hazel llanes
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ckck:
A Specimen by William Caslon, Letter-Founder, circa 1728. View bigger!
I try not to reblog as much as I can on this blog but I almost pissed myself staring at the bigger version. Typography is a truly beautiful thing.
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For my Communication Design 1 class, we were asked to design a new logo for Spirit Tree Estate Cidery as well as develop a set of branding standards/guidelines for the labels of four of their products by redesigning them.
The logo (click images to get a closer look) shows an apple and a droplet of apple cider, which is what this company is known for. I made a subtle reference to the “spirit trees” by creating a tree bark line design that would unify the set of labels. They’re a fairly new company so I didn’t want to have the labels appear too traditional but I also wanted a “local homegrown farm” feel so I chose the typeface Caecilia in two weights and Clarendon for the wordmark.
Instead of purchasing stock photos, I went and took some of my own. So what you see here are the croutons, bread and apple juice (which looked close enough to cider) that came right out of my own pantry!
We didn’t have any apple sauce at home and I didn’t want to buy a jar of it that no one in my family would eat, so I ended up making my own homemade sauce with some apples lying around. Turns out they’re not that hard to make! I used this recipe.I was actually really surprised at how well my photos turned out! Special thanks goes out to Justin Buenaflor for lending me his DSLR.
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The Sore Thumb
As I walked into my living room this morning something caught my eye amid the teetering pile of unread newspapers, flyers and catalogs which are ever-present in my home. Can you spot it? It’s quite…spotty.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a holiday catalog for the Real Canadian Superstore. Aside from the fact that it is way too early to be thinking about Christmas, it’s a pretty top-notch catalog and a great example of how design can make people look twice.
In the grand world of design, it’s by no means revolutionary. But when it sits beside other paper ephemera it stands out like a sore thumb (a very pretty sore thumb, that is).
Unlike the flyers on the right, it isn’t bloated with photos of products and copy set in starkly different typefaces. It’s apparent that a specific set of rules were devised to unify each page—from colours to art direction to body/heading type—and the result is a catalog that, in it simplicity, is very pleasing to the eye.
More like…”TOO MUCH IS OFTEN TOO MUCH”.
Since I really enjoyed writing this post, expect more like it under the new design spotting tag! I find that as I’m learning more about design, I’m becoming increasingly aware of it around me and I think deconstructing it through blog posts will help me become better at it in the long-run.
I’ve tried to research the people responsible for the design of this catalog but it’s proving to be more difficult than I thought. Let me know if you know?
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As evidenced by my last post, I’ve been really down in the dumps as of late. But I’m happy to say that in small ways, things are finally looking up! Not only is my class cancelled tomorrow but this Creative Mornings session with Jake Nickell (co-founder of Threadless.com) really has me feeling pumped about this idea I have…
Needless to say, it feels really good to be excited about something again :)
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When people ask me how design school has been, I tell them that it’s been tiring. Some days I feel inspired and grateful to be at OCAD studying graphic design, other days I feel frustrated and I question whether this is all worth it. But mostly I’ve been tired.
It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about school when it’s so draining. But I guess this is all just part of the transitional period from high school to college. Here’s hoping that by second semester I learn to cope better!
This illustration by Jeff Hamada is so apt because my sister actually pointed out how dark the bags under my eyes are getting. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…
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I wanted this blog to become an ongoing journal of all the things I learn and experience in the process of going through design school and so far, I haven’t really been doing this. My bad! I hope to rectify this as I adjust better to school and the growing workload. But enough about me—let’s talk about this image!
My Typography 1 professor included this in her lecture about type classification last week and it kind of made my heart jump (despite my sleep deprivation, lack of satisfaction regarding the work I handed in late and self-loathing because I love my prof and I really really could have done better on it and see what design school is doing to me?!). These covers were really gorgeous, but I understand that T Magazine has stopped designing their covers this way, which is quite unfortunate.
Here’s a brief type history lesson from the article itself (written in 2009):
In an age when the rest of the world has given up on Blackletter typography, also known as Old English or Fraktur lettering style, newspapers haven’t. Newspapers began using Blackletter for their nameplates around the mid-19th century because it printed dark and dense, important when printing on crude groundwood paper. The letter forms also had an air of authority and incontestable truth about them, as if taken from ancient manuscripts hand-drawn by scribes or a bible set with movable type carved by Johannes Gutenberg himself.
