Posts Tagged ‘typography’

ghost typography

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Over the past year or two one side effect of the Global Banking Brouhaha has been a lot of high street retail refitting, briefly uncovering glimpses of signage and typography hidden for many years.  If not quite as revelatory as Tutenkhamun’s tomb, these archaeological micro-events on the high street nonetheless show fascinating traces of old graphic design, rendered more intriguing by incompleteness.

Without nightvision cameras, bogus paranormal experts, or suggestible members of the public these glimpses reveal eerie traces of the past lives of type. In most cases the letters’ physical presence is long departed, their spirit inferred by shadows, fixing holes and accumulated detritus. Like some new kind of Kirlian photography the remaining traces hint at life and energy absent from the image.

Such marks are usually revealed fleetingly and soon cleaned up or built over. The above delicately shaded façade of a former Sketchleys branch is now sadly as pristine as its former customers’ shirts and suits.  So keep your eyes peeled. The truth is out there, but not for long. Further evidence may be revealed from time to time here.

we want… information

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

I put up a shed last weekend (yes, the designer lifestyle is that glamorous):  two days of stressful toil lengthened in no small part by the appalling quality of the ‘instructions’ provided: 14 pages of verbal and visual redundancy, irrelevance and confusion.  Well what did I expect for £99?

Most products arrive with scant, inaccurate or misleading information for assembly and use.  Many well-designed consumer products neglect information as part of the product experience, leading to returns, safety issues, customer dissatisfaction and erosion of brand loyalty.   This seems overwhelmingly the norm and we are accustomed to sucking up all the wasted time, the frustration and stress, and moving on with our lives.  Why are ‘instructions’ such a design-free zone? (more…)

simple

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

apple

An explosion of communication and choice in recent decades has created the global climate of information overload that we are only now beginning to find ways to properly navigate.  The rise of the iPhone app and the price comparison website shows the information economy at work and there is growing recognition of the value of designing access to information.  But what took us so long?

In our personal areas of interest choice can seem miraculous: I can get my favourite version of my favourite song in less than 60 seconds; we can have customised trainers designed in-store; you can get your flat white-half-caff-soy-frappe-latte-cino just the way you like it in a coffee shop anywhere in the world (a distant time it was when coffee was purchased in only one of two states: black or white).  But in general, relentless second-by-second decision-making is required to navigate a deep sea of visual noise. Negotiating our choices can lead to unprecedented fatigue, confusion, stress – and disinterest.  As expectations rise, consumers are increasingly losing their patience. How do we solve this problem?

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Comic Sans apocalypse

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Well that’s it then. The End of Days. Armageddon. Civilization? all over. I have seen a sign: Someone with sufficient cash for a brand new Bentley has seen fit to customize it not only with a personalised license plate (tacky, but unsurprising) – but one set in design’s least favourite typeface: Comic Sans.

Momentarily traumatised whilst driving I failed to whip out the phone camera to record this portent of doom or to note particulars for the design police, but trust me – its out there somewhere… (more…)