Fabrizio Schiavi — ‘a turbo engine for typography’

This feature has grown from the original plan of just showing the fantastic new Abitare Sans font / specimen to after discovering the quality of Fabrizo Schiavi’s work / type design — a huge profile!  — Thank you to Fabrizio for all the images and information below

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Fabrizio Schiavi was born in Piacenza in 1971 and graduated in Graphic Design in 1989 at the Art Institute of Parma. He is graphic designer, web designer and type designer. His works are characterized by an aesthetic research and content that often materializes in conceptual design.

After working for three years as a graphic artist for the record company Expanded Music in 1998 he founded his studio, FSD (Fabrizio Schiavi Design) in Piacenza.

He worked for Ferrari, C.P. Company, Mandarina Duck, Philip Morris, MTV, Nike, Abitare magazine, Stone Island, Fabbrica d’Armi Beretta and many others.

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Abitare Sans™
designed in 2011-2013 by Fabrizio Schiavi

Abitare Sans™ was originally commissioned by the group Rizzoli Corriere della Sera. It’s a typeface of 30 weights designed to be used for the magazine Abitare.

The request of the president Mario Piazza was a new CP Company™ with some redesigned glyphs, but the result is a radical evolution of its concept being intended to be used as a font for text far more readable.

In Abitare Sans™ was kept the geometric structure without neglecting the numerous editorials requirements.

Abitare Sans™ will be available as retail typeface from August 2013

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I design fonts for my needs. It is the best way to reach the needs of other designers.

I designed Pragmata and then PragmataPro because I needed a readable font for coding and time ago there are Monaco and Courier only.

I tried to design also a system font called Sys™ to use as aliased font to read web pages.

C.P. Company first and then Abitare, asked me to design typefaces to use at small size and for screen.

The architect Duccio Grassi asked me to find a low-cost solution for the wayfinding system for Al Hamra Kuwait and I designed Siruca, a rounded stencil font with pictograms.

More Info / Contact

http://www.fsd.it/

Benoît Bodhuin’s new typeface  ’Mineral’  is now available — Thanks to Benoît for the images / info

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Mineral is a crystalline font carved into the rock, coming from space, a starry type. Its design is consisted of square module sometimes rotated of 45 degrees. This feature modular gives it a design between a pixel type and kapla constructed type. It comes in three styles – solid, border and outline. The main style – Mineral solid – has the property of being a stencil, the two others are titration versions of the main drawing.

–Mineral is a glittering writing, fractured into multiple tetragonal splinters, rectangular modules slightly spaced, like quartz and pixel. A Kapla style construction, with stencil properties – Solid version only – however offers to the font a great readability. Mineral Solid has 2 stylistic titling alternatives: Border and Outline.

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Further Info

In use @tumblr: http://mineral-font.tumblr.com/

PDF: http://www.benbenworld.com/files/fontes/Mineral/Mineral.pdf

www.benbenworld.com/fontes.htm

The latest issue of limited edition typography 8 Faces is now on sale, available exclusively from the brand new 8faces.com.

Issue 6′s stunning cover artwork (designed by Stefan Weyer) is entirely blind de-bossed, so there’s no ink at all — you have to tilt it towards the light to see all of the details.

This issue features interviews with Simon Walker, Dan Rhatigan, Seb Lester, Nina Stössinger, Grant Hutchinson, Mike Kus, and Eric Olson and Nicole Dotin of Process Type. It also includes essays from Christopher Murphy, Leo Koppelkamm, and Typekit’s Tim Brown, and an introduction by Craig Mod.

Each copy comes with a free type catalogue from Rosetta and a free PDF edition, available for immediate download. The physical edition will ship from 6th May onwards and only 2000 copies have been printed.

The new website was designed and built by Trent Walton, Reagan Ray, and Dave Rupert at Paravel, with 8 Faces founder Elliot Jay Stocks.

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Thanks to 8 Faces | Elliot Jay Stocks for the latest 8 Faces issue #6 images + information

8faces.com

The changing faces of Bowie (2013) by Blam and contributors.

A limited release print has been created exclusively for the V&A and will only be available during the David Bowie is exhibition.

Screen-printed matt white onto rainbow holographic, 240gsm Mirri paper.

