You created the 3D typeface for German magazine Jpeople, correct? How did they approach you for the project?

I started this 3D typeface as a personal project in 2006 and finished it in 2009. It started as a 2D typeface; after I added grey tones to it I realized that there might be more than one way of viewing it than a 2D typeface. I began to see the possibilities of a 3D typeface and began experimenting with random words made out of foam board and wood. This resulted in a 3D typeface, constructed out of paper, that is easy to use, reproduce and has plenty of possibilities for design processes. Thanks to Zedz for being a good sparring partner, always there to bounce ideas off.

I presented the experiments, research, results and the whole 3D typeface in an A2 poster. Jpeople received a copy from this poster, they liked it and decided to write an article about it for their 3D issue, issue 12. They asked me if I could make a type treatment specially for Jpeople. This resulted in the Type piece (below), inspired by the colors of a shooting circle.

Do you have a name for the typeface?

The typeface is called 3D typeface. Pretty basic, but it says it all.

What was your process for developing the shapes on the 3D type? How did this translate to easy cut-out patterns for each letter?

First, I planned on making letters out of wood. I quickly realized that it would be hard to form words or sentences this way. Furthermore, people would not be able to experience the fun of making the 3D letters themselves. Therefore I had to come up with a more creative approach to trigger other people to bring this 3D typeface into operation. I had to figure out a way to produce and reproduce the typeface, ensuring the sense of playfulness stayed intact while working with the 3D typeface. This resulted in a typeface made out of paper: constructed by cutting, folding and gluing the paper together, like a building model.

Are you offering the EPS for the cut-out patterns as a download? Where might one find it?

Yes, the 3D typeface comes as an EPS file. By offering the typeface in this format, the final decisions on size and color are handed over to the user.

To purchase the typeface give me an email at jarrik@jarrik.com. Price is 35 Euro.

What is your experience working with type?

I explore the boundaries of what type is and what it could be. See how far I can push the boundaries between illegible but still readable type. In my subconscious there is always a concept within the typeface. If I look back at the Puzzle, Soft Machine and NBLight typeface they all started with a concept and a new approach on type. For the NBLight typeface Stefan Gandl (Neubau) and I started with a real installation. Since we could not use these images in Fontlab, Stefan suggested that we could make a vector/digital version of the typeface. This version is published in Neubau Modul and for sale on Neubauladen. A nice future of this typeface is that the cables of each letter are different!

How do you approach typography?

I see typography as shapes instead of the meaning of the word or letter. With this approach I design and treat typography, finding a balance between shape and readability. Always working within a concept and not by trends, which I think more people should do! We have to look forward and not to each other. Innovate and not recreate.

Since the start of the 3D typeface I approach and think more in 3D. Experiencing the whole process of printing the letters, cutting them out, gluing them together, arranging them in place and taking photos of them feels good. I just finished a new 3D typeface made out of blocks with on each side another form. Six or nine of these blocks together create a letter or a number.

The thoughts of not only thinking in graphic purposes, have broadened my vision and changed my approach of what typography could do. In the development of the 3D typeface I looked at the possibilities of 3D typography on buildings. Maybe this is the future of advertising on buildings?

What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on a logo/logo system for my own studio. The idea behind this logo/logo system is: The work I make is my identity as a designer. People may know my name but they don’t know/recognize my work, or vice versa. That is why I use parts of the logos and typefaces I made for clients for my own logo. I use the letters from the logos and typefaces that are also in my own name.

What are your future plans?

I am working on a new project called 50 Wallpapers from the City of Amsterdam. The product is an A4 note block with 50 pages with 50 different walls. The seams/grooves in the walls are the lines that you could write on. There are street signs, graffiti tags and other specific signs that could only be found in Amsterdam. You can recognize Amsterdam through these walls. It is a project about public space and city culture. This idea could also work for other cities like Berlin, Paris, New York, et cetera. The cover of the note block is a typographic translation off a wall.

I am now in the phase where I try to find a publisher who is interested in it.

