Showing posts with label branding. Show all posts

New York's Mayoral Race - Designing A Candidacy

These are the dog days of summer, which is fitting given the sexual brouhaha over New York City's mayoral race. The world may be fawning over the royal baby, but the cable stations stateside can't resist lingering over the lurid details of former Congressman Anthony Weiner's ongoing scandal. Since the spotlight is already on election politics, therefore, it seems as good a time as any to examine the relative prospects for each mayoral candidate based on his or her campaign design.

If you teach older students, particularly in high school or university government classes, it's also an opportunity to debate the impact of financial and sexual scandals on political fortunes. The data is not as clear cut as you might think. Check out this study from researchers at Yale University and the University of Illinois, titled "Are Financial or Moral Scandals Worse? It depends."

The New York polls change daily as each news bulletin breaks. From a visual standpoint, however, there are obvious winners and losers in the originality and effectiveness of the candidates' logos. Twelve contestants are heading into the primaries on September 10, 2013, but only a handful have an actual shot at winning the mayorship. Also, because NYC registrations are almost 60% Democratic, it's likely the primary will decide the office.

Source: Weiner for Mayor
Democrat Anthony Weiner may be getting most of the current attention, but his campaign placard is as much of a mess as his personal life. The immediate visual response is fairly arresting, with two bold banners of blue and orange and his last name in looming block letters. But the unfamiliar pumpkin color and the bleed of the font into the white horizontal divide fashions a fuzzy union. Also, most of the letters meet at off-kilter points, leading to a jarring eye-line. The only aligned elements are the "N" and "Y," which together yield a scheme better suited for the NY Mets.

Source: Quinn For New York
Democratic Council Speaker Christine Quinn offers a more subtle, contemporary motif in her layout. Her tones of blues, French on denim, seem Obama-esque in the modern shade and the defining "Q." The even-more-interesting letterface, lowercase Solomon Book over uppercase Solomon Bold, creates an inviting pairing. Overall, her poster seems personal and approachable, which perhaps was the intent given news reports of her behind-the-scenes temper.

Source: New Yorkers for de Blasio
Democratic Public Advocate Bill de Blasio presents the most memorable trademark of the bunch. His scarlet red background stands out in a field of blue competitors, and the nestling of his first name into his nobiliary particle adds an appealing uniqueness to his bright canvas. In fact, the commercial optimism of his emblem seems more fitting for the supermarket aisles, closer in cousin to the labels for Pocky sticks, KitKat candy, or Muller yogurt.

Source: Friends of John Liu
Democratic Comptroller John Liu also opted for the metropolitan orange and blue. The silhouetted skyline beneath his slogan renders a nice urban echo for America's largest city. The net effect is passable and unoffensive, but everything about it seems familiar. The underscoring swipe of white paint and the single star have been featured on similar logos by Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Amazon.com. For a candidate with lower name identification, a more inspiring crest could have been more helpful.

Source: Bill Thompson For Mayor
Former Democratic Comptroller Bill Thompson has more local recognition, but he suffers from overly common first and last names that need pizzazz to make his marquee marketable. Mindbogglingly, however, his campaign team defaulted to the blandest brand possible. The uninspired white letters on the gradient, midnight blue background supply no vision or ingenuity for the office. To be fair, we've seen posters in Thompson's public appearances that add a few white stars beneath the same generic blueprint. But still, in sum, the result is as forgettable as Thompson's candidacy.

Source: Joe Lhota for Mayor
Former Chairman of the MTA (and likely Republican nominee) Joe Lhota seems to have settled on the "kitchen sink" approach. He features a font-apalooza, with a new choice on each line, and he includes two slogans where most candidates have none. His goals, in highlighting his years of experience and his vision of unity, are noble. And the azure font with the crimson underline stand out well on the white backsplash. It's difficult, however, to settle on one visual takeaway. Perhaps an artistic icon could have given Lhota some leverage in breaking into the Democratic news stranglehold.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

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New Jersey's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Flickr
A political brand is the same as a corporate brand. Both try to carve out unique identities. They seek to evoke positive emotions and consumer confidence at the mention of their names or at the appearance of their insignia. A familiar logo is the ultimate encapsulation of brand loyalty.

