[liff] Building Your Own Solar Oven

2496.We were, yesterday, introduced to the world of solar cookery, which sounds kind of funny here in gray, rainy Oregon, but it can be done.

Those looking for it may have seen, betimes, an ad for a "Build Your Own Solar Oven" class held at Lents Park. After missing a whole bunch of dates, me and The Wife" finally managed to make one, at Lents Park, yesterday.

The idea of a solar cooker is simple and one might imagine, as old as sunlight - or at least as old as kids cooking bugs under a magnifying glass. Sunlight is energy that has been used for heating things for a very long time now, and the solar cooker does just this; by collecting and concentrating sunlight in a small insulated space, you cause the temperature in a small chamber to rise and this ambient heat provides surprisingly sufficient cooking temperatures for food preparation.

The design is actually a rather common one. Take a regular cardboard box, 20 x 14 x 12. Leave the top open. Construct a high back and sides for the opening, coated in aluminum foil; this is your collector field, and operates surprisingly well (remember, angle of incidence = angle of reflection - you don't have to have a fancy parabolic reflector or anything). These surfaces reflect enough light into a smaller, foil-lined box within this bigger box (the space around serves as insulation) to, once this light is received and reflected about by the smaller cavity, to raise the air temperature in the smaller cavity to 200F or even more.

There are some catches, naturally. For best effect, you have to keep the box turning to catch the full light of the sun; cook times are longer, and these things don't work so well at night. But it's a fun project, and there's a sense of self-sufficiency you get from doing it off the grid, as it were.

The teacher, a delightful woman named Dawn Starr (appropos, no?) walked us through it step by step, giving us encouragement and enthusiasm throughout. We could have bought a kit somewhere I suppose, but having an experienced and downright perky hand guide us along really made it more of a fun event. There was another person there, a retiree fellow who spends a lot of time in Arizona, so he's going to be able to make mad use of this stuff, yeah.

This is good stuff to know, whether you just like to play with it, if you're the type who digs autarchy, or just wonders how you're going to make it through the first few days after The Change happens.

You can get information from Dawn at her website, http://buildasolaroven.com/. Nice lady!

Technorati Tags: solar oven, lents park, dawn starr

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[funnay] The Perfect Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day Accessory

2496.The iPatch.

My take on a joke I don't doubt others have made ... but this is my blog, so suck it, world!

Technorati Tags: Talk Like A Pirate Day, iPatch

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[comic_art] The Donna Barr Trade School

2495.Heavens, I wish I could take advantage of this &

If you give any sort of a care about comics, you've got to love Donna Barr's work. She's someone I'm going to cite as an influence when I finally get famous.

This, as far as I'm concerned, is a non-negotiable. Her work - Stinz and The Desert Peach - are legends and if you don't know them, chummie, you have some amazing and excellent comic reading ahead of you. Intellectually and emotionally challenging, which characters you'll never forget. Do as I say and go get them, thanks.

If you ever wanted to learn how to do it from the master, or a master, it's hard to get an introduction. Well, chummie, here's your chance.

Donna will, if I read the linked post correctly, teach you what she knows about story, art, making and selling fantastic comics for $4500. That's the whole tuition. And if you think that's too much, my friend, then you haven't priced an art school lately. Anything like this worth having is worth paying for, and if I had $4.5K, I'd already be there. At $4.5 Kilobucks, it's a freakin bargain.

It's like having Stephen Hawking teach you physics in return for a nice dinner, if the price/value thing still hasn't sunk in.

And anybody can do it, really ... she'll teach you in person or via intartube.

If I had the money, I'd be doing it, If you have the money, well ... you go do it, you lucky primate. The link is here:

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY: The Donna Barr Trade School

Now, you know what to do!

If you don't have the scratch, just go to to http://www.desert-peach.com/ to view the art and get that inspiration.

Technorati Tags: donna barr, stinz, the desert peach

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[OR_liff] Chris Dudley/Mac Tonight - Separated At Birth?

2494.My sad little brain, subjected to way too many of the Dudster's web ad placements, drew the connection. Just a matter of time, I suppose, but it seems to me that there's a family resemblance between Oregon's GOP candidate for Governor and McDonald's advertising mascot from 1988.

Long lost brothers, or Chris' early acting career?

You be the judge.

Chris: time to get a different ad, dude.

Technorati Tags: Chris Dudley, Mac Tonight, Oregon Governor, Separated at Birth

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[liff] The Tom Peterson Watch Takes Seattle, Part 3: The Amtrak Cascades

2493.This is a chapter in a story that was continued from here.

We stood at the doorway to something I'd never done before; taking a train. I was excited, and The Wife™ was excited for me, as this is something she'd got to do, but never me.

My expectations were a little high, and swathed as I was by the nostalgic atmosphere of Portland's justly-renowned Union Station, I was in high spirits as we were finally admitted out the door. The air of nostalgic near-luxury faded away pretty quickly however: approaching the train, as modern as it was, as something of a slog.

It was memorable in its tedious way counting down the cars til we came to ours. We were in car 8.

I just didn't know what to expect. But, despite the spare nature of walking up to the train (I mean, I knew there wasn't any such thing as a docking tube ... but wouldn't that have been awesome) my excitement was still pretty solidly there. I like the feeling of putting myself in the hands of a trusted crew, of being whisked to another destination without having to worry about my car breaking down enroute. In my mind, I was that seasoned train traveller out of the 1940s, with a felt fedora and a natty suit, and The Wife™ was dressed something like a sophisticated noir chick.

Trains are awesome that way.

Actually, another thing that was awesome was the interior of the train itself. it was one of those Talgo trains, and the inside reminded me of an airliner cabin - at least the few times in my life I've been on one of those.

Tom found it, of course, perfect:

We sat in our assigned seats, putting the seat and row slips in the clip over where we were. This was something I didn't expect, but it makes sense ... that way nobody sees your empty seat and helps themselves to it. And that was important since, as the engineer said, the train was booked solid.

There was several minutes of everyone arranging themselves, people finding seats, and playing with the tray table, until - with a inside-thrill - we got started.

The common thing between Portland leaving and Seattle arriving is that both routes start out of industrial areas. Portland's, you probably all know. But the juxtaposition of natural splendor and industrial flats always gives the eye a feast, in my opinion.

You can have your own opinion. It'd be wrong, of course, but you're welcome to it.

The train's progress over the Willamette gave me a unique perspective on the Saint Johns Bridge:

... which arched in guardian splendor off to the north. The train then cruised through the cut through the North Portland peninsula; I remember chattering some small talk about how these are the memories that make a lifetime with my wife, the modest ones in interesting circumstances; the train proceeded over the might Columbia, with the Interstate Bridge and Wy'East in the distance on one side ...

