The Golden Rules of Typography

The Golden Alphabet; or Parent's Guide and Child's Instructor, published by Robert Taylor. This extremely rare miniature alphabet book from 1846 contains some beautifully decorated initials, followed by several pages of rhymes and moral platitudes for parenting and instruction of children. Based on these three images, I can only presume that Taylor was a far better evangelist than he was a printer or typesetter. Damn the wordspacing and to hell with letterspacing! The word kern must have been just a four-letter word to Taylor. If only he would have listened to his printer's devil and followed some of the golden rules of typography—but then this wouldn't be such an endearing little treasure for its time. 
     With 3 woodcut illustrations, 126 pages and likely the original textured flexible cloth cover, The Golden Alphabet can be found for sale, along with many other miniature books, at Bromer Books in Boston.  
::Cross-posted over at Book Patrol. 

Some Sharper Wrappers, Part 2

The designs of these old razorblade wrappers displayed at close to original size may be really sharp, but I wish their scans weren't so dang dull. Although the detail in them has been lost and pixels run amuck, I find their design and typographic charms overcome their foibles. This post is a counterpart to my first razorblade post several months ago which were from a different collection and had far greater detail. The work of all of these miniature wrappers bear the mark of some great unsung design heros, and I am grateful to all the collectors of these scarce ephemeral items for preserving and sharing them with all of us. They are very much a part of 20th Century graphic design history. These and many more can be found at Mr. Razor Blade Wrapper's collection.

Letters of Recommendation

What's better than really nice little letters, except really large marquee letters in 3D? Designer and letter laborer Luke Stockdale is working to bring type off the page and onto walls, floors and sides of large buildings where we can see them all the while. Already a formidable designer, Stockdale began Sideshow Sign Co. in Nashville after ten years of cutting his chops at Whiskey Theatre Design Co. He can even make an electrified exclamation mark look great!   

Not just letter-centric, Stockdale can produce some nicely aged numerals too. All rapid-rusted and carefully battered in all the right places. He also takes on custom work and produces some nice wall art of and tables and charts and posters. Nice work if you get it, and he does!

The Allure of Signpainting

Why is it that signpainting videos are so dang alluring? They're just like cat videos! Both of these short videos feature Derek McDonald of Golden West Sign Arts in Berkeley, CA. Really fine work! 

Plein Air Typography With a Message

York Blvd., 6x8, plein air, oil on canvas

Left: Circus Liquor, 36x18, plein air, oil on canvas. Right: Jims Burgers, 36x18

Faster Donuts, 30x24, plein air, oil on canvas

Vegas Motel, 30x24,, plein air, oil on canvas. Below: Nascar, 48x30

Alex Schaefers' paintings speak for themselves. They are social commentary. I've included them here for many reasons, but mostly for his use of cultural typography in our landscape. Much of the advertising signage he portrays are from his plein air paintings of Los Angeles where he lives. Schaefer is technically a talented artist and I love his impressionistic take on typography where he only hints at all the nuances of counters, stems, serifs and script.

Fuck the 80s, oil on canvas, 48x36

Overindulgence and Chase: Cabernet Beer Bongs, 36 x 36.

Torch Mob, part of the Burning Protest series.

Schaefers' incendiary paintings from his Burning Protest series portraying banks on fire, were intended as a visual metaphor, but they have prompted much publicity and attention. The LA Weekly reported last Fall that "he was visited not once, but twice, by the LAPD, who asked him, if he 'hates' banks and plans to act out his masterwork." He told the officers that a terrorist would certainly not spend hours on a public sidewalk painting his intended target.
     Controversy has its benefits, as Schaefers' protest paintings of the too-big-to-fail-banks have been much in demand. After the LA Times ran a feature describing the inflammatory Chase: Van Nuys painting below, interest in his work soared. He felt the Van Nuys painting was just "too hot" and decided to float it on the open market: on eBay. He set the auction starting bid at the cost of just a half ounce of the current price of gold, which was $920. In the final 20 minutes of the auction the price doubled, and after a total of 70 bids, it sold for $25,200. Ironically, the only people who could afford to buy his work are the other 1%.
     Alex Schaefer is a former graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His Burning Protest work is currently on exhibit through July 28th at the Hive Gallery in Los Angeles. Thanks to the Very Short List for bringing his artwork to my attention. ;)  

Chase: Van Nuys, 22x28, plein air, oil on canvas

Chase: Pasadena, 24x18, plein air, oil on canvas

B of A: Eagle Rock, 8 x 6, plein air, oil on canvas

Chase: Ohio, 18x24, oil on canvas

Chase: Venice, 28x22, plein air, oil on canvas

LA Skyline, 24x30, plein air, oil on canvas

8-bit Mona Lisa, 2.0, 36x24, oil on canvas. Part of Schaefer's Master Copies series. It makes me smile :)

Aeroflot in the 1960s

This handsome set of five Aeroflot Airlines tourist brochures are great examples of 1960s modern design and typography. Based on the illustrations, and colorful design, they suggest to me they were very likely designed by the same person. Some are written in Russian and English and aimed at the American traveler. Others mark the arrival of modern jet aircraft to the Soviet airline's fleet. During the 1960s, which coincided with the space race, Aeroflot set out to expand their fleet and greatly increase service. In the span of one decade they covered more than 3500 destinations within the Soviet Union. Surely this beautiful marketing campaign promoting modernized aircraft and the romance of airline travel, must have contributed to their expansion in the 1960s. I call it the decade of the white space race. ;)

Front covers of this entire set of Aeroflot Airlines brochures. Below is an Aeroflot Aerogram used for issuing complaints and offering suggestions to the Soviet airline. Many of these items are currently for sale from this dealer.

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.