If I Were A Rich Girl

Found via Twitter, from Smashing Mag:

Rich Typography on the Web: Techniques and Tools

Information regarding dynamic text replacement, which I've never heard of before. Though it still says not to use this for large portions of body content, just for something like headlines, pull quotes, etc.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on my head in the u.s.

This photo was taken in Portland, Oregon (yes, again, and no, I do not live there, sadly). I was on the southbound yellow line train going into the city from out where my hotel was near the Expo Center.

I took this photo because, well, I remain fascinated by the old west to this day, especially it's very distinct type face that I feel should be on a wanted poster below a drawing or photo of a man with a mustache that curls up and a dusty, old Stetson hat. As much of a stereotype as it is, America, i.e. the U.S., is the land of the cowboy (oddly enough, if you ever learn anything about several South American countries, they are, too). Think Tombstone AZ, and that's how I think of the old America, even though it's despairingly un-encompassing of the great variety of cultures America has been home to.

And so, my find for the U.S. typography is a classic reuse of what I define to be the "old west" font. I especially enjoy the type on the lower part of the building, surrounded by all those dots. I can't really distinctly tell if that is another font or not, but either way you look at it, it's pretty darn cool. I do however, find the use of the san serif after the comma for the word "unlimited" to be a little odd and very out of place. I would have preferred they used the same dotted font from the lower part of the building.

Either way, looking at this photo, at this type of font, makes me think of the old west. Hey, I even edited the photo and made it into sepia! The building is actually red, though in the original photo I took, the building came out kind of mauve-ish because it was a really grey and gloomy day.

On a side note, I decided to look for an old west Wanted poster, and I found one for The Sundance Kid (i.e. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - great film, if you've never seen it, do it now) at the Historical Documents Company website.

I absolutely love this poster! It's got this deep, bold font that makes it blazingly obvious what the reward is and who it is for, which are the two most important things you would want on a wanted poster, now aren't they?

Also, if you happened to have seen the movie, then I hope you get the reference in the title to this blog!

urban Freebird

For some reason, when I think of urban typography, I most often think of graffiti. But since graffiti happened to be its own category of type to find, I went a little literal in my finding of "urban" typography.

This type can be found on the TriMet MAX train stop in Portland, Oregon on the southbound side. This is the PSU Urban Center & SW 5th & Mill Street. This stop is one of the many servicing Portland State University.

I figured how more urban can you get than a public transportation sign? Granted, the green line, I believe it is, was recently added and runs out into the suburbs.

But when I think public transportation, I think city, I think clean, I think concise, I think simple (and yet oh so complex). I think business, I think commerce, I think travel. I think street signs and lamp posts, the random tree planted in a slab of cement. I think bold (colors) yet the classic black suit. These are the ideas and images that I relate to the idea of urbanity, and therefore, to urban typography.

Stuck in the Middle With You logotype

Hotel Modera is located in Portland, Oregon. I snapped this shot while strolling along 5th Avenue on my first day of vacation. I rather enjoyed how the "O" in Modera reminded me of some kind of logo, and I assumed that this could be the actual logo for the hotel, turned into the name on the side of their building.

I didn't get a chance to actually go inside the hotel, but from the outside it looks rather "modern" in a sense. The building itself is very geometric. The panes on the windows kind of remind me a bit of the Golden Rectangle, which I learned about in another IAMD class last semester. I'm not sure if you can tell from this photo, but the hotel is in a cross shape rather than the normal square of a usual building. If you visit the website for the hotel and watch the slideshow of images on the landing page, you can see a better shot of the the hotel is shaped. As well as see the how the interior design could also be classified as very "modern".

Granted, none of the above really has much to do with speaking about the actual type, but all of these things in line with the typography of the logo make me think it all very modern, though arguably there are a number of ways in which one could define what "modern" actually is. I think the hotel and it's branding has a sort of 1960s feel to it, and it actually reminds me of something you would see on "Mad Men." And of course, 1960s is not very modern at all.

