I know these have been around for a while, but I thought it was important to record links to them. They provide a good overview of the culture of the web and are useful to show students when introducing them to web design for the first time. Although these pieces are smaller productions when compared to traditional documentary type films, they have become very popular because there isn’t a huge amount of mainstream material available that explains what the Internet is, or that provides insightful commentary about the experience of using it. Anyway, large budget productions made by traditional broadcasters tend to go out of date before they even get aired! Perhaps, that is why these little films have gained large audiences online? They capture and record what is happening now, and it’s happening so fast that it is impossible to keep up! It is also worth pointing out, that the textual emphasis, apparent in these visions of the Internet and our interaction with it, is interesting considering many cultural commentators believe we are moving from a culture of the written word to a predominantly image-based world.I really like Michael Wesch’s piece Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us, though it is a little bit long. Its a slick edit of what happens almost unconsciously on a day to day basis on most people’s desktop.

Epic 2015 by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson, is loaded with the history of Google’s world domination. There are some really great prophecies here. Its a shame that sometimes the visuals plod a little to the dramatic voice over, but the narrative is still really interesting and the simple interference adds to the sense of a guerilla broadcast!

The other film that springs to mind in this category, though its old now (relative to web time) and one which I very much enjoy is Richard Fenwick’s 51st State. His other films in the RND# series for Ideo are also very smart.

I am also adding Justin Cone’s film Building on the Past, which is a ‘little romp through the land of intellectual property’ and a winning entry in a competition sponsored by Creative Commons.

Finally, here is a link from Aido yesterday, the web 2.0 aesthetic applied to well known brands, no doubt these will soon look very out of date!

This could become a useful resource, it is a selection of podcast lectures from Typo Berlin. Check out material that is up there so far. Some lectures are in German only though a number are in English, notably Neville Brody and Chip Kidd.

Written by Ger Fox, Lecturer in Tyography & Graphic Design, IADT.

Form follows function. All hail King Verdana.

You’ve got your sans like Frutiger, Univers and Helvetica.
Your serifs like Joanna, Garamond and Caslon.
You’ve even got your modern serifs like Trinite, Scala, and Quadraat.
In short there’s loads of top quality type out there, and new stuff coming out all the time which is really fantastic. Digital typography has brought us a true type renaissance. Thankfully, long gone are the days of Fritz Quadra and Optima.

But.

Not one of these compares to the work of genius that is Verdana [aliased] at continuous reading size. There are still few successful type faces designed for reading on-screen. And the king is still the old man on the block. 1994’s Verdana. A piece of design and hinting magic. All Hail Matthew Carter. [and Microsoft ?!...em]

Verdana at 9-10pt [aliased] is a true beauty to behold. So easy to read. So functional. So well proportioned. So god damn perfect.
Designed to function within an environment so tight and so unperfected as the screen, Carter has popped out a corker. I remain to be convinced about the merits of the 6 C’s but they just don’t look as functional or as good as King V.

True, once you alias or smooth Verdana or bring it up to bigger sizes it looses it magic. But this is not what it was designed for. So when I see it often used by signage maunfacturers [using PC's] at big sizes and badly, I am not upset. It is used big on the Luas tram routing maps here in Dublin and in all sorts of other strange places.
But I remain convinced…

My favorite font in the whole wide world is Verdana 10pt Alias.
A little functional gem that looks like god.

Hot on the heels of the re-branding for its number One channel, BBC is now set to reveal a new identity for BBC Two on Sunday, February 18th. Acknowledging the acclaimed success of the channel’s quirky figure 2 brand, Roly Keating, Controller of BBC Two, says ‘this latest evolution takes it into fresh and exciting territory’.

The figure 2 has now become a ‘window on the world’, a portal through which the world is seen differently, very much in keeping with the diversity and range of content on the channel.

The new idents designed by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and produced by Red Bee Media, are supposed to continue and extend the distinctive playful quality expressed in the original 2 idents, which were conceived by broadcast branding design specialists Lambie Nairn.

The new 2 logo has been updated with a ‘more contemporary font (Avenir) and a new colour (deep aqua)’. There are 14 new ident sequences based on seven new themes: mirror, sun roof, chase, sea scape, tent, cappuccino and zoetrope, and the palette extends to include a range of six new colours.

via BBC