Type Holiday

Some of the type related gifts I received this year included an ampersand "shadowbox" display,  distressed letterpress magnets, cufflinks, a paintable ampersand, and the book "Just My Type;" such thoughtful gifts that I truly appreciate.

Honda Fit: Modified

Modded out and ready for the rough stuff!

Pantone: On Sale and Knocked Off

Pantone iPhone covers on sale in NYC . . . 

and the knockoff ‘RickyColor’ Pantone-inspired design.

Seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

This metal letterpress block was given to me by my father-in-law. A perfect gift!

For size comparison, I have it beside the wood block ampersand my son gave to me.

Lost Type Term? Pop'd Kerns

When I spotted these the other day when I was grocery shopping, they struck me as so funny. Is this a lost and cryptic typographic term? I can almost hear one of my instructors at AIP stating that, "Jim, you've really pop'd the kern there between the letters A and V!"

Real definition of kerning can be found here.

So when you open the bag, is it overwhelmingly visually pleasing and this is due to the spacing between the individual snack items? Is this a way to get children to learn about negative space; "Sally and Jason, quit messing with the kerning and finish already!"

What do you see? Cow Sodium!

Cow Sodium it is!

BONUS POINTS: The font is SantaSanta Fe Regular

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/santa-fe/santa-fe/glyphs.html

What do you see?

So, at first glance, what do you read?
Send me your answer in the Comments below.

This is an unretouched snippet of a photo taken of a product label.
BONUS POINTS: Name the font. I'll post the answer August 9th.

Pantone® Vanity Plate

To Have and ‘Haev’ Not

With apologies to Ernest Hemingway, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, and Lauren Bacall.

SORM

After 34 years, the offset press Heidelberg SORM at Penn State Multimedia & Print Center was retired. Acquired on May 14, 1979, she was a single color press, and had made 83,755,238 impressions by June 19th, 2013. The last job run was a publication for the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) held at Penn State. If you look closely on some of the photos, you can see one of the plates for that job was still hung on the press.

We salvaged some parts to use on our Heidelberg Z-press, and what remained was taken to Lion Surplus, Penn State’s surplus and salvage, to be sold.

Below are some photos I took while she was waiting quietly amid the busy sounds of the other presses and bindery equipment.

Image of the Day: Ignorance and Want

Our very own version of “Ignorance and Want” from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.