I always love seeing how designers interpret a simple set of design restrictions. For this redesign of eight classics from Penguin Classics in collaboration with (Red), a group of designers was asked to create covers using a quote from the text and a red band at the bottom. For the most part, I think the results are fantastic. I particularly like the ones where the design breaks out of the top of the cover and crosses into the red band. The books will be published in early May.

Designers shown:
Therese Raquin — Jim Stoddart (Penguin Press art director)
The Secret Agent — Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Press art department)
Dracula — Non-Format

via Creative Review

They’re by notable generative artist Tim Hutchinson. Impressed and intrigued, I looked into Hutchinson further. He’s made algorithmically generated art using a variety of software and runs a thoughtful and serious blog about Fractal Art called Orbit Trap.

The ones that most impressed me were made in a program called Fyre. I’m not the right sort of a geek to figure out how to run this on a Mac (command line? DarwinPorts? Unix?); I’d appreciate anyone’s help because, damn do I want to play with that. Please.

Four pieces of iterative art I did today, after the jump.

As for the clouds, they’re made in a program that runs in javascript called Kandid. It runs using genetic principals — that is, you run the computations generationally and can choose results with which to breed the look you want. I should point out that as you breed these evil clouds (well not evil but you must admit they’d make good elements in a death metal album cover), they grow as if from fractal seeds out of the darkness, as dreamlike a flowering as any I’ve seen. Its user interface is fun and simple and given how hooked I was to it immediately (up late in bed, on the train to work all morning) I really wonder why some geek hasn’t made an app of it yet. I’d pay.

I used the same subsection of the program as Hutchinson and just run through a pho’sho’ duotone. I’m not trying to bite his style; there’s actually a lot of other types of parameters Kandid can run, but from what I could see the the “iterated affine” seems to have the most visual potential.

(And yes, those last two were bred for “ghost ram skull” and “space age fabric” respectively)

While many type designers create their faces primarily out of their passions, H&FJ made their decision with market strategy in mind as well. It’s pretty clear by now that the era we’re in (and hopefully not leaving too soon) will be judged by history to be an age of slab serif. And like a pool hustler suddenly sinking shot after shot, it’s breathtaking to watch how quickly H&FJ have created three of the strongest, most fully-featured slabs on the market.

Vitesse, their newest, is their foray into the type of the moment: a square-based slab. But just when I find myself absolutely loving its stylish proportions, it screams out something ultramasculine (I can see it on high priced electronics and sports magazines alike).

Sentinel, which seems like it just came out, is their Clarendon. It’s explicitly designed (like Canada Type’s Clarendon Text) to work better in text settings than most clarendons, plus it has an unmatched range of weights.

And Archer, their Antique slab with cute as a button ball terminals and a large range of hairline weights, still has us drooling.

Four more of our favorite slabs that aren’t by H&FJ and that we didn’t feature in our last slabs roundup:

PMN Caecila • Before the 21st century slab rennaissance this was my favorite. And I love that most books on the Kindle are set in it, so pleasant.

Museo Slab • if Archer is too expensive, start with the free weight of Museo; the whole set is pretty affordable.

Granite • Alright so this isn’t a text face but I love it so much I’m putting it in here anyway. I’m a big fan of Gareth Hague’s sense of proportion in general; his faces have a noteworthy elegance. This extreme-contrast slab is no exception.

Neutraliser • Actually now that Vitesse is on the market, art directors at men’s magazines everywhere are find/replacing their captions paragraph style from Neutraliser to Vitesse. But in 2004, it was certainly ahead of the curve

Row 1: Organic Cotton Hand-Printed Produce Bag from paintedapple; Vegetable Print by Stockton; Emery Pincushion – Felt Peapod by dottyral
Row 2: Eat 5 A Day print from pixelandpost; Radicchio block print by drenculture; Hand Carved Carrot Stamp by EnchantingStamps
Row 3: Green Veggie Recipe Cards by DingbatPress; Eat Your Veggies – pinback button by BarrelOfMonkeys; Happy Veggie Magnets and Crate by vrielle42
Row 4: A Happy Eggplant from nataliemae; Hand Printed Fruit and Veggie Paper Gift Bag Set by silkoak; Veggie Alphabet – Learning Base Set by evgie

Oh and although I saw Avatar twice in theaters, I am thrilled that Kathryn Bigelow beat James Cameron at the BAFTAs – The Hurt Locker was an incredible film.

via Drawn!

Lubalin used it several times, always with the alternates and ligatures enabling incredibly tight settings, throughout the next few years, notably in U&LC magazine. And others began to use it, but not well. A few notes on its misuse from Thinking for a Living:

Tony DiSpigna, one of Lubalin’s partners and co-creator of ITC Lubalin Graph and ITC Serif Gothic, has been quoted as saying, “The first time Avant Garde was used was one of the few times it was used correctly. It’s become the most abused typeface in the world.” Ed Benguiat, one of type’s legends and a friend of Lubalin’s, commented, “The only place Avant Garde looks good is in the words Avant Garde. Everybody ruins it. They lean the letters the wrong way.” Steven Heller also noted that the “excessive number of ligatures […] were misused by designers who had no understanding of how to employ these typographic forms,” further commenting that “Avant Garde was Lubalin’s signature, and in his hands it had character; in others’ it was a flawed Futura-esque face.”