... Mt Hood is a little tough to see in this resolution, but it's there, trust me ... and the Vancouver port on the other side ...

... and, after a stop at Vancouver's Amtrak station, the trip really begun in earnest. Here was Terra-still-Incognita for me, and the beginning of a three-hour journey along the rails of western Washington.

My love wondered if it were possible to buy a ticket just from Portland to Vancouver. I have found out that this is indeed possible.

The Amtrak fare from Portland to Vancouver is $14.

The trip takes 15 minutes.

Slightly less than a dollar a minute - isn't that absurd?

I should have had the camera snap a few more pix along the way, I know. The interior of Western Washington, though, is something I've seen before, and I was getting into seeing the same sights I usually saw from I-5 though from the train. It, like western Oregon, is miles and miles of pleasant green, small houses on big farms, pleasant countryside. It was beautiful though unremarkable, though this is the area I've lived in all my life, so, perhaps I could be forgiven a sort of jadedness ... but make no mistake about it, I may take it for granted, but I love it more than life itself sometimes. I've seen some other areas of the USA, and ours is a beautiful country, but Cascadia beats them all.

The stop in Centralia was charming. The town sits astride the tracks and the station is in the middle of downtown, looks like those stations, say, President Truman or Roosevelt might have done a whistlestop at, and a very charming painting of the old Hotel Centralia on a wall visible from the train.

Electric lights, steam heat, and a horse-drawn hack to meet all trains. They sure know how to treat the traveller, in Centralia.

The train stopped at Kelso, Centralia, and Olympia/Lacey before breaching the Puget Sound. Centralia was the only real preposessing stop - the rest seemed unremarkable and forlorn, especially Olympia's, which was located on Yelm Hwy some miles southeast of Olympia. I was hoping for a look at Oly's Capitol building, but that was not to be. Soon enough - and it's a good thing because the rushing greenery was actually contributing to The Wife™'s motion sickness (not Amtrak's fault - she's just prone to that, poor dear, always has been) we saw the Sound.

I always thought Puget Sound was one of the coolest things going. It's like being at the ocean without having to go to the ocean; the sea comes to you. And I love the scent of a sea breeze. And the geography of the Puget has always enthralled me. I love the quirky little islands, all of which have some sort of a ferry landing.

The Saint Johns Bridge isn't the only suspension span you get to see from the train. The rail goes along that long sweep of curved coastline along the back side of Tacoma, and you get marvelous views of the now two-span Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The old one has that Golden Gate Bridge feel, and the new one has that modern, spare, almost Swiss feel to it. I understand the newer one is a toll bridge, which frets me; I've lived too long in Oregon, I suppose, where there's no toll roads to speak of although, I understand, some misguided souls are working to change this. We should hope that they do not succeed. But I do digress, don't I?

Rounding the top of the peninsula Tacoma's built on, We finally get our first look at Mount Rainier ... and if you didn't know you were in Seattleland yet, doubts come removed right here.

There's a massiveness to all Cascade volcanoes that I just can't capture with my little ol' faithful Plastic Fantastic. But I wasn't struck by anything so much as how Rainier loomed, dominated its landscape, even across an industrial district.

I adore Hood, but a little corner of my mind wishes she were more like Rainier. Washington got all the really good mountains, including the one that blew up. Say lavee, as the Frenchies say.

Sidling along Tacoma's downtown we go between the commercial center on the right and the dockland flats which is on the left. Connecting them is this nifty cable-stay bridge, which carries S. 11th Street (if my Tacoma geography is correct) over one of the industrial waterways:

The train then carries us a little south and east of downtown, as the station is near the Tacoma Dome, and then southeast toward Puyallup, thence north through the Duwamish River valley into the south side of Seattle. I saw us passing up what looked like Amtrak stations but which, I found out later, were actually Seattle's LINK light rail stations, and affording at least one more magnificent view of a magnificent mountain:

... and that's all I have for now.

But, before I leave off, riding the train was a fun experience. I enjoyed the strangely-organized space, the interiors that felt like an airplane ... the restrooms were more comfortable than I expected, the tray-tables less. While we had food available on the train, it was kind of pricey, so we brought along peanut butter for her, potted meat for me, tortillas, and made ourselves little rollups right there in our seats.

Travel food never tasted so good. And, yes, I like potted meat. All I'll say about that, right now, is that you know what you think Spam is? This is what it really is. I can't explain why I like it ... but I do.

But however you do it, travel on a train with your love. You'll never regret it.

To be continued.

Technorati Tags: Amtrak Cascades, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, Portland Oregon, Seattle, Tacoma, Centralia Washington

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[liff] Walter Mosley's "This Year You Write Your Novel"

2492.

This brilliant little book is what I'm cruising through right now.

I have long fancied myself a writer of some sort. So far, it's just a diary, but I've thought I could write science fiction.

I'm not ashamed of being a genre reader. I read what pleases me.

I don't know if I have a novel in me, but if I do, this just might coax it out of me. Less than 25,000 words, conversationally-written (but not too familiar), frank without being blunt, no nonsense. And it suggests just what the title says; a program through which you can produce a solid, durable if not spectacular (and no guarantees that it'll sell - it's how to write your novel, not how to sell it) mid-size novel.

I highly recommend it. If it don't get the novel out of you, it'll make you a better reader, anyway.

Technorati Tags: writing, writing manuals, Walter Mosley

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[design] The Peril Of The Unsolicited Submission

2491.

And now a little cautionary tale designed to explain why unsolicited submissions are something you shouldn't attempt without a lot of thought. The standard I am not a lawyer disclaimer applies.

If you want to, fine. But understand that assuming a contract where none exists may burn you in the end.

A few days ago, this story (http://mddailyrecord.com/2010/09/02/appeals-court-revives-suit-over-ravens%E2%80%99-first-logo/) caught my eye and it occurred to me that this could be a major teachable moment. In it, if I'm reading this correctly, in 1995, a security guard designs a new logo for his favorite team, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, and faxes it in, unsolicited.

His requirements are reportedly quite modest. The payment requested: a team helmet, and a signed letter.

The Ravens used his logo from 1996-1998 and, apparently, did not compensate him adequately - because he took them to court over using it. A variety of rulings have largely confirmed the creators copyright, but for one clear instance in which it was found that the use details team history and is therefore fair-use. It doesn't look like he's gotten much, if anything, in actual damages, and has presumably spent a great deal of time in court and engaging legal counsel.

It was obviously worth it to this creator. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me.

