A unique annual award for the embrace of typographic coincidence. Rather than focussing on the formal crafting of typography, this award acknowledges the clever exploitation of the most fortunate letter and word combinations.

JAMIE OLIVER LIVE PRESS AD

This one just sung off the page. A beautifully conceived use of typographic opportunity – the right celebrity name, the right word (live) and the right layout .

Nominated by Stephen Banham

THE B!G EATERY LOGOTYPE

Some letter combinations just come together don't they? This little gem designed for a Melbourne eatery franchise is a stroke of simple yet brilliant logic – very refreshing indeed. Immediately eye-catching and able to be read any which way up, the applications for this one are seemingly endless.

Nominated by Sarah Findlay

Turning new pages

As part of the renewal of the Victoria State Library's permanent exhibition Mirror of the World - Books and Ideas the set of Ampersand book series (from 1991–96) will be displayed to the general public. The exhibition showcases many of the rare, beautiful and historically significant books held in the Library’s extensive collections. It also provides an overview of the history of book production, design and illustration, with a display of fine examples dating from the Middle Ages to the present day. Worth a look and it's free.

The title of the exhibition is taken from William Caxton’s Myrrour of the Worlde (1490), one of the first illustrated books published in England.

MAKING YOUR POINT WITH 1000 POINT

Not only did we have the Bendon billboard campaign (featuring a scantily-clad model reclining on a lower case sans serif) but increasingly our public spaces also feature large scale three dimensional type coming to the fore (such as the promotion in Federation Square of the Melbourne Literature Week).

Even politicians such as the Liberal hopeful Ted Baillieu (pictured left) was seen escorted by huge bright red letterforms when promoting his policy on public transport for students.

Other campaigns to show people interacting with large type include the Vodaphone now campaign featuring people lounging around next to very large sculptured letterforms. It seems that it's not just Eric Gill or Robert Brownjohn who thinks that typography, particularly when scaled to human proportions, has a persuasive sensuality to it.

THE EXPANDING KEVLAR FAMILY

Announcing a new birth in the Letterbox stable (there was no room at the inn). The Kevlar Family of Regular and Bold has now been added to with the release of Kevlar Slab. Featuring the bold horizontal stability of a slab, this weight isn't afraid of some flamboyance and elegance – not something one normally associated with a slab.

linkFor further viewing Kevlar PDF Sampler is now downloadable.
link The font itself is available individually or as part of its three weight family at the Letterbox e-store
TYPO/TOPOGRAPHIC

If you've ever wanted to make letters out of buildings (and who hasn't) here's your opportunity. With the use of Google Earth, a topographic view of a building from somewhere in the world is matched to whichever letter or numeral you type. The location of the building is also provided on a handy map in case you want to do a world tour of typographic buildings next holiday.

Another playful use of databases, this time using the Flickr photographic resource. Photographs are used to spell out whatever you want.

Link courtesy of Sally Esse

E-STORE NOW OPEN

After much ado, the Letterbox e-store is now fully operational. So you can now view and buy fonts, books and t-shirts without having to trade in chickens and blankets (thankfully it was never quite that low-tech).

linkTo the e-store.

Helvetica Sweet Helvetica
On the home furnishings front, typography is making huge inroads – perhaps for those given to beige and the absence of any other objects in the room. From panels of Helvetica to the very couch you're lying on, it's the lifestylers dream – wall to wall Helvetica.

Thanks to Norman Rabinovich and the Global Helvetica spotting squad.
AT HOME WITH TYPOGRAPHY

If the idea of having a Vignelli lounge room isn't your cup of tea ('just one font used in my house thankyou and you can go trash the rest') then you may be interested in the latest output of Morice Kastoun (the designer of the typeface Morice). Morice has just released a new range of cushions under the label ‘Kushtie’.

The range explores and embraces all things typographic. An ideal gift for all those typo-holics out there. And they don't just come in beige...

linkMore information.

CHARACTER 3

The third in the Character series as a huge success, attracting over 400 people to look at the role of the accident in the creative process. The exhibition boxes (one shown above) were on display in Melbourne's Fed Square. These typographic beauties are quite a sight, each letter being hand- stencilled. Further information at the Character site.

linkClick here for images of what went on behind the scenes for Character 3.

