Sunday Type: napkin type

Jul 212008type a response!

The Bestest Type

Welcome to another Sunday Type. Thanks to all those who sent in samples of their handwriting. I’ll gather them together and post them some time. If you haven’t sent in your handwriting sample, then you can still do so.

I’m sure most of you have at some time or another, with time to kill, scrawled or doodled something on a napkin. I certainly wouldn’t post mine here; in fact they’re not even worthy of a photograph. However, these are something you might like to aspire to:

And if the above doesn’t make you envious enough, then how about this one:

From the SHCH Graphics Group. Does anyone know anything else about this designer(s)? I think I’ll be buying more coffee to practice. And, I think I can feel a best lettering on a napkin competition coming on.

Vernacular Typography is a wonderful set of Polaroids from Douglas Wilson:

Via jnack.

Bryan Collins’ Journal of Urban Typography:

I regularly take a look at the magnificent Superest, but never thought to mention the incredible lettering until Aegir at Ministry of Type did so.

Superest is headed by the insanely talentd Kevin Cornell (the guy behind Bearskinrug and illustrator for A List Apart, among others), and Matt Sutter of Inkfinger (I mentioned his Typtopus t-shirt here recently).

The bestest super-heroes you’re ever likely to lay eyes on. Matt also has a new t-shirt; a Stag (don’t ask me why) made solely of type:

Freebies

Oftentimes, those freebie photos that the stock photo people give away are quite frankly rubbish. This one from iStock is an exception:

I think you need an account to download it (it’s free), and you can download numerous versions up to 4288 × 2848 px. Thanks to Sye for letting me know about this one.

Some free ornaments from Briar Press that you can use for letterpress or whatever you want. Almost 600 free ones, in addition to tons of others for sale:

And a fun and lovely free font:

Also used to set today’s masthead. I love it. Just remember to use it big! Not such a big fan of the name—something a little more memorable than AIx Darbotzcumi might help.

From free to recylcled: these recycled or re-appropriated metal letters available through Urban Outfitters are great. I think I might have a go at making some myself, though these aren’t expensive:

Thanks, Megan at How.

The work of the very talented Alison Carmichael:

Be sure to check out her web site. Via Design for Mankind.

Stern Pro from P22 is available as a digital font and as metal type. The metal type at just $80 is a steal. It’s on my shopping list:

And a trailer for the new Making of Stern DVD here:

A very nice WordPress theme designed by the inimiatble Elliot Jay Stocks.

Named the Proud Portfolio theme—with good reason too.

Some beautiful letterpress cards from Dolce Press:

Be sure to see the Dolce Press web site too.

They sometimes have some presses and metal type for sale. This Kelsey Excelsior is up for grabs:

Something tells me it might cost rather a lot to ship to Japan.

You may have already seen this video, but it’s new to me, so here it is:

Thanks to Henrique.

This kind of experiment from Paula Torós is a great way to learn how to match type:

And besides it’s always fun to experiemnt with layout and with mixing and matching type.

A gorgeous card designed by Holly Gressley of Rumors design collective, for Barmoeter:

Love that “A”.

Via Design Sponge.

A great little tool for making tiled backgrounds. Some great patterns that would make brilliant desktop wallpapers, or even backdrops for other type treatments. Let me know if you use them.

ilt-bg-patterns

Via JosWeb.

Some nice identity work by Till Wiedeck:

And some nice lettering by the same designer:

Sunday links

AltFontPrev—JavaScript bookmarklet lets you preview any site with the alternative fonts declared in its CSS , or one of your choosing.

Stop the proposed move into storage of the Type Archive.—thanks Elliot.

Vacation & Letterpress—Design Intellection

Free Fonts from LettError

An “a” of nails—for the love of type

This Cartoon Wrote a Swear Word….—(warning: strong language). Thanks, Manuel.

What the $%&’#—H&FJ on grawlix.

Type Tips

type tips boldface and punctuation

When boldface is used to emphasize words, it is usually best to leave the punctuation in the background…. It is the words, not the punctuation, that merit emphasis….—Robert Bringhurst

New Type

Though I don’t quite share Dan Reynold’s enthusiasm for the swash caps (swash caps in a sans! Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned), Verena Gerlach’s FF Chambers Sans is stunning:

Now that’s a sans with real character. Perhaps those swash caps will grow on me. You can test it and buy it from FontFont.

Coming up next is that contributed piece on Letterpress. Apologies that I didn’t post last week as intended. My mixup. Have a great week!

Be sure to share the love:

55 Comments, comment / trackback

Pedro Leal

Nice post once again!

Hum… a napkin design competition would be nice for the anniversary of ILT, or perhaps some other kind of design competitions. I would be glad to see the results that would come up.

Thanks for the great links once again!

