Orange Element » Design

Photo-Lettering Catalog by House Industries

Nicolette Cornelius — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:29:38 +0000

We are all really excited to have recently received our Photo-Lettering catalogs from House Industries. As with all House catalogs, this is definitely one to drool over! Every page is artfully designed with an array of the original Photo-Lettering alphabets now recreated digitally and made available to the public by House’s newest online interface, PHOTOLETTERING.COM.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Photo-Lettering, it was one of the first and most successful type houses to use photo technology in the production of commercial typography and lettering. You can learn all about them & the photo lettering process here.

Photo-Lettering (also referred to as PLINC — a term coined affectionately by art directors back in the day) is best know for its boundless type catalogs and endless amounts of design inspiration — House’s rendition is a perfect example of just why. Take a look at the photos below of some of our favorite spreads.

Nicolette
www.orange-element.com

Museum Mark Making

Dave Colson — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:06:37 +0000

This week I wanted to acknowledge some truly exquisite mark making—the kind of branding that makes you eat your heart out. Iconic, timeless, balanced and beautifully refined. A few of the worlds’ most well known and respected Museums also boast some seriously awesome identities.

Here are a few of my favorites: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London (design: Alan Fletcher, 1989), Centre Pompidou in Paris (design: Jean Widmer, 1977), The Museum of Modern Art in New York (design: Paula Scher, Julia Hoffman, late 2000s), Musée d’Orsay in Paris (design: Jean Widmer and Bruno Monguzzi, 1984), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (letter “M” originally created by Da Vinci, 1497). The Guggenheim, Noguchi, Smithsonian, and Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) also come to mind.

What makes these logos so formidable (beyond the formal design), is how they are being used for various campaigns. Contemporary mark making favors versatility where the logo is active. I’m finding that they no longer sit quietly in the corner of a poster—they act more as a bold statement. If you consider Pentagram’s rebrand of MoMA I start to wonder if the logo is overpowering the exhibits it’s promoting. A museum’s identity carries a reputation, a heritage, cultural significance and the promise of quality (in some cases, transcendental) experiences. For a brand to be so neutral, yet relevant and encompassing vast works is about as challenging a project brief as you could find.

Dave Colson
www.orange-element.com

A New School for Design in Baltimore

Kuoting Lian — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:06:09 +0000

Starting this fall, Baltimore Design School will open its doors to the youth of Baltimore. This new public school for middle to high school students will focus on Fashion Design, Architecture, and Graphic Design. The school aims to provide a strong balanced curriculum of general core classes as well as the design foundations. MICA has been made a partner in this project and plans to be a mentor for the new school. The school will accept only 150 6^th and 7^th grade students who will be selected to attend by way of a lottery system.

The campus will be housed at Winston Middle School at 1101 Winston Avenue in East Baltimore. In 2-3 years, it will relocate to a new facility that will be built in the Station North Arts District.

We are very excited to see what future designers will come from this new school.

For more information, check out the Baltimore Design School’s website or this news report from WBALTV.com.

Kuoting Lian
Orange Element
www.orange-element.com

Font Hour Winning Typeface

Nicolette Cornelius — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:57:57 +0000

We recently had an exciting meeting of an OE favorite – Font Hour! There were quite a few fonts this time around, and choosing just one was difficult. After a round of voting, the big winner is: Eames Century Modern! This versatile “typographic workhorse” caught everyone’s attention with its 18 styles, 4 numeral fonts, 3 frame fonts, and its attractive carved wood packaging. Learn more about Eames Century Modern HERE.

The race to the finish was tough, as there were many other fonts that received several votes:
Proxima Nova
HFJ’s Numbers
Eloquent Pro
Karbon
Tungsten

Thanks to everyone for your excellent font submissions! Watch out for some creative designs with our newest typographic addition, Eames Century Modern.

Jim Sherraden: Preservation Through Production

Nicolette Cornelius — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:18:58 +0000

Letterpress rock star Jim Sherraden of Nashville’s Hatch Show Print will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at the Brown Center at MICA, 1301 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The event is free and open to all, and the lecture also marks the official announcement that MICA will be acquiring a substantial part of the assets of Baltimore’s own showcard printer, Globe Poster. Jim is a terrific speaker, and he’s updated his talk and images since he spoke in Baltimore for an AIGA event a few years ago. Added bonus — Hatch and Globe posters for sale before the event! More information from MICA below… Materials Will Preserve Legacy While Providing a Significant Learning Opportunity for Students

Tuesday, March 22, 6 p.m.
MICA Brown Center: Falvey Hall
1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.

