snippets

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seminar participants

peter bain

ernest bernhardi

jason dilworth

an enjoyable struggle

alex egner

maria fabrizio

feifei fan

bret hansen

carissa henriques

meena kahlili

eric karnes

so hee kwon

hye jin park

joshua reese

allison schumaker

murphy zhang


snippets: experiments in visible language and typography visual communication seminar spring, 2009

graphic design department virginia commonwealth university instructor: rob carter

begin now the process of scribbling down gems blurted by your grandmother, the server in the restaurant, the menu, the overheard comment of a stranger. jot down irresistible blurbs from books you are reading, movies you are viewing, the newspaper, the news station. be aware of the flood of visual ephemera surrounding you and extract idiomatic and enigmatic phrases that are strangely mundane and weirdly sublime. by the end of the semester you will have collected an abundance of snippets, hundreds in fact, a collection of signs reflecting contemporary culture.

on a weekly basis, make one or more typographic explorations based on your collection of snippets, discover new connections between form and content (syntactics and semantics). challenge your current methods and practices; fearlessly seek to break rules, to walk a thin line between success and failure. develop and expand your typographic voice. lead the way in expanding the role and potential of typographical language.

easy plateau

the internet will provide primary resources for the seminar. each participant is responsible for researching, identifying, and sharing discovered resources that take the form of web sites, on-line articles, blogs, etc. nothing is too obscure. these findings will serve as our seminar “textbook,� offering contexts and departure points for discussions and critiques.


peter bain

rated PG-13

the task of sharing

leaves less room for lies

truth becomes discourse

3

last semester is a total freakout no matter what


4

move on + move forward he knew he was talking to himself he did not stop type through a sheet of melting ice / richmond, va / outside temp -11째 C /

jason dilworth the imagination is a process

2009_1_16 / 23:29


a day is like a thousand years Gridnick

time feels like a tyrant Why is bad taste ubiquitous?

eric karnes 5

drawing is everyone's first language Pretty dirty

what’s he building in there? tech noir

this is today type specimens


ernest bernhardi

time gets thinner and thinner and thinner murphy zhang

truth is just a collection of stories and lies

most people

bad nights lead to better days

murphy zhang

I'm having a chicken crisis

you'll miss what is ahead if you keep looking back

6

it's dependence from England

I'll see you when I see you

hard candy


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an enjoyable

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Chinese C hinese ch character aracter 臼 臼,, jio jiong, ng, is patterned orr description off a as p atterned window window o description o s br ight a the light light peering peering from from bright ass the The outside ou tside the the window. window. Th e original original off Jiong used now. meaning m eaning o Jiong is rrarely arely u sed n ow. IItt is nowadays nowadays widely widely used used on on the the IInternet nternet as an an emoticon emotico con representing represe s nting not weird w eird moods, moods, such such as as do n ot want, want, shock, orr dramatic... Since 2007 Jiong sh ock, o dramatiic... S ince 2 007 7, Ji ong widely used Mainland China, Hong is w idely u sed iin n Mai M nland C hina, Ho ng Taiwan. piece, Kong K ong and and Ta aiwan. IIn n tthis his pie ce, I rrepeat epeat 臼"to 臼" to fo fform rm the the w word ord life, life f , impling i pling 臼" im 臼"is i is ever y where iin n our our llife, ife, C oncrete P oetr y everywhere Concrete Poetry here. theor y is applied applied h ere. 臼臼臼臼臼臼臼 臼 theory 臼 臼 臼 臼

feifei fan

do your children know their phone number?

you smell like syrup

poor kids eat breakfast at school crack babies: the epidemic that wasn't peanut plant was cited for violations the myth of rampant teenage promiscuity

life is jiong

carissa henriques

7

alex egner

the empty promised land

cheating for bikes Entertainers are phonies!

