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THE ART OF SIGN PAINTING

MEET THE NEW SLAB 60 YEARS OF THE BEST TYPOGRAPHIC COVERS

OVER 5 USED

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 ? 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 ,” 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 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. business, Red Rider Paint and A member of Colossal Media’s Sky High crew works “There is across-the-board Sign Studios, in 1996 in San across the street from Yankee Stadium in New York. renewed interest in process, Francisco, then she relocated to 6600yearsyears thethe typographictypographicBBEESTST ALBUMALBUM COVERSCOVERS A collection by: Alex Steinweiss 50’s 60’s 00’s

a. b. a. b. a. b. c. d.

c. d. c. d. e. f. g. h. a. The Best of the Crests by The Crests a. ? by The Experience a. Lambchop by Nixon e. by Keane b. Big 15 by George Hamilton IV b. DYNAMITE! by Ike and b. Push the Button by Chemical Brothers f. Icky Thump (Single) by c. Bongola by Preston Epps c. The Rumroller by Lee Morgan c. Born and Raised by John Mayer g. Viva La Vida by d. Late Date With Ruth Brown by Ruth Brown d. Carla by Carla Thomas d. RIOT! by Paramore h. You Get What You Give by The Zac Brown Band

70’s 80’s 90’s

a. b. c. d. a. b. a. b.