Besides this project I will work on some new identities, logos and I have a couple ideas for a new 3D typeface.

More of Jarrik Muller’s work may be viewed on his website and Behance profile.

The Euro icon, released on December 12, 1996, is the most recently designed symbol for a currency. The Euro character was the final selection out of ten other symbols presented to the general public. Its shape derives from the Greek epsilon (ε), and the “C” character, which references the cradle of European civilization . The two horizontal lines have been attributed to the stability of the European market. Before the symbol was created, the European Commision (EC) listed four criterion for the design:

It should be a highly recognisable symbol of Europe. It should have a visual link with existing well-known currency symbols. It should be aesthetically pleasing and easy to write by hand.

The EC showed an immense amount of pride in releasing this new symbol, although not all received it with such enthusiasm. British typographer James Souttar highlighted neglected considerations on the symbol’s day of release:

…What interested me most was that the designer(?s) has treated it as a logotype — to appear in one set style only. This seems to be in flagrant disregard of previous currency symbols, which are interpreted according to the font. It is also hard to discern which characteristics are essential, and which contingent, so that it might be adapted. As it is presently constructed, it would look truly abysmal fronting up a set of figures in any seriffed type. But the quirky finials mean that it will also look odd with sans — even monoline sans like Futura would be set off uncomfortably. And there is also no indication of how it could be modulated for weight — so it raises the spectre of incompatibility not only by style but also by density.

Souttar raised relevant and interesting points concerning the properties of the symbol. This controversy began to grow when the EC considered patenting the Euro sign. This would have made it the first-ever patented currency symbol. Fortunately, this never went through and was left as-is.

Many font designs have their own distinctive variations and interpretations of how the Euro fits into their character sets. Some font designers have chosen to not manipulate it and leave the original symbol untouched. It is such a widely used symbol that almost all fonts include it within their glyph sets.

The designer of the symbol remains a mystery to this day. The EC has not revealed its team of four designers behind the symbol for unknown reasons. Alain Billiet contentiously claims he created the symbol before the EC’s team version. No official conclusion has been reached as of yet.

The web version was created years ago, what led to the idea of the Font Game for the iPhone?

The iPhone’s popularity, and that it’s the perfect format for a game like the Font Game. And because it would be a challenge and an opportunity to work with Justin and Kari.

Why the word “fargo?” Why not “Handgloves,” or something else?

Handgloves is too wide for the iPhone screen in portrait mode — and too many letters. We don’t want to make it too easy. Fargo is happy compromise, and includes the a and g, which often can be quite distinctive.

What are your fastest times and scores?

I’ve played (in testing), thousands of games; getting all the fonts right is not a problem; but I couldn’t hope to beat the present high scores — my fingers aren’t that fast. In fact we’re all a little surprised at how fast those scores are.

If you had anything to say about Nancy Wu (the highest scoring user) what would it be?

She’s fast, very fast. And we’re excited to see that she’s obviously addicted to the game. I’m hoping she’ll be a beta tester for future versions of the game.

How did you go about selecting the fonts for the game?

Started with the easiest level, including lots of system fonts. Pitching the other levels just right was more difficult, and that’s where the beta testers come in. Analysing their scores helped me to refine those levels.

What is the feedback from users?

Incredibly positive. Fun and addictive are adjectives oft’ repeated.

The Journal also asked Mr Boardley for advice and insight into running a blog:

The success of any blog is in large part down to luck — right time, right place. However, the first thing to remove from the equation is pecuniary gain. It’s not that blogs can’t make money, but the most popular blogs are written by those who have a passion for their subject. All too often people jump on the band wagon, because they think blogging is an easy money-maker — it’s not. If you have a passion for your subject, it will come through — the converse is, of course, also true. Also, it’s important to interact with your readers — again, not with an eye on how much you can milk them for, but because you just love to chat with like-minded folk about that which inspires you most. Don’t post about what you think everyone will like — post about the things that inspire you. Don’t be afraid to express opinion. If you like something say so; if you don’t, then say so, or don’t write about it.

