In the context of Patrice Loubier’s “furtive practices” residency at Skol, I designed the door-front signage for the gallery. Skol will be hosting Artivistic’s exhibition in March (some teaser images to come soon), so I was happy to help out and get a chance to test the detail of their vinyl lettering. Yum!
ink&paper from Ben Proudfoot on Vimeo.
A beautiful mini-documentary directed by Ben Proudfoot about the last letterpress and paper shops in Los Angeles. I really appreciate how the precarious situation of these traditional crafts is highlighted, counterpointed by the interviewees obvious love for them. If you’re in Los Angeles, please support these stores!
An early Christmas present from Barcelona-based design studio Atipus! They’re offering a free download of Blanch, a beautiful modular typeface that balances 50s modernism with a unique contemporary flair. Blanch was designed for the striking visual identity of organic fruit business Fruita Blanch, which you can check out here.
Thanks guys, I’m looking forward to using Blanch in future projects. Download the Blanch font family here.
Found via David Airey.
UPDATE: Blanch has just been released by the amazing Lost Type Co-op, which features a slew of stylish pay-what-you-can typefaces.
Vision Diversité came to us looking for a visual design for their musical project Arometis that would embody the diversity of the 17 Montreal musicians and composers that collaborated on the album.
Looking to move away from the stereotypes and clichés of the world music genre, we used scans of old wood type lettering, ink splatters and a unique colour palette to reflect the vibrancy of the music, paired with restrained and nuanced supporting typography. The art direction of the CD packaging has been extended across all platforms, giving a cohesive identity to this unique project that weaves musical styles, and musicians, together.
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.
UPDATE: A great interview with Kiva up on Felt and Wire.
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).
I’m a little late posting this one, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Kaie Kellough‘s latest album, Vox: Versus, which I designed back in May. Kaie is an amazing Montreal-based poet, whose work deconstructs and reconstructs language, blending word-games with sound poetry, dub and jazz. The collected works on this latest offering present a series of collaborations with a group of talented local musicians, exploring the roots of rhythm, language and the inherent politics within them (ArtThreat interview with Kaie here).
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.
Sandbergh Wednesday Lectures poster by Anja Groten
Eurovision 3000 report spread by Anja Groten and Janneke de Rooij
It was such a pleasure to meet these brilliant ladies from the Sandbergh Institute last week in Nijmegen. Check out Anja and Janneke’s work and prepare to be amazed by Dutch design goodness!
If you’re in Amsterdam next month, their diploma show The Future’s so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades promises to be something special.
