Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Inspiring typographic package design


Typography can be a curtail component of packaging design because it's essentially disseminates the information. Products have various information with little details and nuances that need to be displayed on the packaging in a legible manner to enable consumers to read and understand the information they`re looking at. 

In addition to conveying information, typography can be used for marketing purposes. Often most appealing products are not those that are the most functional and practical, but the ones whose packaging attracts the buyer the most. 

Typography alone can be used in this sense, by bringing aesthetically pleasant characteristics to any packaging design. Sometimes a typeface is so excellent, there is no need to embellish it with graphic treatments. Only a slight, unexpected alteration is enough to send home a desired feel for the product. 

Here are some inspiring examples of packaging design that heavily rely on typography.


Brie Bistro by ID Kommunikation

Adams & Harlow by Designers Anonymous

Hand-Drawn Text by The Manual Co.

Peter Wetzer Wines by Laszlo Mihaly Naske


Alice Pattullo Packaging

Brooklyn Fare Packaging by Steven Jockisch


Nagging Doubt Wine by Brand Ever (Illustrated by Dana Tanamachi)

Princess Bride Custom Wine by Helms Workshop

Sepp Moser Wine by Hans Renzler

Artisan Wine by Public Creative

BFrank Wine by TACN Studio

Sandro Desii by Lociento Studio

Christmas Absinthe by Stranger & Stranger

Reishunger by Funny Paper

Slingshot Coffee by Good South

Panettone and Pandoro from Milan by Panettoni G. Cova & C

Williams-Sonoma's Thanksgiving Food Assortment by Cult Partners

Revitalizing, Re-purposing, and Re-living the “Ghosts” of Philly.



Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with the forgotten beauty of withered and once vibrant signs. Like a faded-decades old tattoo, they represent a time in history, a feeling, a culture or simply a small business. Some are considered "Ghost signs" generally defined as painted signage, at least 50 years old, on an outside wall that publicizes a defunct business or product, according to Lawrence O’Toole, author of “Fading Ads of Philadelphia.” Highly intriguing these signs are an intersection of art, history and commerce. Some, like us designers, are captivated by the fonts and graphics, representing the nearly lost tradition of sign painting. While others appreciate the ads as history, telling stories about how things used to be, the businesses that once powered a neighborhood or the provenance of a building. Philadelphia has no shortage of ghost signs, left over from its two centuries as an industrial juggernaut. Some have been reincarnated in surprising ways.

A resurgence of interest in vintage signage has influenced the popularity of some trendy typefaces. The often student forbidden, however stylish type collective, Lost Type offers quite a few of these styles that are extremely similar if not a direct nod to the unique and often hand-done type faces of ghost signs. 

Some examples of some trendy type and photos local vintage signs that I have taken, see the similarities?  
















More recently these signs are often re-vitalized at the hands of The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program or at least in partner with them.  Just last year Tyler's own Robert Blackson created a partnership with the PMAP to resurrect ghost signs around North Philadelphia.  In 2013, Blackson walked into the store of John Henssler, locksmith and owner of the century old business and simply asked if her wanted his sign repainted. Henssler thought he was pulling his leg, but Blackson said that he was inspired by the signs fleeting beauty as he passed it everyday on his way to Tyler. This then sparked the start of the ghost sign revitalization project, with other sites on the to-do list. This not only renews the vintage art that once stood prominent on the dilapidated walls of the city and creates something that is visually interesting, but creates a a renewed civic pride for the neighborhood.

The Philly Mural Arts Program and Tyler School of Art partnership's first gig:
Robert Blackson (Tyler), Nathaniel Lee(PMAP), and several Tyler Students
Henssler Locksmith sign, North Philadelphia






Speaking of things like local pride, supporting small businesses, and partnering up with The Mural Arts Program, The Famous project "A Love Letter for You" immediately comes to mind. One of my favorite things in the city and a sign painting and typographical masterpiece takes viewers that ride the EL train on a journey through the poetry of Stephen Powers and the story behind this is just as interesting. Steve Powers, somtimes known as ESPO (exterior surface painting outreach), is a world re-nowned public artist and sign painter but it wasn't always this way.  Powers grew up in the Overbrook section of West Philly and in the 1980's when The Mural Arts Program was hard at work to cover up the "unsightly" graffiti that littered the walls of the city, Powers or ESPO at the time was battling against them.  This relationship continued until years and many accolades later he returned home and contacted the Philly Mural Arts Program to created a "typographic poem of the complexities and rewards of relationships", which also acted as an ironic nod to the story between him and PMAP.  It consists of 50 murals that were painted traditionally, meant to deteriorate with time and weather, one day making them ghost signs themselves. The walls that words are painted on are all small local buisnesses of a community that is suffering in hopes that it would bring a revitalization to the area. 