Image created by John Winge

There has been somewhat of a revival, a wild, crazed passion as of late. For what, you ask? Ampersands.

I’m sure that doesn’t strike you as strange after seeing multiple ampersand blogs show up recently. Even the Society of Typographic Aficionados’s Font Aid IV project aims to raise money through a font that is made solely of ampersands. To see what inspired this sensation, let’s take a look back at the origins of this interesting and mysterious shape.

The symbol

The ampersand’s shape has roots that trace back to the Early Roman Empire. The initial example is the ligature ET in capital cursive Roman characters.

Over time, the use of the ET ligature became more frequent. Initially, the ligature was the result of quick handwriting, but it began to flow into an intentional shape. The e formed the left side of the shape while the t would form the lower right hand section. By the time Gutenberg’s press came around in the 15th century, the ligature was being cast as a single character. Since this time, there has been a slew of different interpretations of the ampersand shape. Many of these new ampersands don’t display the traditional form and the e and t is lost.

The Word

The term ampersand stems from Latin schooling in the early 1800’s. It is a distortion of the phrase and per se and. The Latin per se is the derivation of the phrase by itself.

When the alphabet was taught in schools, it was common practice to teach students to use per se after every letter that could be used as a word on its own (such as I and A). The phrase and per se and was also included at the end of the alphabet, and eventually it was slurred into the current pronunciation, ampersand. By the year 1837, it was a commonly used term within the English language.

The etemology is quite interesting to me, as I studied French quite a while back. I only remember bits and pieces of the language. When I was initially studying the symbol, the characters e and t smashed together came up. In French, et translates to and. This translation is the exact same as the Latin, et means and.

Image created by Leo Reynolds

The Use of the Symbol

Ampersands are now included with nearly every font designed. It is common practice to use the symbol while writing (although not considered bad practice to abstain).

In the early 20th century, it was typically only used in business titles. There was a fight against this practice as typographers and typesetters alike believed it to be a useful character. Author and type designer Eric Gill decried this thinking in his 1931 book An Essay For Typography:

The absurd rule that the ampersand should only be used in ‘business titles’ should be rescinded, & there are many other contractions which a sane typography should encourage.

The Blogs

Its quite simple to see: people love writing about and drawing these beautiful, free-flowing symbols. There is an attraction to the curved lines, the deepening and lightening in stroke. The origins of the shape and word are quite fascinating, as well. This subject could be studied to an almost infinite end. If you’re looking to find a list of good ampersand blogs, art, or history, here is one I compiled:

The Ampersand

Ampersand Wiki Page

Three-Hundred-Sixty-Five

Design Observer Ampersand Article

Ligature, Loop, and Stem

15" × 19" posters printed by Nick Sherman to promote the documentary Typeface

Typeface, a new documentary film by Justine Nagan, tells the story of an extinct profession and reveals the world surrounding woodblock typography.

Wood type is shown through the lens of the Hamilton Type Museum, a once-famous type foundry. The film takes place in three different areas in the Northern United States: the Museum in Two Rivers, WI; Post Family artists’ collective in Chicago, IL, and; Purdue Univeristy in West Lafayette, IN. All play into Typeface’s story:

The museum’s … existence is critical to the worldwide design community who are passionate about the history of their craft and its function in the contemporary field. They believe the future of the industry may lie in the past.

Advertising of the late nineteenth century demanded larger, more decorative type. Type foundries cast less metal type for display because it wasn’t economical in large sizes. Manufacturing out of wood was cheaper and allowed for more intricate characters. Pantograph machines – mechanical copiers – allowed multiple characters to be produced quickly and efficiently. The Hamilton factory became extremely successful: by the late 1800s they were one of the leading manufacturers of wood type. They soon bought competing foundries from around the States, then raised their prices. The factory, as well as the town of Two Rivers, has a rich history that comes along with this era.

