The design was produced by Kerb designer Will Weaver and the game concept came out of the head of Kerb strategist Carl Hodler. There are still a few tweaks to be made: some re-working of some of the interface elements, extra work laying out the instructions (and re-writing them too) and a little bit of colour correction. We are also going to implement a global high score table with the next Wordagon release – and we will possibly then start to charge for the app.

With absolutely no promotion apart from Kerb employees spreading the word, Wordagon has managed over 900 downloads with a user rating of 4+ (as of Febuary 2010).

Some screenshots:

From the itunes store description: (please excuse the excessive use of exclamation marks!)

Wordagon is a game of high pressure and mental agility. Battle against time and space… and by space, we mean words!

With each letter tile having a value, the bigger the word, the more points you score! The longer it takes it to find a word and submit it, the closer you get to falling foul of the onslaught of new letters taking their place.

Before you get trapped beneath an alphabet avalanche, you need to find words and remove them, but as you progress through the levels, the words you must come up with keep getting longer!

• Key features:
• Bonus tiles for letters
• Bonus tiles for words
• 5 levels of difficulty
• Highscore table to allow you to challenge yourself or your friends

Get it for free from the itunes store here

op

No related posts.

To keep my talk manageable I have decided to talk about the development of typographic design in relation to the birth and growth of Modernism, starting from the early 1900’s and up to the present day.

Details about were and when my talk is happening can be found here.

Find out about Flash Brighton here

op

Related posts:

1. Photographer’s stamp
2. Jost Hochuli: Detail in Typography
3. Degree Show: University of Brighton

Here is the graphic I produced:

Here are some of the original designs I ripped off used as reference.

op

Related posts:

1. Photographer: Nhung Dang
2. Typographic Brighton
3. Fish & Chip shop menu

I really like Binbin’s collection – the sixties shapes & silhouettes are beautiful and her colour choices are right up my street, navy blues and lots of warm autumnal colours – mustard yellow makes an appearance, and I love a bit of mustard yellow.

Here are a couple of lifestyle shots from tba’s spring/summer collection, shot at Brighton’s hotel Pelirocco. Check out the links below for more info on the new tba collection.

tba

tba

tba

tba

http://www.ilovetba.co.uk/

Also stocked at Urban Outfitters

op

Related posts:

1. Holga Experiments
2. Degree Show: University of Brighton
3. Typographic Brighton

From the Blast Theory website:

Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists’ groups using interactive media, creating groundbreaking new forms of performance and interactive art that mixes audiences across the internet, live performance and digital broadcasting.

Anyhow, I was invited along to the ‘premier’ of the documentation of their latest work Ulrike and Eamon Compliant at Blast Theory’s quite swanky studios just outside Brighton. Having not experienced Ulrike and Eamon Compliant firsthand I can’t comment on it, but the short film and supporting book documenting the work was enough to make me want to experience it for myself. The wine was nice too.

The book is beautifully designed by John Hunter, simple two column grid with a swiss flavour. I particularly like the cover, no messing about:

Blast Theory

To read all about Ulrike and Eamon Compliant go here:

The DVD and book I am told should be on sale from the blast theory website soon – also check their website for information on upcoming projects.

op

Related posts:

1. The Glenkiln Sculptures

Logo on disused petrol pump, Seven Dials. Brighton.

If any Brighton residents want to provide images or suggest type & numerals I should document please get in touch: owen [ at ] hermetech.net

View Typographic Brighton here

op

Related posts:

1. Degree Show: University of Brighton
2. Jost Hochuli: Detail in Typography
3. Fish & Chip shop menu

Please excuse the quality of image, these were taken with a 3G iphone whose camera is a bit weak.

op

No related posts.

Well, I am a little late posting this, last chance to see it is the 11th June. The standard of work is pleasingly high and I expect the degree show website will be live for a little longer.  Good luck to the graduates.

Here are a couple of images that I thought were particularly interesting.

Chris Smith: BA(Hons) Illustration

Saly Troughton: BA(Hons) Graphic Design

Joe Wood: BA(Hons) Illustration

Lizzie Wylson: BA(Hons) Graphic Design

op

Related posts:

1. Photographer: Nhung Dang

Transforming (Tranformator) – “The process of analysing, selecting, ordering, and then making visual some information, data, ideas, implications…”

I have been waiting for the publication of The transformer... for a while now. I first became aware of the Isotype (System Of TYpographic Picture Education) work of Otto Neurath while working on data visualisation as the Head of Design at Lateral. At first I was excited about the visual style – I seemed to have come across the root style of information graphics. I soon realised that Isotype was far more than ’style’ – it was and is a fundamental tool in presenting data with maximum efficiency – a method of visualisation that communicates multiple relationships and connections.

Isotype attempts to present as much information as possible in the most effective and simple way. The viewer should be able to ‘read’ Isotype charts in several ways and this is what makes Isotype so successful. Otto Neurath’s way of using repeated symbols donating a unit, rather than scaling symbols to donate magnitude is what sets his work apart, and what made his work the beginnings of graphic communication based on a solid, well thought out and logical system.

