"Bored and this is what I got"

Was sitting at home trying to find a good type related post for my blog and couldn't think of anything. In an act of desperation I finally decided to post something about famous type designers.

http://mokokoma.co.za/the-faces-behind-20-famous-typefaces/

I had this stored around for a later use and realized this is the later use.  Its interesting to look at the typefaces and the faces behind 20 of the famous typefaces used today.


Enjoy!

"A Little A.M. in the pm"

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre (24 January 1901 – 17 June 1968), is probably on of the most influenential and most copied Graphic Designers of the 20th Century. He is most famously known for his poster designs during the 20's and 30's (before entering WWII).  As a designer,Cassandre developed the following typefaces  Bifur in 1929, the sans serif Acier Noir  in 1935, and in 1937 an all-purpose font called Peignot. He also designed the Yves Saint Laurent logo.  Tragically, Cassandre suffered from despression in his later years and committed suicide.

Samples of his work:

"Animal Type"

While researching great examples of Typography I came across these advertisments for the US Preventive Medicine/ The Prevention Plan as was really impressed by what they were able to make with just the type and the words:

Very creative use of negative medical text create killer animals.

" A Phenomenal Graphic Designer- Leslie Cabarga"

way back in my second post I spoke about a book that I loved the typeface of the cover.  The book was by Leslie Cabarga and since we are discussing type editing software i thnink its a good time to feature his work. He has developed fonts for use and has written a book on using type editing software called, Learn FontLab Fast,

The book shows you have to use fontographer and Typetool as well.  Overall it is a very good book and makes a whole lot more sense after taking Typography 110.
His site, http://www.lesliecabarga.com/ , provides a great example of what a Graphic Designer can do. 

"Comic Book lettering that I love"

I release that comic book font is a no-no but I have to admit that this was my first and most memorable exposure to typography, especially decorative type.  One decorative style type used to create one of the most enduring (according to me) comic book character's logo can be found at the following: http://www.aquamanshrine.com/2009/06/aquaman-logos.html and seen below: 

Yes, I realize that it is for Aquaman and he has been lampooned in the media as being the joke of the superhero community because he "talks to fish".  to a kid who could not swim and wanted to he was the greatest!  Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow all had talents/abilities a young middle class boy could not readily aquire (the ability to fly, access to millions of dollars, a green power ring and little blue friends and a bow and arrow (parents frowned on weapons).

So, yes I am an Aquaman fan and I love his logo.....

"Some of the most controversial magazne covers of all time..."

While I was researching editorial covers for project three, I came across the link http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/09/the-most-controversial-magazine-covers-of-all-time/ and was amazed at what they thought was controversial...

The LeBron and Gisele cover is supposed to be controversial because of the underlying racial connotations related the violent black man and King Kong deal (don't quite see that but could see the whole mandingo fantasy working here though).

Clinton's cover, because its a crotch shot, taa daa!!!!!

These two I'm struggling with.  Demi's cover is very beautiful in its depiction of motherhood (I choose to say this instead of womanhood because bearing children does not denote a woman's worth she is a woman regardless of having children or not...I am now off my soapbox).  As for the KD Lang and Cindy Crawford cover, I wanted to be in KD's place (envy plan and simple).


These final two are, yeah, controversial... The Economist cover is wrong, funny as hell, but tragically wrong.  The Rolling Stone cover is controversial because it has Yoko in it.

"Editorial Cover Designs"

Project 3 deals with designing a cover (using primarily type) for a special edition of a weekly insert for a newspaper and we were charged with finding good examples of magazine covers illustrating this.  So here goes:

1)How Magazine 25th Anniversary Issue

2) Mixtapes Magazine Mixtape Awards issue

3) Grapik Magazine



4) Web Designer and Black Enterprise Magazines



5)



6) Ebony and Spin Magazine - (sorry for the use of a hyphen when an em dash was called for) These are not really good examples of type driven editorial covers but these two used Marvin Gaye and Prince. You can't really go wrong with having MR "Let's Get it on" and MR "Erotic City" on your cover...

 7)Communication Arts and New York Magazines- These are covers that did not appeal to me but I felt the need to include them.

"AN AMAZING SIGNATURE OF AN AMAZING DESIGNER"

Frederick G. Cooper (1883 - 1962), aka F.G. Cooper, was one of America's foremost illustrators in the first quarter of the twentieth century.  Designing pictorials and covers for Life magazine and numerous other periodicals of that era as well as WWI posters. He is one of the most recent illustrators to have influenced other designers to creat a typeface based on his writing style. Specifically, Oswald "Oz" Cooper's (1879-1947) Copper Black.

A Sample of FG Cooper's lettering style producted some time between 1914-1918.

A sample of Oz Cooper's Cooper black designed in 1922.  Its hard not say that one FG did not influence Oz.

Sadly, there is very little printed material about the life of FG Cooper.  A Google search of him will only produce, The Lettering and Graphic Design of F.G. Cooper  by Leslie Cabarga.

A great book filled with numerous sample of his work.

A few more pieces of FG Cooper's work.  His signature is a great example of wordmark logo.

"RECOGNIZING LOGOS V. READING LOGOS"

I just recently purchased "The Mark of Excellence -the History of Taxonomy of Trademarks" and the author, Per Mollerup stated, people recognize trademarks, but do not read them.  This shocked me until he explained some very well known trademarks and what they mean.

The first was Coca Cola:

This tradmark was designed to tell the customer of the two main ingredients in it, Coca leaves and Cola nuts.

The second was Porsche:

This trademark is made up of the coat of arms of Stuttgart, Germany where the car is made and the name Porsche superimposed over it.

The third is IKEA:

This trademark stands for the intials of it's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and his place of birth, Elmtaryd Aguunnaryd 

Amazing what can be learned when "read" a trademark as opposed to just recognizing it.

"More Wordmark Research"

After our class review of wordmark research examples submitted by members of the class and the resulting coversation that ensued about what a true wordmark is I lucked upon this web article entitled "The 10 Best Wordmark Logos of All Time". 

The following logos made the list, but in seeing some of them are they truly wordmarks?  Here at the 10 wordmark logos:

10. VISA

9. CRAFTSMAN

 8. DISNEY

7. FERRARI

6. XEROX

 5. MET LIFE

 4. CANON

 3. CITI

 2. FED EX

1. COCA COLA

The link for this article is : http://breezycreativedesign.com/2010/02/26/10-best-wordmark-logos-of-all-time/

"Wordmark Research"

Here are three corporate logos that have been significant in my life in some form or another;

"A Super WordMark"

Project 2 for class deals with wordmarks and this caused me to think about one the most recognized and possibly beloved wordmark logo today, the Superman logo.

Now most people would not think of it in this way but when you take a moment and consider it, it makes since.  We have all seen countless organizations, schools, businesses, etc. that have copied/incorporated it's design in order to draw from its world wide recognition factor for their cause because it is so well known..
Most people would argue that this is not a wordmark but given that it is made up of a letter and minimal extras (the outline borders) it would classify as one.

Originally, the S Logo was designed to look like a police badge but over the years it evolved into the design that we currently have:

The Original design circa 1939

Current design circa 2011

Overall, very few logos carry the weight and influence that this one has over the last 80 years.  Just goes to prove that a well done design is a design done well.

As an added measure the lettering for Superman's name has barely changed since it first appeared on the cover of Superman #1 in 1939.

Circa 1939-1940

Circa 1983