I have been a terrible blogger. My last post was 5 months ago, and I have been so derelict that I didn’t even bother to a write up about the new theme. So I apologize to the 3 or so people who might actually visit this site from time to time. Now, let’s raise our glasses to getting back on track.

Last semester I didn’t post any of my school projects, so let me start by doing so now. In “Graphic Design 1″ I had an assignment to create a concert poster. The requirements of the assignment were to create the poster according to design specs for a local venue, and promote a band that could theoretically play at said venue. I just had to go with one of my favorite bands ever, Flight of the Conchords.

This posed some interesting challenges. On day one I emailed all of the larger venues in the Phoenix area asking if they had any specs for their posters. Not a single one of them responded. A fellow student had managed to reach someone at Cricket Wireless Pavilion only to find out that they have no real set rules. I wanted to use Dodge Theatre, since Flight of the Conchords has actually played there in the past. Since Dodge Theatre and Cricket Wireless are both managed by Live Nation I assumed that they would have the same requirements.

I was able to find a vector of the Dodge logo online. I only had to add the word “theatre” to recreate the Dodge Theatre logo. I found a typeface called Dodger which is a close approximation of the Dodge font. I had originally thought of doing something rather art nouveau, but found it very difficult to achieve that style effectively. (I aim to keep at it, but it could take years of practice.) Instead I went with something more Art Deco looking to go with the robot theme. For the display text I chose a font called fat free, which comes in an outline version and a solid version. I layered the two, outline over solid to make it look sort of hand drawn, like many Conchords posters. Fat free Solid also reads fairly easy, so I used that for the other text on the page.

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Topics: concert posters, Dodge Theatre, Flight of the Conchords, School

As part of a class I’m taking called “writing for online media” I’ve set up yet another blog.

I decided to write a blog that talks about movies with a focus on movie previews. Rather than make my readers wait for a movie to be released in the theater to do a review, I plan to judge movies based on the quality of their trailer. Why wait for Roger Ebert and the billions of wannabe film critics on the web to do a review when I can critique the film before it is even released?

So please go check out my new blog: I’ll be in my Trailer

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Topics: Movies, School

I am a terrible blogger. The previous post reminded me that I had started a series of posts on the history of sci-fi and horror movie posters. The posts were all taken from a term paper I had written on the subject. Looking back I see that I only got about half way through converting the text into blog posts. Once again, I am a terrible blogger.

Rather than try to squeeze another 4 or 5 posts out of this, I’m repenting by posting the entire PDF, here.

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Topics: Abominable Plakatstil, Movie Posters, Movies, School

The release of James Cameron’s special effects extravaganza Avatar has the graphic design community in an uproar. Typophiles everywhere have their collective knickers in a twist because the films marketing team couldn’t find any money in their 150 million dollar budget to spend on a custom typeface.  Google “Avatar Papyrus” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. That’s right, the Avatar movie posters, trailers, and other promotions elected to use Papyrus as their typeface.

There are two typefaces that are almost universally despised among designers: Comic Sans, and Papyrus. Most people won’t even blink when they see either of these fonts being used. Designers, however, are prone to violent hysteria at the site of something like the Avatar movie poster.

So what’s wrong with Papyrus? Why all the hatred of a typeface? Let’s look at the most common criticisms that have arisen since the release of Avatar, and why most of them are irrational:

Papyrus is overused

This may be true, but I don’t think it justifies the ubiquitous hatred. Helvetica is the most used typeface in the world and, while it has its detractors, you don’t see a massive outpouring of criticism every time it finds its way into a movie poster. Papyrus is overused for 2 reasons: it comes free with most computers and because it works (more on this later).

Papyrus is used improperly

There is simply no defense for using something like Papyrus for body copy. This is no reason to hate the typeface, however. Any typeface can be used poorly. It’s hard to argue that the Avatar logo would have looked better set in, say, Times New Roman:

Or maybe Franklin Gothic:

Either of these would have been poor choices. Papyrus may not have been the best option, but I don’t know that you can really say it was “misused”. At least it approaches an appropriate “feel” for the design.

The subtitles, on the other hand… If the outrage over Avatar’s use of Papyrus has any real merit, it is this. The film apparently uses Papyrus for its subtitles, which is just as bad as using it for body copy. Papyrus is a display face, and should only be used for headlines, or similar reasons. Set at smaller sizes or in larger strings of text, it puts a lot of unneeded strain on the eyes.

Using Papyrus is lazy

One of the reasons Papyrus is used so much is because it is “easy”. Need something that is vaguely Egyptian, Asian, sort of ethereal, or maybe even Western? Just use Papyrus, and you’re done. As I said earlier, one reason Papyrus is used so much is because it works. It has a generic exotic quality that makes it versatile. Plus it is easy to read.

The laziness accusation comes from the fact that a designer should be able to find a different font that is more specifically tailored to the design. This argument holds more water than most of the other criticisms of Papyrus. The designers behind the Avatar promotions should have enjoyed a large enough budget to purchase any typeface they wanted, or even commission something unique. From a marketing standpoint, it would be better to have a unique, or at least more obscure, font that people will come to associate with your product.

Then again, countless big budget movies use Trajan Pro in their promotions as well. No doubt any one of them could come up with a couple hundred dollars to use something different.

Papyrus is ugly

This is the type of circular argument that drives me nuts. “Papyrus sucks because it’s ugly.” That’s like saying “it sucks because it sucks.” It’s fine to say you think it’s not aesthetically pleasing, but that is your opinion. I think most of Picasso’s art is ugly as dingleberries, but that’s just my opinion, nothing more. It doesn’t mean that no one else should enjoy his work.

