- ARCHIVE / January, 2008
- The Great White North - A Beauty Way to Go
Brilliant and Wonderfully Brilliant Brilliant
Visit the Art Shanty Project, part of an interesting segue to traditional ice fishing in these here northern parts. Minnesota, yaaw.
Update Visit the snapshots blog for the project here. Cheers for the link, Terese! - Plot to kill Orhan Pamuk?
Nobel Laureate and Istanbulii a Target?
From the Guardian, an alarming development targeting this most important of contemporary Turkish writers, Orhan Pamuk. Defend this man!
- Sacre Vache / Ragnar Freyr Pálsson
From Iceland (via Michigan) with Love.
Athvarf Poster / Veggsjald
Litli Dímon og KvennaathvarfiðDauði trúðsins Book cover / Bókakápa JPV
Click here immediately, don’t read this. Well maybe just a little. I plan a much longer story, but the work speaks for itself.
An amazing collection of contemporary work by Ragnar Freyr Pálsson, an Icelandic designer currently working in [...] - Geotypografika is one month old.
Irashai! Welcome to the Backstube…
There is a test proof of the new poster on my homasote. The banner up top used to hang on our house in Bellefonte (we lived across the street from a little league baseball diamond). It worked. Type is Akzidenz Grotesk by the way. This? Well, I am Arial, pleasure to [...]
- Good / Bad Type
Teacake Design
Follow this link to Teacake Design and look through their portfolio for the “Ugly Type Offends Us” section. You’ll find some stimulating experiments they made with Ewald Spieker in his shangri la of wood type and letterpress facilities.
I would especially like to call this to the attention of my current GD2 students
(they will understand?) - Aktuell / Internet Outage on Massive Scale
Affected are parts of Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa
See this link on CNN International for the developing story.
- Geotypografika Interview 003 / Jerrold Maddox
Professor of Art, Photographer, Web Designer
Jerrold Maddox
Professor of Art, Photographer, Web Designer
State College, PA Estados Unidos
001 Site Design Examples: FrontRowPhotos, Center for Well Being
002 Course Sites: One, Two
003 Personal Work: One, Two, Three
004 Typographic Work: hereAbove: Umbrellas.
Geotypo Interview 003 Jerrold Maddox
What developments are you following in the world of graphic design/typography today?
JM The design of [...] - Morgunbladid
Today’s featured front page is from Reykjavik, Iceland.
Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world.
Quite the education. - Mediamatic / Making Wired Clothes
Hybrid Wearables Workshop
Above: Lilypad starter kit. Mediamatic. Check out the Lilypad tutorial here
(or click image below).Leah Buechley (more here).
- Old Cairo Photographs
From my flat file… Cairo, Egypt circa 1983
Above: Cotton Salesman, Cairo market. 1983. Photo by Brett Hanson, my younger brother. A personal favorite for obvious reasons, Brett must have had a good relationship with this moment to capture this amazing character.
This photo was taken around the same time, by Roch Fore (I believe). Equally stunning [...]
- PingMag / Malaysian Engravings
Look into these, amazing…
Excellent feature on a certain Mr. King, here. Humbling. Story by Ian Lynam, look into his work here (studio in Japan!).
- Heller in Design Observer
An excellent article on Wilhelm Deffke
Fascinating little piece with massive implications, typical of Heller to unearth these stimulating and controversial gems.
- Correro
Today’s featured front page is from Lambayeque, Peru.
Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world.
Quite the education. - Diario de Yucatan
Today’s featured front page is from Yucatán, Mexico.
Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world.
Quite the education. - Die Neue Geotypografika / Erik Brandt
Graphic and Typographic Viruses Lektüre
Minneapolis, MN Estados UnidosDie Neue Geotypografika © Erik Brandt 2008
Shown above for the first time, this is my new poster
for the upcoming lektüre at MCAD.
February 20, 2008.