Big companies, in the main, are leery of the unsolicited submission. It's not because they're evil, necessarily, but it's too easy for someone to see the gist of their unsolicited submission in the work product from that point forward to take the risk. That path leads to court, and nobody really wants to go there.

Independent designers should be wary of sending in what's not asked for. Companies are not necessarily evil, as above, but sometimes the urge to use a cool thing seen in the mails just might be too tempting.

A good, reasonably ethical company will have strong guidelines about unsolicited submissions. A good example that goes the extra mile is the policy for Apple, which can be found at http://www.apple.com/legal/policies/ideas.html. Essentially what is says is that Apple doesn't accept unsolicited submissions:

Apple or any of its employees do not accept or consider unsolicited ideas, including ideas for new advertising campaigns, new promotions, new or improved products or technologies, product enhancements, processes, materials, marketing plans or new product names. Please do not submit any unsolicited ideas, original creative artwork, suggestions or other works (“submissions”) in any form to Apple or any of its employees. The sole purpose of this policy is to avoid potential misunderstandings or disputes when Apple’s products or marketing strategies might seem similar to ideas submitted to Apple.

Cut and dried. But Apple, knowledgable as to how admired a company it is generally, also realized that some people won't take a preemptive no for an answer, even after you tell them why. Further along, the policy provides that if you continue, despite being told a firm no, to submit your ideas to Apple, you have essentially given it to them to do with as they wish.

Any intellectual property agreement between parties such as this has to be a meeting of the minds in order to really work for all. A company such as Apple (or the Ravens) are not obliged to give you their time and consideration regardless of how much you love them. Plying such companies with unsolicited ideas amounts to trying to force them, unilaterally, into a contractual arrangement they had no chance to review before even being broached, and regardless of anyone's view of the corporate world, this just doesn't seem fair on any level.

And if you want to think of it in terms of the individual's rights - this attitude protects both sides. The company protects itself, and the integrity and ownership of your own ideas is protected at the same time ... unless you want to go to the wall with Apple (for example) about it.

I know, it's tempting to salute your favorite company/sports team/whatever with expressions of love such as unsolicited designs. If you have one cued up on the table, ready to send out, my advice is ... don't. You can buy an Apple product, or attend a Ravens game if you want to show appreciation.

Besides, if you have that much creative animation, you can probably come up with amazing designs of your own, and do the freelance thing to some sort of good result.

Technorati Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Ravens Logo, Logo design, intellectual property

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[liff] The Tom Peterson Watch Takes Seattle, Part 2: We Reach Union Station

2490.

Continued from here.

We now have reached the MAX Green Line station, and we must change modes.

I see a lot of carping, but you know, when you use it ... it just makes so much sense. And it works so well. It's a quick walk from the MAX stop in front of the Greyhound depot over to the front door of Union Station. And our planning is on point - we arrive about 250 feet from the front door of Union Station with a bit more than an hour to spare.

The Greyhound buses congregate between that funky barrier ... and I regard it with some wistfulness, as I know we'll be back there, in about 30 hours' time.

The Wife™ insisted I get a photo of this:

... which is one of the seemingly endless condo projects going up in NW Portland, because she thought the porta-johns up there on the corner of the top floor was funny.

I guess you'd call that toilet humor?

Correction 10-Sep-2010 0929: in the comments, commenter Ben mentioned that that's not a new condo tower but something much more estimable: the Housing Authority of Portland's Resource Access Center, which you may find out about at http://www.hapdx.org/resourceaccesscenter/. Thanks for the correction and the great info, Ben!

Just across NW Irving Street from the station property itself is a big nifty looking bit of public art, which seems to speak to the fact that everything in these few blocks of NW Portland have to do with timing, in one way or the other.

I thought it a sundial at first, but the big clock-face is actually the backrest to a chair-like affair, that allows you to sig back and look right through a big circular hole in that screen-like affair, right at the clock in the Union Station tower. So that's rather witty, actually.

Having certain things around, you tend to take them for granted. We all adore the Benson Bubblers, and all the public fountains installed since the originals echoing their look and feel. It reminded me how good they are - and how rare it is to expect to see them in any American city - when me and The Wife™ espied what was obviously a dad taking a picture of his wife and daughters all taking a drink in unison. I caught them (apparently them not realizing I was doing so) just after they broke formation.

As I intimated elsehwere, there is ineffable hilarity in observing the observers observing something, and this was no exception.

But, when it comes to public fountains, PDX rocks. And always will.

Now, at this point I always go for that "postcard" picture. Here's this one's:

Perfect, yes? Yes. And, of course, rights are up for sale ... Man, I tell you, I should have been a photographer.

For pay, I mean.

As long as I have Tom Peterson along for the ride, let's see how he feels about it:

Judging from the beatific smile, we can only assume that Tom is pleased too. But then, Tom is always upbeat.

It was getting close to departure time and as we arranged our tickets, I noticed that there was much activity at the front doors ... a flock of hacks pertaining.

Black and yellow, red and white. No black and white though. Now, perhaps Union Station's biggest reason for being is, indeed, the historic architecture, which pretty much wraps you up in charming, city-to-city train times, almost from before you enter. I enjoyed the sign:

... but not as much as I enjoyed the interior, with its dark, cool, cavernousness. This must be a fine place to work when it's hot. And all the old-fashioned details, the arches in the architecture, the old-style signs. It is a very seductive atmosphere leading us jaded moderns to charming if predictable thoughts of what it must have been like before interstates and suchlike.

Now this is the point where my meagre photography skills (and my equally-meagre camera) do not quite measure up to the demands of the environment. The pictures are a little blurry because of the low light levels and the need to hold that camera still, but they'll always remind me of a very pleasant hour ... well, except for the line to the train, which I didn't like much. But Union Station is a treasure, and we're lucky to have it, because this is one of those buildings that they got right the first time.

Something that I found curious was there were only three gates to the trains - but they weren't gates 1, 2, and 3; they were gates 6, 7, and  8. Judging by the interior structure, gates 1-5 used to be in the wing that goes around the far side of the gift shop, which forms a passthrough to the restrooms and (I was surprised to find) business suites as you go down through that segment of the building.

We walked to the train through gate 6, and people leaving the trains came in through gates 7 and 8. Lots of bikes - was pleased to find out how far you can get with a train and a bike here in Cascadia.

What really made me smile, though, was the neon signs along the sides. Beautiful, bright, old-fashioned signs that pointed the way, and charmed me to the soles of my feet.

Now that is old-fashioned class. As is the ticketing counter, with its arrivals/departure board, maintained, as it is clear, in the old fashioned way.

Aw, yeah, people in transit. Wish we had more trains.

Is this how railfannage begins?

