Mokokoma Mokhonoana || Graphic designer » Typography http://mokokoma.co.za Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:02:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Introducing Pixeluxe Font Family by Jan Erasmus http://mokokoma.co.za/introducing-pixeluxe-font-family-by-jan-erasmus/ http://mokokoma.co.za/introducing-pixeluxe-font-family-by-jan-erasmus/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:18:55 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=3253



I have just received an email from Jan Erasmus introducing one of his latest creations, a new font family. I have shared Jan’s work, Laibela font family, before on this journal.

And I’ve just realized that Jan actually first made contact with me in June of 2008, almost a year before I discussed sharing the Laibela font family with readers of this journal, when he suggested I list his company, Cybergraphics on skout.

He told me that he found skout neat and useful, but the one thing missing was a South African Font Foundry to develop custom fonts for the local market.

Jan also worked on one of my favourite font, which was custom-made for Nandos.

Quoted below is the email from Jan Erasmus:
Pixel fonts are once again out in full force. They have taken over airports, railway stations, cell phones as well as every small digital devise that uses text to convey information.

Due to their current importance, I decided to have a look at the pixel font and take it to the next level.

Conceptually it was based on some of the most clichéd symbols that designers use according to Google. Each pixel in a character was replaced with a symbol. Thereby imbedding specific meaning into the font.

The symbols also bloated the data. In the case of the cap ‘A’ in ‘Death’ font, it has 95 times more data than Helvetica cap ‘A’. That is why I could only output this family as PostScript Type 1 fonts that works on screen and prints.

Attempting to output it as TrueType which doubles the curve nodes, did not work.

Visit Cybergraphics to have a look at the pixeluxe family and other great fonts by Jan Erasmus.
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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/introducing-pixeluxe-font-family-by-jan-erasmus/feed/ 0 Lalibela family – fonts by a South African graphic designer http://mokokoma.co.za/lalibela-family-fonts-by-a-south-african-graphic-designer/ http://mokokoma.co.za/lalibela-family-fonts-by-a-south-african-graphic-designer/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:42:03 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=2384



I would like to share some work by fellow graphic designer, Jan Erasmus with you.

Jan’s motivation for designing the Lalibela family (which is based on Bodoni) was to pay homage to Ethiopic Script. The script has been around for about 3 000 years, but he took artistic license to deviate from the original model and add personal touches.

He chose the Bodoni family as a historical model because of it’s display value not its text size use because the extreme contrast made it difficult to read at small sizes. The font was drawn with much larger x height and less geometric than Bodoni for its primary use as a display.

Due to licensing restrictions Jan could not send me the actual fonts, which I would have used to showcase the fonts in detail. Nonetheless, Jan was kind enough to email me the three pictures below as per my specifications.

Lalibela Regular




Lalibela Bold




Lalibela Bold Alternate

Lalibela Alternate was designed to provide an interesting mixing integration with the Bold family member for expressive headlines. All the characters on the ‘Alternate” were changed besides the O, 1 and 2.

Feel free to visit a section dedicated Lalibela font family on Jan’s website. On this page, you’ll also be able to test type before you buy — which gives you the oportunity to type your prefered dummy copy plus a zoom tool that should come in handy for a more detailed look at the fonts.
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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/lalibela-family-fonts-by-a-south-african-graphic-designer/feed/ 4 The mistaken and recommended way to outline text http://mokokoma.co.za/the-mistaken-and-recommended-way-to-outline-text/ http://mokokoma.co.za/the-mistaken-and-recommended-way-to-outline-text/#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:44:18 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=1761



Aesthetics purposes and to make text standout from its background are two of many logical reasons a designer may decide to add an outline to text. I strongly advise that applying an outline to text should only go as far as headings and nowhere near body copy, as it would be a mission to read – but it will highly depend on the overall size of the body copy.

The most common way that a lot of graphic designers do this is to simply add a stroke to the text, so I’m certain that most of you are probably thinking: “that’s a no-brainer, you simply select the text and add a stroke to the selection”, right? wrong! That’s a malpractice.

Serif fonts are a good example to use as their appearance is affected the most as compared to sans serif fonts. So, I will use Times New Roman for the purpose of this post in the examples below.

Normal serif text before adding an outline:



Nothing strange above, I just highlighted the three areas, with red circles, to draw your attention to those parts of the text as I’ll refer to them to demonstrate how to apply an outline properly.

The wrong way of adding an outline to text:

Typically a designer would just add a stroke to selected text and you’d have text that looks like below:



Look closely to our areas of focus (within the red circles), the serif and the other parts of the text diminishes and distorts from their original form. This is because the added outline extends inside the letters. The bigger the outline, thicker in this case, the more distorted the text will appear.

The correct ways to add an outline:

There are two ways of doing this correctly that I’m aware of, the traditional way or allowing your design application to come to your rescue. I’m including the former so that you are not limited to any particular design software, Illustrator in this case, to do this properly.