see the youtube video of A Love Letter for You here and here and here









-Dani Birnbohm



http://muralarts.org/collections/projects/love-letter
http://www.onextrapixel.com/2012/06/28/font-nostalgia-vintage-sign-styles/


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Dana Tanamachi

In the world of expressive hand-drawn typography, one designer reigns supreme: Dana Tanamachi. Remembered best for her unique and unlikely medium of chalk, her work has been featured in restaurants and hotels to magazines and even Google’s New York Offices.
            While attending a housewarming party where a friend had covered her walls with chalkboard paint, Tanamachi drew a Victorian-inspired lettering of the word “Brooklyn.” From that moment onward, her work exploded—first amongst friends at parties, then Facebook, and eventually to clients such as Rugby Ralph Lauren.
            Watching Tanamachi draw is just as mesmerizing as the work she produces. Many of her fans, who only know her work through the internet, are used to seeing time-lapse videos of her attacking empty chalk walls, and after such a time, creating expressive pieces out of thin air. However, a behind-the-scenes look shows that she has a process. She begins with a rough sketch, in which she splits the drawing into sections. Each section is planned on tracing paper, so that she is actually working in layers of type. This, through an intricate and toilsome process, the lettering and illustrations are carefully drawn with chalk and refined with wet rags. Pieces usually take eight to twelve hours to complete, and are done in one sitting.
            Amazingly, every typeface she uses is original, and each piece usually contains five or size typefaces. Tanamachi is constantly drawing letters and typefaces, and is often inspired by her former boss, Louis Fili.
            Surprisingly, the majority of her work is not permanent. In an article with the Wall Street Journal, she explains, “People tend to value my pieces more when they are aware they could be gone in an instant.” Not to mention, the designer hates the “splotchy sheen” that fixatives leave behind. So, not only is her work beautiful, but fragile and temporary.
            In addition to her chalkboard typographic illustrations, she has created many products and worked for a multitude of clients. She has completed projects for Burton Snowboards, Nike advertisements, and many other things. However, each item always comes back to her unique style and textured chalk-like lettering.

            Other designers, illustrators, and typographers that are similar to Tanamachi include Louis Fili, Mary Kate McDevitt, and the Hampton Creative firm.

Websites

Dana Tanamachi's website- http://tanamachistudio.com/
Wall Street Journal Article-
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203458604577265453430025274?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052970203458604577265453430025274.html

Related Designers

Louis Fili- http://www.louisefili.com/
Mary Kate McDevitt- http://marykatemcdevitt.com/
The Hampton Creative- http://hamptoncreative.com/agency/

Images



Videos:

Nagging Doubt: The Pull- http://vimeo.com/25436331
Flourish (Personal Project with Andrew Ryan Shepherd)- http://vimeo.com/77128496
Ace Hotel Room- http://vimeo.com/23186260



STEREOTYPOGRAPHY


For this blog post I wanted to explore the power of historical context when considering typefaces, specifically typefaces that have become attached cultural stereotypes. The theory of stereo typography—the stereotyping of cultures through typefaces associated with them—has been increasing, as graphic design becomes a greater cultural force.


In this blog, I will focus on two typefaces—Mandarin and Neuland—the origins of these “stereotyped” typefaces and how they became associated with specific cultures. What I discovered most fascinating is that even the most blatantly racial stereo typography is still in use today.

Nueland/Nueland Inline




Lithos



Neuland (as well as its doppelganger Lithos) are typefaces are display faces that are highly recognizable and appear on everything from Trader Joe’s Organic Coconut Oil to the on-screen graphics for Big Buck Hunter Safari Edition and in wordmarks and logos from the Subaru Outback to Jurassic Park. 

On-screen graphics for Big Buck Hunter Safari Edition



An interesting article by designer and writer Rob Giampietro attempts to explain how Neuland and Lithos Inline have become adopted by designers as the default typeface for all manner of African/jungle/primitive/exotic-themed graphic applications. 





Neuland was created by German typographer Rudolph Koch in 1923. Two aspects of Neuland to mention here because of how it laid the foundation for the relationship between the typeface and black culture. First is the composition of the letterforms, second, how this letterform design was advertised and then distributed to American print shops.

