Painting Serif
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
typehype THE ART OF SIGN PAINTING MEET THE NEW SLAB SERIF 60 YEARS OF THE BEST TYPOGRAPHIC ALBUM COVERS OVER 5 USED TYPEFACES October 2014 typehype EDITOR IN CHIEF Jamie Lannister CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bill Mirr EXECUTIVE EDITOR Deanna Dimick DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah Loon MANAGING EDITOR David Brandley /// DEPUTY CREATIVE DIRECTOR Margaery Tyrell DESIGN DIRECTOR Dexter Morgan SENIOR GRAPHICS EDITORS Franko Baptista, Jerome Cooksin, Virginia Mansoon, Bryan Morris, Nedd Stark, Joan Holloway, Millie Smith, Dean Winchester, John Tornanio, Jason Treth /// WRITERS Neal Caffrey, Christine Amore, Bryan Charles Howard Jan L. Lee, Kathy Newmen, Skyler White, Laura Zarker Rachel Hartigan Sheen, Daniel Tone, Ron Vergano, A. J. Williams CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Carolina Alexander, Dan Belt, Joel K. Borne, Jr., Chuck Brown Donald Draper, Cynthia Garnet, Petyr Baelish, Jennifer S. Hallond Matthew Jenkins, Peter Mills, David Quammentte /// PHOTOGRAPHERS Rebecca Halern, Mark Tessen PHOTO EDITORS Molly Benedict, Sherri Buckbacher, Adrian Crockley Jenna Dotschkal, Sam Winchester Typehype (ISSN 1947-4377) Volume 5, Issue 7 is published bimonthly byTypehype Media, LLC 130 Battery Street, Sixth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111, U.S.A. In the US Typehype is a registered trademark of Typehype Media, LLC. Publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, art, or any other unsolicited materials. Subscription price for U.S. residents: $25.00 for 7 issues. Canadian subscription rate: $35.00 (GAT included) for 7 issues. All other countries $40.00 for 7 issues. To order a subscription to Typehype or to inquire about an existing subscription, please write to Typehype Customer Service, P. O. Box 6265, Harlan IA 51591-1765, or call (888) 403-9001. Periodicals postage paid at SanFrancisco, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Typehype, P.O. Box 6265, Harlan, IA51591-1765. 4 TYPEHYPE OCTOBER 2014 CONTENTS 10 The Art of Sign Painting Explore the creative process behind something you overlook every day. 15 Meet the New Slab Serif Find out about the new slab serif taking the design world by storm. 27 60 Years of the Best Typographic Album Covers Gawk at some of the greatest letters seen on classic album covers. 38 5 Overused Fonts Read about what the 5 most overused fonts are, and how to avoid the mistake of using them. DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT: SCREEN PRINTING 101 TRENDS 14 // SILKS, SCREENS, INK, PRODUCT! 31 // READ ABOUT WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR. FONT OF THE WEEK HEROES AND INSPIRATIONS 18 // WHICH WILL IT BE THIS WEEK? WILL IT BE 33 // A LIST OF INFLUENTIAL DESIGNERS IN BODONI? OR PERHAPS MEMPHIS? OUR THE FIELD TODAY AND HOW THEY JUDGES WEIGH IN. CHANGED THE ART WORLD. INKED! WRAPPED UP 22 //FAMOUS TATTOO ARTISTS REVEAL THEIR 40 // WE WRAPPED UP THE WEEK WITH A BIG, FAVORITE PIECES AND OTHER GREAT STORIES. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED BOW. 6 TYPEHYPE OCTOBER 2014 SignSign Painters PaintersAn example of artists’ dedication to modernize an antiquated practice. For hundreds of years, signs have been “But the old guys we knew who were in used to promote local businesses, identify their 40s and 50s really hadn’t learned merchandise, or simply point the way. that. Their stuff was pretty modern. So we But for most of us, it’s an invisible trade. had to go back and find our own styles.” Americans in the early and mid-20th century Filmmaker Macon says that there took hand-painted signs for granted. But may have been another reason for that for those born in the 1970s or later, the large generational gap. “There was a time commercial landscape contained very few when sign painters were traditionally very hand-painted signs at all, due to computer protective of their business and secrets graphics and the advent of vinyl letters, which were introduced in the late 1980s and completely “We had to go back and took over the signage industry through the very early 1990s. find our own stylesstyles.” In recent decades, when -mark oatis cheap, fast and digital became the norm, the sign painting industry was and tools of the trade,” he says. When he nearly wiped out. Many experienced sign was making the film, he heard stories painters suddenly struggled to find clients about young sign painters in the 1960s and and ended up throwing in the towel. Others, ‘70s being shooed away by older masters, like Mark Oatis, 63, embraced the computer who worried that sharing their knowledge as just another tool for the sign making and would just lead to more steady competition. adapted