People, places, things, and alphabets.

Three fun alphabets (and, in one case, a set of numbers) made up of other objects:

Console Font, by Varun Vachhar

Furniture Font Print (photographed not photoshopped!), by the Butler Brothers, discovered via Share Some Candy

Nike Running Club Alphabet, by I Love Dust, discovered via Quipsologies

December 5’s daily design idea is alternate forms are everywhere.

have your say in helvetica

Re-blogged from Design*Sponge.
Written by Grace Bonney.
Originally posted October 12, 2010.

“I remember when Helvetica came out in 2007 and every graphic designer I knew went bananas. Each email I received read some variation of “OMG have you seen Helvetica? What? You haven’t? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” So when I saw these new cross stitch kits, I thought to myself, “Well, I know what I’m giving those designers for the holidays.” These new cross stitch kits from Tamara Maynes come in three color combinations and let you say whatever you want (using an A to Z letter chart) in Helvetica. Just pick your letters and stitch them into your fabric to create a custom wall plaque, pillow front or anything else you can imagine. Click here to check out the full kits and order online ($30). xo, grace”

>> October 12’s daily design idea is try combining two of your design interests.

Periodic typography lust.

Thanks, Squidspot and Cam Wilde, for the totally cool “Periodic Table of Typefaces.” This thing has gotten so popular that various vendors are now selling it as a poster, moleskin cover, and more… so we’re sharing it here too, just for fun:

September 9’s daily design idea is consider curating a non-physical collection of something beautiful. The digital form of Wilde’s table makes it instantly more sharable.

Typefaces for me (by Hunch).

One of my latest online additions is Hunch.com, a website that provides “a great recommendation to address your choice, problem, or dilemma, on tens of thousands of topics” after you answer a bunch of fun multiple choice questions about your preferences, experiences, and habits.

One set of recommendations that Hunch made for me – with surprising accuracy, in my opinion – was for typefaces. The following represent the top five from my personalized list of ten:

1. Georgia, already the basis for my [under construction] portfolio website
2. Bodoni
3. Agenda
4. Century Gothic, the most efficient font when it comes to ink usage
5. Albertina

capital A in Georgia, above, taken from Notes on Design

September 8’s daily design idea is the form of the letters within a word also gives meaning to that word. What do your font choices say about you? And what do your other choices say about your typeface preferences? If you’re not sure, just ask Hunch.

“A simple pledge.”

If you’re involved in any kind of visual design work, you probably flinch at seeing full-blown uses of the Hobo, Comic Sans, or Papyrus typefaces. Even if you’re not a designer, they might still drive you nuts… especially when used for “notices” in the workplace (though apparently “excessive exclamation points” are ok, one PassiveAgressiveNotes.com reader facetiously pointed out).

Below is a great poster by Lure (with a detail of the signature line) that should give you a good laugh. Or, for $20, it will give you a great opportunity to make a point with your local font dilettante:

July 27′s daily design idea is words really can hurt – in more ways than one – if they are written in a poorly chosen font.

P.S. If this post has caused a mini typeface-selection crisis in your life, check out the So You Need A Typeface flowchart or the long, slightly outdated, but incredibly reliable “80 Beautiful Typefaces…” list from Smashing Magazine.

Typographic branding.

via Eye blog (September 2, 2009):

“…it’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single brand in possession of fortune (approaching $3bn, apparently) must be in want of an extensive redesign from a smart NYC agency. Activision is cooking up two new games variations [to Guitar Hero] – Band Hero and DJ Hero – the better to punish our plastic this Christmas. So it needed a look and feel that acknowledges Guitar Hero’s heavy metal roots, while giving the upstart titles the chance to hook the pop wannabees, indie kids and hip-hop turntablists with artwork that doesn’t look like it was first stencilled on Lemmy’s denim jacket.

So Activision called in the design world’s very own Don Draper, Pentagram’s urbane and articulate Michael Bierut. Eye magazine contacted Bierut by phone and email to get the lowdown on the project… which includes headbanging artwork by Rick Valicenti plus variations from Adam Larson and Brighton-based Steven Wilson. In addition to Bierut, the Pentagram project team included designer Joe Marianek and Kai Salmela, who designed the custom display typeface, Hero Bold (below).”

July 20′s daily design idea is text is an important part of visual communication, and therefore an important part of any brand. How can your next project fully rock 26 letters?

Bingo: Fine Print

“Bingo” posts are based on  writer’s block bingo, where you “find a book closest to you, open the book, find an arbitrary sentence, and start writing about this sentence.”

Book
The Little Book of Calm

Sentence
Small print is custom-designed to induce frustration.

Daily Design Idea
Different sizes of text are often considered on a scale of perceived importance; larger tends to indicate “most important” while smaller communicates “less important.” July 2’s daily design idea is maybe text hierarchies should be based on a scale of user experience instead, from how much you like reading a certain style to how much it frustrates you to read it.