an enjoyable struggle

double moist molesting his keyboard

maria fabrizio 100% evil


how many stadium pals were in use amongst a crowd that size? 8 he did the only thing a sane man can do in a case like this

The Japanese girl

?

bret hansen

back

volcano

who jumped into the

to make it trying

,

she

was

the japanese girl who jumped into the volcano the awfulness of billy joel love for the common people

it's virtually leak free

contempt thesis


the crazy spiritual odyssey of ol' dirty bastard 9 sugar and spice

mcdonald's is loving this recession fictional moldovan soccer phenom

meena kahlili gearshift movie ...will struggle if he has no corporeal being

family record

like a fluffy ball of yarn


10 allison schumaker

we were their sons. it was our job to love them so hee kwon hye jin park

paradise remembered the rare occurrence of the expected student-teacher hook-up epidemic

what big pants?

a nagging fear

to experience is to learn

objects in the mirror

the blue widow

joshua reese

goof balls mean death

we want to help you, detroit

duties, pleasures and conflicts palmsize april wind

Do a common thing uncommonly well

nothing could be smoother pursuit type

kill all flies! they spread disease for men of modern proportions


you have to exercise rebellion


danger is his actual middle name


tolerance and curiosity hitting the right note

eyes fixed on the horizon eyes fixed on the horizon fuzzy front-end the last stocks standing did you hear? they dropped the new gotham. . .three weights Scatterplot!

so fresh and so clean. typographic sin mile markers seem to call my name and say, "you're safer now�

ignored beauties

joshua reese

we want to help you, detroit

garbage does not lie

the listener can ultimately become is his own composer looters

help beautify junkyards: throw something lovely away today 13 kickin' it old school


14

the safety of objects

peter bain

"the scripture tells us [hear, oh israel,

in a voice of fire in a voice of glaciers in a voice of sand

the lord is our god; the lord is one.] and you are loving to everyone you have made


more less than more feminine marvelous & tough

birthday pants

birthday shirt

sex with strangers

birthday book meena kahlili

15


a great big bipartisan love fest

the gates of 'yes'

carissa henriques

bret hansen

sugar, alcohol and meat s

school boys keep it up all night i loved every lead-laced second of it

blue ribbon lawyers a thimble - a signifying symbol we could be like some virginia woolf couple that don't want to be together no more uh-oh! plutonium!

it's like living In the middle of the ocean 16


grade A fancy

allison schumaker 17

all wool and a yard wide


if looks could kill, i'd be 6 feet underground cookies and music how are your eyebrows? big dog. little porch cornflower blue is slummin' it in the 64-pack

18 reading A Small Book Meant For A Large Field / richmond, VA / 10째 C / 2009_1_23 / 11:23

jason dilworth

a small book meant

for a large field


19

jogging in place!: as in watch what the f#*k! i am doing, I AM JOGGING IN PLACE! i have never actually been to the library

it’s better

joshua reese

leak free

alex egner

eye connection

murphy zhang

fated to pretend

joshua reese

ernest bernhardi

churn burn yearn

apple polisher basin state chin music discovery every tub should stand on its own bottom forty miles from nowhere gee whiz haul in one's horns it never rains but it pours june grass know enough to go in when it rains lizard face make eyes nothing but trouble one damned thing after another pure as gold


20

used cars eric karnes


why am I wearing red? there is no reason


it is so simple


speaking in tongues

this is the place

up and about

vernal

hye jin park

23

word of wisdom

x's and o's

place is deeply imprinted on the soul

filled

so hee kwon

everyone can understand them, perhaps not intellectually, but from experience


zion obama

rush the season

you've got another guess coming

feifei fan 24


fitting service available

eric karnes

25

declare independence

where i am from

Declare IndependenceDeclare


truth is just a collection of stories and lies maria fabrizio

obamaeffect

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more than 50 plant species have been named for him, and he was one of the world's leading experts on bromeliads, the plant family to which the pineapple belongs