To create The Changing Faces of Bowie, designer Blam approached over 100 artists and designers and invited them to produce the word ‘Bowie’ in a favourite or bespoke typeface of their choice or creation. The response to the project was overwhelming, a demonstration of the widespread love, respect and admiration that exists for Bowie. Blam has combined 101 Bowies – a dazzling array of typographic styles, logos and symbols representing the constantly changing and ever evolving style of the artist David Bowie. Including contributions from Build, The Chase, Spin, Nom de Strip, Studio NMO, Stockholm Design Lab, Monocle, v23, Paul Belford, Design Project, Corey Holms, Brett Wickens, Johann Zambyski, Pentagram, Crispin Finn, Wallzo, Blam, Anthony Burrill, Wallpaper, Martyn Atkins, The Designers Republic, Trevor Jackson and Jonathan Barnbrook.

The print is available to purchase here

Thanks to Mark Blamire for the images | info

More info |  Blanka |  Print-Process

In a recent two-day Gestalten workshop, participants worked closely with Jessica Hische (a letterer and illustrator) to develop a full vector alphabet and learn about drawing type in a short amount of time. Hische has been named a Forbes Magazine “30 under 30” in art and design as well as an ADC Young Gun and one of Print Magazine’s “New Visual Artists”. Gestalten.tv filmed the workshop and interviewed Jessica about some of the pros and cons of the letters B/E/R/L/I/N.

http://jessicahische.is/

Thanks to Lina Kunimoto | Gestalten

Sign Painter Documentary

Directors: Faythe Levine & Sam Macon

There was a time, as recently as the 1980s, when storefronts, murals, banners, barn signs, billboards, and even street signs were all hand-lettered with brush and paint. But, like many skilled trades, the sign industry has been overrun by the techno-fueled promise of quicker and cheaper. The resulting proliferation of computer-designed, die-cut vinyl lettering and inkjet printers has ushered a creeping sameness into our landscape. Fortunately, there is a growing trend to seek out traditional sign painters and a renaissance in the trade.

In 2010 filmmakers Faythe Levine and Sam Macon began documenting these dedicated practitioners, their time-honored methods, and their appreciation for quality and craftsmanship. Sign Painters, the first anecdotal history of the craft, features the stories of more than two dozen sign painters working in cities throughout the United States. The documentary and book profiles sign painters young and old, from the new vanguard working solo to collaborative shops such as San Francisco’s New Bohemia Signs and New York’s Colossal Media’s Sky High Murals.

The book published by Princeton Architectural Press in November 2012 features a foreword by legendary artist (and former sign painter) Ed Ruscha.

All Photos © Signpainter Movie

More Information

http://signpaintermovie.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/signpaintermovie/

Press inquiries: signpaintermovie@gmail.com

LetterScapes

A Global Survey of Typographic Installations

Anna Saccani

Fans of vernacular typography and ‘SuperGraphics’ will love ‘Letterscapes’ by Anna Saccani, A fantastic photographic survey – featuring some of the best large scale typographic installations from around the world

Press Release info

LetterScapes is a tribute to the power of type writ large. 
A global survey of one of the most creative areas of public art – 
large-scale typographic installations – featuring work by 
nearly forty practitioners.

Today we are bombarded with words – public spaces are saturated with a discordant mix of messages. But sometimes a sentence, a word or even a single letter can stop us in our tracks. LetterScapes features thirty-seven such works from all over the world, by artists and designers with large international followings.

Photographs, maps and diagrams explore each project in detail, and an introduction highlights the cultural importance and common themes of the works featured. Interviews with key designers provide a personal insight into why they chose words over images to transmit their message, how the locations for their work are chosen, how they selected the material and the typeface, and how they think their work connects with its particular landscape or setting.

Includes work by Ahn Sang-soo • Ashton Raggatt McDougall • BBPR • Joan Brossa 
Cardozo Kindersley Workshop • Paul Carter • Caruso St John
 Chermayeff & Geismar • Estudio SIC & Buj+Colón • FA+ • Ian Hamilton Finlay
 • Catherine Griffiths • Rudolph de Harak • Robert Indiana
 • Intégral Ruedi Baur • Ilya Kabakov • Richard Kindersley • René Knip
 Attila F. Kovács • Maya Lin • Karel Martens • Anton Parsons
 • Michael Bierut / Pentagram • Paula Scher / Pentagram • 
Roberto Behar & Rosario Marquardt • Maarten de Reus • Pierre di Sciullo
 • Smith-Miller+Hawkinson

Anna Saccani studied Visual Communications and Multimedia Design at IUAV, Venice. She has worked as a graphic designer and writes for such architecture and design magazines as Casabella.

