The fonts on the bus go round and round?

It's CUMTD week here in the Typography garden! I spent most of last weekend wandering around Champaign-Urbana taking pictures of text for a project in ART 223. After taking some pictures of the text on CUMTD signs and the buses, I decided to use these pictures to study the type that the CUMTD uses. I have a few different examples.

This particular type I couldn't identify with either identifont or what the font. The closest I could get was Etelka Wide Text Pro Bold Italic, but the lowercase m and a are all wrong. This is the type that's used on most all the current buses for identifying it as the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District.

Though, my husband brought it to my attention that this was not always the type for this. On the older buses, if you happen to spot one, there is a strange script font. My husband spied on earlier this week and managed to snap a picture with his iphone, so the quality isn't that great.

I tried to use What the Font on this one, but I came up goose-egg.

This type is used on most of the schedule signage and on the schedule books. According to What The Font, It appears to be Meta Book LF-Roman.

I'm not sure if this is the same as the type on the buses. I compare the images in Photoshop and it seems that they could be the same. Imagine my surprise when I ran this particular picture through What The Font and I managed to get a match! Handel Gothic Regular.

About the Usage:
It's used to provide route information and to identify the transit system's vehicles.

Where I saw it:
Well you can see CUMTD buses all over the area, but these pictures were taken mostly at the Lincoln Square Courthouse stop.

My favorite band

The Font:
According to What The Font, The font is closest to this one is Jean Splice Lorite.It's close in that it has a lot of the same letter shapes and strokes (as can be seen in the V) but it's not the same.  I find myself wondering if it were somehow specially designed for the band.

About the usage:
It's a fancy display type used for the band and album name.  Given that Evanescence is a sort of Goth Metal-ish band it is an appropriate type.  I think it's pretty, but it's not good for a lot of text.  From the album art that I have, it's been used on pretty much all of their studio albums.

Where I saw it:
I own 3 of their studio albums, (Fallen, Anywhere But Home (the one pictured) and The Open Door.) I was running out of ideas and cleaning up the office when I decided to go with this.  Maybe I'll do more musical artist typeface research, it's something that seems interesting to me.

Week 4 - Paul Rand

In the process of looking up images for a project in my ART 223 class, I came across a graphic designer named Paul Rand.  I found a few images that I thought were intreguing, but this one is one that stood out to me. 

The different letter designs and colors seem to emulate a sense of playfulness.  I believe that this is used as an advertisement for an IBM event of some kind.  I found this image in the ArtStor database. 

Week 2 - Typography in the word - On the road

The Font:
According to What The Font, The font is closest to Interstate Bold. The actual font is not one you can purchase, as it was commissioned specifically for Interstate signs and I couldn't find more information than that.

About the usage:
Obviously, this is used to communicate information about location, direction, and the road itself. White lettering on green backgrounds. Most signs now are also made of reflective material, so that they are easier seen at night. I've always wondered about fonts that you see every day, but you never really think about.

Where I saw it:
This particular example kind of speaks for itself doesn't it? Okay, maybe not. I was on westbound I-74. Obviously I was not driving. :P

Berkley Oldstyle Copywriting - For Project 1

ITC Berkley Oldstyle is based off of a design created originally for the University of California Press at Berkley back in 1937. The font continues to be an important part of the University’s graphic identity. The original face was created by type designer Frederic W. Goudy. Goudy is the creator of many other fonts including: Copperplate Gothic, Goudy Old Style and all the other typefaces that bear his name. He has worked as a type designer, author, and teacher of calligraphy.

The ITC version was created by Tony Stan in 1983. Stan is a more contemporary designer who took on the project from the ITC eagerly. While Stan’s version is not an exact copy, it retains much of the original style and so was credited in name as Berkley Oldstyle.

References:
http://identity.berkeley.edu/guidelines/typography/
http://www.itcfonts.com/Fonts/Classics/Berkeley.htm
http://www.linotype.com/396/fredericwgoudy.html
http://www.linotype.com/555/tonystan.html

Week 1 - Student Activites Poster

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the student activities group that created this poster. I respect their group and their members. I'm just using these images as an example of typography that could be improved upon and to give an honest critique.



The Font:
The font of the logo is ShowcardGothic. The it appears to be a modern, sort of funky font. It's being used to advertise for the particular student group and I assume it's used to grab the eye of someone walking by. As far as it's use, it seems to be fine, but I don't like the use of black on such a dark green color. The color of the background should be lighter, or the color of the text should be brighter.



My sticking point with this poster is that in this image, you can see a close-up of some important points. Reasons why students should join the group. I understand they were using for emphasis, but really a blocky, bold, funky font like this should be restricted to logos and large headings. A cleaner sans-serif font with possibly brighter colored text or a brighter colored background should go here instead.

I saw this in the C-wing of Parkland, I've passed by it many times, and it always kind of confused me. I couldn't read much of the text well, so I had to get very close to it in order to read it properly

With a few modifications, I think the poster could be much improved.

Start post

Every good blog has to have one right?

Yeah, this blog is for my GDS 110 class at Parkland College. I'm supposed to post examples of typography and discuss them for the class. We're to start next week.

So, just hang out until then okay? Thanks for stopping by!

Jennilee Benda

ETA: Today is my birthday.