Setting Up A Baseline Grid
July 23rd, 2008Category: Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 0
Check out this excellent write up on Typophile on how to setup a flexible baseline grid in Adobe InDesign. The author has set up the grid so that every baseline is 12pts apart. This is a good setting that gives you a few leading options to choose from, but someone commented below the article that they’ve setup a 3pt system, which in my opinion works very nicely. Having a baseline every 3 pts gives you great flexibility with leading allowing you to create typography that is more dynamic.
Have a read and also join in on the discussion. I’ve commented under the name YOTS.
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Int’l Male Posters
July 7th, 2008Category: Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 18
A nice collection of gig posters that were recently added to my International Typographic Style flickr group. Design by Pinch, the layout system allows a poster to be created in less than 30 minutes. I wonder if a grid system was used to create the layout.
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This Stuff Just Keeps Getting Better
July 1st, 2008Category: Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 1
One of my favorite studios Experimenta has just updated their site with work that just blows me away. It’s so unbelievably good.
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Branding A Baptism
June 16th, 2008I designed this invitation, RSVP card and table card for my sons baptism. The overall color theme of the party is black & white so I wanted to keep this consistent throughout. I also wanted to use a single typeface for everything, in this case I went with Lubalin Graph. It’s used on ever piece: invitation, RSVP card, envelope, RSVP envelope and even extends to the number cards that will be on each table, which will be mounted in simple black frames.
The invite and RSVP card were letterpress by Coeur Noir in Brooklyn, NY, who did an amazing job. These are the same guys that printed up some stuff for the Helvetica Film, including this gorgeous poster by Norm. For the stock I went with white Rising Museum Board. I wanted a really heavy stock and this ended up being perfect. The board even has a nice texture to it.
For the envelopes I went to Kate’s Paperie and found some gorgeous high quality envelopes that are lined and have a nice diagonal line texture. They also printed my address on the back of the main envelope and on the front of the RSVP envelope. They didn’t have the Lubalin Graph font in house so I had to lay it out myself and send over the files. They came out perfect.
The entire set looks amazing and I’m really happy with how it all came out. If anyone would like a set let me know and I’ll send it out if I have any left over.
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Rome Was Not Built In A Suit Wallpaper
May 20th, 2008I cranked out this wallpaper last night based on a phrase written by my co-worker. Avant Garde, a grid system, pink, green and black. What else do you need?
Head over to the Wallpapers page to download.
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What Is Graphic Design?
February 7th, 2008This is my entry for the What is Graphic Design Poster Competition. My idea behind this poster is that graphic design is whatever we want it to be. Designers are responsible for defining what is graphic design with our use of color, typography, layout, and when necessary, a visual element. My design conveys this idea through a simple layout that consists of a header, image placement and copy. The image area is blank and the copy is all Lorem Ipsum, a sort of metaphor, meaning that anything can be placed there. It’s all up to the designer. That, to me, is graphic design.
What is graphic design to you? Submit an idea for a chance to win a nice prize.
I also put up a version with the grid on.
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Ivan Mato
January 29th, 2008Outstanding work by designer Ivan Mato. Every aspect of his portfolio is visual perfection.
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The Pelican Project
January 25th, 2008Excellent gallery of Pelican books ranging from the 1930’s to the 1980’s and organized by year. The covers designed in the 60’s and 70’s are my favorites.
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Judge A Book
January 10th, 2008Check out Judge A Book, a great blog featuring vintage Pelican Books with beautiful covers.
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AisleOne BookShelf 3rd Edition
January 7th, 2008The third edition of AisleOne BookShelf features Emigre Issue 57 — Lost Formats Preservation Society designed and edited by Experimental Jetset. This issue focuses on the lost formats of storage data. There are some essays but it’s mostly full of visual goodness. Pages and pages of big, bold type in beautiful Helvetica designed in EJ’s typographic style.
Emigre 57 — Lost Formats Preservation Society
Designed and edited by Amsterdam’s Experimental Jetset, Emigre 57 is an homage to lost formats — a celebration of customized mixtapes, obscure computer discs, and forgotten standards. The issue, while questioning its own physical manifestation as a magazine, reminds us how once each format used to contain its own specific data, while today the CD/DVD format is capable of containing ALL data, setting the stage for the final step, the mythical non-format.
You can view more photos of the books on the AisleOne Flickr page.
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I Love Typography Wallpaper
December 22nd, 2007Here’s an early holiday present for all readers out there. I initially made this for the superb type blog, I Love Typography, but I ended up making a different one for them. I still love how this came out so I wanted to share it with everyone. It’s sort of a homage to typography, with meanings of some familiar type terms at the bottom, and I initially used the grid as a design tool but then decided to make it part of the design itself. It’s only available in 1920x1200 because if I resize it, the grid gets funky. Head over to the Wallpaper section to download this dope ass wallpaper.
Hope you guys enjoy it. Happy holidays.
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AisleOne BookShelf 2nd Edition
December 19th, 2007For this second edition of AisleOne BookShelf I have some real goodies. The hard to find IDEA Number 323 which is entirely dedicated to Wim Crouwel, the new Peter Seitz: Designing a Life book and The ABCs of Bauhaus. I was actually blown away by the content of the IDEA issue. There is a ton of stuff in there, a lot of which I’ve never seen. It also includes Crouwel’s New Alphabet in full detail. This one is definitely a keeper. I recommended going over to You Work For Them and picking one up before they are all gone. The Seitz book is full of design goodness as well and the Bauhaus book is definitely a reader. I have to sit down and soak that one in.
On a side note, I still haven’t be able to figure out how to take good pictures of these books. The biggest problem I’m having is keeping them open without damaging them and without getting my dumb hand in the picture. If anyone can give me some advice on how to do this well that would be great. There has to be a way cause I see it done well all the time.
IDEA Number 323: Wim Crouwel
Special Feature: Wim Crouewel’s adventures into the experimental worlds. This issue of Idea specially devoted its 190 pages to Wim Crouwel’s representative design works, including posters, book designs, logotypes, stamps, typefaces and others. His legendary New Alphabet is also introduced with full details. Two historical essay’s by Crouwel and comments from imporatant design figures are also featured.
Peter Seitz: Designing a Life
Peter Seitz: Designing of a Life is the first in-depth documentation of Seitz’s unique story and influential work. Containing new historical research and never-before-published images, the book includes essays by Andrew Blauvelt, Kolean Pitner, and Bruce N. Wright that survey the compass of his prolific and influential life.
The ABCs of Bauhaus
The ABC’s of Bauhaus traces the origins and impact of the Bauhaus in relation to design, graphic design, and typography. The book, designed by the authors, invokes the Bauhaus ideal of synthesizing editorial concept, typography, and format. The essays address such issues as modernist design theory in relation to the nineteenth-century kindergarden movement and Bauhaus graphic design in relation to the idea of a universal “language” of vision. Additional essays address psychoanalysis, fractal geometry, and Weimar culture. This book includes two essays by Mike Mills.
That’s it for this edition. You can view more photos of the books on the AisleOne Flickr page.