The Man Everybody Loves To Hate

Soundtrack: "Disarm" by The Smashing Pumpkins

People in the graphic design world love to hate David Carson.  Especially this guy.  Actually, as an aside, I have not even heard the name Joe Clark before.  And in his postscript he comes off even more self-righteous and egotistical than Carson.  Way to be a dick, guy.

Anyway, David Carson is someone who is reviled because he breaks rules.  When he was art director for Ray Gun magazine he would do kooky things like set articles in dingbats (his reasoning was that the article was very poorly written), run lines of type together and layer them so they became strange messes and nests of typographic oddness, and utilize abstract and experimental photography and illustration.  It was a thankless job.  The readers appreciated it, I know I did when I was just a teenager, but the graphic design community did not take kindly to his brand of design.  It was artistic, free-spirited, dynamic... God forbid!

As the world has moved towards homogenization, individuality is being replaced by standardization.  Designers are taught that we should use a grid, that we should make our design projects adhere to certain standards, and that our material is required to have accessibility in mind.  They are good rules to learn, but after designers leave school they are so indoctrinated that many of them cannot think outside the box.  Instead of serving design, they serve the process.

Carson does not have a background in graphic design.  His background is surfing and sociology.  Before he was hired as the art director for Transworld Skateboarding and later Beach Culture, he was a high school teacher in San Diego.  He came to graphic design through the bohemian beach culture of Southern California, his background is people.  So who better as an art director and visual communicator than David Carson?

The work he did in the 90's is not as relevant today as it once was, but culture is cyclical.  I'm already starting to see a revival of Paula Scher's bold typographical style, and grunge typography is starting to resurface.  I have a feeling that very soon the can of worms Carson opened will once again be opened.  I can't wait.

No More War And No More Soldiers

Soundtrack: “With Every Light” by The Smashing Pumpkins.

I apologize for the long stretch of time between posts. I've had a lot stewing on my stove, so to speak. There is stuff I want to talk about, but for the last two or three weeks I just have not had any creative drive whatsoever.

I am going to get personal again for just a little bit. I am making a compromise of sorts. I am laying down my weapons because I am tired of fighting. Being right is not worth the trouble I have gone through. I am no longer going to agonize over what is “good” or “right” or “just”. I do not care about things that do not concern me. From this point on I am simply going to live like every day is my last day.

I have always been a very competitive person, but mostly with myself. And I am sick of beating myself up over everything. It is going to take some work, I know, but I cannot justify being miserable and agonizing over the little things. It is time to not just look at the big picture, but obliterate anything that gets in the way of the big picture. That means killing a lot of darlings, as they say in the literary world. It also means focusing on my needs for once. I have been putting everyone before me and sacrificing so much, and people do not give back. So fuck 'em.

But I still love. I still have a love for people who inspire and give just as much, and sometimes more, than I. I still love what I do, but I am going to find a new catalyst a new outlet. No more doing penny jobs for friends, I am going to aim high. And I am going to work hard to form lasting relationships with people who are tied to the graphic design world. I am going to make the most of these relationships. And I am going to spread the work of my friends and colleagues because they deserve it.

I will start with Pete Harrison. Based in the UK, Pete is the mastermind behind Aeiko.net and Funkrush Clothing. And I would have to say that Pete is my favorite designer right now. Maybe ever. His typography work is amazing. He is constantly finding new and exciting ways to represent those pesky 26 letters of the alphabet. So do yourself a favor and go check his work out. It blew me away and I am a cynical designer who’s seen just about everything.

Look ma, the sun is shining on me.

A Microsoft Type Thing

Soundtrack: “Identity Theft” by Vaux

I know I complain about Microsoft a lot, but I don't want people to get the impression that I indiscriminately hate them. On the contrary, in fact. I do enjoy many of their products and innovations. OpenType has to be my favorite of these innovations, but as someone who deals with web design daily, ClearType is a close second.

To be honest I am surprised that Microsoft came up with it and not someone else. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but ClearType is a literally a new way of looking typography in the way that it allows digital type to be more readable on the screen. Microsoft in the past has done some things for web design that have been innovative as well as some things that have been annoying. Microsoft FrontPage is one of the annoying things they've come up with, but on the Typography front they have been somewhat helpful. Since Windows 95 was first released Microsoft has been releasing a steady stream of web and screen friendly typefaces like Georgia and Verdana. I am not a huge fan of Verdana's clunky stature, but Georgia is perfect as a screen font. In fact, as you read this blog you are enjoying Georgia’s pleasant proportions and large x-height.