More Info

http://www.thamesandhudson.com/LetterScapes/9780500241431

Ten is a magic number by Bunch:

It’s the perfect number for lists, collections and thoughts. A list of ten we can remember and gain adequate insight from – the Ten Commandments, the top ten, let’s count to ten, ten out of ten, ten fingers, ten toes! Any less than ten, we feel there isn’t enough substance. Any more, and we may begin to forget or become confused.

Perhaps this is why Milton Glaser chose the number ten when writing his iconic essay, Ten Things I Have Learned, which was part of the AIGA talk he gave in 2001. His list of ten insights inspired some in the following years to prepare their own lists of ten, while others (like us) were simply grateful for their enlightening honesty.

When considering the design of this book we found the experience of a stock book to be both visual and tactile. One touches and examines the texture, weight and colour of the stock. Perhaps also smelling the paper to substantiate a decision. After that the mind stores a memory of the paper, should we need touse it at another time.

To complement this, we’ve weaved the ten insights into this book. So that as you consider the paper and absorb its qualities, you also take away an insight which might come in handy some day.

The limited edition of 300 entitled “TEN” after Milton Glaser’s essay “Ten Things I Have Learned”, showcases a cross section of paper stocks available from paper merchant, HYPERLINK “http://www.igepa-plana.hr/”Igepa-Plana, with beautifully illustrated statements enveloping the pages. The ten “things” were presented typographically and illustratively via 
a wide range of media.

48 page, cloth-covered hardcover book, 4 colour with gold and silver stamp with 6 different foil covers. Produced in a limited edition of 300.

Collaborators:

OmegaTheKid! Phoenix — Illustration

Ivo Sousa — Illustration

Vanja Solin — Photography

Cerovski — Print

Links:

www.igepa-plana.hr

Milton Glasser

Bunch

The Company You Keep worked closely with Dave Kerr on venue naming and branding, through development of collateral and signage of The Beaufort. A bespoke typeface reflecting iron dock cleats and American sporting insignia’s formed the basis of the identity.

You can see more work at their site — TCYK

Hecho en Los Angeles

Lux Typographic + Design

Lux Typo is based in Los Angeles, a place where convergence is a way of living. Street food and the visually arresting trucks that deliver it are symbols of this phenomenon. From small vendors with carts of bacon-wrapped hotdogs to that of large food trucks peddling fusion cuisine, they line the streets into the early hours of the morning. As a backdrop, one takes in the contradictory, obnoxious and absurd, but ultimately leaves inspired. It is one slice of an ever evolving lexicon that is “Hecho en Los Angeles”.

Hecho en Los Angeles is the current catalog from Lux Typo. It features commissioned work for clients such as Johnson and Johnson, Kellerhouse Inc., and Universal Music Group as well as fonts available for licensing through Village  - http://vllg.com/

http://luxtypo.com/

Note: GDT Gothic developed with Kellerhouse Inc. www.kellerhouse.com/

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Thanks to Greg Lindy / LuxTypo for the images and information

Monotype’s highly anticipated ‘Pencil to Pixel’ exhibition runs from 16th November, 19th— 23rd  November featuring Monotype’s rich archive of original artwork, type drawings, equipment and publications.

The exhibition is free and visitors can also book a free guided tour via Eventbrite

http://www.penciltopixel.org/

http://monotypeimaging.com/

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Monotype started to produce typefaces for its type-casting machines back in the late 19th century. The production process at the time started with a set of technical drawings to establish the design and dimensional characteristics of each letter in a typeface that would eventually be cast in lead. Initially, designs were based on existing foundry typefaces in common use in the printing trade at the time, but within a few years new designs were developed, some based on historical types, some completely new designs such as Gill Sans and the iconic Times New Roman, which started as a bespoke family for The Times in the early 1930s before achieving widespread popularity in the following decades.

Monotype’s office in Salfords, Surrey, is on the site that used to be its sprawling factory, which has made it possible for the company to hold onto the complete archive of its Type Drawing Office, even as the company’s manufacturing activities ceased.

The archive records about 80 years worth of typeface development (plus material from other sources gathered over the years), containing detailed drawings for all of Monotype’s hot metal typefaces from 1900 onwards, as well as original artwork, correspondence, production records, and promotional material.

Today the archive is a storehouse of information about many of the world’s classic typefaces currently in common use, as well as being a source of inspiration for contemporary designers both within the company and elsewhere. This month, Monotype is hosting an exhibition of this historical material and forward-looking recent work at Metropolitan Wharf in Wapping. On display will be a selection of rarely seen drawings, artefacts, and publications that capture the history the company alongside examples of the typographic contributions still being made at home and abroad.