26

the dead speaketh

to do things like download songs and send text messages fuzzy conundrum danger is his actual middle name!

murphy zhang

exotic bird

Roof Ducks

Frac Trucks

did you hear the mouse dragging the bag of marbles around the house last night?


allison shumaker

arrivederci

27

random acts of onomatopoeia

travel is play

you have to exercise rebellion to refuse to take the rules to see every day, every year, as a challenge

hye jin park

to refuse your own successes

to live your life on a tight rope


mi llamo

the cold barfies government mandated digital transformation 100% pure organic technology

every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it

28

did he realize he was going to die?

carissa henriques

experimental typography

injured?

alex egner to break the rules, one must have a clear understanding of the rules they are breaking. this statement has always bothered me, for some unknown reason

explorative typography

exploitive typography


i’m open

murphy zhang

as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font the rules of typography are not that grounded ignorance maybe bliss, but intentional avoidance is blisser from type radio to live life on the edge

`

29

fraktur typefaces will be more frequently requested by customers be conscious of excessive bubble wrap. hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. [originally as] sent from my iPhone dramaturg: oliver conant 354 west 45th street, NYC either way we are definitely (if not extremely) interested! developing contemporary craft-based industries around bamboo deicing pad thirty-five years prepaid ticket black clothing from these data you may vote for four (4) candidates only from these data, binary fonts for the end-user are compiled as the last step in the font production process


30

the frailties of the equipment


subtle power of stereotypes


don't mourn quite yet for books


33

structure must be specific

maria fabrizio

josh reese

transit advocates held a mock funeral warmer climate also is causing expansion of the ocean miley gives up her porsche long derided as a game that rarely lives up to its hype terrible towels if not, we may wait until fall chruchmarketingsucksdotcom grand urban rules de quoi suis-je responsable en tant que graphiste ? of what am I responsible as a graphic designer? hockey-loving overlords

like za riddle

hyejin park


my soiled teenage girlfriend

confirmed for American and European release

clusterfuck

34

everything must right its course

the value of life has changed

joshua reese

who doesn’t like a good ambigram?

1. experiment

3. scientific comparison 2. evaluation to see if experiment successful


meena kahlili

it provides an official channel through which the person can be approached garbage does not lie so fresh & so clean meena kahlili

imagination is a process maria fabrizio

35

allison shumacher

in 9 of 20


peter bain more than 50 plant species have been named for him, and he was one of the world's leading experts on bromeliads,

36 the pineapple belongs

the plant family to which


jason dilworth

ignorance is bliss

capturing falling letterforms on three sheets of canson paper / richmond, VA / -3째 C / 2009_2_05 / 19:42

i can't wait to shop for panties that have more square footage than a pool cover! 37


jason dilworth avoiding any sort of acknowledgment is blisser

four hundred univers characters + fan + 1 sheet of canson paper / richmond, VA /-3째 C / 2009_2_5 / 22:56

rushes season at belle isle

rushes season at belle isle / richmond, VA / 5째 C / 2009_1_25 / 15:25

after splash, nerves, and comedy i think i may need a bathroom break? is this possible? a mirror with a memory equidistant lines that never meet midnight cowboy inauguration mugs spiritual path to sobriety the myth of rampant teenage promiscuity no longer listed as "single"

38


bret hansen

moving targets

39

"place" is deeply imprinted on the soul

still waters run deep

for me, a travel is play

key to success

nsa fun (no strings attached fun)

a strange abstract space becomes a meaning-filled, concrete place

i have vague left-wing sympathies if you can dream, you can do it

joshua reese


new york joshua reese

success is not final, failure is not final: it is the courage to continue that counts 40 the best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart


i braved designer scorn


a great big bipartisan love fest


“designing Design"

cutting teeth

43

no man is an island

this is your signal

a scratch in the cd

we guarantee the quality of this product

in 1984, i was hospitalized for approaching perfection

almost cut my hair

go cry on someone else's shoulder


addict the worst prison would be a closed heart

ernest bernhardi

better late than never

tall ! decaf ! cappuccino!

monkey!?

