You can't Miss: this sweet typography

Hey all. As you may have noticed, I love sharing cool typography. I just happened to stumble across this site that I thought I'd share.
This is my favorite design, although I am in a bit of a Star Wars nerd kind of mood:

I love how in this, as well as the other designs on the website, they are able to create entire images just using letters and numbers. It's crazy! Which is your favorite?

Response: Helvetica and Just My Type

Helvetica...

Where do I begin? I didn't hate the documentary. I found it to be interesting and enlightening. I never actually paid attention to how often this typeface is used. I mean yes, I have noticed many uses for it, but it wasn't until they had one man point out different places where Helvetica was used on the streets until I actually realized that the font was all over. It has definitely given me a new appreciation for Helvetica and, at the same time, made me want to avoid using it whenever possible to avoid becoming just another overlooked designer with boring, basic type choices.

Just My Type...

I have actually found this book to be quite enjoyable. At first I thought I would be bored while reading it, but I found it to be a quick read with some interesting ideas. As requested, I will be talking about three chapters that I particularly found interesting.
12: What the font? I found this chapter interesting for its mention of an iPhone application that can identify fonts. While this chapter also admits that the app has its issues, I still had no idea it even existed. Needless to say I put the book down and picked up my phone the second i saw this and downloaded the application instantly. I still have yet to try it out, but when I do I will let you know how it goes.
2: Capital Offence I didn't necessarily learn much from this chapter seeing as I already understood the connotation of capital letters, but I found the chapter to be very entertaining. It is also refreshing to hear someone else speak of (or write about) type etiquette. As designers we must evaluate our type choices and use fonts that are relevant to the message we are trying to convey. Therefore, this chapter is a very important lesson for us.
3: Legibility vs. Readability This is an important concept for all designers. We have to make sure it is possible to read what we create. It doesn't matter how great something looks if no one can understand what it says. This also relates to a post I made a few weeks ago in a "You Can't Miss" section where the bottom of a logo was cut off and the entire meaning was lost. One problem I run into is that I know what I mean for something to say so I'll assume everyone can read it. It is important for us to let a fresh pair of eyes see our work so that we know it is legible.

You Can't Miss: Typography videos

Well, originally I was planning on posting the Cats as Fonts, but Will beat me to it. I'm just glad someone showed it to y'all because when I saw it I practically died of laughter and then immediately thought of LeeAnn.
Anyways, instead I have these two Youtube videos that I had found a while back that play with typography. Incase you haven't noticed by now, I'm obsessed with typography. One is hooked up with audio from the movie "The Dark Knight" and the other is an I love NY typography deal. Both are really fun and show off some great typography skills. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

You can't miss: journalism valentine's

In the spirit of Valentine's Day I wanted to share something that a fellow journalism student showed me yesterday. This comes from Mediabistro and just happens to be Valentine's for journalists. These two are my personal favorites:


Not only are they witty, but they also play with typography, which, if you haven't noticed yet, is one of my favorite things designers can do. The conflict of interest one is especially cute in terms of its typography. It's very subtle, with hearts to dot the eyes, but also the connected "N" is very nice. It shows a couple, like two people being together. It's simple touches like this that make a huge difference in design, especially when a design is made solely of typography.
Which is your favorite valentine?

You can't miss: these logos

Design is not strictly limited to making magazines look pretty, it is an aspect of all parts of life. That's why, for our blogs to follow this semester, I have chose LogoDesignLove. I wanted to not only look at how magazines are created, but also how other forms of design come about and how elements of each of these could be used when it comes time to design a magazine page.
One post that really intrigued me on this website was from January 24. The post is entitled "15 wonderfully simple logo designs" and incase you couldn't tell form the name, it featured great, yet simple, logos. Most of the logos dealt with a simple image or typography that seemed very simple because it was created flawlessly.
One logo that stuck out to me right away was this one:

I thought this logo did a great job encompassing the theme of family. The recurring "i" of different heights can be seen as family members of different heights standing next to one another (at least that's how I see it). While extremely simple, it still has a great impact.
This semester I really want to work on my typography skills and be able to create simple things like this typography. I feel that logos are a great way to look at this, because they have to say a lot and usually within a small space. I hope that by following this blog throughout the semester I can embrace new ways of thinking and push myself to be more creative with my magazine work.

Response: CRMA comment

Like many designers in the class, I have chosen to respond to our work as the Preliminary Design Judges for the City and Regional Magazine Association. I, however, do not want to comment on the judging experience (although I must say, it was amazing), rather on a comment made by a fellow designer.
When we were talking about one of the magazine covers, Andrea H. pointed out that the cover (I won't name the specific title) used typography that made it look like a magazine right out of Las Vegas. This magazine, however, had no connection with Vegas, or a city that someone may consider to be similar to Vegas.
As designers we are always told that typography is extremely important, and we read books upon books about type. In our books for this capstone, almost every one mentions the power of typography and how little differences in font, style, size or placement can change the entire feel of the page. This was no exception. This typography choice just did not work for me.
In the book Graphic Style, every single page has designs from different eras and locations. One major difference in each design is the font choice. This just reinforces how type can change everything.
From this experience, I have realized that I need to be more careful in my font choices. This semester one of my goals is to work with typography and try to expand my techniques with editing type.