The last few months here in Quebec have been tumultuous ones, with a massive student movement taking to the streets on a near daily basis to oppose tuition increases, and in doing so, giving birth to a ” Printemps érable” that is drawing the links between broader social justice struggles and a firm rejection of the logic of austerity economics.

These are inspiring and challenging times, and as the unrest causes the social and political landscape to change, so too has the visual landscape of the city. Montreal is seeing red, the colour of the student movement, with giant banners hung from balconies, red squares popping up on all surfaces, telephone poles wrapped in red cozies, and countless other creative interventions visualising solidarity with the students.

(more…)

My good friend Constantin Demner over at Studio Elastik, has just released a series of three hand-lettered typefaces for free download (LSTK Bembo, GaraPen Tiny, and Clarendon). Coco and I did our MA together at LCP way back in 2004, and these fonts were drawn during that time. It’s great to see them re-emerge online.

I’ve used his version of Clarendon extensively for the Howl poster series, and look forward to playing around with the other fonts soon.

Be sure to check out all his great work!

The last time I did this, people seemed to really enjoy it. So, for your viewing and browsing pleasure, I present a carefully curated series of images and inspirations to mark the end of the shortest-longest month.

Images link to the original sources.

(more…)

There’s a new website up for Popolo Press, run by Kiva Tanya Stimac, who is responsible for so many of Montreal’s beautiful letterpress show posters over the years. Firmly rooted in the ideology and philosophy behind Montreal’s independent scene, Popolo Press’ work is meticulously crafted, locally-bound and offered to the public with a lot of love. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to work with them in the future.

Check it out!

UPDATE: A great interview with Kiva up on Felt and Wire.

I spotted some really nice gig posters showing up post Pop Montreal on Fairmount the other day, and thought I would share. Enjoy! And yes, they’re snapped on my retro-android camera for nostalgic pleasure. Let me know if you want to see more!

(more…)

Mrs. Eaves, the first typeface I fell in love with…

It’s hard to overstate the impact Emigre magazine had on my graphic design training. Beyond being the purveyors of a distinct typographic style that embodied the age I grew into design, the magazine hosted the critical discussion of design as a deeply rhetorical practice that was unavailable anywhere else, and sadly, has been clearly lacking since its demise in 2005 (well worth the read!).

Emigre recently announced that their collection of beautiful type specimen catalogues are now available online as downloadable pdfs. Taken together, they form a great overview of the foundry’s history, and more generally of a distinct period of graphic design exploration (not that their typefaces have lost their relevancy today).

Collect them all!

So glad I found the time to chill out and listen to this today. And so glad I was there to see it live…

via We Are Postrock.

We went through hundreds of zines today from the Expozine archives in preparation for the next issue of Four Minutes to Midnight (details coming soon). Amongst many things, I was struck by the beautiful illustrations of Shawn Kuruneru and wanted to give him a little shout out.

I’m currently computerless in London right now (my apologies for the lack of images and brevity of this post), but I thought it would be worthwhile to share the news of the BA & FDA Roundabout show at my Alma mater, the London College of Communication. I was at the private view last night, and it was truly overwhelming (as is London in general, I’m finding) with the sheer scale, diversity and spectacle of the event. Not to mention the incredible talent involved!

If you’re in London over the next week, be sure to check it out. I was particularly impressed by the Design for Graphic Communication cohort and the work from the Graphic and Media Design Typo/Graphics course.