Type as decoration

Typographic walls at 1 Oak, NYC. Image courtesy of Wallpaper magazine

I haven’t visited the cooler-than-thou new establishment 1 Oak that opened in Chelsea, Manhattan, last January) but if I were to make it past the hip screening at the door, I think I’d head straight over to leather booths and check out the rather cool, golden type wall treatments. Designed by Roy Nachum (who designed Justin Timberlake’s restaurant Southern Hospitality) one can’t help but see possible inspiration (if you’re a graphic designer anyway) in the amazing, but ‘almost’ forgotten 1966 “Gastrotypographicalassemblage” by American design legend Lou Dorfsman, with (the other legend) Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase.

The 35 foot typographic relief, and details. Image courtesy of the AIGA

The “Gastrotypographicalassemblage”, a 35 foot long, 3D relief of words related to food, ingredients and recipies, which adorned the walls of the CBS Building cafeteria since 1966, was torn down, tossed aside, and almost lost forever in the early 90s. If it weren’t for the efforts of designer Nick Fasciano, and ID magazine writer Eve Kahn, it would have been gone for good.

Thankfully its 9 panels were recovered are now going through a careful restoration. There is an article about the restoration on the AIGA website American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and for a passionate overview of the roots of the “Gastrotypographicalassemblage”, some great additional images, and an explanation of how this American design artifact was only barely saved from the dump, please read “The Wall that Lou Dorfsman Built” by Jim Schachterle.

Dorfsman with his completed Gastrotypographicalassemblage and an early sketch.

Interestingly, many of the comments that follow the article seem to unanimously agree that this design icon was torn down in the 90’s because it was dated and no longer something that citizens of the 2000s could appreciate. I have to laugh, considering that inside 1 Oak, the new it-spot in NYC, amid its cutting edge design, behind the oblivious, hipper-than-thou crowd, sipping $18 martinis, stands a wall treatment that is, without a doubt, the design grandchild of the Gastrotypographicalassemblage, born for today’s sensibilities perhaps, but arguably in a more superficial, less imaginative and witty way. Well, long live 3D type as wall decoration!

3D letters in my office, salvaged from an old shop sign.

Kyle Cooper and Prologue Films

I recently attended a lecture by American film title designer Kyle Coooper here in London, and though it was a bit freeform and wandering (I would have preferred to have him talk more specifically about the how and why of some actual sequences) how could I not have thoroughly enjoyed myself ? Kyle, almost single handedly, brought film title design back into existence with his spooky sequence for Seven back in 1995 (which still stands up beautifully).

Prologue Films (his second title design company – following his parting with his first Imaginary Forces) is at the top of its game and is a sought after partner by mega Hollywood producers and directors, realizing that a well tuned title sequence can cast a spell over the audience before word one of dialogue is heard.

I enjoyed his subtle reinforcement that, though Prologue produces some of the most lush and imaginative computer generated title sequences out there (see the rocking “grunge tech” titles for Iron Man below, created by the talented Danny Yount of Prologue Films) he is a big proponent of hand made, and still favours getting dirty (and resourceful) to get an effect, rather than labouring over keyframed post effects. I continue to watch Prologue with expectations of surprise and delight after surprise and delight.

Here are a few of my favourites.

If you’d like to see some of my own motion graphics work, including some film and television titles, please have a look at my two 2008 reels below.

ABC 3D

I had to offer some praise for this amazing, new ABC book – if you review some of the recent posts here at Graphic Definer, you’ll see it fits right in!

French author Marion Bataille, who is a illustrator and designer, has created this inventive, pop up book that is entirely typographic and though I haven’t held one in my own hands yet, the video below will give you a very good tour of how it works. Really wonderful!

Rude

I’ve been a fan of Rude (Rupert Meats’) stuff for a long while, having first encountered it was when I bought my girlfriend a Rude skirt from a Toronto fashion boutique, years ago. It showed a sign on top of a building, reading “Rude” of course. She still wears it!

Then, having moved to London, England, 3 years ago, we accidentally stumbled across his North East London studio at The Chocolate Factory open studio last year – I bought his “An Exciting Life” print (above).

I think Rupert was actually way ahead of the current mega trend of “doodles” in illustration/lettering that has taken over at the moment. He’s been developing his look for years, but naturally, he’s been part of this wave as well, with his stuff appearing everywhere, including in this cool Nokia ad, that almost feels entirely inspired by his stuff.

Within his work hand-lettered typography is as important as any other visual within a composition, and in many cases, more important. He crafts elaborately dimensional, cross-hatched, and charmingly rough hewn lettering that harkens back to the dimensional type of noir film title cards (see Noir post) or sometimes the colourful, cut paper shapes of Matisse’s late collages.

But they evoke a wonderful enthusiasm and joyousness that takes me back to my childhood, reminding me of the late 1970s and Sesame Street’s cool animated segments teaching us the “letter of the day” or the great kids show “Electric Company” (where Morgan Freeman got his start).

Rupert could better explain his inspirations I’m sure. Maybe I’ll do an interview with him next time!