You may think Papyrus is ugly, but there are many people who find it visually pleasing. What makes you right and them wrong? Your education? Your experience? Those things only give you different lens through which to view the world. If you can’t give a reasonable explanation as to why you find something ugly, then you just sound pompous.

Conclusion

In the end, I think what graphic designers really don’t like about Papyrus is that it is often used by amateurs or non-designers. It’s not so much that the font itself is so bad, but that by virtue of its reputation no “real” designer would use it, especially not for a high profile project. When an average person sees Papyrus they think nothing of it. When a designer sees Papyrus, they think, “that must have been designed by someone’s brother, or cousin, or someone else completely unqualified to be a designer. Whoever paid for that should have hired me instead.”

Filed under: Blog, Design by Ed 8 Comments »

Topics: Design, Movie Posters, typography

Valerie and I are involved in a local organization called The Arizona Browncoats.  Aside from general geeky fun, the group puts on a yearly charity event called Can’t Stop the Serenity. Last year we only went to the screening and watched the movie. This year we are much more involved. We’ve been helping make all sorts of crafty goodness to sell or give away as prizes during the event.

Last night I completed design work on a series of bookmarks for the event:

Click the images for high res version, which you can feel free to print. (I believe we are going to be giving them away at the screening anyway.) If nothing else, all this charity should make up for the numerous dead baby seal jokes I’ve made in my lifetime.

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Topics: Charity, CSTS, Firefly, Serenity

As a perennial devotee of all things post apocalyptic, I was very excited when I first saw a commercial for Discovery Channel’s new show, The Colony. Valerie and I had discussed only a few nights before how it would be cool if there was a Man vs Wild episode where Bear Grylls shows the viewer how to survive a Zombie uprising.

For various reasons we missed the first few episodes. I finally caught the second half of an episode the other day. To say I was disappointed would be like saying The Phantom Menace was kind of bad. What I hoped to see was a decent simulation of a post apocalypse situation. What I saw instead was more like The Real World in a dirty warehouse without the beautiful people.

To be fair, I went online and watched the first episode. I thought maybe I’d just caught the show at a weak moment. I was wrong. While the introductory episode isn’t so bad at first, it soon devolves into just another reality show. The further they come along in meeting their basic survival needs the more they find time to yell at each other.

The intro claims the participants represent a cross section of American society. Yet it seems more likely to have been cast first to include complementary skill sets and second for maximum dramatic tension. A real cross section of America would include at least one or two people with no useful skills. When the Zombies rise up, what are the chances you’ll be stranded with a doctor, a nurse, a contractor, a machinist, 3 different types of engineers and a solar-panel fabricator? What are the chances you won’t be stuck with a single burger jockey or corporate executive type?

I’m not impressed that a bunch of scientists and engineers can figure out how to build a water filtration system. Seeing a group of fast food workers and retail employees put their heads together to figure out how to survive, now that would have been interesting. That would have tested the limits of creativity and human ingenuity. Instead the “experiment” of The Colony seems to be testing how long a group of strangers can work together before they start bickering.

Filed under: Blog by Ed 1 Comment »

Topics: Television

I made this card for Valerie’s birthday and thought it was too fun not to share:

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Topics: Birthdays, Illustration, Zombies

Remember a few months ago when I said I didn’t have time to “Twitter my every inane thought?” Well it’s summer now and with the break in my schedule it turns out I do have time. Well, sort of. I mean, how long can it really take to write 140 characters?

So go follow me and I promise to limit most of my Tweets to my less inane thoughts.

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Why would anyone post a year in review in May? It’s the end of the school year, that’s why. I just finished Spring term and I’m looking forward to a 3 month break. Of course, I’ll still be working 29 hours a week but at least I won’t have 3 to 4 hours of homework each night.

In the realm of design, I’ve been able to build my portfolio a bit via my Illustration class. I do feel that my skills have improved greatly over the past year. With any luck I’ll be able to pick up a freelance gig or two over the summer.

Of all my pursuits, writing has suffered the most from my busy schedule. This Spring I took an academic argument course which monopolized most of my writing energy without providing any of the enjoyment I normally get from the craft. Writing academic argument is like eating plain white rice, or over-baked chicken. You may be eating but the flavor is lacking.

As far as academia goes, I’ve had a pretty good year. I maintained a 4.0, I was honored with an “Excellence Under the Stars” award for academic achievement in Computer Illustration and History of Graphic Design, and I landed a Bethel Ells Scholarship. I also became a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Not a bad bit of resume fodder, if you ask me.

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Topics: Career, Design, School, Writing

My final project for Computer Illustration this year was to come up with a guerrilla marketing campaign and create visual examples of how it might look.

I believe guerrilla marketing is well suited to promoting subversive messages, so I decided to do a campaign advocating the legalization of marijuana. I could go on a long rant here about all the reasons the U.S. drug policy is idiotic but that’s really beyond the scope of this post. If you want to read about the topic, you can visit the NORML website.

My idea was to contradict some of the misinformation that exists about the drug with extreme contradictory examples. The concept was to create cardboard cutouts of various famous people who are known to have smoked marijuana and put labels on them that contradicted the obvious truth. These cutouts would then be placed in strategic locations for the most impact.

Stephen King appears in front of the NY Public Library:

Richard Branson in front of the NY Stock Exchange:

Barack Obama in front of the Supreme Court:

Michael Phelps coming out of a public swimming pool:

Each cutout would be accompanied not only by the pot logo but also a mug shot style reader board to make sure passersby would know who the person was, and why they were being labeled as pot smokers. As these are a little hard to read in the conceptual renderings, I’ve included larger versions of the signs:

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Topics: Guerrilla Marketing, Marijuana, School