Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Typography: Merry Christmas/Happy New Year


My 1979/1980 Christmas and New Year card was printed front and back and used the typeface ITC Serif Gothic, which I modified by removing the serifs. My name was set in ITC Zapf Book. The star was hand-cut. Below is a scan of two cards.


(Next post on January 1: Peace on Earth)

Monday, December 17, 2012

Street Scene: Rosebud


My holiday greeting from the 1980s. The “Rosebud” sled was purchased at
the B. Shackman novelty store on Fifth Avenue at 16th Street in Manhattan.
Although the physical store no longer exists, it does have an online presence.


(Next post on December 25: Merry Christmas/Happy New Year)

Monday, December 10, 2012

Lettering: New Testament


In the early 1970s, I found the 1971 album, New Testament by the Ventures, in a cut-out bin. What interested me was what was on the back: a blue pencil rendering of the title lettering with notations on the ellipse size and degree. At the time I was a graphic design student at Arizona State University and had never seen anything like it. Compared to the finished lettering, there were a few changes: the lowercase "e" is uniform; the "s" connects to the "e"; and the lowercase "n" has a vertical stroke. Presumably, Robert Lockart did the lettering, too.

 Front

Back

(Next post on Monday: Rosebud)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Typography: John Alcorn’s Books!


Dust jacket and selected pages from
Books!
Murray McCain
Illustrated by John Alcorn
Simon and Schuster, 1962


(John Alcorn’s Writing!; next post on Monday: New Testament)