Snail Mail Meets Email: Stamps and Stamp Collecting in Online Times

Based in the Redwood coast of Northern California, Oliver Seeler indulges his specialty: stamps that depict bagpipes. He thanks the Internet for enabling and fueling his philatelic hobby, particularly from the standpoint of cost: “The stamps are often difficult to find even after you have identified them. If you had to track them down by phone or by mail, it would just be prohibitive in terms of time and money.” As his bagpipe stamp collection grew and achieved a level of notoriety, it caught the attention of an aspiring stamp collector across the Atlantic. Sean Stewart discovered Seeler’s website and related a bagpipe stamp from New Zealand. This exchange sparked a mutual long-distance relationship and competitive streak over a shared niche.

The email interactions between Seeler and Stewart are now in the hundreds. One could imagine their stamp-collecting rivalry via Twitter. Their passion, aided and expedited by web speed, is a complement to the conventional outlets for collectors like stamp stores, clubs and conferences.

With eye for the new era of stamp collecting, the Tokyo Midtown Design Hub commissioned a dozen artists of the Japan Graphic Designers Association to create stamps for the email age. Designing for such a small piece of space is intimidating, but samples from the exhibit, held in 2008, show that they possess big character in a very small way.



These stamps are not on Seeley and Stewart’s radar of topical stamp collecting, yet they readily pique a collector’s fascination as designed objects.



From the exhibit’s opening statement: “If postage stamps were merely a tool necessary to send mails, it would not be necessary to have so many different postage stamps and designs. Postage stamps do not only function for their original purpose. They have emotional value in that they convey the feelings of the senders.”

View other designs of this stamp collection documented by Artist Leonardo Bonanni of the Tangible Media Group at the Media Lab.

Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s Loyal Subjects: Typefaces, Stationery and Boxes, Lots of ’em

Who knew that the great film director Stanley Kubrick was also a type director? In 2004, The Guardian’s Jon Ronson was given special access to Kubrick’s Childwickbury Manor near St. Albans, north of central London. Ronson met with Tony Frewin, Kubrick’s assistant from 1965 until the director’s passing in 1999. Kubrick’s organic and intensive work style resulted in just 13 films and three documentary shorts, but also a large archive of research material which reside in an extensive array of boxes, filing cabinets and storage cabins.

When Ronson took a break from mining Kubrick’s archive, he noticed a note attached to Tony’s postal inbox. The note had POSTMAN typeset in Futura Extra Bold. Frewin revealed that it was Kubrick’s favorite typeface among others: “He liked Helvetica and Univers, too. Clean and elegant.” The following exchange, reported in Jon’s article, between Jon and Tony is brief but telling, typographically speaking:

“Is this the kind of thing you and Kubrick used to discuss?” I [Jon Ronson] ask.

“God, yes,” says Tony. “Sometimes late into the night. I was always trying to persuade him to turn away from them. But he was wedded to his sans serifs.”

Tony goes to his bookshelf and brings down a number of volumes full of examples of typefaces, the kind of volumes he and Kubrick used to study, and he shows them to me. “I did once get him to admit the beauty of Bembo,” he adds, “a serif.”

Ronson later meets Jan Harlan, Kubrick's executive producer and brother-in-law, who proclaimed that “Stanley loved typefaces.” Harlan disclosed Kubrick’s other passion—stationery:

“His great hobby was stationery. One time a package arrived with 100 bottles of brown ink. I said to Stanley, ‘What are you going to do with all that ink?’ He said, ‘I was told they were going to discontinue the line, so I bought all the remaining bottles in existence.’ Stanley had a tremendous amount of ink. … He loved stationery, pads, everything like that.”

What housed Kubrick’s typographic matter were his boxes, custom-designed by Kubrick himself. He wasn’t satisfied by boxes sold at stores and was compelled to create one better suited to his needs.

The University Archives and Special Collections Centre, University of the Arts London, inherited the Stanley Kubrick Archive in March 2007. Over 1,000 boxes whose eclectic contents—scripts, photography, correspondence, research, etc.—etch a hard path of filmic care and creativity.

