Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies. Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought was published by Basic Books in 1995. In the book,

Douglas Hofstadter and other members of the Fluid Analogies Research Group [are] exploring the mechanisms of intelligence through computer modeling. It contends that the notions of analogy and fluidity are fundamental to explain how the human mind solves problems and to create computer programs that show intelligent behavior. It analyzes several computer programs that members of the group have created over the years to solve problems that require intelligence.

For the title, the unknown jacket designer brought together two script typefaces designed by Friedrich Peter, a German-born artist who emigrated to Vancouver in 1957. The lowercase characters are from Vivaldi, “the second Latin display typeface designed in Canada” [Canadian Typography Archives], released as one of 15 award winning type face designs in a competition sponsored by VGC in 1966. The capitals are from the exuberantly ornate Magnificat, also a winner in a type design competition, this time in one that was held by Letraset in 1973. The subtitle is set in Hermann Zapf’s Optima, unfortunately with faux small caps.

The illustration is taken from the Letter Spirit project:

The aim is to model how the 26 lowercase letters of the roman alphabet can be rendered in many different but internally coherent styles. The program addresses two important aspects of letterforms: the categorical sameness possessed by letters belonging to a given category (e.g., ‘a’) and the stylistic sameness possessed by letters belonging to a given style (e.g., Helvetica). Starting with one or more seed letters representing the beginnings of a style, the program will attempt to create the rest of the alphabet in such a way that all 26 letters share that same style, or spirit.

For the friends of trivia: a copy of Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies was the first book ever sold by Amazon.com.

Detail

Vesper Voyage is a capsule collection series by Vesper Milano that embarks on a journey beyond everyday perception. The project explores a philosophy of wanderlust, creating objects with variable uses that invite the audience to travel to another place or time. Produced in small provincial workshops, the artifacts enhance the beauty of blurred memories and are conceived as objects not meant to be forgotten.

The collection’s first project, Noctambulist, sits between day and night, exploring the threshold between the conscious and the unconscious. It features a loose-fit, unisex pyjama and a handmade toothbrush, both made in Italy, alongside a soap with real green frankincense from Oman. The limited bundle includes a poem card tucked inside, guiding its recipient along a path of dreams.

The logotype and all printed assets are set in all-caps Modern Gothic. The signet is a bespoke reinterpretation of the lowercase v from Magnificat, originally sourced from a Letraset sheet, intended to function as the brand’s double-v initials. It is deployed consistently across the identity: embossed on envelopes and cards, and integrated into the labeling system.

Creative direction by Vesper Milano. Design by BIFFIPOL with type design assistance from Michelangelo Nigra.

Magazine title set in SangBleu Empire, number in SangBleu Courtesan, subtitle in TheW Clan ODB and fine print in Suisse Int’l.

In the third issue of Type Life, Swiss Typefaces take a look beyond their own work and celebrate contemporary type made by others. The Swiss design studio compiled a selection of their favorite typefaces, licensed the fonts and used them to design a magazine. The resulting specimen of “Non-Swiss Typefaces We Like 1569–2018” comes with a text by Florian Hardwig (Fonts In Use) and is visually enriched with works by lettering artist Julien Priez (boogypaper).

Type Life 3 showcases 19 fonts from 19 international foundries: 29Letters, Adobe Type, Commercial Type, CSTM Fonts, Dinamo Typefaces, DSType, Extrabrut.Shop, Future Fonts, Hoefler & Co., Letters From Sweden, Linotype, Milieu Grotesque, Or Type, Production Type, Sharp Type, Sportsfonts.com, The Enschedé Font Foundry, Typotheque, and Velvetyne Typefoundry. The selection is a representative sample for the diversity in type design and gives an illuminating overview of the current scene. While the majority of the fonts was released in the past few years, many draw inspiration from all kinds of sources from previous eras. There is blackletter, script, slab serif, sans serif, and more. This – a stress on newness, historical references, and a vast stylistic plurality – reflects three major trends in today’s typography, as Florian Hardwig points out in his introduction. Other recurring themes that he identifies as being symptomatic for 2018 include highly conceptual projects and a quest for extreme aesthetics. At the same time there are functional fonts designed to solve specific problems. Just like the fonts, the type designers who created them have diverse backgrounds, in terms of geography, or how they entered the field. The represented distribution models range from traditional licensing to subscriptions, free and open-sourced fonts, as well as experimental or even unfinished releases.

Each issue of Type Life features a guest contributor. This time it’s the up-and-coming French lettering artist Julien Priez. A graduate of École Estienne, Paris, he’s a member of the international collective High on Type, best known for organizing the annual festival All Eyes on Type. Priez gives workshops at various schools and is an instructor at the prestigious TypeParis program. His work oscillates between the analog and the digital. Alphabets are first calligraphed, then cut in wood, and eventually digitized. Priez is just as comfortable painting meter-high letters with a triple brush on a wood fence as he is animating ornate pixel letters with kaleidoscopic patterns. Type Life #3 shows a range of his repertoire, starting with a still from his animated Nightmare Alphabet and two of his in-progress fonts Boogyroma and Boogylink on the cover. Mandinor Gothic is used to render the word “KING” on top of a kinetic gesture. The next page answers with “KONG”, in letterforms that pay homage to Jean Midolle’s Alphabet Lapidaire Monstre from 1835. With such historical references and the stunning stylistic versatility, Priez’ work is a perfect fit for the content of this issue.

