There’s nothing basic about the ABCs created by London design consultancy Johnson Banks. When commissioned by their client Ravensbourne to test and showcase the in-house 3d prototyping skills and technology, they got to work creating a fantastic typographic project called Arkitypo. (…) Read More about Johnson Banks’ Arkitypo (136 words)

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Johnson Banks’ Arkitypo

Ryan Atkinson was commissioned by Hype For Type to create a 16 page booklet that would showcase and promote its Exclusive Faces range of commissioned typefaces. Atkinson’s response: to create four typographic posters presented as a call to arms to designers to revolt against dull design…

“Instead of following the convention of a read through booklet, we decided to go down a more conceptual route,” says Atkinson “The end result was a a quick read through A3 magzine (cover shown, above) which also doubled up as a set of four typographic posters.”

Entitled Typographic Revolt, the magazine, created in collaboration with copywriter Stephan de Lange, serves as a call to arms to designers, urging them to arm themselves wtih typographic understanding and wage battle against dull and badly informed design. It’s been litho printed in a limited run on to 90gsm wood-free paper. Here are some spreads:

To find out more about the typefaces used in the magazine / posters, visit hypefortype.com/exclusive-faces

To buy a copy of Typographic Revolt (£6.99) click here

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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The type will set you free

Quick reminder: Prices go up tomorrow, Saturday, for the Brand New Awards.

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Brand New Awards, Early-Bird Pricing Last Day

It is well known that the ‘Garamond’ types, of which the use was revived at the Imprimerie nationale, Paris, during the 20th century, were based on some that had been cast from a set of early matrices for three sizes that were known as the caractères de l’Université, to which the name ‘Garamond’ or ‘Garamont’ was assigned during the 19th century (for the first time, apparently, in the specimen of the Imprimerie royale, 1845), and to which shortly after 1900 several other sizes were added by professional punchcutters, notably Hénaffe. These types became attributed during the 1920s to Jean Jannon of Sedan. The attribution was of course made by Beatrice Warde, and the claim was based on their appearance in Jannon’s specimen book dated 1621.

The types appeared for the first time under the name of ‘Garamond’ as a ‘series’ in the specimen of the Imprimerie nationale dated 1904 (above), and they would become the models for the ‘Garamond’ types of American Type Founders (about 1917), and the English Monotype Corporation (1922).

The story has been told in many places. My own version was in an essay that I published in 2006, and which forms a part of the very long and involved post on ‘Garamond / Garamont’ that appears above in this blog, first made on 1 April 2011 and to which many additions and corrections have been made ever since. There is also a separate section on Jannon in the new Garamont website of the French Ministry of Culture. It seemed to me that it would helpful to those who have found the elaborate narrative that appears above rather demanding to navigate, to offer some recent findings of my own.

In 1922 D. B Updike published the image that appears at the head of this post as fig. 172 of the first edition (1922) of his Printing types, their history, forms and use. It shows a part of a leaf from Richelieu’s text, Les Principaux points de la foy catholique, a folio that was printed at the Imprimerie royale in 1642. Updike’s caption identifies the types (on the basis of the belief that was current in 1922) as Garamond’s. In later editions, in deference to the essay by Beatrice Warde, both types were called ‘Jannon’s’: neither identification was quite correct. The object of this piece is to set things as nearly right as they can be made.

Perhaps the best place to begin is with the larger types that appear in the Updike figure. The roman can be identified as the Petit Canon of Robert Granjon, a type that is listed by Vervliet in his Conspectus of 2010 as type 140. (It had appeared on the Berner specimen sheet of 1592, where it was wrongly given the name of ‘Garamond’.) This is a type that appears in the specimen of the Imprimerie royale that was dated 1643, of which a facsimile with notes by Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer and André Jammes was issued in 1958. (Details appear in the ‘Garamond/Garamont’ post above.) The italic is indeed the Petit Canon italic of Jean Jannon, and it is one of two italics by him which are shown in the specimen of 1643.

