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Category: art (page 1 of 6)

Daniel font rundown, November 2015

I love getting to show examples of my fonts. There are so many great creative people using it.

Wow — it seems my handwriting is the font for French soul singer Vitaa. Check out her YouTube channel. Thanks to Jordane Poilvilain for the props!

And not only that: the Daniel font is being used for Silver Lining coffee in Korea. Patrick shares their story:

A friend of mine in Korea recently had to move a coffee shop she has owned for several years because the neighborhood is getting too ‘hip’ and the landlord doubled her rent. She and her husband aren’t in to making profit, the enjoy helping people, roasting good coffee, and making a comfortable space to enjoy community.  They didn’t feel good raising the price of her coffee to compensate, so they left and opened a new shop in a less ‘hip’ neighborhood, and called it Silver Lining in honor of the situation.

Give them a look, if you’re over in that area.

I got a note from Joe Boyle of Joe Boyle Photography. He says:

I just wanted to thank you for allowing people to use your fonts! I’m super thankful! I wanted to send you a link of what I created with your font – it’s just a phone case for iPhones and Droids. I’m selling it from society 6….

Here is the link for the phone case: http://society6.com/product/rocks-in-the-stream_iphone-case#9=195&52=377

This one’s from Claudia Hall Christian.

I just saw your note at DaFont about letting you know what it’s used for.
I found Daniel when I was wrapping up the production for the Alex the Fey thrillers. Since then, I’ve used it to depict her handwriting. It’s also in the banner – Alex the Fey.
Thank you for creating the font. I picked it because the “A” looks like a greek delta which is the symbol for heat or change. This character changes lives — in the books and of readers.

Andrea Landauer has used the Daniel font in a sci-fi relationship sim game, “Our Personal Space“, and Kitty has used it in her game, “Sabotage“.

Meanwhile, Manuela Pinho is using it in the logo for her line of accessories. Give her a look and see what it’s about.

There sure are a lot of creative people out there! If you’re one, and you want me to feature your Daniel-font-related stuff, send me an email! (Link is up top.) And of course, you can always download all my fonts from the Page of Fontery. Thanks, everyone.

Daniel font rundown: World traveller edition

Stephan Wagner is using the Daniel font to show his travels all over the world. It gives his site a cool ‘diary’ feel.

I’m a sucker for books that use Yataghan, and here Pete Mahr has used it to psychotically good effect on his eBook festival. Get it here.

Josh Work loves the Daniel Black font, and he’s included it as a watermark on his wonderful photographs. Head over to his Flickr page and check them out. But where’s the text? It’s in the lower right-hand corner of every picture. With his keen eye, he’s reduced the opacity until it’s nothing but a whisper, easy to spot if you’re looking for it, but not distracting if you’re not. 
Find and download all my fonts on the Page of Fontery. Thanks to everyone who keeps using them, and if you’ve made something great, let me know and you might see your work here!

Daniel font rundown: Artistic edition!

More people are using the Daniel font in a variety of creative endeavours.

Looks like I’m not the only one who uses my handwriting on cartoons. There’s also Bianca, who uses the Daniel font on her toons at Pushing Buttons. They’re funny!

Marianne has featured Daniel Bold on her site ‘apnea me‘, and boy, does it ever look tranquil. Watch out — you could float away, looking at this.

Artist Michelle Abernathy has used the font in a painting. She says:

About the piece: the title is Liquid-Gold, in acrylic on canvas. I am an advocate for physiological breastfeeding and this piece is all about how I felt nursing my oldest daughter and also about some of the amazing components in breastmilk. Now that she has a sister, I plan on doing a continuing piece to make a series.

Update: The series is done, and has been exhibited. Here are the artist’s comments.

Liquid-Gold II

Acrylic

A depiction of my 2nd daughter, my current nursling.  The largest words describe my own thoughts and feelings about our nursing relationship, which has been surprisingly different from the first. The middle-sized words describe her personality as a nursling, as well as obstacles we faced or events unique to her. The smallest words are some of the awesome properties that scientists currently, and even very recently, have found in breast milk.

Double Gold

Acrylic

This painting pictures a unique nursing relationship, one very much less common in the Western world. The tandem nursing relationship. It captures one of my favorite aspects: sisters learning to love and share. The largest words describe some of my thoughts and feelings about tandem nursing, which has been quite a mixed bag. The middle-sized words describe the benefits of tandem nursing. And the smallest words describe the benefits of nursing a toddler/young child.

The Liquid Gold Series

Acrylic

Congratulations, and well done!

And elsewhere in the visual arts, Vincent Steenhoek shows the Daniel font in a theatrical work, where the words are projected onto the stage. Vincent was the video designer, and Alex Tintore is the photographer. I love it. Watch how the layers of type converge to make a garbled, almost suffocating wall of text.

Wow — thanks to all you creative people. I’m glad to be a part of your scene.

