Why Can’t I Be You: Jessica Hische

Intervju preuzet sa Rookie Magazine-a.

Talking art school, Wes Anderson, and the importance of working hard in your 20s with an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer.



Illustration by Ruby A. Photograph by Peter O’Dwyer.


If you are a young and aspiring designer (me) with a particular affinity for typography (me again) who dreams of working with the likes of Wes Anderson and Louise Fili (guess who?), you might catch yourself looking at graphic designer and illustrator Jessica Hische and thinking, WHY CAN’T I BE YOU? At the age of 28, Jessica has a remarkably prolific career; she is known for her gorgeously elaborate custom lettering and illustration for clients like Target, Barnes & Noble Classics, and National Public Radio. Jessica is a Big Deal not only because of her professional awards and achievements, which include being named an ACD Young Gun and a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Art & Design, but also for her popular web-based side projects, like her brilliant Daily Drop Cap project, launched in 2009, where she created a different illustrated capital letter every day, going through the alphabet 12 times (which is lovably nuts). She’s a frequent contributor to the oft-inspiring Friends of Type blog, and her wedding invitation is the loveliest thing on the internet. I sat down with her and half a dozen mini cupcakes at her studio, Title Case, in San Francisco, to pick her brain.

Jessica, thank you for being so generous with your time! Once I discovered how to activate the Teen Girl mode on your website,* I knew you were one of us, and we really had to talk. So tell us: what is it, exactly, that you love about what you do?

I love almost everything about what I do. I get paid to draw all day, I get to read and respond to wonderful emails from aspiring designers, illustrators, and letterers and help them in any way I can, and I get to travel around the world talking at conferences and meeting people whose work I admire. I’m definitely a lucky girl, and every now and then I have to step away and remind myself just how lucky I am.

You created the film titles for Moonrise Kingdom. What was it like to work with Wes Anderson?
It was a dream, because Wes had his hand in every aspect of the visual process. I would get emails at 2 AM asking to make the R slightly smaller, or to make something else a little bit rounder. I didn’t expect that attention to detail.




Jessica’s lettering for Moonrise Kingdom.


What is your stance on attending design school—is it necessary for the type of work that you do?
I think attending art school is an awesome and wonderful experience whether or not you know for sure if you want to be a fine artist. College in general is really just a wonderful way to transition into adulthood, as long as you don’t treat it like a massive excuse to party and drink your brain cells away. I worked incredibly hard in school, and because of that my professors gave me opportunities that other students didn’t have. School is what you make of it, and you could go to any college and get a great education as long as there are a couple of professors there who are willing to put the time in and that you, in turn, are willing to give 110%. There are people out there that say college isn’t necessary, but I definitely wasn’t mature enough to enter the workforce at 18, and I feel like I really found myself in art school. Plus, there are very few other opportunities to be surrounded by so many like-minded people having intense discussions about your work. I miss art school like crazy because those kind of critiques are hard to come by, and no matter how many artsy friends I have, nothing compares to being surrounded by 100 peers, all working 24 hours a day, exhausted but excited.

What advice do you have about getting internships, making connections, and getting your foot in the door? Also, please tell us how you got my dream job working with Louise Fili!
For anyone out there looking for an internship, the best advice I can give is: meet with everyone in person if possible. You’re far more likely to be hired if people get to know you a bit, and I’ve definitely come across a number of young designers that I would probably hire before even looking at their portfolio just because I think they’d be fun to have around the office, and they have the right attitude about learning and working for someone else. You might be the most talented person out there, but if you’re not pleasant to be around or have an ego bigger than Michigan, you will have a much harder time finding a really excellent job with someone willing to mentor you.

I ended up working for Louise almost by accident—I was a huge admirer of her work, and so I sent her a little gift in the mail. I didn’t expect anything in return, I just wanted to show her some of what I was making and tell her how much I loved her work. She called me up for a portfolio review and that day offered me a job. It completely floored me that reaching out to someone personally could make such a difference, and that you didn’t necessarily have to send over a résumé and cover letter to get someone to peek through your portfolio.



Jessica’s entirely new font, Buttermilk.



NASTAVAK INTERVJUA PRONADJITE NA RookieMag.com


Pisma za izlozbe



Ovako njujorski Muzej moderne umetnosti oprema svoje izlozbe. Pravi i specijalna tipografska pisma. Evo dva primera, za retrospektivne izlozbe o Timu Bartonu i o Marini Abramovic. Vise informacija pronadjite OVDE.





Animografija

Jos jedan od aspekata buducnosti tipografskog pisma. Animirana tipografija, ili - animografija.














vise informacija na FastCoDesign

Banduristi

Yurko Gutsulyak dizajnirao je omote za ukrajinsku grupu koja postoji vec 100 godina i svira lokalnu etno muziku. (via The Dieline)


Prirucnik o dekorativnoj cirilici

Strane prirucnika preuzete sa Facebook strane Cyrillic Typography.









Uz ovu, rukopisnu stranu, u prepisci je ovako komentarisano:

Olivera Stojadinovic: Pogledajte strane 37 (prikazana iznad) i 38 sa rukopisom. Imaju t i p onako kako ih mi pisemo. A D i d su kao latinicom.