Traditional way that does NOT rely on an application:

1. Select the text (no need to be converted to a path)

2. Copy the text [cmd+c or cntrl+c]

3. Add a stroke to the text and apply your preferred colour. Multiply whatever value you want for the size of the stroke by two, i.e if you want a 4px stroke then give it 8px value.

4. Go to Edit > Paste in front [cmn+f or cntrl+f] – this will paste the unmodified (no stroke) copied original in the center of the text that you’ve added a stroke to.

5. That’s it. The final text will have a stroke with a 4px stroke (as per the above example).

Adding an outline correctly using Adobe Illustrator:

The advancement of design softwares like Adobe Illustrator has made adding outline to text more easier and accurate, while keeping the original shape of the letterforms. Below are the steps on how to add an outline properly using Adobe Illustrator:

1. Select the text and convert to path.

2. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path



3. An Offset Path window will pop out, the value of the offset will depend on the size of the outline and how you want the outline to be positioned.



What basically happens after applying the Offset to the path is that, illustrator will make duplicates of the objects that you have selected -  set apart from the original, either inside or outside, according to the dimension you input.



If you look closely you’ll see that there’s duplicates of the letters (‘H’ in this case), so we have the original ‘H’ inside a slightly bigger ‘H’. Use the direct select tool to select the outer letters/paths and apply whatever colour you want your outline to appear in. Then you’re sorted.

The correct application of an outline:



When done properly the text should still keep its original shape, like the example above.

The conclusion:

The aim is to have an outline as a ‘line’ on the outside of the path/text as opposed to the line extending inside – and then you’ll get the ‘effect’ of an outlined text without compromising the visibility of the typeface especially the serifs.
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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/the-mistaken-and-recommended-way-to-outline-text/feed/ 7 The faces behind 20 famous typefaces http://mokokoma.co.za/the-faces-behind-20-famous-typefaces/ http://mokokoma.co.za/the-faces-behind-20-famous-typefaces/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:48:29 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=1500




Typefaces are part of our daily lives as visual communicators, we use type in logo design, web design and other ‘facets’ of graphic design. There are literally hundreds of thousands of fonts available; some free, some commissioned, some good, some bad and some over-used. Below is a collection of some of the world’s well-known typefaces and a short bio of the typographers who designed them.



Max Miedinger

A Swiss typeface designer, He was famous for creating Helvetica in 1957. Marketed as a symbol of cutting-edge Swiss technology, Helvetica went global at once.



Adrian Frutiger

One of the prominent typeface designers of the twentieth century, who continues influencing the direction of digital typography in the twenty-first century; he is best known for creating the typefaces Univers and Frutiger.





Claude Garamond

A Parisian publisher. He was one of the leading type designers of his time, and several contemporary typefaces, including those named Garamond, Granjon, and Sabon show his influence.



George W. Jones

George W.Jones(1860-1942) was one of the most respected and celebrated fine printers of his generation. He entered the printing business in 1873 (at the young age of 13) and joined the printing house of Raithby & Lawrence in 1883. In 1889 he became an independent printer and publisher adopting vigorous business policies towards graphic design and technology.




Jan Tschichold

A typographer, book designer, teacher and writer trained in calligraphy. This artisan background and calligraphic training set him apart from almost all other noted typographers of the time, since they had inevitably trained in architecture or the fine arts.




John Baskerville

An English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and typographer. Baskerville was responsible for significant innovations in printing, paper and ink production.

He developed a technique which produced a smoother whiter paper which showcased his strong black type. Baskerville also pioneered a completely new style of typography adding wide margins and leading between each line.





Matthew Carter

A type designer who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Carter’s career in type design has witnessed the transition from physical metal type to digital type.



Paul Renner

A typeface designer, most notably of Futura. He was born in Wernigerode, Germany and died in Hödingen. He created a new set of guidelines for good book design and invented the popular Futura, a geometric sans-serif font used by many typographers throughout the 20th century and up till the present.



Monotype Imaging Inc.

A typesetting and typeface design company (type foundry) responsible for many developments in printing technology — in particular the Monotype machine which was the first fully mechanical typesetter — and the design and production of typefaces in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its most widely known product, by far, is the font Times New Roman.





Carol Twombly

American calligrapher and typeface designer who has designed many typefaces, including Trajan, Myriad and Adobe Caslon. She worked as a type designer at Adobe Systemsfrom 1988 through 1999, during which time she designed, or contributed to the design of many typefaces. She retired from type design in early 1999.







Eric Gill

A British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Today he is a controversial figure, with his well known religious views and subject matter being seen at odds with his sexual and paraphiliac behaviour and erotic art.



Charles A. Bigelow

A type historian, professor, and designer. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1982. Along with Kris Holmes, he is the co-creator of Lucida and Wingdings font families. He runs the Bigelow and Holmes foundry.

Kris Holmes

A type designer, she is with Charles Bigelow the co-creator of the Lucida font family. She received her B.A. from Harvard University and her MFA from UCLA Film School in Animation. She has taught at Portland State University.







Vincent Connare

A former Microsoft in-house font designer. Amongst his creations are the Comic Sans font, and the Trebuchet MS font, both of which ship as standard on current releases of Microsoft Windows.