If you’ve used the Daniel font somehow, send me a photo or scan — email’s up the top — and you might see yourself here. You can always download my fonts from the Page of Fontery.

Daniel font rundown

My fonts are being used by some very creative people these days! Here are the highlights.

Here’s a logo that uses Daniel Black. It’s for the Red Mosquito Raceway, and it looks mighty sharp. (Geddit?) Nice work from Angela Panzica.

http://cargocollective.com/angelapanzica/Red-Mosquito-Raceway
https://www.facebook.com/red.mosquito.332

Ever wished you had an easy way of creating graphics in the ubiquitous Daniel font? Wish no more; the future is here. Thanks to Ryan Coons of RC Web Development.
http://fun.rcwebdev.co.uk/basicsgenerator/

And now a couple of books: First, it’s One Big Beautiful Thing by Marie Flanigan, cover art by Kristin.

Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/One-Big-Beautiful-Thing-ebook/dp/B00CM9K0PC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367517434&sr=8-1&keywords=one+big+beautiful+thing

Then there’s Vittoria Serena Dalton, who has used the Yataghan font to great effect on the cover of her book Unchanged: La Catena della Morte.

Here’s her GoodReads page. Scroll down for the book trailer. ¿Books got trailers now? Who knew.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7104386.Vittoria_Serena_Dalton

For the rest of you who aren’t using my fonts, what’s stopping you? Certainly not the price, because they’re all freeeee from the Page of Fontery.

And if you’ve made something cool, send me an image! Email at upper right.

Talk the Talk: Navajo

As language preservation efforts go, I think this one’s a keeper. Star Wars is getting the Navajo treatment. Or should I say Diné? because that’s what its speakers call it.

But there’s something even better than Star Wars — there’s also verbs. Yeah, there’s some really intense verb stuff going on. And then to round everything out, I bring up the Code Talkers. A fun show.

One-off show: Here
Subscribe via iTunes: Here
Show notes: HereShow tunes:

‘El Caminos in the West’ by Grandaddy
from the album Sumday

‘Western Eyes’ by Portishead
from the album Portishead

Best music of 2012

Best EP
Young North by The Paper Kites

I confess: I have fallen in love with the Paper Kites. This unassuming but talented band from Melbourne has discovered the heart of folk in a way I haven’t heard since the Lilac Time (who Sam, the lead singer, had never heard of). But the comparisons are obvious. Same gentle bucolic folk, right? Same iconography, right? It’s not just me, is it?

I was in for a surprise in concert though. Much as I was expecting a Lilac vibe, I began to get a strong Fleetwood Mac vibe. Which is funny, because halfway through their set, they busted out ‘Dreams’.

Here’s the video for ‘A Maker of My Time’. Listen for the quiet bit near the chorus. There are three chords, and they keep that F# ringing throughout. That makes it. It’s perfection. I haven’t felt anything like that since the Icicle Works.

They’re working on their first full album. I’m already calling it the best album of 2013.

Best Electronic Album
Smalhans by Lindstrøm

Lindstrøm has never been shy about going for the 80s synth cheese, but there’s something more going on here. More mathematical. I don’t want to invoke Bach because Bach is totally different, but as an example, check out this track “Fāār-i-kāāl”. Beyond the incredible joyousness of it all, there’s a method to it. The bass line just keeps climbing up and ever up in an unusual seven-part pattern, like a spiral staircase. Even so, watch out for that choir coming down. It’s upbeat, yet meticulous and precise. Never boring — he knows how to mix things up.

Second place: Pink by Four Tet

I really enjoyed the new Four Tet. Where “There is Love in You” was hiccupy, this is smooth and enjoyable.




Best Album by a Band With “Bear” in Their Name
Shields by Grizzly Bear

This album beat out all other bear bands, including Boy and Bear, Minus the Bear, and Bear in Heaven.




Most Interesting Story Behind an Album
SSSS by VCMG

VC is Vince Clarke, and MG is Martin Gore. Yes, that Vince and that Martin.

Daniel Miller describes it thus:

Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode after the first album and subsequently didn’t have much contact with the rest of the band. But about a year ago he emailed Martin Gore out of the blue and just asked if he fancied making a techno record. And that was it.

This is the album that my teenaged self would have squealed over, but he probably would have been disappointed because it doesn’t sound like Depeche Mode or Erasure. My older self thinks that’s just fine.

But how does it sound? Like this.


Best Jazz Album
Further Explorations by Chick Corea

The title is a play on Explorations, an album by legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans. The set features bassist Eddie Gomez and the late drummer Paul Motian, who both played with Evans back in the day, so this is an extra-special treat.


Best Song
“Offspring Are Blank” by The Dirty Projectors
from Swing Lo Magellan

I can’t stop listening to this amazing track. The opening throat-clearing serves as punctuation, setting you up for what’s to come: soaring vocal harmonies and jagged rock. Just when you expect a blast of electric guitar, you get acoustic. Then it all comes crashing down in the best possible way.