P.S.: I never got to send you my handwriting (my scanner is not working ) i’ll send you a photo of it during this week.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
L.E.

Read the Bible lately? Then get to it. Start with the Gospel of John.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Alexey Ezhikov

SHCH Graphics Group is a Ukrainian design team. You may also check their blog at http://shch.livejournal.com/. It’s written in Russian, though.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

Pedro
Good to see you again. Yes, a competition for iLT’s birthday is a good idea. Look forward to seeing your handwriting specimen.

L.E.
I’ve warned you before. This is a typography blog. It is not a blog for theological discussion and exegesis; neither is it the place for preaching. Stop haranguing me about reading the Bible. I have read it numerous times. That’s four strikes—henceforth, I’m marking your comments as spam. I did give you ample warning.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.—Ecclesiastes 3:1

Πάντα οὖν ὅσα ἂν θέλητε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς· οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται—Matthew 7:12. From Stephanus Textus Receptus (1550).

Pedro
Good to see you again. Yes, a competition for iLT’s birthday is a good idea. Look forward to seeing your handwriting specimen.

Alexy
Thanks very much for the link. I guess I’ll be using Google translate :)

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
MP

Thanks Johno,

Lovely Sunday post as usual, it’s a good way to start off the work week. I absolutely love that background pattern site, I wonder if they’d be cool with me submitting some vector objects. I also saw those recycled letters at Urban Outfitters last week, pretty neat. -MP

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

MP
I’m sure they’d be happy to receive more good vector illustrations that could be used for patterns. Were you tempted to buy any of those recycled letters?

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
MP

Unfortunately they didn’t have the “M” and “P” that I wanted to pick up, I guess they ran out :( I plan on stopping by there this weekend to see how often they get them in. -MP

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

MP
I wonder why “M” and “P” ;) Wonder if they have “I”, “L” and “T”. I’m off to check.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Niki Brown

love the type tshirts!

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

Niki
That’s one of the great things about reading these comments; I get to discover so many new blogs—like yours. Love those Excel drawings you posted about.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
eben

uh..what’t the font font used in the Emphasis Type tip? So pretty.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Sara

El video está fantástico!
Loved it.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Sye

hi johno, i’m glad the iStock link was useful… as soon as i saw it i thought of iLT!

i always love reading this blog, it often distracts me from my work! but in a good way of course.

thanks again for a great post! cheers

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

eben
Yes, it’s beautiful. It’s Newzald (Book and Black weights in the illustration) from Kris Sowersby. I love this type. Worth every cent. If you buy it and don’t like it, I’ll give you your money back.

Sara
Gracias. That’s the only Spanish I have :)

Sye
Thanks for thinking of iLT. Great find. And good luck with Chomel. You’ve made a great start.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Robert

Good stuff yet again. Those napkins are something else! I really liked Till Wiedeck’s work, especially a few of the typefaces he designed. Thanks for all the feebie links very good stuff. :)

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
adrian

you should just call this site sundaytype.com

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
olivier

Thank you for these treasures you give us every week ^___^

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Katy

Hey John.. have to say the napkin type is beautiful!!

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
MattiaC

Stern Pro from P22… well I want it too… but… how is the right way to use it? I don’t know where to find mechanics and press… wel…

let me see…
,
matt

your blog is unique : )

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Justin

Those napkins are something…every one I’ve tried doodling on (regardless of the type of pen or marker) has bled horribly and made an illegible (or barely legible) mess.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
LorraineDesign

Nice to see Doug’s Polaroids making the blog rounds: I went to school with him. If you like his flickr set, you might check out his site at: http://www.onpaperwings.com/

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

Robert
Thanks. I like the look of HM Walnut, but as far as I’m aware, he hasn’t published any fonts yet. Have just mailed him to check.

adrian
I guess I should buy that domain now ;)

olivier
My pleasure. It’s wonderful that there are so many talented people out there to draw inspiration from.

Katy
Yes it is. I’m going to try some more myself. Best of luck with collectivehaus.

MattiaC
The next post on getting started with Letterpress might point you in the right direction. Thanks for your kind words.

Justin
I had the same problem; actually, the bleeding was only half my problem. I think I might try spraying the napkin with fixative—as a kind of primer. Unless anyone else has some napkin tips.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
johno

LorraineDesign
Thanks for the additional link to Doug’s site. Off to visit your blog now.

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
LorraineDesign

I hope you like what you see!

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

Those napkins are drop-dead gorgeous. Wow. And I love The Superest! I haven’t visited in a while, though, good reminder to check that out again.

LETTERPRESS!!! YAY!! Thanks for the link to Briarpress on the free ornaments and decorations. I’ve been there before, but I never found that section. I mostly keep an eye out on the classifieds for local classes.

