Blackletter in contemporary Graphic Design

It is important that designers avoid cliché outcomes when choosing to use Blackletter in their design work. This can be achieved by only using certain elements of the blackletter formation, mixing it with contemporary ideas, taking away the ‘frills’ etc.

"In a printing or handwriting, I find much more truth than in written history, where we lie, and we remade every day. In writing we can not lie. This is the direct expression of man, with his body and his mind." 

This quote by Ladislas Mandel shows how the concept and formation of black lettering can now be applied to contemporary graphic design by looking at it in a way that will allow us to understand the history of the time. We should use the techniques and shapes to create our own symbols and expressions by taking the historical technique and presenting it in a modern and engaging way. 

DAVID RUDNICK

David Rudnick designed the vinyl cover for Evian Christ and their EP called Waterfall. He chose to incorporate the visual elements of blackletter (explain which ones) but combined with contemporary elements, he successfully avoided clichés.

The experimental design is appropriate as the vinyl sleeve reflects the musician and the type of music they produce.

Evian Christ is an English electronic music producers, DJ and songwriter. As the designer, Rudnick's aim will be to portray the values and ethos of the music artist within the design work so that customers can guess what kind of music they will be purchasing. Using a computerised and modern version of the blacklettering, David Rudnick captures the traditional aspect associated with vinyl's and also the modernised computer manipulated mixing of old and new music that Evian Christ would do as a DJ.

RAF RENNIE

David Rudnick and Raf Rennie were asked to design the Rare Earth catalogue which is a publication that aims to define the 'spirit of an age'. There were a number of interpretations that as designers they needed to take into consideration, so that the work would be appreciated by as many people as possible. Within the text, the publishers want to attempt to capture the fact that the exhibition was about going beyond the heart of modern civilisation and focusing more on the notion of existence itself; keeping the rare earth elements at its core. 

The choice to have the colour of the book cover as black was because black is the colour of the rare earth, showing how important colour is within design. This is something i need to consider when designing and it is all as a result of research and how it can influence your design in a positive way. 

The experimental piece shows languages as symbols. The symbol formations are baed on the principles of black lettering, showing tradition but taking only the main structure and removing the frills to make the piece visually contemporary. The design decision to modernise black lettering effectively represents the topic of the catalogue and visually sets the tone of the writing. 

JULIEN PRIEZ

Juien Priez's typeface 'The Normandy' is visually very geometric and is most likely considered to be a modern design. The high contrasted line widths reflect those that would be found in blacklettering. Julien has also kept the characteristic of 'breaking' which is when the line is still connect, but appears so thin that it could have been missed out. This is often a result of the type of nib that would be used, usually flat and held in a particular position that would enable more ink to come out at particular angles.

The fixed chisel edge and squared lettering shows the blacklettering influences, but shows how it is now used in contemporary Graphic Design.

VINCENT DE BOER

The Dutch Graphic Designer Vincent De Boer's mains focus is the search for special characters with calligraphic formations. Calligraphy is a very traditional method of creating typography, but Vincent approaches his work with a lot of focus on expression and also the distortion of figures.

Vincent uses the principles of the calligraphic writing style, but all of his work starts with the brush. He paints out his letters, concentrating on the direction of the stroke, fluidity of the shape and the space in which he wants to concentrate the letter in. He would then photograph the painted letters and continue to manipulate them as a computerised version. 

His work emphasises the traditional methods, but the abstract representations show how these methods can appear in contemporary Graphic Design and be very visually powerful. 

His blog page and instagram openly document the process in which he undertakes to create his characters. It is the initial steps that show how the blacklettering is a very influential style to get him to the final outcome.  

The blue piece of work is the one that will take the most inspiration from, as I like the way that it almost fits a grid an the strokes of the brush all follow set directions, to highlight the structure of each character.