Save the fonts! /album covers

Save the fonts!

"I believe that design should be accessible to everybody".

I happened to stumble across an interesting article about preserving part of a hometown's culture by digitizing it's signage. Jessica Krcmarik used kick-starter to raise money for digitizing 10 fonts originating from Detroit’s hand painted signage, doomed to be painted over.

The goal of her campaign was to offer fonts to small businesses in the area, as pay-what-you-can downloads. While raising 5k for the campaign started by her local font foundry, she naturally gained a lot of support among designers, along with some criticism. Some see it as a pathetic cash grab, although it has been stated that the money would go toward software and hardware to compile fonts and make them sharable. 

This campaign seems to have inspired a website allowing you to submit info about any "ghost signs" you may have discovered. 

Another article featured Krcmarik discussing a growing interest in throwback hand lettering, and talked about seeing a place replacing its original-looking signage with letters that look like Times New Roman. 

What do you guys think about this campaign, do you have any cool stories involving art or signage from your neighborhood, or have you drawn any inspiration from your own towns typography? 

Bonus: Album Covers/ packaging design

Sorry, I couldn't help but to include this one.

I may be one of the few people that go to any media store and spend a few minutes in the cd section checking out the design on album covers, and the artwork inside of the sleeves (or my own CDs). The very thought of physical CDs becoming extinct is just too much to bear. If you have some downtime, here is an interesting article about the timeline of CD artwork, and a lengthy slideshow about typography and music packaging. Both feature notable designers and inspiration behind elements on a given cover. 

Is there any type of design that always catches your eye? Do you have any favorite album covers or any interesting stories about packaging design.

Here are some of my favorite covers.