Design for Easy Listening
by Paul Berkbigler, (2 comments)
So it’s taken me an E-ternity to get it in gear and finally post some digital version of my voice in the midst of these great dialogues, but I’m pleased as punch to finally speak a few words in digital Arial onto the site.
As I’ve seemed to discover among the multiple circles of designers that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and talking with, NPR references have seemed to be just about as frequent as Print and CA references rear their delightful little heads into conversation. I openly confess to designing to NPR on many an afternoon when I decided to let the CDs cool off for the afternoon or gave my local public-access radio station a rest (88.1 KDHX for anyone in the St. Louis listening area - just a quick shout-out on that for great local radio that still plays music for the sake of the music itself).
NPR, of late, has featured some killer design bits that shouldn’t be missed if you happened to on first broadcast. Here’s a smattering of the ones that I’ve been able to catch, and I’m sure you’ll be able to produce a few more that I overlooked as well.
Look on NPR’s site and browse for the following:
From Weekend Edition, look for the following:
Sept. 18, 2004
Questions about the authenticity of memos related to President Bush’s military service have put the art of setting fonts into the spotlight. NPR’s Scott Simon discusses the science of font forensics and the art of setting fonts with Jonathan Hoefler of the type foundry Hoefler and Frere-Jones.
(Love these guys for their font development anyway, but you’ll find Jonathan an incredibly excellent speaker as well - saw him give a talk in Philadelphia about a font he designed based on the Philadelphia Phillies logotype. Quite possibly one of the most hilarious pieces of typographic humor ever…)
Sept. 14, 2004 — Mysterious banners at a Cambridge, Mass., subway stop have commuters scratching their heads. The signs, challenging passers-by to solve a complicated math problem, are actually a cryptic pitch by Google, which is looking to hire more brainy engineers. Andrea Shea reports.
(Really fascinating piece on this billboard strategy on the part of Google - nice move to target an audience while still enticing those outside of it)
Also look on Studio 360’s archive for the archived show titled: “Rosenquist, Still Life, Jingles”
This was a terrific episode of this program discussing the crossover between advertising and fine art, hosted by George Lois (art director for Esquire magazine between like 1962 to 1972-ish - feel free to bash me for my sloppy scholarship on these dates. I’m just yanking those out of my head and it can be a decidedly untrustworthy source at times!) and featuring a great triple dose of considering the way that fine art influences and guides advertising and commercial art. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Nice to continue basking in some of the delightful overflow of a culture that seems to have caught up with design and is living with more awareness of it. I’m fairly content to cope with the fallout of a bijillion interior design Fear Factors if it means that Hoefler and Lois would start showing up on major broadcast venues…
That’s my rant for the time being - pleasure trading words with all of you…
Comments (2)
Adrian said:
Paul, glad you could join us! I was afraid I was the only person my age listening NPR. I don’t have to be embarrassed to admit I listen to talk radio anymore. I guess I don’t strike people as the type of guy that listens to classical music, because whenever someone gets in my car and NPR comes on they are surprised. Anyway, here is a link to the design related story I got off NPR a while back about Reverse Graffiti.
Posted on September 20, 2004
Adrian said:
I heard a good story on NPR today on my way to work about Subway art in New York. Here is the link if anyone is interested:
NPR Subway Art
Posted on October 18, 2004