Jim Sherraden of Nashville’s Hatch Show Print will speak about Hatch’s work, both new and vintage, as well as the future of printmaking and letterpress. Hatch, which has produced vivid and iconic show posters for American entertainers since the 1870s, is today part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and continues to create eye-grabbing posters for musical acts from Sheryl Crow and Dave Matthews Band to mainstream country stars, such as Garth Brooks and Wynonna Judd. The Hatch printshop, now a mix of working museum, letterpress shop and tourist attraction, produces new posters from century-old type and cuts that once advertised the circus coming to town, fairs, revivals, carnivals and music acts both famous and obscure. With Sherraden at its helm, the historic Hatch Show Print has led the way in today’s worldwide revival of letterpress. Sherraden is an entertaining and authoritative speaker on the golden age of the show poster and the rebirth of letterpress printing and the physical poster in a digital age. The lecture will include a question and answer session, and Hatch and Globe posters will be on sale in the lobby of Brown Center before the lecture.

Business + Design

Nicolette Cornelius — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:05:56 +0000

AIGA Baltimore and Orange Element Design present Business + Design. A casual discussion on creativity, client relationships and enjoying the balance between business and design.

Spend an evening with AIGA Baltimore and Orange Element and learn how to start your company, how to deal with clients, where great ideas come from, and more. This is a free event, but spaces are limited so sign up now!

November 11, 2010 @ 6pm

Orange Element Design

330 South Broadway

Baltimore MD, 21231

This event is free and is a members only event. Register Now!

Make Something Cool Everyday

Orange Element — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:01:21 +0000

If there is anyone reading who went to art school, chances are you were given some type of assignment that challenged your ability to solve one problem in as many unique ways as you could come up with. I remember a book binding teacher who gave us an overnight assignment to create a book showing 100 different ways to manipulate a piece of paper and we needed to show a physical example of each. While staying up all night was not my idea of being creative, the exercise (and the time crunch) forced us to think. It forced us to use our heads and our hands to see what they were capable of discovering.

This morning I ran across a similar challenge that shares the goal of testing the spontaneous, creative capabilities of our minds and our hands. Brock Davis is a Mineapolis-based artist and musician who decided to start a project called “Make Something Cool Everyday” and in his project he did exactly that. Below are just a few of the things he created and you can see more of his work here. If you are ever feeling like you’ve fallen into a creative slump maybe give a challenge like this a try, you might be surprised what you come up with.

—EJ
www.orange-element.com

Clothbound Penguin Classics

Andy Bonner — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:10:46 +0000

Penguin Classics has created a series of clothbound novels, designed by Illustrator Coralie Bickford-Smith. Each book in the series is a true work of art, and is bound in an elegant colored bookcloth and stamped with a one-color foil stamp of a pattern inspired by the work within. Penguin is already on it’s second series of these books after the success of the first. Available from Anthropologie and other stores nationwide. Also, check out some more of the artist’s work on her website.

Andy
www.orange-element.com

Font Hour Freebie Friday

Nicolette Cornelius — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:55:15 +0000

Thanks everyone for the great Font Hour submissions! We had a lot of fun looking through them all. Results will be in on Monday!

Until then, enjoy a Font Hour themed Freebie!

1024×768 (standard)
1680×1050 (widescreen)

Fine Art, Handmade Gifts & Unusual Objects

Nicolette Cornelius — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:58:28 +0000

MICA’s Art Market is here!

The MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) Art Market is a venue for the sale of original artwork and handcrafted pieces created by more then 250 students, faculty, staff and alumni. The event, which lasts for four days, is a perfect opportunity for holiday shoppers and helps to provide funding for need-based student scholarships. Some of the works you can look forward to seeing include illustrations, prints, posters, paintings, sculptures, photographs, mosaics, stationery, T-shirts, ceramics, jewelry, textiles, book arts, tote bags, letterpressed gift tags, screen printed wrapping paper and much, much more.

Vendors will be accepting: Visa, MasterCard, cash & check.

Admission to the market is FREE.

Make sure to stop by the Graphic Design tables at their new location on the 2nd Floor to see works by current & previous Orange Element interns, Nicolette (me) & Jasmine.

Hope to see you there!!

Nicolette