Koch’s original intent for Neuland was “to make a bold, noticeable typeface that would shout to other Germans that following God’s path would help them find comfort from the trauma of World War I. The letters composing the Neuland typeface are heavy bold black san serif forms that would be easily distinguishable from any other lighter-weight typefaces printed on the same page. These attributes were not lost on the Type distribution companies, who marketed Neuland as an advertising font to American print shops and retailers. In the early 20th century, American typesetters and graphic artists viewed heavy woodblock type as cheap, low-class, “garbage type”. Upon Neuland’s release, designers and printers associated the font’s heavy, bold forms with cheap woodblock type and made use of the font in the same manner. Neuland soon became a member of the family of fonts that designers call “garbage type”: esoteric, inelegant, difficult to set, and destined, for tobacco ephemera, circus posters, advertisements and ultimately for the garbage.

Neuland’s association with Africa and the exotic originated with the first applications of the Nueland typeface on advertisements for products associated with slavery: tobacco and cotton. Due to constant anti-African-American sentiment and the socioeconomic status of African-Americans during and after the Civil War, African-American graphic culture in the United States prior to Neuland’s release in 1923 and before the Harlem Renaissance in general was unimportant at best and nonexistent at worst. Before Neuland’s release, the graphic culture of African-Americans was exemplified by trading cards, “circus type,” and cigarette packaging and it typified the racial and socioeconomic stereotype of the “poor negro”. In short, African-Americans did not have the buying power or the social acceptance required to cultivate a significant graphic culture. What graphic culture they did have was centered around their depiction in advertisements for products associated with slavery: tobacco and cotton. Neuland was used on this very ephemera and thus the association with African American culture was born.


Neuland still persists today. In fact, it’s scope of application has not shrunk but widened beyond the world of ephermera to include movies, automobiles, sports, fashion, etc. (Hollywood has used it  in such films as Jurassic Park, Tarzan, and Jumanji. Subaru used Lithos prominently in the logo for their new car, the Outback.) These uses seem to indicate that Neuland has since acquired qualities that suggest “jungle,” “safari,” and “adventure”—in short, Africa.















Mandarin


The typeface Mandarin belongs to the family of fonts known in graphic design as "chop suey fonts". These American typefaces attempt to mimic East Asian calligraphy and have long been used to sell China to western audiences. With its roots in turn-of-the-century San Francisco Chinatown, chop suey fonts prevailed as an intentional misrepresentation of China used for dramatic effect by graphic designers, Chinese immigrants, and now, politicians.


2013 Republican Advertisement




The use of Asian-inspired fonts began in 1883, when the Cleveland Type Foundry created a typeface called Chinese, which became known as Mandarin by the mid 1950s. The font became famous when it was used in a poster that promoted tourism to San Francisco’s Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake. The poster heralded a new Chinatown, one filled with pagodas and flamboyant Chinese imagery.

By the 1930s, Chinese restaurants across the country used chop suey lettering in their advertisements. Ironically, it was Chinese-American restaurateurs who were choosing the chop suey lettering, conferring a bit of authenticity on two American inventions. Chinese immigrants were eager to use chop suey types—not because they enjoyed the aesthetic, but because they were good businessmen who realized it allowed Americans to easily identify where Chinese food was served. Chop suey fonts are still connected to Chinese food today, found on takeout boxes, disposable chopstick packaging, and restaurant signage.





Popularity in these “chop suey fonts” waned in the second half of the 20th century as graphic designers shifted away from the prejudice that dominated the discipline through the 1950s Modern era. Today, chop suey types are used with and without caution

. When Chinese-American author Jennifer 8. Lee received criticism that her blog header made use of “Chinesey” lettering, she wrote in defense: “The font would be disturbing if I were using it earnestly to represent China or ‘Chineseness’… in a way the font is very appropriate since it represents the exotification of the ‘Orient.’ We are appropriating it, not in a serious way, but in a way of self-aware mockery.”


Lee distinguishes her use of the font from less appropriate uses, like Abercrombie & Fitch’s 2002 line of t-shirts with caricatures of Chinese images. After receiving “hundreds and hundreds” of complaints about the shirts—largely from Asian American college students, who were presumably one of Abercrombie & Fitch’s target groups—A&F withdrew the garments from their stores nationwide and discontinued catalog sales.




Additional Links


5 Genuinely offensive fonts:

Nueland and Lithos as stereotypography

Casual racism and the chop stick font