Winter in the Midwest
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The Kabel Font
Earlier this week I came across The Kabel Font. It’s an awesome new font from a German designer named Mathias Nösel. It’s a free font currently featured on Font Fabric. This discovery couldn’t have come at a better time either. For a long time now I’ve been looking to combine my passion for indie tunes with typographic design and create something visibly exciting and easily accessible. (The ultimate goal is to create an entire series with this theme.)
In my previous post I briefly stated how there is a great relationship between music and design. I illustrate this relationship with the design above. Midnight City by M83 was not only a personal favorite track of mine from 2011, but it made big waves in the indie music scene too. It’s a very colorful, full sounding song. I pulled the lyrics The city is my churchand based the design off those words. Having downloaded The Kabel Font a day earlier, it was still fresh on the forefront of my typographical mind and I felt it would be perfect for the urbanity of this project. The typeface beautifully captures the curvature and nuances of neon lights. Very energetic. Very youthful. Very electronic. Very M83.
With the type in place, I enlarged the typeface’s letter i and used it ambiguously representing both a city’s skyline and a church’s pipe organs. Anyway, that’s the concept behind the design. That too is free to download as a pdf.
Click here to download The Kabel Font.
Click here to download my design TheCityIsMyChurch.
Like this:
Top 50 Indie Songs of 2011
After spending hours on iTunes, I finally put together my top 50 indie songs of 2011. Although this post isn’t directly about art or design, music is heavily intertwined with the two. Not only does music act as a source of inspiration, it also acts as a spark for many projects. My high school art teacher once said that artists always want to be musicians and musicians always want to be artists. Well in the case of Chaz Bundick, he’s both! Ironically, my top song of this year comes from Toro Y Moi (aka Chaz Bundick) who has a bachelor’s in graphic design. Anyway, here is my list…
"Elise" from Toro Y Moi's album Underneath The Pine
1. Elise / Toro Y Moi
2. Helplessness Blues / Fleet Foxes
3. Get Away / Yuck
4. Midnight City / M83
5. Valentine / Dispatch
6. Cruel / St. Vincent
7. East Harlem / Beirut
8. Bumper / Cults
9. Blue Jeans / Lana Del Rey
10. Separator / Radiohead
11. Polish Girl / Neon Indian
12. Nothing’s In The Flowers / Company of Thieves
13. Wait & See / Holy Ghost!
14. Bizness / tUnE-yArDs
15. Shell Games / Bright Eyes
16. Vomit / Girls
17. Bad Street / Twin Sister
18. By Your Hand / Los Campesinos!
19. FFunny FFriends / Unknown Mortal Orchestra
20. Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out / The Antlers
21. Don’t Move / Phantogram
22. Will Do / TV On The Radio
23. Killin the Vibe / Ducktails (ft. Panda Bear)
24. Belispeak / Purity Ring
25. MoneyGrabber / Fitz & The Tantrums
26. End of the Night / Smith Westerns
27. Need You Now / Cut Copy
28. Shake It Out / Florence + The Machine
29. Get Some / Lykke Li
30. Under Cover of Darkness / The Strokes
31. The Words That Maketh Murder / PJ Harvey
32. Whirring / The Joy Formidable
33. Dystopia / YACHT
34. Punching In A Dream / Naked and Famous
35. Changing / The Airborne Toxic Event
36. Major Minus / Coldplay
37. Holdin’ On To Black Metal / My Morning Jacket
38. It’s Real / Real Estate
39. Second Chance / Peter Bjorn & John
40. Coming Down / Dum Dum Girls
41. The Suburbs (Arcade Fire cover) / Mr. Little Jeans
42. Screws Get Loose / Those Darlins
43. Sweet 17 / Dirty Beaches
44. Keep You / Class Actress
45. Fuck Her Tears / Times New Viking
46. Street Joy / White Denim
47. Yonkers / Tyler, The Creator
48. The Wilhelm Scream / James Blake
49. Wait In The Dark / Memory Tapes
50. How Come You Never Go There / Feist
For other “Best of” lists for 2k11 and the latest happenings in the indie music world, be sure to check out: Pitchfork, Gorilla vs Bear, My Old Kentucky Blog, Daytrotter, Hipster Runoff, and RCRD LBL.