Interestingly, the New York Times “T” Magazine, the ultimate word on contemporary fashion and design, did not try to buck tradition and choose a 21st century font when it began publishing in 2004. Instead, it let artists and designers reimagine its Blackletter “T” logo in their chosen medium. For many of us, the “T” art has become the favorite feature of the magazine.
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“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition. And then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” — Stephen Colbert, December 2010 (via simmy) -
I thought this was a genuinely inventive and fun children’s short—then I started laugh-crying.
Definitely don’t watch this around a kid that you like! “Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared” is by London-based collective This Is It(via Studio Sweet Studio)
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“You’re 20, that’s why. You’re a 20 year old little cock, and you have no idea how the world works. Because you think you deserve better - you think you’re too interesting a person - to have a shitty job. Every 20 year old that I encounter behind the counter gives me that look, ‘ugh this job sucks’. Yeah, that’s why we gave it to you! Because you’re 20, which is a mathematical guarantee that you have no skills and nothing to offer anybody in the world! You’ve just been taking and sucking up - education and love and food and iPods - just sucking it up and judging. You’ve just been selecting and absorbing shit that you didn’t fucking earn for two decades. Three presidents, that’s how long; you’ve just been a burden. You’ve never done anything. I guarantee you, if you’re 20 years old, you have never done anything for anybody. Ever. Never. Yes, you went on a school trip to Guatemala, and they told you you helped. But you totally did not help. The guy was like, “I got a mudslide on my house. And now I gotta babysit this fucking college kid. Why do I have to do this? Jesus. Just take her picture with a shovel and send her home so she can put it on Facebook.”
Louis CK nails it!
(via whydoesanything)
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MAKING FRIENDS: OCAD Attracts A Variety of People
I recently got my own copy of the school agenda book from OCAD University—which is the art and design school I’m attending this year—and this was one of the guidelines published within. I thought it was funny (and true for the most part), so I’m posting it here.
Kudos goes out to the OCAD Student Union for making such a well-designed, not to mention highly entertaining, agenda book.
Here it is verbatim:
At first glance one is likely to say to themselves, “Wow, what a bunch of hipsters.” The truth is, we’re not hipsters, we’re the people hip have been trying to emulate. OCAD faculty, by means of an interview process hand picks certain kinds of students. By the time we arrive at OCAD U the majority of us fit into one of the following denominations:
- DO-IT-YOURSELFERS: This rag-tag group is pretty easy to spot; self-patched clothing and homemade jewelry or accessories such as woolen hats and scarves. These are the most likely people to give you a birthday present so make sure you share your favourite colour with them, else you end up with a pair of beige woolen mittens.
- THRIFTIES: If you’re having a hard time spotting these folks, think to yourself, “What would my grandpa wear if he were my age?” Floral patterns and paisley are key to any thrifty’s heart. These are the people most likely to be seen on campus with a fedora or a pair of leather shoes. They’re also the most likely to be seen in a Goodwill or Value Village.
- FASHION CENTRIC: Essentially the living, breathing American Apparel ad, the fashion centric are the most likely on campus to have clean and pressed clothing. As every article of clothing, down to the socks, is obviously fresh from a designer sweatshop, your first superficial crush at OCAD U is surely going to be one of these kids. You’ll either learn to dig a little deeper in your affections or you’ll be surprised to find a great person under that fashionista exterior.
- VEGANS: A disproportionate amount of OCAD U’s vegans have dreadlocks, so they’re pretty easy to find. Another way to tell if someone is vegan is the hemp accessories and clothing. If you’re trying to impress one of them, refrain from wearing that leather jacket, then hold the bacon at Karine’s. A common mistake at OCAD is offering the kid with the dreadlocks your joint before offering it to anyone else. Don’t just assume they’re into Rasta culture, start with a conversation on the environment or something. If you’re looking for these kids outside of school, try Kensington Park.
- ACCIDENTAL “HIPSTER”: Though they definitely can’t be called a “hipster”, they sure as hell look like one! Don’t be fooled by the plaid flannel shirt, thick-framed glasses and bicycle cap; these kids are simply victims of circumstance. Sure they’re likely to be seen at a house party drinking tall cans of Pabst, but that’s just cause it’s cheap, okay?!
