WHEN I WAS TEACHING CREATIVE THINKING and trying to give my students some incentive, I would often raise the question “What would a good student do? Right here. Right now.” to try to multiply a simple opportunity into a small miracle.
Read moreDoves Press type : metal & digital
Possessing a copy of Genesis 1:1 from the Dove's Bible adds an element of obsession on our part to the Doves type that was used to print it.
Read moreBlue Wave broadside collaboration
We've come up with a different idea for one of our afternoon diversion projects, though it apparently cannot be done in a day. If you're interested, you must to be a committed Democrat or a liberal-leaning Independent.
Read morePaul Renner's spacing for Futura
It occurred to us that it might be interesting to buy Die Kunst Der Typographie and see how Paul Renner would use his own typeface, Futura. I did buy it. You can see that the letterspacing is wide letterspacing is incredibly wide by today's standards.
Read moreWhat makes Lead Graffiti so hot?
At Lead Graffiti we are extremely fortunate to have invested in the purchase of an Intertype C4 linecaster. It adds significantly to the historical value of our collection as well allowing us to offer a first-hand experience with "hot metal" type for participants in some of our workshops.
Read moreLaboratory Press : metal type composition the old-fashioned way
DO YOU TEACH TYPOGRAPHY? Here is a project you should give twice. The first time during the first week of the semester. The second time during the last week.
Read moreJohn Bolton : The WH / Lead Graffiti connection
Ralph Begleiter was the director of a University of Delaware speaker series entitled "Global Agenda" that invited speakers to talk about a political theme. In 2005 it was called "Rx for the President." The final speaker that year was John Bolton. We don't remember the reason, but Bolton canceled. We suspect the controversy around his hiring was probably an element.
Read moreEverything the same, but different
We hated working for a client who came armed with a logo and an accompanying design manual dictating specific color options for both the logo and the corresponding background, how close images could occur to the logo, etc.
Read moreDreaming Stephen Hawking
How Ink Writes Poetry. Click the image to get the whole story first and then come back to this blog entry.
Ray has long been mesmerized by the idea of there being a Stephen Hawking, much less that there was a real Stephen Hawking. Many other things that just wander out of the darkness of his shelves of experiences and Stephen Hawking is one of them.
Read moreYear-End Show posters from Visual Communications
I stumble across printed samples and photos of some work that was part of my life back in my Visual Communications days. One of the perks that came from being a designer working for clients and doing a lot of printing work (and I tended to work with only 1 or 2 printers) was that I could leverage those printers into printing VC stuff for free.
Year-End Show poster / 1979
If there was a creative moment that I personally started to think that the design program could have national recognition it was with this piece. It was the copy more than the design of the piece. The text which I wrote on the bus coming back from a New York field trip. This is where the idea of the review process to get into the program originated. The text reads...
In the beginning there are 60 sophomores.
They come as designers, illustrators
typographers and design consultants.
It was more difficult than they imagined.
These sophomores are still with us.
The 60 become 30.
Those that leave, leave for a number
of reasons: the work, the field,
the pressure, just to do something else.
Those that stay, stay for the same reasons.
These juniors are still with us.
The 30 become 15.
The reasons are still the same
but the reward becomes greater.
The excitement of the field becomes
a part of their work.
Finally they become the designers, illustrators,
typographers and design consultants they
thought they started as.
These are the seniors that have stayed.