Category: ultratypographic
Complete
5 easy ways to overcome shyness
Popular Slut Club
All lifestyles
I don’t know how I managed to miss this bit of type nerdery for so long, but I just noticed these lyrics in “All Lifestyles”, from the Beastie Boys’ 2004 album To the 5 Boroughs:
So what’cha want? So what’cha need?
I’ve got the fonts you want to read
Get in the game you gotta scheme
One of these days, I’m going to have to properly build my list of songs that intersect with typography. I know there’s more than just this and “German Bold Italic” out there.
Boys’ books
Hello, Dolly
Now that it’s healed, it’s a little easier to show off the latest addition to my collection of typographic tattoos. This little beauty is from the italic face of Dolly, available from Underware. I had mentioned to one of the Underware guys a few years ago that I’d wanted to add something of theirs to the collection, and after using Dolly for ages the time finally seemed right when I was back in New York a few weeks ago.
FAQNP #3: A Queer Nerd Travel Guide
I contributed an article to the zine FAQNP for its third issue, “A Queer Nerd Travel Guide”. My photo feature, “A Type Nerd’s Time in India”, is a look at how well (or for the most part, how badly) a variety of western brands like Citibank and McDonald’s carry through their typographic branding when they use the local scripts in different Indian cities.
Treasures from the attic
About five years ago, when I was getting ready to move to England and take another crack at grad school, I was starting to worry about what to do with all my stuff. I’d surrendered many treasures as I downsized and moved from one place to another, but emigrating — even if it would only be for a year — would require me to pare down to the essentials once and for all, and even then I’d probably need to give preference to relevant books for my course.
Luckily, my brother generously agreed to let me use the attic of his large house to store all the boxes of things that I couldn’t take, but wasn’t quite prepared to throw away or sell. In the years since, as I’ve adjusted to the idea that I may be living here for quite a while, I’ve emptied out a box or two when possible, throwing away things that don’t seem quite so precious anymore and bringing some of the treasure back to the UK.
Last week I sorted through the stack of boxes again, grabbing a few essential books I’d been missing and rescuing a small stack of ephemera I’ve been collecting for the past thirty years or so. Looking through the pile is like finding old friends again, and unleashing a flood of memories. I suspect many of the the tidbits will make their way into Pink Mince eventually, but here’s a selection of other things with less editorial potential.
Ticket stub from the Cyclone at Coney Island
Flyer for a divorce sale — “Everything is cheap but HIS stuff is cheaper”
Flyer for a “Scottish” gay bar in Rio de Janeiro
Note given to me by a 15-year-old deaf boy when I was working the front desk at Waterstone’s in Boston
A couple of John Waters autographs from 1989 or so.
Much more beloved Waters memorabilia: copies of various scripts from films of his.
Avant Garde
I spent the day working on a custom version of this typeface, thinking that it’s one of those designs that only seems to deserve its fame when it’s used just right, but the rest of the time feels a bit off. I don’t love it, but I have a deep affection for it. Avant Garde was, after all, the typeface that turned me into a typographer.
When I was a pimply 14-year-old freshman in high school who still just wanted to draw comics for a living, I joined the staff of the school newspaper hoping to contribute a bit of art now and then. One of the first things I was taught was the use of the Kroy machine, which set type on transparent strips of adhesive tape for the headlines in the paper. Among the font discs we had on hand was Avant Garde Demi, and it included a number of the alternate glyphs that actually make this design interesting. Playing with that font and that machine was the first time I thought about the visual possibilities of a certain style of letter, and how you could create something by manipulating how you arranged letters. It wasn’t an immediate conversation, but something clicked, connected to my fascination with comic book titles and sound effect balloons, and — obviously — eventually led to a lifelong fixation.