From the beginning, I was a bit skeptical of a new film on design and typography. There have been a slew of design-related documentary films released since Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica came out in 2007. The ones that stand out are the films made by filmmakers outside of the graphic design community. This film was directed by documentary filmmaker Justine Nagan and produced by both Maria Finitzo and Gordon Quinn, all are part of Kartemquin Films. The entire crew appears to be quite well-versed in film making.

The one thing I truly appreciate about this film: it concisely tells a story of an inanimate object in a captivating way. There is a history and future. So many different perspectives exist when approaching the subject, and I feel this is thoroughly executed throughout the film. Designers and typographers are interviewed. They are only end-users of wood type, so pantograph operators – the cutters and shapers – become an important part of the film.

It’s quite exhilarating to see these blocks of type being put to use after such a careful crafting process. The letterforms are beautiful. I can’t imagine how strange it would be to handle it after seeing so many examples of it on my computer screen year after year. To put my opinion into perspective: my wife and I are seriously considering travelling over 2,000 miles to Two Rivers just to visit this wonderful museum. If it inspires us to drive that far to play with wood blocks, I consider the film a great success.

The Journal would like to thank Ms. Nagan and Kartemquin Films for promptly providing a screener to this wonderful film. We wish you the best of luck for your premiere. If you, dear reader, live in Chicago, be sure to go see the screening. The premiere has sold out, but tickets are still available for the Jan 30th-Feb 4th showings.

The Font Game for the iPhone and iPod Touch

I Love Typography (ILT) released The Font Game, a new application that tests typeface knowledge, on December 17th for the iPhone and iPod Touch. ILT founder John Boardley designed gameplay along with Kari Pätilä, who also created online support. Justin Stahl developed the game; it is his second application for the iPhone. (His first was the very useful reference tool, The Typographic Manual.)

A quick look at The Font Game:

Gameplay

The Font Game tests typeface knowledge through timed 30-question rounds. The game displays a font and the user must select the typeface from four options. The goal is to correctly identify as many fonts as possible in as little time as possible. There are three difficult levels (from the viewpoint of The Journal’s moderately skilled staff):

• Somewhat Difficult is not much of a challenge. Those who know their way around the standard fonts will be amused.
• Rather Difficult is a major step up, with the inclusion of less common display faces and italics or bolds. Process of elimination is key.
• Exceedingly Difficult is all-out madness. Everything looks alien; font names appear foreign.

Post-game review shows the correct answers. A convenient in-game feature posts scores and times directly to Twitter and an online Hall of Fame. If you were to look here, you find Nancy Wu.

Hall of Fame Times (in seconds):

Some quick math: 30 questions in 47 seconds equates to 1.6 seconds per question. Thirty questions in 35 seconds is about 1.2 seconds per question. Average human reaction time is about 0.7 seconds. This is fast – so fast that fonts must be recognized before realized and decisions made nearly subconsciously.

Nancy Wu Spills the Beans

So, how did Wu attain this legendary status?

“I was home … with a bad head cold and was taking care of my young son while getting addicted to this really fun game,” she told The Journal in December. “I now have a bunch of fonts I really want to buy.”

Nancy Wu has been involved in the communication arts for seventeen years as a designer and art director. She recently taught a typography class at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC. “While I was in design school I used to memorize my Letraset and Mecanorma type catalogs,” she explained.

How long did it take Wu to master the game?

She estimates only eight hours – with two hour-long marathon sessions – over a single weekend. “Once I was better and Monday rolled around I wasn’t playing as much.”

Wu has held her ground for four solid weeks. Only time will tell if she remains at the top of the charts.

The Journal staff would like to thank Nancy Wu for answering our questions. However, we are still baffled by her speed. A full transcription of the email interview can be viewed here.

Read Between the Leading is currently the best podcast source of design news and discussion I have come across. Each episode offers an enlightening and relevant discourse from grad students Matt McInerney and Aaron Heth (both studying at Savannah College of Art & Design). The majority of their shows includes a guest speaker, usually a well known designer or typographer. Some of their previous guests include: Jos Buivenga, David Airey, Aaron Draplin, Ryan and Don Clark (of Invisible Creature), John Boardley (of I Love Typography), and more.

