r27’s posterous

What would you like the future to hold, more often we hear vague wants, so its nice to hear about very defined goals...

When I think of brand identity designers there are a few names that immediately spring to mind. Names such as Paul Rand, Stefan Kanchev, Lance Wyman, Steff Geissbuhler, and Tom Geismar.

Having created iconic logos for Mobil Oil, New York University, Chase Bank, National Geographic, and many more, Tom Geismar is one of the most highly-acclaimed designers in the profession. He graciously agreed to answer your questions here on Logo Design Love.

To Tom, to Chermayeff & Geismar’s communications director Chris, and to you, thanks very much. Here’s the interview.

Read more at source: http://www.logodesignlove.com/tom-geismar-interview

The second of a four-part guest blog series.

Take pause for a moment to think why you do what you do. {don't worry...we'll wait...}

My idol David Jay, a photographer savant with a rare periscopic vision in our industry, got me thinking recently about my true intentions. Why do I take pictures? Why do I want to make a living taking pictures? For me, the answer kept coming back to the same place. The reason I do what I do, day-in-day-out with unbridled passion, is that I need to craft stories. As soon as I could talk, I was telling stories. My camera has become my quill of choice.

Just when you think you know whats coming someone throws a curve ball on what we call belief.

The way Dutchman Jos Buivenga rose to prominence on the type scene is quite remarkable. For years, his online friends and fans could follow the development of his typefaces via his website, and download the results at no cost. When his one-man foundry exljbris began selling his first commercial typeface Museo through MyFonts last year, several weights were offered for free. The generosity paid off: Museo became a meteoric bestseller. Eighteen months, five typefaces and one bankrupt employer later, he finds himself a full time type designer — and doing very well, thank you. Meet Jos Buivenga, going with the flow on the river of life.

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Jos, you joined MyFonts in early 2008. By then, you had already created quite a following on your website and blog, where people could comment on your type design process and download beta versions of your fonts. When did it all start? Was there any kind of master plan behind it?
It all started back in 1994 with the wish to make a typeface of my own. I just wanted to see what it would feel like to use a font of my own on my first Mac. Of course this isn’t the best brief to start a font. So I considered making my first typeface, Delicious, to be just a learning process. I was completely new to type design, which is the main reason why it took me two years to create a font family that I was happy with. It sounds like a long time but it was a great experience, being in a creative process, doing highly concentrated work, exploring caveats and finding solutions. It never really crossed my mind to sell it because I didn’t know if it was good enough.

My second typeface, Fontin, which I began a decade later, still felt like a typographic exploration that I preferred to share rather than sell. Another reason for preferring to give it away was probably that I still didn’t consider myself a real type designer. After I had finished Fontin, my fonts got listed on several blogs. That’s when things really took off. I realized that people really liked my work, fortunately not only because I offered it for free. Site traffic started to build up and grew steadily year after year. At that stage I still worked full-time but the thought of selling some fonts to be able to work a day less each week began to occur more and more often.

READ MORE.... http://new.myfonts.com/newsletters/cc/200909.html#

Paul Rand. 1914-1996. This six-minute amateur video footage of Rand chatting with some design students offers an insight into the man I hadn’t seen. At the time of writing there are just 233 views on YouTube. A tiny amount considering his reputation in design circles.

Read more....

Who today in the music scene do you see yourself in ... or who makes you smile with the sound they're creating?
Odd questions for me since, when I read them I was barely listening to nor going to hear live music. Several times I'd overdone it so much, especially in the '90s listening 24/7 when possible to the NYC jazz station, sitting in at jams and going to hear others so often that, after taking a break, I never returned. Until now.

Curtis Davenport, @CurtJazz on Twitter, in Charlotte, NC, has gotten me hooked on his eclectic jazz programming at www.curtscafejazz.com, which I'm now logged onto all the time. It started when he liked my new CD and promised to include it in heavy rotation on Curt's Café Noir. Since then, he's continuously delighted me with his choices of new and older jazz and sent me on several journeys to look up the artists.

READ MORE......

After constant stalking and relentless emails Justin gave me the okay to take part in an interview. Maybe it was the "I know where you live" comment that persuaded him. Hey, sometimes you just got to make an offer they can't refuse.... Actually Justin jumped at the chance to share his thoughts and story from his early days to his present role as film director without the need for arm twisting because, unless there's any skeletons in the closet, he is as an all round "Goodfella".

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How long have been doing this?
I've been doing this since I was 15yrs old. I graduated a year earlier than my friends in my GCE 'O' levels because I got bumped up when in form 4 to form 5. I'm 37 now, so I would say that's about 22 years in total.

What got you involved?
The first trigger was my father, who was a film producer himself and owned his own film production company. My father, Henry Woon, my father wound up in Singapore during WW2, where he was befriended by an English soldier/photographer by the name of Peter Robinson. After the war ended, Peter decided to Come back to Singapore and start off a ....