Alphabet

A is for Albert

You don’t have to have kids to appreciate the humor associated with this animated short from Studio Lovelock. “A is for Albert” is an animated alphabetical adventure about the highs and lows of parenting. Along with the short animated video, there is a corresponding website where each letter of the alphabet is broken out into its own animated section. Produced by Joe Lovelock this was a side project that took some time to complete while he was working on getting his studio off the ground. Built with simple shapes, a soft color pallet, and nice little soundtrack, the video is a breath of fresh air in a sea of negative soundbite, news blips, and uncertainty these days. Below the video is an excerpt from Lovelock on the project.

Like all side projects this has taken ten times as long as I thought it would, about three years to be more specific.

I put that down to the unforeseen issue of having to use all 26 letters in the alphabet, and secondly I’ve just been busy. It turns out the little man who inspired the whole thing is pretty demanding timewise, compounded by the fact that somehow that one little man became two. On top of that I’ve been trying to build a design agency (studiolovelock.com). It turns out that’s pretty time consuming too.

Truth be told I’m not entirely happy with it, but I’m proud of the fact that I’ve managed to finish it and can finally move on to something new. I’m also proud of the two little champions that inspired it. Their mum’s pretty awesome too.

ABCinema. The Alphabet As Animated Films

Evan Seitz has created an absolutely wonderful animated piece where the alphabet is represented abstractly through film titles. The illustration, and animation in this little film is so well executed, I am not ashamed to admit that I am jealous. This guy has some mad skills. Hat tip to you Evan.

The Letter Fountain, from Taschen.

OK Type junkies, available this month is a new release from Taschen that chronicles the history of man’s quest to communicate with letter forms.

Beginning with our first efforts to communicate with visual signs and drawings, the book “Letter Fountain” is a unique typeface handbook that examines the anatomy of every letter, punctuation mark, and ligature in the alphabet. The book goes into detail cross referencing type designs with important works of art and art movements from the Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type to the digital font revolution of today. Taschen renders impeccable levels of detail and attention to aesthetics, and type styles, including a an in-depth comparison between sans-serif and serif typefaces, an essay about measuring systems and indications, advice about typographic rules, plus a manual for developing digital fonts.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The book covers over 150 typefaces, their origin, and the characteristics of each, explained in rich visual detail highlighting items like scale, weight, and useful alternatives in dynamic reference tables. The extensive appendix contains a general index, a typeface index featuring more than 300 and, an index of over 250 type designers. There is an exhaustive index of type foundries, a graphical dictionary, and a bibliography for further reading.

Looks pretty awesome if you are into all things type. You can get the book here at the Taschen website.