From here, we boarded our train into the great beyond ... which is detailed in the next chapter.

To be continued.

Technorati Tags: Amtrak Cascades, Portland Union Station, Go By Train

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[design] Adobe Illustrator Ninja Moves

2489.

Because there can never be too much hintage and tippage for Adobe Illustrator, here's an article which deeply impressed me by Mordy Golding at CreativePro.com that everyone should bookmark:

http://www.creativepro.com/article/top-ten-illustrator-power-moves

Pretty much is what it says. Really quickly though, there's a toolbox of little things that become good habits … making selections, stacking order, selecting … most appropriate!

Technorati Tags: design tools, adobe illustrator, adobe illustrator tips

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[liff] The Tom Peterson Watch Takes Seattle, Part 1: MAX To Union Station

2488.

Of course, it wasn't all about the watch ... but I get a little bit ahead of meself.

Last week, me and The Wife" and me had a special wedding anniversary. Something special was called for. Trouble was, nobody told my income this.

So The Wife" got creative. Had to you might say. Our budget was (and is) something that was tighter than ... well, something that's very very tight and discouraging. But she hit on a plan: Train up, Greyhound back.

Up and back to where?

Why, New York-Alki, of course ... That City Up North ... Seattle.

As excited as I was about going to Seattle (my lifetime currently doesn't give out much travel) I was even more excited about going by train. I have never, not once in my life, been anywhere on Amtrak, and it always looked like some kind of fun.

We wanted to go train both ways, but the budget didn't stretch that far. Not just that though; taking a bus back allowed us more time to tromp through downtown Seattle - something the two of us experienced marrieds had never shared.

Oh, and just as an impartial observer, we have this dude in tow. He's attentive, always smiling, always has the correct time, and is usually out-of-focus in the pictures to follow. It's this guy:

Yes, it's Tom Peterson.

Let's get started.

The whole thing was an adventure in a certain way: just go with what we had on our backs, our shoulder bag/rucksack, and a minimal amount of toiletries. From where we lived, we struck out on the shoulder of SE 117th Avenue between SE Market and SE Stark, headed for Burnside and 122nd.

700 Block of SE 117th Avenue, looking North.

The walk wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Soon enough, with our homemade latte fortifying us, we arrived at the E 122nd Avenue MAX Station. The Wife" ducked into the Max Mart on the corner to get some more ice for the beverage, and I got the MAX tickets.

The E 122nd Avenue MAX Station. Blue Line Fever!

Tom's happy, And when Tom's happy, we're happy.

The plan at this point was take the Blue line to Gateway, transfer to the Green Line that would take us quite close enough to the front door of Union Station to meet our Amtrak Cascades. Adventure, my friends, is that much closer.

Tom enjoys the comfortable ride of TriMet's MAX. Right
background: the coolest bike-riding eastern European
Granny ever.

I want you all to observe the eastern-European-looking ol' lady there on the right. This is without question the coolest granny ever saw. She was a bike-ridin' granny. She was rocking one of those cheap-ass Magna 10-speeds from Target, and this was one of the older MAX cars, the one without the low floors. And if you know them Magna bikes, they aren't built for connoisseurs or anything even close to that, so they heavy. But his lady, man, when her stop came she just bucked that bike off that bucket, wasn't no thing.

Mad respect. Quintessentially Portland.

Riding in style & Portland Style.

Transferring to the Green line necessitated a wait & not a long one, but I kept communing with Tom as I fretted about the schedule (this is one of my secret superpowers, along with always knowing where North is). A bit hungry, and discovered that the little, bean and cheese burrito sold by the commuter kiosk was exactly what we needed. And we finished them just the moment the inbound Green line pulled in.

We were going the other way, of course. But I love
MAX signposts. Hey, who's that chick with the stripey
socks & looks like my kinda lady &

The day, last Tuesday it will be recalled, was fine in Portland and was on its way into the 90s again, though not quite yet. We were busy razzing the heat & for we would be on the Amtrak Cascades soon enough, and laughing at the heat in comfort (and going north anyway). And so we chatted, my honey and me, enjoying each other's company and loving the Portland scenery.

I've lived in Oregon all my life, and in Portland for (now) the majority of my adult life, and I never get tired of looking out at the window. Every trip anywhere is sightseeing, and just being in Oregon is nourishing. That's why a scene like this:

That boat, she's riding high. And how about that bridge
lineup? Tell you true, got that completely by accident ...
happy accident.

The grain ship was particularly fun to see, as it was riding high because it was starting to be filled, or at least prepping to be starting. Not too visible is the swarm of crewmembers on top making ready. A city with a working harbor is a thing of beauty, and that's a sure thing.

This was near the end of the first stage, as through the window in the distance, our intermediate destination hove into view. A PDX Classic.

Next stop - Union Station. The one and only.

To be continued.

Technorati Tags: Union Station, MAX, TriMet, Portland, PDX, Seattle, ZehnKatzen and Company

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[type] Those 80's Fonts: 10 Blasts From The Past That Are Still Fresh

2487.

Today at CreativePro.com I found an article that displayed 10 fonts that are throroughly 80's ... but still seem as timeless as fashion's little black dress.

The article is here: http://www.creativepro.com/article/10-typefaces-80s.

The fonts are Century Old Style, Aldine 721 Light, ITC Clearface, Raleigh, Zapf Elliptical 711, ITC Eras Book, Eurostile, Frutiger 55 (Roman), ITC Italia Book, and ITC Friz Quadrata. Looking over them, I realized that, indeed that, though they are from the 80's, they really still stand up well.

The first four are straight-up good body type designs, that stand up well against and harmonize with the character I see in my go-to body type font, Garamond. They have a design that is happy and satisfies the eye while not being so floridly ornamental that the design filips also distract. What really got my attntion, though, was the way that Zapf Elliptical 711 echoes a great font for instructional books: Melior.

They're all nifty for body type, and could be just the thing if Garamond ever needs a rest.

The remainder of the list are more decorative and sans-serif. Eras Book is a wonderful, light alternative to Eras Bold which, while is not over used, tends to get used too much when it gets used. Eurostile is a nifty, geometric, no-nonsense font that gave birth to Microgramma Extended, which is one of the fonts in the Star Trek universe (check out the classing Star Fleet Technical Manual). Frutiger 55 bears a strong resemblance to Myriad, but not close enough to be a nice change of pace. The last two are niftily-decorative, but don't overdo it.

Either they're timeless in their way, or fashion has come back round to them - either way, they look like font's I'd add to my arsenal, given the chance, to do modern-looking work today ... 30 years since 1980.

