Last month I chipped in my two-penneth about what fonts we’ll all be seeing a bit more of in the new year. Well, it’s a brand new year, and my word new fonts and new type trends have just kept on coming.
This week has seen the launch of Commercial Type. A joint venture between Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz, who have collaborated since 2004 on various typeface projects, most notably the award winning Guardian Egyptian. Type foundries are kind of the unsung heroes of the industry, toiling away thinking about ligatures, with most of the attention and glory going to cutting-edge designers who dabble in type.
Now – i’m using ‘dabble’ very loosely here, as I love Non-Format’s experiments with type (especially OTTO), and Si Scott’s ‘Hunter‘ is fantastic.
BUT. I am never going to use these on anything I lay my hands on between 9 and 6. What’s great about Commercial Type is it’s place in modern day corporate design. Most of the faces available here are a refreshing alternative to the Helrutiger escape route, most of us are guilty of taking (I need to design a logo. If I use Helvetica, my work will be considered clean and tight).
I’m particularly fond of the Stag collection and it seems that 2010 is going to be the year of the slap serif. It’s been coming for a long time. Check out Adelle from FontShop. Packs a punch.
Another foundry brought to my attention this week is Radim Pesko. According to the website “RP is new small scale digital type-foundry established in 2009 by Radim Peško. The foundry is focused on development of typefaces that are both formally and conceptually distinctive.”
Personal favourite has got to be the Mercury font.
If you’ve got to this point of the post, you’re either my mum, wife or a fellow typophile, so well done. Here’s some freebies.
Smashing Magazine’s 25 New High Quality Free Fonts (check PT Sans & Tribbon above all else).
P.S. Ever seen a font and not known what it is? Here’s the handiest resource you’ll find this side of a glyph.
Will your website work on the new Apple tablet?
So, it’s just one week before we finally get to see the Apple iTablet/iBook/iPad/iPallette/iSlate/iDontcarewhatitscalled (probably) at their event on the 27th. Exciting stuff. But unless I’m missing something then there has been surprisingly little mentioned about how the rise of tablet computing (it isn’t just Apple developing a tablet computer) might affect the way we build web resources.
For instance, the iPhone doesn’t work with Flash and according to most people in the know about these things, nor will the tablet. Why? Primarily because it dissolves battery at an alarming rate (as highlighted to me by the Guardian’s tech editor Charles Arthur on Twitter today). It’s also quite buggy. I should say now that I’m not actually the Manifest London web nerd guru – that title goes to Mike Francis, but for me it seems the rise of tablet computing (and indeed the mobile internet) could therefore have a big impact for a lot of content-heavy websites.
We noted in our 2010 predictions that Javascript frameworks such as jQuery and Mootools will increasingly rival Flash (and software in general) in terms of creating dynamic page content – but as more and more people access the web via smartphones or tablets, surely we will also become less motivated to use Flash? How much of your website content uses Flash? Have you considered what your site looks like on an iPhone, or how it will look using a tablet computer? I don’t think Flash will disappear anytime soon, but there will certainly be an impact for sites that rely too heavily on Flash content.
Other growing considerations will include content dimensions – the iPhone has very specific dimensions (which will likely be shared by the forthcoming tablet) which could cause a headache for those using other proportions. Apple’s proprietary software will all use iFrame for video rendering and content that doesn’t use this will have compatibility issues (however slight). As an aside, very few video cameras render video in iFrame, meaning quick editing on iPhoto is more difficult and precious battery will be used converting the files in the editing process.
Anyway – all of this is pie-in-the-sky until the 27th so we’ll just have to sit tight and wait and see. But if what I think is true, then we’ll see a rush from brands to create websites that perform to their optimum on a tablet. For those that don’t have the budget to create a dedicated app or an alternate mobile site, it could prove a headache.
Alex Myers
14th January 2010
media
Did i brag mention to you I was on holiday over the Christmas period? Well, I was. And it was great. Not only because I was basking in 40 degree heat as London fell victim to its coldest Christmas since the 1970s, but also because I could keep up to scratch with the misery the snow was causing on British shores via the new Guardian iPhone app.
