Type 02-27-12

My post tonight involves a different approach from my previous ones. I am looking into a 1896 Providence newspaper that I found being used as a shim underneath some floor-boards. As you can tell they look like they have been used as a shim, complete with hand-cut nail hole (you can tell because the hole is square).


At first I can't quite tell what the title of it is because it is ripped in two. "The Evenin..." The only paper that this could be is the "Providence Evening Post". The Evening Post ran from 1859-1972 which certainly puts this particular example in the right time (http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/newspapers/explore/USA/Rhode_Island/Providence/Providence_Evening_Press/) because I fell in love with this thing the first time I looked at it. On the front page is an account of "Nansen's Triumph" in his discovery of the North Pole, complete with a nah-sayer who objects based on a dearth of evidence. Some evidence of the "monster type" phenomenon is present in the ads and headlines.

I looked into trying to figure out what typefaces are used on this but I am running into some trouble. This is probably because of the "almost science" that typefaces were in this day. The current belief of this time was that "egyptian" slabs were optimal to use in body copy. But the body type is certainly not a slab serif. I started by looking at looked at four pretty obvious candidates for the font; Caslon, Times, Garamond, and Baskerville. But this led to a different place.

Caslon has the correct looking "g" with it's two-stories and closed bottom counter. The "g" also has a right feeling ear, it comes of at the correct angle and also terminates in the correct way. But here is where the similarities stop. One definitive trait of Caslon type is the "nib" quality that is evident in the sllightly slanted top serifs. This is a humanist typeface after all. The "A" also doesn't have the distinctive Caslon top. Caslon ultimately feels to humanist to be it.

I looked and Garamond and it proved to be a quick and easy. Garamond is way to humanist, compared to this typeface it looks closer to a renaissance script. So Garamond is out.

Times had the appropriate weight shifts but it had some big flaws to it though. The ear of the "g" is wrong, it comes off flat not angles. Also Times "e" has a distinctive offset counter within, and a large bottom lower counter with very thin finial.

I found Baskerville to be the most likely but it still doesn't feel right. The transitional typeface feels right but there are certain elements that don't quite fit. The "e" has a low crossbar compared to modern Baskerville, also the "R"'s leg is totally different, while Baskerville's is straight the font used in the newspaper is similar to "Bodoni." Aslo the "Q" doesn't have that beautiful swoosh of a Baskerville but again the "Q" resembles a Bodoni.

So this led me to Bodoni. Overall the type doesn't feel like a modern typeface like this, the contrast on thicks and thins are not as extreme, they are pretty comfortable. Maybe this is a hybrid typeface of sorts? The "W" doesn't have the double "v" to it like Bodoni. I was thinking of Didot but I decided that the typeface used isn't "fancy" enough.

I end this post with no definitive solution. The typeface used seems to be a hybrid between baskerville and Bodoni, a transistioning transition font. It is like find a missing link, a evolutionary hybrid between two different forms. This does seem correct to me. The world that this font existed in was in fact a transitional one. The victorian age was in between agricultural life and big business, man power or horse power and machine power, women's rights was staring to germinate, the ruminants of slavery was still being struggled with in the nation. This time period was in flux in many ways, technological, political, and psychologically.

Type 02-20-12

This was bought at Barnes and Noble bookstores. It is  a remake of the famous WWII poster of  "keep clam and carry on." The poster was created to encourage the citizens of London to ignore the Nazi bombing of their city. The poster was a rallying cry for the English in their fight.

Today this slogan is reused in many different forms, like in this example, "Keep calm and eat cupcakes." The authoritative voice of the original poster translates well to these other versions by sprinkling it with humor. The sheer number of reproductions that are made now echo the difference in cultures.

Our culture is much more fractured than wartime England. England at that time had serious political problems and needed society to come together for the war effort. These modern versions poke fun at the original's serious tone by changing the subject matter by making everyday "luxuries" into serious matters.

This poster was originally produced byt he Ministry of Information. This ministry main objective was to produce propaganda material. "keep calm" posters aimed at reducing the fear the German bombing had on the civilian population by giving the people the impression that the government was calm and collected and that they will win the war.

Unfortunately, the original posters doesn't use a standard font because they were hand-designed and by a anonymous civil servant.This again reflects the state of the culture in war time England (http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/guide_to_keep_calm/). According to discussions at typophile.com the closest modern typeface is Avenir.


Avenir was created by Adrain Frutiger un 1988 and was intended "to be a more organic, humanist interpretation of these highly geometric types" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenir_(typeface)). Avenir was modeled from the early geometric sans-serif typefaces of Erbar and Futura. The "keep calm" poster typeface was certainly inspired by the same typefaces.


You can now generate these posters with a computer program now, http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/. Here one can enter the desired content and generate it in this style. This is another way the "keep calm" posters have changed since their orignal conception. The government originally designed and published these as an important part of the war effort, now these are customized by anybody. 

Type

 These examples of Type comes from a type specimen that I had. It is a typeface calles Eames Century Modern from House Industrious (www.houseindustries.com). The entire book is designed in the "retro" style. The word "retro here is quoted because of the Eames House's effect on what is retro. Eames House IS retro, so I apologize for that previous redundant statement but I figured it had to be said.

Eames House was created and ran by Charles and Ray Eames from 1950-late 1970's. Their initial success came from their creation of chairs and their partnership with Herman Miller. Charles Eames, a architect, was the spirited leader of this duo and Ray Eames, painter, was the quiet genius behind their work. Their designs was the pinnacle of the modern style because of their clean lines, modular, and mass produced (of course American made).

The cover showcases the typeface in use. The white "eames" is coupled with silver "retro" stars and House Industries logo (clever tie in). The type is arranged on a diagonal repeating patterns of alternating type. The Eames Century Modern is described as a "honor to their aesthetic while maintaining the timeless relevance and functionality that characterizes their legacy."

They had such success with their chair designs that they ended up branching out in many different directions. Videography, architecture, graphic design and photography all came out of the Eames House each gaining great success. The common thread connecting all of these different ventures is the complete understanding and adherence to their classic, sleek aesthetic.

 The studio that produced this was known for its dynamic cluttered space. Dozens of products would be worked on simultaneously. The second photograph of an inner spread shows examples of this. this with the use of layered and cropped text and bold colors (a touch of Ray).

Eames Chair

02/02/12 Thesis Review

Tonight, because of the Research DP1 I sat in with Minko's group. This was enlightening to see how the other Thesis Studio students are shaping their studio ideas. Minko is having them create a visual vocabulary to help inform their studio designs. I presented my popup book idea and got some good feed back. Emily pointed out some similarities with a previous project i worked on in Graduate Seminar. The project was designing a poster on how Dr. Ramachandran acute observation skills and how he solved a complex problem with a simple solution. The poster consisted of a message being embedded in the folds of a brain.

To move on I will have to define an audience, make it personal or "human." This will help make my idea come across more effectively. The idea of incorporated the code and augmented reality into the aspect of storytelling went over very well.

I have a lot to digest after tonight. I will take the weekend to rework my ideas to sharpen the focus and solidify a strong foundational vocabulary to build my project on. I am going to set up a meeting with Mish to review where I am before DP1 next week.