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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/the-faces-behind-20-famous-typefaces/feed/ 13 Book review: Logo design workbook http://mokokoma.co.za/book-review-logo-design-workbook/ http://mokokoma.co.za/book-review-logo-design-workbook/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:19:30 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=624



Logo design workbook book review

I’m a firm believer that education is a journey that has no destination, as there’s always something new that one can add to their already acquired knowledge or skills. A while back I shared my 10 tips to greater logo design and now I’d love to share a book titled Logo design workbook: A hands-on guide to creating logos, this is by far the best book on logo and corporate identity development that I’ve ever laid my hands on. The book:

• Breaks down the process of creating a logo into methodical steps.
• Provides advice and tips that explain what makes a logo work and why.
• Offers ideas and inspiration from leading designers from around the world.

In the first half of the book, authors Sean Adams and Noreen Morioka walks readers step-by-step through the entire logo development process. Covered topics include developing a concept that communicates the right message and is appropriate for both the client and the market; defining how long term goals of the client might affect the look and needs of the mark; choosing thoughtful colours and typefaces; avoiding common mistakes; and deciphering why some logos are successful, while others are not.

The authors then take the design process one step further with an extensive exploration of the process of developing a graphic standards manual. By setting the range of flexibility, a logo is defined in terms of colour, typography, placement, and additional elements. With the standards set, designers can feel confident that their work will maintain the original intent and strength through the mark’s life.

The second portion of the book is composed of in-depth case studies on logos designed for a variety of industries. Each case study explores the design brief, the relationship with the client, time frame, and the results.

The cases studies include development of brand identities for:



Museum of Sex



Anthony {Skin-care Products}



AIGA {American Institute of Graphic Arts}



Metropolitan Market {Urban boutique grocery stores}



CalARTS {California Institute of Arts}




MORE THAN {UK based Insurance Company}




JAL {Japan Airlines}

Motorola, Chase Manhattan Bank, Yellowbox Studios, Moteor, Barnes & Noble, Umbra, Pottery Barn Kids, Design Within Reach, H&R Block and seventeen other brands.

In the first chapter the book list 10 rules to good logo design, and what’s more interesting is that you’re given real brand identities to illustrate and support each of the stated rules.

The authors provide excellent examples of brand strategies being incorporated into brand identities.

The book brilliantly covers crucial brand identity elements such as typography, colour, iconography, shape etc.

You’ll also learn a lot from section titled Anatomy of a Standard Manual which includes the development of standard manual for Metropolitan Market.

Standard briefing questions are also raised and explained into detail.

This book is a good investment to any brand identity designer.
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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/book-review-logo-design-workbook/feed/ 2 Letters are not just pretty faces, at times they can be such characters. http://mokokoma.co.za/letters-are-not-just-pretty-faces-at-times-they-can-be-such-characters/ http://mokokoma.co.za/letters-are-not-just-pretty-faces-at-times-they-can-be-such-characters/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:47:46 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/?p=488



words theater, a play on words, letters, alphabets

A while back, about 8 months or so I published a post on Forum of Black Journalists which was part of my personal project, words theater. After contemplating on the direction and future of the project, I decided to have a website solely dedicated to the project. I’m glad to announce that the website just went through the phase of existence, the launch.
This obviously means that the project will no longer be part of this website like it used to be.

From now on the project can be viewed at wordstheater.com, please refer to the about page on the website for a background and more information on the project.

Like all web environments, wordstheater will need time to be grown. This launch is just the birth, a lot of work will still go into growing the project.
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]]> http://mokokoma.co.za/letters-are-not-just-pretty-faces-at-times-they-can-be-such-characters/feed/ 0 How I kicked whites out of the Forum of Black Journalists without saying a word! http://mokokoma.co.za/how-i-kicked-whites-out-of-forum-of-black-journalists-without-saying-a-word/ http://mokokoma.co.za/how-i-kicked-whites-out-of-forum-of-black-journalists-without-saying-a-word/#comments Sun, 02 Mar 2008 13:37:21 +0000 Mokokoma Mokhonoana http://mokokoma.co.za/how-i-kicked-whites-out-of-forum-of-black-journalists-without-saying-a-word/



forum-of-black-journalists

…And I’m not racist. I’m just a visual poet at work!

There is currently a huge debate in the country on whether South Africans should condone how Forum of Black Journalists “kicked-out” their white colleagues at the forum’s function attended by The President of the ANC two weeks or so back.

I played with letters of the name Forum of Black Journalists on my personal project words theater, where I try to use nothing but the letters or words themselves to convey their meaning and intended effect.

I removed all white(s) from the name Forum of Black Journalists – letters: O, B, A. The end result is the Forum of Black Journalists with no white(s).

forum-of-black-journalists

The only white (colour) serves as negative space, and I used it to represent whites (in the industry) surrounding the forum but with the white(s) not being part of the Black Journalists Forum.

.

The above is just me playing around with the 23 letters and one of our country’s current racial debate. I however don’t aim at condoning any exclusion of particular group based on their skin colour.

.
 !ke e: Ixarra IIke

.
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