I’ve always been interested in type design, and the infinite ways that you can display even a single letter. My professor in school used to tell us how, before anyone had computers, type design was a daunting task. He had to draw each character by hand on a piece of paper, trying to achieve the perfect curves and proportions that come together to form a harmonious letter. Afterward, the characters would have to be cast for use in printing processes.

Now, I can create my own fonts through an internet application. Font Shop, an online font licensor, has offered to the public a free flash application called FontStruct, where you can fairly easily create your own fonts using modular shapes on a grid. While font design still requires truly great skill to produce anything of merit, this app certainly opens the doors for experimentation. And it’s pretty amazing what some of the users have come up with, as you can see from the gallery. You can also download user fonts for free for personal use.

My very basic attempt at the letter 'A'.

www.chernerchair.com

Norman Cherner’s 1958 molded plywood chair has to be one of the most beautiful examples of mid-century furniture design utilizing the technique. If only I was as good at bending plywood as I am pushing pixels…

Unfortunately for all of us, people’s visions for the future are often much more exciting and interesting than what actually happens.  During the first half of the twentieth century, people’s opinions of the future were optimistic, to say the least (flying cars, robots that do your housework, rayguns). Now that we’re past the time when these things were supposed to be reality, they’ve become a sort of nostalgic vision of the future. In the 1980′s someone coined the term ‘retro futurism’ to describe this genre.

In the future, you have to lay down to drive your car.

Syd Mead, a conceptual retro-futuristic illustrator who also helped design the sets for the movies Tron, Blade Runner, and Alien, has created some of my favorite visions of the future. His illustrations are sleek, saturated neon landscapes that often feature some sweet rides that sort of reek of the 80′s. See more of his work here on Flickr.

I’m still waiting for my flying car.