I thought it would be interesting to ask them a few questions regarding their motivations and desires for the show as well as some cool behind the scenes information. They have provided us with some thoughtful responses.

What motivated you both to start RBtL? And what keeps you going?

Aaron: I’ve always enjoyed theory, ideas, and talking. I wanted to do something like this for a few years, but finding someone to participate as rigorously as I wanted to was a challenge. One day, I walked into class and quickly got into a deep conversation with Matt about the difference in art and design, but the conversation was still fun and free flowing, and I thought “we have to record this.” In my head at that point, I was excited that this thing I had wanted to do for so long was going to come to life. Our first rule of our first show is that there would be no rules, no preliminary stuff, because that is how these things die. No name, no design, no plan, no schedule, and I really think the fact that we let the show and our audience evolve us is how we’ve kept going. Plus, both of us talk way too much, and this is a great way for us to do it without annoying others.

Matt: I always loved talking about design and the ideas that go into design. After that initial conversation that Aaron mentioned, I think we both agreed that this was the first conversation of many. It was Aaron’s idea to record it, and I’d wanted to do a podcast on the topic for quite some time, so we just started doing it. I think it continues because we just never get bored talking about design related matters. The only thing that ever slows us down is time constraints. I don’t think either of us ever stops having these conversations though.

Are you both planning to continue this series after you finish school?

Matt: Yes. We both loving doing it. Even when we weren’t in school this past summer and had almost no free time during our internships, we still tried to do it as much as possible.

You mention you spend nearly 15-20 hours a week preparing for the show. What are some of your most frequented blogs to find the latest news and trends?

Aaron: You know, when it comes to research, I’ve always made it a point to not make it “formal” for the show. If I did, I’d end up with 5 favorite blogs and essentially always regurgitate what they say. I spent time on various design sites that very occasionally give me direct information, or maybe a spark of something I want to talk about. I love Brand New, I like Business Week on design and branding, and Reddit actually has given me a few ideas in the past too.

What equipment do you use to record and edit your podcast with?

Aaron: Before the fourth episode, Matt and I went out to WalMart and I bought a $30 USB Logitech headset for video chatting. Aside from that, Skype and GarageBand still.

Have you had a difficult time contacting or getting different artists to speak on the show?

Matt: Actually almost everyone we’ve contacted has been incredibly gracious about replying to us and most of the time everyone we reach out to eventually comes on as a guest. The only time things don’t work out is when schedules just get too hectic to organize a show. The most difficult thing we deal with is just finding a good time to record, especially when it comes to dealing with multiple time zones.

Aaron: Not really. That’s something that has surprised Matt and I both. These people are like rock stars to us, and they become even more of a rock star when we realize just how damn friendly and open this community is. If the show has done anything for me personally, it’s made me so thankful to realize what the community of graphic design actually is like.

Is it often that you strongly disagree about specific topics?

Matt: I find that we disagree on surprisingly little. I know there have been a few shows where we’ve disagreed on some minor things, but it doesn’t happen that much. I’d say rather than disagreements, we have some different focuses. I absolutely love type and I love talking about type. Aaron is a big fan of branding and the discussion of that in terms of our visual landscape. I think those differing focuses have actually been a bit of a strength.

What do you hope your listeners take away from the show?

Matt: I really hope that our show inspires thinking. I don’t care necessarily that our listeners always agree with our opinions. In fact, when listeners disagree it usual just provokes more thinking on our part. I think digging deeper into topics you care about is important and that’s what I try to do on the show. If we can get listeners to do the same, I’d be very happy with that.

Aaron: Their own opinions, whatever they may be. We’re not more informed or enlightened than anyone else, we just want to spark conversation.

Your show fills a niche combining design philosophy, discussion, and news. Were this your original goals and is this where you see the future of RBtL?

