So I’m back from Dallas where I was a judge for the DSVC Professional Show. It was a really great experience. Along with four other judges I looked through submissions of advertising, brochures, posters, photography, annual reports, packaging, invitations etc etc. We each judged separately at first by placing chips inside cups of the pieces we liked and then went back to discuss what we had chosen. There were hardly any illustration submissions which was very disappointing to me because that’s my specialty. The other judges were very trained in graphic design and one of them was the famous letterer Doyald Young (who’s now over 80 but looks and acts like a 50 year old- he was very entertaining to listen to- full of stories) So I got to learn a lot about type and listen to the other judges harsh critiques–this type should never be set this way, this should not be justified, why is that kerned so much, the curve of that is not clean… I sure learned a lot and realized I should probably take a typography course. We all were able to take home a copy of one of Doyald’s books which is really a paper sample for Smart Papers. They made this both as a portfolio of Doyald’s work and also to showcase the many papers and how they look with varnishes, gold foiling, raised letters. I was so impressed with Doyald’s work- he’s done logos for television and major companies and designed a few typefaces. Sometimes I forget that all those options I have in my font drop down menu were all painstakingly perfected by a person. In this book he shows us examples of pencils sketches of 25 logo variations for a hotel. What skill to be able to draw with such precision- and also what patience! I think you might be able to contact Smart Paper to see if you could somehow get a copy of this paper sample book. He also has a few other books and a new one coming. Check out his site for more information. I have included a picture of Doyald below when we were out for dinner.

(Later today I will post a Sketchbook Series post since I missed Fridays.)

© Julia Rothman 2007