Making Faces Screening at Typecon - LA

Making Faces will be screened at Typecon 2010 in Los Angeles. This will be the latest cut of the film. As with all best laid plans oft going astray, the film is not yet at the final stage of editing. Public screenings have been a great way to garner feedback and fine tune the film. If you are in LA for typecon, do stop by and say hello and feel free to offer feedback. The film is very close to being finished and the version to be screened will be very close to the final DVD release version.

Loxley font to support film project

Loxley was one of two type styles drawn and digitized by Jim Rimmer shortly before he died on January 8, 2010. (The other style to be named "Rimmer", will be released at a later date.)

Loxley was designed to be used in a fine press edition of the classic folklore story of "Robin Hood". The town of Loxley, Sheffield is cited as the birthplace of Robin Hood. This project was to be a follow up for Jim's epic edition of Tom Sawyer for which he designed the typeface Hannibal, named after the Missouri town that was the birthplace of Mark Twain.

The style of Loxley is based on early Roman faces, such as the "Subiaco" type of the late 1400s that was also inspirational to Frederick Goudy for his "Franciscan", "Aries" and "Goudy Thirty" type faces. Loxley displays some of Jim's particular left handed calligraphy and is in a similar style to his "Fellowship" and "Alexander Quill" faces, both of which were made in metal and digital formats.

The metal font and book were never realized. As per Jim's wishes, P22 type foundry finished the digital type and all proceeds from the sale of RTF Loxley will be put towards the completion of the documentary "Making Faces".

Screening in Nicosia

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to present Making Faces at the 4th International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication (ICTVC) in Nicosia, Cyprus. This will be the most complete version of the film seen so far, but not the final edit. Progress and feedback is encouraging. Assistance in sound and editing from the fine folks at Splice Here in Minneapolis are making this project come together quite nicely.
Thank you...everyone...for your support!

Jim Rimmer: On Making Things

As editing progresses, there are more and more re-discoveries of great moments of Jim reminiscing and talking about his life and motivation for creativity. This one is a classic that all parents would cringe at and felt it was a good representation of Jim and his way of telling a story with a twinkle in his eye. This is one clip that may not make the main film but probably be included with DVD bonus features. I hope you enjoy it.

Kickstarter backer preview

The 30 minute preview shown in Berlin can be seen via the Kickstarter page if you are a Kickstarter backer of the project (even $1). Support has been great but since there are still 13 days to go and you can essentially pre-order the DVD, get a font or other various levels of backing and rewards, we will happily accept additional backers. A separate funding source fell through so this Kickstarter thing has been a great help to get the film done. Did I mention I like Kickstarter?

The annual European design conference TypoBerlin is possibly the largest, most organized and consistently interesting conferences I have ever been to. Along with type/design legends such as Jonathan Barnbrook, Carlos Segura, Erik Spiekermann, Rich Roat of House Industries and many other talented friends and associates, this years conference also featured the King of Ghana and Erik Kessels of the brilliant advertising firm KesselsKramer whose Hans Brinker Hotel Campaigns prove that truth in advertising can work even if the product is awful.
Avoiding any link between that last sentence and this next one...
I was given the opportunity to screen a working version of the Making Faces film at TypoBerlin on May 22. This was the first time more than a small clip has been shown in public. A 30 minute version of the film was prepared for this presentation with the assistance of Mark Abney of Splice Here. Since each 'chapter' is one step in the process of making the metal type, due to time limitations, a couple steps were not shown at all. Feedback from audience members after the screening was very helpful and additional assistance in translating for subtitles was enlisted. Considering much of the technical terminology used related to typecasting and printing is somewhat specialized and not in common use, additional support material even in English may also be needed.

In general, from what I could gather in spending a few extra days in Berlin, the phenomenon of letterpress revival occurring the North America is not yet at the same level in Europe. European associates have had photopolymer letterpress cards made in the US while in central Berlin one can find a job printer who will set your name and inexpensively print cards using hard to find DDR era typefaces without much fanfare. Schools seem to have little interest in integrating letterpress into design/art curriculum. Finding metal fonts at a Berlin flea market proved to be only moderately inconvenient to bring home in carry on luggage. Erik Spiekermann consistently refers to his love of letterpress printing in most of his talks I have seen in recent years, but he is an exception among high profile designers. Perhaps it was just the small survey that left me with this impression that letterpress is still considered mostly an archaic craft that contemporary European designers do not embrace as much as in North America, but there are signs that it will become more alluring to a new generation of designer/printers.

Trailer on YouTube

This 3 minute trailer was edited in Early 2008 shortly after the footage was shot at Jim Rimmer's studio in New Westminster BC. Now at 11,000 views, there must be some interest in this film. The conspicuous and optimistic "Coming Spring 2009" at the end is obviously wrong. A final release date is still undetermined but in-progress screenings will be announced soon.