Forty years on from ‘the first masterpiece in comic-book history’, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist talks fame, switching styles and why he doesn’t want to draw Trump
Maus on over to the Guardian. (Sorry.)
It’s Nice That: We dive into a new archive of over 1,000 book covers from the Arab world
Egyptian designer Moe Elhossieny talks us through why he launched his Design Repository and what he’s already learned about Arabic book design from the collection.
Ars: Publishers worry as ebooks fly off libraries’ virtual shelves
One thing I never read, if possible: ebooks. That said, in these strange times, they are what folks need — and, because these are strange times, it’s causing problems. Ars Technica has the story.
Jazz Musician Lettering
The history of the album cover and show poster begins with jazz.
Typeset in the Future on Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Lots and lots covered here, including things this huge fan of the movie never knew — including specifics on the fonts, type, and more. When you have a few minutes, grab a beverage and enjoy!
Martin Glaser dies (3 updates)
Martin Glaser, of I [Heart] NY fame — among many others — died yesterday at 91. Dylan covers forevermore! Here’s the Guardian with the news.
Update: Dezeen has a few items in their story, too.
Update, July 1: Dezeen has a great list of some of Graser’s more notable works (vodka excepted…;). See here.
Update, July 10: The Guardian‘s obit.
Columbia Journalism Review on capitalizing “Black”
“At the Columbia Journalism Review, we capitalize Black, and not white, when referring to groups in racial, ethnic, or cultural terms. For many people, Blackreflects a shared sense of identity and community. White carries a different set of meanings; capitalizing the word in this context risks following the lead of white supremacists.”
Read more of this timely and appropriate article (from a great and authoritative source.)
Hyperallergic on Letterform Archives
“The digital Letterform Archive has made nearly 1,500 objects accessible to browse online through over 9,000 high-resolution images,” Hyperallergic notes. Some good background here, too. Check it out.
“A book to showcase an intriguing collection.”
BBC on “Iconic” Book Covers
“Book design has become more important than ever – but what makes an iconic jacket, asks Clare Thorp.” BBC Culture takes a look.
Adobe updates logo, program icons
“Evolving our brand identity,” Adobe said in a May 28 blog post. “Evolved” is the right word, too, as things aren’t changed all that much. I will comment, though, that the PDF/Acrobat logo and icon have yet to change as suggested in the post; maybe they will soon. (Oh, and, LrC is kinda clunky for Lightroom Classic. Picky, picky.)
50 Books, 50 Covers (2019 Edition)
Once again, it’s time for the annual 50 Books, 50 Covers awards!
My favorites: Blackness at MoMA, Specimen Days, 14 books by Gustavo Piqueira • 2012-2018), Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, and … not all of them, certainly. Interesting and challenging. Definitely worth checking out!
Text for Proofing Fonts, from H&Co.
Type designers love a good pangram. Pangrams, of course, are sentences that contain each letter of the alphabet at least once, of which the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog is surely the most famous. […] I find them singularly useless in type design, and I don’t use them in my work.
Find out what does work over at Hoefler&Co. with another fantastic post on type design.
NYU takes book design online
Washington Square News discusses NYU’s attempts to — like pretty much everything else — get book design online:
The studio course focuses on book art and teaches students about the production of books, from interior and exterior design to binding techniques. Without the physical studio space and the materials it provides, digital learning has paved an unprecedented pathway for the course to continue.
H&Co on book … uh, types (for the times)
Five typography-adjacent books for indoor times, from Johnathan Hoefler:
All five share a sincerity, an attention to detail, and a sense of humor that has kept me smiling for weeks.