david carson

With Huck and Little White Lies magazines both part of The Church of London stable, it's a tradition that the covers of last two issues of the year have a visual relationship to one another. This year the link between them is that divisive figure of graphic design,David Carson...

For the Jan/Feb 2011 cover of film title Little White Lies, the magazine's creative director Paul Willoughby sketched the film's lead, Natalie Portman, and passed the drawing (and LWL cover furniture) across to Carson, the brief being that he would craft something in response.

The result sees some black foiled type spread over the whole cover; an unusual take for the magazine, where the 'issue' title usually plays second fiddle to the main illustration. Despite a $ made from the clash of "s" and "H", I rather like the fact that with a portrait of a face as obviously magazine-friendly as Portman's, the type directly subverts the image, the ruffled feathers almost echoing the violent placement of the letters.

For Huck, Carson applied a more recognisable typographic style, working with the magazine's creative director, Rob Longworth. Disruption seems to be the order of the day here, however, with Oskar Enender's photograph of a lone snowboader adorned with a skewed barcode and a conspicuously 'undesigned' type treatment at the bottom.

While I can take or leave the rather forced Carson© treatment of the bottom section, the masthead is much more interesting; different enough to catch your eye, but still recognisably Huck.

Last year Geoff McFetridge brought the two issues together using a single illustration in an excellent Where the Wild Things Are tribute. It revealed it's full charm when the titles were displayed together on the magazine rack (see the CR blog post on the work, here).

In having the designer himself as the link between the covers, however, the connection between the issues is much more subtle. But will that mean there's more room for each one to stand out?

Posted by Mark Sinclair, 21 December 2010, 16:26

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/december/david-carson-little-white-lies-huck

letters

When letters are all that are needed. I can't believe how good this is. I, myself, do not know where to begin to create such a piece. There is so much detail, without there being a lot of detail. You almost feel as if your being watched. You want to know what he is thinking, but with his sunglasses you can't read what is in his eyes.

Negative space

Never use Papyrus, never type vertical, 7 degree angle only. This just needs to go into the trash. I can not say how much is wrong with it. There are no words that describe how bad this is. Well, maybe, trash, no, beyond horrific.

Kerning and Leading

Kerning and Leading is very important. When everything is really tight together it makes it really hard to read and does not look appealing either. Also when letters are to far apart some words do not look like words. Just letters.

Can words make you hungry?

It may be words, but it is 3D. It looks like fries. I want some now. I feel like I can reach into the picture and grab one. I don't know what I would do if this was real. I like it better in a picture than if it was right next to me. It would not look right and if it was shinny would not make me hungry. I really like how this works. Although it will not make me a Burger King fan.

color and text

All that was used here was color and text. I would not be surprised if the text were lines from the movie. I would like this more if it was so. Looking at it, it feel like it as movement. I say that is another point is saying this is a well done piece.

Trying to make a 60's album cover

Lady Gaga is a modern  version of the 60's. I duplicated one photo four times. Each photo was then made in random colors, none duplicated.  Although the thought behind it works for the 60's, the text I used did not work. I need to study fonts from that time more.

posters from the 60's

The 60's was about drugs, learning sexuality, and the beginning of the hippies. They used bright colors, the female body, and font that was round and organic. I like this piece because it stated all the about description.

One line, or a whole paragraph?

One line, or a whole paragraph? Tattoos will always be viewed with disgust or approval. I myself like tattoos. When it comes to having words on my body, I would only pick a line. Although, if there was something really meaningful I could see having a whole paragraph. I find more meaning in less words then more. If you have to use a lot of words to express yourself then you need to look with in again. Make people think with only one line. It will make them look with in themselves as well.

Restaurant signs

Some people don't realize that signs restaurant puts up makes it appealing or not. This sign I feel is a really good exsample of an appealing restaurant. There is nothing off about it. It is flowing and smooth. Has a very comfortable feel.

Bad Sign

There are signs that should never be seen. This sign has a good idea, but the curve that the name is following is way off. I would find a way to make the letters smaller and curve it more, so it is not and odd curve

Pictures made out of letters

Ever play with letters? Make pictures out of letters? Next time you have free time try it out. At first it can be frustrating but the end result is worth it. Manly if it turns out like above.

Expressive Font

My homework in week one is to create a poster using only to fonts and the word EXPRESSIVE. Here is an article on expressive typography. I choose this article because I feel that it explains that fonts can be expressive and give a little bit of history and names that are connected to it in away. 

I will post the finish piece at a later date.

Letters are not just abstract notions, carriers of meaning; they are also real, physical shapes. Paying attention to those shapes, and using them as a visual element in graphic design, is an essential part of the art of typography.

This is sometimes called "expressive typography," and it has been practiced by designers as diverse as Herb Lubalin in New York and Massin in France. There is no single style associated with this approach to type; it's a matter of seeing the graphic elements on the page, including the letter forms, and arranging them in a way that seems natural, in fact inevitable, once it's done.

Sometimes the size and shape of the letters have a direct bearing on the meaning of the words, as in this illustration from the first of Carl Dair's little booklets on type for Westvaco, in the 1970s.  Dair showed what he was talking about in the very letterforms that he chose, and in how he arranged them together.

In general, I'm not talking about visual puns, which can get out of hand unless they're used with extreme restraint, but occasionally you can find the perfect congruence between the meaning and the type itself. Jost Hochuli used a simple fi ligature, and the Italian forms of the names of France and Italy ("Francia" and "Italia"), to create this meaningful image of unity and integration between two countries.

Sometimes letters get used as visual elements with only allusions to their meaning; this becomes more a matter of collage than of typography. But it's not always easy to draw the line. A Neiman Marcus ad in "The New York Times" last week uses type in a visually arresting way, though it's perhaps only peripherally typographical.

Of course, you can leave typography behind entirely and use letters as the building blocks of art. Jack Stauffacher, who spends most of his time perfecting the craft of printing and designing books meant to be read, has created several portfolios of art prints using huge wooden letters, some of them broken, and the hand techniques of letterpress printing. This is no longer typography, but it's beautiful. 

You can use striking contrasts of size and style and position of type to grab someone's attention in order to impart a message. By making the image visually rewarding, you invite a potential reader in and present your message in an entertaining way. You can entice that person to read the fine print by making something large and dramatic -- as long as the drama doesn't come at the expense of the meaning. I used contrast and strong letter shapes to do this in a simple hand-out card for the online science-fiction magazine, "The Infinite Matrix".

Dramatic display typography is often used today in newspapers -- especially in features pages. Newspaper designer Lucie Lacava brought highly unusual and effective use of type to her redesign of the Montreal daily "Le Devoir," a paper well known for its role in the intellectual life of Québec. This detail from the first page of the arts section ("Les Arts") mixes type in visually arresting ways, drawing the reader in to the story below.

These images are just suggestions, reminders of what's possible and keys to opening up our visual vocabulary. Typography doesn't have to be staid. It does, however, have to be functional; playing with the type without regard for the meaning of the words, or the purpose of the message that needs to be communicated, is just self-indulgence. Typography -- whether it's the most straightforward text or the wildest display -- is a seamless melding of the verbal and the visual. It needs to be practiced mindfully, creatively, and respectfully. And often.

http://www.creativepro.com/node/58627

By John D. Berry

My Expressive poster

This was a fun piece. It may need some more work, but I'm happy. The shape I used makes me think of my childhood when my sister would show me this music globe that had the happy sad masks. I hope you like it too.