Pages from Letters and Lettering (1902), “A Treatise with 200 Examples” by Frank Chouteau Brown. A free book scan at the Internet Archive.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Studies in Pen Art
Category: {typography}
Typography
The best font won
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.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• New things for December
Studies in Pen Art
Two of many stunning calligraphy samples from Studies in Pen Art (1914) by William E Dennis, a free PDF at Luc Devroye’s extensive font site.
Update: That site and link have expired but the book may be browsed or downloaded (finally!) at the Internet Archive.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Flourishes
Tugra of Suleiman the Magnificent
The Tugra, or imperial monogram, of Suleiman the Magnificent, c. 1550–65. From the calligraphy section of the Islamic art collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Ottoman calligraphy and Arabic typography
• Flourishes
• Ghubar
• Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East
Design as virus 5: Gideon Glaser
New York magazine, April 8, 1968. Design by Milton Glaser.
Part of an occasional series.
It’s probably only coincidence that the sleeve of the second High Llamas album resembles the cover of the first (?) issue of New York magazine. But many of the other High Llamas albums feature design elements borrowed from the Sixties and Seventies and the music on this one owes much to American music of the period, notably Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys.
New York magazine celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year. I tried my hand a couple of years ago at designing the magazine’s High Priority graphic for an online competition. I didn’t win but I did make the runners-up list (along with 120 others).
Gideon Gaye by The High Llamas (1994). Art by Kevin Hopper, design by André & Brown, Tony Lyons.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Design as virus 4: Metamorphoses
• Design as virus 3: the sincerest form of flattery
• Design as virus 2: album covers
• Design as virus 1: Victorian borders
• High Priorities 2
• High Priorities