The Spirit of No.12

Source: 20six Fresh

Source: Fun For All

Win or lose a competition, you have to love the game spirit. Seattle faces San Francisco today in the NFC championship to determine the next Superbowl contender, and the fans are bat-shit crazy. I readily admit, that I'm the last football fan, but I've become quite amused with Seattle Seahawk's team spirit and embrace of the number 12, signifying a tradition of the "12th man"—the team's greatest fan. The number 12 can now be seen in every possible orientation, fontstyle, size and spacing—at the top of the Space Needle, in corn mazes, on pizzas, in the produce aisle...I even saw a homeless man sporting a 12th man flag on his backpack. Recently spotted on the gum-covered bricks of Seattle's Post Alley gum wall was the number 12 gum "collage".

Source: Chromix

Source: Darla Lorbeski on Seahawks fan page

Source: Me

Source: Idalina on KUOW FB page

Source: Tacoma News Tribune

As traditions go, Seattle cannot rightly claim the "12th man" as their own. Legend has it, they stole it from Texas A&M University where it originally began in 1922. Despite this claim—the mystery remains. In a recently unearthed 1870 photograph from the Washington State Historical Society, mountain climber's, Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump, are seen holding an official 12th man flag which they carried to the summit on the first ascent of Mt. Rainier (previously known as Mt. Tacoma). They've got game.

The R is Back

Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times

The legendary Rainier R is back and fully lit. This dramatic photo was taken last night at the installation and lighting party in celebration of the return to it's original location at the former Rainier Brewery. For nearly half a century this landmark letter was a beacon on the Seattle skyline. The original R met it's demise after the brewery was sold thirteen years ago, and it was replaced with a giant slab-serifed T for Tully's Coffee, who then owned the building. Naturally, the city reviled it. A cap T is no cap R, mind you. I hate to show favorites, as I love all 26 letters (& ampersand), but the character T is just too dang boring. Blame it on Tully's Coffee if you will, but the R's got game. Am I the only one who thinks the R should have been permanently installed atop Mt. Rainier? How stunning it would be to have a snow-capped R overlooking our region ;)

     Local Seattle sign shop, Western Neon, who rebuilt the giant red R, gave it a cook's tour around the city before the installation at the old brewery. The giant red script letter drew crowds at every stop in this neighborhood crawl. 

  

Last year Seattle ad agency, Wexley School for Girls, began a promotional campaign to restore the Rainier R, and created this wonderful little stop-motion video. You can see more photos from last night's party uploaded by R fans here. 

Restore the R from Wexley School for Girls on Vimeo.

The Alphabet of Monograms

The Alphabet of Monograms, by Henry Lillie. The only time I've ever seen this book, is in my dreams. It was first published with this ornate gold stamped cover by Day & Son of London in 1865, and has a title page which is equally exquisite. The book contained 26 numbered plates of engraved monograms, and a fold-out index table of lettering combinations with cooresponding page numbers. The word monogram originally signified several interwoven letters blended together into a pleasing design. Lillie designed this book to satisfy the work of the engraver, the embroiderer, and the carver.

::Cover design from State Library of Massachusetts Flickrstream. Interior pages via Live Auction and the Graphic Design Project.

Free Wheeling Alphabet

The Roues Libres alphabet from the inventive mind of French illustrator Nicolas André. His cycle alphabet was produced as a three color silkscreened accordion book and animation. See more of André's imaginative books including this favorite pop-up in a paper sardine can.   

Presidential Jell-o Shots

What's more American than jell-o except Presidential profiles in red and blue jell-o? Artist Henry Hargreaves recently released this infographic of Presidential portraits with red/blue indicators of their political divide. In addition to the red and blue colors of the Republicans and Democrats, the key also indicates that left-facing presidents served one term only (Obama is right-facing mind you), the smaller silver stars indicate they died in office and the jell-o splatters signal their assassination.
     If you are hosting an election night party, consider preparing one of these sort of presidential strawberry or blueberry gelatinous desserts to your guests. For a real crowd-pleaser, just add a little vodka or tequila to the mix and you've got jell-o shots for the entire crowd.
     Hargreaves may also be familiar to you as the character who created the blackletter Bacon Alphabet, and the amazing toasted icons—white bread portraits of the rich and famous. I smell a food theme here. Hmmm...jell-o shots with toasted blackletter crudites?
     Best way to learn more about Henry Hargreaves is to watch this space. A big hat tip to Cool Hunting for an earlier report on his story. Meanwhile, make your vote count today!   