Kubrik’s reputation for ruthless and devotedly painstaking film editing has become legendary. And it’s become clear that his attention to detail extended to typefaces and stationery. Clearly, props and actors alike, including typefaces and stationery, were recipients of the filmmaker’s exacting experience, and sometimes treated like elements of a chess game. As Kubrick noted, “You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.”

Kubrick’s path of boxes and their contents is evidence of the filmmaker’s rigorous pursuit of “better ideas,” with typefaces and stationery playing supporting roles.

More Flickr Fascination with Typography and Color

Once something is discovered, it’s discovered even more. Since the previous post about the typographic stimulation that Flickr helps spread, it was a pleasure to discover other galleries that keep up with the diversity of typographic matter: typecase: by Depression Press, and Paper Ephemera showcase an eclectic array of typefaces and compositions. These give way to lists: Vandelay Design compiled 99 Flickr Groups for Design Inspiration and David Airey shares 30 inspiring Flickr groups on typography.

Complementing type is color, as seen in Idée Labs’s Multiclr Search Lab which provides a visual search of Flickr sets.

With all this Flickr activity, compelled by all things typographic in nature, one can afflict Flickrosis, getting overloaded with Flickr Fascination. There’s a lot of typographic matter and it can feel excessive. But it’s comforting that such a body of content exists to challenge one’s threshold of indulgence.

The Family that Crafts Together, Sticks Together: e.m. papers

When designer Eleanor Reagh met artist and fellow designer Molly Parks, a creative partnership was born. Re-launched after a 10-year hiatus as e.m. papers, the duo designs and produces a delightful line of printed products, ranging from greeting cards to calendars. Their Happiness Bookmarks (below) offer motivational tips on boosting one’s quality of life, in addition to saving the last spot of reading.



But Eleanor and Molly are not the only ones partaking in crafting paper-based goods. As mentioned on their site, Eleanor’s father Pat and her Aunt Elizabeth are also involved in the business. Pat is a letterpress printer based in California; Elizabeth is an artist and designer based in New York. Did I share that Eleanor lives and works in Germany? Though a small operation, it’s global. Most of all, it’s a family affair.

Related posting: Four Brothers, Webapp Style

Design and marketing agency thinkso’s Year of Cards kit

Valentine’s Day may have passed, but the year still promises many upcoming occasions that will warrant a special card. Fortunately, thinkso’s popular card-rescue kit is insurance against the typical last-minute card scramble. Best of all, it gives you more time to sit back, relax and compose a thoughtful message to put inside.

Remembering Graphic Designer Pierre Mendell (1929–2008)

Source: Die Neue Sammlung, The New Collection of Book Design exhibition, Switzerland, 1994

Graphic designer Chris Ro invited me to contribute to his collective blog GraphicHug. I invite you to check out the piece I wrote concerning this former teacher of mine whose direct posters made a lasting impression at first sight.

The Quiet Designer of Typefaces: Adrian Frutiger

Image credit: jgb, Flickr

Before Helvetica (see The Cyclical Life of Helvetica: Revive, Resist, Rinse, Repeat), there was Univers. Designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954, Univers will always remain a creation of its time and a distinct part of visul communication. Last May, Frutiger celebrated his 80th birthday. Another landmark moment of that month was the publication of Adrian Frutiger–Typefaces. The Complete Works. Its 400+ pages reveal the process behind Frutiger’s typographic designs. Though the title expresses finality, Mr. Univers is still sharpening his craft. From the little that I’ve read about him and his work, I realized that there isn’t much fanfare about Frutiger. This speaks to what I glean to be his quiet nature: industriously working and then working some more.