 I checked out their website to see if this was so, and while I'm still not entirely positive this is logo / brandmark, this "logo" was also found on the hotel's website. The website also has a modern feel to it. It is very clean and crisp. I'm sure it depends on the resolution and size of your monitor, but you shouldn't have to scroll to view the website at larger; they keep the scrolly bits to a small column on the right side of the site. They even have a link to Facebook and Twitter; how more "modern" can you get than social media?!

Stop Draggin' My Graffiti Heart Around

I've always had a weird love for graffiti. When I was younger I used to sign my name in a neat, legible manner. But towards the end of high school, once I started getting out in the world more and seeing more instances of graffiti, I changed the way I signed my name so that it looked more like graffiti, because I thought it was cool. And I still sign that way today! I thought it might be interesting to post a scan of my signature on here as well, but then my signature would be all over the internet. I don't think that's so safe with the fear and threat of identity theft and all...

This sample of graffiti was found on a wooden post, on the hiking trail at Multnomah Falls in Oregon. If I recall correctly, these falls are the second highest year-round falls in the United States, possibly the entire continent, and they are located maybe 30 minutes outside of Portland, off I-84, on part of the Historic Oregon Trail loop.

If you can't tell from the size of the photo, the graffiti was found on what looks to be a name tag someone stuck on this poor inanimate wooden post. I think the writing either says "Susan" or maybe "Sudan"; the first letter is an "S" for sure.  The second letter might be either an "O" or a "U" but I'm not positive. I really like the bright blue they used to write the letters because of the how well it stands out.

The top of the sticker probably used to say "VISIT" and looks to be a basic sans serif, maybe in a bold.

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere Neon

My brief time in Portland allowed me to conclude that it is the land of Neon signs. They were absolutely everywhere! But unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of time for nighttime photography, so the majority of my photos of signs are not actually lit up. Portland has a big sign by the waterfront of the Willamette River that says "Made in Oregon" that I found all over town on postcards and other touristy memorabilia. I found this great night shot of the "Made in Oregon" sign on Flickr that you should totally check out.

To the right is perhaps my favorite Neon sign that I saw. It was even better at night, but we were on the train back to our hotel and I didn't get a chance to get a good shot of it all lit up. I really like that they have used two different fonts in their sign, both a script and a sans serif. This sign reminds me of something one might see on the Vegas strip in the 1960s. If I remember correctly, I believe the arrow on the sign was blinking when we rode past it on the train.

I had to edit this photo to make the neon type stand out more since I took this during the day and it was rather bright outside. This sign I found inside "The Man Store" in Seaside on Oregon's coast. The font used for the words looks very familiar, but I can't place exactly what it is. Again, the neon was not very vibrant because I took this during the day time, but at least this one was turned on. I think the numbers used in this font are a little weird though, because they are so much wider, and I wonder if it is the same typography as the words.

I found this sign particularly appropriate for my blog, as it is the title of a Jimmy Buffet song, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."

Hand-Paint it Black

I am currently visiting Portland, Oregon and have found an abundance of interesting typographies plastered throughout the streets. I have two examples of hand-painted typography to post. The first, and quite possibly my more favorite of the two as well, is a hand-painted sign: "Cajun Creole The Swamp Shack That a way."

This sandwich board sign was lingering on the corner of a block of street food booths in Portland, Oregon. When I rounded the corner, there was little cute little street food-ery constructed to literally look like a swamp shack with a small deck on the front with a few tables. However, the intrigue of Czech food, which I'd never seen nor had before, won out over my love of creole.

This was an actual hand-painted sign - made with real arms!

The second example of hand-painted typography I found is one that looks like it is hand-painted / written, but is actually a printed type on a print design piece. I found this print piece in the Portland Welcome Center, downtown in Pioneer Square.

I like this type because I think it's fun and realistic, but at the same time I'm not a fan because of the weird letters randomly being larger than others. Yes, that is how people write sometimes; yes, that's how I actually write most of the time; but I think the largeness of certain letters is TOO big / TOO extreme.

Having only spent a week in Portland, (as I finish this, I'm long past my plane ride how unfortunately) I don't know the culture / people that well, but from what I gathered, I think this type is very appropriate for the laid-back / casual culture that is the great city of Portland, Oregon.