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.