Update: Die Neue Geotypografika Redux - Atatürk’s Alphabet / Lessons in Romanization
1928: The Turkish Example
Above: The famous photo of Atatürk circa 1928, teaching the (then)
new 29 character Turkish alphabet.
Lektüre für Jan 29, 2008 I believe this was an early attempt at adapting to globalization, or then Western-Romanization. This large scale event is predated by the Korean example of 1444-46 (which emerged as a response to the [...] - Modeling in India: But who are the models?
This just forwarded by Ben Wood…
In India’s Huge Marketplace, Advertisers Find Fair Skin Sells
By Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, January 27, 2008
“MUMBAI The TV ad shows an Indian movie star walking on a beach, flaunting his brand-name sunglasses and his six-pack abs. A white woman in a black bikini drops on the sand [...] - Aktuell / Artsmonitor
New Feature in Resources
My friend JBL, recently featured in Interviews, just sent along this fantastic recommendation. Look into the Artsmonitor’s extensive graphic design section
(as well as their other resources). They feature news links to many relevant and contemporary news sources. A welcome find! - SL Öhtuleht
Today’s featured front page is from Tallinn, Estonia.
Today’s Feature: SL Öhtuleht (Tallinn, Estonia). Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. Quite the education.
- Aktuell / NYTimes Sunday Magazine
“Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” by Parag Khanna
An interesting article in todays NYT, follow the story here.
- Achlan wa sachlan, Mona!
Mona Makhlouf, the Egyptian Tiger, surfaces at last…
Above: Recent VCUQatar graduate Mona’s latest efforts in Cairo, Egypt.
She sent this along today and explained that while still in training with her
new company, they gave her free reign on this small poster project.
She writes the following in her own inimitable way:
OK so this is so far one [...] - Olympukes Font / Gratis
By Jonathan Barnbrook and Marcus Mccallion
Follow image to a free (for non-commercial use) download of Olympukes, a font critical of modern commercial excess. An excellent and acute critique here related to mass commercial sport, but clearly relevant beyond that interpretation as well.
- United Daily News
Today’s featured front page is from Taipei, Taiwan.
Today’s Feature: United Daily News (Taipei, Taiwan). Click on the image for their website, fascinating. Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. Quite the education.
- Geotypografika Interview 002: Bernand Caniffe
Designer/Educator. Welsh.
Above: Blue Collar Theory. I know Bernand as an intensely intellectual and
entertaining educator. In this interview, he generously offers his keen insight into
the contemporary world.
Bernand Canniffe: Designer/Educator
Baltimore, USA Estados Unidos
Studio: Blue Collar Theory and Piece Studio
001 ALR Design
002 project {m}Above: Link to (and from) Project M.
Geotypografika Interview 002 Bernand CaniffeWhat developments [...]
- 1960s - 1970s Greek Posters
On Rene Wanner’s site now.
Above: Sample (Freddie Carabott) from Rene’s new online exhibition
on Greek posters from the 60’s-70’s. - Persian Gulf Studio Visit
Doha, Qatar: Manar Al-Muftah
Manar, featured earlier, is a young Qatari artist preparing for her upcoming show,
and has generously shared this glimpse into her studio.Above: Various ephemera.
Above: Family.
Above: Cabbage Patch collection.
Like many of us, Manar is inspired by Reza Abedini. Here are some framed cards
she received from him.Above: Manar found some plans for a press (not [...]
- Geotypografika Interview 001: Jean-Benoît Lévy
You can take the boy out of Switzerland, but you can’t take the Switzerland out of the boy.
Above: JBL as himself. Please take time to examine his h-and-s font, a font developed as an international language. An AGI member, he is an internationally known poster designer. Geotypografika knows him best as a devoted [...]
- Aktuell / Grafik Espresso por favor…
Amelia Irwin, NYC Graphic Designer
Above: Type study. Take some time to look through Amelia’s site, I was delighted to see that she has this available.
Created for video-project (with Kelli Miller).
Website draft for the Grafikests.
