of the “solutions” aren’t typographically acceptable by professional standards; in fact, one is way off.

European Design Conference Comes to America

Editor in Chief — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:26:26 -0700

I've listened to people gush about the TYPO design conference for years, but since it was always in Europe, I could never manage the funds to attend. At last, conference organizer FontShop International has taken pity on its admirers across the pond. In April 2012, TYPO will take place in San Francisco.

Best of the Blogs: November 4, 2011

Editor in Chief — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:18:39 -0700

Typography

Make Monograms the Easy Way

Editor in Chief — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:22:42 -0600

Monograms — those symbols made up of two or more overlapping letters — have been around for thousands of years. Nowadays they're most commonly created for weddings, but you may also use them to evoke certain eras or a regal feeling.

Be a Type Designer in New Game

Editor in Chief — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:06:31 -0600

When we're being honest with ourselves, most of us will admit we don't have the patience necessary to design a typeface. But we still like to pretend we do — and that's why an online game called Shape Type from Method of Action is so much fun.

QuarkXPress Tips for Type, Pages, & Paths

Editor in Chief — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:07:26 -0600

Reproduced with permission of Planet Quark

Truly Global Font Replacement in QuarkXPress
Unfortunately, there is no feature in QuarkXPress that lets you replace one font with another across master pages, document pages and style sheets. Here’s a trick that works:

1. Save the document and close it.

Scanning Around With Gene: Turning 25 in 69

GeneGable — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:21:58 -0600

Over the years, one of my favorite design publications has been Graphis, the international journal of graphic arts and applied arts. The publication began in Switzerland in 1944 and, for most of its life, was a six-times-a-year magazine supplemented by annuals and special editions. Graphis, which is now headquartered in New York, still publishes a variety of products, though the bimonthly magazine was discontinued in 2004.

Best of the Blogs: September 21, 2011

Editor in Chief — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:44:04 -0600

There are a lot of provocative questions in design and photography blogs: Are there rules for creativity? Can designers embrace fear? What's the difference between looking at and seeing typography? But there's less cerebral stuff, too, like upgrading your camera, understanding image compositing, observing the day of a graphic designer, and filling your layouts with hipster lingo. Which do you feel like?

Typography

Typographic Rugs Are Real Treasures

Editor in Chief — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:39:50 -0600

Linus Dean is a graphic designer, but he's also a fine artist. Now this Syndey-based Kiwi has woven the two together to produce a beguiling series of typographic rugs that harken back to hand-drawn signs. Each rug is named for a city.

Barcelona:

Boston:

If You Like Type then You Better Put It on a Ring

Editor in Chief — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:25:58 -0600

The Dutch are renowned for their good taste in type, and now they're sharing that in a novel form: rings. Alphabeth is the Amsterdam company behind Typerings, which engraves words of your choice in eight unique typefaces on rings that range from € 132 to € 621. The exact price depends on materials, style, and ring size. Typerings uses lasers to engrave its jewelry, but the bands themselves are handmade by Dutch goldsmith Aller Spanninga.

Scanning Around With Gene: The Speedball Pen

GeneGable — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:16:43 -0600

A speedball is a pen you dip in ink and use primarily for lettering. It was invented by Ross F. George, of Seattle, who also wrote and illustrated the booklet I scanned for today's column. The booklet is titled "Elementary Alphabets and Their Construction."

George's idea for a new type of pen nib grew out of frustration with his lettering efforts. He took his design to the C. Howard Hunt Pen Company in 1915 and that firm released six different Speedball nibs. Click on any image for a larger version.