TORONTO TYPE

Now that July is here, it’s a great time to rethink your to do list and find ways to enjoy life more. Here is just the video to get you started. It’s by graphic designer Yaniv Fridman and to say that he has a gift for animating type and graphics is an understatement:

What’s your favourite use of type in the piece? I have a particular fondness for the “G” in “Give More”, which goes from being closed to open, but there are so many gorgeous moments to savour.

Here’s to a fantastic summer! And many thanks, Yaniv, for an inspiring message.

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In this insightful video, typographic designer Erik Spiekermann discusses typomania, the “compulsive urge to analyze the ingredients” of the words you see everywhere. (If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have an acute case of typomania.)

My favourite sequence features Spiekermann grocery shopping in a tuxedo and commenting on the seductive lettering of packaged goods.

When Spiekermann happens to be in Toronto, I would happily give him a tour of this city’s typographic oddities and delights. And if it means donning a tux, so much the better.

This wonderful short video features a number of designers talking about the power of typography. It appeared last August as part of Off Book, a web series from PBS. It’s packed full of smart observations and at the end there’s a quick tutorial on talking about type.

One of my favourite remarks is from Deroy Peraza who says “fonts are clothes in a sense. They help visually externalize your identity to the world.” That comment helps me understand why I’m fascinated by type as I walk around the city. In a way, it’s akin to people-watching, a way of studying how identity and meaning become visible.

Were there any moments that stood out for you?

By the way, thanks to my brother Greg for alerting me to the video when it first came out.

Now that so many city pedestrians are transfixed by their smartphones, retailers will have to get savvier about attracting attention. Signs will have to become snappier and more eye-catching than ever, to accommodate glances upwards that might last only milliseconds.

Will we see more ground-level signboards? Flashy displays on the sidewalk? Audible calls to action? The look of commercial streets is bound to change.

The downward gazes mean that it’s getting more difficult to navigate city spaces. The filmmaker Casey Neistat addresses this problem in the hilarious Texting While Walking:

I first came across the clever film on the New York Times site. It’s part of their Op-Docs series and the page featuring the film includes a statement by Neistat. What do you think of the solution demonstrated in the film? Do you have any suggestions for texting etiquette while out in public?

One of my favourite bookstores in the city is Type Books, just south of Trinity Bellwoods Park. It gives me pleasure that when I enter “toronto type” in Google, this blog and Type Books are next to each other in the search results. The bookstore may not be in my part of town, but in Google we’re neighbours.

So, you can just imagine what I kick I got to discover the following video, thanks to one of my brothers who sent me a link:

The video was created by Sean Ohlenkamp, his wife Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp and a whole bunch of volunteers, with music by Grayson Matthews. Hats off to all of them for a lovely piece of work. (Full production credits are on YouTube.)

If and when you visit this location of Type Books (at 883 Queen Street West), keep your eyes open for interesting signs in the vicinity. It’s the neighbourhood where I’ve photographed a number of the signs featured on this blog (although I won’t tell you which ones!) and there are many others worth checking out.