Alphabet City Press

11 April 201311 April 2013

Saturn

One of the great benefits of being a book designer is the exposure to varied and interesting subject matter. During the course of a project, especially one that takes several months, you can become submerged in the text and images to such an extent that you turn into a temporary expert in the field. It wears off after a while and you forget the names of rare cloud formations, how to identify a tadpole species, the complete history of polar exploration or the difference between a chugger popper and a bibless minnow. However, half a dozen volumes on astronomy later, I am left with an enduring (if less than expert) interest in the night sky. Last year I visited Mauna Kea and the Keck Observatory and was surprised, and a little thrilled, to see in use a very well-thumbed copy of one of ‘my’ books. This week Keck has announced that astronomers have discovered rain falling from the rings of Saturn, which is pretty exciting and brings back all the wonder of seeing Saturn through a telescope at the best stargazing place in the world. Oh, and the typeface, Saturn Return, is from Dinctype.

8 April 20138 April 2013

The Rio

I’ve been seeing quite a few shop awnings lately which feature this cursive writing style. The Rio looks like it has seen better days, but the writing is pleasingly elegant and surprisingly well preserved compared to its companions. And I like the mix of colour and texture of the building above it – the falling-off shingles and the painted brick and the splash of terracotta on the windowsill.

5 April 20135 April 2013

93

Impact was designed in 1965 by Geoffrey Lee for British type foundry Stephenson Blake. Stephenson Blake was the last active type foundry in Britain, producing type in zinc as late as 2001. When it closed in 2005 its typographic equipment, by then commercially worthless but historically priceless, was passed on to Monotype and the London Type Museum. Impact, with its thick strokes and compressed letterspacing, was intended, as its name suggests, for impact. It is a typeface best used for headlines rather than body text. Or really, really big numbers, like this one.

2 April 20132 April 2013

Spam

Back in pre-Comic Sans days, Souvenir topped the list as one of the most disliked typefaces among typographers. Souvenir is an old style serif typeface, originally designed in 1914 by Morris Fuller Benton for American Type Founders as a single weight. In 1967 Ed Benguit re-drew Souvenir for the Photo-Lettering Corporation, and when the International Typeface Corporation was formed in 1971 it issued his design as ITC Souvenir and then hired him to draw additional weights. Souvenir was hugely popular in the 1970s, and no doubt its overuse is the reason it is considered so distasteful. I can’t bring myself to use Souvenir but I do like the pattern it creates in the blue and yellow stacks of packaging. I can’t bring myself to eat Spam either—but that has nothing to do with the use of Souvenir.

30 March 201330 March 2013

Birds

Even by itself I would like this worn Shelleys drinks sign, painted on the wall of what would undoubtedly have once been a corner milk bar, but what makes it stand out is the addition of the row of red stencilled birds. Who knows whether they mean anything or if they are just some whimsical spur of the moment addition. I suspect that they were embellishments put there by one of a string of proprietors, but whoever it was, they are long gone.

27 March 201327 March 2013

Incinerator

Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin came to Australia from the United States in 1912, when they won the international competition to design Canberra. (Those roundabouts — what were they thinking!) Walter Burley Griffin designed the Willoughby Incinerator in the 1930s, after they had moved to Castlecrag. It was constructed as part of an employment initiative during the Great Depression, and in the 1960s was saved from demolition and was subsequently heritage listed. In its time it has operated as a sewerage plant, a restaurant, an office, and after its most recent restoration has become a community art studio space and gallery. The Griffins believed that architecture and landscape should be harmonious and that buildings should integrate into their surroundings, and this is certainly a fine example.

24 March 201324 March 2013

Pizzeria

This pizza man could well be holding up an artist’s palette, but then again, maybe he is! He certainly looks proud enough of his work. Some years ago I worked just around the corner from this Italian restaurant and enjoyed many a good lunch there — brief respite from the awfulness of the job — but I had forgotten about this man. Recently I happened upon him again, pleased to see he is still there. And everyone loves a good pizza, so here, in alphabetical order because there is no other way to rank them, is my top five.

Frankie’s, Mendocino, California
Kings View Cafe, Kapaau, Hawaii
La Disfida, Haberfield, NSW
Pizza Cafe at the Grand, Mildura, NSW
Pizzeria Due, Chicago, Illinois

21 March 201321 March 2013

Door 5

It is widely believed that black on yellow is the best colour combination for readability and visibility. Yellow and black does have the highest contrast, but high contrast doesn’t necessarily equal readability. It’s true that black and yellow might work well for road signs, police tape or door numbers painted on brick, but much less true for 8pt serif type on a computer monitor. It reminds me of the time when all the zebra crossings were yellow – highly visible on tarmac, especially in the rain. Then came the safety campaign for yellow raincoats for schoolkids (I can still hear that jingle: ‘wearing yellow raincoats is the best protection yet’), which of course was anything but safe – the kids in yellow raincoats all but disappeared on the matching yellow zebra crossings! It was a farce: the campaign was so successful that white raincoats were replaced by yellow ones, but there were so many accidents due to reduced visibility they had to make all the zebra crossings white!

18 March 201317 March 2013

American Typewriter

ITC American Typewriter is a proportionally spaced typewriter typeface. It was adapted from monospaced typewriter styles by type designers Joel Kaden and Tony Stan in 1974 and was first used as cold type. Cold type – typesetting such as photocomposition done without the casting of metal – became widespread in the 1960s, but was subsequently outmoded by the rise of desktop publishing and the use of digital type. Everyone knows what American Typewriter looks like whether they realise it or not: graphic designer Milton Glaser used it to create the I love NY logo in 1977. The logo has become a widely recognised symbol and the original concept sketch and presentation boards are part of MoMAs permanent collection.

15 March 201315 March 2013

Post office

Government architect Walter Liberty Vernon was responsible for public buildings such as the Mitchell Library, the Art Gallery of NSW, Fisher Library and Central Station — all pretty impressive works. But what I like most is his introduction of the Arts and Craft style to the design of Sydney’s post offices, fire stations and courthouses. Many feature this distinctive and decorative signage style, and Annandale Post Office, build in 1896, has a particularly fine example — well aged and in excellent condition.