e. f. g. h. c. d. c. d. a. XIV by Chicago e. Chicago 13 by Chicago a. Tuckerized by The Marshall Tucker Band a. Nevermind by Nirvana b. Greatest Hits by Blood, Sweat, & Tears f. by Bette Midler b. Civilian by Gentle the Giant b. Super Hits by Blood, Sweat, & Tears c. Morrison Hotel by g. Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy by Nitty Gritty Dirt band c. The One That You Love by Air Supply c. The Last of the Demoticans by Naked Raygun d. The Wall by h. The Tubes by The Tubes d. Tim Finn by Tim Finn d. by 29 TYPEHYPE OCTOBER 2014 78 rpm records replaced on four double-sided discs in a a book, suspending inserts (also by photographer (), Jamie Reid (The include (Black phonograph cylinder as the specially designed package. (It is records above the shelf and ), and Pink Floyd’s ), Howard Finster Sabbath, , Iron medium for recorded sound. not indicated what the specially protecting them. The Dark Side of the Moon which (R.E.M., ), Al Butterfly, and The 78 rpm records were issued designed package was.) The Starting in the 1930s, had a , lyrics, no title on Hirschfeld (), Ken others), (John in both 10” and 12” diameter practice of issuing does record companies began issuing the sleeve and poster and sticker Kelly (Kiss, Manowar), Gottfried Lennon, , Patti sizes and were usually sold not seem to have been taken up collections of 78 rpm records inserts. The move to the small Helnwein (), Smith), (Whitney separately, in brown paper or by other record companies for by one performer or of one type (less than 1/4 the size of a record) Rex Ray (), Robert Houston, ), cardboard sleeves that were many years. of music in specially assembled CD format lost that impact, Crumb (Big Brother & the David LaChappelle (, sometimes plain and sometimes Beginning in the 1920s, bound albums. These albums could though attempts have been printed to show the producer or collections of empty sleeves with include either a collection of made to create a more the retailer’s name. These were a plain paperboard or leather popular songs, on several 78 desirable packaging for the S potlight invariably made out of acid paper, cover, similar to a photograph rpm records, related either by CD format, for example the CHICAGO 13 limiting conservability. Generally album, were sold as “record performer or style, or extended re-issue of Sgt. Pepper, the sleeves had a circular cutout albums” that customers could length classical music, also on which had a cardboard box allowing the to be use to store their records (the several 78 rpm records, including and booklet, or the use of As the name suggests, Chicago seen. Records could be laid on a name “record album” was printed complete symphonies. oversized packaging. 13 is the 13th album by rock band shelf horizontally or stood upright on some covers). These empty In 1938, The importance of Chicago. It was released in 1979. on an edge, but because of their albums were sold in both 10” and hired Alex Steinweiss as its first cover design was such that rarely shows up in their fragility, many broke in storage. 12” sizes. The covers of these art director. He is credited with some artists specialized or and one of the most German record company bound books were wider and inventing the concept of album gained fame through their recognizable things about the Odeon pioneered the “album” taller than the records inside, covers and cover art, replacing work, notably the design band is their logo. The skyscraper in 1909 when it released the allowing the record album to be plain covers used before. After team (through typography in the is Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky placed on a shelf upright, like his initial efforts at Columbia, their work on Pink Floyd incredible, it decidedly pumps up to albums, amongst others) theme of the album and era. and Roger Dean famous for his Yes and Greenslade covers, for ’s and ’s Holding Company), John Van ), (, We’re Only in It for the Money. Hamersveld (), , ), The talents of many and Shepard Fairey () (Jimi Hendrix, BEST photographers and illustrators have all applied their talents to , ), Robert typographic from both inside and outside of memorable music packages. Mapplethorpe (, Peter the have been Gabriel) and Francesco Scavullo used to produce a vast array (, ), David of memorable LP/CD covers. Michael Kennedy others. Photographer creative The physical design of album ALBUM produced some of the most INNOVATION covers has been the subject of iconographic album covers of creative innovation. Ogden’s Nut the 1970s, including Queen’s Gone Flake by the years of the COVERS Queen II (recreated for their A number of record covers was originally in a circular metal classic Bohemian have also used images licensed tin, and Happy to Meet – Sorry 60 Rhapsody), ’s The (or borrowed from the public to Part by was in an other record companies followed releases, though other formats of creative services at both Madcap Laughs, and ’s domain) from artists of bygone octagonal package. his lead. By the late 1940s, have largely supplanted it. The Columbia Records and United Transformer. From 1972 to 1975, eras. Well-known examples of Story by: Alex Steinweiss record albums for all the major size of the typical cardboard LP Artists, album covers became photographer Norman Seeff this include the cover of Derek companies featured their own sleeve cover is 12.375 in square renowned for being a marketing was Creative Director at United and the Dominoes Layla and colorful paper covers in both 10” (31.43 cm square). tool and an expression of artistic Artists and in addition to his Other Assorted Love Songs and 12” sizes. Some featured Since the mid-1990s, the intent. The Band’s 1970 release many cover photographs (The (from the painting “La Fille au reproductions of classic art while (CD) has become the Stage Fright with Norman Seeff’s Band, Kiss’s Hotter than Hell, Bouquet” by French painter others utilized original designs. most common form of physically- photograph as a poster insert is ’s Hejira etc.), he and sculptor Émile Théodore When the 10” and 12” LPs distributed music products. an early example with the poster art directed dozens of album Frandsen de Schomberg), the came along, starting in 1948, Packaging formats vary, including quickly becoming a collector’s covers including Exile on Main cover of Kansas’s debut album, and box sets of 45 rpm records, the very common plastic jewel- item. Gatefold covers, (a folded Street, many of which received adapted from a mural by painter soon followed (see Gramophone case, and the cardboard and double cover), and inserts, often Grammy nominations. In addition John Steuart Curry, Norman record), the name “album” came plastic combination commonly with lyric sheets, made the album to the examples mentioned ’s cowboy (Pure Prairie along for the new format of known as a Digipak. Typically the cover a desirable artifact in its previously, a number of world League), and, more recently, collections and the creation of album cover component of these own right. Notable examples renowned graphic artists and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, which artistic original album covers packages is approximately 4.75 in are ’ Sgt. Pepper’s BillustratorsE such asST Ed Repka features Eugène Delacroix’s continued as well. square (12.1 cm square). Lonely Hearts Club Band which typographic(), painting Liberty Leading the From the through to The cover became an important had cut-out inserts, lyrics, a (, The People (a favorite in The Louvre) the 1980s, the 12” LP record and part of the culture of music at gatefold sleeve even though it Rolling Stones), Mati Klarwein with the words “VIVA LA VIDA” the 45 rpm record became the the time. Under the influence was a single album, The Rolling (Santana, ), H. R. brushed on top in white paint. major formats for the distribution of designers like who Stones’ Exile on Main Street Giger (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Legends from photography of . The LP format at various stages in his long which had a gatefold and a series ), and video/film who have also remains in use for occasional new music career was vice president of 12 perforated postcards as ALBUM(), Derek Riggs produced record cover images COVERS FONT OF THE WEEK l Every week we here at Typehype select out m favorite font of the week and showcase it. Look at below to see which font was our favorite this week! B pqcVSx i ALat f rwF AaFAMOUS EXAMPLE! NAME: Q En STYLES: Light, Roman, Bold I CLASSIFICATION: Slab-Serif y BACKGROUND: English slab-serif that was Clarendon is considered the first registered g created in England by Robert Besley for typeface, with the original matrices and Thorowgood and Co. (or Thorowgood punches remaining at Stephenson Blake and do and Besley), a type company formerly later residing at the Type Museum, London. i known as the Fann Street Foundry They were marketed by Stephenson Blake as jz until approximately 1838. The typeface Consort, though some additional weights (a was published in 1845 after Besley, an bold and italics) were cut in the 1950s. It was employee of the foundry since 1826, was named after the Clarendon Press in Oxford. made a partner in the firm. Due to its popularity, Besley registered the typeface under Britain’s Ornamental Designs Act of 1842. The patent expired three years later, k and other foundries were quick to copy it. YN Z 18 TYPEHYPE WOCTOBER 2014 sUJb Our writers have collected the biggest TRENDS design trends of this week and given them to you for your reading pleasure! Check out what’s hot now, below.

IT’S ALL IN THE BAG The well-known Mexican fast food restaurant , Chipotle, and their paper bags. These bags feature beautiful hand drawn type which makes for tasty food for your mouth and even tastier eye candy.

WILL LETTER FOR LUNCH Artist Lauren Hom started a new project after her successful book series, “Daily Dishonesty.” Hom launched “Will Letter For Lunch” a project that involves her visiting various restaurants and lettering their menus in exchange for a signature meal! See more from Lauren at homsweethom.com.

DIGITAL WOODCUT Everyone wants to show a more vintage look these days. A great way to do to achieve that look is by using a distressed font that resembles actual woodcut ALL ABOUT THAT SPACE type. Now your work can look Lately designers are really utilizing negative textured and vintage without space. It’s an elegant way to convey a brand the stress of physically setting or message with a subtractive technique. the type yourself!

31 TYPEHYPE OCTOBER 2014