Melding Media: The Courtship of Blogs and Newspapers

Image credit: A pleasant surprise by Jeremy Leslie, magCulture

Designers Ben Terrett and Russell Davies of Really Interesting Group published a limited quantity of Things Our Friends Have Written On The Internet 2008. They heightened this select publication’s originality by taking advantage of a newspaper printer’s inherent capacity to only do a short run. The result is a one-of-a-kind tabloid newsprint collection featuring their favorite posts from 23 friends’ blogs. The newspaper is an open format, refreshingly oriented to embrace online content in an off-line manner. Even Tweets are cleverly incorporated. In his blog posting, Ben noted: “The printer requires each page to have a folio so I added a keyline and some of our favourite Tweets from the year.”


Image credit: Ben Terrett, Noisy Decent Graphics

Another winsome detail is the preservation of errors found in the blog postings. Again, from Ben: “We didn’t edit any posts at all. So they’re full of typos and a lot of the columns end in strange places. This is an odd phenomenon. In a real publication, the Sub Editor would shout for a few less (or more) words to make it fit just right. No sub editing here.”

Transferring the raw content, along with its “imperfections” and idiosyncrasies, from its blogging source to the newsprint medium testifies to the publication’s integrity—like the newsprint gesture of “;)” in this New York Times transcript of Abraham Lincoln’s speech in 1862. Whether it’s scrutinized as a mistake or a harbinger of an emoticon, the transcript transcends in print:


Image credit: Is That an Emoticon in 1862? by Jennifer 8. Lee, The New York Times

Ben’s and Russell’s experiment proves a successful meld of “new media” meeting “old media” or vice versa, where there’s no eclipse of one medium over another. The endurance of paper and the newspaper mode are highlighted as mainstays of the reading experience.

With respect to the writing experience and its relationship to the newspaper format, entrepreneur Joshua Karp founded and funded The Printed Blog. Karp’s startup is launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in cities across the country, aggregating localized blog posts. “User-generated content” is given another iteration in Joshua’s off-screen effort.

Blogs are making newspapers less obsolete, while newspapers are making blogs more versatile. Understanding Comics author Scott McCloud said, “Media provides us with a window to go back into our world.” If media is pictured as a big sandbox, blogs and newspapers are windows to each other, reflecting each other’s best interests and multiplying their reach with mutable content.

Posters Designed to the Charge of Change

While perusing poster designs in the Artists for Obama gallery, which formed last summer, I recalled this poster design by type designer Jonathan Hoefler, who was commissioned by the Obama campaign to make a contribution:



Another statement of change was this brilliant poster design, set in the Gotham typeface, and also with gradient, by Shawn Hazen for the Manifest Change competition, sponsored by MoveOn.org and Obey Giant. It was one of only five posters from 1,200 entries and was exhibited in for the Democratic National Convention held in Denver. It was later auctioned off to benefit Obama’s campaign:



Hazen’s poster was one of two pieces. The second was a similar typographic installation. Both pieces make for a grand, simply designed, statement about the domestic political mood. A unit of change, unified that is.

Memorable Marriage of Words and Images in the film To Kill a Mockingbird

Film still of To Kill a Mockingbird from scott_waterman, Flickr

Robert Mulligan, who directed the film To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee’s novel, passed away on December 21. A key part of this film’s staying power is due to its evocative beginning. The opening sequence was designed by Stephen O. Frankfurt, a graphic designer and art director who practiced a “less-is-more approach.” Though decidedly spare, the initial images—objects from a cigar box—fully set the stage. And as the story unfolds, their importance is revealed. With Elmer Bernstein’s equally spare score, the melding of images and music make the opening sequence a beautiful prelude of visual narrative.

See the opening sequence of To Kill a Mockingbird at The Art of the Title Sequence.

Rosenfeld Media’s Lean and Supreme Book Cover Design

Last year’s IIT Institute of Design’s Design Research Conference offered one central highlight for me: the presentation by information architecture consultant Louis Rosenfeld, who spoke about his vision of a new publishing model. Rosenfeld Media is growing into a formidable publisher of user-experience design material, focused on practicality for design practitioners. His rigorous authoring process encapsulates best practices across the professional design world.

