the final type specimen

type specimen mock up

Three spreads for my typeface specimen book. I didn't include a cover because I'm not sure what I want my cover to be yet. Decisions, decisions.

specimen book updates

An update to my specimen book for Trade Gothic. Not done, but it's where I'm at.

type specimen book

This is most of everything that we've worked on in terms of analog sketching and spread making and such.

My six analog spreads at 50% actual size. The top two and middle in the left column were the three I considered taking into the digital realm. 

These are three in progress spreads that I made from my analog sketches. 

letterform diagrams

The five original diagrams from Friday's class period. There have been no revisions to my paragraphs. I worked on completely finishing my bibliography.

I created different diagrams thinking about print and newspapers utilizing CMYK. Trade Gothic was designed and used in advertising and newspaper design. Following critique, I think that my revision needs to move in a direction that still references CMYK and, more than that, newspaper, but is more about the letterform and still looks good and not tacky or bad. If that makes sense.

design slam

I don't know why these are gray. Yay technology

trade gothic, paragraphs

Trade Gothic paragraphs -

Jackson Burke was born in 1908 in San Francisco. Burke was a book designer who worked for Mergenthaler Linotype. He succeeded C.H. Griffith as Director of Typographic Development and held the position from 1948 until 1963. It was in ’48 that Burke designed the Trade Gothic typeface, and continued working on it throught ’60. Besides Trade Gothic, Burke also designed the Aurora typeface (1) or News 706 typeface - depending on the source, the typeface's name changes. Besides the introduction of Trade Gothic into the typeface world, Burke was also responsible for other notable achievements: the development of fonts for Native American languages, the development of the TeleTypesetting System for magazine use, and the planning and carrying out of the first phase of Linotype Group’s photocomposition library. Burke passed away in ’75 at the age of 67.

Trade Gothic was first designed in 1948. Burke continued working on different weight and width combinations of the typeface through 1960. The final count included 3 weights and 3 widths. The Grotesque-classified sans serif typeface was first published by Mergenthaler, and is now published by Linotype. After its initial release, Trade Gothic became a stable in American design — at one point it was seen as a competitor to the beloved Helvetica typeface. Today, it is most often seen in the advertising industry; the condensed weights are popular in newspaper headline design. Trade Gothic is known for not having as many unifying elements within the typeface compared to other sans serif typefaces. It is said that this gives Trade Gothic a earthy naturalism appeal to it — this is often seen in hand drawn typefaces. In 2008, Akira Kobayashi, Linotype’s current Type Director, oversaw the redesign of the typeface, resulting Trade Gothic Next. The main focus of the redesign was to remove the inconsistencies found within Trade Gothic – the inconsistencies from not having unified elements. It also addressed other elements such as terminal and stroke endings, symbols, and the spacing and kerning of the letters within the typeface. As a result, a more self-harmonious typeface was created for use.

When I first looked at Trade Gothic, I didn’t notice anything super interesting. A standard sans serif typeface, if I were quickly looking for a typeface to use in a project, Univers or Helvetica would likely come first as my choice. The more I looked, the more I began to notice some details about Trade Gothic that gave it a more interesting quality than I initally thought. The sturdy structure of the ‘K’ and ‘R,’ the quirkiness of the capital Q’s tail compared to other typeface’s, the tall x-height all started to stand out to me. The condensed version stood out as a great choice to set something in all caps, like one of its main uses: setting headlines in a newspaper. Looking through the various weights within the Trade Gothic family, I noticed many of the inconsistencies I had read about — I still thought of it as a unified typeface, despite its lack of unifying elements. In a way, this lack of unified elements actually unifies it, making it distinctly the Trade Gothic family.

Trade Gothic quote (about grotesque typefaces) -

"Many of these typefaces had only capitals or exist only in centuries-old specimen books, but a number of them are still quite commonly used. These typefaces tend to be very idiosyncratic, with awkward weight distribution around bowls of characters and irregular curves."

or

"They tend to display some variation in the thickness of strokes, but the contrast does not show calligraphic influence or a logical pattern. The style became more sophisticated over the course of the 19th century."

trade gothic

Trade Gothic, a sans serif typeface, was designed by Jackson Burke in 1948. He continued adding style-weight combinations to the typeface through 1960. In total it contains 3 weights and 3 widths. It's original foundry was Mergenthaler, and published by Linotype.