Feel free to share your list with me @ChrisTyre.
Comic Sans Shirt Round 2
A couple posts ago, I told the tale of how Comic Sans ruined the Christmas of 2010 for me. Christmas 2011 told a different story. Maybe it’s because my sister saw my post and wanted to clear her name or just because Helvetica always prevails in the end. Either way, my sister totally redeemed herself this Christmas with this gem under the tree. (See image above.) I’ll be rocking this anti-comic sans tee into the new year! Best. Gift. Ever. (However, the potato ricer I got from Grams was about equally as good because I really needed that for mashed potatoes.)
Since we are on the topic of Comic Sans, has anyone seen the Comic Sans Project? I hesitated posting a link to it because I really don’t want this web page to get any hits. However, it’s one of those things in life you should experience so you know what not to do in the future. Basically, the purpose of this website is to Comic Sans-ify popular logos. Why would one or more people waste their time doing this beats me. Like one of my design professors told me years ago, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.
Although the site is hideous and makes me want to physically clean my computer screen, it is a good example of how Comic Sans degrades professionalism.
Logo courtesy of The Comic Sans Project http://comicsansproject.tumblr.com
Take this NASA logo for example. This logo went from a symbol of prestige and strength to looking like a 5th grade science club drawing in Microsoft Paint. I feel like the people involved in this project are all former tow company employees, who just get off on ruining people’s days whether it’s towing parked cars away for $200+ fines or redesigning logos in Comic Sans. Here’s their mission statement:
We are the Comic Sans defenders. We fear no fonts and we will make the whole world Comic Sans. Because Helvetica is sooo 2011.
Hmmmm… Not a fan. But as the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You can keep tabs on their antics on Twitter @comicsansprjct.
Tangerine Tango
Tangerine Tango - 2012 Color of the Year
Today it was officially announced by Pantone that Tangerine Tango (17-1463 TCX) is the 2012 Color of the Year. Described as a “vivacious and appealing reddish orange”, it’s the second consecutive year of having a warm color as the “color of the year”. 2011 blessed us with Honeysuckle, a color I never used. I did actually like that color, but having done most of my design work this past year in the power equipment industry, the timing never felt right to bust out anything in a floral pink.
As for Tangerine Tango, the consensus I have received from my design colleagues is a positive one. I can especially see this color taking off in the fashion industry. Before I get to my personal opinion on this color selection, I do have to say this color has the best name. The name bursts of freshly squeezed passion.
For you graphic design peeps out there that want to achieve Tangerine Tango in CMYK, the combination is 0-82-80-0.
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Institute describes the 2012 color choice as:
Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it.
Well put Leatrice. It’s vibrant yet subtle. Tangerine Tango calls for your attention, but doesn’t scream in your face. It’s like having a conversation with an acquaintance for hours, yet once the conversation is over you are still left with a craving. A mysterious intrigue. To simply put it, the color is a platonic addiction.
Apartment Therapy New York has already posted pics of what your interior could look like with a couple coats of Tangerine Tango. I’ll be honest, it makes me want to paint my living room that color.
Will you use this color? Have you used this color? What looks good in this color? Would Helvetica look good in Tangerine Tango. (Of course it would! Silly question.)
Congratulations to you, Tangerine Tango. May 2012 be as fresh and passionate as you.
A Christmas Gift Gone Wrong
Helvetica in Comic Sans http://bit.ly/helvetica_shirt
In the spirit of Black Friday, I thought it would be appropriate to share a present of Christmas past. Spoiler alert: Helvetica is the victim in this story.