Aaron: I can’t speak for Matt, but for me, absolutely. Throughout different times of the show, we’ve sort of evolved a new element, show style, or idea, and at different points we’ve had different people encourage us to take a focus on something, and I absolutely don’t want to do that. RBtL is very evolution based. I like what we’ve done and want to keep doing it, and I want to keep expanding and trying new things as well. Academica, history, news, theory, all of that is important, and they all give context to one another.

Matt: We didn’t start with a specific goal and I don’t think that we’re moving towards one necessarily. We just want to talk about something we care deeply about and spark discussion hopefully. In the future, I think we’ll continue to do that. Hopefully the show just evolves in the same way that we evolve as designers and thinkers. Design is a very broad topic that I don’t think we’ll ever exhaust.

We would like to thank the guys at RBtL for taking the time to answer our questions. These are both humble and thoughtful designers and always make sure to keep their listeners as their first priority; if you have a question, they’re happy to answer. Be sure to check out their site if you haven’t already.

Bibliographic: 100 Graphic Design Books by Jason Godfrey

I received a copy of Jason Godfrey’s recently published book Bibliographic: 100 Classic Graphic Design Books, for Christmas. It’s been a fantastic read: Godfrey collected a wonderful range of visual specimens from these famous (and some not so famous) books. It has provided me hours of reading and instilled a desire for me to spend hundreds of dollars on rare books.

I found the book so enthralling that I decided to email Mr. Godfrey and ask him a few questions about it. He has been a wonderful resource and provided us with some great answers. Please take some time to read what he has to say.

What was the initial inspiration for writing this book?

Graphic design publishing has out of necessity always been particularly rich visually, which in my opinion made it the perfect subject for an illustrated book, but above all I wanted to create a useful resource for students and designers, especially in displaying those books that have become hard [to find]. It also helped to justify the huge amount of time in my life I have spent in secondhand bookshops.

Is there any book you view differently now after you have put Bibliographic together?

Even though many of the titles were in my library I hadn’t fully read most of them from cover to cover, preferring to cherry pick pages that interested me (Not an uncommon experience for most designers). The more thorough analysis undertaken in writing about the books helped me to justify their worth as classic examples of graphic design publishing but also gave me a new and enhanced outlook on all of the books in the list.

What book do you find yourself referring to the most when it comes to design?

For history Richard Hollis’s Graphic Design: A Concise History (Thames and Hudson, 1994) is the first book to turn to. For inspiration The Dictionary of Visual Language (Bergstrom and Boyle Books, 1980) by Philip Thompson and Peter Davenport has all the ideas. For book design Derek Birdsall’s Notes on Book Design (Yale University Press, 2004), has essential guides for the construction of tidy grids.

What were some of the hardest books to eliminate from the list?

Where there were prolific authors or an outstanding series of books made for some very hard choices. The excellent small-format series from Studio Books represented in the list by John Lewis’s Typography: Basic Principles (Studio Books, 1963) and Graphic Design: Visual Comparisons (Studio Books, 1963), meant that a book such as Ken Garland’s outstanding primer Graphics Handbook (Studio Vista, 1966) had to be left out of the final 100.

Were there any specific influences you had when it came to the layout of the book?

I borrowed liberally from the books in Bibliographic when it came to the design. Amongst other things the long single columns of text were a nod to those in George Lois’s The Art of Advertising (Abrams, 1977) and I had always admired the yellow cover boards on Egbert Jacobson’s Seven Designers Look at Trademark Design (Paul Theobald, 1952) and decided to have the same.

How did you make final decision on each layout?

I wanted to give the flavour of each book and tried to get a good mixture of spreads. Those that showed important detail were enlarged and an effort was made to keep the size to where copy on the page could be read. The covers were played down on the whole, I felt that often these might already be quite well known and that value was to be had in showing the internal pages.

What was the most difficult part about compiling this book?

