Learning to Design a Cherokee Syllabary with Mark Jamra
I just caught this very interesting talk on TypeCulture’s Facebook page on designing an indigenous American syllabary via the Cherokee language whose written language is almost 200 years old. Fascinated as my mother’s maternal grandfather was Cherokee.
I love looking at writing systems outside of the Western cultures. For this talk, Mark Jamra references the book The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People’s Perseverance by Ellen Cushman.
Also check out Afrikan Alphabets, The Story of Writing in Afrika by Mwalimu Saki Mafundikwa.
Check out TypeCulture on Facebook here: https://goo.gl/fISww4
Image: Courtesy Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_language
Video runtime: 59:42
Updated Post: Film On Charles and Ray Eames and the Eames Office
Charles and Ray Eames are clearly two of the most influential designers of the previous century. This film looks not only at their pivotal work, but also looks at their personal relationship and how they collaborated on some the most important designs of the 20th Century.
It can be seen in theaters and on PBS.
[via Fast Company: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665403/the-eames-studios-inspiring-history-and-unknown-dark-side]
Thanking Steve Jobs for “thinking differently”
Okay, here’s my tribute to the genius of Steve Jobs and thanking him for being a pentacle of the “think different” principle.
By creating the Apple Macintosh computer, he and Steve Wozniak changed my life, turning me into a geeky girl, and moving me into the world of graphic design, which I easily added to my early work as a performing artist and educator.
In the summer of 1989, I decided to take a basic computer class at Laney Community College, in Oakland, CA. The computers used in this class were Macintosh 512Ks. The 512K was released on September 10, 1984, and retailed for $2,795.00. (Source: Wikipedia) In this class we learned Microsoft Word 4, and Hypercard. I was hooked from day one.
Upon completion of the class, I found someone selling a used Mac Plus for $1000.00 (less than 1/2 the retail price) which my dear mother gifted me. The seller threw in a, now get ready, 20MB hard drive/power console combination unit. The operation system was version 6, and came on 6 floppy disks. I had a friend help me install it onto the hard drive, and imagine my delight after booting the machine and drive to see that I not only had MS Word 4, but Aldus Pagemaker and Freehand, Adobe Photoshop 2 and Illustrator 88. Hypercard was, at that time, part of the system software, so I had that too! I was totally hooked then and have stayed a loyal Apple Macintosh user.
After the Mac Plus (which I still have), I moved on to the Macintosh II Si, Quadra 800 (the first Mac tower), the iBook G3 (the white square one), the Power Mac G3 tower, the iBook G4, the G5 (dual processor), Macbook Pro (Intel Core Duo), Macbook (Intel Core 2 Duo), and as of last summer, the iMac (i3 processor, 20.5″). I still use the G5, Macbook Pro, and Macbook as well as the iMac.
In spirit, thanking you again Steve Jobs for being one of my examples always inspiring me to “think different.” May I too, inspire others.
And please support cancer research and all those working toward the eradication of this disease.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
My iBook G4 arrives. Mr. Big Fluff was more impressed by the box it came in.
Noted: the mehallo blog. beta. » My take: Graphic design history fu
Steve Mehallo, who teaches at American River College shares his take on Graphic Design History. Nice presentation.
the mehallo blog. beta. » My take: Graphic design history fu.
leave a comment