Noir Film Title Cards

 

 

Between the late 1930s and mid 1950’s the era of Film Noir produced not only some of the most gritty, contrasty cinematography ever shot (someone referred to them as starring “blackness as a character”) but also introduced a new breed of hand-painted, 3D typography for these film’s titles (3D in the old sense of the word “with dimension”).

The largely uncredited, studio staff artists who created these typographic compositions were true graphic design renaissance men, who not only painted the scenic backgrounds, created portraits of the stars, but in their own anonymous way, gave birth to a new, pictorial typographic style forever associated with noir. Interestingly, the “lighting” on these typographic forms is consistent with the stark lighting within the films themselves (high key and contrasty).

This stuff is a personal favourite of mine, and for an incredibly comprehensive taste of some of these movie title cards (still paintings that the movie camera would film) you must spend some time on Stephen Hill’s Movie Title Screens. Noir is only the tip of the iceberg. Steven has dedicated years to collecting title screens from almost every genre of film going back to the silent era, right up to today. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for recently opening up his collection on the internet. Thank you Steven!

Here are a few noir titles with some great hand-painted, air-brush rich, 3D titles.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Ware, Illustrator as Typographer

 

 

I’ve been a big fan of Chris Ware’s work for many years, and now that I’ve started this typography blog, it is high-time that I acknowledged Chris as not only one of the most interesting comic illustrator/writers around today, but also as one of a very rare breed contemporary artists/designers, working just as the old-school lettering artists did (with pens and rulers and t-squares) to produce rich, complex typographic compositions that are as pictorial as the illustrations they support.

If you haven’t ever had the unique pleasure of sitting down with a Chris Ware Acme Novelty Company book, you must do it very soon. You won’t be disappointed.

Here is a small sampling of Chris’s lettering and a beautiful title design he did for Jessica Yu’s amazing documentary In the Realms of the Unreal.

 

 

 

 

Type as art

Back in 2007 I stumbled across this art installation in Paris. I walked into an enormous blackened space and after my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I became aware that all around me, on all 4 walls and the floor as well, were creeping, crawling, wandering projected words. At certain moments, I too became a surface for the projected words, as did the others around me. Then I realized that not only were they moving, but changing, as if trying to tell a story but the wind was blowing the words all around.

I don’t recall the intended theme of this installation, and didn’t even make a note of the artist (whoops) but needless to say, I was impressed enough with the immersive execution. We all wandered around in awe. It was a little like actually walking around inside the Matrix code titles.

Thank You for Smoking, Film Titles

This title design sequence for “Thank you for Smoking” has been a favourite of mine for a while. There have been a few imitations that have emerged recently, but none have managed to top it. The titles were created by Shadowplay Studio.

From a design perspective, it functions within a simple idea that I have been interested in for many years, and have applied to both my motion graphics and my book design – that of typography as an “artifact” within a photograph or image, rather being applied on top of a visual as a secondary exercise.

The resulting integration of picture and typography, could therefore, not be any tighter because they co-exist within the same visual entity – in this case, cigarette packages. Even though logos and warning statements have been replaced with actor names and crew titles, the craftsmanship is impeccable, and entirely believable.

That and the great, rotating, zipping, zooming movements, the little surprises that keep you smiling, and all that lovely type, just make this sequence work! Nicely done. You can view the full title sequence in motion below.

Hand-Lettering is alive at Carter’s Steam Fair

One of the many hand-lettered signs throughout the fair

Back in the late summer, I visited the amazing, the wonderful, the one-of-a-kind “Carters Steam Fair” that tours England in the summer time, with the distinct feeling that it has being doing this very thing since the 1880’s!

Walking around Carters is like a trip back in time – it is a true fair, complete with rides, games and tasty treats, but it is also a feast of vintage, late Victorian and early 20th century hand-lettering. Though it’s hard to say how much of the lettering is completely original and how much of it has been lovingly recreated, the craftsmanship is equally impressive and authentic either way.

The highlight (for a designer) is the fantastic Penny Arcade, with dozens and dozens of fully functioning and playable early 20th century penny arcade machines. No electronics here, just springs, dials, levers and hand-painted, hand-lettered game faces, that are without a doubt the true pre-cursors to modern pinball and arcade game cabinet design.

Below are a few shots from the Carters Steam Fair Penny Arcade, but be sure to visit my Flickr page for loads more. A feast for the eyes!

Fabric typographic sign at the coconut game.

One of the amazing penny arcade games at Carters Steam Fair

One of the amazing penny arcade games at Carters Steam Fair

One of the amazing penny arcade games at Carters Steam Fair

One of the amazing penny arcade games at Carters Steam Fair

One of the amazing penny arcade games at Carters Steam Fair

Vintage hand-lettering has always been a big inspiration for me, and now and then I get an opportunity to apply this inspiration, like with the book cover I designed for The Final Confession of Mabel Stark written by Robert Hough and published by Random House Canada. Evidently this book is being made in to a movie called the Marvellous Mabel Stark starring Kate Winslet.

A book cover I designed a few years back for Random House. The cover image was painted by the talented Stephen Chien.

You can see more of my book design here.