Technorati Tags: Type, Type Design, fonts, typography, 1980s

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[liff] Seattle And The Mountain

2486.

Both Seattle and Portland have their signature skylines, featuring gorgeous, inspiring volcanoes.

In the case of Portland, of course, it's Wy'east (Mt. Hood). In the case of Seattle, if one really has to be told, it's Tahoma - Mt. Rainier.

Seattle and Mount Rainier, 2010
photo copyright SJK

One thing this Oregonian has never been unimpressed by is the sheer visual size of Rainier. Of course, there's the simple and inarguable fact that Rainier is simply a rather larger peak than Hood; 14,440 ft/4,392m vs. Hood's 11,249 feet/3,249m. Turns out there's just a little more than that, though.

There's a thing called visual prominence. One of the hallmarks of a memorable peak is not only that it's big but how head-and-shoulders about its surroundings it is. The difference between the peak's top altitude and the highest "col", ridge connecting it to its nearby surroundings - the difference between the highest high point and the highest low point adjacent to that mountain.

As it occurs, Rainier's geographical prominence is 13,211 feet. Not only is it big, it remarkably stands out from its surroundings. Comparing with our beautiful Wy'east, Mount Hoods prominence is a mere 7,706 feet - scarcely more than half. Meaning that despite Hood's height, its surroundings are also high - meaning it stands out less.

This is, of course, not to say that one is necessarily better, or that I'd rather wake up on a regular basis in Seattle; I'm a Portland kid until I assume room temperature. But it does explain why the first thing you get impressed with when you see Rainier from a distance is how freaking huge it seems. Not only is it big, but because of its high degree of prominence, it doesn't have much visual competition.

There is design lessons to be learned here. They're yours for the finding, though I may write about those later.

One more fun fact: The prominence of Rainier exceeds even that of the planet's second-highest peak - K2 - by just 22 feet.

Photo Location: Space Needle Observation Deck, Seattle, Washington

Technorati Tags: Mt Rainier, Tahoma, Mt. Hood, Wy'east, Seattle, Cascadia, Cascade Volcanoes, Space Needle

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[liff] Metareferential In Seattle

2485.

The Wife™ and myself decided to celebrate a very important milestone in our lives by treating ourselves to a trip to That Town Up North, New York-Alki, and while we had to fit it into our microbudget and all a good time was had by the both of us and we wouldn't have, couldn't have, passed it up for the world.

As a foretaste of things to come, there a bit of meta here. A certain sight on the Seattle waterfront is de rigeur for visitors, 'tis probably the most loved photo visitors take.

This is not a photo of that; this is, rather, a photo of people taking a photo of it:

This, however is a photo of that thing:

… because if a popular landmark is a trophy bagged, then a photo of the mass of people taking a picture of it is, in turn, very metareferentially hilarious.

Location: 1st Avenue and Pike Street, Seattle.

Technorati Tags: Seattle, Pike Place Market

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[liff] Rules Of The Contest

2484.

This are the official Rules of the Contest.

1. The contest rules apply only to the contest.
2. The participants in the contest are contestants.
   
3. Only one winner per contest after all participants have contested.
4. The contest winner can enter any other contest, but not at the same time as this contest.
5. There will be a runner up to the contest winner. The runner up may contest the contest's winning entry, contest the contest winner, and contest the contest rules.
6. Pray to whatever gods there be.
7. Contest losers may contest the contest, contest the contest rules, and contest the contest winner and runner up, but may only lodge one contestant contest. Additional contests will be accepted, but they will be contested until only one valid contest remains.
8. Contested contestants' contests can be contested.
   
9. Contest again … but with feeling.
10. Submit all contest contests to the contest contest address on the back of the contest form.
11. The first person who figures out where we left the contest form, wins.

Technorati Tags: Contests, contestants, rules

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[art] My Own Private Funny Pages

2483.

What I've run into as I've let myself become addicted to webcomics and more toons in general …

There was a time extremely extremely recently when I let whimsy take its course and began devouring every comic I could find. This is something I should have done years ago. I feel as though I'm making up for lost time.

I began reading webcomics just like a lot of other people did ... with the grandaddy of them all, Sluggy Freelance. Latterly I haven't kept up with ol' Sluggy, though. It's not any less good than it ever was, but tastes change, I suppose.

It's not you, Sluggy, it's me.

There are some that I currently follow with the faithfullness tho. And the short list:

1. Tatsuya Ishida's Sinfest (http://www.sinfest.net). I love Ishida's drawing style, his characters, the way he makes everyone in its reality real and equal in a way, though still invested with the power we give them. The Devil is evil and tortures people in a hole in the ground; God is all-powerful and in the clouds; Buddha is serene. And there is just something I'm in love with about the characters of Slick and 'Nique. I'm not sure why I like Slick so much, but I'm pretty sure with 'Nique, it's her ass. Seriously, though, it's this divine comedy as played out in a webcomic, and that makes it more satisfying than you might otherwise think.
   
2. Cyanide and Happiness (http://www.explosm.net/comics/) I'll admit it; I like humor in poor taste. But you have to do it just right. C&H will never win awards for technical merit or intellectual content, but there's something cathartic about being shocked the way they do it. C&H is mad popular, probably because they "go there". CONTENT WARNING: ADULT SUBJECTS AND OFFENSIVE HUMOR. USUALLY ON THE EDGE OF NSFW, GOES OVER THAT LINE PRETTY MUCH AT WILL.
3. Two Lumps (http://www.twolumps.net) J. Grant and Mel Hynes understand teh kittehs. They do. And that's a sure way to my heart. Also, there's a hyperpatriot teabagger goldfish (yes, you read this right).
4. XKCD (http://xkcd.com) Because if I don't read XKCD regularly, they'll take away my geek card. Also, I've never seen anyone get so much convincing art out of stick figures. Also, 'cos he's a smarter guy than me.
5. Facebrooks (http://powpowcomics.com) Before you say "not another autobiographical web comic", check this out. The drawing style and the pitiless self-aware humor about it are what get me here. Brooks Williams' universe seems to be regarding itself with its own jaundiced eye while celebrating itself. The characters are honest about themselves.
6. Robot Friday (http://www.robotfriday.com/), a "webcomic for creatives" by Tom Clemmons. Plenty of game geek and graphic artist in-jokes at the start, lately he's been showing of sketchbook comics (sketchbooks excite me) and even puts up videos of himself creating some of them, Nifty!
7. Hereville (http://www.hereville.com/) Hereville isn't a continuing webcomic, but an exceptionally magical comic book by Amptoon and Alas A Blog!'s Barry Deutsch. I gushed about it when I first found it and I return to the site and reread it every now and then because it's this intellectually tasty blend of fantasy, reality, and religious culture and young-girl empowerment all wrapped up in a retelling of an ancient fairy-tale. It's far and away the most original thing I've seen in a long time, and the eyes devour Barry's artistic style which, in the end, just turns out to be bonus. When they talk about graphic novels/comics that show just what the comic form can do, Hereville is what they're talking about.
   

