Too Many Fonts?
Just for fun: a bit of Romantically Yours, Ringlet, Brandy Script and De LouisvilleSome people are quite fascist about font usage. They will tell you not to use more than two typefaces per project. They will tell you to do so is bad design practice. If you are lucky they will allow you to use varying weights. Or if you are VERY, very lucky, you will be permitted to use an extra font for the headings. Otherwise it can be too confusing for the poor little readers because they won’t be able to navigate the page and their poor little heads will get all bamboozled by font overload. Booooo to pedestrian communication! Down with Font Fascists I say!*
Because sometimes bad design can be good. It can be fun. It can be tongue-in-cheeky; it can be clever. It can express good old-fashioned joie de vivre. Just scroll down for the evidence.
Down with Font Fascists I say!
Abstract typographic design made with Letraset, by Lander Janssens
Typographic design, by Gemma Correll
Typographic map, by Craig Ward
*DISCLAIMER
Of course, this technique of employing several fonts in one design still requires discretion and a good eye: employing few words, and a minimal design that is easy to read. Typography styled in different fonts can also be used to great effect to create a pictorial design that is not necessarily read in its entirety; or to mimic the look of historical art and design movements, such as Dada.
Read this great article about Massimo Vignelli’s provocative declaration that designers use too many typefaces, and there are only 12 good ones that should suffice for all the work we do.
Riding the Zebra
‘Spring Fabrics and Original Vogue Designs’, British Vogue, January 1926; illustration by André-Edouard Marty.May is synonymous with the celebration of spring, dancing round Maypoles, exchanging flowers for kisses, that sort of thing. But not in Australia. It’s not spring here; it’s the last month of autumn, and Melbourne is overcast and sombre.
This image on my calendar, however, is delightfully frivolous enough to distract me from the gloomy aspect beyond my window. Who has ever ridden a zebra you might wonder? In fact, it can be done and has been done. The first doctor in Kenya used a zebra to convey him on house calls in 1907.
Perhaps the artist, André-Edouard Marty, was inspired by the real-life adventures of the American documentary filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson. This intrepid couple travelled on safari between 1917 and 1936, capturing the public’s imagination with titles such as Among the Cannibal Isles of the South Seas (1918), Jungle Adventures (1921) and Osa’s Four Years in Paradise (1941).
I doubt very much that Osa ever wore an evening gown on zebraback though…
Happy May to you!
Osa Johnson riding a zebra, 1924. Photo from the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum.
Easter Bunny Hoop Disco Dancer Man
Easter Bunny Hoop Disco Dancer Man :: Kaimal Mark II // Cano Cafenol // RedEye GelI captured the Easter Bunny Hoop Disco Dancer Man on Easter Sunday, performing at Federation Square in Melbourne, along with a troupe of other equally incongruously costumed men.
My friend and I were walking past, on our way to the NGV International to see the Peacock portion of the ManStyle exhibition, when this hilarious guy caught my eye.
We stopped to watch, and I wish I could recall the disco anthem the Easter Bunny Hoop Disco Dancer Man was groovin’ along to, but alas, memory fails me. Aren’t his legwarmers and bunny bonnet delish though?
The Top 53
MATT CONNOLLY, ‘Untitled’ from the ‘Skin’ series, pen and ink, Swinburne Senior Secondary College, Hawthorn; WILL SUTHERLAND, ‘Coyote?’, oil stick, oil pastel, synthetic polymer paint, chalk, pastel and pencil, Scotch College, HawthornOn the weekend I headed to the gallery to check out the Top Arts 2010 exhibition. Top Arts showcases Victoria’s most talented art students graduating from high school, and is in its 17th year. Over 1800 students apply, and this year only 53 of them were accepted.
KATE NELSON, ‘One last sip’, porcelain and porcellaneous stoneware, Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School, Canterbury
Top Arts (formerly Top Cats, which was a much more fun title) is always enjoyable, and I try to view it every year. For the most part I deliberately don’t read the explanatory text that accompanies the artwork. Many of the students fumble inarticulately for some profound rationalisation for their art, but although it often sounds juvenile presumably it is a requirement for their assessment. I, however, am not a teacher, so I prefer to let the art speak for itself. These pictured here were some of my favourites.
Go check out the exhibition if you’re in the state, and see what it says to you. It’s on at the Ian Potter Gallery, NGV at Federation Square, until 19 June. Read more at The Underage.
Images: Matt Connolly image from The Underage; all other images from WA Today.
DEMI GERARDI, ‘A series of absurd events’ (detail), colour inkjet prints, Ballarat High School, Ballarat
JUSTIN WHITELOCK, ‘Bursting water balloon’, type C photographs, Ballarat High School, Ballarat; MARISA LAI, ‘Unit’, cut paper, cotton thread, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Kew
Bunny Boy Wishes You…
Born with rabbit’s ears, poor Bunny Boy has always been a bit of freak. It has caused him a lot of trouble in the playground. However, he has decided to make the best of his handicap, and enjoys a temporary popularity at Easter time when he hands out chocolate eggs. At home, his dad likes him to stand next to the television during football matches, because they get better reception that way. Bunny Boy is very good at maths, and also likes to eat carrots.