graphic design, art, typography and architecture

Creative Fix will be a regular round-up feature. I'll be listing and commenting on my favourite blog posts, stumbles and bookmarks. Here's my Creative Fix for June 2007: Website that caught my eye: This is a beautifully designed Flash web site; this kind of thing has been done a lot before, but this one is particularly worthy of mention: Architecture: LandMark Houses, an Architectural Housing Project set in the Cotswolds (UK). A complete showpiece village of landmark new homes by some of the best architects in Britain, and the world, is about to be built in the Cotswolds.--The Sunday Times Typography: 15 Years of Type for ... [more]

If you're a graphic designer and budding film-maker or either, then you won't want to miss out on this: For the 4th annual Typophile Film Festival to take place at TypeCon, this year in Seattle during August 1-5, 2007. The film festival is wide open to anything relevant to typography, design history, and/or type design. It can be educational, experimental, inspiring or humorous. I'm thinking of entering something myself - any ideas, anyone? For further information see the Typophile Web Site. And while you're over at Typophile, don't forget to take a look at the Typophile Wiki. [more]

Well, I've been away from blogging for a week. I wonder if anyone noticed? ;) Owing to work commitments during last week, I couldn't find a minute in which to write something; and it's not as though I'm without ideas for posts. Well, as soon as I finish the redesign of my biggest (and best--just in case they're reading this) client's web site, and moving dozens and dozens of sites to my new host, Media Temple, I will be back. Here are some posts still in draft form, that I'll publish soon. Something to whet your appetites, I hope: "The Day the Web ... [more]

Here's a great typography video - very nicely produced, and a brief introduction for those new to the art of typography. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o1U4o1bc2k[/youtube] If you like this, you may like these: Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface A Film About Typography [more]

I'm always interested to see how type is dealt with in other scripts, whether that be Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Chinese, etc. So I'm pleased to learn that there is a contest open to all with Greek typography as its theme. Deadline is May 31. In order to capture current trends in the design of Greek alphabets, the 3rd International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication and backpacker.gr invite Greek and foreign type designers to participate in a typographic exhibition, where the "Greek alphabet" (εα) is the leading actor. The participants are asked to design Greek characters in order to set ... [more]

I last experimented with a pinhole camera about 20 years ago. I remember being absolutely fascinated by the whole concept: a cardboard box with a pin-size hole and I could take photographs! Well, Mieko Tadokoro's efforts are a world removed from my own, hit-and-miss attempts (mine were predominantly "miss"), and she has an exhibition at the Pola Museum Annex to prove it. The exhibition comprises some 40 photographs of miniature replicas of houses and rooms modelled by Hinoki Craftsman Hiroshi Miura. Venue: Pola Bldg., 1-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061. (free entry). When?: Until May 29, 2007. That reminds me, I must dig out ... [more]

The inimitable graphic designer (aka type-god) Jonathan Barnbrook will hold his Friendly Fire UK exhibition at the Design Museum (June 15 to October 10), and will be a great opportunity to see the development of his work, especially in experimental typography. If you've been in a coma for the last decade (the only plausible excuse for not having seen his work), then take a trip, via a click, to his studio's website. It wouldn't surprise me to hear than Barnbrook is married to a font (now there's a thought), such is his love affair with type - and it really ... [more]

Well, I can't say that I've given much thought to Iranian typography before - until today, that is. The Basel School of Design is hosting an exhibition of '50 Years of Iranian Typography' from today. Professor Renner says: We do not have to work hard to find links between the typographic arts of Iran and Switzerland. I'm not quite sure how Prof. Renner defines "hard work"; I think you'd have to do a lot of really hard work (e.g. labour in a Soviet Gulag) to find anything but the most tenuous of links between the typographies of Switzerland and Iran. He also says: We ... [more]

21_21 Design Sight, is a new design platform in Tokyo, led by three designers: Issey Miyake, Taku Satoh, and Naoto Fukasawa. The inimitable Tadao Ando is the architect behind the new building. The venue is to be much more than a museum of design; it's intended to be a work in progress, a place that brings together designers from all fields: graphic, fashion and industrial design. In designing the stage for 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, architect Tadao Ando endeavoured to create the kind of architecture he sees as “the face of Japan”. The building ... [more]