So, it's kind of a salad, what I like these days ... a generous bed of intellectual, topped with dollops of wry and dry humor and sprinkled with the bitter herb of tasteless and edgy humor.

Anyone have any suggestions of any other coolness we may check out? Comment away!

Technorati Tags: Comics, comic art, XKCD, Two Lumps, FaceBrooks, Robot Friday, Thomas Clemmons, Brooks Williams, Barry Deutsch, Hereville, Tatsuya Ishida, Sinfest, Cyanide and Happiness, Explosm

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[liff] Who Needs Cherumple When We Have Dinglemunch's CakePie?

2482.

Latterly, the talk of the culinary world (or the "Believe it or Not" segment, anyway) is the "Cherumple": Charles Phoenix's pie-cake that combines cherry, pumpkin, and apple pies all lovingly enfolded within a spice-yellow-golden cake tomb.

"Nice effort", we say here in PDX. "You do, however, stand on the shoulders of giants."

Specifically, Nicole and Stan Kost. Stan, formerly of Milwaukie and now of Orangutang Orangeina Oronogo Missouri, was, as most Oregonians, ahead of the curve. He, too, noted with scholarly interest that culinary version of the terducken (as most of us did, via KGW's Live@7 who twitters via @TheSquare) and submitted a scholarly abstract of a highly successful experiment his wife performed sometime pack: The CakePie. And, in the interests of academic endeavour, near the end of the show, this was so exhibited for the delectation of all:

Now, my trained (and naturally cake-adoring) eye detects white cake, cherry frosting, and a cherry pie lovingly enfolded within.

Now, cake is the perfect food, and what is pie (as Jim Gaffigan says) but liquid cake? So, is this not doubly perfect?

I mean, foodies to your ovens at once!

Certainly, Charles Phoenix entertained us all and pushed the envelope. But I humbly suggest that without the Kost's diligent research and development, it may have all been for naught. Besides, what are you going to have if a cherumple is maybe just a little too much?

Gourmet magazine, you should do a bit on the CakePie mayhap.

See the full Duncan Hines at http://www.kgw.com/thesquare/upcoming-shows/How-did-you-make-money-growing-up-100082784.html . Don't be misled by the video title; that was the ShowQ, and @StephStricklen segues gracefully into the subject after reading viewer comments.

You're welcome, America!

Technorati Tags: Stan Kost, Nicole Kost, Dinglemunch, cherumple, cakepie

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[pdx] Amber Suburban PDX Sunset

2481.

Just now, out front, thought the bathroom window:

The Wife™ said the sun was orange. And it was.

This is sunset in outer east Portland. Both banal and sublime. Just like the people out here.

Technorati Tags: pdx photos, liff in pdx

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[popcult] They Hated Patrick McGoohan After The Last Episode Of The Prisoner, Too.

2480.

Man, end one enigmatic series with an unsatisfying conclusion, and all of a sudden, they're all over you:

My very first tweet. I started this account just to let you know how disappointed I am in you.

That was just one of the "five meanest tweets" fired off at Damon Lindehof after the finalé of Lost.

You can read the rest here: http://blastr.com/2010/08/5-meanest-tweets-received.php

Disclosure: I never got the Lost habit. But the pop-cultural phenomenon was train-wreck fascinating.

When quirkly, popular shows end on an inscrutable note, fans can get ugly.

After the "Fall Out" episode of The Prisoner, it's said the Patrick McGoohan went into hiding for a short while. Out of necessity.

Technorati Tags: Lost, Damon Lindehof, Twitter

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[design] Guiding The Eye: What Comics And Graphic Design Have In Common

2481.

An author someone was reading to me once put it in the terms of a military campaign.

You always know where the invader will enter the page (at least in the western, English canon anyway): in the upper left. This is where they make their beachhead. This is where you begin your visual assault to bring them in.

Generally speaking, the battle for design that works is, to some degree, a battle for eyes, and to refine that point, an endeavor to guide the eye to greatest effect - something we call eyeflow. You have a small handful of conceptual tools available to you to guide the viewer's eye that you must use with knowledge and they're based on tried and true shared experience just as the military metaphor above is. After all, how do we know that the reader will start at the upper left in the most likely design paradigm?

Simple. We do it, too. That's how we know.

Tools that the designer have at hand include composition, hierarchy, which in turn have their roots in classic art - the play of light and shadow, the way you can induce the eye to view a design based on contrasts in size, light, dark, color intensity.

So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when an comic artist writes an article (via Scott McCloud) about how the reader's eye can be invited into the picture, then I should see some parallels between graphic design and cartoon composition.

The pivot on which much of it turns would appear to be that of hierarchy. It's just as one supposes, the visual import of items in a composition from most-important to least-important; the eye will look to the most visually-important thing, typically supported by the less-remarkable. Lines establish conceptual "arrows" that guide to the sight of interest; contrast between light and dark establish landing zones that the eyes go directly to. The contrasts create a sense of hierarchy by forcing the "star of the piece" up front and prominent; the structure of the other elements form visual roads which lead to the focal point.

And, more since there are two focal points in the art used as examples, the secondary directly supports the first.

The article, Primary & Secondary: A Tale of Two Focal Points, by Dresden Codak artist Aaron Diaz, is available (and ought to be read) at http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/833149000/primary-secondary-a-tale-of-two-focal-points. And do bookmark.

As a suggestion of the common human API of the comic artist and the graphic artist, it does quite well, and will open the mind up a little bit to the suggestion of the common heritage that graphic design and comics have.

Technorati Tags: comics, design, graphic design, art composition, art analysis, comic analysis

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[design] The New Look Pac-10: It's Not Just a Logo, it's a Brand

2480.

Debuted yesterday: the new Pac-10 Conference's logo. It's kind of a slick production, and quite stylish when placed next to the design it succeeded, a box with big type and the suggestion of the setting sun.

There are appropriate images. The Pacific-10, encompassing the states of Oregon, Washington, California and Arizona (and soon enough to include Colorado and Utah) is the westernmost geographically-located big collegiate conference. the update includes two things you find quite a lot of the the west - the mountains (under the A) and the ocean (with a wave curling about the "10") into a slick, sleek shield.