Vedran Erakovic: Vidi stvarno. Slovo b, takodje vise lici na tu neku nama blizu varijantu. Sad sam pronasao da oni zaista i koriste te crtice na t, ali jako retko, da bi se ta problematicna slova lakse razlikovala u tekstu. Mozda su ih ranije standardno upotrebljavali. Ta crtica je i logican nastavak u razvoju brzopisa, kad znamo da je u njemu postojalo ono sitno tronogo t, sa crticom koja spaja stubove. Malo slovo d, takodje nekad u rukopisu pisu kao mi, kao latinicno g. Njima se zapravo dosta razlikuju stampana i pisana iskosena slova. Eto, istorijska nepravda, da nasa slova nisu na standardnim mestima.

What is Typography All About?

Allan Haley za Print Magazin



If you think about it, the craft of typography is little more than the combination of three very simple things: attention to detail, common sense and visual acuity. Sure, there are typographic rules and guidelines, but they are, for the most part, just based on what is sensible and pleasing to the eye. Learning to identify the parts of a character may increase a designer’s business vocabulary, and knowing the lineage of Garamond designs may aid in the choosing of a good modern revival of the face, but the real key to typographic success is basically just “sweating the details” and a simple coordination of mind and eye.

Take, for instance, the typographic rule of avoiding all cap copy. The tenet about not setting all capitals is really based on little more than simple logic. Capital letters take up more space than lowercase letters – up to 30% more space. Headlines, subheads and pull-quotes are about setting brief blocks of copy in a relatively small space. It’s only common sense to use the most space-efficient letters: lowercase. Sure, there’s all that stuff about how “word shapes” (made from ascending, descending and x-height lowercase letters) might help us read faster and that all capitals only create rectangles as visual identifiers, but just the fact that the little letters can pack more information into a given piece of design real estate than capitals, ought to be enough reason to rely on them.

Correcting typographic widows, orphans is also just about making things look right; as is the idea of not cluttering the right edge of a column with a bunch of hyphens. Keeping word-spacing tight and even is simply to create an inviting block of copy that doesn’t have visually disrupting white-space gaps that also slow down the reading process.

Common sense and what looks good even applies to the basic issue of choosing the correct typeface. Some typefaces are better in one size than another. One may be bad for lengthy text in a book or brochure but good for short blocks of promotional copy. The best typeface for a particular occasion can depend upon its size, weight or its position on the page. The best typefaces, however, are always those that are appropriate for the time, the reader and the situation. All one has to do to make the correct choice is look at the design and think about how it will be used. If it looks right – it probably is.

Look at the headline after it has been set. Does it space well? Is it easy to read? Does it lead naturally into the text copy that follows? If it is more than two lines of copy, does the line spacing look even? Is the message enhanced by the typeface? Is the text copy inviting? Is it an even texture? If columns are set rag-right, do all the lines end in about the same place? If they are set justified, is the copy-block free from ribbons of white running through it? Are the lines short enough and is there enough line spacing so that the reader won’t read the same line twice? All are simple questions to answer – if the designer looks at the type, uses a little common sense and sweats the details.

OK, an appreciation and understanding of the basis of good typography is a strong foundation to build on. But all the typographic education in the world is of little value, if designers do not use a little common sense – and look at the work they produce. The job is not done when the headline is dropped into the layout or the text copy poured into a column. It is only complete when the designer has looked at the finished product – really looked at it – and made sure that the type looks correct, is handled consistently and makes visual sense.

Points, picas, line spacing, and kerning are only the mechanics. Software applications are just tools. It takes a concentrated effort to create typography. It takes common sense and a careful eye to create communication that is inviting, makes an impact, focuses attention, organizes information and creates a mood – ultimately giving life and personality to the printed word. It also takes the time and attention necessary to ensure that the job is done right – really right. That is what typography is all about.

Rucno pravljena slova. Bukvalno.

Handmade type je slovni eksperiment Tien-Min Lao.







Cha Type

Tok misli koji vodi do tipografskog pisma za posebnu namenu, pisma koje se pravi ekskluzivno za jednog klijenta.







Ugrozene slovne vrste

Vernacular Typography je projekat Molly Woodward. Ona je jedna od zaljubljenika u natpise koji nestaju. Belezi ih i pohranjuje u arhivu ciji je ovo samo mali deo. 


Designer's Survival Guide




Richard Baird je jedan od ljudi kojima dugujem hvala za sadrzaj koji sa nama deli. Svoje komentare aktuelnih projekata iz oblasti grafickog dizajna predstavlja putem sajta BP&O.

Tema danasnje price je njegov najnoviji online poduhvat, pravo blago za dizajnere. Ime mu je The Designer's Survival Guide i pod tom jednostavnom, kratkom i sasvim jasnom edukativnom platformom okuplja srodne dizajnere i dizajn mislioce.

Svaka nova epizoda je kao suvo zlato, pod par stavki naci cete basic, a prateci linkove mozete da istrazujete dalje. Ako bih ih nekako grupisala da ih, u ovom prvom susretu sa "lekcijama" lakse sagledate, spakovala bih ih u:

PRINT


DESIGN FOR PRINT



TYPOGRAPHY



LOGO DESIGN



BRANDING



PACKAGING



WEB


WEB DESIGN



BLOGGING



SOCIAL NETWORKING



VEŠTINE:


SELF PROMOTION



PORTFOLIO



GOING FREELANCE



GET HIRED



ADVICE FOR CLIENTS



PRICING



IMPROVING


Sledi Guide to Education i ja jedva cekam!
Setila sam se ovog bisera koji je Evan Stremke napravio za TED.