- To the Original Fire Breathing Dragon
From the Flat File: Amelia Irwin, Beaver College
Amelia went on to Cranbrook, and to glory. Now she is in NYC.
¡Hola, Amelia! - Chris Burns / Detalles
Coming soon, entrar en detalles con Chris Burns
016 Geotypografika exclusivo.
- New Favicon fer’ Geotypografika
Accidental rabbit joins the circle of favicon icons.
Lovely found rabbit enters the hallowed halls of the favicon (16×16). Lucky 007, wee version below. Kawaii!
- Unicode Identity Sketches
Two examples from Andrea and Andy [GD DOS]
A simple experiment in typography using the limitation of compatibility with email names. These are just two examples generated after class on Tuesday.
- ILTALEHTI
Today’s featured front page is from Helsinki, Finland
Today’s Feature: Iltalehti (Helsinki, Finland). Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. Quite the education.
- Geotypophilia: TypeNeu (TM) via Lathrop
Dylan writes that he has found… Type for you.
Dylan Lathrop (unequal design/mcad gung fu student, see his work above), has shared this great resource, TypeNeu.
A site for typophiliacs with great reference material, stories, interviews, etc. Take some time to also look at Type for you., a similar resource that looks really promising.
Cheers to Dylan, for [...]
- Decode Unicode
Excellent resource for a vital field of knowledge.
Above: Poster of decodeunicode’s design. Fachhochschule Mainz (GER), Professor Johannes Bergerhausen. A project which contains every last character contained in Unicode 4.0. I have the book.
- Coming Soon
Geotypografika Interview Questions Go to Eleven
Above: Old school days sketch from my Flügel Serie. 1997.
Photocopy, pencil, colored pencil.
I am very pleased to be posting some early returns from my interview request release last week. This list included artists, writers, typographers, graphic designers, students (young and old), professionals, and dear friends. I have three in the [...] - O Globo
Todays featured front page is from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Today’s Feature: O Globo (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil). Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. Quite the education.
- Comment Button Fixed
My sincere apologies… I was lost in code.
To all who have joined: As you may have noticed recently, the comment button was inoperable for a time. It should now be resolved. Thanks to my student Chris Burns for his ace assistance in helping to figure out disparate coding issues. In the end, I added to [...]
- Lucky 007
Accidental Rabbit found on classroom floor yesterday.
Check the Specimen page for other odd finds destined to live a long life in my flat files.
- Aktuell / Printed Matter
Karel Marten’s Printed Matter now available through Nijhof & Lee
Breaking News: A limited number of 1st Edition copies are available through Nijhof & Lee in Amsterdam (!). Try to get yours now. I still remember when my teacher Akira gave me a copy as a gift, and when Karel gave me a copy for [...]
- Aktuell / From Jerrold Maddox
Penn State Professor of Art, photographer, web designer
I’ll be featuring Professor Maddox in an interview soon, but I wanted to pass on his insight in the form of two critical articles he highly recommends. One, on the rise of cell phone novels in Japan, and the other, on internet users in China overtaking those in [...] - Fine examples…
Typographic thumbnails from three students in today’s class.
Above: Sonja
Above: Andrea
Above: Monarose
Bravo you three, well done. Now more. These thumbnails were inspired by the students’ own typographic precedents. These are both reinterpretations/new projections, as well as a way of moving toward abstraction (and creating form, all at the same time). At the top, Sonja’s new email [...] - The Sydney Morning Post
Today’s featured front page is from Sydney, Australia.
Today’s Feature: Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia). A very bad day down under and around the world. Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. Quite the education.
- Aktuell / Task Newsletter
Seen in Design Observer
Andrew Blauvelt reviews a new platform called Task in Design Observer, a collaboration between Emmet Byrne, Alex DeArmond, and John Seuda. Click here or the image above for a direct link to Task, but read this article as well, Blauvelt’s comments on “imagined” communities, i.e. blogs and magazines that cover our specific [...]
- Bidoun Magazine Winter 2008
Mine arrived in the mail today.