Until now, newspapers’ attitudes towards the web have fluttered between utter disdain and begrudging acceptance. Certainly they have rarely identified (and indeed tapped into) the revenue potential of their online content. However, the Guardian has bucked the trend and gone all-out to develop its online content (even launching a content API last year). Today the ‘paper announced its incredible iPhone app has reached 70,000 downloads in just one month, which means they’ve already made over £167k in revenues (£2m per year if the app continues to be downloaded at the same rate). The mobile web, it seems, provides opportunities as well as risks to the humble newspaper publisher. Time will tell if the app continues to make the Guardian money (the buck doesn’t stop with subscriptions – there are opportunities to make money through affiliate links, eCoupons, premium subscriptions and interactive advertising) but the most interesting thing about the success of the Guardian’s app is that is quite simply an incredible user experience.
When I was sitting on the beach (sorry, did I mention I’ve been on holiday?) reading about Manchester City signing Patrick Viera, it didn’t feel at all like I was reading a website on a small screen (as some apps do) – the entire experience is much better than using a computer. The iPhone, it seems, goes some way to providing the tactile satisfaction of turning the pages of a newspaper, while offering the childlike glee that living in the future brings. Because this, my friends, is the future. A brave new world where you read a newspaper on a mobile phone and it’s not a shoddy, ‘lite’ version with content missing and deranged formatting. A strange and fantastical future where Patrick Viera signs for Manchester City. A future where newspapers might conceivably make some money.
The Guardian clearly has some in-house nouse when it comes to digital content delivery and the app is a joy to use. Load times are quick (even using 3G) and the capability to download the content for offline reading is invaluable. The ‘favourites’ function allows you to save the sections you can’t live without for quick and easy access, and the Guardian’s media rich content – from podcasts to moving pictures – is integrated with the daily news content in a more effective manner than the website has ever managed.
The real breakthrough, however, is the focus on trending articles. The Guardian’s website pioneered foregrounding the ‘most read’ articles for users, but again the iPhone app gives trending topics even more gravitas – the most popular articles seem as prevalent and prominent as the ‘latest news’. One of the tacit pleasures of using the internet is that you are not surfing alone, you are in fact participating in an enormous content ecosystem – every article you read, video you watch or blog you link to is affected by your actions in some way. In reading the Guardian app, you can tap into the vein of UK zeitgeist from wherever you are in the world, and it’s made plain to you that you are reading this because the rest of the world is. By reading the news, you are making the news. It’s lovely, and it’s something newspapers can’t do. Digg’s success is fueled by this feeling of news as a mass participation event – and I can’t wait for their imminent new app launch – but the Guardian’s is a broader, more elegant experience.
Anyway – if you have an iPhone and don’t mind 70% of news content being about climate change and human rights (which I don’t) – then this will be the best £2.39 you ever spent. Equally, if you’re a brand looking for a creative way to bring your services to a smartphone audience, this is a best in class example to follow.
If you’re Rupert Murdoch declaring that paid-for content is the only way for newspapers to make money online, then look away now, the future is blowing you a raspberry.
I don’t care that it’s in German. I want this clock.
The Finished Article
A new year means a new calendar, and what else would be adorning the Manifest Studio wall than the LDNnudetech 2010 calendar. It arrived, as promised, just before Christmas, and looks fantastic. Now, we’d only seen a couple of pages on press (see below), so had an idea about how good it was going to look, but, wow – we’re all very happy with the end result.
We’ve already done a couple of exhaustive posts on this project before, so we’ll keep this one brief (word-wise). Below are a few shots that sort of fill in the gaps between the Leap Anywhere ‘Making of Video’ and the calendar you’ve bought because you’re a nice person who saw this whole exercise the way it should have been seen. As an opportunity to raise a shed load of money for a great cause.
There are still a few left in stock at Firebox, so what are you waiting for? Buy one!
Calendar on press at Waddington & Ledger
Calendar on press at Waddington & Ledger
First proof arrives at Manifest...
...and goes on our Christmas Night out for a good 'Proof Read'.
Kudos from Milo
Miss March - Poppy Dinsey
Miss June - Hermione Way
Rogue's Gallery
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