Being a first time author the most arduous part of putting Bibliographic together was the actual writing. It took some time for me to get the tone I wanted and the writing progressed at a glacial pace. The subject for each book jumped from different designers to eras and other themes in graphic design history, which only seemed to slow the process even further.

Where do you see the future of graphic related literature heading after so much ground has already been covered in books like these?

Graphic design will continue to evolve a history which will need recording and the reappraisal of the existing history will inevitably happen. Publishing small edition books is becoming ever more affordable which should open up huge opportunities for creativity in the near future.

We would like to thank Mr. Godfrey for taking the time to answer these questions. He has been a great help to us. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book. Trust me, it will be a wonderful addition to your library.

The Journal purchased a copy of Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style in November. Regarding the book, renowned typeface designer Hermann Zapf said, “I wish to see this book become the Typographer’s Bible.” It is full of useful information, but it is not a casual read: it requires the reader’s full attention. Elements is also easy to navigate and read – it lives up to it’s own good advice.

One of Bringhurst’s small but significant subjects are lowercase numbering figures. Lowercase figures make for healthy, harmonious numbering.

Typographers used Roman numerals prior to the integration of Arabic numerals, the common numbers seen today. Roman numerals can easily be integrated within text.

When they were initially adopted, type designers cut lowercase figures (also referred to as old-style numerals or text figures) for use in lowercase and small caps text and uppercase figures (or lining numerals) for use in uppercase text. Lowercase figures were the norm up until the nineteenth century, when advertising of the era required larger numeral figures. Lowercase figures have made a resurgence but aren’t as popular as they once were.

The distinction between lowercase and titling figures is important in print materials. The lowercase numbers have properties that make them flow with lowercase letters. Some stretch above the meanline (6 & 8), some have descenders (3, 4, 5, 6 & 9) and others have only an x-height (1, 2 & 0). These optical characteristics make lowercase numbers more like lowercase text, which makes reading them easier. Note how titling figures disrupt the flow and are more difficult to read:

This is becoming an increasingly important issue in web typography, where, up until recently, most fonts only support large lining numerals. A practical exception is Georgia, a font that carries only old-style numerals. Software usually defaults to the larger numerals; using lettering figures often requires digging through glyph tables.

Robert Bringhurst wraps up this section of the book with an evocative thought:

[Lettering figures] are a basic part of typographic speech, and they are a sign of civilization: a sign that dollars are not really twice as important as ideas, and numbers are not afraid to consort on an equal footing with words.

The WordPress theme Basic Maths, created by Khoi Vinh and Allan Cole, features an underlying grid system.

Khoi Vinh and Allan Cole released Basic Maths, a  theme for the popular blogging platform WordPress, back in November. Vinh is the Design Director for the New York Times’ online edition; he also runs the popular blog Subtraction.com. Vinh gets a lot of attention because of Subtraction.com’s custom design: it is clean and accessible. So, to fill a hole in the market, he designed Basic Maths in the spirit of his blog. Basic Maths is on sale ($30 instead of $45) until December 31.

Writer’s Note: I haven’t purchased or installed Basic Maths, so I haven’t used it. It runs on WordPress, which is what we use here at The Journal. WordPress is a powerful publishing tool, has a beautiful back end and is very user friendly. Vinh and Cole have a demo of Basic Maths to show it off.

In A Nutshell

Basic Maths has a few major selling points: microformat friendliness, well-commented code, clean widget integration, generous tag and category display, customizable color scheming and grid-based layout. The fully functional demo displays every imaginable type of content (images, headers, lists, block quotes, etc). You can view the documentation, and there is a very extensive explanation on how to integrate images.

Cleanliness and usability are central to Basic Maths. That grid-based layout makes for a clean, functional design. In Vinh’s words:

This theme is all about displaying your content in the most stunning way possible, and the core of that is a flexible layout grid that informs the layout of every element.

He even walks readers through the design process, showing the evolution of the theme and explaining each design decision along the way.

A Closer Look

Basic Maths is reminiscent of a newspaper layout. It is very accessible – transparent, even. The underlying grid provides great unity to the theme. Placement within the grid is thought out, so readers can easily find where everything is.