And, of course, ours being a visual culture, we fixate on what seems, in the context, a daring update (your mileage may vary). But, after a year in which the Pac-10 almost ... almost ... eated the Big 12 to become the Pac-16, the attitude of the Pac-10 (the Pac-12, soon enough) has been shown to be a new, world-beating thing.

At least that's what they really want you to perceive here. The new-look Pac-10 is more than just about a new logo. It's about a new swagger and style, a new attitude.

Much of the credit for this new wide-shouldered confidence is being laid at the feet of the Pac-10's commissioner, Larry Scott. He led the charge to try to annex six more colleges, and has been at the forefront, the public face, of the new bold conference. In a succinct but punchy statement, he lays it all on the line. And the media events this week, with all Pac-10 football coaches in entourage, just really underline this.

This, my friends, is more than a new logo, it's the magic spell they try to cast with the word brand. It's the whole 50 yards on first down. It's probably why it's easier to find Pac-10 press extoling the virtues of the brand than decent graphics of the new logo (I nicked the above from Wikipedia's article). It's a nice logo, but just considering that would be kind of missing the forest for the trees.

But all this ... the "conference of champions", the academic reputations of the member schools, the positive aspects of life in the western USA, all these are contained in not just the logo, but the words and the stories they try to tell with them.

So far, they're doing a pretty good job.

If you like the Pac-10, you're probably liking this. And the new logo is a refreshing change from the old stale one, and cleverly executed too - and ready to turn the "10" into a "12", with little fuss, when the time is right.

We call it a pass completion.

Technorati Tags: Pac-10, Pacific 10, sports logo, sports logo redesign, branding

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[design] The Dying Art Of Design?

2479.

A while back I read an article by Salem's Von Glischka titled Don't Be A Tooler. The article is chewy food for thought, and can be read at http://artbackwash.blogspot.com/2009/06/dont-be-tooler.html. It generated a ton of discussion and I contributed a conment, and still to this day get emailed the occasional reply to the thread.

The idea of a tooler, as I understood it then and understand it now, is the sort of person who is a able user of tools like Photoshop and such and thinks that some mastery of the standard digital design tools makes them a designer ... but along the way, they've avoided acquiring the soft skills a designer really needs to create ... how to see as an artist, how to view a graphic design assignment as more than a chance to produce something that has a surface look of everything else.

That's not to say that you can - or should, in some cases - fight popularity. Can't really be done. But it demonstrates a lack of depth that talent can't always make up for, resulting in forgettable designs that don't really distinguish themselves at all. Sure, you can use Photoshop like a pro - but can you draw? Von Glischka is renowned amongst designers for his artistic, illustrative approach to designing, and the extra depth that "old-fashioned" skill provides his work informs every piece I've ever seen him do with a sort if interior logic and harmony.

It's tough to explain and sound like "whalesong and joss-stick" talk, but you look at Von's work, and you see it instantly.

Free and Numerous Tutorials and Resources as a subsititute for design intellect?

The intarwebz have been a boon to me and to many people who want to learn a new technique or see how some other designer achieved a cool effect. If you get on enough design mailing lists or Twitter, you soon find you can't swing a virtual cat - dead or otherwise - without hitting a list of nifty, fun tutorials on how to achieve this, that, or the other effect, and free resources for the stuck designer. Your bookmarks file will soon be filled to bursting.

But, as mom always said, too much of a good isn't a good thing anymore. Francisco Inchausté, writing at Smashing Magazine, holds a view that harmonizes, in its way, with Von Glischka. I'd put it this way: the embarrassment of riches on the 'net today, instead of making us nimble designers, actually threatens to turn us into lazy, deriviative hacks:

Dependance on resources such as freebies and tutorials is turning our design industry into an assembly line that churns out the same exact piece, with perhaps slight variation. Design is not a commodity, but the more that designers use freebies and the like, the more it will become one. The Web is just a large copy machine, as Kevin Kelley puts it. Design seems to be going down this road, too. Even our information resources—the design blogs themselves—are clones of each other.

I think he has a point. It doesn't take a career with a ton of success to realize that if we all use the same resources we all start looking like the same designer. Moreover, it's too easy to begin to browse your library of tutorials like a pantry of ready-made design solutions. Then, you cross the line into Tooler territory, and you stop using your insight, substituting a sort of reactive thinking for actual design problem-solving.

The overall prescription seems to be, back away from the computer for a while. Get a real design book or magazine and spend some time reading. Sure, you're a Photoshop virtuoso or an Illustrator god, but even I've seen in myself what will happen when you depend on digital apps to do all your work - they become your brain (as I write this, I'm in a epic struggle to get my drawing chops back. My skills have reverted to, as far as I'm concerned, a shambolically bad level).

So, get out the sketchbook and pencil. Break out them old Walter Foster "how-to" books if you have to. You don't have to show anybody your new bad drawings, and when your skill returns, you can look back at teh awful and say to yourself "see how far I've come".

It's a hard road to travel.

Not only are digital apps easy to use and come up with awesome f/x ... they're fun!!! So, that's a hard habit to break. Expect withdrawals.

But we mustn't forget that design and art is, first, and foremost, a human thing, and requires all the good, old fashioned, human skill our hands are capable of if it's going to be solid.

For all his public life, recently-departed gonzo cartoonist John Callahan was a quadriplegic with limited use of his hands. He drew with them anyway. It took both his hands to do it, but his cartoons were visceral and real. If you, like me, have full use of both your hands, you can at least try. Your design might be better for it - anything with a solid foundation tends to endure.

The Smashing Magazine article is at http://m.smashingmagazine.com//2010/04/08/the-dying-art-of-design/. Yes, it was done on a computer. Just savor the irony, peoples.

Technorati Tags: design, graphic design, design trends

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[pdx] Thunderstorm Debris Over The Rose City

2478.

My The Wife" generally thinks I waste time and energy with Twitter, but paying attention to the Twitter stream pays off, I tell you what.

Earlier tonight, as I was doing some tech editing, I noticed my backyard was bathed in a beautiful salmon/ochre/russet-y sunset glow. Those are the best. They lend a timeless, eternal, suspended quality to the sunset. Very cozy.

At about 9:00 PM, Twitter-pal @forkfly said I encourage you all to look outside right now. Wow!, with a link to an amazing shot of the sky.

I dont know where @forkfly got that, but that roofline seems to make me want to say that was from somewhere in Sellwood.

Wow, indeed. I did look out, and got my own pix.

And this:

And this:

The first one was just to make sure I centered that big "bite" which adds to the drama of the cloud. The next two were to make something artistic out of the silhouette of the TV aerial, which for some reason makes me think of record album covers I'd known.

