The Group Typeface Experiment

Last week AIGA Los Angeles hosted The Group Typeface Experiment at TypeCon2010: Babel here in LA. During an unscripted hour of collaborative design, attendees were given the opportunity to create a typeface on the spot using nothing but square and triangle stickers.

I had the pleasure of concepting the event, and the honor of helping produce it, along with numerous other intrepid AIGA LA members including the incredi-awesome Heather Parlato, whose design blog is regular reading here at Hexanine.

We were pretty pleased with the results, revealed here in the video above, filmed and produced on-the-spot by our friends at i am 8-bit (we’re looking at you Taylor Ragsdale). Watch away!

Ocean Dawn logo included in LogoLounge Master Library Volume 2

LogoLoune work includes Ocean Dawn Logo by Hexanine

Our copy of LogoLounge: Master Library, Volume 2: 3000 Animal and Mythology Logos has arrived! Ever a great source of inspiration, research, and insight, this new volume includes our work for Ocean Dawn, an upscale set of oceanfront luxury suites. Thanks to Rockport, Bill Gardner, Catharine Fishel, and the whole LogoLounge team for our inclusion, and for putting out such a great resource.

Jun 28 2010

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Chicago Design Week with AIGA

Last week we participated in the first-ever AIGA Chicago Design Week, five days of great events aimed squarely at the Chicago design scene. Crowd-juried design shows, panels, studio walks, art shows and our annual member meeting. It was an amazing whirlwind of events, inspiration, design and celebratory drinks in a great community of creative professionals.

Some of our work was included in the 2009-2010 Snapshot publication, seen below. Can’t wait for next year!

AIGA Snapshot

UPDATE: You can now see the Snapshot in all its glory as a PDF, courtesy of AIGA Chicago.

May 26 2010

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Say hi to Huizenga!

Erin Huizenga, new Hexanine Principal

This last year has been a whirlwind for us at Hexanine, and the changes keep on coming! On today’s “very special episode” of Zeroside we’d like to give a huge welcome to our new partner, Erin Huizenga!

Erin joins us as Principal/Designer. Fresh from launching her own non-profit organization last year, Erin brings to Hexanine more than a decade of experience with both corporate and nonprofit clients—such as Motorola, OfficeMax, Grainger, Northwestern University, and Walgreens. She also founded, staffed and created curriculum for the design program at Chicago Portfolio School. In short, Erin brings a fantastic design pedigree and boundless enthusiasm into our midst.

She would love to discuss your next brand initiative, so feel free to drop her a line at erin {at} hexanine.com.

May 12 2010

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Celebrate mad genius with EPIC tonight!

Join us tonight at the EPIC celebration of great creative teams working with worthy non-profit clients. At Hexanine we’re big believers in the mission of EPIC and its founder, Erin Huizenga. Join us tonight at Catalyst Ranch to drink some beer, meet some amazing people, and view the work done for the latest crop of great non-profit clients.

Also, you can help support EPIC by purchasing a limited run serigraph poster we designed for the event (printed by Steve Walters’ Screwball Press). Here’s a peek below:

EPIC poster by Hexanine

Mar 18 2010

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Helping &s for Haiti

Hexanine Ampersand featured in Font Aid IV: Coming Together

Last month we spread the word regarding Font Aid IV: Coming Together, a typeface consisting solely of ampersands. This week, SOTA officially released the font, and we’re proud to be able to say that we’re included.

More than 400 designers from 37 countries contributed to Coming Together, and we’re excited to be involved. We submitted two ampersands, both of which are included in the typeface, (one features the Haitian flag, another, just a plain flag).

Coming Together is an OpenType font and is being sold for $20 US. It’s available through Ascender Fonts, Veer, FontShop, and MyFonts. All proceeds from the sale of the typeface will go to Doctors Without Borders, to help with their relief efforts in Haiti.

Feb 17 2010

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Illini Life logo featured in LogoLounge Master Library Volume 1

Just wanted to draw attention to the fact that our identity work for Illini Life is included in the newly-released Rockport book, LogoLounge Master Library Volume 1: 3,000 Initials & Crest Logos. As we’ve mentioned before, the LogoLounge book series continues to be excellently designed, well-curated, and a source of inspiration and research for designers everywhere. We are humbled to be in such great company.

Feb 10 2010

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It’s part of the Process(ed)

A detailed case study of our work for Shevet Achim is now being featured at the design website Processed Identity.

Processed Identity is the brainchild of identity designer Steve Zelle, who envisions PI as a place to illustrate the many benefits of custom, strategic identity design for clients. He explained:

“Too often we get so caught up in ranting about how spec work, crowdsourcing, etc. may hurt us as designers that we forget to communicate the potential pitfalls for our clients and their businesses. We need to communicate that design is not just making pretty pictures, but rather a strategic process that can have a significant impact on the success of a business.”

PI looks to be full of promise, with information for clients, inspiration for identity designers, and a home for targeted design discussion.

Feb 1 2010

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Font Aid IV: Coming Together, a Collaborative Typeface benefiting Haiti

In today’s world, few stories have the legs to outlast the 24-hour news cycle. While a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called the recent Haitian earthquake the worst disaster the UN has ever confronted, two weeks later the headlines are once again dominated by health care reform and the rumored Apple tablet computer.

Because of this, we’d like to spread the word regarding The Society of Typographic Aficionados Font Aid IV: Coming Together, a Collaborative Typeface — a font consisting entirely of ampersands. Coming Together will be made available for sale through several type distributors, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. SOTA, a US-based non-profit, is acting as a non-partisan organizing body to help coordinate the effort and ensure all funds are distributed appropriately.

To participate: Submit a black and white “ampersand” as a vector image file, not a bitmap. Send it in EPS format to fontaid@typesociety.org by 01/29/10.

There’s still 3 days left, so fire up Illustrator and get to work.

Jan 26 2010

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