recent 7

Still with Book 6

Every sketch book I start with a dedication of some sort to my wife, Deirdre.

the rest of this post is arrows. In a gallery at the U of T, years and years ago, I saw an exhibition of architectural drawings from the twenties. The subject was the birth of “suburbia”,. which was enabled by mass public transit and the automobile. The thing that struck me at the time was the nonchalant care and precision with which dimentions arrows were drawn. Mine are never more than a rough approximation of the effortless, quick precision of those arrows.

Below is yet another interpretation of the arrow as “crowfoot”. As a representation of a bird’s foot prints it means the opposite of what a standard arrow, which is an interesting twist to the concept. the standard arrow, no matter how abstractly represents, well… An arrow. A lethal projectile weapon. the crows foot is in every way, the opposite of that.

Cleaning out my files

Came across an envelope of templates for some of my sign work years ago.

type – pumpkin

It was Halloween.

on the subject of Legibility: Euroface

It was with great interest that I came across this site a little while ago.

The faster you go, the sharper this amazing typeface looks.

press release
Brussels, 25 October 1999

In 1994, the members of European Parliament urged the creation of a new comprehensive road typeface system, the development of a ‘general high recognition and perception font’, and recommended adoption of uniform design practices. Now, after five years of extensive research, the European Committee for Uniformity of Type Design and Type Safety completed the research and presented legible-for-all-purposes-suitable-typeface. The typeface, named Euroface, was developed and studied through extensive design exercises, laboratory investigation and road tests. The result is convincing: Euroface is 42% more legible than Helvetica at the speed higher than 80 km/h and at 120 km/h legibility reaches a value of 5 ISRU*. The Committee’s recommendation were accepted and the adoption of the system in the EC countries should be completed by 2005. A Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and Type Safety was published in 1999, thoroughly presenting the projects implication, possibilities and practical applications.

*International Standard Recognition Unit”

Project’s description
(excerpt from The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and Type Safety)

Introduction
In the early days of traffic control device systems, only broad specifications were enumerated by conventions or government bodies. Local jurisdiction were left to their own devices insofar as basic type design was concerned. With the passage of time and increased sophistication, all systems have become much specific about applications of type in public and many inconsistencies occurred. What is clear at the present time is, that there is the need for uniform design review procedures. To ensure the road safety for the next century, the European Committee for Uniformity of Type Design and Type Safety (ECforTS) organized an international design contest in order to find the-one-and-only-for-all-purposes-suitable-ultimately-legible typeface.”

Hmm. That a project like would be mysteriously shelved seems some how not so odd. The letters from such luminaries in the world of typography as, David Berlow, Dr. Rüdiger Metzker, Prof. Dr. Ernst Krefeld Hansen, Gerhard Unger, Gert Dumbar
are most illuminating. (At least 3 of whom are actual type designers.)

Russell, Tiresias

Small Rooms; Images from an old project.

… Really old.
(I did say I’d post some pictures of these pieces earlier)

These pieces are about 12″ square and an inch and a half deep and they were originally

meant to sit on tripods.

The images are cut from 1/8″ plywood, and mounted between frosted Plexiglas. The designs on the frames aremarquetry in 1950’s vintage Formica.

The Miraculous Gift

God gave unto Adam a gift of a miraculous bottle that had neither an inside nor an outside, and the inside was on the same plane as the outside and the outside the same as the inside.

Adam asked of the Lord, What is this, my Lord? And the Lord said unto him, This is the Universe. Learn from it for here is the nature of creation. And Adam said unto the Lord, I can not use this thing. It will not hold water or wine. I can not fill it with berries and it will not stand up by it’s self on the mantle.

After a time, Adam and Eve considered the bottle and decided to break off the neck and close up the bottom.

God saw this and was not pleased. What is this have you done with the miraculous bottle I gave unto you? You have defiled it. I gave to you a thing of real physical and metaphysical beauty, that you may study it and see and understand the elegant genius of my creation and you have reduced it to a household object for storing your sour unpalatable wine.