At a whopping 40 pages, Type Life 3 is the most substantial issue so far. It’s printed in three Pantone spot colors plus silver and black, on two different paper stocks including transparent paper.

“Dream” set in Boogyroma and “Chasers” set in Boogylink, two in-progress typefaces by Julien Priez. Foundry names set in TheW Clan GZA by Swiss Typefaces. The caption that mentions the typefaces is set in Suisse Int’l Condensed.

Essay, set in SangBleu Republic (body text) and Suisse Int’l Mono (streamers, side notes). The green type on the left and at the very top of the right page is KOPYME As Uzual.

Galapagos (Felix Salut, Dinamo) and Xprmntal 01 (CSTM Fonts) visiting each other’s page. Typeface names (top) are in KRSNA. In the margins left and right, the foundry names are set in stacked letters from KOPYME (Swiss Typefaces).

Winner (Sportsfonts.com) × Quarto (Hoefler & Co.)

A pattern of Patron (Milieu Grotesque) with a guest appearance by Vincent (Letraset) is juxtaposed with a collage featuring elements from a Caslon Old Face specimen by H.W. Caslon & Co. from 1924.

On the left, a page from the book Il perfetto Scrittore Di M. Gio. Francesco Cresci, Italy, 16th century. On the right, (raster) pattern tiles are mixed with Frank Adebiaye’s Montchauve (Velvetyne).

Perfil (DSType) and Cardinal (Production Type). Cameo: Magnificat.

Julien Priez’ Mandinor Gothic in combination with his lettering.

Pattern by Julien Priez, printed in fluorescent and metallic ink.

Separat (Gunmad, OR Type) on the left, and Azal (Pascal Zoghbi, 29 Letters) as well as a tag lettering on the right hand.

Times Europa (Linotype) vs. Line (Letters from Sweden), with interventions by Good Vibrations and Block Up (Letraset).

Type that looks like it cannot be moved, and type that looks like it couldn’t sit still for a second: Berton Hasebe’s Styrene (Commercial Type) and Jérémy Landes’ Digestive (Triple Studio).

Thesaurus Display (Typotheque) × Respira Black (Sharp Type)

Feature page with Benoît Brun’s Shakotan (work in progress), printed in neon spot color.

On the left, a selection of A monograms (mostly dating back to the 15th and 16th century) shine through their overlying page with a big silver A set in Bram de Does’ Lexicon No. 2 (The Enschedé Font Foundry).

Pull quote in SangBleu Sunrise, printed in silver metallic ink.

Back cover with a sneak preview of the upcoming KOPYME and SuisseU.

Catalog for the exhibition Perahim, la Parade Sauvage at the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg:

Draftsman, painter, illustrator and scenographer, Jules Perahim (1914–2008) is a major figure in the Romanian avant-garde. He’s the author of an abundant œuvre, both dreamlike and engaged, which he developed first in Bucharest and later in France. As a regular contributor to avant-garde journals, he later turned his attention to surrealism, while remaining very close to literature. Several trips to Africa left a mark on his painting, giving rise to vast dream landscapes. The catalog contains some one hundred pictorial and graphic works, as well as various documents and magazines, in which one can immerse onself in the constantly renewed fantasy and humor of an artist with frantic imagination.

A typographic equivalent of this was found in Magnificat, the superbly choreographed multistroke orgy dreamt up by Friedrich Peter in the early 1970s.

The secondary typeface is Larish Neue. Together with Atlas Grotesk, it is also used for the interior (not pictured).

Surfaces and Essences. Analogy as the Fule and Fire of Thinking by Douglas Hofstadter, with Emmanuel Sander; Basic Books.

“Clever typographic jacket design […] for book on analogy.” — @TiroTypeworks
The letter A is shown in three different typefaces; Magnificat (magenta), Hobo (yellow), and Mrs Eaves (cyan). Latter is also used for the title and the names.

Design by Andrea Cardenas with art direction by Nicole Caputo.

On her portfolio site, Andrea Cardenas shows a different, unused version. This design exhibits the same basic concept, but the execution is way more subtle, with more conventional letterforms all rendered in the same shade of red. Here the ‘A’s in the title and authors’ names are distinguished by color only.

I posted this to my blog years ago, but thought this would be a good place for it.

In 1977 at age 21, I was production manager (officially) and assistant art director (unofficially) for Metropolis, a weekly newspaper in Minneapolis. I was the resident “type expert” on staff, and the editor encouraged me to write a piece for “Final Draft,” a recurring miscellany page in the newspaper. I chose to survey the landscape of type clichés of the day.