44

success is not the key to happiness

that's all

if you love what you are doing, you will be successful

a traditional watch shows a 'landscape', it tells a story; a digital watch only shows a particular moment


what a git i am the ride dust my broom you can't call it cheating, because she reminds me of you there are only two things in life, but i forget what they are midnight cowboy

tiny mouse architects

jason dilworth

cu of poster series for the mouse architects / richmond, VA /-8째 C / 2009_2_5 / 20:54

coming at me like torpedoes

45

maria fabrizio


the year of the ox a rugged paradise moral de- and reconstruction money for nothing mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

ernest bernhardi

they speak in a different way

a soul blackened

hyejin park

46

we are tormented by noise of various kinds


maria fabrizio

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T unk!

collard greens, but damn if they aren't good for you

put your junk in your trunk!

feifei fan

a very self-deprecating humor

eight Is enough

it's not easy

47

sohee kwon

and Filling late and or paying late.

peter bain

target 2030 for carbon neutral buildings

filing late and/or paying late


o

john 8:44

could not open

ao are f Dvil evil vil

cutting teeth

ernest bernhardi

joshua reese

i'm out of gas

re u yo

o

t

the devil r father your u fa e

he t a t

what's old may be new

did anyone tell you how to gracefully joshua reese disappear in a room?

cos me t i cs

48

feifei fan

cosmetics


49

if anyone calls, i'm not here waste makes haste and, or

sohee kwon what a mess

not exactly


hyejin park 50

the connection between two smart energy

i don't want your apology – i want you to be sorry

so, help me God!


i always believe you!


based on the votes of children


stars barely, but still orion

bret hansen

53

words i can't take back wings so denied the fragile, eggshell mind

into this world we're thrown mark of the beast the tone has changed


a drop of cream, a good scream, a new year i'm out of gas free, but without a home

the idiot on my shoulder anything else? it's always warm somewhere

P

T E

Petit I

T

petit

i'll provide the caveat sunken lust it was there in her arms, he let his cautiousness slip

54

feifei fan


at the age of three I cut off my pigtails. viva la revolution presently in the past shaping our tools after they've shaped us

tragic beauty

anemic typography

meena kahlili a cool, jeweled moon

55

gangling neural nooks


christine...not coffey

anyone who can mix slaughter and screwdrivers is a genius-The Boston Herald ernest bernhardi

not only have we spoken in same pace but also in same language 56 strange stones make the neighbor jealous-really really jealous


post-modern modernism cctv says sorry for the fireworks 57

murphy zhang things which are very, are every thing

neither coming or going


58

design won’t save the world

the life/death loop/circle thing the fire didn't scream "symbolism" advancing in space colloquiums at floyd simply sophomoric wait, we're studying what's been done we're moving backwards towards the middle ages the parachute scene falling on a beautiful day bleeding balls at basle thick words resonating to the edge of ears african drumbeat scores

peter bain


type blocks and strings of sequence a layer of music picking the perfect scene to experience the interior minister of form the topography of experience economic tsunami elephant upstairs blagojevich sample sale new york is like being born again hairy candy cigarette tax

carissa henriques

chubby chasers

58

all night I lay on my pillow and pray for my boss to stop me in the hallway, lay my head on his shoulder and say, “son, I've been hearing good things�


lead to better days 60

maria fabrizio if you sold me an egg, i could give you a chicken great people know great people

lead to better days ys what's the use of being legible, when nothing inspires you to take notice of it?


i'm sorry I ever filled the sugar bowl with salt


you tear yourself apart


alex egner the value of living has changed

i didn't vote for the S.O.B.

can’t walk under it

let’s climb up it

63

savignon fierce, freaking out

we were shooting at a mountain of dirt


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