Political campaigns spend hours with focus groups crafting their ideal icons. This messaging becomes part of the larger world of media literacy, which can be a productive way to frame discussions with students each November. It can be difficult to teach civics in non-presidential election years. This constraint, however, actually presents an opportunity, since it allows teachers to focus on the critical role played by state and local governments within the federalist system.

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.
Interestingly, the only two governorships before the voters in 2013 are both in deeply purple states. This offers an additional opening for students to explore the changing nature of the American electorate. The race in Virginia is expected to be a scorched-earth nail-biter. The race in New Jersey, however, is currently tilting entirely in favor of reigning governor Chris Christie. The current polls show him leading 60 percent to 28 percent. 

Christie's logo evokes this sense of strength and inevitability in the prominent all-caps lettering and the no-nonsense moniker of “Governor.” He is not running “for” governor, nor does he mention any party affiliation. His design reinforces his incumbent status and the de facto nature of his assured return to the capital. Here, Christie succeeds in the “Governor” tag, while Ken Cuccinelli’s similar but over-serifed and presumptuous attempt fails in Virginia. Christie incorporates both dark slate blue and fire brick red texts to unite the two sides of the electorate, and the trio of stars seems a fitting klaxon to underscore his name and tee up his office. 

Source: Chris Christie For Governor, Inc.
As a whole, however, Christie’s placard is something of a mess. Sideways text never succeeds well, since it is foreign to the expected flow of readable text. The minute first name of “Chris” tucked vertically in the left corner is jarring to the eye and unnecessary in a state where the governor has universal name recognition. It also exaggerates the chunky nature of the “Christie” Impact font. The generic slogan at the bottom, “Strong Leadership Now,” is equally as redundant. With an approval rating of 70 percent, Christie doesn’t need to remind voters of his “strength,” especially in an oddly kerned justified blur. In fact, the catchphrase undermines his prior term, by suggesting that “now” the state needs a strong leader (as opposed to the past four years). We like the banner at the top of his website much better, where he eschews the puzzle-pieces and simply features his name and title. The color is a contemporary Tufts blue, and the font is like an elegant, interesting Caronta. The campaign team should have used this modish layout for all of its marketing pieces.

Source: Barbara Buono for Governor
Christie’s opponent, Barbara Buono, faces an uphill battle in name recognition, but her logo is a good first start. As a state senator and former member of the General Assembly, Buono has a solid political resume, but she can’t compete with Christie’s successful stewardship during Hurricane Sandy. In mocking up her poster, Buono’s team made several key design choices. Similar to Terry McAuliffe’s squad in Virginia, they opted for the increasingly popular pistachio color, which until recently was almost unheard of in red-white-and-blue politicking. The green juxtaposition with the charcoal gray background gives a popping quality to the bold serif Frusta of her all-caps name. 

The subtitle in fine white Kohinoor Latin prominently mentions her political party, which many candidates opt to obscure in order to reach independent voters. Buono is making a key calculation that with her low voter identification, she should appeal to the state’s Democrats, who make up the majority and who twice elected President Barack Obama. While Christie did not include a logo, Buono’s trademark is the state itself, textured and encircled by a ring of stars. While simple and not terribly original, it’s a solid choice for a politician trying to amplify the authority of her candidacy. Even though she’ll likely lose at the polls in November, Buono wins in the modern appeal of her brand.

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

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Virginia's Governor Race - Designing A Candidacy

Source: Wikimedia, Flickr
The 2012 presidential election was historic for many reasons, not least of which for the quixotic logos that candidates on both sides used to market themselves to the American public. Luckily, this summer offers more opportunities to examine political brands. These carefully crafted icons present avenues to study how various campaigns plan to pitch themselves to voters and define themselves through visual messaging. In May, for example, a judicial candidate in Dallas was flagged for hijacking the Brooklyn Nets logo for his own t-shirt design.

