Linotype: The Film is a feature-length documentary centered around the Linotype type casting machine. Called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by Thomas Edison, it revolutionized printing and society. The film tells the surprisingly emotional story of the people connected to the Linotype and how it impacted the world.

It premieres in New York next week, where you will also receive a lead slug with your name, straight from an original, working Linotype press.

Find out more about Linotype: The Film here

The poster made its debut at the fantastic Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco last spring, but you can still buy it here.

New Yorkers and Law and Order fans alike know the “We Are Happy To Serve You” paper coffee cup is an iconic piece of old New York. We’ve loved it because it’s the perfect size for a quick pick-me-up, the kitschiness of it, and perhaps because it’s the cup dispensed by the family-run diner on the corner. We learned a lot more about the man behind the cup (officially called the Anthora), Leslie Buck, who passed away last week. The New York Times obituary tells the story of the refugee from Nazi Europe that eventually became the director of marketing for the Sherri Cup Company in Connecticut. Mr. Buck had no formal training in art, yet the design–with it’s Grecian color scheme and folkloric tone–was an “instant success.” It’s proof that enduring designs don’t always come with rhyme, reason, or a carefully thought-out typeface.

Today we paid a visit to the lovely people at Woodside Press at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for some help setting some type for an exciting new job. It was great to get away from a computer screen for a few hours, delve into their amazing collection of wood block type and remind ourselves what it was that made us want to be designers in the first place. Big thanks to Andy, Micah and Bucket the dog for an inspirational afternoon.

Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles
For anyone bored to tears with the same 10 typefaces we use for everything, a veritable cornucopia of typography.
Beautifully produced and fearsomely obsessive: the ‘Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles’. And yes, this is only Volume one.

Volume two is available on pre-order from Amazon now.

A cool app just appeared on the iPhone App store: WTF – or to give its full name – What The Font – is a free app that replicates the functionality of the website (of the same name) that can work out what a typeface is, just from looking at a couple of characters. It means that you can take a photo of any poster, magazine or advert that you happen to be going past and find out what the typeface is. Ace! 

But does it work? Well, there are a couple of limitations: firstly, WTF only accesses the library of fonts on the MyFonts website, so anything obscure or from smaller type foundries will probably not be on there. Secondly, the iPhone camera isn’t auto-focusing, so getting sharp images of type is a little tricky. But hey, it’s free — you aren’t going to see me complaining!

Download the app from the iTunes app store here.  

But there can be no such excuse for ITV’s (cough) new name and identity for their online playback facility, now called ITV iPlayer… ITV operate in the same country in the same sector, offering a very similar service and now look like BBC’s iPlayer identity we designed a while back… maybe someone pressed the big red ‘record button’?

New identity

Original (and market leader)