6 Degrees of separation:ANTOINE & MANUEL

Antoine and Manuel are a French duo that has been making work together for at least 10 years. The designers have worked on a wide range of projects from complex illustration to very experimental typography where they are not shy on using colour. An example of their experimental ability is shown in almost every piece of their work, inkblots; scrawls; geometric constructions, complex patterns and backgrounds are used throughout. A prime example of this is shown in the work they created for AOL. It’s as if they wanted to create something frightening yet thought provoking.

Antoine is the colourist and Manuel is the layout artist, together they have created posters, wallpapers, furniture and typographical compositions.
One of my favourite selections of work created by the duo is for the National Choreographic Centre Tour(CCNT) The theme and layout stays consistent throughout. However, the illustrations; designs and colours surrounding the typefaces are more provocative than the last. Each has an intriguing organic feel to them. The colours used emphasise this. The illustrations within the pieces compliment the typeface brilliantly.
Antoine and Manuel can be compared to the work of Dani Klauser(shown below) as they both use a subtle underlying grid to keep a sense of order.

6 Degrees of separation: STAYNICE

Staynice are an experimental typography group from the Netherlands that produces clean cut bold handmade typefaces that mostly seem to revolve around the surrounding illustrations. Bold contrasting colours are used throughout their work as well as underlying grids similar to Dani Klauser. Vector graphic patterns and geometric shapes are frequently used; this is possibly to divert the viewer attention to certain objectives within the piece.

Every element within their pieces are taken into account and each plays a role in completing the work as a whole, for example the background comes into play with the foreground type, both complementing each other.

6 Degrees of separation:MARK SIMONSON

Mark Simonson started as a graphic designer and illustrator in 1976 and in the early part of his carer as an art director for a number of magazines. He comments ‘I frequently did lettering as part of my design projects I worked on. This was always my favourite part, so in 2000 I opened my own shop specialising in lettering and typography.’ Simonson has created an abundance of good fonts many with hand written or art deco influences including felt tip roman, mostra and lakeside. He now has over 100 fonts on the market with more to come.

Simonson produces lettering as well as fonts. He expresses they are two very different components. His lettering consists of typefaces that seem flow naturally from one letter to the next complimenting each as it appears on the page. His ability to hand draw lettering and converting it electronically is shown clearly in his in logos.

6 Degrees of separation:CHARLES BIGELOW

Charles bigelow was a professor of digital typography at Stanford University for 13 years where he taught typography, type design and the history and theory of writing.

Together with Kris homes he founded the Bigelow & Holmes foundry. With Holmes, Charles Bigelow co-designed the Lucinda extended family of typefaces; these include the Lucinda sans and Lucinda console fonts in Microsoft windows and the Lucinda grand fonts in Macintosh.

He has been a typographic consultant for Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and many other firms.
The Lucinda font family has been designed carefully so that each typeface fulfils a certain need, for example; Lucinda serif has been designed for legibility when printed on low resolution output devices such as laser printers; however Lucinda black letter has been designed more for letterheads or more decorative pieces.Like Simonson, Bigelow produces fonts where legibility is a key factor.

6 Degrees of separation: EMIGRE

Émigré is a typographical design foundry originating from Berkeley, California, founded by Rudy Vanderlans and Zucana Licko. Their fonts posses a very rigorous formal format which are largely legible.

They consider themselves as the typographical taste makers; this becomes very apparent when looking through their typefaces they have created. Each one possessing certain characteristics; from the curvature of the serifs to the thickness of the typeface. Each one as legible as the last, (minus their picture fonts.)

Émigré was founded in 1984 as an independent foundry, developing typefaces without an association with a typesetting equipment manufacture. Through the late 1980’s and most of the 90’s some of the most cutting edge typefaces were developed or released by émigré. In their experimental years vanderlans and licko did not intend to challenge established notions about graphic design it was more to explore new possibilities.

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