This post is part of our ongoing series in "Designing A Candidacy." We talk a lot with our students about logos and branding as components of media literacy. They become engaged during civics comparisons of television commercials and candidate bumper stickers, and they enjoy assigning adjectives to the relative strengths and weaknesses of political insignia. Even though 2013 is an off-year election, we want the future voters in our classrooms to remember that citizenship matters more than once every four years.

Only two governorships, Virginia and New Jersey, are up for election in November. The state of Virginia limits its governor to a non-consecutive four-year term, meaning current Republican governor Bob McDonnell cannot succeed himself. The principle candidates vying to replace him are Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Democratic businessman Terry McAuliffe. Cuccinelli is pitching himself as a jobs-focused successor to the popular (but currently under ethics investigations) incumbent. Cuccinelli is best known, though, for his attempt to sue the University of Virginia over its research into global warming and for his steadfast opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. McAuliffe, as the former head of GreenTech Automotive, is also trumpeting his job-creating credentials. He is most remembered, however, as the former chairman of both Bill and Hillary Clinton's respective presidential campaigns and as the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Source: Ken Cuccinelli For Governor,
Cuccinelli's logo is traditional and stately, with classic blue, centered, horizontal lettering in a heavy serif on a clean background. The Williamsburgian design features the state prominently in a deep red shadow to emphasize the candidate's Republican ties. The single all-caps "Governor" stands out prominently with its two side spears, avoiding any suggestion of a contest "for" governor. The colonial layout evokes patriotic tones similar to Ron Paul's blueprint. It also allows for flexibility to customize the mockup for later niche posters. The absence of any style distinction, though, makes Cuccinelli's flavorless emblem fairly forgettable. And the lack of any slogan or motto means voters won't glean a specific message from the marketing.

Source: Terry McAuliffe For Governor, Daily Kos
McAuliffe's scheme marks a stark contrast to Cuccinelli's. The stylized white, serif-free letters slant upward in a modern pitch on a bold blue canvas. Most striking is the unexpected and clearly intentional green banner. The bright spearmint shade, with no mention of the Democratic Party and no overt logo, seems to position McAuliffe as a nonpartisan choice for an environmentally friendly future. The bold slogan also unequivocally accentuates his business background, rather than his hyper-political past. It's unclear whether voters will be swayed by this attempt at rebranding, and the choice of "Andes Mint" green is somewhat jarring to the eye.

Current polls, by the way, show a tie between the two contestants. As reference points, the winning logos from the recent Virginia candidacies of 2012 Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, 2009 Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, and 2008 Democratic Senator Mark Warner are featured below.

Source: Wikipedia, Republican Express, Kaine For Virginia

Check out our other posts about design and education in elections.

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The Branding Of America

Source: IdeaLaunch
The December spirit of holiday consumerism is once again festooning the airwaves. Storefronts are trumpeting their gift-giving slogans, and email inboxes are overflowing with tantalizing discounts. The current branding bounty makes an interesting sibling to November's election season. One month ago, presidential advertisements waged a similarly irrepressible campaign for our dollars and our votes.

The need for media savvy, therefore, has never been more acute. And coincidentally, our students happen to be working right now on Prezi advertising presentations to create unique logos and slogans for the thirteen colonies. Many recent design projects across the Internet have focused on the branding of America. They offer lively perspectives on the nation's history, as well as keen case studies of graphic artistry. As a whole, they invite viewers to reconsider images that have become so iconic as to be routine. Here are a few of our favorites:

Source: Meg Jannott

Branding The U.S. Presidents


One of the most fascinating projects we've come across in a long time is designer Meg Jannott's personal challenge to imagine a unique brand and logo for each of the nation's 44 presidents. In "Branding The U.S. Presidents," she assembles a surprisingly diverse portfolio of altered graphics and signature fonts. Aside from their visual appeal, her images are great companions to any study of leadership or American history. Her eye for balance in layout and text offers an equally valuable lesson for artists of all ages.