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Dan Rhatigan — Type Director, UK Monotype

Córdova — Canillas is an agency specialising in Art Direction and Graphic Design based in Barcelona, Spain. Founding partners, Diego Córdova and Martí Canillas have forged a partnership whilst working at Folch Studio between 2010 and 2012.

Working in art-direction, photography, graphic and communication design, the studio places emphasis on collaborative projects for commercial and institutional clients in contemporary culture.

Les Habilitats by Andrea Gomez is a 3 part publication expressing the abilities beyond human power.

Henrik Kubel | A2-Type | I Can’t Draw Animals…

Beautiful short film showing type designer Henrik Kubel hand lettering his own narration— produced for his presentation at Typo London 2012

more info here

a2-type

a2swhk

8 faces magazine #5

8 faces magazine / issue 5 is now available – featuring a great line up including

H&FJ — typeface design powerhouse, revealing all about their web font service

Mark Simonson — type design legend

Trent Walton — web designer extraordinaire

Keetra Dean Dixon — visual artist

Peter Bilak — Typotheque founder

Gerry Leonidas — MA Typeface Design Course Director

Mark MacKay — KernType creator

Also in this issue, there is an introduction by Neil Summerour, an essay on typographic white space by Typekit’s Tim Brown, a mammoth, six-page essay on Octavo magazine by Christopher Murphy, and some beautiful cover artwork courtesy of Erik Marinovich.

Available from 8faces.com

James Edmondson is a student Type Designer and Letterer with a skill well beyond his years. Currently studying at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, his work is intricate and the application is such that each line, stroke and form seem so simple, relaxed and natural. No easy task.

With a recently new site published, he also keeps a blog which is well worth a look through too.

The fantastic new ‘Editions of 100′ screenprint by Daniel Freytag | Berg pays homage to the ‘Letraset’ Dry transfer lettering sheet.

The A2 Print has been screened in black and white onto Kaskad 225gsm Puffin Blue matt fine art paper, to mimic the original Letraset pale blue backing trace paper (see original’s above)

More info / purchase here

Seeing the print reminded me that I managed to salvage a massive stack of Letraset from a design studio clear out many years ago – not sure what I planned to do with them but it just looked too good to bin? Thought I’d get them out and take a few photos / to share and maybe do a flickr set later? – strictly for my fellow type geeks — enjoy!!.

Information

Gratuitous Type is a pamphlet of typographic smut. Celebrating the letter in all its forms, GT focuses its dirty mind on typography, art, language and publishing.

Issue 1 was released in winter 2011 and features work from Alexis Anne Mackenzie, Buchstabenmuseum, Chicago…Times…Trixie, Christian Hansen, David Smith Atelier, Evelin Kasikov, and Triboro. The issue includes a 12 page centerfold of Cuban Book Covers of the 60s and 70s and is finished with a hand-applied and numbered belly band. Printed offset in an edition of 500.

Issue 2 will be released this week and features Astrid Stavro, Buffalo Zine, El Celso, Damien Gautier (Éditions 205), Kathryn Murray, Martine Mathijsen, Rob Lowe (Cagoule, Anorak, Fire & Knives), Visual Editions, and Wayne White. The issue includes a screenprinted insert hand-lettered by Kathryn Murray, and a special peel-out centerfold project from Mark Pernice. Printed offset in an edition of 1000. Each issue is hand-numbered.

Purchase Here

www.elanaschlenker.com

A Special Specimen

Special thanks to James Phillips Williams for the use of these images and text — A brilliant story

The story in James’s own words (from the amassblog)

type specimens represent a whole category of book collecting. i have a few in my design library but i do not collect them per se. accidentally accumulate is more like it. surely designers roger black, jonathan hoefler and matthew carter have many, many fine examples. this particular type specimen comes from a special place and a unique person. i have had it for more than a dozen years. as a student at the yale school of art i became friends with one of my professors, paul rand. mr rand and i both collected all things written and designed by jan tschichold. on a particular visit to mr rand’s home he asked me to sit down, said he had something to show me. he went back to his library and returned with a completely tattered old book. the spine was broken and it was in a horrible state. of course i loved it.

many pages had been torn out and many pages had letters cut from them. (it was mr rand’s practice to cut letters and use them in his compositions) he would also tear swatches from covers of art catalogs, books, whatever he fancied to use as a color reference for projects he was working on. i once saw a wonderful copy of typographishe monatsblätter with a three-inch chunk cut from it. i couldn’t bear to do this myself. anyway, mr rand turned page after page to reveal the most wonderful type specimens. however, since we usually spoke about tschichold, i did not understand what this book had to do with him. then mr rand closed the book and opened it from the beginning, revealing the inside front cover and the ex libris. it had belonged to none other than jan tschichold. my mouth fell open and mr rand smiled. enjoy, as I have.

