It’s all about magazines right now.

want: Caput (I have the Kofi family)
really want: text aus chokolade

Today me and some other TAIK students attended a workshop held by Ken Barber, type designer and letterer. Monograms was the topic of the day, so after a lecture on them we worked on our own versions based on our initials. I have done this assignment before, but I guess one can always try to approach it differently. And maybe I’ll get some monogrammed towels or something one day… err… not.

Ken had some design tips for us:
Draw… a lot!
Sketch small.
Avoid fussiness.

and a quote:
“If you improve your drawing skills, you will become a better designer. Period.”
-Doyald Young

Blaktur typeface
House Industries
type and lettering

Feeling supertired today. Not used to school and staring at inDesign all day, yet. Not used to the dark in the evening either, although I like it.

More to like:
meta serif
rumba by Laura Meseguer
Matt Keers gorgeous work

Three day type design course at my school. We sarted with ink and moved on to fontlab (Where I worked on the letter “S” at least half the day, leaving little time for the other letters). All in all, I think I’ve found my calling <3

the ampersand blog
uncommon knowledge for designers at Ace Jet 170

I am getting more and more type-obsessed. Here’s some nice geometrical work.

Listening to weird fishes, napping on the sofa, feeling a bit blue, but in a good Sunday-like way.

P.S. A small illustration I did for Ylioppilaslehti.

Two deadlines, one haircut, zero cupcakes and a magazine illustration later…
I am still busy! A dutch exam on Wednesday, lots of reading to do.

Still hooked on Ane Brun, Rubber and Soul … I know that rubberband-feeling. Of course she is performing in Amsterdam again in April. Way to rub it in…

I saw the Helvetica film. It was so interesting, and funny too. Those type designers are real weirdos, you know <3

listening: kent -747 (actually the swedish version of 747, which is way better, and the lyrics much more beautiful. )

I wonder where all the time is disappearing. I guess it rushes past while I’m busy at school. Not much computer time lately since I am also doing a three week yoga course. It’s the best thing in a while… yoga suits me.

And school – I really like the courses we have this fall; logo and identity design, typography. Don’t know if I am going to be a typographer, but at least I want to work in something heavily related to it: magazines, books etc.

Guess what! In November my class is traveling to Vilna, Lithuania. We are having a whole week of typography workshop at the local Art Academy. I am looking forward to it.

today’s notes:
Typographicas favourite fonts of 2006
Experimental JetSet (Amsterdam, sigh…)

How is Helsinki, you ask. Colder and crisper than Brussels, probably. But sunny, at least today. Good for long walks, but don’t forget to wear mittens!

Rainy day. Thankfully I’ve got rainboots (two pairs, actually), so I am almost ready to escape to the rainy land… Okay, some more dutch to learn first. (sigh.)

Recent finds:
clever business card concepts
book by it’s cover
free font manifesto
oh and there’s a web version of thinking with type.

How much can you achieve in a day? Loads.
It’s another typography -week at school and this bookcover is what I worked on all day. First drawing the texts at school and then putting it all together in photoshop and illustrator at home. I am really happy with how it turned out.

The poem verses are from Lady Lazarus, one of my favourite poems from Plath.

Lately I have been wrestling with technology. First my mobile phone broke and then *gasp horror* my computer went dead. No backups, naturally. Save for the ones stored around the web. And most of my artwork can be rescanned.

The computer’s guarantee has of course run out, so I need to pick up the costs of possible repair. Plus I alredy had to buy a new computer, to be able to resume work. Bye bye savings, I am now a very broke imac owner. Thank god for savings though, at least I am not in debt. And let’s hope the hard drive can be saved.

It’s strange how our lives are so bound up with these little plastic boxes.

At school this week we have a typography workshop. The best way of learning is naturally by doing, and doing it old school. We have been drawing letters, or rather replicating old ones, by hand. A very humbling experience, but I am loving it.

I leave you with some typography links:
daily type
underware (I want the Bello!)