Watching the news a bit later on, we found that a lot of people caught this and uploaded them to the local TV outlets. KPTV-12's Mark Nelson seemed to be saying that this was some of what he called "thunderstorm debris" from all the t-storms we had east of the Cascades today. I didn't know that thunderheads broke up like that.

This beauty belies the gravity of the situation that the thunderstorms that spawned this amazingness probably marked the beginning of wildfire season on the dry side of Oregon, but here ... wow.

(NB: Forkfly's pic hotlinked to. All rights remain with the original picture taker. All rights reserved on my own)

Technorati Tags: PDX, PDX Pictures, Oregon Summer, Forkfly

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[pdx] A Moment of Silence for Cartoonist John Callahan , 1951-2010

2477.

Just broken by the WWeek: Callahan, the famous PDX quad who draws teh politically-incorrect funnay, has passed on after a year of fighting additional ailments apparently brought on by surgical complications.

He was 59 years old, which, I suppose if you had asked him, was a whole lot of years longer than he thought he'd have gotten.

The WWeek note can be seen at http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2010/07/24/john-callahan-dead-at-60/

Also, centered at the bottom of his website's front page (http://callahanonline.com) underneath his portrait photo is simply the notation "1951-2010", which seems about right in tone - Callahan may have had many moods, but public sentimentality never seemed to be one of them.

Technorati Tags: John Callahan, PDX artists, PDX people, cartoon artists

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[art] Old-Fashioned Painting Of Building Ads ... Up There

2476.

The craft of building ads is something that seems to be on the way out, or maybe just looks that way. Hanging vinyl banners is quick, easy, and efficient - but a lot less charming.

When it came time to show off the perfect Stella Artois, though, the company chose the old-fashioned way. Up There is a short movie that details that struggle.

It's viewable at a page at this link right here: http://uptheremovie.com. Since it shows off beer ads, you have to be of legal age to view. Please don't lie to them.

It's about 12 minutes.

I was utterly charmed, myself. H/T to Pete Vogel.

(Bandwidth warning: I'm decidedly not happy with the streaming. On my older computer, sound galloped ahead of the pictures by more than a minute, and on the more powerful computer we have around here, there was so much rebuffering that the computer evenually gave up about 6 minutes in. You will enjoy what you do see, promise you that.)

Technorati Tags: art, building ads, Stella Artois, The Ritual Project

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[liff] Question Of The Day

2475.

It would seem to me that the most absurd shelves in the used-book store are the ones with the self-help books on them.

Discuss amongst yaselves.

Technorati Tags: liff, non-sequiturs, existential one-liners

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[pdx art] An Artist A Day Back In April At Muse Art+Design

2474.

Continuing to be historically late-to-the-party, I wanted to share something that I stumbled on back in April before life became a bit sucky and distracting. But it involves Muse Art+Design, and watching artists work, which are two things I'm big fans of.

The other year, when we first got acquainted with Muse, it was April and we noticed they had put up spots all around the shop announcing something called An Artist A Day. It is, as it turns out, more than just a cool and canny bit of promotion. AAAD gathers thirty artists, one per day, who work in the front window of Muse, creating one piece per day, which is then hung about the shop and silent-auctioned.

Here's the best part: the proceeds of the auction are used to buy Art Supplies for the Schoolhouse Supplies store, which is a free classroom-supply store for teachers. The value of access to art supplies for schoolteachers should be self-evident. And it's supported by great local art supply companies, M. Graham and Art Alternatives, so you know it's good.

Muse does this once per year, and according to the AAAD website, they'll be accepting applications to particpate in the 2011 edition starting in January.

Here's the hip:

• An Artist A Day: http://anartistaday.com
• Muse Art+Design: http://museartanddesign.com
• Read All About AAAD at Hungry Eyeball here: http://hungryeyeball.com/2010/03/30-portland-artists-participate-in-live-art-making-fundraiser-everyday-in-april/

Technorati Tags: Muse Art+Design, An Artist A Day, PDX art, art

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[type] Rustic Type as Exciting Design: Pete Vogel's Nutmegger Workshop

2473.

A while back in a posting I was recommended to the Nutmegger Workshop, http://www.nutmeggerworkshop.com. I was remiss in not exploring that link a little further, an oversight I rectify here and now!

Pete Vogel, the proprietor, specializes in reproducing the look and feel of old typographically-driven signs, back when sign-makers painstakingly and lovingly created every letterform by hand, with brushes and paint, resulting in a look that is old-fashioned but timeless, charming, and quintessentially American (like the signs that the Portland Building Ads blog finds on a constant basis).

Here he is, in his own words:

Basically, I am attracted to the unadorned typography and sign layouts from the past. I love looking at old ghost signs and faded brick ads, the historic link to the past is what fascinates me the most as I've always wanted to be transported back 100 years. Typography and old signage make great art, especially the larger scale signs. Consider these old replicas in the same context as architectural salvage pieces like a vintage cornice from a house used as a centerpiece for a large space. I think vintage signage brings the same dramatic impact, especially if it is relevant to ones city or living space, or to a favorite destination. Like any art, it's the same form of personal expression, but much more graphic and memorable.

These signs, all personally created by Pete, evince a time we see as more genteel and charming so well that they almost transport you there.

In 1902, the "New York Grocery" did business at the address of 420 Morrison Street. If you remember any Address Nerdery at all, then you know that the lack of a directional meant that this was west of the Willamette, and that there were 20 house numbers to the block meant that it would really at about where SW 11th Avenue is today.

Reproduced by Pete it becomes a warm, friendly bit of decor, invested with history:

Pete's signs are also done on a custom basis, which means any hobby or obsession you or your spouse or loved one might share can become a classy, old-fashioned, typographically-delicious bit of home pride:

And while this Oregonized Nutmegger (he imported himself from Connecticut, the Nutmeg State) has an entirely laudable focus on images from Portland history:

(Dore and Cook Steam Printers plied thier trade
on Front Avenue around the beginning of the 1900s)

He casts his visual design eye far and wide as well - why, not even France and Germany are safe - with charming result.

Pete at work: Clicky to Embiggen

It's nifty to be sure to see someone at work achieving the old styles in traditional ways. By keeping the past alive this way, we have a visual record which helps define the present and point at the future. It's type, and respectful historic type, so I like it a lot, and I see nothing not to like here.

See Pete's work at his site, http://nutmeggerworkshop.com, where his successes are on prominent display, his respect for history is evident, and you can perhaps buy some of your own.

Pictures used courtesy of Pete Vogel, to whom I extend sincere gratitude.

Technorati Tags: Pete Vogel, Nutmegger Workshop, PDX Artists, Oregon Artists, typeography, type design, sign design, graphic design

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