(note – direct copy of non upper case setting from original source)

More Information

http://amassblog.com/
http://www.designmw.com/
http://www.tschichold.de/

London Typographica – Creating the typographic map of London

London Typographica is a project aimed at type enthusiasts in London. It is both a smartphone app and website, enabling type fans to photograph their favourite publicly accessible samples of type and lettering.

The smartphone app will upload photos to the website, and record the location automagically. Text and tags can be added to each ‘typograph’, to give it some context.

London is rich in both historic and new sources of public type and lettering. Much of it is either being replaced, or lost. Our aim is to record type as it changes.

www.londontypographica.co.uk

@LDNTypographica

Thanks to David Bennett | OPX for the images and information.

Lettering: A Reference Manual of Techniques by Andrew Haslam and published by Laurence King

This newly published book (September 2011) is a comprehensive reference guide for any designer wanting to know more about the techniques and production processes to create lettering themselves or to commission work from external sources.

Using a combination of explanatory text, step-by-step photographs and classic and contemporary examples, this unique survey brings together over 80 processes involved in creating lettering and applying it to many different surfaces.

Included are hand-drawn lettering techniques (from sign writing to tattooing); dimensional lettering (hand engraving to laser cutting); typesetting (from letterpress to lettering in food); printing (Letraset to printing on bank notes); lettering on textiles (embroidery to flagmaking); and illuminated type (neon signage to holography).

1,400 colour illustrations

270 x 210 mm  240 pages

HARDBACK

ISBN – 978 1 85669 686 9

info

Typography Sketchbooks

Steven Heller and Lita Talarico

I personally couldn’t wait to see and get my hands on this book, I’ve been through it cover to cover and it really doesn’t disappoint! — Definitely one for the ‘Typetoken’ readers (IMO)

‘Typography Sketchbooks’ — the new book by Steven Heller & Lita Talarico (Thames & Hudson), is page after page of stunning and inspiring sketchbook images from 118 of the world’s leading typographers and graphic designers. The sketchbooks reveal the designers’ creative process — in-progress designs, scribbles and sketches, research, typographic experiments, word-image and logo designs.

The book’s image-focussed design showcases the work to maximum effect, with just the right balance of accompanying informative text about the designers’ creative process, their design philosophies, inspirations, techniques and influences.

Contributors include both world-renowned and up-and-coming talents: Ivan Chermayeff, Carlos Segura, Milton Glaser, Maira Kalman,Bob Aulfudish and Matthew Carter (US); Javier Mariscal and Patrick Thomas (Spain); Erik Spiekermann and Viktor Nübel (Germany);Peter Bilak and Enkeling (the Netherlands); and Jean Baptiste Levée (France), to name just few.

The book features 900+ illustrations over 368 pages, successfully managing to vary the pace, diversity and keep the reader interested by featuring playful and illustrative typographic sketches next to clean and calculated typographic drawings. Andy Smith, Alex Trochut and Javier Mariscal sit alongside Erik Spiekermann, Sumner Stone and Matthew Carter.

More Information

Photo-Lettering was one of the earliest and most successful type houses to utilize photo technology in the production of commercial typography and lettering. PLINC, as it was affectionately known to art directors, was a mainstay of the advertising and design industry in New York City from 1936 to 1997.

Each of Photo-Lettering’s alphabets took over 200 hours to complete, originally drawn with pen and ink by veteran lettering artists. These alphabets were originally exposed on glass plates, but eventually were converted to film. Bespoke headlines / copy were then created by Photo-Lettering artists.

House Industries relationship with Photo-Lettering goes back to 1999, through their association with Ed Benguiat. House were approached by one of the last remaining Photo-Lettering partners, to inquire if they would be interested in purchasing the physical assets of Photo-Lettering.

They now own PLINC’s fantastic typographic archive – 9000 pieces of film, glass plates and over Sixty years worth of brilliantly-designed typographic marketing collateral and specimen books.

See more examples here

The original idea has now come ‘full-circle’ with the digitization of the original ‘PLINC’ fonts, users of photolettering.com can set and download bespoke headlines as a scaleable vector file.

www.photolettering.com