Early Winter snowfall in Leeds

Typefaces I like...

A square-serif type is called a slab serif or Egyptian, but when the serif is bracketed (the curved linking stroke between the stem and the square serif), the type is sometimes referred to as a Clarendon. Originated in England by the Fann St. Foundry in 1845, these types are named for the Clarendon Press in Oxford. Clarendon was originally designed as a heavier complement to ordinary serif designs, and is used frequently in dictionaries and headline applications.

Designed by Paul Renner in 1927, Futura is the classic example of a geometric sans serif type. Its original concept was based on the Bauhaus design philosophy that “form follows function.” Futura uses basic geometric proportions with no weight stresses, serifs, or frills, with long ascenders and descenders that give it more elegance than most sans serif typefaces. The wide range of weights plus condensed faces provide a variety of ways to set short text blocks and display copy with a strong, no-nonsense appearance.

Orator is a monospaced typeface made up of capitals and small capitals only; it can be used for tabular material or technical documentation. The name Orator comes from the notion that capitals and small capitals are clearer than upper and lowercase letters, thus making it useful for speech notes. It was designed for IBM typewriters by John Scheppler.

As a student in Zurich, Adrian Frutiger began work on Univers, which would eventually be released in 1957 by the Deberny & Peignot foundry in Paris. The design is a neo-grotesque, similar to its contemporary, Helvetica. With the release of Univers, Frutiger began using numbers rather than names to designate variations of weight, width, and slope. The full Univers family consists of twenty-one typefaces, and Frutiger has used this numerical system on other designs, including Serifa and Frutiger. Linotype also has adopted this numerical system for many other faces. All twenty-one Univers faces were designed to work together, so they can be mixed in a variety of ways. Their legibility lends itself to a large variety of applications, from text and headlines to packaging and signage.

Level 05

September is here again and the first year of my degree has flown by and now Im moving from Level 04 into Level 05. Im looking forward to building on a very solid and enjoyable year whilst I attempt to bring a more professional aspect to my working practices through building a knowledgeable foundation of industry skills. We also begin to focus in either type or image areas of graphic design.

Work Experience @ Reef

During the summer break I managed to secure a week of work experience with Reef - a 'multi-discipline design consultancy, expert at seeing projects through from pitch to print across a wide variety of media'.

During the week I got to sample a working studio environment whilst working on small projects including layout work, web design and repro. Above is a few images of the web design I produced during my stay at Reef.

New Printer

Today I bought a new all-in-one printer, copier and scanner. I also got it for a great price which made me very happy. When setting it up, it automatically printed out a test page to make sure everything was aligned properly. The pattern it produced looked cool so I thought i'd share it with you.

10 things to achieve over summer

1. Take lots of photographs/document my summer.

2. Increase my hours at work and save up some money.

3. Start jogging more often.

4. Spend quality time with family and friends.

5. Buy new graphics books/reading material.

6. Go on holiday to an interesting city.

7. Draw/paint and photograph just for fun more often.

8. Complete a week of work experience.

9. Maintain my blogs.

10. Discover a new artist/designer that I really like.

Winter break in Berlin

During the February half term reading week, me and my parents went on a short trip to Berlin, Germany. It's a city that I have wanted to visit for quite a while now and I was far from disappointed with my visit. We stayed in the old eastern district of Mitte which had a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere and was filled with trendy bohemian shops, boutiques and restaurants, there was also a fantastic book store dedicated to design called Pro qm. Berlin has an amazing mixture of old and new architecture and houses an abundance of museums, galleries and places of interest - The Reichstag and The Jewish War memorial were two of my favourites. Overall, Berlin is a city with a great vibe and feel, friendly people and so much to do and see, furthermore visiting during the winter meant that a thick layer of snow helped to create a very picturesque cityscape that I am looking forward to returning to one day. It is a place that acknowledges its history whilst embraces its rapidly developing future.

The White Stuff...

Heavy snow in Yorkshire!