There is not a whole lot of graffiti around my town and even less worth mentioning. Being up in the foothills of California we don’t see a lot of graffiti. Most urban influence on the local culture dissipates soon after you pass the Central Valley. We don’t have the vast spans of concrete or dark allies that act as a breeding ground for street art, but if you look hard enough you will find some.
One of my first college typography projects was to illustrate an adjective (I think the class was VisCom 322a with Wendy Emery). I didn’t fully comprehend the task at the time and it took me several comps of several different words to even start to get the hang of it. In the end I chose the word “Resurrect” and my finished product was still fairly lifeless and boring. My instructors usually liked my sketches more than my final product; when I cleaned things up they tended to loose their character. It took me a couple of years to realize that it was strictly and exercise in stylizing text for logos and headlines (what can I say, I fell asleep a lot in class).
A great example of illustrated type can be found at your local music shop. Heavy/Doom/Death/etc. Metal band logos are the epitome of typography illustrating definition. The logos are usually hand rendered, extremely embellished and incredibly hard to read. Over the years I have enjoyed struggling to read metal logos in the record store and online. They have a tendency to be symmetrical and as graphic and gruesome as possible. The letter forms often mimic blood splats, dripping intestines, bones, dead trees, lightening and anything sharp. When viewing these logos there is no mistaking the music’s attitude (but you’ll probably misread the name). Similar logos won’t be found on the latest pop-chart-topper or easy listening bargain bin. Take a look at these ones I found online:
Now I am not saying that all of these logos are beautiful examples of custom type, but I do believe that they are great examples of really pushing the limits of illustrated type. There is no reason why this type of emotion can’t be conveyed in more mainstream projects. Granted these logos can be nearly impossible to read which is allowed because these bands aren’t worried about being recognized and sold to the general public. The rules of corporate logos don’t keep them up at night. Lets review the 5 cardinal Rules of Logo Design brought to you by Entreprenueur.com:
These are the exact same rules used to grade our corperate identities in various class projects and they are tried and true in today’s world. The majority of metal logos won’t fit more than two of these “requirements” and that’s ok, because people in that world don’t give a fuck about corperate rules. When designing for the corporate world you must switch gears, but it is always good to step outside of your comfort zone.
The interrobang is an interesting and underused punctuation mark that very few people know about. As you can see it is a combination of the “?” and the “!” giving typesetters the ability to excitedly ask questions, make a statement of disbelief or ask rhetorical questions without using two punctuation marks. In my typesetting experiences, I have had a few hang-ups on punctuation. I often ponder the proper use of an ellipses …, a semi colon ; (which I doubt I have ever used correctly) or multiple marks such as ?! or !!!. Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia that describes the birth of this mark.
“American Martin K. Speckter invented the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if copywriters conveyed surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark. He proposed the concept of a single punctuation mark in an article in the magazine TYPEtalks. Speckter solicited possible names for the new character from readers. Contenders included rhet, exclarotive, and exclamaquest, but he settled on interrobang. He chose the name to reference the punctuation marks that inspired it: interrogatio is Latin for “a rhetorical question” or “cross-examination”; bang is printers’ slang for the exclamation point.”
It is your mission to bring the interrobang to the general public. Make this forgotten mark prevalent in your work. We have let our letter forms get boring and standardized. Befriend the Underdogs of Typography and help them gain a place among the periodicals and text books of the future. Explore and research the interrobang and other lost glyphs. Knowledge is power‽
I found this number 3 on a dismantled dump truck bed in Jamestown, CA.
This is some script on the side of a mail box in San Francisco, CA. I have a great fascination with graffiti, but not the stones, nor the disrespect for public property to participate. Or course I live in a small, rural town which still holds some natural beauty, rather than a concrete jungle where most graffiti is found. And, of course, the possibility for anoninimity drops incredibly as the population does. I will post more graffiti as I capture it.
To whom it may concern,
The only thing I really want to do is study and design typography. Is that too much to ask for? I could live life happily if I were chained to a letterpress with plenty of materials. Fuck food & water! Give me ink & paper… and of course movable type, but come on, that goes without saying. I crave to study letter forms and kerning, ligatures and punctuation. If anyone knows of a printing press open to the public, a great class, a degree program, another person with the same ridiculous obsession, please let me know. I don’t care where in the world this may be, just let me know and I will take it into consideration.
~Thank you for your time~
