Good Type Gone Bad

This poster belongs to my roommate... the type seems a nice enough sans-serif but the yellow color, not to mention the type itself, just seems inappropriate given the ornate designs adorning the assorted beer bottles. While much thought I'm sure went into the labeling of these beers, I doubt much went into the poster.

Ligatures

If i had a ligature, I'd ligature in the morning, I'd ligature in the evening -all over this blog.

Good Typography

I'm a big Marcel Proust fan, and although all my copies of his work have great designs (especially the Penguin Deluxe Classics!; check out the American designs by Kelly Blair) I really love this box set from Vintage. Shown above is the side of the slip cover where you can see the beautiful typeface and some of the art nouveau designs decorating each volume. Below is a close-up of Volume three showing in more detail some of the type. Although the organization of type on these books is nothing special (everything is centered and that's about it), I think the type itself goes perfectly with the ornate black and white decorations that surround it. In addition, I feel it's just the beauty of the typeface itself that does all the work.

These pictures were taken this evening in my room.

Hand-Rendered Typography

I'm home for the weekend and I found some "hand-rendered" typography hanging on our fridge: this is a post card my friend Luke sent our family while he was studying abroad in Rome this past semester. The type is designed to look like handwriting (if it wasn't handwriting to begin with), given the cursive nature of the word "David" in addition to the two W's in "WOW" not being identical. I don't like the type design, but everyone seems to like the card anyway.

Historically Influenced Type

This type sample is from the cover of the Spring 2008 issue of The Idler. I got this when it came out because I'm a subscriber. The font is based on the type designs by William Morris and his Kelmscott Press. I had never heard of William Morris prior to getting this issue, and the reproduced designs inside and on the cover are very inspiring. My understanding is that William Morris was interested in the craftmanship that existed before the industrial age, and his love of nature is clear from the patterns reproduced in the margins. His typefaces remind me of illuminated manuscripts and carefully written books scribed by monks.

Naturally Occurring Letterform!

¡ This image is not from Kutztown's Campus. A girl in class mentioned she commuted and asked if she could use things found at home. I understand the point is that the image was not pulled from online or an invalid source. I went home for the weekend (I have no classes on Friday) and thus the picture is from home. I hope this is okay.

Behold my naturally occurring letterform, a found object in the shape of Y. I found this tiny twig on the hardwood floor in the home of my sweetheart, Sinead. This home is located in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, my hometown. I came home this evening for the season premiere of The Office, one of my favorite shows. This photo was taken by my phone around 9:30 pm on September 17, 2009. I apologize for its blurriness as the phone cannot focus this close. The Y is a little odd: it seems to have elbows.

_Jes

My Type Journal

Welcome to my type journal. This is Jesse Lenton at your service. I'm going to be keeping this blog going, temporarily for now, to fulfill requirements of my Typography course. I would just like to give a shout-out to my professor, the Bosler herself: Hey love the class! How about that Garamond?

Anyway, please keep in touch everybody and leave comments. Thank you! :)