And I am still enthralled. Get yours here.
- To the City and to the World
Urbi et Orbi: Mitchell Lewis’ unique and simple vision.
Above: Mitchell Lewis, MCAD Sophomore (these images from GD UNO Fall 07)
Minneapolis, MN Estados UnidosAbove: Mitchell Lewis
Above: Mitchell Lewis.
Mitchell’s stunning vision perfectly encapsulates many issues, and are legible to all.
A perfect visual introduction to thinking and making work about the contemporary city. - The Trud
Today’s featured front page is from Sofia, Bulgaria.
Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. See the Resources section for daily updates.
Today’s feature, Trud. Sofia, Bulgaria. Look, a luck chimney sweep for you! - Resources Update
New links for old news?
Check in with Newseum daily, front pages from around the world. See the Resources section for daily updates.
Today’s feature, The International Herald Tribune. - Tomorrow’s News Today
A horse walks into a bar and pulls up a chair. The bartender says hello and asks him, “Why the long face?”
From the NYTimes:From CNN (video link):
From the Guardian (UK):
From Die Zeit (GER) Title: “Nothing but Panic”
El Conejo say: Nix haus. Alles kaputt.
- Indian Tipografia and Middle Class Expansion
A startling contrast, everyday images and global scale economic shifts…
These images are street shops signs in Panaji, India. Taken last summer on our visit to Goa. These signs were a welcome find, as you can imagine, how wonderful it is to find your people, brothers and sisters in type! Humble and incredible, and very much [...]
- Perfect Intro to Typo/Graphic Viruses
Title sequence by Shadowplay Studio
Click on the image for the immaculately evil title sequence for Thank You for Smoking - the perfect illustration of carefully crafted references to graphics and type that take advantage of a collective visual vernacular (even non-smokers will recognize the various themes and inferences).
- Allan Chochinov / The Importance of Fictional Products
On the Walking Table and More
Excellent article here by Allan Chochinov on the importance of creating/designing fictional products. Great food for thought, click on image for the walking table, one of the many interesting ideas Chochinov discusses.
- MLK Day 2008
Martin Luther King Holiday, January 21, 2008
Above: From the Epoch Times, Chicago, IL. Estados Unidos.
Signs of the times, and on this day, surely we are moving forward at long last? After these recent years, one can’t help but be caught up in the promise of these signs, both the Chinese characters carrying the days events [...] - Frau Gerlach
Berlin based type designer Verena Gerlach
Please visit Verena at Frau Gerlach and look into some incredible typographic pursuits, including her archeology of lost type, such as typefaces preserved on old East-Berlin street signage (example above). Her collaborations have also include designing the type system for Blinkenlights, a spectacular project you can see here.
She is a [...] - Rabbit in Print
From Mieke Gerritzen’s book, Visual Power III Business
In an entry by one Harmen Liemburg of Amsterdam, there is curious evidence of a past life of yours truly, and how best to spend a weekend night after an exchange with students from the Rietveld, circa 1997. True story.
(Bis Publishers, Holland 2003)
- Onomatopee: Featured in Resources
Eindhoven based co-lab, founded by Remco van Bladeland
and Freek LommeIn their own words: “Onomatopee is an Eindhoven and Amsterdam based publishing label for art publications and presentations, specializing in poetry, typography and sound art and dedicated to site specific, contextual projects.”
I can still remember coming across these images for the first time, [...] - Let go and let Type.
Update: New snapshots of present working studio environment (is). As it is, or as it were.
I love big type. Irashaimase! Dozo mina-san, Irashaiiii! Click here for an update to the Aktuell / Work in Progress Page. It’s what I’m looking at.
- Random updated…
Randomly related.
Some new random entries for your review, including one of my own short films (with links to more). Above: still from How Lovely the Leaves that Fall, a hand-made short film without special effects but at volle pulle (full throttle), und mit vollem Risiko!