Source: Jared Fanning

The United States Of Football


Students are accustomed to examining reference or thematic maps, but designer and illustrator Jared Fanning has created a cultural map somewhere in between the standard geographic expectations. Fanning takes advantage of what Geography and Earth Sciences Professor Rob Edsall calls "cartographic silences." He deliberately leaves out the standard political boundaries of states and replaces them with patterns of football fandom. In "The United States Of Football," Fanning paints the regional loyalty of teams, complete with "unincorporated territories" for the lands neglected by the NFL's marketing squad. Fanning's map is a great tool for teaching media saturation, financial literacy, and sports branding.

Source: Dollar ReDe$ign Project

Dollar ReDe$ign Project


Compared to many other nations' currencies, the United States dollar is relatively bland. Creative strategy consultant Richard Smith thinks "it's time to rebrand the buck." He has sponsored the Dollar ReDe$ign Project, a yearly competition to reimagine the stale green notes. Smith has collected a stunning array of innovative designs, which he hopes will renew faith in America's economy. We definitely encourage you to check out all of the entries on his site, to appreciate the full scope of his project and the fresh range of monetary blueprints. For students, it's also a tour of eminent Americans who might well deserve a place on a banknote.

Source: Library Of Congress

The Branding Of America


The Library Of Congress has produced a helpful site to let students explore the history of American brands. The product map and teaching resources at "The Branding Of America" explore the entrepreneurial minds and iconic products that have impressed their mark upon the consumer nation. It is a good site for teaching media literacy, as well as a fond trove of American nostalgia.

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Teaching With Logos - Making Branding History

Source: Lava360
We try to layer logos into our daily teaching as much as possible. Not only do they subtly help students become familiar with media literacy, but they also add pizzazz to bland handouts and SMARTboard files. Mostly, we acquaint our kids with logos because they fortify such a range of curricular lessons. Students are already investigating actual insignia of western cattle and heraldic crests. They identify the trademark signatures of John Hancock and Walt Whitman, and the presidential emblems of the 2012 election go a long way toward conveying personalities and messaging. Students also actively need to brand themselves, to take control of their online profiles and their future dossiers.

A terrific introduction to the history of branding comes via the stellar PBS Off Book series. "The Art Of Logo Design" features artistic insights about the evolution of branding, as well as interviews with experts in bygone "marketing." The PBS mini-documentary about Typography also beautifully expresses the basics of visual presentation.


A great activity for all range of age groups is to consider the "Branding Of America - Guess The Name." This fun exercise rewards the conscientious shoppers and the billboard watchers in our classrooms. It also helps our students become more attune to how corporations are targeting young buyers.

For a contemporary survey of creative promotions and crisp designs, we've been watching a 2011 video from the MSc Brand Leadership team at Norwich Business School. Entitled "What Is Branding?", this brief clip elegantly captures the fundamental concepts of graphic communication.


We also recommend two superb galleries of well-curated media literacy and typography examples. For further reading, we suggest the following resources:

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Creativity Killers & Visualizing Different

The Anti-Creativity Checklist is one of those videos that hits home and requires no words to describe its powerful message about how to kill the creative spirit. It was published on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network in March 2010. The creator is Youngme Moon, a Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on the intersection of business, branding, and culture and how it affects marketing and strategy innovation. Perhaps the strongest message is that so many of the points made in the video are reflected in the bureaucratic approach to our current education system and the lack of forward thinking on the part of legislators and administrators to make changes.


The takeaways are clear: if we stick with the list of 14 points, so carefully depicted as a series of patterned statements followed by quotations that emphasize each one, we can systematically kill creativity. Maintaining the status quo is not good enough anymore. Our students need to compete in the marketplace for their future, and it requires us to change tactics to raise innovative and creative kids to be entrepreneurs.

Creativity is a necessity. Students need time to tinker, grapple, and ponder what they are learning to develop their imaginations, artistic abilities, and ingenuity. It's at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy and the key criteria in IBM's 2010 Global CEO Study. Countless other resources, from Ken Robinson's infamous TED talk on schools killing creativity to Tony Wagner's new book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World, support the idea for raising and not killing the creative spirit.  Without it, our kids will have an increasingly difficult time adapting to changes in a fast-paced, growing, complex world.

