AisleOne. A visual journal on design, photography, film, music and culture.
Conundrums is a striking new book, designed by Harry Pearce of Pentagram, that presents a collection of typographic puzzles constrained by three simple rules: one box, two colours, a single typeface. The typeface used is AG Old Face designed by Guenter Gerhard Lange in 1984 for the H. Berthold AG type foundry.
Beautiful. You can grab a copy for only $10 at Amazon.
Today I received an email with the following image attached from an AisleOne reader named Rob, who’s a designer and instructor. According to Rob, the image of the poster was found by one of his students who was doing research for a report. No info can be found about it, other than it being created by the great Armin Hofmann.
I did a little research myself and couldn’t find any info about this poster, but I did find info on the model shown. It’s an Audi 60 which was produced from 1968 to 1972, giving us a slight idea as to when the poster was created.
What strikes me the most about this poster is the simplicity, elegance and beauty of the visual. The white background, large type and straight-on angle of the car create a stunning image. Rob explained it well in the email:
I love the way the AUDI logo is reflected in the roof of the car and visible through the back window, which would have been a lot more difficult to achieve in the pre-Photoshop era.
I agree.
As for the typeface used, it’s hard to tell but it seems like it could be either Akzidenz Grotesk or Univers. Anyone?
I wish there was more info on this poster and I wonder if there was a series of them done by Hofmann. If anyone has any info, please email me. In the meantime, we can all admire its beauty.
A few myths and misconceptions about grids exist in the design community that can be detrimental, especially to designers who are new to the subject. I recently read an article, which is no longer online, claiming that grids have disadvantages and it listed the reasons why. As you can guess, I very much disagreed with the entire article and felt that it was providing a lot of bad information on grid systems. All of the listed “disadvantages” were distortions derived from the lack of understanding on how a grid works and functions.
In response to that article, here’s my attempt at clearing up this mess.
Continue reading “Myths & Misconceptions About Grid Systems”
Excellent collection of work by Budapest based creative director, David Barath.
A bunch of illustrators and designers occupying The Pencil Factory in Brooklyn have put together 15 Uses for Newsprint, a promotional newsprint poster zine featuring their own work.
My good friend Alex Eben Meyer is one of the included illustrators and his piece (pictured here) is by far my favorite of them all. Not to say the others stink, there’s a bunch of great pieces included.
The zine includes pieces by Kim Bost, Josh Cochran, Jennifer Daniel, Gilbert Ford, Jessica Hische, Grady McFerrin, Ted McGrath, Alex Eben Meyer, Chris Silas Neal, Zacharia O’Hora, Leif Parsons, Rachel Salomon, Joel Speasmaker, Jillian Tamaki, or Sam Weber.
You can order 15 Uses for Newsprint for $10 and the first 100 orders get an original drawing by one of the artists.
You can peak at some more photos over at The Pencil Factory Flickr page.
Love this poster for an event called Arthur Erickson & Japan that focuses on modernist architect Arthur Erickson’s journey to Japan in 1961. Not sure who designed it but the big bold type, white text on black, two-column grid and the uneven horizontal strips of color make for a beautiful design.