Check the Random section often for pleasant distractions. - Photo Typografika
Some samples from my effort to document global typographic/graphic phenomena (mena, mena)
Above: Dubai shop window, 2006. Here is a temporary link to a page on my static site that has some examples from several cities around the world. I am always trying to extend these, and hope to have a larger post on this topic [...]
- Apropo Ficciones
More Student Experiments with Form
This is an example by a former student Bil Sherman (click) from last Fall. Similar to the latest letraset sketches (click), these studies, and in particular these examples, are an immediate and easy way to find a way to and from form. The explorations are typographic in nature, but the student, [...]
- Master Calligraphers
Haji Noor Deen and Brody Neuenschwander
An old student from Qatar sent me this information this morning on master calligrapher, Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang. Take some time to consider this testament to the possibilities of both learning about and accepting other cultures, but also successfully mastering both and finding harmony through these amazing projections.
From [...] - Guten Rutsch!
Posterpage (dot) ch: International New Years / Iranian Posters
Longgang Design, China
As he does so generously every year, Rene Wanner shares the many beautiful new year’s greetings he receives from designers around the world. This is an excellent resource for having a quick look at what designers around the world are thinking
and looking like.
While you [...] - Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan (Mighty Mouse). When real men wore short shorts.
I grew up in Hamburg, Germany largely, and my childhood football team was HSV (Hamburger Sports Verein), of course. Equally, St. Pauli was also a local favorite. Keegan played for HSV, we called him Mighty Mouse - he was everyone’s hero, a great and enthusiastic ambassador [...]
- Persepolis
A Film By Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
(Based on the Graphic Novel by Marjane Satrapi, review to follow shortly.) Click the image for a link for more information.
- National Design Institute: India
A welcome avenue of study for these changing times. Here is a link to a well regarded university in India, the National Design Institute - and their school philosophy developed by Charles and Ray Eames. Fascinating. click
Here is a link to their home page, where you will find this equally fascinating statement about the [...] - Globalization Aktuell: “Puzzlin’ Evidence”
Geographic changes come to town, the world is new again.
From the City Pages Magazine, Minneapolis, MN Dec 12, 2007
Mad Men, by Paul Demko
Last Friday afternoon, current and former Star Tribune employees held a wake at Matty B’s bar in downtown Minneapolis. The occasion: the final day of employment for the newspaper’s seven remaining ad [...] - New Updates to the Resources Page
Fresh links to featured Designers and Groups, Young Guns and more…
Featured International Design Network/ Khatt Foundation: Center for Arabic Typography
Image above is from a recent event featured on the Khatt site that took place in Beirut, Lebanon. Don’t be dissuaded by the aggressive visual stance of this single example. This site features an excellent and [...]
- Aesthetic Apparatus: Minneapolis, MN
Fire-Breathing Dragon Style Graphic Design Amore
oo1 Aesthetic Apparatus, Dan Ibarra and Micheal Byzewski
Minneapolis, MN Estados Unidos
I know Dan as an energetic and popular colleague at MCAD, and I was fortunate to be introduced to the work he does with Aesthetic Apparatus. This is one of the reasons my wife Beth and I wanted to [...] - In Memoriam
Dedicated to Andy Anderson, a wonderful little man who once lived in Bellefonte, PA.
Beth and I were stunned and saddened to hear of his untimely death recently. Andy had a funny habit of appearing out of nowhere and handing you a mysterious (usually dry as heck) note. The example here was cleverly folded for the [...]
- Manar Al-Muftah, Doha
First prints from her new press.
Watch for more work from this brilliant young artist in Doha, Qatar. Manar’s interests are simple yet immaculate and she is well on her way to creating her own unique vernacular. Below are some images from her portfolio book of undergraduate work. Manar is newly married and passionately preparing for [...]
- Opolis in Hong Kong
My great friend Sherman Chan Yiu Tong is on the right, and one of the school directors, Mr. Wucius Wong (王無邪) (Principles of Form and Design) is on the left. Sherman had generously invited me to exhibit four photographs from opolis, which were part of an exhibition to benefit CIVA, the Hong Kong Chingying Institute [...]
