Comments on: A Logotype I’m happy to meet…

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:18:38 +0000

Hi, An interesting site that deals with type and even has assignments for collage students is the one produced by Cooper Union in NYC. You might get some ideas or at least have another resource to share with your students. Go to: http://www.designingwithtype.com/cooperunion.html Dave

By: George Thompson

George Thompson — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 05:15:07 +0000

I made the enthusiasm comment because I’ve found, and explained over and over to students, that it’s easier to criticize something than praise it. This seems to happen all to frequently on the web sometimes to the detriment of dialogue. And I’ve had to quell the anxieties of first time teachers of typography many times. Glad to hear you’re still excited about doing it. That’s the most important quality in getting a subject across to students, your enthusiasm. The second most impotant quality is being able to laugh when you screw up in front of the class.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:14:32 +0000

Meetic … Romantic

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:38:10 +0000

p.brickbigler asks, “Just to play designer’s advocate in the discussion and probe our critiques, I’d like to hear more about the meeting of the “e‚Äù forms and what it is that bugs us about it‚Ä¶

Here is what I think but I may not be rghit in what I am sharing: Since we seem to read the upper part of the letters that form words … you can cover the lower third of most words and still read the words … the descending forms of the two “e” letters pull the eye down interrupting the normal progression of how we fixate as we scan a line of letters/words. We seek to identify what has kept us from a “comfortable” journey across the line of letters/words.

Thin legs on an elephant mess with the Gestalt! The skinniest and thus weakest part of the letter does not seem to support the bulbous part of the letters above. Rather, the descending shapes “drip‚Äù below the neutral letters. I believe that has as much to do with “what it is that bugs us‚Äù as the space between the letters. While kerning presents to the sensitive eye a more refined image and appeals to the Aesthetic, it does not do much to alter the reading of the text; if this is true:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
‚Ä¢ http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/

The above might be an interesting read for students and their reaction worth sharing. Visiting the site will provide more information and additional explanations for what is going on as we read.

By: p.berkbigler

p.berkbigler — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 04:58:10 +0000

George – I’m curious if your comment about dowsing the designers enthusiasm meant the designer of the Meetic logotype or myself, the designer / educator who’s slated to teach Typography in the Spring semester…

If it was concern about my mental welfare related to the class, I’m happy to report my enthusiasm for the subject is unabated by the continuing Meetic critique!

I think your suggestion to clue my students into this discussion is a great one – I often suspect they think that class critiques aren’t necessarily true representations of the way that working designers discuss what they do. It’s great to have this sort of chat “in my back pocket” to point them towards.

It could be an especially good tool to say, “See – your design actually got off pretty easy in that last class discussion! Just say a quiet ‘thanks’ that you didn’t get the Meetic contract!”

I have to admit that the longer I’ve examined this logotype, the more my skin crawls at the blatant disregard for any sense of kerning the designer showed in setting the text. Something that, more than anything else, really speaks to the kind of typographic laziness digital typesetting has certainly enabled to spread widely. One more goal to put into my course objectives, it seems…

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:49:35 +0000

Meetic … Does anyone else read the negative space as two eyes above a grinning mouth with a tiny tongue protruding? Its green so I thought of a green frog … the embracing couple brought me to that logical conclusion. But everyone is sure it is not about kissing a frog? Go outside and say “meetic, meetic, meetic …” then listen closely. I could be right!

By: George Thompson

George Thompson — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 03:42:55 +0000

I agree it looks like a beginning type class project. I don’t think it looks like a professional logotype however. I think it would have made more sense to simply turn the second e which would have made sense of the name “Meetic,” two letters facing each other. If the heart was really necessary it would have worked better as a shape behind the logotype, thereby implying a two step process of meeting with the possibility of romance in the background.
Yeah, the name is awful but all this criticism has probably killed whatever enthusiasm the designer had for teaching a type class. My advice is show it to the students, have them do something similar, then read them all these comments. They’ll come away with a good sense of what the profession is like.

By: Christopher Tobias

Christopher Tobias — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:06:54 +0000

I agree with the premise that is nice to see a type-driven solution, but also agree with other posters that the execution is very week. Even a different font could have helped. And why is the second “e” green? it would have been “better” perhapds to have both “e”s green. (or another color entirely, but that is a different discussion).

The name is horrible, BTW.

By: Al aka El Negro Magnifico

Al aka El Negro Magnifico — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:31:05 +0000

Like most of you, my main beef is with the name itself. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. In fact, saying that name makes me feel like my nose is stuffed.
The graphic solution is simple, and that’s fine, ‘cuz not everything has to be mindblowing.

By: ben swift

ben swift — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:37:04 +0000

terrible name, and yes the treatment seems like it was straight out of a typography class, even in the exectution. looks as though there was no fine tuning.