Category: {typography}

Typography

Obamicon

poebama.jpg

Given this week’s conjunction of a Poe anniversary and the Presidential Inauguration, creating this was irresistible. Obamicon.me allows you to turn any photo into something resembling Shepard Fairey’s ubiquitous Obama poster. The only drawbacks are the way the processing stretches the type and the use of Arial for the title, a font which few self-respecting designers can bear to use. If you’re as picky as I am, some Photoshop post-production is required.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The best font won
• Another lazy meme post

Groovy book covers

groovy.jpg

top left: Leo & Diane Dillon (1969); top right: Tom Huffman (1968).
bottom left: Gray Morrow & Henry Berkowitz (1967); bottom right: no credit.

Great examples of typically florid Sixties’ cover design at Font of all Wisdom – Unique lettering in design, a Flickr pool. The masterful Leo & Diane Dillon illustrated many of Harlan Ellison’s books, inside and out.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The book covers archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth

The best font won

gotham.jpg

The beautifully elegant Gotham typeface by Hoefler & Frere-Jones was already becoming pretty ubiquitous even before the Obama brand designers chose it for all their campaign graphics. I’ve used it myself a couple of times recently, notably on the jacket for Keith Seward’s Horror Panegyric. Some typefaces have a flush of popularity then fade as they start to look dated but I can’t see this happening with Gotham. Hoefler & Frere-Jones have pulled off the very difficult task of creating a new sans serif that not only works as well as classics such as Futura and Gill Sans but is on the way to being a classic in its own right.

gotham2.jpg

Previously on { feuilleton }
• New things for December