Adam said unto the Lord, Now that we have fixed it so that it will hold wine and water and given it a base so that it will stand on the table, it is quite nice.

The Lord said unto Adam, I’ll tell you what… That tree over there – Very attractive, don’t you think? Especially in the spring with it’s blossoms. and practical too for it’s rich harvests of fruit. Do not eat of it’s fruit.

An observation or two about a building

I posted the following here – In reply to an article about Rem Koolhaas’ design of the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing. (I should be more diligent checking for typos before hitting “post”.) Actually, I quite like his other buildings, and in fairness the only images I’ve been able to see of this building don’t show much in the way of context.

If don’t appreciate some finer points of modern architecture, in consequence I may also lack appropriate reverence for it’s ‘A’ list names. So… Enquiring minds do want to know: Is it a wonky salute to Stonehenge? A stylized Chinese character? Does the shadow of the V in the roof line trace a particular and meaningful line on the streets below in the light of the full moon on Chinese New Year?

Averaged over the life expectancy of a building, the amount of steel and glass that go into it’s construction, I think, must be a fairly insignificant largely an irrelevant consideration beyond the financial contstraints of paying for the materials. No matter how efficient you are, if you build something that shouldn’t be built, every ounce of materials is wasted.

Not that this building should not be built… After all, it’s not just another glass-box office tower, but a glass-box office tower that has broken out of it’s rectangular mould – and into a more oddly shaped one. The building is simply not attractive, and appears to be about style for the sake of style? Different to be different… Not much different from the empty visual calories of a frilly new Easter bonnet — Except an advantage enjoyed by viewers of Easter bonnets is that no matter how lovely or gaudy it is, you only have to look at it for a day or two. In this way, I think Koolhaas’ CCTV Headquarters is the opposite of good design. Particularly for a prominent public building. All images I’ve seen of it are from the same angle as that shown at the head of this article, where essentially, it looks like an angular donut. Rotate it 45 degrees to the right and, if the renderings are drawn correctly, and I have to assume they are, it is a radically backwards-slanted letter ‘z’.

There is something very unsatisfactory about that, as with what you’d feel looking at half a bridge that ends abruptly part way across a river. Nice as a sculptural statement, perhaps but only if there is something that explains or resolves the implied instability. It poses a visual question about balance and purpose that goes unanswered.

Are the exterior walls not vertical simply because, given enough steel, some good engineering and buy-in from the client, you can build walls at any angle you like? I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to impose such a large and improbable looking building on the people of Beijing. Will they think back with affection on the monotonous architecture and shapeless olive-drab hats of the Cultural Revolution as they look up uneasily at the over-hanging upper floors?

Just a thought.

iterestingly enough (or not)

My one recent post without an image is this one: Thinking through drawing.
This one is gratuitous.

The Miscreant:

Introducing The Miscreant:

(logo will show Miscreant stepping out of the red circle)

There is a man with a purpose.
And that purpose is to serve as a bad example to us all.

The Miscreant… Don’t do what he does.

Episode #1

OK, Here’s how it goes:

The veil is lifted…. Covers are torn back and the lid’s blown off, as we dig deep under the opaque layers of bureaucracy for an insider’s view of life in a fast-paced government sign shop. Welcome to…. The Dept of Rules and Stuff. (image of office with dafting boards and computers. workers with feet on desks reading or asleep with heads on their desks.)

Miscreant shows up for work – late, causing much commotion. Dis-ordered sheafs of paper under one arm.

Boss scowls – Receptionist with a crush swoons when The Miscreant is mouthy to boss. (Oh, alright… Some of this might be a little fictional.)

The Miscreant has a photo session for new sign. A model poses in circle for photographers and artists while Miscreant directs. (Sign is DO NOT SLEEP ON ROADWAY) proofs are sent around for approvals, there is an after-party. After work, Miscreant goes drinking – gets soused, trespasses into railway ROW and is run over by a train.

Next day he shows up for work. Late – Calls a meeting where he presents a proposal for a new sign….