Matrices of three sizes of roman and italic types were bought from Jannon in 1641, for Gros Canon, Petit Canon and Gros Parangon (types that were later cast on bodies of 36-, 24- and 18-points). The relevant document (from which an image is shown in the blog above) is the ‘Contrat passé entre Jean Jannon et Sébastien Cramoisy, 1 mars 1641. Étude XLIII, liasse 32.’, Archives nationales, Paris. The question to which I addressed myself during the later months of 2011, was ‘which of the types named in this document were used at the Imprimerie royale’?

I looked at many examples of printing at the Imprimerie royale held by the British Library, mostly making use of the list of titles printed in his historical study by Auguste Bernard: ‘Catalogue chronologique des Éditions de l’Imprimerie royale du Louvre’, Histoire de l’Imprimerie royale du Louvre (Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1867), pp. 123–256. My conclusions were as follows:

I found no example of roman types by Jannon in use at the Imprimerie royale. Two sizes of the Italic types, the Petit Canon and the Gros Parangon, were used consistently to accompany the roman types of the Imprimerie royale. Neither the roman nor the italic of the Gros Canon has been found in use during the 17th century.

To say that I found this a surprising result is, frankly, an understatement. Like most of his readers (I imagine), I had accepted the estimation of Jannon by Henri-Jean Martin that I had cited in my post above:

This man was the worthy follower of the artists and technicians of the century before. One can see appreciation of his efforts in the fact that types cast in the matrices that he sold to the Imprimerie royale were used in the splendid works printed during the early years of this institution. (Cet homme était le digne émule des artistes et des techniciens de la typographie du siècle précédent. On pourrait peut-être voir la consécration de ses efforts dans le fait qu’on fondit sur des matrices portant l’empreinte des ses types et par lui vendues à l’Imprimerie royale, les caractères utilisés pour les plus luxueux ouvrages publiés par cet établissement à ses débuts. Livre, pouvoirs et société à Paris au XVIIe siècle, 1969, p. 367.)

Martin’s sentiment is elegantly expressed, but hardly true. In fact, if my conclusions are to be trusted it is a gross exaggeration. The types used at the Imprimerie royale during the years following its creation until the end of the century (when the new romain du roi was created) were mostly the ‘classic’ romans of Claude Garamont and italics of Robert Granjon that had been in use by Parisian printers for many decades, which appear in the specimen of 1643, and of which the source seems likely to have been one of the Parisian foundries that were well furnished with matrices for these types, most likely the foundry of the Le Bé family. Just two italic types by Jannon appear to have been used at the Imprimerie royale, and none of the romans.

Two pieces of printed evidence seemed to support my conclusion. One was the appearance of just two of the Jannon italics (and none of the romans) in the Imprimerie royale specimen of 1643.

Secondly, when the widow of Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy prepared specimens of the types ‘belonging’ to the Imprimerie royale in 1690 to be passed to her successor, they comprised six sheets of greek types (the grecs du roi), and just one seventh sheet, lettered F, that appears above, showing italics: the two smaller types of Jannon.

Many questions are raised by these claims of mine. Have I overlooked examples of the use that was made of Jannon types (especially the romans) at the Imprimerie royale? That is certainly possible, and one reason for publishing my general conclusions in this form is in order to invite others to make their own, and to offer corrections.

Nevertheless, I have checked my observations and checked them again, and I shall be glad to supply them in more detail to anyone who wishes to examine them.

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The types of Jean Jannon at the Imprimerie royale

Established in 1943, the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) aims to “help members of the U.S. precision custom manufacturing industry achieve profitable growth and business success in a global economy through advocacy, advice, education, networking, information, programs and services.” Citing a misunderstanding of American manufacturing as being in trouble, NTMA wants to make sure everyone understands that is not the case and that this community is thriving. With 50 chapters across the U.S., NTMA counts with nearly 2,000 members — “members” are counted as businesses not individuals — covering industries “from aerospace to electronics to nuclear power.” The new identity was designed by Atlanta, GA-based Matchstic.