Source: Architizer
Education needs to differentiate itself from its routine, homogenized view for this century. It needs to be different, because kids learn differently. New schools look like old schools. Big deal, instead of black boards they have interactive whiteboards; most new schools haven’t taken a risk like a new one built in Stockholm designed without classrooms for today's kids. Now that breaks from the norm.

Youngme Moon addresses this, too, in her book, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, about breaking with conformity. Her message:
"Get off the competitive treadmill that's taking you nowhere. Aspire to offer the world something that is meaningfully different-Different in a manner that is both fundamental and comprehensive."
The book trailer Youngme Moon produced for Different captures what it means to think differently in a mesmerizing visualization that in and of itself is creative. The design and clarity of the message to deliver her a point of view remind us of The Value of Visualization video from Column Five. Its straightforward and simplified delivery on being different is a powerful message and one we need to think about as educators.


We need to be forward thinking and not afraid to make the necessary changes for the world of learners we teach now. Technology changed the game rules, and if we don't watch out, we could be out of the game of school.

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The Best Of Underground Branding

Source: Branding 10,000 Lakes
With the school year almost over, we've been looking back at our planbooks, checking what to keep and what to chuck for next fall. It's inspired us to gather together our favorite logos and emblems from our year of teaching media literacy.

All year long, we've urged our students to become branding aficionados. We want them to avoid being duped by artful marketers so they can take ownership of their own social identities. It's helped to have engaging examples of modern logos to spur their interests and reinforce contemporary messaging. Talented designers all over the world are constantly sharing their latest ideas with little fanfare. It's been fascinating to track the evolving work of these innovative graphic artists.

Here are our favorite old and new branding initiatives, created by both individual tinkerers and large conglomerates. Examining these insignia have made for great Monday morning conversations or quick student blog responses. They also provide intriguing models for students themselves to follow in generating their own icons. Our resources page features many easy online tools for creating customized logos.

Branding 10,000 Lakes


Source: Branding 10,000 Lakes

This is not only the coolest branding project we've come across all year, but it's also the epitome of fascinating, niche blogging. Designer Nicole Meyer has promised to create one logo every day for each of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. After 27 years, it will be amazing to see her catalog of quirky, crisp, colorful trademarks. This is a blog we check everyday.

Railroad Company Logo Design Evolution


Source: Christian Annyas

Designer and curator Christian Annyas has collected 100 company logos from 100 years of American and Canadian railroad history. His collection reveals how marketing and printing has transformed over the century, offering a stylistic chronicle of American expansion, industry, and identity.

The Metrocard Project


Source: Melanie Chernock, AIGA

Graphic designer Melanie Chernock undertook an assignment to update the classic (but relatively bland) New York subway Metrocard. She also offers good advice for aspiring artists and thinkers: "Creating the cards is an experimental process - I found that the first few I made were very conventional and as the project progressed became more unusual."

National Park Stamps


Source: Valerie Jar

Valerie Jar created these evocative stamps for the National Parks by National Geographic iPhone app. Clear and iconic, they follow in the National Park tradition of ground-breaking art, established by the WPA travel posters in the 1930s.

The Brooklyn Nets


Source: GOOD

The movement of the NBA New Jersey Nets to the heart of Brooklyn has generated a lot of news here in New York. Following buzz about changes in the stadium plans and about the high-profile team owners, the black-and-white retro redesign of the Nets logo created equal waves among hip urbanites and basketball purists.

Hipster Branding


Source: Hipster Branding

Hipster Branding created these clever redesigns of familiar brands. Simplified and nostalgic, they offer great examples for students to reimagine logos they often take for granted.

Other Resources


Source: I'm Just Creative

Here are some other terrific sites for brands, logos, and visual inspiration:

Also, as we've mentioned before, Logopedia is an invaluable resource of historic logos and their metamorphoses over time.

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Branding The Next Generation

Source: Hyperakt
Brand or be branded. That is the warning for today's students. With mounting digital dossiers, young people are knowingly or unknowingly building online profiles. Born Digital and other publications attest to these growing data footprints, often initiated by parents while their progeny are still in utero. If children do not seize control of their own personal identities in social networks, they will be at the mercy of Facebook timelines and Google trackbacks. Students must brand themselves -- speak, or be spoken for.

