Orba Squara

NY musician Mitch Davis aka Orba Squara has a beautiful online journal. In case you missed it last class or want to see if you can make it to the end here's the link!

SWIPE!

record sleeves from Crossed Combs:

All Things Typographic 11/09

From Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio

Fall back to typography. Here's the latest scoop: -- TypeTalk: You ask, we answer -- Hanging Characters in QuarkXPress 8 -- Words at Play -- Font Fight -- Upcoming Typography Workshops -- Gourmet Typography Discount LAST MONTH -- The Type Studio now on Twitter If this email is not displaying properly, you can view it here. Previous editions can be viewed here.

TypeTalk: You ask, we answer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q. You've written about figures in Open Type fonts, both oldstyle and lining variants and tabular and proportional spacing. But I have trouble figuring out which fonts have which. Can you help unravel this numerical mystery? Check it out... Q. What is the difference between Times Roman and Times New Roman, and why are both listed in my font menu? Is Times Roman the "Old" version? Please explain! Check it out...

Hanging Characters in QuarkXPress 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hanging punctuation has long been one of the hallmarks of expert typography. Adobe InDesign CS has provided for this with its Optical Margin Alignment. This feature makes it a snap to achieve an optically aligned margin - an effect you previously had to create manually, and painstakingly, with desktop publishing software. Quark 8 has finally stepped up to the plate, and now contains a very robust feature with precise and customizable controls for hanging characters. Read on...

Words at Play ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spell out "words at play" with the floating characters, and see where it takes you. This book was created as a special project to celebrate the power of words, the beauty of typography, and the creativity of designers Roberto de Vicq and Matteo Bologna. Take a look...

Font Fight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More on Helvetica and Arial, who get into a good old fashioned rumble in this College Humor video, which is a sequel to the the very funny Font Conference. Check it out...

Upcoming Typography Workshops ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Every creative professional, including the most seasoned designer, can benefit from learning to communicate more effectively with type. This workshop will give you the expert-level typographic skills and aesthetics necessary to visibly improve your type. It will sharpen your eye and reignite your passion for typography. Gourmet Typography 1 and 2 TDC New York Friday, December 4 Part 1: 9 to 12 Part 2: 1 to 4 Typography for Print: The Finer Points Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) Boston Friday, January 8 If you'd like to see Gourmet Typography come to Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or any other city, let me know! Ilene

Gourmet Typography Discount LAST MONTH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In today's competitive market, you need all the edge you can get. Whether you are a student or a professional, having strong typographic skills should be at the top of your list. Bring Gourmet Typography Training right to your company, school or organization! Workshops are customized for groups of any size and designed to fit your specific needs. Sessions are scheduled for your convenience - daytime, evenings or weekends. We will design a program customized for your particular requirements. ONSITE TRAINING: $300 off workshops booked through December. SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES: Special pricing, call 203.227.5929 for details. "I found your class to be the missing link in the field of graphic design. I have had type classes before and the content is mostly about the structure of fonts, word usage style and then how to see type as a design element. Very important classes, but not all inclusive. Having been in the field for over 16 years, I was surprised how much I learned and some of the practical information about what to do with fonts. Thanks again!" For more info, click here or call 203.227.5929.

The Type Studio now on Twitter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, I gave in to Twitter pressure. It's no longer your teenager's social networking tool, but a valuable source of education and information for students, educators and professionals of all kinds. Follow me at Twitter for the best of typographic rants, raves, reviews, and releases.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ info@thetypestudio.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Morning on FFFFOUND!

There were a lot of pretty things on ffffound this morning. Here are some:

Infographic Presentation Re-Cap

For those of you who missed last night's presentation, here's a recap of some of the things Danielle talked about:

Danielle has been an information graphic artist for about 3 years now and is currently working for Portfolio (before that she has been at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal).