The transformer’s first half, and the main core of the book, is an essay written by Marie Neurath in the last year before her death in 1986. Marie Neurath was the ‘Principle Isotype Transformer’ of the Isotype institution and her essay gives an insightful first hand account of the development of Isotype and the working methods used by the Isotype institution, and how she carried on the work of Isotype after the death of Otto in 1945. The essay was intended as the start of a ‘Primer’ on Isotype that was never published, but it is credit to Robin Kinross that this essay and this book now exist.

The other sections of the book include an attempt to place Isotype within a greater context of graphic communication, and draws parallels with other practitioners of data visualisation – Harry Beck’s influential London Underground diagram gets a worthy mention, as does that champion of standardisation and modernist typographer, Jan Tschichold.

Like the other Hyphen books in the series The transformer… is a beautifully designed and put together book, with many colour illustrations, many of which I would have liked to have seen reproduced at a much larger scale. While reading Marie Neurath’s essay I had wished I had more information into her non professional life – Otto and Marie obviously had obstacles to manoeuvre, the war enforcing at least one move upon them as they fled the Nazis. The obituary reproduced at the end of the book made up for any lack of  insight into the personality of Marie Neurath.

I would have also liked to have had a little more information about Gerd Arntz, a collaborator of the Isotype institution, member of the progressive artists group’ (Gruppe progressiver Künstler Köln), socially inspired and politically committed artist and activist. In The transformer... he gets a credit for introducing die cut to the working process of the Isotype institution, and is mentioned as a key collaborator. You can read more about Gerd Arntz and view the extensive gallery of his Isotype symbols here – http://www.gerdarntz.org/home.

Please also note the very considered use of the typeface Futura on the illustrations above.

*the images used in this post were the results of a google search, and not all of them appear in The transformer.

** This review also appears on the blog http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com/

Buy The transformer… here

op

No related posts.

Detail in Typography… is one of the more recent publications by Hyphen Press, the imprint set up by Robin Kinross; typographer, author & critic. Published for the first time in English last year (2008), Detail in Typography… was first published in Germany Switzerland in 2005 and it’s translation to English has given this slim book a much deserved wider audience.

Detail in Typography… is not just a guide to making clear & legible text. Hochuli also discusses what makes an aesthetically pleasing layout, and why layouts can still appear dull even after all the ‘rules’ have been strictly adhered to.

Covering all the elements which make up a column of text the book is split into the following chapters: The reading process, The letter, The word, The line, Line spacing & the column and The qualities of type. This segregation gives Detail in Typography… a clear and defined structure, reflecting the principles of the subject matter perfectly. Jost Hochuli also stresses that Detail in Typography… should not be regarded as infallible. Hochuli counts on “intelligent designers finding appropriate solutions”.

In the words of the author in his introduction:

“While macrotypography -  the typographic layout – is concerned with the format of the printed matter, with the size and position of the columns of type and illustrations, with the organization of the hierarchy of headings, subheadings and captions, detail typography is concerned with the individual components – letters, letterspacing, words, wordspacing, lines and linespacing, columns of text. These are the components that graphic or typographic designers like to neglect, as they fall outside the area that is normally regarded as ‘creative’…

…There are many matters of detail typography which one can, in good conscience, resolve differently. The author would certainly not want this book to be regarded as an infallible catechism: rather, he counts on intelligent designers, who, in the spirit of this book, finds appropriate solutions to the problems that arise in a given context, even though not all potential problems are dealt with in this text”

Typography is happily no longer an esoteric art to the average designer and over the last few years there have been a plethora of typography books arriving on the market as the art of typography becomes increasingly accessible: we all now have the possibility of access to thousands of fonts, the expensive cumbersome metal type having made its way onto the desktop computer. With typography being such a huge subject Hochuli’s classification and definition of ‘micro typography’ (a term Hochuli first coined in 1987) makes Detail in Typography… another welcome addition to the range of useful and informative books on the subject of type.

For the established designer Detail in Typography… is a great refresher, a reminder of how concise composition can reside in the detail. For the student or the designer just starting out and wanting reference for typography I would say Detail in Typography… is essential – understand and appreciate ‘micro typography’ and students of design will have a solid foundation for dealing with all things type and type related.

As with all Hyphen books Detail in Typography… is beautifully designed. The red and black colour scheme is striking and effective, the inside covers of solid red a nice touch. Hochuli always backs up his observations and comments with detailed illustrations and examples. Not only a useful text on type, a beautiful book too.

For anyone interested in further reading on typography I would recommend the following two books:

For a contextual look at the history of type I would recommend Modern Typography: an essay in critical history by Robin Kinross. Although currently out of print a re-print is expected soon . From the books back cover, a quote from Matthew Carter, Eye magazine;

“As a brief history of typography it is difficult to think how it could be better.”

I could not put it any better myself. The cover has also got an uncoated finish in bright yellow, although impractical and soon was covered by my newsprint fingerprints, looks amazing.

Before this post becomes a Hyphen press love-in I would also recommend The Elements of Typographic Style by Richard Bringhurst for a wider look on the practical application of type. Often quoted as the ‘bible of typography’. But not by me.

op

No related posts.