The Theory of Nevolution

Design Reportage

Have you picked up yours yet? You should, it's great. Pick it up, if there are any left from Greville St books, Metropolis, the Narrows, Lamington Drive and the Melbourne Museum of Printing. Oh, and it's free, so you have no reason not to. Great writers, great design, great design writing. We're looking at making more and turning it into a bi-monthly thing. Which, is awesome. We'll be looking at ways to improve on it (hard to do, I know). Particularly in the area of creating a community around this thing (everyone else seems to be doing it) and looking at post-collapse methods of income generation (is there any other choice?). Naturally we'll be looking at design and writing and design writing (kind of a no brainer) but trying to expand and improve upon the gold standard that's in issue one. And if I said I'd send you one, I'm working on it (I promise).

This is not a Design Post

By all accounts, the day was a huge success. It was a fantastic market in a fantastic space. It was great to see some new vendors at this market as opposed to the usual faces (although they were there too). We had a great stall for the Museum with lots of space to spread out and show off our wares and what the Museum is all about. Cam and Monica made some lovely market specific posters for us to sell there which gave a lovely view of the rest of the market from our luxurious penthouse view of the place. 

Knowing how successful the cards were last time I printed variations of the logo on card before hand which worked fantastically, showing off not just the ludlow type which we printed onsite but some of the postertype in the collection. Still feeling guilty for not staying there the whole day and helping out but from what I've heard the rest of the day was just as good as the first. 

More saving, more printing.

Thankfully other people were much more organised in taking photos of the day. First up is Barry (The Legibilitator) Spencer who took a few choice shots which I've narrowed down to those of us on the committee who helped put it all together. First up has to go to Laurie, because, he was rocking the linotype machine the whole day. For those that weren't that interested in design and typography, giving them something mechanical to wrap their head around is a big plus.

Meanwhile Peter from bLogos/HaHa loved the attention to detail put into the snags:

Most would just write it, surely - one minute and done - but these few sheets had been individually letter set, inked and printed, then taped up like any other, as if no big deal. As if it was the only way.

You should go check out the rest of his blog. Brilliant and random. The way they should be really. Look for the toilet roll.

Dad also had the forethought to take quite a few nice pictures of the day, starting off with Michael (the curator and owner) rocking the microphone. Unfortunately I was too busy inside to hear the speech; I didn't even know it was going on. And no, the guitar isn't his. That belonged to the Primitive Calculators, who split the crowd into those who couldn't stand the wall of noise, and those that thought they were the best thing to happen to music, ever. They even brought their own rock groupies.

And finally a gratuitous (yet heart warming) shot of me teaching some children how to get lead poisoning with a ludlow typecaster. 

In case your hunger still hasn't been satiated, check out the rather extensive flickr collection. Meanwhile, our house photographer has taken some rather lovely shots on display at the museum's website.

Saved the MMOP

By all accounts it was a roaring success. This was the only decent photo I got of the whole thing and it got much busier after this. The rest of my photos is of blurry chaos, which sums up the day. It got quite packed early on and didn't let up until closing time. Me and Marilyn started off printing a few more posters to get them ready at about 1.30 and ten minutes later we had an audience of people looking at us, which was quite a shock. After scurrying around for a few minutes I fired up the Ludlow machine and showed people the wonders of typecasting and hot lead. The Primitive Calculators rocked the music, a little too hard, but rocked it regardless. We sold quite a few prints and ended up raising a sizeable chunk of money. All in all the day was a success and I think we're all resting after a busy month. Hopefully I'll get a few images sent my way and I'll be able to put them up over the following few days. Thanks to all who went and hope you had as much fun as me.

Update: I missed it yesterday but the Museum was on ABC Radio National promoting the fundraiser. At some point during the day I realised that there were quite a few families wandering around enjoying the place. It turns out that a little spot on the radio can do wonders in getting people through the door. I forgot that it was going to be on, although mum had the foresight to call me up when it was on and placed the phone next to the radio. Now I get to hear it in much better quality.