Let me set the scene… I’m at my parent’s house on Christmas morning opening presents with my family in a sun lit filled room with the dog tearing up wrapping paper under the coffee table and smiles of holiday bliss on all of our faces. My sister hands me the last present under the tree and it’s a gift for me from her. Excitedly, I rip off the paper, open the box, and pull out a grey t-shirt. My heart drops. I try to fake a smile, but the devil’s pitchfork is poking me in the heart. The shirt reads Helvetica in Comic Sans. After that, it is all kind of a blur. I don’t know if I said “thanks, but no thanks” or just bluntly said “I hope you kept the receipt because I’m not wearing this”.
My sister came so close to getting me a great gift. She knew I had an obsession for type and knew Helvetica was my favorite. Unfortunately, she just didn’t know what Helvetica looked like. I explained the irony of the tee and why some folks may find it funny. She claimed that this wasn’t her intent and that the thumb online was too small to make out the typeface. My heart wanted to believe her, but my brain knew better than that.
Was I a jerk? Well, that’s subjective. But I am a man of principle. I have refused to buy souvenir shirts in the past because of poor typography and have neglected some in my closet for the same reason. Never had Helvetica been the victim before, but it happens. Although it is impossible for a single person to evict poor typography and ugly typefaces from the world, I’ll do what I can to put an end to this infestation.
Please be mindful this holiday season. Ignorance is forgivable; Comic Sans is not.
Not my dream app
Ampersands is not my dream app. It’s my dreams come true app.
If you are a graphic designer, type geek, or just someone who enjoys the voluptuous curves of beautiful ampersands, this is a must download. What’s especially awesome about this app is when you change the orientation of your iPad, it changes the font from regular to italics, which surprisingly looks drastically different for most of typefaces. Kudos to Chris Gregory whose idea it was to create the app and Nick Booth the app’s designer for for being innovative and truly taking advantage of the medium for this project.
A few of the typefaces you can find on the app include, Goudy Old Style, Adobe Garamond Pro, Electra Std, and Trump Mediäval Std.
I ♥ &.
Uptown
If you happened to be in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago this evening there is a good chance that I filmed you! Today was Day 1 of filming for PS. Rick and I are still hard at work on writing the script, however we’ve established that the setting will be Uptown. What better to do on a warm October night than to shoot flashing neon lights, passersby, and folks being arrested? (Hopefully that wasn’t you.)
PS. There’s something serene about sirens and drunken chatter.
New Film for 2012
Herbivore Productions logo by Chris Tyre
I’m excited to officially announce that the pre-production of a new short film by Herbivore Productions has begun. The film is titled PS. Earlier this month Rick Gawel, founder and producer for Herbivore Productions, and I began writing the script. We will begin shooting the film this fall and plan to premiere it next summer at a venue to be named in Chicago. This will be the first film that I will have directed for Herbivore Productions. More details on PS and its cast in the weeks to come.
2011 has been a very busy year for Herbivore Production which debuted 3 films this year including The Mockingbird, You Are What You Eat, and How Deep Is The Rabbit Hole? which played at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival earlier this month. For more info on Herbivore Productions check out herbivoreproductions.com and follow us on Twitter @HerbivorePro.
Logo of the week – Samson Rope
What makes a timeless logo? Is it simplicity, masterful illustration work, or referencing the Bible? Maybe a combination of all three. Regardless, the Samson Rope trademark is the oldest active registered trademark in the United States making it this week’s “Logo of the week”.
Earlier this week I met with a very nice representative from Samson. We were having an interesting conversation about rope as one would imagine. However, my ears quickly perked up when we went beyond braided synthetic fibers and she mentioned that Samson had the oldest logo in the United States. Believe it or not, the logo depicting the biblical character Samson slaying the lion was registered back in 1884. Rope may not be the first thought that comes to mind when looking at the illustration alone, however to its credit, the illustration undoubtedly signifies strength and durability. Two traits any powerful, high performance rope needs to possess. Especially one who claims to be “The strongest name in rope”.
Graphically, I love this logo! I’m usually turned off by old biblical references, but the simplicity in this woodblock-print looking illustration is really attractive in a masculine way. The type choice works well too reinforcing the sharp curvature in the black stokes of the image.