How can Stern be only $80?? That is cheaper than many high quality digital fonts! Maybe I’ll see if the letterpress studio I’m studying at would be interested.

Dolce Press. Sweet ;)

What? The next post is on getting started with letterpress? Cool. I’m looking forward to that. Be sure to check out My Adventures in Letterpress Printing, too, John!

^Jul21²⁰⁰⁸
Richard Roche

The SHCH graphics group does amazing stuff. I found them on Behance a few months ago and I’m surprised they aren’t a household name among us nerds yet. My favorite thing by them is the word “Glamour” on toilet paper.

^Jul22²⁰⁰⁸
David Yeiser

Thanks for the link, John. I’m tres excited about the upcoming article on Letterpress!

^Jul22²⁰⁰⁸
adrian

i also forgot to mention that as a graphic design student this site is super sweet and helpful. good lookin out.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
Ian Stewart

Swash caps on a sans? Why, I never!

Just kidding. That’s awesome. I love the ligatures too. Plus, that italic Greek Georgia in your annoyed and perfectly perfect response is beautiful as well.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
Colin

It’s “Kevin Cornell” not Kornell :)

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
Jonas

Thanks for the nice Post. I really like some of the Typo-Artworks.

The background designer is a very usefull tool.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
MJS

What Greek font are you using there? It looks quite ugly - irregular for a start. Maybe a nice topic to do a new post about? Athenian and Attika spring to my mind, of old GreekKeys fame…

About the napkins: I must confess that to me they look rather photoshopped.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
johno

Lauren
I really enjoyed reading about your first letterpress experience. Looking forward to the next instalment. Would be wonderful if you can get the studio to buy Stern. You could be one of the first to use it.

Richard
Yes, that’s one of the best ones.

David
Me too. I’ll publish it later today.

Adrian
Thanks for saying so.

Colin
Thanks for pointing that out. Now corrected.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
Klaudius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4QJBODw7_0

Another music video with some fonts in it.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
johno

MJS
Looks like the Greek from Times New Roman. Couldn’t be Georgia (which is declared first in the style sheet), because Georgia doesn’t include the full Greek character set. Pretty limited in the choice of so-called web-safe fonts with a full Greek character set. Your comment has got me thinking, though.

I’m pretty sure those napkins are not ‘Photoshopped’, but I could be wrong.

Klaudius
Thanks for the link.

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
MP

While we’re in the habit of posting youtube stuff, here’s an AMAZING type animation from Olivier Beaudoin called Typolution. Most of you have probably seen it. -MP

^Jul23²⁰⁰⁸
johno

MP
Thanks for those. I also have some type-related videos on this page (it’s not easy to find).

^Jul24²⁰⁰⁸
Damon

I did have the same thought about the napkins initially; that they’re comped. But on closer inspection I don’t think they are. If they’re not, as mentioned already, I’d love to know how on earth they were inked given than they’re drawn on something which is *designed* to spread the moisture out. (Not a ballpoint, which is the only pen I can think of dry enough to do the job).

Maybe they’re old fashioned napkins, a bit like the shiny toilet paper we used to get in school which resolutely refused to absorb anything whatsoever!

^Jul24²⁰⁰⁸
johno

Damon
I’m trying to find out about those napkins.
Looks as though your school had the same toilet-paper supplier as mine. We used to use ours as tracing paper.

^Jul25²⁰⁰⁸
Design for Mankind

Love love love this feature, as always. Great blog.

Thanks for the mention! :) e.

^Jul25²⁰⁰⁸
Linienrichter

Thank you for great inspiration :-)

^Jul28²⁰⁰⁸
LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

John, btw, I showed Stern to my letterpress instructor and asked about the price. She said that it really isn’t a great price (normally should be about $50 USD, maybe a little more because of the rising costs of commodities, including lead) and that for any functioning shop, a California Job case holds about 30 sets. That seemed a little crazy to me—$2400 for a full set of one size—but she said that you wouldn’t be able to compose much (maybe a very simple greeting card) with only that one set. Too bad…

Also more updates on my class and the restoration of the Vandercook SP15!

^Jul28²⁰⁰⁸
Jenna

Cool post.. I love the Napkin Type — pretty awesome!

^Jul29²⁰⁰⁸
pickupjojo

Oh my god… I love this post johno! <3
Great work. :)

^Aug6²⁰⁰⁸
David P Crawford

Vernacular Typography’s Polaroid’s are more than awesome. He has some great ones in there. Must have spent quite a lot of money on all of the film. I’ve been trying to find a place to pick up cheap Polaroid 600 film, anyone know of any?

^Aug9²⁰⁰⁸
atamosk

hey i love this stuff you posted. also check out house industries.

^Aug17²⁰⁰⁸