In Melbourne there is on average over 200 creative/design/graphic based lectures, events and random occasions a year. After twenty years of racking up a fair share of these events, it is easy to just go home and watch the television, or read a book, go to bed early, do a blog entry…

Johnathan Barnbrook came to Melbourne last week, and one was lucky enough to see his latest work and experience his ideas on life and design. It has been twelve years since one saw Barnbrook speak in Sydney, and his work has continued with being inspired by research, design craft and provocation. He spoke of many things and one idea that stuck was that his inspirations are often found in his neighbourhood, surrounds and environment – Psycho-geography as he put it, read more here via wiki, part of much our work is inspired too, by the design and ideas around us.

Random Barbies drying out

One is often presented with curious, yet everyday things. A gaggle of well loved dolls in need of a good dose of sunshine.

Sunny side what

Black, white and yellow – one the great colour combinations.

A sign to help sell more cars

Old school brands are a regular source of inspiration, chunky graphic marks symbols along with odd custom lettering.

A sign to help sell more carpet

It is a wonder that in 2010 with all the ideas and technology that business’s keep the clichés around to tempt and call to action

A sign for an Australian hand dryer

Australian design outcomes can be odd clichés

A sign that is about hunger

Hand lettered sign crossed with a wayfinding device. Odd clunky and not a university design education in sight.

A sign that is about future hunger

This lettering was probably done in less than ten minutes and yet one wonders what type this person could have produced if they found type design instead of roasting chicken.

A Melbourne 1950s tv station identity

In one’s wanders often signs of the past make their presence known

A poster in Glebe

The last time I saw this spot another great poster was in it’s place, see here

Luna Park Melbourne

Luna Park Sydney

Both Sydney and Melbourne have a Luna Park, an amusement park with heritage roots, and both have an enormous face as a point of entry. Except one seems friendlier.

Just off the Hume Highway on the main Street of Gundagai, New South Wales is a selection of layered type styles and graphic treatments creating a mash of history and aesthetics.

… and down the road are fine symbols and locked machines and giant beasts.

Communicating in most instances is something quite unremarkable, yet when a saucer is passed your way, in sobriety, with “U SUX” delicately cast in the middle of a saucer, one can either become highly offended, or amazed at the lengths people will go to make a lasting or meaningful impression.

Sarah in local café takes it upon her self to move beyond conventional talk to get to the core of how she feels about a moment or person in a day.

Is this a case of speaking in china, or a waitress’s idea of having the last word.

Flinders Street Station circa 1953, Public Record Office Victoria.

January 2010 marks the 100th year of Flinders Street Station. Flinders Street Station, Australia’s oldest central railway station located on the South Western corner of Flinders and Swanston Street along side the Yarra River.

The building which stands today is the result of an architectural competition in 1899. The winning design named – Green Light, which includes a large dome and tall clock tower, was the design of railway employees James Fawcett and H. P. C. Ashworth in French Renaissance style. Building works commenced in 1900 and the complex was officially opened in 1910.

The depicted lettering samples can be found on mass in the Degraves Street subway. The system looks to be the original wayfinding signing system developed for the station in 1910, however this statement needs historic clarication. When one first came across this lettering it reminded one of coming across pieces of broken blue china at the bottom of my grand parent’s garden. Hand painted in vibrant cobalt, or China blue, on glassy white porcelain tiles, this now distressed signing system stands quietly, incomplete, broken and somewhat redundant amid the current mix of hanging signs, light boxes, and folded metal panels with vinyl, silk screen and illuminated type.

We hope that the Victorian Department of Transport historic archive, or the Department of Infrastructure has a pictorial record of this signing system as time is taking it toll on its presentation. As it is Flinders Street Station 100th birthday year a comprehensive documentation project may be the perfect birthday present.

Visit the Department of Infrastructure’s modest historic web presence here

Note the text on the top right, it aint cussing Futura

The love of type and typography is a conversation often lost on most of the wider public. The nerdy lengths that type lovers go to sate their hunger for these curious graphic forms is legendary. Just ask Amanda Roach how she got an enormous lower case ‘a’ and ‘m’ in her studio. Amanda will attest that – Andrew (Ashton) graciously offered them to her. The other version involves a bicycle accident, some cold chicken, a bar in North Melbourne, a song by Joy Division and a random text message.

There are few outside the world of type, who understand the beauty of good type, and when a random type lover (from outside the world of type) exhibits their insights to broad audience – type nerds across the world sleep tight, or chung down an extra Red Bull and spend another week tweaking type character forms, or kerning pairs.

Wes Anderson, the acclaimed film director, is one such person who has put type on the big screen for all to love and hate. Anyone familiar with his films will acknowledge that type is one of the acting cast – type’s 26 characters perform for Anderson like the late great John Cazale with verve, stealth, wit and intuition. Films such as ‘Bottle Rocket’, ‘Rushmore’, ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’, ‘The Life Acquatic…’, ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ and most recently ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ all feature fine type usage and typography.

Anderson’s type treatment is one of the markers that denote his film making style. Anderson’s type treatment compliments the broad cinematic experience adding unique detail and curiosity. All type treatments across his productions be it: film titles and credits, film props including location signing, vehicle livery, luggage, book jackets, uniforms, crests, stationery – are designed and finished with a spare, considered and functional type design aesthetic. The look is bold and uncomplicated, American, post World War II, hot metal print – a style of type treatment which dominated printed matter around the world for several decades (from the 1940 to 1970s), as much of the everyday printer matter was developed for clients by printers (with their functional approach to type treatment) rather than by designers or commercial artists.

Before we launch into the type related questions, it is a given in our very bias opinion that Wes Anderson’s latest film, an adaption of Roald Dahl children’s novel ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ is a must see. Anderson’s latest output explores different audiences – the general audience (Children to Adults), and new techniques – adapting an acclaimed children’s book to film and using stop-motion animation. Like film director Spike Jonze’s recent adaptation of ‘Where the Wild Things are’ by Maurice Sendak (another must see) these forty something film makers use their spirited, witty, quirky yet humble style of film making and story telling to set a standard in General audience films. The overall effect of the film is a hands-on outcome, not overwhelmed by effects and technology, allowing the story and style of film making to evolve into a unique and captivating experience. Anderson and Jonze  seem to respect the audience’s intelligence and ability to comprehend concepts. As a result their work lacks the dumbing down of the content by research and rampant merchandising often found in films in the General audience genre. The emphasis is therefore about making an inspired film, connecting with the film goer and allowing everything else to fall into place.

So with the fluffy stuff out of the way, let’s explore up the type questions.

Q / 01

The big question for type nerds :

How do you feel about the outing of Futura Bold and the inning of Helvetica Bold as the main font used in Fantastic Mr Fox?

Goodbye by Paul Renner and hello Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann. Farewell Germany, welcome Switerland. Best wishes quirky geometric, make yourself comfortable functional and flexible.

Marketing materials, this aint cussing Helvetica

Q / 02

Another type question for the marketers of the film :

Why have the posters and advertising material used Futura, when the film has cast Helvetica as it main font?

Q / 03

Another really nerdy question for the marketers of the film :

Why has the marketing title text, the film’s brand if you will, been set of a curved baseline, when the type in the film is constantly set on a straight baseline?

It doesn’t match Anderson’s signature of being attentive to the minor details. Maybe the sales guys thought that the audience would not notice, nor be able to tell the difference.

See the film at least twice never-the-less, the whole package is a rare delight.

Let us know your type thoughts. There are not many samples of the main type at work in the film displayed on the net, to make our Helvetica point. Be assured we will be back in the cinema to capture a few samples this week for posting and review.