A set of tabs across the top provide a place for Contact Information, an About page or anything else a blogger would need. The blog title really stands out due to its size and location, but it works in that it doesn’t distract from content.

There is clear access to tags and archives on the front page, and the archives page is clean and successful. This, combined with the search field, makes finding anything easy.

Great attention is given to title and text size. Everything is just right, nothing is overbearing. The line length for body copy is ideal, making reading a breeze instead of a chore.

All of the design decisions have really been made to generously support the content. The white space on the left works to the content’s advantage, and visuals are given a leading role.

The theme works well with multiple browsers. It looks virtually the same on Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Internet Explorer 7.

As with anything, Basic Maths has its downfalls. One of the main selling points, the grid toggling, doesn’t seem to work. There are issues with text baselines and horizontal rules not lining up perfectly. Hovering over links in the Top Tags area is a bit screwy. The set width is also rather narrow for increasingly higher resolution screens.

General Impressions

Basic Maths is everything a good blog template should be without all that additional design fluff so common in many themes. It may look empty, but this is good. Consider it a spacious sedan for words and images. Attention is directed to the content instead of oppressive, gimmickey backgrounds, headers, sidebars and widgets. The downfalls should certainly be considered, but these are minor issues considering Basic Math’s many merits.

The theme was designed with the reader and user in mind, and this shows. Vinh and Cole created something of great utility. Basic Maths is suitable for, basically, any blogging need.

Take a look at a couple of free WordPress themes, like the popular Mystique or LightWord, and compare them to Basic Maths: the difference is clear.

This is why I am surprised that nobody seems to be using Basic Maths.

Mystique, a free theme for WordPress.

LightWord, another free theme offered by WordPress.

Theme in Action

Basic Maths received a lot of attention and praise on Subtraction.com, a couple design blogs, and Twitter. However, I had to search hard to find people using Basic Maths. Here are the only four I found:

1. Rob’s notebook, the personal blog of journalism student Rob Wells,
2. Nonformality, a European education and learning blog,
3. Last Straw, the political and personal blog of Christiaan Briggs, and
4. Bert’s Blog, Bert Vanderveen’s blog (in Dutch).

Nonformality as of Tuesday, December 29th. Note the use of align-right images.

These are really poor examples of the Basic Maths framework. Rob’s notebook and Nonformality include pictures right below the blog title. This looks bad because it is out of place and distracts from the main content. The image use on Nonformality isn’t effective, which is dissappointing after so much effort was made in explaining how to use images. Date stamps and text are all over the place on Last Straw, ruining the precision and cleanliness of Basic Maths. Berg’s Blog actually isn’t that bad, but the light green isn’t the best color choice.

Most of these blogs deactivated the calendar and archiving widgets that make the theme initially intuitive. Basic Maths is set up to handle images with care and grace; none of these examples take advantage of this. (Would you read a newspaper or magazine without pictures? Probably not.)

Speculations On Bloggers

This comes back to the public’s appreciation of design. A blogger may look at Basic Maths and ask themselves: why spend extra when I can get a free theme that looks way cooler? Blame it on advertising, DIY home publishing or what-will-you: people want flashy over functional, multi-colored over modest, and free over forty-five.

Cost & Considerations

It is expected that designers will want to come up with something especially suited for their uses.

For everyone else that doesn’t design or code, Basic Maths is a fantastic option to consider. The cost of Basic Maths is negligible, especially considering the amount of effort and design that went into it. The cost of presenting content in a legible manner is definitely worth it for blog readers. Blog design also has a major role in attracting and retaining readers.

So, bloggers: don’t just look at it, consider it. Look at the documentation and demo; make your blog shine.

And, designers: don’t just admire it, suggest it.

This entry is an opinion piece and may not represent the beliefs of other Inksie staff members. If you have any insight, please leave a comment. Also, if you or somebody you know uses the WordPress theme Basic Maths, please leave us a link.