"Personal branding" used to be a self-help platitude for acknowledging one's inner magnetism. Now it refers to the way individuals or groups are perceived by the world at large. Each generation, for example, receives a mainstream label based on vaguely defined epochal traits. Today's teens, however, are not easily pigeon-holed. It's no wonder that the amorphous modern IDs of "Generation X" and "Millennials" can't compete with snappy historical monikers like the "Lost Generation" and "Baby Boomers."

Source: Online Graduate Programs and Fast Co.Design
The next cohort of young people will create their own trademarks. Presidential candidates know this power of personal branding in selling themselves to prospective voters. Whether intentional or not, today's students will forever be searchable in defining themselves to future employers and mates. Teachers have always taught students to polish resumes and to practice interview responses. Now, we need to do the same for social media profiles.

Basil C. Puglisi, Executive Director for Digital Brand Marketing Education, argues that social media sites are like dating sites, where a combination of networking and sharing can help shape the persona one puts forward. The Student Branding Blog aims to help young people mold this individual positioning with advice and tools. Nick Nanton, who aids Hollywood stars in defining their celebrity trademarks, notes that "persistence pays" in not being afraid to "reinvent yourself."

Source: Hyperakt
In the vein of reinvention, teachers have lately seen their time-honored brand destroyed by attacks and scapegoating from state politicians. Even without vilification, teachers' "apple" and "ABC" identities have not kept up with modern times. Recently, WNYC's Studio 360 asked design firm Hyperakt to "create a new visual vocabulary that reflects the multidimensional role of the teacher." The initiative noted that:
"Teachers are currently represented by uninspiring, childish visual imagery. Images like apples, chalkboards, and the ABCs neither revere the profession of teaching nor do justice to the intellectual and creative development teachers help guide in students of all ages."
Hyperakt came up with new imagery to evoke connectivity, discovery, and process. The new branding effort envisions teaching as "connecting the dots."

Source: Hyperakt
To teach students about branding, a good place to start is with a brief visual history, including the wool tartan patterns of the 1500s that identified a clan's geographic home and the livestock irons on the 1800s that distinguished cattle ownership. Then, students can try to identify the logos of popular modern companies. Also, students can draw their own logos to "brand" whatever they are studying. For example, they can imagine emblems for historical eras or literary characters. They can devise icons for periodic table elements or Greek gods. This hands-on activity fosters symbolic thinking. Teachers can even brand their own projects and assignments.



A nice primer for students is the video "Personal Branding - What Color Is Your Brand?" from William Arruda at Reach Personal Branding. This easily digestible clip features plenty of nuggets about marketing and color associations. It is perfect for a media literacy lesson or for students to watch before creating their own insignia.

Source: Noupe
Another favorite site is Logopedia, an open-source wiki that features the logo evolutions of thousands of well-known brands. Designs are searchable by name or by theme (such as, "logos with a star"). Noupe magazine also highlights "Creative Brainstorming: 50 Examples Of The Logo Design Process." This terrific visual anthology of doodles, redesigns, and mock-ups can guide students in artistically generating their own ideas. Finally, the kid-friendly lesson "Super Brand," from the New York Times Learning Network, encourages students to trace the evolution of the Super Bowl logo and apply the same principles to creating their own brands.

For tools and websites to create customized student logos, check out our resources page.

Other resources for students include:

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Fun With Fonts or Teaching Typefaces As Tools

Source: Johnson Banks
To many, typefaces may not seem foxy. Teaching about lettering probably assumes a low priority in most classrooms. But font choices can be some of the most critical and overlooked drivers of success in presentations. Our students typically suffer from two polar malaises: they either go font-crazy in choosing the wildest, neon-est, most calligraphic choices possible, or they completely ignore fonts in defaulting to bland, obscure, dark-on-dark presets. Either way, their creations end up difficult to read.