It’s been revived in the last decade quite a bit, first for music then for a certain scenester Vice ironic recapitualization of the Me-Generation?

Don’t get me wrong: I actually really like the examples above. It’s not even been that it’s been done a zillion times but after about six, it’s already been done to death. If you’re considering using Avant Garde ligatures and it’s not 1976, I ask you to reconsider. Either reference the seventies in a fresher way if that’s what you’re going for… or if what you’re liking is the interlocking ligatation of it, may we suggest a few alternatives?

Fedra Display by Typotheque, part of a megafamily that ranges from hairline to black with condensed and compressed weights.

Camera from Flat-It. Rounded and deco-style, this is quite a distance from Lubalin’s design. However it’ll still work if what you’re looking for is nested, tight lettersetting.

Sevigne by Reserves. This new face was actually the inspiration for this post. By combining Lubalinesque ligatures with the  classic proportions so popular now in typefaces like Gotham and Neutraface, and restraining it to lightweight and all caps, Reserves has put together an affordable, contemporary and altogether elegant face. It’s on special pricing right now; get it before Urban Outfitters goes and ruins it for all of us.

Apparently, we have a bit of a thing for Craig Ward — we posted about his work here and here. His latest endeavor — a collaborative project with Sean Freeman and Alison Carmichael — from the If You Could Collaborate show from earlier this year is pretty awesome. I’m particularly into Allison Carmichael’s piece (top).

Here’s a little more info on If You Could Collaborate:

If You Could Collaborate is the fourth annual If You Could exhibition. Aiming to provide a platform for the finest creatives from all over the world to question their conventional working methods and outcomes. The contributors have been challenged to produce something a little unexpected, by working with a partner of their choosing from any discipline, profession or background. There is no brief to answer, or format to honour – the only limit being the enterprise and imagination of the artists involved, and a liberal 12 month deadline.

And here is a pretty neat process shot from Sean Freeman:

Row 1: Tiger Screenprint from milkbunnie; Baby Tiger Note Cards from FloatingPalace
Row 2: Tiny Tiger Baby from violetpi; Vintage Midcentury Tiger Planter from NiftyVintage; Year of the Tiger hat from Jackthemanabouttown
Row 3: Eye of the Tigers from dailyode; Sleepy Tigger from zime; Tiger Twins print rom WildLifePrints
Row 4: Year of the Tiger letterpress print from dutchdoor; Year of the Tiger Kitty from novarhyme; Nola the White Tiger from nonesuchgarden

Row 1:

• Susan Kare’s pointer arrow became an icon of GUI and computing in general and is sort of overused in, say, ads of the last 10 years. However this inverted oversized heavy duty pointer cursor pin from qwertyfun is pretty snazzy and comes in a a swell package.
• Speaking of Susan Kare, Toybreaker maintains that her Paint bucket icon tie is done in collaboration with Diesel Sweeties. Now, I’ve loved me some DieselSweeties in my time but that paint can is totally Kare/Apple/MacPaint/1984. That said, its aliased diagonals work fantastic on the diamond end of a tie.
• There are plenty of etsy sellers that make upcycled jewelry from keyboards, but these silver-bezel set fkey vol up/down key earrings by creativedexterity are some of the nicest I have seen.

Row 2:

• Gotta love a command-z joke: nothing says “I am ready to regret this evening” than going out with it around your neck. Undo necklace by plastique.
• While not as retro as much of the rest of this list, the Photoshop (Cs4) icon pillow by Craftsquatch makes me happy with its combination of cutting edge and fleece.
• I think computer users from the 80s will appreciate the 25 conductor cable belt by digiBling. Pretty sure I remember this running to the print ribbon of my ImageWriter.

Row 3:

• If I haven’t made it clear already, I was an Apple fan from the days of the rainbow logo and bauhausy “Cupertino” type. If I could pull off a mesh cap without looking totally absurd I’d totally rock the Vintage Apple trucker cap from housenmouse.
• I may have to snatch up the circuitboard cufflinks on sale at VioletsNewVintage: yes circuitboard art may also be a cliche, but upcycled circuitboards are rarely cut with such considered composition; truly lovely.
• Finally, we try not to feature the same sellers repeatedly on Schmetsies and I know I featured WeHateTShirts just last week with their Bill Murray shirt. However, when I looked at their shop last week I saw this Susan Kare (again) Smiley Mac/ITC Garamond Condensed/Brokeback Mountain mashup I wish I could force quit you shirt: the inspiration for this whole post.

We are planning a trip and I really wanted a way to carry my camera other than throwing it into a purse. Before Christmas I saw the Kelly Moore bag on Uppercase and thought it looked like the perfect solution. I was going to post about it right away, but the bags were all pre-orders, and I wanted to see if they were as great in person as they looked on the site.

Well my bag arrived and it is fantastic. I can’t wait to start using it. It looks like it is really well made and is big enough that I don’t think I’ll need to carry a separate purse on my trip. Plus, since is it way prettier than a normal camera bag, not everyone will know you have a camera with you. The bags come in some really great colors and she is working on a camera bag for men too, so soon there will be a stylish camera bag option for everyone.

UPDATE: Enter the code BLOGLOVE for $50 off a Kelly Moore bag!