Some things to keep in mind when making visual representations of data:

• if you can take something away and the meaning isn't altered, simpler is usually better
• BUT make sure it's still understandable - you might want to show it to other people and see if they are reading it properly (since often it becomes hard to see it objectively after working on it a long time)
• if it's not chart-able, don't force it
• think about the point. what do you want people who read the graphic to come away with? you want your charts to be accurate and well-reported but you also don't want to lose sight of your main objective.

Some Resources/Info-Graphic Artists:

Edward Tufte - diagram guru; charts of the academic, info-heavy persuasion. makes fun of overuse of icons. has also written several books on the theory/practice of designing infographics

John Grimwade

Alberto Cairo
Nicholas Felton (see examples a couple posts back)
Ben Fry

Nigel Holmes

Catalog Tree

New York Times Multimedia Index - Amanda Cox
eg: How Different Groups Spend Their Day

Also - Processing.org is a computer programming tool for making infographics
And the book Data Flow was mentioned again - more on the info-light side of infographics.

Thanks again to Danielle for taking the time to come talk to us and to Michelle for setting it up!

Infographic Book: Data Flow

If you want a book (remember those??) on infographics, try checking out:

Data Flow:Visualising Information in Graphic Design
by R. Klanten (Editor), S. Ehmann (Editor), N. Bourquin (Editor)

Adobe Kuler

This looks pretty nifty - browse color themes, create themes based on a color or an image, and it's FREE!

http://www.adobe.com/products/kuler/

Explore, create and share color themes

Discover Adobe® Kuler™ — the web-hosted application for generating color themes that can inspire any project. No matter what you're creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community

Infographic Examples

here are some of the examples we looked at last class:

nicholas felton


marian bantjes

Peter Ahlberg ad Paul Sahre:

Portfolio Class:
Airene:

Liz Chan

Bryan Farevaag



David Robinson

AIGANY / Today's Specials

---

YOU’RE GETTING THIS EMAIL BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU LOVE DESIGN. WE BET YOU LOVE FOOD TOO. THAT’S WHY WE THINK THERE ARE...

3 THINGS YOU CANT LIVE WITHOUT:

1. BOOZE

Learn from master sommelier Andrew Bradbury how cutting-edge graphic interfaces may forever change the wine-drinking experience.

2. FOOD

Hear from photographer Mitch Feinberg and food stylist Victoria Granof on how design is in the details, whether in gilding a hog head or wrangling lobsters.

3. CAKE

Find out from cultural historian Tacey Rosolowski why the father of haute cuisine considered pastry to be an offshoot of architecture.

SIGN UP NOW FOR “TODAY’S SPECIALS”—AIGA/NY’S 2ND ANNUAL FOOD-MEETS-DESIGN EXTRAVAGANZA AND CHECK OUT THE MOST INNOVATIVE TASTE-MAKERS WORKING IN CULINARY CULTURE TODAY.

details / register

Fouth Assignment: Info Graphic

Here is your next homework assignment:

create a survey for an information graphic about your topic.

design and print your survey.

bring enough for everyone to fill out.

make sure you think hard about how you formulate the questions so that they can be charted.

ie. open ended questions are difficult to chart.

but, you don't want to direct folks too much or you skew the data.

so, create questions that are as objective as possible, but directed according to your needs.

at least 10-15 questions.

design a questionnaire in the format of your topic thus far.

if you choose to use survey monkey, that's fine, but also print out and bring to class so that your classmates can fill out your survey.

check out visual complexity for examples of info graphics
also: simple complexity
edward tufte
nigel holmes

examples of surveys:
http://www.tigersurvey.com/survey.php?survey=12630
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=TYdQu9C29XUpec4tWWu6ug_3d_3d

Wednesday 11/11 6PM Infographics Presentation

We're going to have an information designer come in to give a presentation next Wednesday. Danielle has worked in the graphics departments of Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and Condé Nast Portfolio. She'll come in to talk about the process of turning data into visually interesting communication pieces. She'll only be able to come to the 6pm Type class, but everyone is welcome to attend. Room 202.

(thanks Michelle!)