Friday, March 21, 2014

Type with the Body

So last class we were talking about typography being painted on the body. Since type has an anatomy of its own I find it interesting when it develops a relationship to the body.

To leave off where we were last class here are some more examples of Stephan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh's typography on the body with the Aizone project:
http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/project/aizone/

This then leads me into tattoos. I find typographic tattoos very interesting because the section of your body where you choose to put the type is important. It almost changes the way you read it. Also since the human body is not a flat surface the type tends to warp a bit which makes it feel more organic. There is a book called "BODY TYPE: Intimate Messages Etched into the Flesh". This book has great examples of typographic tattoos.
http://www.bodytypebook.com/about/index.html

 There are also some other cool ways that type has been addressed to the body in other forms of mody modification.
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ariana-page-russell-skin







Now to what I find a little more interesting is the body form creating the type its self. Here are a few examples of letter forms:


This last poster is created by a pretty awesome design company called I Love Dust. Check out there stuff at I Love Dust

and with just hands....




Thursday, March 20, 2014

Vintage typography on beer cans and stamps

All the vintage stuffs are attractive and nostalgic to a lot of people.
What I found the most interesting was the beer can labels. 
Vintage beers have a tons of varieties not only in types, but also in images and shapes.

I first saw vintage beer cans at a flea market in Jefferson square park. I met this beer can collector and he said he has been collecting these beers for a while. These collection were in a great quality so I could look at typographic designs very well.





Beer cans are a twentieth-century idea. Beer was sold in kegs or returnable bottles until 1934. The first patent for a can was issued to the American Can Company in September of that year; and Gotfried Kruger Brewing Company, Newark, New Jersey, was the first to use the can. Many beer cans were made in Europe and some of them are from the 19th century. The cone-top can was first made in 1935, the aluminum pop-top in 1962. Collectors should look for cans in good condition, with no dents or rust. Serious collectors prefer cans that have been opened from the bottom. 

So the designs and types reflect the era they are made in.

These are the ones that I think have really beautiful types. These types also have a great relationship with the images and all other surroundings, shapes of the can, patterns and color.






























I also bought a pack of vintage stamps which have great typography on. I picked the ones that I think the most inspiring.
Each of them has its distinctive styles of type treatment with the image and color. I think that reflects where it is from and what era it was made.