his career to the new realities. But now that the painters from that Today he is a very creative director at new generation have become the masters YesCo. But in the sign painting community, themselves, Macon sees a more open flow of Oatis (who appears in the Sign Painters information to the next crop of sign painters. film) is perhaps best known as a founding “There’s an extremely open dialogue,” member of The Letterheads, a group of he chuckles, “a lot of which, pretty ironically, sign painters that started meeting in 1975 has been facilitated by the computer.” to learn from one another. Next year, they While both Simon and his partner will gather at the American Sign Museum Weinberg confirm that many sign painters for their 40th annual international meeting. are connecting online today, they also still Oatis expects up to 400 people to attend. yearn for hands-on, in-person training. The way Oatis describes the beginning Both said they would love to learn from of The Letterheads has a similar flavor the older painters, but can’t seem to find to the energy expressed by younger sign the time or funding required to put their painters today. A young man in his 20s then, lives on hold for months or years, which is Oatis says he and his peers were eager to what apprenticeships or intensive classes connect with an old-fashioned aesthetic, often require. As Simon says, “Because I specifically the “Victorian revival” style. have to pay rent, I decided to teach myself.” “We were getting really lit up by stuff Regardless, for his part, Oatis is pleased we were finding in old lettering books and to know those younger painters are around Sean Barton painting “The Cellphone Booth old photographs of the streetscapes from to carry on a great time-honored tradition. /// is Outside” sign in Seattle, Washington. turn of the last century,” recalls Oatis. FEATURE /// “I can’t believe that this whether it’s booze-making, the Nashville; she now lives in Austin. seems to be happening,” he says. clothing that you’re wearing, or She says she has really been “But if it’s coming from a deep- a hand-painted sign,” he says. “I captivated by typography ever seated commitment, then I’m think sign painting is benefiting since she was a young child. extremely heartened by it.” He’s from a larger cultural interest “I wouldn’t do anything else aware that some young painters in things made with care.” regardless of what the pay is,” she are learning from mentors, Oatis agrees, offering his says. “It’s like having canvasses but few have the opportunity. perspective from over 40 years all over town of your art.” His hope, now, is that The in the sign making industry. She remembers moving to Letterheads’ annual gathering “Inevitably, the more things the city of Nashville and trying next year will be full of people that can be automated,” he to make a name for herself. much like Simon and Weinberg. says calmly, “the more there’s She offered to paint the sign “There’s still too much gray going to be some backlash to an of a Nashville bar for free and hair there to suit me,” he says, interest in handcrafted things.” got six other job offers that day. “and I’m saying that as the “I had never really given “I handed out my cards, and grayest of the entire group.” any thought to the fact that this I basically just painted lower So what explains this new is someone’s job, and the fact Broadway,” Maloney has said. demand for hand-painted signs? that individuals across America Macon says he hopes the Weinberg says it reflects well on were actually painting signs project will bring new life to the the business that commissions regionally that defined the craft. “Whenever you set out on a the work. “Maybe it sends a way the United States looked,” project like this, you sort of have different message,” she says. Macon told NPR’s Neal Conan. an idea that you’re going to go “It says it’s more expensive, or Once word got out about out and define sign painters. And more worth reading.” Simon the project in the sign-painting as we shot more and more, and observes that with vinyl signs, community, and they were met more interesting people, businesses all started to look flooded with personal stories. we realized that you can’t define the same; his clients recognize “We were totally inundated a sign painter any better than that hand-painted signs help in the best way, and we ended you can define a radio host.” them stand out from the crowd. up having more content than we Story by: Reid Boucher But Macon says that in the could track down,” Macon said. three years it took to shoot Sign One of the painters featured Painters, he noticed a larger in the project is Norma Jeanne cultural trend that is helping Maloney. She opened her new bring sign painting back to life.