Is it or is it not?

The Big Book of Logos 3, 2002, p199
Client: Is It Art?, Designer: Robert Meyers

I liked the play on letters in this logo - the use of a "?" in place of the "R". The logo perfectly matches the client's name, Is It Art? It is a very simple logo that in 3 characters completely defines the client.
The font appears to be a hand-drawn sans serif used for the purpose of identity. At first glance, the letters appear rather ordinary but if you look closer, the letters themselves are rather artsy. The letters are distressed and a little splotch of blue is on the question mark. It's like the logo is asking the question of itself.

The Non-Designer's Design Book, Robin Williams, pp 26,29,76-77

These are excerpts from a book that I love! The book is a very basic, easy-to-read introduction to design and typographic principles. It is full of examples that make the concepts so easy to grasp. I am consistently referring back to this book for ideas on how to improve my layouts. The first example above is a menu the author picked up and used to demonstrate the principle of proximity. Obviously, she applied contrast, alignment and repetition also. Fonts used in this example include Portzebie and Times New Roman.
The second example is an ad she revised to emphasize the concept of contrast. The fonts used were Tapioca, Times New Roman, Helvetica, and Bailey Sans Extrabold. If you're a visual learner, this is a great book to add to your collection!

NY Winter Festival

Expressive Typography, 1990, p96
Michael Glaser, poster

I enjoyed the way the title of the poster was used to create a visual artistic image. The 3D letters provide depth and interaction with the viewer by slight misalignment and "fallen" letters. The starkness of winter is contradicted by the rainbow-colored letterforms indicative of the fun to be found at the festival. And the brightly colored skier nicely balances the red heart in the NY logo. Finally, the skier's tracks lead the viewer's eye from the top of the poster down to the lower left corner to the vital line of information.
The "WINTER FESTIVAL" font is a crisp, clean, bold san serif, possibly Franklin Gothic Bold. The purpose of the font is promotional.

Letterman

Typography 23, 2002, p76
Greight Inc, Kosuke Shimuta, Japan


This is another use of letterforms to create a piece of art. The figure is composed entirely of symbols. This was one of a series of ads. I found this ad intriguing. The figure of the man appears rather airy, as if a a slight breeze would blow him away. And he doesn't appear to have a shadow but the solid black hat does. I cannot identify the font but the purpose is advertising.

Morpheus Music

The Big Book of Logos, 2000, p6
Morpheus Music, Brad Wilder, logo

I found this logo successfully incorporated music notes into the design without being obvious. Very subtley, the designer incorporated two vital elements of this company's identity into one symbol. If you look closely, you can see the letter M and music notes entwined, showing how Morpheus is synonymous with music. The overall design is intriguing and entices the viewer to look closer to figure out why. The font is Weiss and is used to create an identity.

Helping Hands

The Big Book of Logos, 2000, p17
Resource Link, Eric Sena, logo

I liked the concept of people helping people in the figures over the type, with the last figure placing the dot on the word Link. The flow of the bright red squares pulls your eye in and leads you down the line of type. The boldness of Link serves as an exclamation. The font used is Helvetica Neue and it serves the purpose of identity.

Seamstress

Typography 23, 2002, p116
Patti Katcha, Jennifer Katcha, business card

This card tells what the person does before it's even read. The sewing notches on the edges, the actual stitches and thread tails, the patterns on the back of the card—all point to a seamstress. This is a business card way beyond the ordinary. A card people will remember and want to keep. Even the font used to spell seamstress has an embroidered look. The package is completed by the soft faded card colors that coordinate well with the brown tissue patterns shown on the back. The fonts used are Filosofia and Found Type and the purpose is identity.