I hate streaming audio and have a nagging feeling that ABC delete old radio shows after a set time, so it's here for posterity. I just love the opening line - "So video killed the radio star, yeah? And it was computers that killed the old printing press".

Download Abcrnartworksmmop

Save the MMOP

A little project I've been working on for quite some time. And when I say 'little' project I mean a fairly large part of my life that has been consuming large parts of my time and with good reason. And when I say 'I've been working on' I mean to say a dedicated group of people for whom this would not have been possible and who have put in just as much and more time than me in getting this thing together. If you're free this Sunday, and really, who isn't free on a Sunday, come down to the museum and show your support. Hell, if you still have a job in this climate you owe it to your bank account and buy one of the the beautiful prints from some of Melbourne's leading artists and designers. If you're really awash with cash you probably owe it to yourself to buy a boxed set. But if you're skint, we understand. Either  way, come down and have a look, watch the demonstrations, say hi, and have a wander around. There will be the usual sausage sizzle (with onions, don't worry), live music by The Primitive Calculators (we partially chose them for their name - how could we not) and general awesomeness all around. It's only a short walk from the train station and near the city if you have wheels. It's free entry, although donations will be very welcome and you'll get to see what it's all about. Point your mouse-clicker at the Museum's website for more information.

My kids are all grown up

Punt road has never been a favourite of mine; having to be a passenger while forced to listen to drivers complain about how much they hate the traffic and how many hours of their life they've lost while sitting in a slow moving car-park. I better stop it there before I get lynched. But I've recently enjoyed walking down it, and enjoying the stupidity of walking down such an annoying street. Walking underneath the overpass I've started to notice the details on band posters - something you don't get while in the confines of the passenger seat - but usually dismiss most of them as trite pieces of work until something caught my eye and stopped in my tracks. 

I know those letterforms. Hell, I know the scratches, missing corners and annoying type-high requirements of those letters. I've cleaned them, sorted them, tested them and tried to bring them closer to the sweet spot of 0.9186 of an inch. After nursing them back to health, feeding them, shining them and giving them a good childhood. And what a marvellous use of those letters as well. I usually get annoyed by the poster type look, but this has been done with class, attention to detail and an eye for the craft. My hunch was further compounded when I saw the Melbourne Museum of Printing logo in the bottom, which not only confirmed my suspicion. I feel proud that the museum is being put to some good use, and so is all those hours I put into fixing their type collection. My little kids have all grown up, left the nest (typecase) and got themselves a job.

Sure, the kerning on the Modified Gothic Condensed is a little off and I'm a bit surprised because they either didn't use the pre-cut A and T that kerns perfectly, or fix it in photoshop. I suppose a hint of awkward authenticity helps this a bit. All is not lost however. Not only are the street posters charming examples of well crafted typography (and the face is a wonderful example of image making) but the website is just as nice.

I shudder to think how long it took to use the palette of a somewhat limited poster type collection in creating these faces. They somehow capture the caricature of aussie manliness (something I have in spades) while only hinting at cliches. The colours, stance and faces are all pitch perfect. If only I liked this music and had the inclination to go to the country to check out the festival.

Printol

Forgot I had this photo. No idea what it is or what it's for, apart from, you know, being used for printing. Which, doesn't really take away from it being pretty neat.

Alsatian Paints

Saved this one for a post all to itself. Never heard of them myself, way before my time; but Laurie from the museum remembers them clearly. It's such a great honest drawing of a dog.

A few magazine adds as well. I've tried finding any reference to it in any of my Good Housekeeping magazines, but haven't found anything.

Laurie told me that he remembers seeing this on the tins of tester paint. You'd mix up whatever colours you wanted and they'd write the name or colour ration below the bridge.

Australiana Vintage Week continued

Forgot that I made some copies of most of the advertising stereotypes that I archived (printed) at the printing museum. I naturally gravitated to any thing that displayed a sense of local history; and tacky Australiana.

