Monday
May092011

A Long-Locked Trio

She of the chartreuse locks, Miss Eve Adams, hails from Uranus, a mining planet famed for its spectacular gems. Obviously, since she is bedecked in diamonds literally from head to foot. Her skin is so white it’s a fair call that she spends most of her time underground, although she washes up pretty shiny. Here she matches her dress to her hair, because monotone dressing is slimming after all. Anything to tone down those broad miner’s shoulders…

On the other hand, Miss Saturn, a midget art teacher with a colourful flair for décolletage work attire, is ‘nicely tanned’ because Saturn is blessed with four suns and eight moons. I believe those indeed are feathers plucked from the tail of the legendary mellifluous pluviaavis, (or Dulcet Rainbird in the common Saturnese tongue), that are trimming Miss Rilla Bow’s minidress.

The Jup-Jups (as the inhabitants of Jupiter are called) are a happy lot. Although their planet is Earth-like, the Jup-Jups’ delicate pink skin and hair – as well as their pacific nature – clearly sets them apart from us Terrans. Miss Sally Boyden, a dancer, wears a satin teddy featuring a ruffle down the front of the bustier. Her attire hints at the fact that Miss Boyden quite possibly dances at a cabaret rather than the National Ballet.

While in my youth I awarded Miss Uranus a third prize, it is Miss Jupiter that I am rather fond of today.

Next time on the Inter Universe Beauty Channel we’ll meet a little green Martian; a citizen of the Amalgamated Minor Planets and Asteroid Belt Unified Collective; and a veritable Plutonian goddess. Stay tuned!

Check out the Galaxy Gallery for the full series.

Saturday
May072011

No Sign of Talens Billboard

All this talk of Eckersley’s earlier this week made me recall the old Talens mural that was once painted on the side of the current building.

I went to college not far from Eckersley’s, and this was the closest art supply shop to the campus. Sometimes my friends and I used to go on a supply run, and we would walk along the railway line to the store.

You could always see the enormous Talens billboard from a distance, painted on the wall facing the railway cutting. It was the same character as in this vintage poster, but he was a little more swashbuckling. If I remember correctly, he wielded a brush that swooshed the large red tail of the ‘s’ across the base of the advertisement.

I was quite sad when I saw one day that they had painted over it, and couldn’t even find a sign of it on the internet. It’s such a pity when these nostalgic old landmarks disappear with the times. 

Thursday
May052011

Floating off on Summer Dreams

‘Lucy in the Sky’, Chesterfield, United Kingdom, by copefan; camera: Polaroid SLR680; film: Impossible Project PX600 BetaIsn’t this lomograph Lucy in the Sky just like a dreamscape? The colours are so soft and pretty I feel like I am floating off to sleep – to dream of castles in the sky. And the second image (below) instantly made me think of Monet’s haystack paintings, the scratchy hay warm with summer.

Both photographs are by Copefan and can be found on their page on the Lomography website.

Chesterfield, United Kingdom, by copefan; camera: Polaroid SLR680; film: Impossible Project PX600 Beta

Wednesday
May042011

(Typo)graphic

Detail of Luke Lucas’ catalogue cover for Eckersley’s. Click for link to full image. While we’re on the subject of fonts… I loved this poster advertising the art and craft supplies store Eckersley’s ‘back to uni’ catalogue, by typographer Luke Lucas. I loved that the tactile text was created with modelling clay – it looks so squidgy. Again, a ‘typeface’ that is fun is used for a design that does not take itself too seriously.

Illustration by Erin HenryEckersley’s then went on to run a competition based on this concept: illustrated type. The winner (above) went for black and white drawings, but I’m rather partial to the poster that won fourth prize. I love the visual pun in the vein of Lucas’ original poster: a literal ‘design tool’ that creates the type. 

Monday
May022011

Too Many Fonts?

Just for fun: a bit of Romantically Yours, Ringlet, Brandy Script and De LouisvilleSome people are quite fascist about font usage. They will tell you not to use more than two typefaces per project. They will tell you to do so is bad design practice. If you are lucky they will allow you to use varying weights. Or if you are VERY, very lucky, you will be permitted to use an extra font for the headings. Otherwise it can be too confusing for the poor little readers because they won’t be able to navigate the page and their poor little heads will get all bamboozled by font overload. Booooo to pedestrian communication! Down with Font Fascists I say!*

Because sometimes bad design can be good. It can be fun. It can be tongue-in-cheeky; it can be clever. It can express good old-fashioned joie de vivre. Just scroll down for the evidence.

Down with Font Fascists I say!

Abstract typographic design made with Letraset, by Lander Janssens

Typographic design, by Gemma Correll

Typographic map, by Craig Ward

*DISCLAIMER

Of course, this technique of employing several fonts in one design still requires discretion and a good eye: employing few words, and a minimal design that is easy to read. Typography styled in different fonts can also be used to great effect to create a pictorial design that is not necessarily read in its entirety; or to mimic the look of historical art and design movements, such as Dada.

Read this great article about Massimo Vignelli’s provocative declaration that designers use too many typefaces, and there are only 12 good ones that should suffice for all the work we do.