Carnival Type Gone Bad

Kerning people! That C is ready to fall off the cliff. 
Spotted at the Lakefair midway in Olympia, Washington.
::Via the Letterology archives.

The F UN SLIDE.
::Via Wired Magazine online by K. Maziarz. 

The Zipper needs to zip up its kerning as well.
::Via Matt Marshall's Flickrstream.

You can fly a plane right through this Super Sizz ler signage in Bowie, MD.
::Via Bowie Living.

Is it that hard to come up with another font aside from Souvenir for the word SouvenirS? Perhaps one with true small caps even? Seen at the souvenir stand at the Lakefair Midway in Olympia, Washington. 
::Via the Letterology archives. Todays Summer rewind originally appeared on 8.3.2011. 

Quality Match Label Design

This 1950s Japanese matchbox label...or Lapel, is one of my all-time favorite finds. With the naive outline lettering, the simplistic illustration of a blue-haired woman, and slack color registration—design services might easily be called into question. However, with the word QUALITY, randomly placed and handwritten in italic caps, we can rest assured that all of our match lapel needs will be met. Spellchecking must cost extra.
:: From the Letterology Archives.

A Topographic Type Town

Fascinating. Some people look at cold metal type and see words to print on paper. New York artist Hong Seon Jang looks at metal type and sees a miniature cityscape. Labyrinth, a current exhibition of Jang's installations is on view at the David B Gallery in Denver through June 16th. Among his contemporary works on display, Type City is Jang's sprawling metalopolis seaport made of tall lead type buildings and boulevards bisecting the city into a topographic and typographic landscape. With the patience of a skilled hand typesetter, he set the tall buildings of metal type upright so they are capped with individual letters. Long lead piers stretch out to the sea, and empty city blocks and sidewalks of spacing material frame the city center. Jang enjoys manipulating ordinary materials in order to create new contexts, and I'm quite happy to momentarily suspend my beliefs and go along for a ride to Type City with him. Next stop: Baskerville... 
::A hat tip to my good friend Bonnie for bringing Hong Seon Jang's exhibit to my attention. Click on images for greater detail.

Who Killed Smith Corona?

Second year design student Ryan Anderson did some forensic undercover investigations of his own this quarter in the creation of his experimental type assignment. What he uncovered has all the makings of a crime scene whodunit-type drama with twenty-six extremely suspect characters. In true type crime noir fashion, he cast himself in the part of Weegee, the NY crime scene photographer, taking many blown-out flash photos of the mayhem that occurred. Also typecast as a forensic specialist, he carefully examined all the evidence to solve a puzzle only a type sleuth could reveal.
      Lying in a pool of parts in a friend's garage, this broke-down, Smith Corona Super Sterling typewriter (1965-2012) suffered a bitter end. Ryan's friend was quickly vindicated of the murder when he claimed he had no clue how it even landed there. It just appeared one day. Ryan admits he then tampered with the evidence by removing the typewriter and parts and re-staging the entire crime scene in front of an old Royal typewriter he owned. To solve the mystery, he tinkered with every arm, leg and lever of the typewriter until he found a key to each character of the alphabet. In the process of uncovering the case and unravelling the inked ribbon, he found fingerprints all over the case. "Holy crap! I'll never solve this mystery now!" he said to himself as he carried the remains of the Smith Corona, smeared black with fingerprints, to the trash. As it goes, he never completely solved the murder case, but he documented each suspect character of this hardboiled mystery and got a grade A for his efforts. His appropriately titled, "Dead Type" poster, as seen below, may be hanging in a post office near you soon.