- Kindra is Here
Must see blog of wonder and graphic/typographic devotion.
Kindra is another new colleague of mine and her blog is a stunning collection of work, life, and love (somehow Tim and Hazel figure here prominently), as well as an undying devotion to graphic and typographic possibilities past and present. Click (or just give up being interested in [...]
- The Batman of the Orient
Gift bag from Doha, Qatar.
My new colleague Terry Beatty had been drawing The Batman for some time now, and I am sure this screen print graphic was stolen from somewhere… but it is still fascinating and telling, another cultural virus. Below is another one I spotted on a local newspaper stand here in Minneapolis.
- Reza Abedini takes New York
Cover of last weekend’s NYTimes Book review.
There is no mistaking Reza’s work, it is clear he has already reached some level of visual ubiquity. We are lucky for it. Please follow these links for more on the contemporary graphic design scene in Iran, notably the 5th Color and this posting in Rene Wanner’s site on [...]
- Fresh ficciones typografika…
Letraset type fictions and conglomerates.
Megan
Fresh from my current GD2 gruppetto, all are made with Letraset type and set within scaled units that can be enlarged to 24×36 inches. This exercise is helpful in gaining experience with thinking and working at scale, as well as exploring the immediacy and comfort of working by hand. There is [...] - Work in Progress
Lint Data Disks (2001-2002) Bellefonte, PA Estados Unidos
Coming soon: Images of lint disks formed by an interesting lint-catching device in an old dryer I used (before it caught fire). These are really interesting weavings of everyday materials, and each form a unique pattern and hue. I will post a link here as soon as they [...]
- Shang + Hai
Rene Wanner Web Exhibition, Shang and Hai Character Documentation
Link to Rene Wanner’s exhibition of his photographs documenting the Chinese characters for “shang” and “hai,” forming the city name. An interesting collection of typographic variation in context. It goes without saying that there is much, much more to discover on this high-value site and resource.
For similar [...] - FilmKunstGrafik Exhibition
German Film Posters from the 1960’s
Exhibition is currently in Frankfurt, Germany (through 10. Feb). The eebsite is in German but offers some valuable visual resources as well. Above: Panzerkreuzer Potemkin Neue Filmkunst, 1966. Hans Hillmann (59 x 84 cm)
For more please visit the Resources section.
- Greetings Kameraden - AfficheMini
Full sheet (test) of Avery Size 8160 MiniPosters, used as a backing for a hello to former colleagues and friends.
Another sheet of mini-posters for students taking my special topics class this semester on typographic viruses.
- Human Rebranding: Traces of Globalization
Melancholy Associations
Some few examples of a larger effort to document repainted brands on pick-up trucks. Many workers in Doha take great pride in these old and often re-purposed vehicles, preserving even “dead” brands like the ubiquitous Datsun, seen above with its heir, Nissan. Both are hand-painted.
I hope to have larger description [...] - MCAD/AIGA Lecture: Virii Typografika
Wednesday, February 20, 6:30PM Minneapolis College of Art and Design
(MN ) Estados UnidosAbove: A confluence of cultures, both natural and artificial.
I am honored to be presenting a lecture co-sponsored by MCAD and the AIGA Minnesota. My talk will focus on discussing the impact of globalization on international visual communication systems with specific focus on graphic [...] - Urban density equals typographic density…
Photographic evidence of graphic and typographic phenomena from cities around the world.
I hope to extend this data in future postings with a broader discussion, but in the meantime, please feel free to visit my static site (click) and make your own observations comments here. I embrace correspondence on these issues and am eager to share [...]
- el 3arabia dada
el 3arabia dada, an open ended experiment in the contemporary use of Roman type to communicate in Arabic via simple text messaging. Please consider joining in exploring this dynamic and promising theme. The images here are my own experiments, the text being derived from conversations with my former students in Qatar (the text here: aly [...]