Best Ambient
LUX by Brian Eno

At last! Another ambient album from Eno. Suitable for play in your favourite airport, library, or cathedral. Soak it up.

Better still, open this in two windows, and play sections from both at the same time.

Best Artist I Missed Last Year
Helios

Since I’m such a fan of electronic ambient music, it’s surprising I hadn’t discovered Helios. I can’t pick out any particular album; one, because they’re so similar in texture, and two, because they’re all great.

Here. I picked this song at random.

Hold the phone: Keith Kenniff from Helios has made his new album ‘Moeity’ available for free on the Unseen Music website. There are also some beautiful interpretations of Boards of Canada songs. Go get them all, and make a donation.

Best Album
Bloom by Beach House
Lonerism by Tama Impala

Both my picks for best album have a lot in common. They’re both transportive in their own way. They’re both easy to listen to. And they both follow on from a previous album that was remarkably similar in tone and in some respects slightly better.

Tame Impala’s Lonerism has earned a lot of love on top 10 lists this year, and deservedly so. The best albums (and movies and books) are like a place you want to visit again and again, and that’s true for Lonerism. You find yourself wondering why someone didn’t write this before, or have they?

But I can’t give Lonerism the nod for Best Album for a couple of reasons: first, Innerspeaker was better (which isn’t a very good reason). And second, the songs on Lonerism seem more like half-thought-out ideas, dressed in Tame Impala’s wonderful signature sound. (Which is a pretty good reason.) Whereas every track on Innerspeaker was a revelatory composition, the tracks on Lonerism are just really great tunes. Still great summer listening.

The new Beach House album doesn’t differ markedly from 2010’s Teen Dream, and that’s a good thing. They don’t have to make the same album over and over, but I hope they don’t ever change. It’s just a beautiful ride.

What did I miss? What should I be listening to? Put your picks in comments.

The clothes were cool though.

I just watched ‘Miracle on 34th Street’. It was an eye-opening experience for me because I’d never seen it before, and it’s such a well-loved and admired film and… it sucked. Zeus, it sucked. It was really a terrible movie, and not just because of its leaden plot.

There’s this woman. She’s successful at her job, she has a daughter, and she divorced, which must have been pretty groundbreaking for the time. But even better, she’s really rational and skeptical. She’s committed to raising her daughter without lying to her about Santa Claus. Okay, she takes it a little far by also not reading fairy tales to her child, but even the rational among us sometimes wonder about the effects of fiction on kids.

Anyway, she’s doing great, and then over the course of the film, her rational worldview is undermined by Frank, a nice but woolly-headed lawyer, and Kris, a delusional geriatric. Frank tells her “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.” And by the end of the film (during which time the action has shifted completely over to the men and off of her), when Frank proves that Kris is really Santa Claus, she says, “I never really doubted you. It was just my silly common sense.”

The fuck did I just watch?

Talk the Talk: Banned Books Week

We’ve been on quite a civil liberties thing lately, first with Blasphemy Day, and now with Banned Books.

I was all set to read some of Lady Chatterley’s Lover on air, but we didn’t get time. Even so, I think we would have tried it if someone had phoned in requesting it. It would have been good as a kind of readers’ theatre, with Jess as Lady Chatterley, and me as Oliver. On second thought, that might have been awkward.

One-off show: Here
Subscribe via iTunes: Here
Show notes: Here

Daniel font: The latest

I love seeing what people do with the ‘Daniel’ font. And here’s the latest:

Yvette from Unlimited People Coaching has placed it smack in the middle of their masthead, where it looks very fine.

Joseph Thiéry has featured it in his new e-book.

And if it’s fun you’re after, try it in the new app ‘Meany Birds‘. Good reviews, I see.

You can download the ‘Daniel’ font and feature it in your own projects on the Page of Fontery.

And if you’re a fan of the Daniel font, but you want a little more refinement, there’s good news: I’m working on retooling the font from top to bottom.

But what madness is this? I’ve also added Greek and Cyrillic support! 

I’ve never written in Greek! I don’t even know from Greek. Am I crazy? Perhaps! I’m so crazy, I just might add IPA support before I’m done.

It’ll be finished when it’s finished. But I thought you’d like to know.

Talk the Talk: Logos

Poor Big Tobacco. That nasty old government is trying to control their trademarks in an effort to stop them from killing more and more of us, and making billions in the process. How do they stand it? With a lawsuit, that’s how. Like I couldn’t hate tobacco companies more.

There’s currently no word on how the lawsuit went, but in the meantime, you can listen to this episode of Talk the Talk, in which I talk to Joe Cassidy about logos, logo evolution, and the ownership of symbols.

And this is the last episode with Joe! He’s moving out of Perth to work on editing a regional weekly newspaper. We on the Talk wish him all the best, and we fear for the future. Of course, we’re in good hands with Stacey Gougoulis for the next few weeks, and he’s always a lot of fun.

One-off show: Here
Subscribe via iTunes: Here
Show notes: Here

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