Source: 9GAG
In pamphlets, iMovies, essays, and posters, typefaces can matter a great deal. Fonts can become part of the messaging and design. They become tools for media literacy, in conveying a mood or a brand. The bursting popularity of typography blogs and Pinterest boards makes sense given the visual nature of today's communication. Logos and slogans spread easily these days amid an ad-soaked culture and a cheap dissemination of graphics.

We like to think that our students' yen for elaborate scripts is a testament to their appreciation for design and messaging. Really, they probably just like having a choice in exploring imaginative styles. We've posted before about the link between typography and language, and luckily, teaching about typefaces can be painless. There are plenty of easy tools and games to get kids juiced about picking the right font for the right moment.

Resources:


Source: A Type Primer
In teaching students about fonts, our favorite place to start is "A Type Primer," by John Kane. An extension of his book by the same name, Kane's clean, efficient site offers exercises and explanations to guide anyone in tracing the importance of lettering and line. Scholarly and comprehensive, Kane's resources are intended for anyone to explore at their own pace. Hands-on and practical, his systematic guide offers students a master course in typefaces.

Another useful resource is the "So You Need A Typeface" graphic from Abdul Jaleel Kavungal Kunnumpurath (or abjaleelkk). This flowchart begins with the intended use of a font (logo, book, infographic, invitation, etc.). It then charts various preferences to reach an optimal selection. Part handy resource and part tongue-in-cheek visualization, this illustration would be prime for a 1:1 class bulletin board or tech lab.

Source: abjaleelkk

Games and Tools:


Source: Kern Type
When lessons are over, games can offer fun extensions of learning. Kern Type is a game to teach kids about visual arrangement. "Kerning" refers to the spacing of adjacent letters within a text. Kern Type, also offered as a multi-touch app on the iPad, invites users to nudge and tweak letters to achieve an appealing word spacing.

A whimsical partner is the Google Kerning Trick. If you do a search for "kerning," the programming rascals at Mountain View will change the spaces between the letters of the word "kerning" in all of the results. Check out 17 of the Coolest Hidden Google Tricks for other fun, unrelated Google quirks.

Source: Type Connection
Type Connection, another clever web tool, is billed as a "Typographic Dating Game." Here, students choose a main character to partner with another letter. They then "send them on a date" to see if they can effectively combine fonts into appealing graphic matches. The game offers descriptions of letter shapes and origins. It also asks users whether they want to "rely on family," "seek the similar," "embrace the other," or "explore the past." The site for Type Connection, by Aura Seltzer, features a beautiful layout in its own right.

Source: Identifont
A more subtle resource is the Golden Rule Typography Calculator. Users can discover the perfect typography for their websites by entering the font size, content width, and line height. Identifont also helps designers discover typefaces by revealing the name of an unknown font. Upon encountering an interesting but unfamiliar font, users can search by name, similarity, picture, designer, or question to uncover the hidden identity.

Source: Design Shack
Another funny and surprisingly detailed site for learning font differentiation is "That's Arial Hot Shot: 5 Tricks for Spotting Helvetica in the Wild." Joshua Johnson, editor of Design Shack, offers clear visual tips to distinguish between the two oft-used, oft-mistaken, and deliberately similar typefaces.


Resources and Video:


A remarkable video, dubbed "Arkitypo: the final alphabet," from the Johnson Banks design studio, chronicles 100 years of typefaces. In twirling, evolving animation, the letters slowly evolve to reflect the machine age and the technological march.

Source: Glyphosaurus
A more practical visualization comes from the Boston design firm Upstatement, creator of the new typography app, Glyphosaurus. Combining "glyphs + thesaurus," this steadily expanding resource aims to create a "web database of letters." Like Spelling With Flickr for the design set, this curated collection allows users to select from various real-world designs of the same letter, all maintained by contributors and Upstatement. A beautiful teaser video created by the firm shows an elegant range of letter examples, in vivid colors and designs, artfully set to the tune of "Love Letters" by Nat King Cole. It is worth watching in a quiet moment.



Source: Visual.ly
For more tools and examples of typographic ingenuity, here are some of our favorites:



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