Burke was born in San Francisco in 1908, and died in 1975. He worked at Mergenthaler Linotype from 1948 until 1963, succeeded C.H. Griffith as Director of Typographic Development. He was responsible for the planning and carrying out of Linotype's first phase of its photocomposition library.

Trade Gothic is known for not having a much unifying elements within the typeface compared to other popular sans serif fonts. It is said however, that this adds a naturalism touch to its appeal. The typeface is often used in the advertising and newspaper industries. In 2008, Linotype's Type Director, Akira Kobayashi, was in charge of the Trade Gothic redesign. This redesigns main focus was to remove the inconsistencies found within the original Trade Gothic. It also addressed other elements such as terminal and stroke endings, symbols, and the spacing and kerning.

some sources-

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/trade-gothic-next/

http://www.myfonts.com/person/Jackson_Burke/

http://www.linotype.com/en/1546/TradeGothic-family.html

note form-

Jackson Burke, born in San Francisco, 1908; died in 1975

Was a book designer

Succeeded C.H. Griffith as Director of Typographic Development at Mergenthaler Linotype from 1948 until 1963

Responsible for the planning and carrying out of Linotype’s first phase of it photocomposition library

Designed in 1948, Burke continued working on the typeface through 1960, adding new style-weight combinations

Includes 3 weights and 3 widths

Publisher: Linotype

Original Foundry: Mergenthaler

Sans-serif font

Known for not having as much unifying elements within the typeface compared to other popular sans serif fonts. However, this add a humanistic touch to its appeal - naturalism

Often seen in advertising and newspaper industries

Trade Gothic Next - redesign in 2008

Redesign lead by Akira Kobayashi - Linotype Type Director

Addresses inconsistencies found in Trade Gothic; terminal and stroke endings, symbols, spacing, kerning

no quote yet? nobody talks about trade gothic (I'm working on researching for one still. It'll come. I promise.)

typographic intervention - the final

Following test shots on Sunday, our letters were cut out on the CNC, sanded and painted, all on Monday. Mercedes took care of overseeing the letters at the CNC since it happened during Photo and Image class. She and Marie were able to sand and paint them, and then finish the sides with nice tape, Monday evening. We took the shots Monday night, around 10:30, at Larry's apartment.

Tuesday afternoon, we picked the photos to print and settled on how to lay everything out on our wall. While I was at work, Mercedes, Marie, and Larry were able to get the photos printed, everything mounted, and hung on the wall by 6 that night.

If you follow this link to Larry's blog, documentation of our pictures, video, explanation, and hanging of all of the materials are there.

typographic interaction, location mock

On Sunday afternoon, the group went to the location we picked, 'crashed' my car and took photos of it.

typographic intervention

Our group - Mercedes, Marie, Larry, and myself - have chosen to use the phrase where r u? to address the issue of texting and driving. If you go to Mercedes' Blog, she has posted photos of the intersection where we want to crash the where r u? phrase. It's at Brookside Blvd and 51st street, near UMKC, a heavily trafficked area by both cars and students.

These are a few photos from the very beginning of the concept phase -

My notebook of ideas + the unite notecard sketch

The group discussing things

Marie filling out our concepts chart

Following the presentation of our concepts, we realized that our words were too literal. That feedback has brought us to where we are now, with the phrase where r u? We are going to use the Helvetica Neue typeface since this is the typeface that Apple is using in its new iOS 7 system. The phrase will be made using the CNC and out of 3/4" foam, purchased from the Home Depot.

I went context photographing on my own, over the weekend. These were potential spots that our other idea, 'UNITE', could have been presented. A few of these spots could potentially work for where r u? as well, but again, we decided to go with the Brookside Blvd location.

the postcards

The final postcards for myself and Larry.

"People ignore design that ignores people" Frank Chimero

Our two best prints.

All of our experiments.

One of my experiments.

The two experiments done on marbled paper were my cards. I applied the marble paper to a postcard using mod podge. I then covered the paper in gloss finish mod podge because I was interested in how the ink would interact with the finish. It doesn't show up super well when looked straight on, but it becomes visible when you start looking at it from different angles.

typographic metaphor compositions

Final choices for the first part of typographic metaphor. My theme was BBQ. I chose messy, smokey, and stuffed as my three words.

this metaphor project

Photos of sketches for this project. They're a little wonky at the moment. I'll clean them up and edit this post. I just wanted you to see that they were done.