CHARACTER 4

We're currently calling for typo-films to be shown at next years's event.

Say yes to Cookies

If you've ever wanted to bake up some of your favourite typefaces but can't find the time or your oven doesn't fit the character set, this site may be of help. Link provided by 1+1=3 and Boing Boing.

Typographer as superhero

Just when we all thought typographers were mild-mannered folk comes the superhero called Typeface whose weapons are, you guessed it, letters. According to the blurb 'Typeface has a variety of letter theme weapons including explosive letters he calls letterbombs and scrabble-like letters he uses to create words such as "sleep" to put his enemies asleep'.... Perhaps he comes from Gotham as well.
Link provided by Jonathan Hoefler. © Marvel Comics

Typography as sound and vision

And following on from what seems to be a comics theme this month, there's this – a tribute to the onomatopoeia.
Link provided by Guy Shields. © Batman Comics

is there a new conservatism in graphic design?

We are living in an era of a revived traditionalism and renewed conservatism. This is happening politically, socially, culturally. Is this marking a regression, are we undoing all that we have achieved? Or is it time that we embrace and revisit traditional values and systems? Where do graphic designers fit into this paradigm shift? What implications does this have on us and out work?
This was the question posed in a printed debate in the international design community on whether we're going through a particularly conservative period in graphic design. Published by Idea Magazine and organised by Anja Lutz and Anna Gerber.

linkDownload PDF of debate

Signs of the Times

An exploration of Melbourne signage
March 11 - May 28
City Musuem / Old Treasury Building
Corner of Spring and Collins Streets, Melbourne, Australia

Currently showing at the City Museum (Old Treasury, Melbourne) is an exhibition close to the hearts of those involved in all things typographic – an exhibition of signage – or more specifically the history of signage.

Over 150 years of Melbourne street signs, billboards, posters and typefaces from the basis of this revealing and colourful journey through the secret life of Melbourne's visual culture. The exhibition even includes early neon signs and historical signage, together with an exploration of the changing use of typeface, contemporary and modern artwork s inspoired by signs, and the fight to save Melbourne's historical signage. .

The little character on the left, Con the butcher, is not included in the show but is from our archive of signage photography – some of which has been used for the exhibition. Photograph: Stephen Banham

Just the tip of the Gutenberg

For those of us who love to pore over books and typography (and I suspect that's the majority of the readership) and if you happen to be in Melbourne (perhaps a smaller proportion of our readership) we would highly recommend a visit to the State Library of Victoria to see Mirror of the World - Books and Ideas. This new (but permanent) exhibition showcases many of the rare, beautiful and historically significant books held in the Library’s collections. It also provides an overview of the history of book production, design and illustration, with a display of fine examples dating from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The title of the exhibition is taken from William Caxton’s Myrrour of the Worlde (1490), one of the first illustrated books published in England.

Character 2 Typotour

As part of the recent Character event in Melbourne, two buses full of type devotees wound their way through the back streets of Melbourne covering the top 26 typosites the city has to offer. Due to popular demand, we now offer this typotour online.

The tours cover Central Melbourne, North Melbourne and that haven of built letterforms, Richmond and include images and histories. Feel free to comment and/or add to it – it's organic after all. It's not the same as being on a bus full of type-nuts but it's a start.
Above: The limited edition Typotour badges that were distributed to all who came long for the bus ride for Character 2. Thanks to Andrew Budge for assisting the writing of the typotour notes and Estelle Ihasz for coding the online version.

What do you get for someone who has everything?

Typographic furniture of course. These little beauties only seem to be available in Europe but certainly worth a look. Now all we have to do is make our books fit the internal curves of letterforms – and I don't think that's asking too much.

Thanks to our Berlin typo-correspondent Silvia Susen.

Recital Sans – the many generations of a single face

As part of the recent visual identity suite for the yet-to-be-constructed Melbourne Recital Centre, part of the visual language developed was a unicase face. In essence it's a total redraw of Peter Bruhn's Eric Sans (which itself is based on an early Eric Gill face). Customised ampersands and other features have been added to the original character set. The unicase (roman and italic) has been a fitting face to use to express the diversity of the centre's activites.