One of the charms of the somewhat disorganised collection is the history contained within the plates. Having been collected from printing shops all around Victoria, it gives insights into the small and medium businesses that needed things printed. From wafer shops that have since closed shop to bug killer that I'd never heard of, but the older guys there remember with fondness.

I spent a good month going through everything I could get my hand on and print out. It was such a joy to slowly learn how to set everything up in the galley, lock it all in, then make sure they were all type-high. Watching them come out was magical. You can get a vague idea of what they're going to look like, but you never know until you see it on paper the right side around.

And then there's this tacky little gem.

FT Wimble

FT Wimble was one of Australia's main suppliers and producers of type. He was also an ink merchant, later on becoming a politician. The most interesting and disappointing aspects of his career is the fact that his entire collection of type were rip offs of other faces. While it's rather amusing that he copied faces and named them after Australian places - this face is Perth Engravers Gothic, it's rather sad from a historical perspective that nothing new was created.

Australia could have some semblance of a typographic history, but unfortunately, no culture was created. Instead, punchcutters were employed solely to copy well known faces. I've wailed about this before regarding the Citizenship Test, but felt it important to bring up again as I finally found some historical evidence of FT Wimble at the Printing Museum the other week. So, while it's great that this man fostered a printing culture, and contributed greatly to it, it's a great loss to Australian history that his creativity wasn't further than his ledger books.

Despite all that, it was a great find, especially his trademark. As usual, larger versions are on flickr.

The Duplicator

I also found these as well. There's a great big pallet of duplicator stuff just sitting there. I've opened a few boxes and had a looksee, but none had the same faded Futura charm as these two. I have a vague idea of how the whole duplicating system works; I think this is the same system as carbon paper and if my memory serves me, it has a very specific smell.

Printing Today

I was locked inside at the printing museum yesterday, which would normally be great fun, except I had work I had to do and couldn't get to the Ludlow mats. Anyway, all is not lost, I did find this. Which coincidentally, was the same face that I was after - Karnak, a typical geometric egyptian slab named after a sprawling egyptian temple complex.

Monsieur Crepe

I finished up quite a while ago, but for a short period (and not for the first time) I was a crepe chef. First time round I was working at Fraus, a hot chocolaterie and creperie making crepes, but recently me and a friend had the fortune of running our own little crepe restaurant in a bar in Northcote - Open Studio. We were given almost carte blanch with the whole thing - coming up with the rotating menu, specials and the like. I was planning on interweaving a mini-narrative how writing a menu or creating food is like design, but I don't think it's really relevant except in some academic sense. But we made some great fillings - chickpea mash with lemon and spinach, dark chocolate grenache with roast pistachio, spicy dried fruit winter compote and more. It was great fun, but took its toll on our energy and social life so we handed the reins over. A week ago I did a celebrity shift there, and it was great fun to get behind the old machine and spin a few crepes. But what's really pertinent is that I finally picked up posters advertising the crepes that I did at the Printing Museum months ago.

That's right, I pulled out all the vaguely french type I could find and exploited them like there was no tomorrow. I couldn't not really.

I did these when we'd just started, a little two colour, two for one deal.

Wood Type Politics

Over at flickr, Depression Press has made up some rather timely and amusing political logos. Getting the vernacular spot on, it's a shame there are no buttons or posters to go with them. Can't wait to see what he comes up with when the real race starts.

Please, please please please let this be some sick joke. Surely...

Happy Scandinavian Pagan Festival To All!

Just about to pack up my computer before moving house (always the last thing to be boxed). We're signing up to naked dsl, meaning I will be sans blog for up to 20 working days (a small price to pay to not pay a phone company).

I've been a bit lax with this over the past few weeks, but I have plenty of backlog ready to show off after the new year; as well as lots of old things that pop up when you move into a bigger place and get to open up old boxes that you haven't opened in a few years.

Anyhoo, Happy New Year and all that jazz