Old materials.

The new brand mark is an evolution of the previous logo, refined and updated. We retained some defining characteristics — the color and shape — but recast it in a richer shade of blue with custom lettering. The new identity reflects experience and precision.
— Matchstic Case Study

I was almost going to say that the old logo wasn’t that bad — in that un-logo-less, inoffensive way — but then I saw that the “T” ate the serifs of the “N” and “M” next to it. I got offended. The old logo could have been for any non-profit whatsoever and didn’t reflect any kind of allusion to manufacturing. The new logo looks like it has been manufactured and chiseled with a precision machine and in the full-color application with the shine and shadows it looks like a badge that could go on the grill of a car or the door of a refrigerator. The logo is now much more appropriate and relevant, although it’s certainly not the best thing since the Industrial Revolution. On first instinct I want to like it, there is something blunt and industrial about it that catches my attention, but on the details and execution it doesn’t quite hold up: What does the diagonal line mean? If the angle of the “N” matches that line, why wouldn’t the notches in the “T” and “M” match too? Why is the crossbar in the “A” so short? Why is there so little space after the “A”? One more round of refinement and customization would have yielded a stronger logo.

The logo placement feels unresolved throughout in the rest of the identity but somehow it strikes a good balance of being contemporary and having a blue collar look and feel. The use of OCR-A, always a hard trick to pull off, works well used sparingly. Overall, an improvement for sure, but it just needed a little extra kick to take it to the next level.

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Toolin’ & Machinin’

Arkitypo is a collaborative research project between Ravensbourne and design studio johnson banks that aims to push the limits of rapid prototyping technology in the creation of a 3D alphabet

Ravensbourne asked johnson banks to come up with an idea to utilise the newly-acquired rapid prototyping machines at the college. Johnson banks’ suggestion was to create a 3D alphabet in which each letter expressed an idea relating to a typeface whose name started with that letter. For example, the F, above, is from Fraktur, a typeface that will forever be associated with Germany. The 3D letterform is extruded from the shape of Germany on a map, which can be seen on the reverse.

The B starts as a Baskerville B which then morphs into the same letter in Bodoni – a reference to the fact that Bodoni was derived from Baskerville.

“For each letter we carried out extensive research, made drawings, built maquettes and did simple 3D visuals on our machines,” say johnson banks. “before handing the ideas over to Ravensbourne’s team. There was a period of ‘virtual proofing’ where we examined the ideas as rendered files, and when all parties were happy, we began the printing.” Some of the letters took up to 90 hours to ‘print’.

The R is set in Retina, a typeface designed to deal with ‘ink-fill’ at tiny sizes: “We reversed the process and drilled an ‘R’ out of huge, oversized ink bubbles,” say johnson banks.

“This slightly mind-boggling design takes inter­secting ‘Z’s from Zig-Zag to create a 3D puzzle”

Some of the letterforms are on show at the London HQ of Arup (8 Fitzroy Street W1).

The show opened to coincide with the latest of Arup’s Penguin Pool events in which they ask various designers to speak on a theme – last night’s being data visualisation. The Arkitypo project is on display until February 8.

The entire project is documented in the February edition of Monograph – the A5 publication that all CR subscribers (and only CR subscribers) receive free with each issue of Creative Review. If you’d like to subscribe, all the details you need are here.

There is more about the project on the johnson banks website here

Design: johnson banks
3D imaging and prototyping: Jon Fidler
Photography: Drew Morgan
Project client: Jill Hogan
Project advisor: Ben Caspersz

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you’re missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

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Rapid Proto Type

Die jährlichen Bestenlisten dieser kleinen Randgruppenwebseite erfreuen sich großer internationaler Beliebtheit. Das begeisterte Feedback gefällt mir und motiviert mich, hier noch etwas weiter zu machen – bevor Blogs dann endgültig tot sind. Besitzer des noch beliebteren FontBook-Apps kommen mit der gerade veröffentlichten 2. Version sogar noch eleganter in den Genuss meiner Bestenauswahl: unter »Empfehlungen, Charts« finden sich meine besten Schriften des Jahres 2011, neben denen von Typographica, Typefacts und anderen. Auch das, ihr ahnt es, gefällt mir.

