Ralf Herrmann:
Wayfinding & Typography

Just some days ago, I updated my article Rare Type Specimens at the Open Library. In a comment, a user suggested another great resource: The Silver Buckle Press Collection. Silver Buckle Press is a working museum of letterpress printing dedicated to preserving the craft of fine printing through educational programming, publications, exhibitions and tours. The [...]

For years I try to explain to people, what OpenType really means and in which way it differs from TrueType and in which way it doesn’t. And I explain to people that it is safe to use a Windows TrueType font on the Mac in the year 2012 … (See my older article OpenType myths [...]

Using webfonts to insert characters or symbols in a website—Or why is Opera screwing up my font stacks? Back in 2008, shortly after Apple started the new webfont revolution with the release of Safari 3.1, I wrote an article about how the webfont technology could be used to insert certain glyphs or vector objects like logos [...]

Media Artist Nicholas Hanna built a tricycle that can also paint Chinese characters on the ground as it moves. Water Calligraphy has a long history in China, normally characterized by older Chinese men painting characters on the ground of parks with long brushes and water. But Nicholas’ version is a wee bit more complicated … [...]

The Dutch wayfinding experts from Mijksenaar released an app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, that collects best practices around signage and wayfinding design. The app contains a set of rules-of-thumb and the content of the app is meant to engage in discussion and understanding for wayfinding amongst professionals, designers and novices. Wayfinding and architecture have more [...]

In this series of videos for the EF International Language Centers the director Gustav Johansson captures the stories of three different students who travel abroad to study a new language. Everywhere they go they communicate in the local language and pick up new vocabulary, illustrated with gorgeous artifact-style typography by Albin Holmqvist. The first four “Live the language” films shot [...]

Detroit—a city of extremes. A third of the city lies derelict, and many buildings have been or are about to be torn down. But at the beginning of the 20th century Detroit was one of the boomtowns of North America, representing the birthplace and the center of the American car industry. The city’s wealth was reflected in [...]