Beyond Typography

Photography changed magazine design

Photography changed both the look and content of magazines, according to Steven Heller.

The image above is from a magazine called Vu, published in 1930. It is part of a collection at the International Center of Photography museum in New York.

Via DesignObserver

Normal service has been resumed: Updated Type is Art link

Well hello. Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been on holiday. Sunning myself in Cyprus.

I'm back at work now. Here's a quick round up of what's been happening...

Creative

For the next couple of weeks I'm working in the Creative department of the company I work for. Doing a sort of job shadow type thing. As I've been working mainly in editorial for the past 15-or-so years I thought it would be good to see how the commercial side of things operate (even though I've been doing this sort fo thing for a while). In our company there is(was?) a them and us attitude between editorial designers and the Creative designers. Each side thinking they were better. So far, I have not experienced this. As far as I'm concerned, design is design, regardless of discipline. We should all support each other. There is too much pressure and competition from the non-design community for there to be tension within.

Anyway, yesterday was day one and I spent a really useful morning with one of the web designers, who critted my work. I found it really useful as so far I have only had feedback from marketing and editorial people. Thanks Mark.

Sexy things

A few other things have happened. I bought a digital camera. I opted for the Canon Sureshot G9 in the end (see post June 25). I am really please with the performance and results.

I also got my iPhone! FANTASTIC! Friday was an interesting day in the search for a 16Gb version. Got one delivered from the Carphone Warehouse in the end.

Largest Apple customer

One interesting snippet of news last week. Axel Springer, one of Europe's largest newspaper publishers, is moving it's entire workforce over to the Mac platform. 10,000 employees worldwide!

Photography exhibition

I went to a viewing of some photography yesterday. It was one of three that I had been invited to. I thought that this one might be a little different, even if the quality might not be great (my own preconceptions). I was impressed by the quality of the work. Some work being better quality than the endless stream of graduates and new start-ups that do the rounds now, wither by email or in person. The one thing that I found refreshing was the originality of the work, not the endless (tedious) stuff trying to emulate the latest fashion mags. These were good. I have to mention that the work was not at some exclusive venue in London, but at the Treloar College near Alton in Hampshire. The photographs were the final displays for the A-level and City & Guilds photography students. The students are all physically disabled.

Cool

And finally, a bit of fun. Take a look at this. Type is Art is a cool project by Jose Rodriguez where you can create art from parts of letterforms. I originally saw it on the I love typography site.

Excuse me, officer

I was shown an article in response to my post the other day about the Metropolitan Police anti-terror campaign. The article appeared in the British Journal of Photography. I'm glad to say that a lot of people are alarmed and upset by the tone of the campaign. You can read the article here. I love the spoof advert, there are some more here.

The Terror of Photography

Well, it had to happen. I'm going to take the plunge and buy a digital camera. I currently use film, be it an SLR for the serious stuff or a trusty Fuji disposable camera which is always in my bag. I have recently been using the camera on my mobile phone (all my pics that appear on this blog were taken using it), but I feel the need to buy a digital point and shoot as both the battery and memory on the phone are crap. I've narrowed it down to two models, the Panasonic Lumix TZ5  and the Canon Powershot G9. I'll let you know what I get.

But taking the odd snapshot in the street can be pretty hairy these days. Today's fear is of a camera-wielding terrorist, whereas yesterday's was of the paedophile and before that it was of criminals "casing the joint" (try taking a photograph in a UK shopping mall and see what happens). There is even a media campaign by the Metropolitan Police asking members of the public to report people taking photographs in the street in case they are terrorists. Even the railway enthusiast is not safe in his pursuit of photographing the object of interest without some official asking what they're up to (as if holding a camera to your eye with finger on the "button" were not enough of a giveaway).

Here is an excellent article putting all this into perspective.