Godfather of Helvetica, Mike Parker Dies at 84

When we hear Helvetica, the normal person might associate it with the standard Grotesque font that is packaged with every Windows or Mac OS (among hundreds of applications). When a typographer hears Helvetica, they think of one of, if not the most technically sound type system designed in the past century.

Originally designed in 1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland, dubbed “Neue Haas Grotesk” was a colab between geniuses Max Miedinger with Eduard HoffmannParker and his team took Haas‘s original drawings and began reworking them to work on Linotype‘s machines. The modified design eventually became known as Helvetica.

Under his leadership, more than 1,000 typefaces, including Helvetica, were added to the company’s library, which became an industry standard and helped guide the type landscape from hot metal, to photocomposition, and finally to digital printing.

“It is not a letter that’s bent to shape; it’s a letter that lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space, it’s — oh, it’s brilliant when it’s done well.”
—Mike Parker

Sources: CNN, FastCo

Diablo III Fan Art Contest

Whenever they have a design contest on deviantart.com, you know you are going to see some sick stuff. And with the Diablo III Fan Art Contest, I’m postitive that we’re going to see creatively creepy stuff, especially for a 2 night trip to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA to meet the artists and developers of Diablo III! and $5,000 cash, not to mention a bunch of other stuff. So if you think you have what it takes to compete with the big dog illustrators, enter here.

Sony’s Music Timeline of Type – Celebrating 125 Years!

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Gangnam Style Live on NBC’s Today Show

Surprisingly, I’ve gained new respect for this dude, he really gets the crowd into it! Check it out!