Sorry, We're Closed for Business

Nice lettering on the window transoms of an old print shop in St. Louis. Anyone looking for a print studio?
:: Via dj denim's Flickrstream.

Carnival Type Gone Bad

Kerning people! That C is ready to fall off the cliff. Spotted at the Lakefair Midway in Olympia, Washington. 
:: Via the Letterology archives.

The F UN SLIDE.
:: Via Wired magazine online by K. Maziarz.

The Zipper also needs to zip up its' kerning.
:: Via Matt Marshall's flickrstream.

You can fly a plane right through the Super Sizz ler signage in Bowie, Maryland.
::Via Bowie Living.

Is it that hard to come up with another font aside from Souvenir for the word souvenirs? Perhaps one with true small caps even? Seen at the souvenir stand at the Lakefair Midway in Olympia, Washington. 
:: Via the Letterology archives.

The Land of Lost Letters

Misbegotten signage as seen in the cultural corridor of Las Vegas, Nevada. I've never actually visited, but this neon boneyard is now on my destination travel vacation list—like a trip to dreamland. This land of lost letters officially known as the Neon Museum, is a sanctioned public non-profit preserve and home to spent slab serifs and burned out blackletter House of Lord's Steak House signs. Just try and find another mobil park sign with true small caps like the Tropicana Mobil Park sign. And a swash neon R? Won't happen! I sense an upcoming roadtrip to this burned out neon letterland. If you go, be sure to book a reservation in advance and bring sunscreen!
:: As seen on the Idsgn Flickr site.

Open for Business

Commercial signs from a type specimen catalog circa 1884-1906 via DoubleM2

The First iRapture

Photo by Amy Rolph/seattlepi.com

I'm backkkk. No it wasn't the rapture. It's been a week of grading, business, travel and service interruptions, but I've saved up a few things to post soon. With another anticipated judgement day just a week away, I thought I would share a local sighting of a billboard on Aurora Avenue, one of our finest corridors of signage proliferation in North Seattle. I think if anyone is judged on judgement day, it will be the marketing department of the WeCanKnow.org, the official site of the Family Radio group predicting the end of times next Saturday, May 21st. Don't they know how ridiculous their signage looks with the random alignment and such a goofy layout? And witness their traveling Noah Knew bus and billboard below with the nod to the 2008 Obama campaign and the period in the headline. What's most interesting is that this may be the first iRapture ever. The WeCanKnow people want to encourage the use of technology for witnessing on the 21st. You can download books for the Kindle, organize scriptures and audio commentaries on your iPod Touch and "use internet radio to play the Family Radio from anywhere". Meaning you can listen from heaven or hell? No, I'm afraid that would just be called hell. Sorry class—homework will still be due on the following week.

PRINtNG

Sign of the times. This thing belongs in a museum somewhere. sigh.
:: Photo by Dave van Hulsteyn, 2005, titled Palm Tree, San Bernadino. 

Thanks For Visiting, Please Come Again

My discovery this past weekend of this tiny little welcome flag banner tucked inside the 1936 catalog, Encyclopedia of Sunday School Supplies, was quite accidental. Perfect timing however to personally welcome everyone who has stopped off recently to visit Letterology for their first time or a return visit. It makes me so pleased to see all the flurry of activity the past few days from all corners of the globe. However you arrived here, the welcome banners are flying.

Letterology originally began several years ago as a forum to share material with my students, but it quickly became apparent there was a much wider audience with interests in book design and typography. I try to post somewhat regularly as time affords—and I often try to keep the content original (but not always) and provide minimal commentary and credits wherever possible. When I find something of relevance to books or typography which makes me smile, is particularly brilliant, inspirational, or truly amazing, I will post it. On occasion I try to share some of my student's work which is never frequent enough. Sadly, my Experimental Typography class, or xType as I called it, gave way to a User Interface | User Experience class this school quarter so there may be even less student work to share here for a while. Since handlettering and experiments with type and text continue to be one of my favorite topics, I fully intend to continue including it here along with more posts about typewriters, office supplies, ephemera, printing, signage, letterforms, historical design influences, packaging, the business of design and the world of the book. I have no idea where this will lead or how long it will continue, but I would be delighted to have you join me. Welcome to my hood!

House Numbers

From Roland Hormann's historic walking tour of Vienna, Austria. 

:: From Lincolnian's set of house numbers 1 to 100.

Say it Loud

See more of the best protest signs from Egypt.

Vintage Sign Art of the Nutmegger Workshop

 

Peter Vogel of Nutmegger Workshop in Portland, Oregon produces handcrafted sign art that celebrates the historic typography of an earlier era—when the only thing Oregon was known for was the Trail. And he does it very well I might add!

Show of Hands

Hands are very useful graphic devices. In addition to being used as marginalia markers (see previous post), they signal directions and assist navigation, they are used for signage, communication, logomarks and they can represent something handcrafted. We have all seen illustrations of hands—good and bad. Most obvious hands that come to my mind are: the Like symbol hand, A-ok hand, crossed-finger hand, the finger hand, the praying hands, Mr. Hand—I'm not even going there.

Here are some of my favorite illustrated hands I've encountered over the past several weeks:
1. Hershey's Chocolate spec work, Elvis Swift
2. Wood engraving, Alexander Anderson
3. 1972 postcard for New Hampshire Craftsman's Fair, Sheaff Ephemera
4. Figural Cameo, Sheaff Ephemera
5. 2-sided trade card for M. Westbrook, Sheaff ephemera
6. Enamel signage for enquiries (sorry, cannot recall origin)
7. Image from typewriter manual, Takeabreak photostream
8. Left/right/not straight, Timothy Evans photostream
9. Austrian brochure illustration for Mauracher Hof, Martin Haake

From the Sad Signage File

Photo of shop front taken in Wellington, NZ by Mark Woodland.
It is geo-tagged here.

America Needs Typography 101

Aside from all of the tedium and negativity during this long election season, there is one thing that has become crystal clear to me: America needs to learn how to make their own signage. It's like learning how to make a good thought bubble, except without Comic Sans. The comic relief on the other hand, displayed at the Sanity/Fear Rally in DC a couple days ago, was a welcomed pleasure to see. America still does have a great sense of humor. Well, most of us do. Those that have learned how to use their indoor voice instead of shouting that is. And this is what gives me great hope – and graphic designers job security – so long as people can still read I guess. Here are just a few out takes of Stewart and Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in DC on Saturday to bear witness. See many more great signs here and here and here.