5 minute read
Louise Fili
there is no need for logos due to the heavy focus of typeface and illuminated signs. She concludes that the business with Americans is more based on the newest restaurants while the restaurant industry in places like Italy and France are more centered on the old. Though she is currently still in New York, Louise’s love for Italy’s old practices still drives in how she creates her types and logos. Fili admitted to completely avoiding computers for almost all of her career. She instead uses a tracing pad to work out multiple logos and types. Regarding the overall climate of the food industry with clients and creative freedom Fili is very specific with who she works with and isn’t focused on money. Her passion is in the old fashion which makes it difficult to work with more enterprising businesses. Once they decide to move into a computer generated type Fili simply decides to cut ties. A lthough Fili does not remember her experience at Pantheon completely positively, she attributes it to her current design voice. Pantheon is a company that designs book covers in the new york area. In the 1980s, the inspiration in the company was very centered on the loud and eye-catching. The marketing directors of the company had strict rules on how book covers should attract the reader and the idea of a ‘wrong design’ was still very prevalent (Heller 489) . For Fili’s first assignment, she was given Marguerite Duras’ The Lover. Duras was an unknown artist in the United States compared to her celebabove: an example of the logo design style from Louise Fili Ltd. rity status in France (Logo Geek). The subject matter of the book, a young girl who is infatuated with a Chinese man in an olden age of societal differences, is seen to not be as promising in selling, which leads to the company giving Louise the book for her first solo proj- ect as an art director (Heller 487). To the company’s dismay, Fili’s interpretation of the book was not as flashy as the title would imply. In fact, she described it as a purposely contrasting form
Lto the implications of the title’s contents. The font chosen by Fili was thin and straight across and the overall cover was a basic picture with a circle frame and fade. She jokingly remembers the words of a colleague “You are lucky. My editors have bad taste; yours have no taste.”(Heller 489). These types of comments did not bother Fili. Once the book was released it was a hit and took off better than the publication house had expected. When Fili F speaks about it now it’s very playful. On the Food Seen podcast, she laughs when it is brought up, stating that she believes she proved her point. After The Lover, Fili went on to do over 2,000 book covers under Pantheon and inspire her colleagues around her to try new rules regarding what is marketable in the book cover world. Louise Fili lives her life based on doing what she loves. Despite her comedic and carefree attitude her experience and intellect backs up her experimental attitude and proves that there is no wrong way to market. Though she has a lot of rules for her employees, her core beliefs can always be found back at the root of her inspiration: Italy. Fili along with her husband, Steven Heller, have published over 3 books about graphic design, including her love letter to Italian cuisine. In her free time, Fili has also operated as a professor teaching graphic design students all she knows and passing the torch to future creators. She even has a Skillshare where she posts videos about getting creatively motivated and finding inspiration for design. For her contributions to the design world, Fili has won several medals and distinctions. Currently through her own studio, Louise Fili ltd., Louise Fili continues to fill our world with color, creativity, and the feeling of Italy.
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Writing about famous typographer, Claude Garamond, Adrian Frutiger says “I am sure in some years from now you will see new posters with just white space and four lines in Garamond”. Claude Garamond was a typeface founder, pun cutter, and publisher in the sixteenth century. There are a quick a few things about Garamond that are very amusing, like his biography, famous typefaces, historical information, interesting facts are just some of the things to learn about Claude Garamond. The first thing to know about him is his background. Here is some basic information about Claude Garamond. He was born in 1480 in Paris, France and died in 156. “Starting out as an apprentice punch cutter Claude Garamond quickly made a name for himself in the typography industry” (Harrigan 6). Based on historical records, Garamond was a successor in his field of study. Were he alive today, he would have been financially secure. In his lifetime, Garamond was the first type founder to sell their punch cuts. He had one financial success during his life, but it was early on in his career, far before his death. “When he died, his widow was forced to sell his punches, and his typefaces were scattered throughout Europe” (Harrigian 8). His widow had no choice but to sell what punches and typefaces Garamond had left to help with the finances. Though his biography is quite fascinating, the information about his famous typefaces is remarkably interesting. Garamond created many typefaces during his career. In fact, he created so many that he was eventually approached by a fellow member of the printing community, Robert Estienne. “In 1530 Garamond’s first type was used in an edition of a book by Erasmus… In 1530 Robert Estienne,… approached Garamond to order a roman font” (Ramano 1). Another font that Garamond created was the Grec Du Roi. King Françis I asked Garamond to invent a Greek-style cut font and, following the king’s instructions, the Grec Du Roi type was born. Grec du Roi was created for the king’s own personal use. King Francis I ended up using this font for printing small books that Estienne had written. Garamond created some amazing typefaces, and the historical facts behind each of them is a fascinating element to explore. There is little historical information to learn about Garamond. After his typefaces were left neglected for years, a nineteenth-century printing office longed to possess their own unique font and luckily stumbled across Garamond’s. Soon, several typeface creators began to make their own casts of Garamond fonts. “But it was only after the First World War that… really picked up… Suddenly every type foundry started producing its own version of Garamond” (Loxley 50). American Type Founders, Frederic Goudy, Monotype, and Linotype were just a few of the companies that created their own version of Garamond’s typeface. Out of all of those that