Our family’s story told through design

This past February 7th, Magacín, El Nuevo Día’s Sunday magazine asked my father to write about one of the most important design traditions in our family: the design of wedding anniversary commemorative bracelets. Read the rest of this entry »

Typographic Details from the 18th Century

Here a few final samples of some typographic details.
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Typography from 1783

Here one more scan, this time of a 1783 document. Smaller than the ones I scanned before, this one is also full of typographic curiosities.
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Typography from 1725

As a continuation of my previous post, here another scan, this time of a 1725 document. Again, the use of the “catchphrase” is visible within these pages as well.
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Learning from the past

This past week, while researching through Dr. Arturo Dávila’s personal library, I came across a stack of pamphlets, about 11 of them in total, sewn and bound in varied marbleized papers. Trim-wise, these are considerably small, ranging from 3×4.5 inches to 5.5×8 inches, and yet, they called my attention. Don Arturo, as wise as he is, felt as my eyes were drawn to the colorful spines. “Pick them up; take a look“. In the process, he explained that these reproductions were used by the Church to spread its message. Little did I know, my curiosity had brought me to a series of original 18th Century texts—printed versions of homilies recited by Catholic priests in Mexico.

To share these, I took the time to scan one of the leaflets in its entirety. Please note a curious type treatment that has been killing me since I became aware of it: at the end of every page the typesetter included the first few characters of the word that follows on the next page. I had never seen this kind of strategy employed, and it was used in almost all of the documents, printed in a range of many different years, which means it was not a one time thing.

In their time, these documents would have probably not attracted any aesthetic conversation, but today, I can’t help but see them with a clinical eye, and hold them in my hands with admiration. Right now, everything about them—texture, color, smell, sound—is just fantastic. More importantly, each and every one of them holds some kind of typographic lesson that I can learn from.
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The 2009 medals in architecture

Commemorative piece given to the 2009 recipients of Puerto Rico's Architecture Awards. Design and concept by Alberto Rigau. Fabrication by Roberto Pérez.

This past Thursday, Puerto Rico’s professional college of architects and landscape architects awarded the 2009 medals in architecture. These awards, named after Ricardo Alegría, are given to individuals and/or entities who are not directly related to the discipline of architecture but who have contributed to the field in a way that can be evidenced in a substantial body of work.

Previously, this prestigious recognition had been given four times, and to my knowledge, recipients were given only a certificate. This year I volunteered and gifted the College with a design of commemorative piece to be handed out in the naming ceremony.
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Looking at the typography of an image-based publication: Puerto Rico Ilustrado

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1915, No. 274

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1915, No. 278

Before Sports Illustrated, Life and the image-based version of National Geographic (can you believe it began as a text-based academic publication?), Puerto Rico had it’s very own image-based weekly: Puerto Rico Ilustrado.

It was published from March 6th 1910 through December 27th 1952, a length of time during which it amassed a collection of 2227 issues. Content wise, the pages primarily chronicled life in the island, while it also included writings and images on international events of the time.¹ On average, these were about 16 pages, with about 6 of them dedicated to advertisements (which are fabulous in their own right). It was printed on a kind of dull paper, originally in black and white, but slowly 2 color printing makes its way into the covers. In the later years, covers are then produced in full color (which in many ways diminished the visual impact of earlier compositions)

During the last few weeks I have been scanning directly from about 15 years worth of issues, and the more I look at it the more I marvel at the typography contained in the mastheads of the issues, particularly their visual exploration which shows a struggle between looking man-made and machine-made, with an observed preference on the former.

My study on this publication is only beginning, but I have scanned a series of typographic treatments from a few years’ worth of the publication to begin a process of sharing them.
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