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Shownotes for Episode #2

In this episode we've picked a name for our show, we discuss the]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:02:22 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1084805 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1081968 This is an alternate cover I designed for the Franz Kafka novel The Metamorphosis. My idea was to depict an]]> Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:27:50 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1081968 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1075896 nameourdesignshow:

Shownotes for Episode 1

Faber and Faber]]> Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:17:05 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1075896 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1073683 On the theme of taking inspiration from other media, this is a recent academic project I completed. The idea was to capture motion in a static poster. The subject is a Savannah College of Art and Design Academic Calendar. For this particular poster, legibly was less important than feeling and experience. If you'd like to see a larger version, click here.

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:46:42 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1073683 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1058378 Somehow this evolved from the letter Q. I was working on some custom type and accidentally deleted an anchor point. Before I hit command+z I recognized something in it. A few extra strokes and some type on the bottom and we've got a logo. Sometimes a mistake can be a nice break from monotony, or at least a good chuckle.

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:14:12 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1058378 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1058377 Just having some more fun with ambigrams. This one is a rotational perceptual shift that reads graphic or design.]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:14:12 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1058377 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1051745 I've been really fascinated with ambigrams recently. I've found them to be a great form of custom logo type with a set of really interesting challenges. The many restrictions in design end up forcing you to find creative ways to render letterforms to be legible in multiple directions and degrees of rotation. Anyway, I thought I'd try a mirror ambigram for 'tumblr' (in two weights).

]]> Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:15:42 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1051745 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1049891

I'm in the process designing some new business cards for myself so I've been playing with cards and thinking about how people interact with them. One of the first things I've noticed about when you hand someone a card is that you often times will hand it upside down and watch them flip it right side up to read it. It doesn't seem like a huge problem, but what if it just weren't a problem at all? Well, that's what I'm wondering, so I started working on an rotational ambigram of my first name to perhaps solve that problem. A logo that can work any way you pick up my card.

After the initial idea I've discovered that it can be very tricky to make type work at 0]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:10:56 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1049891 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1045641 This is a project for a design class, a two color poster on any subject. I decided to design an unofficial poster for the film Objectified. Included are designs from Dieter Rams, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Peter Behrens, Jonathan Ive, Naoto Fukasawa, Chris Bangle, and Karim Rashid amongst others. Click the here for a larger view.

]]> Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:35:17 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/1045641 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/991603

The font you're seeing above is called Ecofont. I've seen this pop up on a few design and type blogs as a way to save ink by removing circles from letterforms while still mainting a recognizable character. As the ecofont site puts it:

Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink. Free to download, free to use.

Above I've set it in 90pt type so you can see it's makeup and at 10pt, as recommended for on screen purposes on the ecofont site (they don't however recomend a size for print). With all that said, I do have to wonder if ecofont is at all effective. Consider the following:

1. Generally when setting text type, one must set sans-serif text faces a bit larger and with a bit more leading than a tradional serif text face. Since ecofont is a sans-serif, larger letters require more ink and larger letters + more leading = more paper used.
2. Acording to the ecofont site, ecofont is based on Verdana. Verdana was originally designed specifically for the screen. If one were trying to design a font intended for saving ink and therefore to print, wouldn't one start with a basis intended for print?

It does seem like an interesting idea and according to ecofont's site, the font can save up to 20% of your ink, but wouldn't setting your type in a serif at a smaller point size with less leading end up saving more ink and paper?

]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:00:36 -0800 http://virb.com/mattm/posts/text/991603