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Ab ins App

Established in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1983 and originally known as The Rainbow Society, the newly renamed The Dream Factory is “a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling the once-in-a-lifetime dreams of Manitoba children suffering from life threatening illnesses.” Focusing its efforts on children from Manitoba, The Dream Factory has helped over 530 children in the past 19 years — Make-A-Wish Foundation, the biggest organization in this category, has helped 212,000 kids since 1980, just as a point of reference. This past November, The Rainbow Society changed its name to The Dream Factory and introduced a new identity designed by Winnipeg-based Cocoon Branding.

The airship logo design was inspired by the organization’s new positioning line: “Sometimes kids deserve to get carried away.” The Dream Factory helps kids forget about their illness — even just for a moment — and encourages them to get carried away in the anticipation of having their dream come true, the experience itself, and the memories they will keep with them when they return to their routine of doctors, treatments, and hospital visits.
— Text provided by Cocoon

Logo in one and full color.

I mentioned the Make-A-Wish Foundation because when I first saw the new identity, before reading anything about the The Dream Factory, I assumed this was a large, national organization helping thousands of kids a year, much like Make-A-Wish. That’s a significant thing for an identity to do. I was surprised to see it was a small organization, which the old logo supported and didn’t do it any favors in making it look like a solid organization nor did it make any allusions whatsoever to what it did.

The new logo and identity aren’t perfect but they make an immediate statement that is relevant and uplifting. I really like the concept of the airship and building its balloon from the word Dream. There is a slight disconnect between that bold typography and the thin script used for “The” and “factory” and those sit a little too close to the blue stroke. The ship part of the logo is downright adorable, it just looks like a little-train-that-could, pulling at that big balloon. Even the way it’s positioned and rotated you can read into it that it’s like the children they help, optimistically pushing forward.

The rest of the identity is nice and playful, I even like the blue to cream gradient, but the typography in the business cards and even on the website lacks the sophistication and attention to detail that the logo has. A few less type-on-a-curve and a better typeface selection would improve this plenty. Overall, a great redesign and renaming.

Stationery and business card detail.

The pop-up corporate folder became a highlight piece to be given to dream children and prospective donors. This folder will often be the first connection that the brand will have, and needed to hold the essence of the organization as well as keep the aspect of the surreal feeling of a dream. A pop-up book was the perfect vehicle for this. The pop-up also holds the various collateral that the folder will need to carry.

Behind the scenes video.

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The Little Airship That Could

Please excuse this brief identity-reviewing interruption so that we self-promote on our own blog. This has nothing to do with logos, brands, or identities but we figure that with so many readers on Brand New there is a good chance that many of you are moms or dads, aunts or uncles, or even grandpas and grandmas, so… Our latest project at UnderConsideration headquarters is The Adventures of You and I, a one-of-a-kind children book, customized on demand to each kid, printed individually, and hand-bound. Illustrated by my wife and partner Bryony and written with all the silliness of a 5-year-old by me.

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Self-Promo: The Adventures of You and I

Taipei-based Bitplay has been around for just a couple years now, but their playful lamp designs were among the obvious highlights at this year’s New York International Gift Fair.

Why shouldn’t we have fun with our everyday objects? It’s important for things to be usable and elegant. But what if there’s the possibility of a little something more—a little bit of playfulness in how we interact with our objects? That’s the idea behind bitplay. We design objects that have a sense of humor, that bring a little magic to our everyday interactions.

Founded on the idea that “little delights can trigger something big,” the “BANG!” lamp, in particular, splits the difference between clever novelty item and instant classic. It’s an LED table lamp with a remote control shaped like a handgun. Pretty straightforward and, based on our brief target practice session, fairly accurate.

(more…)

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NYIGF Winter 2012: Like Shooting Lamps in a Tradeshow