Matthew Buchanan

A Closer Look At Font Rendering

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:12:08 +1200

Type designer and Typekit consultant Tim Ahrens has written a comprehensive state of the play for Smashing Magazine regarding rendering engines and font formats for screen use. He covers the basics of rasterisation, the benefits and drawbacks of the Windows ClearType renderer, and the differences between PostScript and TrueType outlines. A must read.

Letterboxd goes public

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:28:49 +1200

Letterboxd:

Today we’re pleased to announced our transition from private to public beta. All pages on Letterboxd are now publicly visible (except for those deemed private by their owners), and all new users are able to send invitations to friends immediately following sign up. Letterboxd will remain invitation-only for a period, to enable us to control our rate of growth.

Beyond thrilled to be able to pull the covers off our social film review site, as we transition to a public beta. Very proud of the team and what we’ve accomplished so far.

The Grady twins from The Shining, by cartoonist David Lasky....

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 23:39:00 +1300

The Grady twins from The Shining, by cartoonist David Lasky. (via Lee Unkrich)

Type design firm Underware’s bold and beautiful new wordmark for...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:29:00 +1300

Type design firm Underware’s bold and beautiful new wordmark for Tahoe South. Love.

A stunning, fan-made opening title sequence for Christopher...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:31:53 +1300

A stunning, fan-made opening title sequence for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, created and composited by Doğan Can Gündoğdu. /via Nice Type

Letterboxd, the social film diary and review site I’ve...

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:28:00 +1300

Letterboxd, the social film diary and review site I’ve been working on with a few colleagues over the past year, is nearing its public beta launch. We’ve continued to add to and improve the site since launching at Brooklyn Beta last October — film pages have had an overhaul as you can see above, among many other improvements.

If you’d like to be part of the private beta, drop your email address at letterboxd.com over the weekend, and we’ll get an invitation out to you early next week.

FontShop’s best typefaces of 2011 have been announced: ...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:02:11 +1300

FontShop’s best typefaces of 2011 have been announced:

To celebrate the end of another exciting year in type, our type experts put their heads together to compile our annual “Best Of” list, highlighting the typefaces that surprised, impressed, and delighted us.

Some nice picks, I’m a big fan of TypeTogether’s Abril which was lauded as a “Modern Romance”.

“That’s No Moon.” The perfect Christmas ornament by Chris...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:23:00 +1300

“That’s No Moon.” The perfect Christmas ornament by Chris McVeigh, with instructions.

Offscreen magazine, a Kickstarter project from Melbournites Kai...

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:24:00 +1300

Offscreen magazine, a Kickstarter project from Melbournites Kai Brach and Jess Murray, is a little over $5,000 short of a modest goal with 3 days left to run on its campaign. Here’s the idea in their words:

Offscreen is a new, quarterly print magazine with an in-depth look at the life and work of people that create websites and apps shaping our digital lifestyle. We want to tell the less obvious human stories of creativity, passion and hard work that hide behind every interface.

The pair plan to print and distribute the inaugural issue regardless of whether they’re successfully kickstarted, and the list of interviewees for it is impressive: Tim van Damme, Dan Cederholm, Andrew Wilkinson, Drew Wilson, Blake Whitman, Ryan Singer, Lisa Bettany, Sam Brown and more.

Visit their Kickstarter page to contribute $25 (or more) to receive the first issue, or subscribe for email/Twitter updates.

"Some people flunk out of school, but are still very interesting people. They’re not in the class..."

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:55:42 +1300

“Some people flunk out of school, but are still very interesting people. They’re not in the class that goes ahead, but maybe you’d like to go visit them.”

- David Lynch reflects on almost an hour’s worth of deleted scenes which have been included on the 25th anniversary Blu-ray of Blue Velvet, out this month.

Christopher Jobson (via Jonathan Moore): A Star Wars...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +1300

Christopher Jobson (via Jonathan Moore):

A Star Wars reference is rare on Colossal, but this new print by Anton Marrast is exceptionally genius. Pick up a copy via S6.

Photography by Matthias Schaller from an eponymous 330-page...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:49:00 +1300

Photography by Matthias Schaller from an eponymous 330-page retrospective of his work over the past decade, available now for pre-order from Amazon. (via Daily Icon)

Jason Santa Maria: The second film in the Made by Hand...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:11:48 +1300

Jason Santa Maria:

The second film in the Made by Hand series, The Knife Maker, focuses on Joel Bukiewicz of Cut Brooklyn. Joel painstakingly makes beautiful knives by hand while breaking down the true meaning of craftsmanship: the people. Just two films in and this is one of the most inspirational series I’ve seen in a long time. Wonderfully shot and edited too.

The new video for “No Way” from the debut album...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:57:00 +1300

The new video for “No Way” from the debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You by The Naked And Famous. Directed by Campbell Hooper and Joel Kefali for Special Problems. These guys can do no wrong.

The Dutch Icon collective, headed by Hemmo de Jonge, has an...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:36:00 +1300

The Dutch Icon collective, headed by Hemmo de Jonge, has an impressive collection of royalty-free work for sale. The examples above are just two of the 99 sets they’ve drawn to date, all of which are sold exclusively through iStockPhoto (which sadly means there’s no way to buy the complete series as a single set). The consistency and proportions are perfect throughout — alongside Drew Wilson’s Pictos sets, these are among the best stock icons I’ve seen.

For more similar resources, Meagan Fisher posted a great round-up of alternatives a month or two back.

Timeless

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:00:55 +1300

Timeless:

Jeremy Keith takes Ian Hickson to task over the removal of the time element from the HTML5 spec:

In this case the editor’s unilateral decision is fundamentally at odds with the most important HTML design principle, the priority of constituencies.

Claes Källarsson: Saul Bass’ brilliant opening titles for Grand...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:46:27 +1300

Claes Källarsson:

Saul Bass’ brilliant opening titles for Grand Prix (1966).

Photographer Sacha Goldberger perfectly captures the somber...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:26:48 +1300

Photographer Sacha Goldberger perfectly captures the somber hilarity of grandparents Star Wars cosplay. (via Samantha Cliffe)

Mike Harding: For a good part of this year I’ve been working...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:44:54 +1300

Mike Harding:

For a good part of this year I’ve been working with the guys here at Cactuslab on a new site called Letterboxd. It’s a site for film lovers; a place where you can keep a log of the films you watch, rate or review them, and keep up with what your friends have been watching.

I demoed this service at Brooklyn Beta last month. The feedback has been terrific, and we are continuing to make improvements while in private beta mode. If you’d like early access, leave your email at the site, we’re inviting new users every few days.

Creative Review (via Peter Nidzgorski): Sir Paul Smith has...

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +1200

Creative Review (via Peter Nidzgorski):

Sir Paul Smith has designed a series of four silk-screen posters to celebrate new movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, released later this month. … Smith collaborated with film’s director, Tomas Alfredson, in the early development stages of the movie, offering his insights on 1970s London. He advised on the mood, colour and photographic approach to take.