The Readerville Journal released their Most Coveted Covers. Designed by The Heads of State design studio members Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers, the direction of Rosenfeld Media’s book covers should have been on their list and the lists of others. Here are the inviting faces of the two first publications:


Image by Jacob Bøtter, Flickr


Image by Tim Van Damme, Flickr

More atypical book cover designs in the Rosenfeld Media vein can be viewed at The Heads of State’s site. Enjoy their typographic restraint!

The Cyclical Life of Helvetica: Revive, Resist, Rinse, Repeat

Photograph (Creative Commons) by Nick Sherman, from “50 Years of Helvetica”

The sound bytes captured in the documentary “Helvetica” are what make it so engaging and entertaining. Whether you view the typeface as residual bad taste, a reigning demonstration of Gestalt, simple-but-boring or simple-and-ever fresh, it’s safe to say that neutral-design Helvetica ignites far-from-neutral reactions. In fact, the topic generally brings out the best or the worst in people, especially designers. It certainly breeds opinion, which for me was a poignant reminder of the importance of having a point of view.

There were parts of the documentary that gratified me and there were other parts that made me cringe. My point of view was both reflected and refracted. I appreciate Helvetica most for its historical significance, as narrated in the documentary. Its reworking into Neue Helvetica is a frequent font in my menu. Its flexibility of weights and clean stature are what attract me to its usage. Ultimately, it remains a choice—which is one way to define design.

It was particularly entertaining to listen to Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, the type designers of Gotham (part of president-elect Obama’s identity and the Freedom Tower cornerstone, among others; it is also known as the “new Helvetica”), express typeface qualities. Typefaces challenge and sometimes even defy description. Consequently, developing a vocabulary to characterize typefaces and promote understanding and interest of their creation and utility is an exercise that would make Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk proud. Graphic designer Tom Geismar said Helvetica is “like a good screwdriver; a reliable, efficient, easy-to-use tool. But put it in the wrong hands, and it’s potentially lethal.” On the other hand, Wolfgang Weingart described the typeface as the “Epitome of ugliness.”

Whatever your cup of design tea may be, Helvetica is one of many designs that inspire people to gravitate strongly in one direction or another. In an article (1990), entitled “Can Fine Typography Exist in the ’90s?”, information designer Hugh Dubberly concludes that “The future of type is brighter than ever.” Helvetica, whether praised or detested, is an essential part of design’s persistence as both a body of work and dialog. It is a timeless point of view that begets other points of view, literally.

Other reported sightings of Helvetica:

New iPhone embraces Helvetica (via GraphicDesignBar)

“The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway” by Paul Shaw

“How Helvetica Took Over The Subway” by Jennifer 8. Lee

Helvetica Coffee Mug by Veer

“Helvetica can be nice” by Erik Spiekermann, who appears in documentary “Helvetica”

“The Helvetica Meditations” by Nick Shinn (via kottke.org)

Helvet’Monopoly board game (via kottke.org)

Agents of Typographic Progress, Unite!

Specific aspects of typography have been seized, literally:

• Visual elements provider Veer made a call to all photographers to participate in a campaign called Kern the Planet.
• There’s a blog fascinated with the ubiquitous character of The Ampersand.
• Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson founded TEAL, the Typo Eradication Advancement League, and have traveled across America in their pursuit of a “typo-free society.”

Typographic movements like these hone in on the details that speak to a larger view. Dieter Rams, industrial designer and former chief of design at consumer products maker Braun, subscribes to this notion in his mantra: “Good design is consequent to the last detail.”

Update, August 22, 2008: Typo vigilantes banned from national parks

Design the Vote!

Information Architect Sean Tevis is running for Kansas State Representative. The illustrative and witty presentation of his campaign is reminiscent of the book Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. The unconventional approach is helping to bring in contributions as a result.

Design Shrines Online

Created by those who admire a life’s work, there are many online homages devoted to design vanguards such as Daniel Lewandowski’s dedication to Paul Rand, Kind Company’s tribute to Alvin Lustig, and Brendan Dawes’ site detailing the works of Saul Bass. Which are your favorite online shrines to designers?