This brings me back to ClearType. Microsoft’s screen fonts were a great step forward in pushing design for the computer screen forward. But Microsoft’s typography division was not satisfied. So for several years now they have been working on a new of way of rendering screen fonts called ClearType.

The story goes like this: the main reason that Microsoft has been pushing forward in the area of digital typography is pretty simple. The majority of typefaces are designed for print. Helvetica and Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, Futura, Optima, even Lucida... they are all designed for print. That means they look great on paper. Books, flyers and posters, packaging, and everything else you can print. And many of them translate well to the screen at larger weights. But once you get below about 10 point, the elegant figures of a typeface like Garmond become hard to read because of resolution. See, print has a high resolution. Your average laser printer prints at 300 dpi, or dots per inch. Your average screen resolution is 96 ppi, or pixels per inch. This means that a laser printer has over three times the resolution of your computer monitor. No, junior, not even your “high resolution” LCD screen can compare. And so Microsoft has invented ClearType, which uses what is called sub-pixel rendering to make typefaces look good. Now spindly script typefaces won’t look like pure crap. Elegant faces like Garamond will show up halfway decent on screen. But Microsoft didn’t stop there. They didn't just want a new way of rendering type, they wanted to show it off.

What do people who care about typography do so that the default typeface looks good in both print and web? Commission a whole slew of new fonts that do just that. And that is what Microsoft has done. And they developed these new typefaces in conjunction with ClearType, so they are guaranteed to look good. I have to say, as a typography nut they look really good. I was impressed. No clunky Verdana. No old and tired Courier. Just six really solid typefaces. Wanna see them? Sure you do.

The crazy thing about this is that ClearType has been around as long as Windows XP has. A few years back Mister Usability himself, Jakob Neilsen wrote about how ClearType has the potential to save a company an average of $2000 dollars per employee per year. But you have to turn in on.

Thinking About Type

Soundtrack: “Bayonetwork: Vultures In Vivid Color” by Norma Jean

Let’s talk about typography. Because it's important that we do.

Back some time ago Joe was giving me grief about being a typophile, and he said something along the lines of “I don't obsess about what font I use.” That statement has stayed with me for this entire time and in fact it has actually bothered me. And I think I now know why. Our world is filled with people who do not care about good typography, and that scares me because as a result it means they are saying they do not care about communication or language.

That’s why I am here, to once more make people care about these things.

First off we need to establish some proper terminology and vocabulary. The typeface that this blog is formatted with is not a font. Nor is a font another way of saying typeface. Do not tell me to change the font because I won’t. Instead tell me to try a different typeface. Because I can do that.

Now that we have some proper groundwork laid down, let’s talk about why typography is important. Typography is the way that words are visually communicated to the reader. In the old days people would write things like letters by hand. If you wanted something typeset you took it to a typesetter. The typesetter knew his trade and therefore you didn't have to know about typography. A little later typewriters came along, but nobody had to worry about typeface selection because there was one, and it was monospaced so nobody had to know about kerning or tracking or any of that. And then the personal computer was invented. So now we live in an age where everyone in some way is an author of communication and it is important that everyone be able to communicate properly.

What does this mean?

It means you have to learn something, Einstein. It means you need to become educated in how to properly communicate to the masses, and to do that you need to learn about typography. Why do you need to do that? Because you don't have the typesetter anymore. You have a computer. You have an available internet connection. You are ready to start bringing your ideas to the masses. So do it the right way.

I am not going to go through everything you need to know here. It would take far too long and I just don't have the time. But I will show you. There are many great web sites out there that can tell you about typography. Thinking With Type is one of them, and I think the best. It skips the history lesson and goes straight into the nuts and bolts. It tells you what you need to know about properly using typography. And it even has links. So go there. Drink in their wonderful knowledge. And use it, for goodness sake. You don't need to go overboard and make all of your emails works of design genius, but at least try to make your website look like it wasn't designed a five year old. Because I don't know if I told you this or not, but... it totally does.